Alessandro. Doria took off her hood and cloak, handed her sword to a servant, and then shrugged her shoulders and spread her hands out to Mr. Balboa, the clerk of the West India House of the Kingdom of Spain, who was sitting across from him, "I'm sorry to keep you waiting. But I really have to be very careful, you know, there's a lot of people out there who are watching this right now, and I don't want anyone else to know what I'm doing because it's going to cause unnecessary trouble for me and my family......"

After enduring Alessandro's chatter and saying a lot of nonsense, the Balboa clerk raised his eyelids and asked calmly, "What did that East Coaster say?" ”

"Special envoy Mo San said that there is no Lord and faction in their country now......" After saying this, the two of them fell into a speechless silence at the same time.

Registrar Balboa has been irritable lately. The peace talks, which had broken down due to the refusal of the people on the east coast to pay reparations, caused a huge wave after a quick liaison ship of the Spanish navy arrived in the port of Cádiz: the main force of the Peruvian fleet of the Kingdom of Spain was destroyed, and now only one battered brig remained, and many transport ships full of supplies and money were sunk or captured by the people on the east coast, and both merchants and nobles suffered heavy losses.

His Majesty Philip IV, who heard the news, was shocked and speechless for a long time, and after much thought and weighing, especially when his close ministers pointed out the decline of the Spanish army in the battlefields of the Southern Netherlands, Catalonia, and Italy, Philip IV was afraid of the possible destruction of his homeland, so he still twisted and instructed the Barboa clerk to get in touch with the diplomatic envoy of the people on the east coast as soon as possible, and then resume negotiations in private.

His Majesty has repeatedly stressed that this negotiation must be conducted in secret. Do not let the outside world know. All records of negotiations are not kept on file. The Barboa clerk regularly made oral reports to His Majesty himself. Spain's enemies have always been the French, and in the past years of war, large swathes of the South Netherlands have been occupied by the French, and the Catalans, who are now fighting for independence, have even defected to King Louis of France, almost putting Spain in danger of extinction.

At this time, the Spaniards really did not want any interference from the New World, lest they lose in a life-and-death struggle with France. The consequences of defeat at the hands of France would be catastrophic, and not only the South Netherlands could not be saved. Catalonia would probably have been taken away by the French, and eventually Naples might have become independent, and Spain would have been reduced to a small state to be slaughtered, which His Majesty Philip IV could not tolerate.

Therefore, knowing that his great wealth was threatened, His Majesty Philip IV, after two days of careful consideration of countermeasures with his close courtiers, finally instructed the Balboa scribe to mediate with the Guò Doria family and start formal secret diplomatic negotiations with the people on the east coast, so as to end the heart-wrenching war as much as possible, so that Spain could concentrate on dealing with the French. As for making peace with the French and then turning around against the East Coasters. I'm sorry, but the Spaniards don't have that strength yet. They can't even muster 50 ships in the navy now, and if they really fight, they are expected to die a terrible death.

"The French occupy dozens of towns in the rich Southern Netherlands (present-day parts of northeastern France), and the vile Catalans have fallen to them, and now that His Majesty wants to concentrate on salvaging the war with the French, we need to end a war - especially when our forces in the New World are scarce." Balboa did not want to hide any facts from Alessandro, because these Genoese businessmen were so well informed that Spanish officialdom and aristocratic circles were almost transparent to them.

"And what about the peace conditions they propose? Isn't it demanding? Balboa continued.

"From the impression I have received from my conversation with Mr. Mo San, their conviction is strong and that nothing will satisfy their government except that the Kingdom of Spain has made substantial concessions on the question of the border between the two countries." "Mr. Mosan stressed that the war had entered its third year, and that there was no more lords and factions in their government, and that it would be difficult for the war to stop unless the Kingdom of Spain made concessions. ”

"I am compelled to remind Your Excellency the Registrar that, according to the information we have recently gathered, the people of the East Coast are ready to continue the war. They imported large quantities of Brazilian sumac from the Dutch in June last year, which was likely used to make large capital warships; They revealed to government officials in August that in early 1648 they might designate parts of the Caribbean Sea as war zones and restrict foreign ships from entering those specific areas. Mr. Mozán regretted that the Kingdom of Spain had consistently refused to include the question of the ownership of the area east of the Uruguay River in the negotiations, and he did not see the need to participate in such negotiations. If the Kingdom of Spain does not face up to reality and delay the resolution of the problem, it will be extremely disadvantageous for both countries. ”

Alessandro's relayed Mo San's reply was actually quite unkind, and no one could hear the threat implied in his words. And it was precisely because of the Spaniards' "arrogance" that they always refused to discuss the territorial issue, and Mo San believed that the Spaniards lacked the basic sincerity of negotiations, so he refused to hold further negotiations with the Balboa clerk. Mo San is currently on vacation at Alessandro's estate in Valladolid, and seems to have completely forgotten about the negotiations.

