In particular, just when Gao Wen was chatting with the Russians in Amsterdam, Wang Wei, who was far away in Madrid, was also welcoming a wave of guests from Italy.

Wang Wei is the new ambassador of the East Coast Republic of China to Madrid, succeeding his predecessor, who had just died of tuberculosis. To be honest, the name Wang Wei is actually relatively unfamiliar in diplomatic circles, this gentleman was originally the county magistrate of Chenggao County, Yicheng Prefecture, and was defeated when he competed with the acting commissioner Xiao Jingzong for the position of commissioner of the regional administrative office, and Wang, who was unwilling to work under him anymore, entered the diplomatic system with the help of the family elders, and obtained such a more important position as ambassador to Spain, which can be regarded as a new start.

Because he is a novice in diplomacy, there are many things to learn, so in the past two years, Wang Wei basically focused on quiet, boldly delegating power to his subordinates, and letting them give full play to their talents, so the work on the whole was maintained quite well. After studying for a year or two, Wang Wei now thinks that he has a certain understanding of foreign affairs, so he begins to slowly come to the fore and participate in some foreign affairs related to the Kingdom of Spain.

Today's visit to the embassy on the east coast is two guests from the Italian peninsula – because the Spanish king also has a large territory in Italy, so Italy's diplomatic and commercial affairs are also under the jurisdiction of the ambassador in Madrid - Paulo, the new head of the Doria family, and Sergio Rivera, the emissary of the Grand Duke Cosimo III of Tuscany.

It is said that the original old men of the Doria family, a veteran political and business family that has cooperated with the East Coast for many years, have passed away one after another, including the two brothers Alessandro and Mario, who are very familiar to the East Coast, the former died of illness a few years ago, and the latter sank in the Mediterranean Sea with the ship. As a result, the family is now officially taken over by Paul Doria, with his brilliant brother Simeone, who studied on the East Coast for several years, as his right-hand man.

As for the Duchy of Tuscany, Cosimo, who was still a prince and prince, is now a lord and duke, although the territory is not very large, but the Medici family has been operating for hundreds of years, and has served as many popes, and has a huge influence in the Catholic world. Moreover, in the last hundred years, their family has twice married their daughters to the kings of France (Henry II and Henry IV), and the business has also extended into the powerful Kingdom of France, and the power on the surface and secretly is even greater, even if it seems to be declining now, it is still not comparable to the ordinary aristocracy.

The visit of Doria and the Medici family was a joint visit, but there were also some issues to be discussed, such as business matters, such as the future of Italy, such as the management of Spain, and so on.

"The business in New China Island has steadily increased our income, and although we face fierce competition from English, Dutch, Spanish and even French merchants, we have been able to establish ourselves in the traditional sales market. With the prosperity of commercial trade and social and economic development, the people's demand for cane sugar is also increasing day by day, so it is a good business that can be operated for a long time. "Paul Doria has been in charge of the family business for a few years, which is quite a high-level statement, and he has already begun to think about the overall market demand and economic development.

Of course, he was right. In recent decades, cane sugar has indeed entered a long-term bull market, with the increase in production, the decline in prices and the improvement of the living standards of ordinary people in Europe, cane sugar began to slowly get rid of the label of luxury, and gradually entered thousands of households, and the total market volume is naturally increasing day by day.

Don't underestimate the charm of sucrose. Europeans had – and still – were attracted to spices, and when the Dutch East India Company made spices for cabbage, the total market value began to increase dramatically, and the East India Company made a lot of money. This fully shows that only when the price of a commodity is close enough to the people and then becomes a bulk consumer product, can the market become big.

Doria, Rivera and others are all old business experts, and they are naturally very aware of the twists and turns of this, and at the same time, they also think that cane sugar is obviously the next spice with a great future, so they are determined to invest more. One more thing to say here, don't look at the competition between Gena*Asia Africa and Delta Company, but in today's market situation and national environment, there is a lot of cooperation between them, that is, there is both competition and cooperation. Needless to say, when selling cane sugar, it is natural that friends are not dead and poor, and if they catch their opponents, they will die in the dark, but when they need to cooperate, such as uniting together to negotiate with the East Coast side, and strive to obtain more benefits in the area of New Huaxia Island.

Wang Wei listened carefully to their demands, and finally summed up and found three points, namely: first, continue to lease the land to the two companies at a preferential price, preferably a large piece of contiguous land, and the people on the east bank are responsible for the clearance and eviction of the aborigines on these lands; 2. Make every effort to ensure the daily operation of the two companies, do not require loans from the people on the east coast, but have sufficient supplies of food, medicine, building materials, tools, and vehicles, and at least after meeting the daily needs of the local people on the east coast, put the procurement needs of the two companies in the first order, instead of being busy exporting to Persia, India, and Ottomans; 3. Supply new machinery and equipment to the two companies to improve their production efficiency.

In order to get the East Coasters to agree to these three conditions, Doria and Rivera also jointly stated that they would strictly abide by the laws of the East Coast Republic, no longer illegally conceal the working years of non-national laborers active in the plantations and transportation teams, and would share this information with the East Coast officials to ensure that each non-national laborer can only work for a maximum of seven years before choosing to terminate the contract with Geno*a Africa and Delta Company.

Undoubtedly, this is more welcome by the people of the East Coast, because it means that the Italians are constantly replenishing the population of New Huaxia Island, and at the same time developing large areas of wild land by the way, the local government and customs on the East Coast can collect all kinds of taxes, and the Bey Island sugar mill can also intercept more profits by refining cane sugar, all in all, it is a profitable business.

