At noon on March 27, in a 4,000-ton large cargo ship with a Chinese flag outside the port of Santiago, South American Minister Shen Shouchang sat in the center, chatting and laughing with guests, and around the living room, except for a businessman in his forties wearing a traditional Chinese horse coat, the other two were Cubans, and one of them was a dark-skinned, tall, thin man with curly hair sitting on his left hand

At this time, a consular official knocked on the door of the parlor, and then quietly walked to Shen Shouchang's side, handed a telegram to the ambassador who was crisscrossing South America, Shen Shouchang nodded slightly to the guest, then took the telegram and looked at it, an imperceptible smile flashed, and then smiled at the curly-haired Cuban.

"Colonel Gomez, today our negotiations have reached a very satisfactory result for both parties, if you are willing, we will be able to sign a formal cooperation agreement in a few days!"

The Chinese businessman next to him also lost no time in interjecting at this moment, "Colonel Gomez, in the past, the secret trade between us was secretly promoted by the ambassador, and the ambassador also expressed deep sympathy for the national status of the Cuban people and was very willing to mediate for this!" ”

This curly-haired man called Colonel Gomez by Shen Shouchang is obviously an old figure, in fact, in the rebel wanted list released by Santiago, he is an important figure second only to the rebel leader Perez, and the reason why he secretly entered Santiago is naturally from Shen Shouchang's invitation, since the outbreak of the war of independence in Cuba three years ago, although the independent army has achieved many military victories, but it is far from defeating the Spanish army with strong troops. Obviously there is still a long way to go.

And what attracted him to see Shen Shouchang. Naturally, it was the military and commercial cooperation that the Chinese ambassador promised him. After nearly two days of secret negotiations, Shen Shouchang very generously told him that China could agree to provide 100,000 weapons and equipment to the independence army at the nearest Colombian port, of course, this qiē is not free, but gradually repaid through the sugar trade between the two sides.

Although the Cuban Independence Army has a good morale, it has no heavy industry, let alone a military industry, because of the whole of Cuba. The weapons of the Independence Army were purchased from the United States, and the funds were collected by the United States and the covert support of domestic merchants, but this way the funds were a drop in the bucket for an army that now has thousands of soldiers.

During this period, the U.S. government apparently made various promises to them, and there were some concessions in the price of weapons, but it never promised the Independence Army economic construction assistance, and this was what he was most interested in...... Also, for this huge country that is close at hand. The shrewd Colonel Gomez was no one unsuspecting.

Hearing Shen Shouchang's intention to leave, he immediately responded with a smile: "Ambassador Shen." I have full confidence in our cooperation, and if your country is able to mediate the independence of Cuba, I can accept your offer on behalf of Mr. Perez! ”

Shen Shouchang smiled quietly, and after a few more greetings, he left, and when he boarded the small steam cargo ship that came over, he immediately turned around and asked a capable man who followed closely after getting up, "Major Wu, have you found a suitable agent in Lastunas, this Gomez is not easy to deal with!" We can't put all the chips on this one, we have to have a backhand! ”

Colonel Wu immediately leaned in and muttered a few words in a low voice, and Shen Shouchang nodded, "Very good...... You're coming to pick up Colonel Gomez early tomorrow morning...... By the way, you have someone to help him change his clothes, so as not to cause any trouble, so that he can also see our power by the way! ”

At this moment, Gomez, who was pacing back and forth in the cabin of the ship, was obviously also preoccupied, he stood at the window and stared at the Spanish merchant ships coming and going in the port for a long time, before turning around and asking the other round-faced curly-haired entourage behind him, "Mr. Ba Aisi, what do you think of the Chinese putting forward so many favorable conditions?" To be honest, I'm a little hard to understand! ”

The round-faced entourage was naturally not an ordinary person, it was the head of the Independence Army, Perez's trusted think tank, Minister Ba Aisi, who was a lawyer, and the two of them took a huge risk to sneak into San Diego, naturally hoping for a greater return, this one thought about it for a while, and immediately gave his opinion, "I heard that the Chinese envoy said that the Americans shelled their warship before, I think this should be Chinese trying to embarrass the United States on the East Coast...... For us, the contradiction between them is a rare opportunity! ”

Hearing this, Gomez also nodded, for the sudden appearance of the Chinese, he naturally did not trust, a few days ago in Las Tunas, when the Han treasurer brought two Chinese military attaches to visit him, he very clearly refused, of course, considering the long-term secret trade relationship between the Han family and the independent army, he did not embarrass the other party, but on the grounds of battlefield safety, let the two Chinese leave quickly.

