The report was written by Zhao Wen and signed by Zhang Shun and Zhu Li, that is to say, this report is the fact that the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary fleet, the governor of the Americas, and the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary horse infantry.

Zhao Wen set out from southern China in February last year (March of the solar calendar), arrived in Mexico as scheduled in August, and then launched an attack on Mexico City, which took half a year to conquer, and the main time was wasted on the march. The situation in Spanish colonies such as La Plata and Peru was also reported.

The rebellions in Venezuela and other places, they finally wrote about it, but said that they had not confirmed it yet.

This report shows that the entire Spanish colonies in the Americas have been completely chaotic, and Zhou Lang can easily understand the situation, because this is the later American independence movement, but the time is only one or two years in advance, and the difference in the situation should not be big, I am afraid that after this wave of revolution, Spain will lose all his American colonies.

Anyway, the Spaniards in these colonies can't keep themselves, and Zhou Lang won't want it in vain if he doesn't want it, but if he occupies so many colonies, I'm afraid no one will agree, the French won't agree now, and the British won't agree, as for the Spaniards, they are now represented by the French, and their attitude is not important.

Therefore, Zhou Lang wanted these colonies very much, but he couldn't open his mouth, he could only choose those territories that were most valuable and had the greatest development potential, and it was best not to attract people's attention and be easily accepted.

The land of North America must be wanted, San Francisco as the center of the California region, the name is now there, Spain named the province of California, and in 1804 divided into the two provinces of Upper and Lower California, Upper California is the future California of the United States, and Lower California is divided into Mexico, which is the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico.

The division of the two provinces of the Spaniards was mainly based on the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, in order to separate the Franciscan friars and the Dominican friars, so the province of California in the colony of New Spain was divided into two parts, the north (Alta California) was led by the Franciscan priests, and the south was pastored by the Dominican friars.

Zhou Lang decided to ask Spain to cede Upper and Lower California, so that the two sides would be bounded by the Colorado River, which flows into the Gulf of California, and the interior of North America would still belong to Spain, and the west coast of North America would belong to China. Ideally, if the other side takes a tough position, the bottom line is to cede the San Francisco Bay area, so that China can open up along the river and occupy the entire California Delta. I heard that there is still a gold mine, but as for where it is, Zhou Lang doesn't know.

As for the other Spanish American colonies, they may or may not be necessary, but they need to have several footholds, which are easy to occupy and defend, and there are many footholds that can be easily opened up by navigating large rivers, in fact, there are not many options. The west coast of South America, lacking large river outlets, and generally drier, lacks the conditions for agricultural development, at least not yet.

In the end, Zhou Lang chose to target the area of the Río de la Plata, where a colony was ceded as a foothold, which could connect Brazil to the north, Argentina to the south, and to the interior of South America along the river.

Moreover, the population of La Plata is small, and it has never been the richest Spanish colony, considering that Argentina has long needed to put the center of trade in Lima, which is enough to prove that it is not as important as Peru in the eyes of the Spaniards. In terms of population, it can be seen that at the beginning of the establishment of Spain, the population was only 700,000, Brazil 3.8 million (including 1.9 million blacks), and Uruguay is less than 100,000. Without population, there is no economic output, and the Spaniards do not pay attention to it.

The other and most important piece is of course the Philippines, which is difficult for Westerners to develop due to its distance, but it is relatively easy for China to develop, and there is plenty of land for this tropical island to develop. And the population is small, and there is a lot of room for immigration.

Before the Spanish colonization, the population of the Philippines could not fill the land at all, and most of them lived scattered along the coast and river banks, and after the Spanish colonization, in order to escape the heavy taxes and labor of the Spaniards, they began to flee inland in large numbers. The Spanish destroyed the traditional trade routes with China, Japan and other countries, and replaced it with a Spanish colonial monopoly, which cut off the source of livelihood for the indigenous people, and the population did not grow until 1800, and Westerners estimated that the entire island had only 500,000 people. This figure is not accurate, the Spaniards took two censuses in 1877 and 1887, ten years apart, and the population was more than five million.

Compared to such a huge archipelago, the population of more than 5 million people is really too small.

Therefore, the Philippines is also very valuable for development.

The emperor's negotiating demand, carried by the messenger, to rush to Europe as quickly as possible. Now that China has established a postal service with Russia, Zhou Lang has long opened up the government post station for the use of the people, and in China, merchants can also use the official post station, but they have to charge a certain fee, which is relatively low. However, the opening of the mail with Russia was also a matter after the last negotiations, mainly used by merchants from the two countries, and the mail was often lost and difficult to trace. Unlike the private sector, the official mail was opened late, mainly because the Russians set up a lot of obstacles, because the information about China's going to Europe had to go through Russia, but Russia did not need to go through China to contact other countries.