Of course, the Italians also dreamed of joining the Kishi state-owned company Bejima Sugar Mill. The sugar refinery has a monopoly license, and all the sugar on the island must be transported here for refining, and the cane sugar owner pays for it, and then the customs officials stationed at the factory collect the export duties, and the refined cane sugar can be returned to the owner.

Because of the monopoly of management rights, the Beidao Sugar Mill artificially took away a large part of the profits of the sugar industry in New Huaxia Island, and many plantations, including Geno* Africa Company and Delta Company, could only swallow their anger and be swept away by it, saying that it was a daily income and making money, so everyone wanted to take shares, including Italians. But fortunately, they are still self-aware, knowing that it is impossible for the East Coast people to let outsiders take shares in this kind of strategic enterprise, so they did not bring it up in the end, obviously not wanting to bring shame on themselves.

The other three conditions put forward by the Italians are actually not too much at all, and it can even be said that it is a win-win relationship with the east coast, so after thinking for a while, Wang Wei agreed to their request and said that he would submit it to China as soon as possible for the relevant departments to approve.

After chatting about business, and then everyone talked about the war that had just ended, the two Italians naturally behaved extremely embarrassed at this time. In particular, Paul of the Geno*a family, who was threatened by the French to attack the Duchy of Milan this time, and finally gave a benefit fee of up to three million bank lira, which is sad, and I don't know how much benefit Savoy next door was defrauded by the French, it is really a pair of difficult brothers.

The Duchy of Tuscany was also "frightened" by the war, because they bordered the Spanish-controlled cities of Milan and Parma, so when the rumors of the French army attacking northern Italy intensified, the Duke of Cosimo was also alarmed. In this matter, the Gena*s and the Tuscans had a common language, and Wang Wei also took this opportunity to bring up the alliance of the northern Italian states that Zheng Yong, Li Qing and others had also mentioned before.

Doria and Rivera had apparently communicated privately before, and the bigwigs behind the two representatives expressed great interest in forming a mutually supportive alliance, as it was clearly beneficial to everyone. Wang Wei was also a little excited when he heard them say this, and he even pointed out that since the Dutch, Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland and other provinces were combined, they had the capital to fight against the powerful Spaniards, and the Italian states should take this as an example.

Of course, he also knew that with the nature of the Italians, it was unlikely that they would form an organization of the level of the League of Seven Provinces, and that at best it would be a loose political, economic, and military alliance, and that the internal divisions might be larger than those of the Dutch, and that they might be dissolved at the slightest disturbance. Still, it's better to have an alliance than nothing, right? Once this alliance is formed, the influence of the East Coasters who play a leading role in it will inevitably increase, and the commercial benefits will not be ready-made! Therefore, he tried to persuade the two countries to set an example first, and then slowly absorb other states that they considered reliable and important to join, and slowly expand the strength of the alliance.

"The French have chosen Sicily, which is rich in sugar, tobacco and wheat, to attack, and they know that they will not attack the Republic of Genoy next time? Although the country is now expanding into the lowlands and Germany, Italy has always been one of the focal points of the French expansion, and it should not be underestimated. Therefore, a solid alliance is still very important, rest assured, the Spaniards will not be uneasy, I will communicate with King Carlos about this, this alliance has no territorial ambitions for Milan, Parma, Naples, Sicily, and even has a lot of room for cooperation in dealing with the French threat together. Believe me, it would be a good idea, you can get to the fact at once, rich Italy cannot fall into the hands of the French, absolutely not, otherwise no one will be able to cure Louis XIV! Wang Wei said sincerely. These words are basically very clear, I believe that these two Italian elites will not understand, now it depends on their determination and whether there are follow-up means, I hope they will not let themselves be happy.

Of course, Wang Wei also knew that it would be difficult for the Italians to make a small alliance on their own, and it would be difficult to resist the French. In order to keep their country and property, it is still the only choice to continue to support the Kingdom of Spain against France, but the two things are not contradictory, and the Italians can form alliances and develop armaments on their own while continuing to lend to the Spanish government.

At the end of the conversation, Paul Doria, the representative of the Republic of Geno*, asked the people of the East to help coordinate the import of large quantities of grain from the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate to replenish the stocks of the Abundance Office, which had bottomed out. Because of the war between Spain and France, Sicily, which had always been the main source of food for the Genoa, was ravaged by the French army, and grain production was greatly damaged.

But after this incident, the Genoians also realized that it was not enough to have a grain base in Sicily, because once the war broke out, it was very likely to be blockaded or destroyed by hostile forces, and the Republic of Genoa would suffer from the disaster of the pond fish. Therefore, it is time to invest more in a second source of food, and if you think about it, it is more reliable to have the Crimean Khanate, which had some business ties before, and this requires the help of the people on the east coast, because everyone now knows that their envoys maintain unparalleled influence over the Greh Sultan in Crimea.

Wang Wei agreed in principle to the request of the Genas, and said that he would report it to the special envoy Gao Wengang in Amsterdam. If the High Envoy did not object, then he would send a formal message to Mr. Marati, the ambassador of the Eastern Republic of China in Istanbul, asking him to take the representatives of the Republic of Geno* to the capital of the Crimean Khanate, Bekchisalai, to meet with the Sultan of Grei on these matters—at a time of great tension in the Black Sea and the Dnieper, the people of the East Bank always felt that they could not do it alone, and that they still needed to be involved in the old Mediterranean powers such as Geno*a and Venice, It will be possible to curb the ambitions of the Russians to go south.