In mid-November 1678, less than a month before the dust had settled on the negotiations with the Inquisition Court District of Buenos Aires, Spain, Li Qing, the new head of the East Coast Foreign Service, who had just returned from Europe, was receiving a group of special guests from the capital Oriental Port—envoys from Portuguese Brazil in the north.

The envoys did not come alone, in fact they were a large group of envoys, and there were about twenty people accompanying them, and the leader was named Francisco García de Noronha. As can be seen from his surname, this gentleman is a famous family, because the surname Noronha is famous in Lisbon, and his family has had five governors of Portuguese India in its history, namely the 10th, 16th, 22nd, 24th and 44th governors, and all of them have been awarded the honorary title of "Honorable Viceroy of India" at the end of their terms.

Francisco was one of the more brilliant young men of his generation, and although he was not as good as his cousins, he was a graduate of the seminary who was knowledgeable and eloquent, and who carved out another sky in Portuguese Brazil, to the astonishment of the older generation of the family, who had devoted their main efforts to India. This time, he was ordered by the governor of Bahia to lead a team to the port of Orient to make contact with the people on the east coast, which was the highest in terms of specifications after the end of the Portuguese War, which shows the importance of himself in the heart of the governor.

Speaking of the Portuguese mission's trip to the east coast, we cannot fail to mention a series of incidents caused by the East coasters in La Plata, including the harassment and attacks of the so-called "horse bandits" in the early stage, as well as the large-scale military operation of three mixed battalions and one cavalry battalion in the later stage. There is no doubt that these actions were very shocking, not only the Spaniards who were facing the pressure, but even the Portuguese Brazil, who were watching from afar, felt a sense of sadness, because God knows when the people on the east coast used these methods on them.

The Portuguese had reason to be afraid, because no one knew what the policies of the new government of the people on the east coast were, and what the preferences of the leaders were, and it was difficult to say whether they would do anything to Portuguese Brazil, which was known to be rich. Therefore, in order to avoid the occurrence of tragedy in the future, the Portuguese took precautions and sent an envoy to the capital of the people on the east coast in advance, and was also responsible for investigating the direction of the wind.

The diplomatic service on the East Coast did not receive the mission at first, leaving them to wait in the city for more than a week. For more than a week, the Portuguese were not restricted from moving, so their regiment wandered around, on the one hand, to study the customs of the east coast, to buy special products, and on the other hand, to understand the movements of the east coast, although it sounds difficult.

Francisco Noroña also took the letter of introduction and visited some old relationships that had been established in long-term business relations, some of them were from "aristocratic" families on the east coast, and had been importing all kinds of tropical dried fruits, high-grade timber and other special products from Portuguese Brazil all year round.

The young Noronha spent a week visiting a total of five business partners, all of whom had a deliberate conversation about the current situation in South America. Some of the five were reluctant to talk to him more, while others were quite frank about their opinions, which benefited Noronia a lot, and obtained a lot of information that was difficult to gather in normal times.

After each conversation with a person, Noronha would return to her rented hotel, discuss it with a few colleagues, and then write down her feelings, conclusions, and so on, with the intention of presenting them to His Excellency the Governor when he returned to Bahia. By the end of the week, after visiting the last business partner, it was almost clear to Noroña that the easterners were acting only against the Spaniards, and that the purpose was only to seize part of the Pampa plain, and not to Portuguese Brazil, at least for now.

This conclusion excited everyone in the mission. To this day, especially after the terrible blows of the last war, every Portuguese knows in their hearts that how can they not envy the latecomers who have no money and no people, but who have served as a huge colony and commercial route, which is now gradually unsustainable, and who have no money and no people? To tell the truth, if they hadn't seen the opportunity early and invested in King Charles II, who had just ascended to the throne, they would not have been able to keep their existing interests, you know, the Portuguese colonial empire with land or commercial interests in Cape Verde, the Gulf of Guinea, Angola, Mozambique, Mombasa, Mogadishu, India, Ceylon, the East Indies and Macau, is really too large, and too many people are dissatisfied with their possession of such huge interests. That is, they had good relations with the British, the French were just starting out, and the Dutch did not deal with them with all their strength (because the Dutch were also well fed, so there was not much need), so that they could maintain themselves and not collapse on the whole line.

Thus, over the decades, the Portuguese understood deeply that if maritime powers such as England, the United Provinces, and the East Coast tried to deal with them, it would be easy for them to lose a large and vast colony. In particular, the pagans on the eastern coast, who threatened them from both the sea and land, were irresistible to them, and now they knew how happy they were to learn that the republic of the eastern coast seemed to have no intention of sacrificing their flag.

However, the people of the East Coast did not touch them this time, so who knows if they will have similar thoughts in the future? So, wouldn't it be better for the future of Portuguese Brazil if there was better communication with the East Coast side and a clear understanding of the ideas and needs of the other side? And this, in fact, is also the request of the governor of Bahia, and it is also one of the main tasks of the Noronian mission to the port of Orient.

Li Qing, who had dealt with the Portuguese many times in Europe, basically knew the intentions of the Portuguese visit. Therefore, during the first meeting between the two sides, he put forward the idea of strengthening strategic mutual trust and mutual benefit between the two countries. If we analyze this opinion in detail, that is, Portuguese Brazil continued to reduce the tariff rate on industrial products on the east coast, reduce the size of the garrison, reduce hostile propaganda, and so on, basically making further changes to the previous policy, and the magnitude was not very large, and it is expected that the Portuguese would not be very difficult to accept.