After the opening of the official postal routes between the two countries, the Russian official messengers can use the Chinese post stations, and the Chinese official messengers can also use the Russian post stations, which greatly speeds up China's contacts with Russia and even with Europe, and from Nanjing, it can reach China's western and northern borders within 20 days, and can be transmitted to Europe in Russia after two months. It only took four months for the news to reach France.

The letter used the fastest speed to catch up, and they needed to catch up with the mission that had departed half a year earlier.

It was a huge mission, and they immediately crossed the border and set out for Europe. It was not the most convenient route to take, but the western route of Sino-Russian trade.

The Sino-Russian trade route was divided into the Western, Central, and Eastern Routes. Among them, this western front is the earliest, as early as before the birth of Peter the Great, in 1654, when the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs for only ten years, the Nanming regime not only did not die, but after absorbing Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang and other peasant army forces, the Manchu Qing carried out a second counterattack, and the area controlled was restored to all the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi, most of the two provinces of Hunan and Sichuan, and one of the four provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Fujian and Hubei.

Russia sent a mission, starting from Tobolsk, the starting point of Sino-Russian trade, through the Zungar Mongolian nomadic steppe of Simong, through Guihua, Zhangjiakou, Yihua, Jimingyi, Tumubao, Huailai, Chadaokou, Nankou, Changping all the way to Beijing, which lasted 21 months.

Due to the existence of many complex forces on this road, the Dzungars did not belong to the Manchus, the road lacked water sources, and a large number of bandits were infested, so it was not only long-lasting, but also dangerous. Coupled with the effects of the war, there were frequent interruptions. So after the signing of the Treaty of Nebuchu, the Russians opened up a second road, starting from Nebuchu, through the Tungusic settlements to the Ergun River, from the Ergun River through the Mongol territory to the Gen River, and then through the Balgut nomadic area to the Hailar River, and then up the Zagong River through the Daur peasant settlements to the Naowen River, to the then Naowen City (near Qiqihar), and then turn southwest through the grassland, through the mountains through the southeast of Mongolia, to the Great Wall fortress Xifengkou, and then through Zunhua, Jixian, Sanhe, Tongzhou arrives in Beijing.

The route was opened after the Dzungar Mongol invasion of the Khalkha Mongols, as the trade routes in the northwestern part of Mongolia were cut off.

There is also a middle line, which appears the latest, but develops the fastest. It is the so-called Sino-Russian Tea Ceremony. After the signing of the Treaty of Kyakhta, Russia and the Manchus set up a trade point in Kyakhta, and since then the trade route began to be centered on Kyakhta, with the Russians controlling all the way in the north and the Manchus in the south, and the trade route was completely secure.

The Russian government has been trying to monopolize trade, because the profits of Kyakhta government trade are often ten or even twenty times more than the tariffs of the whole of Russia, but private people began to smuggle, they avoided the government's checkpoints, found a more convenient waterway, from Tobolsk to Krasnoyarsk by water, from here to Irkutsk, and continued by water to Kyakhta. The most dangerous thing in the middle was the wind and waves on Lake Baikal, and in 1797, the Russian government built the road around Lake Baikal, and this trade route was completely safe.

The Messenger is on this path. The mission chose to take the Western Front, of course, for the purpose of reconnaissance. But when the Russians were told that they were surveying the Western Trade Route to see if they could open up another Sino-Russian trade route, the Russians were very interested in this, because after all, one trade route meant a steady stream of wealth.

Starting from Guihua City, we took the western Mongolian steppe to the former Jungar pastureland, that is, the Tianshan steppe north of Ili, and it was clear that China was scouting this road to facilitate future attacks on Ili. It can be regarded as preparing for the settlement of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but Jiaqing is now partial to Ili, whether it is Russia or China, he does not want to offend, so he let him go all the way.

But no matter which route you take, you will end up in Tobolsk, which is close to the Russian fortress of Tyumen, and has always been the front base for Russian attacks on Siberia, and it is really amazing that military and commerce are so interdependent to some extent. This is probably a very strange phenomenon, and all peace-loving farming people are often very reluctant to business. Nomadic and maritime cultures, on the other hand, regard trade as a sacred right, probably because trade routes are sometimes military routes.

The messenger departed half a year later than the mission, and of course it was impossible to catch up with the messenger in Tobolsk, but took advantage of the Russian post station and continued to catch up with the mission to the west, until Moscow, and this was because the Tsar enthusiastically kept the mission to visit Moscow.