Before the personnel going to South Africa were resolved, Archduke Ferdinand led the Spanish minister to find Gao Hongsheng, and it turned out that the US warship "Maine" sailed into the port of Havana.

At that time, the entire Western society looked at Spain, an old empire, with a kind of contempt, watching it decline little by little, and it was already good if it did not fall into the ground.

The lonely old empire of Spain really felt uneasy in the face of the threat of force from the emerging American cowboys, and it happened that Gao Hongsheng entrusted Austria-Hungary to buy the islands of the Philippines, which immediately attracted the attention of Spain.

The old and declining empire became interested in the olive branch offered by Austria-Hungary and wanted to sell the islands of the Philippines in exchange for Austro-Hungarian support and to address the country's increasingly strained financial situation.

Cuba's economic interests at the end of the nineteenth century were much greater than those of the Philippines compared to the impoverished Philippines, when Cuba's main cash crop was sugar, which produced 500,000 tons in 1860, which was the main reason for the United States to spy on Cuba.

In November 1897, the King of Spain issued a decree granting autonomy to Cuba, but the Cuban rebels did not stop attacking and continued to attack the colonial forces, making Spain's vain attempt to continue to rule Cuba with a false contract, and at the same time understanding that the rebels must be completely suppressed in order to regain control of Cuba.

It costs money to fight, and now selling one or two islands can make a good deal with Austria-Hungary, and at the same time get a huge amount of military spending, and Spain will certainly not let go of such a good opportunity.

"20 million pounds, sale of Mindanao, are you mistaken, what's on that broken island? Is it occupied by you? Gao Hongsheng shouted loudly.

The Spanish minister brought not so good news that they only sold an undeveloped island, Mindanao.

Mindanao is big enough, the second largest island in the Philippines with an area of 940,000 square kilometers, but the broken island is full of mountains, the whole is covered by tropical rainforests, and there is also an active volcano, Mount Apo, that is, a bit of a narrow plain along the coast where you can grow some cash crops.

This is not the main problem, the problem is that Spain has never occupied Mindanao, even after the United States occupied the Philippines, it has not occupied Mindanao, and the US military was finally forced to sign a Guillam-Betz treaty after paying a heavy price, stipulating that the US military would not enter the southern Philippines.

Because there are the Moro people, that is, the Muslim people of the Philippines in Southeast Asia, originally ruled by the Sultan, Islam was introduced to the Philippines in 1380, and in the middle of the 15th century, the Sultan of Sulu and the Sultanate of Maguindanao were established in the southern Philippines, including the islands of Basilan, Tawitawi, Palawan and the surrounding islands.

When the king of Sulu also saw Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, when he returned to China, he died of illness and was buried in Dezhou, and most of his second son, third son and his entourage stayed in China.

Now Spain actually took a place that had never been occupied by him to Gao Hongsheng in exchange for 20 million pounds, which is simply an insult to him.

"Mr. Gao, although we have not occupied Mindanao, nominally it belongs to Spain, and as long as we sign the agreement, nominally it belongs to you. As for the occupation, I think the Moros have no power to resist in the face of Mr. Gao's strong force. ”

"No, I want a small island near Luzon, I want to grow rubber, I don't want to go to war. Don't you have an island for me? Otherwise, if I give the Filipino insurgents some new weapons, I think they'll help me get what I want. ”

"Sir, are you threatening me?"

"No, Mr. Minister, I am a businessman, a businessman engaged in the arms trade, and I am happy to sell my weapons all over the world. Cuba is not bad, the Philippines is also good, where there is a war there is us, isn't it! ”

A declining imperial minister, don't threaten you to threaten who to go, anyway, with the support of Archduke Ferdinand in the back, Gao Hongsheng will not be afraid of the country of Spain.

"Mr. Gao, I don't know what kind of weapons you sell, how are the performances?"

"Quite well, you can ask Archduke Ferdinand about this, his army is negotiating with us about the suitability of the purchase." Gao Hongsheng pushed Ferdinand out in order to use the influence of Archduke Ferdinand to sell arms.

Archduke Ferdinand stood up and pretended to be very sincere at the Spanish minister and said: "Mr. Gao's weapon is the most advanced weapon I have seen so far, if the Spanish army is equipped with these weapons, those thugs will not be able to threaten your rule at all." ”

"Mr. Gao, can I take a tour of the weapons you are selling? I'm curious that Archduke Ferdinand would recommend your weapon in such a recommendatory tone. ”

"No problem, we can go to the range and observe it, so that it can be more realistically reflected in their effectiveness. Go now? ”

"Of course, the sooner the better, I'm curious."

“…………”

Then Archduke Ferdinand led the Spanish minister and Gao Hongsheng to the shooting range near Vienna to inspect the firepower effect of Gao Hongsheng's new weapons.

Even if Gao Hongsheng is very anxious in his heart, he has to show a casual appearance on the surface, in fact, he has already been tempted to buy Mindanao, although there are troublesome Moro people there, but there are also ** in Shandong, China, he doesn't believe that he has a bad deal with the Moro people in the past, China is a very tolerant country, and he will not engage in a genocidal policy, let alone care about any religious issues, those problems in the eyes of Westerners are not a problem at all in his place.

Of course, there were no problems with the firepower of the new weapon, and the Spanish minister immediately noticed the difference in the 75-mm rapid-fire gun, and at the same time became interested in the frantic fire of the Maxim heavy machine gun.

Negotiations were much simpler, and a tentative agreement was reached whereby Gao would provide up to five million pounds in arms and two million pounds in cash in exchange for the entire southern Philippines, including Mindanao and Basilan. The Sulu archipelago, the Tawi-Tawi Islands, and also include a large tail, Sabah.

Sabah was originally owned by the Sultan of Sulu, who was defeated by the Spaniards, who divided Sabah to the British in 1878 and leased it to the British North Borneo Company.

The British North Borneo Company was a group of merchants who helped the Sultan of Sulu smuggle supplies, then leased the place from the Sultan, and finally turned around and became a protectorate of the British Empire in 1888.

But now that the territory of the Sultan of Sulu has become Gao Hongsheng's, then the corresponding Sabah will become his, but the British Empire will not give him rent, let alone whether he dares to accept it.

This is also a pit dug by Spain for Gao Hongsheng, it depends on whether he dares to jump in, but Gao Hongsheng doesn't care, not being able to get it now does not mean that he can't get it in the future, anyway, it's nominally his own, and the future will be said in the future, now he doesn't dare to touch the mildew of the British, let's get the South Philippines done first, Sabah can be immigrated and developed, didn't he also immigrate to Sabah when the Republic of China, and now immigration is not simpler.