However, he soon regretted that the military supplies and medicines that the Independence Army had purchased from the United States had been destroyed by the Spanish Navy in Miami during transportation, and this important material directly led to the difficulties of the Independence Army, and the defeat of the United States Navy on the West Coast directly led to the refusal of American merchant ships on the West Coast to trade with Cuba.

Although the Independence Army had earlier stockpiled some supplies, he was unwilling to spend them now in preparation for expanding the size of the army and launching an offensive, and in desperation, he thought of the Chinese who had come to visit, and to his surprise, the Han treasurer and the Chinese envoy did not leave at all, and visited him again the next day, and made it very clear to Gomez that China does not seek any interests in Cuba, and even if it participates in Cuban trade, it agrees to join in the form of a joint venture. The control of zhì power can belong to the independent army.

You must know that although the United States has agreed to provide assistance to the Cuban Independence Army and has passed the so-called non-annexation of Cuba, all cooperation with the Americans is in fact a commercial transaction, and it uses Cuba's domestic media to raise funds, and then the United States government purchases from arms dealers.

However, the funds raised were used to buy food and other civilian materials, and when it came to purchasing armaments, especially heavy weapons, the Americans only agreed to sell light weapons, and even if the artillery was purchased through some special channels, it had to be exchanged for the interests of the areas occupied by the independence army.

Therefore, after two days of in-depth negotiations, Gomez had reached an agreement with the top level of the Independence Army, and he couldn't wait to consult with higher-level Chinese officials, of course, Gomez did not cut off contact with the United States, but because the control of the sea changed hands, it was difficult to quickly transfer resources to the independence army base areas in the short term due to the report from the personnel arranged by the United States, so he immediately made a decision and personally entered Santiago secretly with the Chinese envoy.

Previously, Shen Shouchang also made it clear to him the content of the previous agreement, that China does not want Cuban interests, and will not intervene in the war between the independence army and the Spaniards, but can provide unimaginable help to the independence army through the channel of Guò Colombia, but Shen Shouchang also made it very clear that the Chinese government does not want the United States to intervene in any way in the interests of South America, including Cuba.

The only problem is that Cuban independence is no longer possible through the United States...... But this one, according to the new information he learned from the Chinese minister, seems unlikely, because the contest between the US Navy and the Spanish Navy seems to be completely overwhelmed, and the Spanish Navy even shelled several ports on the east coast, while the US Navy suffered considerable losses along the Cuban coastline.

That night, the lights in the cabin of the Han family's merchant ship were lit until late at night, and the next day, when Gomez had breakfast and was discussing the terms of the agreement with Ba Aisi, Major Wu had already boarded the merchant ship, and he smiled at Gomez: "Colonel Gomez, Minister Shen is going to attend a welcome ceremony in the port today, he wants to invite you to join him, you may want to see the old rival in the past few years up close!" ”

This news obviously surprised Gomez, and he couldn't help but immediately ask, "Major Wu, what is today's important event?" Could it be that important figures from the Spanish army were present? ”

Major Wu laughed, leaned over and muttered a few words, Gomez had a shocked expression, and immediately nodded again and again, half an hour, when Gomez followed Major Wu to board the small steamer entering the port, after makeup, his appearance has changed very obviously, and he has changed into a Colombian businessman wearing a tuxedo, and when he came to the military dock on the west side of the port, he walked among a group of Spanish officers in red military uniforms, which made him feel a little unreal, you know, These Spanish armies spent almost all day trying to figure out how to capture the Independence Army in Lastunas.

And today's activity at the dock, he almost quickly judged, there was a Spanish military band of hundreds of people, and soon, he met the Chinese minister Shen Shouchang in a temporary barracks that had just been erected.

"Ambassador Shen, after careful consideration, I hope to sign the agreement as much as possible, and I hope to implement the military training assistance provided by your country," although he was very curious about the celebration at the dock today, for him, solving the practical problems of the independence army was far more important than curiosity, so as soon as he saw Shen Shouchang, he couldn't wait to talk about business first.

Shen Shouchang smiled, this guy is really bold, he is talking about the rebellion in the Spanish barracks, but there are all the field military attaches of the consulate here, so there is no need to worry about safety, but he immediately dispelled the topic, "Colonel Gomez, I invite you here today to participate in the Chinese Navy's peaceful visit to Santiago!" (To be continued......)