As the 21st-century fireworks lit up the night sky of 19th-century Vienna with a rumbling roar, Gao Hongsheng and Ferdinand were frowning in his rooftop office.

Looking at Ferdinand, who was leaning on the back of the chair with a helpless expression, Gao Hongsheng sighed and said, "What the hell is going on in Spain?" Didn't you say it's okay to sell it to us? The price has been negotiated, the money has been prepared, and they are left to sign, why do they still have to change the hexagram? ”

Ferdinand smiled bitterly and said, "This matter has already been negotiated, and their regent has also agreed, that is, Queen Mother Maria Cristina. She was born in Zhdlokhovce Castle in Bohemia and was the granddaughter of Grand Duke Karl. That's what you call the Austrians.

However, since Prime Minister Canovas of the Spanish government was assassinated in the bathroom on July 8 last year, the Prime Minister of Spain has become a liberal Sagassta, and compared with the attitude of Canovas in power to keep Cuba, he seems much more indecisive, and he has to carry out the former Prime Minister Conservative Canovas's statement to Cuba: 'In order to keep Cuba, Spain will pay her a silver coin and the last drop of blood. 'Commitment.

But he also stranded the 200,000 troops that were about to be sent to Cuba in the country, and even more so that the sale to us in the South Philippines was stirred up, and the current situation was that the regent Queen Mother Christina agreed, but the Spanish government did not agree, and the matter was stuck here.

The Spanish minister has also jumped to my feet and scolded the stupid pigs in their country more than once, and he has no choice unless we risk signing a letter with the regent in private, which has no effect, and then sign a new agreement when the Spanish Conservatives take charge of the government.

Spain's parliament is governed by the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, which changes every year or two, so you don't have to wait long.

This was the best I could come up with with the Spanish minister, who could say hello to the governors of the two overseas territories, Cuba and the Philippines, who would not object as long as they were not stupid pigs. ”

Ferdinand explained things clearly little by little, and looked at Gao Hongsheng with helpless eyes, it is really the declining empire of Spain, the civil strife has never stopped, the imperial power has been weakened by Yan zhòng, and the government is in a very chaotic state, basically the prime minister will be replaced in a year or two, and the government's policy will change.

Gao Hongsheng is also scratching his head now, the old empire Spain is already in the twilight, the Ten Years War (Cuba's War of Independence) that began in 1868 has squeezed the last copper plate of this empire, and the subsequent Spanish-American War has caused Spain to lose its last colony in the New World and completely become a third-rate country.

Spain, once the most powerful country in the world, failed to the imperial power and those nobles, in its most glorious time, it relied too much on the huge silver trade and forgot to develop itself, the huge profits were greedily stuffed into their own pockets by the royal family and those nobles, they were completely lost in a luxurious life, and did not invest a little power to carry out technological changes, especially in the Americas, the huge profits plundered did not bring a little benefit to the lower classes, but the policy of unlimited expansion, As a result, Spain was caught up in years of conquest in Europe, and the people became more and more impoverished.

Especially when other European countries were carrying out the industrial revolution, this old empire just lay down on its old books and slept a lot, and it had no intention of throwing itself into the world trend at all.

When the Armada was defeated by the British, the army was defeated by the French, and the glory of Spain was gone, then this huge and decaying empire was torn apart by two vultures (Britain and France) into a small peninsula full of turmoil, and it completely lost its voice in the Western world.

The main thing is that the damned Americans will take a little more than two months to rip off the last fig leaf of this rotten empire, so that the country will completely lose the last bit of achievement it left over from its glory days, the colonies of Cuba and the Philippines.

What Gao Hongsheng is doing now is to snatch food from the mouths of the Americans, and the Americans he can't afford to provoke now, it is simply to fight against a country with his personal strength, not to mention that he is still a little person who has no foundation.

The fundamental purpose of investing in the Škoda Arsenal in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and providing various technical data and production processes is to find a backer for yourself, a backer that makes people fearful, and you don't have to crush yourself to death like a bedbug.

"Ferdinand, time waits for no one, if we sign an agreement with that regent Queen Christina in private now, what will be the impact on the Queen Mother?"

