Mo San has been very busy lately.

In February, he had already held two rounds of negotiations with Mr. Balboa, the clerk of the Spanish House of West Indies, who had followed the king's will. Although it was only a general talk, the two sides had already shown each other their bottom lines, which made the negotiations much more frank at once, because there were no more unrealistic terms to test the other side.

Negotiations were scheduled to begin at the end of February, but Captain Guo Zili, who had led the convoy out of Europe, sent a letter to the Doria family. In the letter, he asked Mo San to delay the negotiations so that the East Coast could achieve greater results of the war. Guo Zili insisted that it was not yet the time for peace between the East Coast and Spain, and he mentioned that at present, the whole country on the East Coast was boiling, and everyone's morale had been greatly improved because of the continuous war victories, and at this time, the diplomatic department should cooperate with the actions of the army, and wait for the army to completely occupy Chile and the navy to enter the Caribbean Sea before negotiating peace, so as to ensure the greatest interests.

Regarding Guo Zili's opinion on one of the few radicals in the navy, Mo San only glanced at it slightly and put away the letterhead, which is pure nonsense! What the hell is this man going on in his head all day, what are he kidding? Now that the domestic inflation is so strict, even Mo San has heard of it, and this is still last year, and this year must be even stricter! At this time, he still has to fight with iron heart, Mo San can only say that he is crazy! What's the use of fighting? Will you get more money back to create inflation? What a rough man with no economic sense.

This Guo Zili is indeed a restless guy, and he is currently faintly competing with Wang Tiezhu and Li Yi for the position of the second person in the navy, but it depends on his political tendencies. Mo San said that he would not agree to let this kind of person take control of the navy. It's a scourge! Perhaps this person is more capable of fighting. A while ago, in the waters near Cartagena, he sank a main battleship and two galleys of the Spanish Mediterranean Fleet, and damaged many ships, of course, there was also a frigate on his side because the mast was broken and had no choice but to sink himself, but in general, the exchange ratio was still acceptable, which made the strength of Spain's already small remaining fleet even worse, maybe the Spaniards did not have the courage to fight when the east coast escort fleet crossed the Strait of Gibraltar next year.

However, whether or not they can fight a war is not the main factor for officials at the level of the secretary of the navy, and in order to be the minister of the navy, one must first be "politically competent," which means that he cannot walk with the people who talk to themselves in the army. At this point. Guo Zili is obviously unqualified, Mo San still prefers Captain Li Yi, and when the time comes, he will also write a letter to encourage some of his political allies to operate.

Mo San has also been in Europe for a long time and has a clear understanding of the current trend of the Thirty Years' War. It was now clear that Austria did not want to continue the war, but France and Sweden had rejected the request for an armistice from the Holy Roman Emperor on more than one occasion, and they were still preparing to continue the war with excitement. Despite the heavy casualties of the soldiers, the destruction of many territories in Sweden and France (the southern shores of the Baltic Sea in Sweden and northeastern France), the severe destruction of social order, and the fact that the military expenditure on the war was already more than a billion livres, they still decided to continue the war. Until the maximum benefit is obtained.

France, in particular, have now captured dozens of towns in the Catholic colony of the South Netherlands. The northeastern border has been greatly expanded; At the same time, they also defeated the Holy Roman Empire army several times in the east, capturing Metz, Tours, Verdun, and most of Alsace, and in the southeast, they also invaded many towns that were originally Spanish territory, and greatly expanded the territory of the whole country. At the same time, King Louis XIV of France also served as the Count of Barcelona, and the whole of Catalonia completely fell to him, and many Spanish territories north of the Pyrenees were also conquered one by one, and some of the lords who were originally dependent on Spain were also taken advantage of by France.

In addition, Naples and Sicily in Italy were also in danger, and even an uprising broke out in Naples last year (1647). In short, in Mo San's view, in recent years, especially in the years after the end of the Battle of Rocroix, the decline of Spain has been very obvious, and the rise of France has also been quite obvious. At present, France was at war on two fronts, fighting Austria and Spain at the same time, and winning repeatedly, Austria was repeatedly rejected for peace - because France had not yet reaped the benefits, and the Kingdom of Spain was in danger of being torn apart.

Mo San knew that Spain did not die in history, but he didn't know if Spain in this time and space would die. Although the people on the east coast caused some losses to Spain, most of the Peruvian gold and silver, which was most important to Spain, were shipped back (most of the money intercepted by the east coast was the private remittances of local officials and merchants, including even Genoese money...... ), so its power is weakened to a limited extent.

