A building with some Western-style style, the courtyard is not very large, the building only has three floors and an attic, if you put a cross somewhere, I am afraid it will be more like a church. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info This is the Spanish consulate in Los Angeles, which was built by the Tang people specifically for the Spaniards. Although the two countries have not yet formally exchanged credentials and established diplomatic relations, this kind of substantive diplomacy has already been carried out, and the Spaniards hope to carry out activities in Datang, including trade and intelligence spying, so a consulate is a must. Especially now that Datang still has some prisoner of war laborers in Los Angeles, the Spaniards are fighting for the release of them from the Tang Republic.

Before the exchange of credentials, the consulate was still the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and the Spaniards did not enjoy diplomatic immunity here, but they were allowed to work here. Naturally, with this decent consulate, the Spaniards had to pay a high rent. Alfonso was in pain, but it was a cost he had to pay.

Taking care of the consulate, buying furniture and various office supplies, and making various preparations became the main reasons for Alfonso to stay in Los Angeles. He also needed more time to observe the country, understand its strengths and strengths, and analyze its weaknesses and shortcomings.

The return of the migratory bird fleet not only shook the entire Tang Dynasty, but also the Spaniards in Los Angeles. Alfonso twice asked the Tang Ministry of Foreign Affairs to visit the returning migratory bird fleet at the port of Long Beach, but was explicitly forbidden by the Tang Ministry of Foreign Affairs and restricted movement. In fact, all the actions of the Spaniards in the Tang State were accompanied by personnel by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the grounds that the Spaniards did not speak Chinese.

But the Spaniards are not completely blind, they use any available channel to find out information, and of course the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will also disclose certain information to them within the scope of authorization.

In the consul general's office at the consulate, Alfonso sat behind a rather fancy looking desk, which he liked so much that he even had the idea of buying one to take back to Spain. The carpentry of this table is excellent, and it is made of local redwood, which is not only partially decorative, but also polished and waxed.

Heseta walked in, placed an aluminum can on Alfonso's table, and said, "My lord, what do you see here?" ”

Alfonso took the aluminum can and said, "Aluminum?" What a luxury. ”

In Europe, where electrolysis technology had not yet been invented, aluminum was still a rare thing, even more expensive than silver. There is an often circulated allusion that at the table where Napoleon invited guests to dinner, the guests used silver tableware, and only Napoleon used aluminum, which means that aluminum was more expensive than silver at that time.

Hesetta said, "Well, my envoy, while you're right, that's not my point. It seems that in the Tang Kingdom, aluminum was a relatively common metal, and it was often used to make lightweight items, such as this kind of jar. I really want to tell you ......"

Alfonso had already opened the can, "It's tea." ”

Heseta nodded: "Yes, this is tea, tea from the Far East. The Tang sent four huge merchant ships to China, their homeland, and from there brought back a large amount of Far Eastern goods, which were black tea from China. Whether it is delivered to Madrid, Paris, London, or Amsterdam, it will be sold at a good price. ”

Alfonso's face was already serious, and he asked, "Where did you get it?" ”

Hesetta said: "These teas have been put on the shelves of the Los Angeles department store, and there is no limit to purchase, although I went out and followed the people from the Tang Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but they did not prevent us from buying goods." This pot of tea only cost me 5 Tang Yuan. ”

Alfonso immediately understood the point, "They sell tea cheaper than the tea we ship from Manila to Alpco!" ”

"It's actually easy to understand, from Guangzhou in China to Manila, there are price increases for Chinese merchants and our Filipino merchants, and then through the galleon routes, and there are high tariffs in the Philippines and Mexico. But the Tang trade routes were more direct, they could import goods directly from Canton to the mainland, and although I don't know how long it would take to make a round trip to the Pacific Ocean with the Tang steam schooners, I estimate that it would take half a year at most. That's half the time of the Manila galleon route, and the Tang people are not very affected by the monsoon, so they can run two round trips a year. ”

Alfonso shook his head and said, "It can't be counted like this, we are affected by the monsoon, and we can only take the galleon route once a year. But the Tang people don't have to go twice a year, they can go as many times as they want, and I think their capacity is enough. The only thing that is restricted is probably whether the trade with China can eat enough goods, or sell enough goods. ”

"My God," hissed Herseta, "their ships are already several times larger than our galleons and can make multiple trips a year, so that the position of our Manila galleon routes is seriously challenged. ”

Alfonso knew that the galleon route had been slowly weakened since the second half of the eighteenth century, and that the Spanish crown would certainly cancel the galleon trade someday in the future. Strict control over the colonies also made Mexican trade not prosperous.

