The political structure of the United States gave the states a great deal of autonomy, and there was no consensus among the states on whether or not to declare war on the Spaniards, and some states still had reservations, which Washington could not force to intervene in.

New York State's attitude on this matter is highly consistent with Washington, and neither Edward Jeffrey nor Arthur can oppose Far Eastern Corporation, unless they do not seek re-election, which may be a desperate gamble.

Even so, in the face of the request of the envoy of the King of Spain, it was inconvenient for Edward Jeffrey to refuse, after all, compared with Li Mu, Edward Jeffrey represented the official of New York City, and in terms of freedom, he was far from Li Mu.

Juan Salvador is about 50 years old, he wears a black tuxedo jacket, conservative black leather shoes, meticulous bow tie, and hair wax, compared to Li Mu in a short trench coat and jeans, he looks like a man who came out of the last century.

When he saw Li Mu dressed so casually, a trace of dissatisfaction swept through Juan Salvador's eyes.

Li Mu did not care about Juan Salvador's dissatisfaction, and Li Mu was completely qualified to ignore it, only those who lacked strength needed those external things to enhance their weight in the eyes of others.

Although dissatisfied, when Li Mu walked into the room, Juan Salvatore still got up very politely, these etiquettes have infiltrated into the bones of people like him, even if they face death, I am afraid they will choose to die gracefully.

"Ream, this is Mr. Juan Salvador from Spain—" Edward Jeffrey acted as introducer.

"It's Count Juan Salvador." A young man behind Juan Salvatore corrected in time, although thus interrupting Edward Jeffrey's words.

Li Mu looked at the young man behind Juan Salvador, the young man looked at Li Mu without showing weakness, his eyes were not very polite, and then looked at Juan Salvador, the old man stood there and did not take the initiative to shake hands, his head was still slightly raised, it seemed that this "count" status made him very proud.

"Damn imperialism-" Li Mu was not polite, he was not embarrassed to scold people in front of him, and even his voice was a little louder than usual.

Juan Salvador probably didn't expect Li Mu to be so presumptuous, probably older people are a little slow to react, Juan Salvador was very confused in his eyes for the first time, maybe no one had ever been so rude in front of him before.

That's right, people are aristocrats, this kind of people don't swear words even if they scold, people whose status is not as high as theirs, they don't care about it, they don't bother to take care of it, and their status is as high as theirs, and they will consciously maintain the "decency" among the nobles, which is why an upstart like Li Mu is so rude.

To be honest, Li Mu doesn't mind leaving such an impression, anyway, in the eyes of many people in the Old World, the United States is a country composed of nouveau riche.

However, the young man behind Juan Salvatore reacted quickly, as soon as Li Mu's words fell, the young man blushed, Li Mu didn't know what the young man had to do with Juan Salvador, but the young man's reaction was like Li Mu insulting his ancestors for eight generations, the young man glared at Li Mu with unbelievable eyes and scolded angrily: "It's too much, you insulted a noble gentleman-"

"Shut up!" Li Mu also interrupted him, and then looked at Juan Salvador with impatience in his eyes: "Old man, take care of your people, don't let me hear him from now on - no, ask him out, don't let me see him, otherwise you will go out together." ”

Li Mu's attitude is extremely strong, this is Castle Clinton, strictly speaking, this is also Li Mu's base camp, if Juan Salvatore still can't recognize the form, then Li Mu doesn't mind letting them understand that the world no longer revolves around them.

This is a bit embarrassing, it is estimated that in Washington, Juan Salvador did not feel so ashamed, Juan Salvador even subconsciously looked at Edward Jeffrey, but Edward Jeffrey did not seem to receive Juan Salvador's distress signal, as if he was studying the window grille on the glass window.

After an embarrassing half a minute, just before Li Mu's patience was about to run out, Juan Salvatore finally compromised: "Victor, go wait for me outside." ”

Now it was finally quiet, Li Mu did not take the initiative to shake hands with Juan Salvador, and came to the main seat by himself, Li Mu rang the bell on the table.

