It was not difficult to meet Bacalelli, but it was not easy to convince him, and even the more ambitious King Carlos III of Spain. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoSpain after the era of the sun never sets, has the typical characteristics of bullying the weak and fearing the hard. It is obviously not very realistic to simply sink a frigate of the USS San Diego and want the Spaniards to retreat, and then move far away from California.

The Governor's Palace in Mexico City, where Bai Nan, dressed in a tunic suit, met with Baccarelli.

"Hello, Mr. Bai Nan, it's a pleasure to meet you. I have to say that although your clothes are simple, they look extremely decent, and they also show your culture that is very different from Western civilization. However, I have seen Chinese clothes and hairstyles, and it is clear that you are very different from the Oriental people I remember. "Baccarelli's first question was to suspect Bai Nan's origins.

Bai Nan just smiled lightly and replied freely, "Now China is being ruled by a group of Tatars, who have destroyed our civilization, such as forcing people to keep their money rat-tail braids. In order to reform the old and make the new, and in order to pursue our own dreams, we Tang people came to the new world, opened up our own land, and changed from the past in many ways. Of course, who isn't? Can you say that the Iberians of the Roman Empire and the Spaniards of today dressed and dressed in the same way? ”

Baccarelli only smiled, he looked at Bai Nan with a little arrogance, and said: "Spaniards have always been hospitable, but that is only for our friends. It is unreasonable that the Tang State, represented by Mr. Bai, has occupied our mission center and established a colony for no reason, and now it wants to drive out the mission center and fortress we have already established. You know, Spain cherishes every inch of its land and the power that God has given us. ”

Bai Nan's face remained unchanged, he understood that both sides of the negotiation believed that they had the advantage, that the Crossing believed that they had technology and military power that were ahead of their time, while the Spaniards believed that they were old colonial empires with strong military force, so it was difficult to make any concessions.

"Your Excellency the Governor, have you already met with Lieutenant Commander Perez, the former captain of the USS Santiago?"

Baccarelli nodded, "It's natural, Lieutenant Colonel Perez has been treated unfairly, and I would like to protest to you on behalf of Spain." ”

Bai Nan smiled and said, "Perez attacked our fishing boat for no reason, and the fate he suffered was self-inflicted. My point, though, is that after Pérez has told you about our strength, do you still think that we will be afraid of the military power of New Spain? ”

Baccarelli said, "I don't know what ecstasy soup you poured into Pérez, or if this lost soul guy was bought by you to deceive us, it's not an easy thing to do. ”

Bai Nan understood that Perez must have worked very hard to prove to Baccarelli the strength of the Tang Dynasty's army, but because the level of the Tang Dynasty army was too beyond the understanding of normal people in this era, or the degree of Perez's exaggeration was very large, Baccarelli couldn't believe it. Bai Nan is also a little helpless about this, this is also something that cannot be helped.

"Well, you have the right to choose what you want to believe. The doors of Los Angeles are also open to Spanish visitors, and we welcome your mission to verify the veracity of Pérez's words, and of course your warships to come to the waters off California for a 'friendly game' with us." However, the ultimatum of the Tang Republic to Monterrey and San Diego is still in effect, and our military will forcibly dismantle and evict these two facilities 60 days after the date of your notification. ”

Baccalelli was also tough: "The Spaniards don't accept this kind of blackmail, we will stick to what we proclaim. In addition, since you have seized the crew of our Santiago and the Franciscan priests, the Government of the colony of New Spain will send personnel to verify their situation, and I ask you to release our detainees immediately in order to avoid a more drastic reaction from the Kingdom of Spain. ”

This means that Baccarelli will also send Spaniards to Los Angeles to ask for the release of prisoners, which is one thing, I am afraid that these people will also take on the task of finding intelligence, and Baccarelli also wants to know whether these Tang people are as powerful as Perez said. He does not think completely arbitrarily that the other party is cheating, or that he has left a little room for maneuver.

Bai Nan knew very well that even if the Spaniards did not recognize Datang, they would never rashly send troops to Datang. There were no Spanish interests there, knowing full well that without the necessary supplies, Spain could not have sent a fleet and thousands of soldiers to fight because of California. Therefore, this is actually a stalemate situation, which will not cause substantial losses to Datang, and at most Datang's merchant ships will not be able to dock at Mexican ports.

If Baccarelli later determines that the strength of Datang is really very strong, and it will be difficult for Spain to retake California from there, it is likely to choose to compromise.

"Then, Mr. Bai, your duties as a diplomat have been completed, please leave." After saying that, Baccarelli went straight to the eviction order, showing that he was completely unwelcome.