Of course, that's what he said, but Mo San didn't dare to pack a ticket, and Spain would definitely be able to hold on, because at this time, the French couldn't stop. When Austria's request for peace was rejected, Spain naturally did not bring humiliation on themselves, and they could only squeeze every ounce of their energy to confront the French, otherwise they would be ruined. At this time, the East Coast should end the war with Spain in due course for the sake of long-term interests. While steadily digesting the newly acquired territory, they continued to sell cheap industrial goods and war materials to Spain, and gave Spain blood transfusions, so that they could consume a little more of the energy of the French.

For the rise of France, other countries on the European continent are looking at it, and at present it has even begun to partially connect. Britain and the Netherlands, for example, were anxious, especially the Netherlands, who had been at war with Spain for several years, were now very concerned about France's gradual encroachment on the territory of the Spanish South Netherlands, and regarded it as a threat to their own national defense.

Spain had long since acquiesced in the independence of the Netherlands, and was also preparing to cede to the Dutch part of the territory of Flanders, Limburg, and Brabant in the South Netherlands, and it was said that it would also close the foreign trade of the Scheldt River, which was bound to deal a heavy blow to Antwerp's economy and a major benefit to Amsterdam. The Spaniards made so many concessions just in exchange for Dutch economic support, and the Dutch were happy to do so, because their worst enemy was now not Spain, but the rising France.

Even after Mo San postponed the negotiations with the Spaniards at the end of February, several representatives of the Dutch West India Company came to Valladolid via the Basque Country and held secret talks with Mo San, the core of which was to advise the people on the east coast to reach a peace agreement with Spain.

They feared that the continued fighting of the East Coasters in Peru would lead to the fall of Spain's silver mines, which would undoubtedly lead to the total collapse of Spain's finances. The consequences of the financial collapse would be catastrophic for Spain, which was now on the brink of survival, and the Dutch warned that once the government of the Kingdom of Spain collapsed, the people on the east coast would probably not be able to find a negotiable partner, and many subsequent interests might not be negotiable.

After the Spaniards, the Genoese also came to Valladolid, and Alessandro of the House of Doria solemnly mentioned to Mo Sanyi that the government of the Republic of Genoa would intervene in the war between the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of the East Coast of China, so as to end this tragic war as much as possible. Because the war has now turned into a long war of attrition, which is undoubtedly very disadvantageous for both sides, and it is only the French who can snicker at it. So he suggested that he and Registrar Balboa reopen negotiations and that the two sides sit down more frankly and negotiate a solution together.

Alejandro's words touched Mo San a little, yes, there is no benefit in fighting the war any longer, could it be that the people on the east coast can really control the whole of South America? With the population of only 150,000 in the country on the east coast, it is already very good to control the whole of Uruguay plus the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, as for the vast La Plata area, it is better not to daydream for the time being, it is better to be realistic.

And it was only at this time that Mo San vaguely realized how unreliable it was for him to rashly find Paris to try to secretly negotiate with the French to flank Spain. Let's not talk about the fact that he didn't find the right person at that time, and even if he found the right person, France would only use the East Coast as a gunman, and would not make any alliance with the East Coast at all. The French are arrogant, they can't afford to lose that person, after all, the image of the east coast at that time was not as high as it is now, it was just a small weak country, what qualifications did it have to sit on an equal footing with the great kingdom of France?

March passed in the exchange of envoys with Genoa and the Netherlands, and at the beginning of April, even the British bourgeois government, which had just taken control of the domestic situation, sent a representative to visit Mo San. His purpose was similar to that of the Dutch and Genoese, that is, to persuade the Spaniards and the East Coasters.

Spain was indeed much more pragmatic at this time, and not long after the end of the English Civil War, they preemptively recognized the "Republic of Kingskillers" - England, and then tried their best to win over the British against the French. The British, who had always been quite concerned about the situation on the European continent, were deeply convinced of this, and began to gradually get closer to Spain and engaged in various anti-French activities.

Naturally, mediating the war with Spain on the East Coast was an important part of the anti-French activities. Mo San saw that in just one or two months, three countries had clearly expressed their willingness to mediate this war, which had to attract his attention. Therefore, on April 5, he finally made it clear that he was willing to resume armistice negotiations with the Spaniards. (To be continued......)