"The impact is very great, the Liberal Party in Spain will not let go of this opportunity to attack her, but the problem is not too big, it does not have much impact on her dominance, the worst result is that the Liberal government does not recognize the agreement, and then forces her to withdraw the agreement, and then the two sides blame each other, and it is likely that after a series of compromises between the two sides, the Queen Mother will revoke the original sale agreement. That's it, it's the worst. ”

Hearing this, Gao Hongsheng's eyes lit up, if you can't buy it, let's rent it! Isn't renting for 99 years like your own? When the lease period is up, can there be a referendum? If a place that has been in control for 99 years is going to be divided, then don't say that there should be more of this ruling government, right?

"It's done." Gao Hongsheng gritted his teeth and pretended to shout, and then said viciously: "Ferdinand, you will contact the Spanish minister, and we will sign an agreement with Queen Mother Christina in private, and the content of the agreement will be done according to what we started, and let them sell the entire southern Philippines and Sabah to us."

We can pay three million pounds in advance for weapons to be sent to Cuba and the Philippines, and we can ship them now, anyway, those weapons are ready-made, and they can be loaded and departed, and they can be shipped to these two colonies in a month or so.

Two million pounds in cash can be transferred to Queen Mother Christina as soon as the agreement is signed, and we can also provide 500,000 pounds to the Spanish minister to return to the country for activities, and I will not be able to credit the money, and we will not be able to smash a loan. Rent it for a hundred years, and the place will always be ours. ”

"Rent, too. If you're not afraid of losing money, we'll gamble, and you should be able to spend so much money, and if you're just renting, you'll be fine. I will send someone to Spain early tomorrow morning to secretly sign the agreement with the Spanish minister, and we should get the news in about a week at the earliest. ”

"Okay, Ferdinand will do it early tomorrow morning, the sooner the better, there are not many people who know about this matter now, if the news spreads out and we don't know what is going on, at least the Americans will not ignore it, especially when it comes to the arms deal of millions of pounds, the Americans will definitely stumble when they know the news."

"I know, this matter in the Austro-Hungarian Empire is known to me and Emperor Joseph, in addition to the minister and the regent, there are several ministers in Spain who know, but they don't know that we want to buy it, Christina just mentioned it in private, and she didn't dare to say anything when she saw the opposite of the prime minister."

What Ferdinand is most afraid of is that this business is yellow, Gao Hongsheng will not be able to provide Spanish weapons, those weapons come from there, light weapons are provided by the Mauser Arsenal, Skoda only produces a small part, but all the heavy weapons are produced by the Škoda Arsenal.

The Škoda Arsenal can basically be said to be the private property of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Joseph, and of the five million pounds of weapons supplied to Spain this time, nearly three million pounds were placed in the order for the Škoda Arsenal alone.

One of the major characteristics of the arms trade is that it is profitable, and the profits in light weapons are generally one or two times, but the profits in heavy weapons, especially artillery, are not more than three times, and you are embarrassed to talk to others.

Ferdinand, why did they work so hard to help make this happen, didn't they have huge profits to follow. Otherwise, people eat too much to help him offend other powers, just come out to do resale trade to earn millions of pounds, not to mention to their own enterprises to pull three million pounds of orders, for a company that controls the entire industrial chain, three million pounds of orders can be eaten from beginning to end, and the entire industrial chain will be revitalized at once, stimulating the entire chain to enter the stage of rapid development.

"Hmmm! Ferdinand, you just keep an eye on this matter hard, I will start organizing the supply of goods to start loading tomorrow, according to the original plan, send some weapons to Cuba and the Philippines first, and ship the weapons over as soon as possible, when the soldiers of these two colonies use such advanced weapons, the greater the support for our purchase of the southern Philippines, if they use our weapons to win one or two more battles, then the pressure we face will disappear. ”

Hearing Gao Hongsheng say this, Ferdinand raised his eyebrows, then thought for a while and said a little dullly: "It's a pity, the warships of the empire are too old, and the current speed can't even catch up with the new merchant ships, hey!" Otherwise, it would be much faster to deliver with a battleship. ”

Gao Hongsheng smiled and said, "Don't worry, in a few years, you will be able to have the fastest warship in the world." I promise. ”