"What do you command, sir?" Mason stepped in.

"Get me a cigar, I only have time for a cigar." Li Mu didn't have much time to waste, and he didn't have anything to say to the old man who came out of the castle, Li Mu preferred to go home to accompany his wife and children.

Mason could see Li Mu's mood, and went up to the third floor as fast as he could to get the cigars stored by Li Mu.

Li Mu did not cut off the cigarette holder and smoke it according to the standard procedure, so he directly let Mason light it.

"Follow the standard procedure to have more fun." Juan Salvatore has finally found the topic, another angle from which to show off his superiority.

"I do." Li Mu took the unusual path, and almost choked Juan Salvador to death with one sentence: "Lost Cuba, you haven't gotten cheap Havana cigars for a long time, so don't be nostalgic for your standard procedure, now my smoking method is the standard procedure." ”

In order to facilitate sales, Havana has now withdrawn from the simplified version, which is the kind in Li Mu's mouth, no need to cut or smoke, it can be used directly, just like cigarettes in the 21st century.

Cuba is definitely the Achilles heel of the Spaniards, as soon as Li Mu's words fell, a look of pain immediately flashed on Juan Salvador's face, which made Juan Salvador unable to remain calm, and his eyes looking at Li Mu unconsciously carried hatred.

If it weren't for Li Mu's support, the Spaniards wouldn't have lost Cuba so quickly, so thinking about it, it was really a new hatred and an old hatred, if Luzon was also independent, then Li Mu might be the public enemy of all Spaniards.

This doesn't matter, anyway, Li Mu didn't plan to please the Spaniards, there are more people who hate Li Mu, and there will be more in the future, no matter more.

"Tell me, what do you want? Maybe I can satisfy you. Juan Salvador finally realized that he probably couldn't impress Li Mu without giving benefits, but he didn't know how big Li Mu's appetite was.

"Count Salvador, if I were you, I wouldn't waste my time in New York, I would return to Madrid immediately to rearm the war, of course, this is based on the premise that you are still capable of sending reinforcements to Luzon, since you can find me, then I believe you have investigated my information, the shareholders of the Far Eastern Company are not a certain person, or even a certain group of people, this is the collective will of the whole society." Li Mucai will not take the initiative to stand up, and hiding himself in the crowd is the best disguise.

"I know more about you than you think, from the Santiago Investment Company to the Panama Company, and now to the Far East Company, if we were friends, I would be proud of your achievements, but unfortunately, we are enemies, as for the collective will you said, I will not do this, but you are the executor, only you have the ability to run the Far East Company, you will not deny this." Juan Salvador did do the survey, and it sounds quite detailed.

To say that Li Mu has done these things, in fact, it is not without traces, as long as there are people who connect the development trajectory of Junma Group over the years, it is not difficult to get the truth, Li Mu has never deliberately concealed it, foreigners do not pay attention to wealth and do not show their money, and they must be seen if they have strength, otherwise they will be regarded as a little white rabbit.

"There is nothing to deny Mr. Count, it doesn't matter if it's up to me to carry it out, the point is that you gave other people a chance, or rather, from the time you colonized Cuba and Luzon, you should have expected this day, you see, when you occupied Cuba and Luzon, the Cubans and Luzon certainly didn't agree, but did you care about their opinions? No, so you don't have to blame anyone else now, you can only blame yourself, this is irreversible. Li Mu didn't want to go around in circles, in a word, why did he beat you, because he beat you.

Yes, in the final analysis, international relations are such red fruits, there is no need to find any objective reasons, simple and crude is the most effective.

Of course, don't look at what Li Mu said so arrogantly, but when he goes out, Li Mu will never admit it, after all, everyone has to get by on face, and Washington will blow up one of its own warships when it launches a war, Li Mu can't just be so red and clear that he wants to bully the Spaniards, which may give the Spaniards sympathy points in the world, Li Mu doesn't want to give the Spaniards any chance.