Bai Nan thought to himself that he had immunity as a diplomat, and even if Spain was domineering, it would not do anything to the other party's diplomats. Fortunately, the four merchant ships that had been in Alpulco had returned under the escort of a frigate, and the frigate Yu Dayou was still waiting to meet Bai Nan off the coast of Alpulco.

Bai Nan did not expect that the scale of this so-called "negotiation and condolence mission" sent by the Spaniards was not small, and Perez, who had been to Los Angeles, would also participate in this team, and at least ten colonial officials and military officers would also join. This time, Spain will still send a frigate, the Favolita, a small frigate that will follow Yu Dayou to Los Angeles.

However, the Spaniards ignored a problem, that is, the Yu Dayou was a steam-powered frigate, and its speed was higher than that of the Favolita, and the Spaniards did not greet the Tang people arrogantly, and even put on a self-righteous appearance, so Bai Nan naturally had no obligation to take into account the willfulness of the Spaniards.

When the Spanish frigate Favolita watched the Yu Dayou in front of her spew out a puff of black smoke, and then drove north at a high speed, she could only stare widely.

Perez reluctantly said to Heseta, the captain of the Favorita: "I have already told you, it is impossible to expect our warships to keep up with the frigates of the Tang Navy, they have the latest technology, they can at least advance the battleship to more than 14 knots, this is just sailing, can you imagine what it will be like if our ships fight their warships?" They can keep a distance from us at all times with their faster speed, and with their long-range cannons, they can beat us to a pulp. ”

Apparently Hesetta, the captain of the Favolita, was a little swollen and fat, and he said with contempt: "Perez, you have lost a battleship, so don't make excuses for your incompetence. ”

Perez sneered: "You can think whatever you want, but you yourself have eyes, the sailing ship that is called a frigate but is actually bigger than an 80-gun battleship has disappeared from our field of vision for a while." There were not a few decent battleships in all of Mexico, and the Don State had a large number of such ships. Can we transfer battleships from the mainland to the colonies? In that case, how are we going to deal with the British, the Dutch? ”

Jeseta was a little speechless by Pérez's argument, but Jesetta was not willing to show weakness at all, "It's just a colony like Mexico, how strong it can be, you don't have to make excuses for your failure!" ”

Pérez also knew that Herseta had made up his mind not to believe in himself, so he simply stopped explaining and said directly: "Just wait until you get to Los Angeles and see for yourself!" ”

On the Yu Dayou, Bai Nan was not in the mood to take a look at the Spanish frigate behind him, he held on to the guardrail of the ship, looking at the endless waves, thoughtful.

"Chief, are we going to fight the Spaniards?" A slightly immature voice sounded beside Bai Nan.

Bai Nan turned his head and found that it was actually a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy, but he was wearing a sea soul shirt and dark blue training pants.

"You're a sailor in your clothes?"

The young man puffed up his chest and said in a loud voice: "Private of the second class, Lin Huansheng reports to you." ”

Bai Nan asked curiously, "How did you become a soldier at this age?" ”

The young man said proudly: "Chief, my family is a shipmaster in Mawei, I have been boating at sea since I was a child, and I have always aspired to be a navy. But since I was sensible, the navy has always had nothing to do, and it was either beaten by the Japanese or the army, and it didn't make much difference. After crossing over, the navy recruited sailboats and knew how to operate guns, and I could do it, so they hired me exceptionally. ”

Bai Nan understood that the sailors of the Ming Dynasty knew sailing but were not very good at operating artillery, and few of the people in the Republic of China knew how to sail, and they might vomit to death when they got on the ship, and it was obviously impossible for the sailors of the modern people to come directly to the sail battleship, so there was an opportunity for young soldiers like Lin Huansheng to appear.

"You should actually study hard, but it seems that there are no schools in Los Angeles right now."

Lin Huansheng said: "Chief, I am literate, and I have also read Ma Han's "Theory of Sea Power"! ”

"Yo, that's good." Bai Nan praised him with a smile.

"Chief, you haven't answered me yet, will we go to war with Spain?"

Bai Nandao: "What, are you afraid?" ”

"Don't be afraid, I want to fight a naval battle in my dreams. However, I think that our navy has only two frigates, and the sailors have not yet adapted to the power transformation and new artillery, so they need more run-in and immediately put into battle, and there may be some losses. However, we have the White Shark of the Chief, and the Spaniards can't get any favors. ”

Bai Nan couldn't help but glance at this Lin Huansheng, this young man has a kind of bold and adventurous spirit of a navy man who does not admit defeat, his thinking is very clear, and his vision is also good, Bai Nan wrote down his name, thinking that this is a talent that can be cultivated.