Registrar Balboa, while understanding that the other party's gesture was a minor negotiating ploy, the dire situation did not allow him enough time to engage in a negotiation that would contest the endurance of both sides. The day after tomorrow was the time for His Majesty to consult the negotiation process again, and Balboa felt that he had better come up with some results in these two days.

"It's the war blackmail ......of the East Coasters," Barb said, clearing his throat, "no one likes war, not even the crazy East Coast soldiers, who are not going to go through the brutal war that might have ruined their years of construction." We all desperately hope that the war will end as soon as possible and that the areas devastated by the war will be calmed down as much as possible. If the people on the east bank had agreed to take the matter of war reparations into consideration, the question of the status of the area east of the Uruguay River might not be so undeniable and could be negotiated at every turn......"

Balboa's words were Alejandro's biggest takeaway today. Yes, Balboa was the clerk of the House of West Indian Affairs, a close vassal of the king, and therefore he meant the king's will. Since Philip IV did not refuse to discuss the territorial aspect, it was possible to do so.

"A wise decision." "In case you don't know, the yield on the 10-year war bonds of the Eastern Republic traded on the Genoese financial market in early January fell by 0.7 percent to only 6.8 percent, indicating that bankers in the financial markets are generally not optimistic that your country will win this war." The main concern of the people on the East Coast is actually the territorial issue, but your refusal to discuss it has left no basis for negotiation. The people of the East Coast have been fighting for so long, they always have to get something, and it is not a big place for you, and you don't even have a large-scale settlement there. It would obviously be unwise to close the door to negotiations for the sake of this barren land, as it would obviously cause great distress to your country's financial problems. ”

The Kingdom of Spain was now in high debt, with more than half of the gold and silver shipped back from the Americas each year to pay interest on loans, the government was unable to make ends meet due to years of war, and the source of domestic tax revenue was drastically reduced, all of which brought the Kingdom of Spain to the brink of financial bankruptcy again. The current Kingdom of Spain obviously cannot withstand the storm of financial bankruptcy, because it will make it more difficult for them to borrow money in the future, and the cost of borrowing will rise sharply, which will undoubtedly be fatal to Spain, which has entered a critical juncture of the war.

"To be fair to you, for the sake of outsiders, I don't think your country has yet to have a clear definition of the La Plata region." Alessandro continued, "Your country should first understand what exactly you want to do there. You didn't fully exploit it, but you didn't allow anyone else to do it, and it's still very desolate. I think it would be extremely unwise to engage in a brutal hand-to-hand fight with the insane bloodthirsty East Coasters for the sake of this desolate and boundless territory, especially at a time when your country is simply unable to effectively send troops and supplies there, and your military operations have undoubtedly been hampered by the severity of your military operations, which has caused you humiliation on the battlefield. ”

"I have no intention of talking about the gains and losses of my country's policies, and besides, there is no point in talking about them now, the war has been going on for a long time, and the losses on both sides are great. If we wanted, of course we could escalate the war, we could send thousands of warriors to the New World, but there was no point in that, the pay was far greater than the gain, and no one would do such a stupid thing. After a long silence, Registrar Balboa finally spoke, and only listened to him say: "Please tell the special envoy of Mosan, if he wishes, that tomorrow I will have a formal diplomatic negotiation with him." The number of people involved in the negotiations should be as small as possible, and the content should be strictly controlled among a small number of insiders, and I don't want to hear any rumors about the details of the negotiations. ”

"I will tell the envoy of Mo San, and I think he will gladly accept your invitation to negotiate, after all, it will be beneficial to both sides." Alessandro nodded and said, "The people of the East Coast don't like this long war either. (To be continued......)