"I know what you're worried about, Captain Hesetta, the Tang people are getting a lot of Far Eastern goods from China and smuggling them to Mexico, which will cut off the huge profits of our galleon trade, and even affect our native trade to the colonies of New Spain. Moreover, we can hardly use armed intervention to disrupt the smuggling of the Dons, because on the eastern coast of the Pacific Ocean, the Dons have more than ten times more maritime power than ours. Even if we use policy measures to limit smuggling, the forced Tang people may start a war that will completely shake our grip on Mexico. Alfonso bluntly analyzed that the king's henchman was a capable minister after all, and he quickly straightened out the power.

Heseta was a little anxious and said, "So how do we deal with it?" ”

Alfonso closed his eyes, shook his head, and said, "We can't deal with it, we can't stop this from the beginning of it." Of course, I think in some ways it's also a good thing for Spain. ”

"How?" After all, Herseta is a soldier, and he is inferior to Alfonso in this regard.

"If the challenge of the Tang Dynasty, and the fact that we cannot go to war with the Tang Republic, stung His Majesty the King and the pedantic nobles and courtiers in the court, we may choose a new way. That is to establish a good relationship with Datang, and then trade with Datang. We may not get the profit of the galleon route, but we can master this new route from Los Angeles to Alpulco. A lot of trade can make Mexico prosperous, and we can follow the example of the British and develop our colonies so that they have their own blood-making powers, rather than simply treating them as a sponge that is always being squeezed. We have a large number of colonies in the New World, and the goods obtained from the Tang Dynasty can be sold to every region, and as long as we master this route, we can get far more profit than the galleon route. Of course, what I attach more importance to is that through trade and exchanges, we can absorb all kinds of useful knowledge from the Tang Republic, so as to promote our own development in Spain. ”

Alfonso's gaze looked out the window, but it seemed as if he was looking further away, and he said: "Spain has acquired amazing wealth and land through geographical discovery and colonization, but the monarchs of the past have only focused on the acquisition of wealth, that is, gold and silver, and have ignored the real power of a country. I used to be ignorant of this, but after coming to this country and seeing a lot of things, I realized that the national strength of a country is not only reflected in gold, silver and army, but also the value of economic prosperity is better than simple gold and silver. Here, no one uses gold and silver for trading, just some paper money, but the wealth of this society is fascinating. The Tang Dynasty did not have many troops, but they were armed with terrifying weapons and were able to destroy ten times as many enemies as themselves. From this, I finally realized that national strength is not reflected in gold, silver, and military, but in a country's excellent culture, rich knowledge, and vibrant economic system. ”

Heseta didn't quite understand these things, but felt that Alfonso seemed to have a lot of sense, so he said: "Your Excellency is indeed a very insightful person, no wonder you can become the right-hand man of His Majesty the King." ”

Alfonso raised the tea can in his hand and said, "Let's take this little thing to illustrate, in Europe, an aluminum can is more valuable than a silver wine glass, but the Tang people can use it as an ordinary container." Why? This is because the Tang people have mastered the technology of mass production of aluminum products, which is the power of knowledge and the strength of the country. ”

Heseta hastened: "So we should collect the books on paper." ”

Alfonso sighed: "This is not an easy task, the bookstore control in Datang is comparable to that of a prison. It's impossible for any white face to buy a book there. And we can't bribe the locals to buy it for us, because there are secret police, and they are watching our every move. ”

Hesetta patted the bilingual dictionary on Alfonso's desk and said, "Let's continue to think of a way, maybe it's time to learn the language of the Tang people quickly, I have a hunch that we may have to deal with these people a lot in the future." They know Spanish, but almost none of us know Tang. ”

Alfonso said: "I am going to suggest to His Majesty the King that some local Chinese and colonial officials who understand Chinese be transferred from the Philippines to work in the consulates of Mexico and the Tang Dynasty." ”