"Don't be too arrogant, you haven't won the final victory yet." Even if Juan Salvador has a good culture, he can't stand Li Mu's such a straightforward derogation.

"We'll get it, in fact your presence here is a testament to your incompetence, but if there's a glimmer of hope, you won't come here to endure my insults." Li Mu also knew that he was a little excessive, but-so what, Li Mu was sure that the Spaniards had nothing to do.

"You're going to be punished." Juan Salvador couldn't stay any longer, and Li Muming didn't leave a way back, and it would be useless to stay any longer.

Watching Juan Salvador go out, Li Mu didn't even get up to send it off.

Edward Jeffrey had been watching with interest Li Mu teach Juan Salvador, but when it was at this time, Edward Jeffrey smiled dumbly and did not get up to see Juan Salvador off.

"That's it?" Edward Jeffrey lit a cigar himself.

"That's it, what else else? Prescribe a bunch of conditions that this old man can't do at all? There is no need, the Spaniards are finished, but they don't seem to realize it yet, or they do, but they don't want to admit it yet, so let the facts tell. Li Mucai is not in the mood to go around in circles with the Spaniards, and the current Spaniards are not worth Li Mu's brains.

Juan Salvatore did not stay in New York, did not even try to convince the other shareholders of the Far East Company, and that same evening, Juan Salvador returned to Spain on a cruise ship, his trip to the United States was doomed to failure, the war had already begun, and neither the politicians in Washington nor the shareholders of the Far East Company were now in a position to stop the war.

Next, Li Mu returned to Governor's Island, waiting intently for his second child to arrive.

At the same time, in early October, George Dewey finally set off for the Ryukyus with six warships of the Pacific Fleet, where they were to make a brief repair, and then wait for an opportunity to declare war on Spain under the pretext of "protecting overseas Chinese."

The excuse of "protecting overseas Chinese" is simply omnipotent, Luzon is now in a state of war, even if the Far East Company is an American company, the Pacific Fleet has a reason to provide protection for the Americans in Luzon, as for whether the Americans in Luzon need it, or even whether Luzon has Americans, it does not matter, the important thing is that the Pacific Fleet wants to do this, and the Spanish colonial government in Luzon does not have the ability to refuse.

That's enough.

In mid-October, Fernand Gonzalez Jr.'s men began to approach Manila and make contact with the Manila Colonial Servants.

Just after the Governor's Office issued the "Levy Order", Manila's colonial servant army was also expanding frantically, the original Spanish in Luzon only formed a colonial servant army of less than 5,000 people, in just one month, Manila's colonial servant army expanded to 12,000 people, but it is regrettable that the Manila Governor's Office does not seem to have enough equipment to arm these servant armies, and even the backward flintlock pistols are seriously insufficient, and an average of three colonial servant soldiers can get a flintlock musket, More colonial soldiers were armed with bows and spears, a stark contrast to Fernand Gonzalez's men the younger.

On the one hand, the rapid expansion has further reduced the quality of the colonial servant army, if the former colonial servant army can still be used to deter the local aborigines and Luzon Chinese, then the current colonial servant army is a rabble, they can only be regarded as armed farmers at most, and the musketeers in the army are not sufficiently trained, because they lack ammunition, and the Spanish officers do not seem to have too high enthusiasm for training, and probably they also know that sending such an army to the battlefield, They are not even qualified to be cannon fodder, because they do not have a firm will to fight at all, and if they really go to the battlefield, as long as the enemy's gun is fired, I am afraid that these people will be scattered.

From October 1st to October 12th, the rebels and colonial servants fought more than 20 battles, large and small, and the rebels all won without exception, which made Jimmy and Austin feel bad, if this momentum continued, the rebels could capture Manila without the help of the Pacific Fleet.