In addition, Li Qing focused on issues related to India and the island of Ceylon. New Huaxia Island and the Second Fleet of the Navy had already transmitted some of the agreements reached with Portuguese India back to the mainland, which were unanimously affirmed by the Ministers of the Executive Committee. In the middle of this year, the Executive Committee had instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to forward the plan for "deep cooperation" with the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean to the Lisbon court to see what the Portuguese would think.

At the time of Li Qing's departure, he had not yet received diplomatic secrets in this regard, and it was estimated that Gao Wengang, the new special plenipotentiary of the East Coast Republic of China in Europe, would be handled by that time. Li Qing did not think that the Lisbon court would veto these proposals of the East Coasters, because the Pedro Portuguese governor of Goa must have been in contact with the powerful figures of the court before this, and there should be no principled obstacles.

Therefore, when Li Qing mentioned the matter concerning India and Ceylon, he only reminded the Portuguese that as soon as they received the cooperation agreement proposed by the diplomatic department on the east coast, they should approve it as soon as possible – with a positive answer, of course – and not try to delay, because it would be of no benefit.

Francisco Noroña was a little surprised that such a package agreement had been reached between the two countries in Goa, especially since his family had been running India for a long time. He also had no courage to refuse these things that Li Qing had once again emphasized, and repeatedly said that he would report to the governor of Bahia as soon as possible, and strongly recommended that the local government agree to this package of commercial cooperation agreements.

Li Qing was very satisfied with the attitude of the Portuguese, but he didn't expect that this time the rude warriors of the War Department would have such an unexpected harvest in such a mess on the Pampa Plain. Of course, this also shows from the side that the war that lasted for several years left a deep impression on the minds of the next entire generation of Portuguese elites, so much so that they habitually had to look at the faces of the people on the east coast in everything, and there was no one left.

It is only at this time that a senior "white shirt" like Li Qing feels that sometimes a war that hurts people to the bone marrow can also bring miraculous results. From this point of view, the huge cost of the East and Portugal War was really not fought in vain, and it has been used to this day. And so on, the two east-west wars should not have been fought in vain, otherwise, how could it be that now, decades have passed, the people on the east coast can bring very huge benefits to the country and the people by only putting on a tough posture in La Plata, sending a few thousand soldiers and horses.

"Perhaps, an impressive war at the right time will save the country a lot of unnecessary trouble, as the saying goes, 'fight with one punch, lest a hundred blows come'. Our country, since the last war, has been peaceful for decades, is it time for a war to fight for more interests for the country? It's a pity that the Spaniards are going to succumb again this time, otherwise, they would be quite a good target for bullying. After sending off Francisco Noronha, Li Qing, the head of the new generation of the East Coast diplomatic system, thought.

During the period of negotiations with the Portuguese mission, the East Coast War Department, the Ministry of Immigration, the State Railway Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and other units were also doing a series of follow-up work in an orderly manner. First of all, officials from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry arrived at the port of Nancun to discuss with Spanish trade officials about the resumption of trade between the two countries, which had been interrupted for a long time because of the war, which caused many unnecessary losses to both sides, and it was time to put an end to the fact that the commerce of Nancun, Rosario, Santa Fe and other places had withered for a while.

In addition, after this operation, the State Administration of Railways has gradually become no longer secretive. For example, the railway station located on the outskirts of Buenos Aires was originally used as a cover for the commercial station, but now there is no need to build the railway station directly. Moreover, the construction of the Yanbu Railway may pass through the private domains of some Spanish manor owners, and there may have been some obstacles in the land acquisition, but now in this atmosphere, these people must not dare to dwell too much, and should happily hand over the land to the East Coast for construction.

As for the men and horses of the War Department, according to the latest deployment of the country, they are not busy withdrawing for the time being. These ready-made armed forces, it is rare for them to come to the Pampa Plain, so it is not clean to plow the few places where they are going to set up settlements in the plan! Especially in those areas where there have always been many unruly Indian activities, elite infantry should be dispatched to sweep them, so as not to cause trouble to the large number of colonists and pioneers who are about to arrive.

Of course, the Spaniards may have different opinions on this, but this is all about it, who cares about their opinions! No matter how scared you are, no matter how frightened you are, and how much you urge the people on the east coast to withdraw their troops quickly, you have to endure it for the time being, until they complete their mission. Moreover, the attitude of Lima and Madrid is still unclear, what if they are dissatisfied with the agreement reached between the Buenos Aires Inquisition Court and the people of the East Coast and reject it? Therefore, considering this risk, it is still necessary for the people on the east coast to continue to maintain a part of the garrison on the Pampa Plain until an agreement is formally reached between the two countries, otherwise who knows if you will not be repaid!

The rest of the Ministry of Immigration was naturally working in an orderly manner to transport migrants to the south bank of the Río de la Plata River and to both sides of the Yanbu Railway. In order to speed up the progress of resettlement, the Ministry of Finance has also allocated additional funds to squeeze out a considerable part of the monopoly income from cigarettes, matches, and special spices, which will be used to purchase materials in Qingdao, Shangcheng County, Jingjiang County, and other places to ensure that the resettlement work can be carried out smoothly. As for the proposal of some people to resettle some immigrants in the Chaco area, it was rejected by the Executive Committee after discussion, first, for the sake of eating less ugly, and secondly, considering that the Trans area is still vast and sparsely populated, and then crossing the Paraná River to the west to colonize the Chaco Plain, which is really too exaggerated.

But in any case, Chaco, the "hunting country" in the eyes of the Quechua people, will sooner or later fall into the hands of the people of the eastern coast. No one has any doubts about this, because it's really just a matter of time.