When the officers and men of the Royal Spanish Navy of the Cadiz fleet heard that this artillery was terrifying, and that the Qing fleet was not an enemy, but an ally, they all secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then became excited, and they all danced with their eyebrows, elated, and cheered wave after wave, revealing the enthusiasm, unrestrained, and practical character of the Spaniards.

Hearing the faint cheers from the opposite side, Shi Shibiao and Yinzhen couldn't help but glance at each other, all of them looked puzzled, what kind of nerves did these Westerners have, are they welcoming the Nanyang Fleet? Or is it doing pre-war agitation? Just as he was puzzled, the herald had already hurried over, and after saluting, he calmly reported: "Report to the commander, the Spanish fleet has sent a flag to welcome the visit of the Qing fleet." ”

Hearing this, several people were happy, Shi Shibiao raised the telescope to observe, and saw that the Spanish fleet had closed the gun door, and raised the sails to return to the port, he couldn't help but secretly rejoice, Spain welcomed the Qing Navy into the port of Cádiz, which means that Spain has decided to form an alliance with the Qing Dynasty, after a little hesitation, he ordered in a deep voice: "Order Lin Wei to lead a small fleet into the port to investigate." ”

After speaking, he turned to Yinzhen and said: "Lord, Spain's move is tantamount to having made up its mind to form an alliance with our Qing Dynasty, we might as well go to the port of Cadiz first to understand the situation and then make a decision." ”

Yin Zhen nodded and said, "If it weren't for fraud, you should understand the situation first." ”

"It's unlikely that there will be fraud." Wu Sidao groaned: "There is a way to kill a thousand enemies and lose eight hundred, after seeing the power of the artillery of the Nanyang Fleet, they dare not play yin, they can't afford to lose, besides, they have no reason to erect the enemy at this juncture." ”

"Mr. Wu's statement is very reasonable." Shi Shibiao bowed his head slightly, and as soon as he groaned slightly, he looked at Fu Anding and ordered: "After entering the port, the Marine Corps must immediately take over the defense of the dock where the fleet is moored. There must be no carelessness. ”

"Mark the honorable order." Fu Anding hurriedly saluted.

In the sound of drums, the Nanyang Fleet slowly sailed into the port of Cádiz, Yinzhen and Shi Shibiao did not get off the ship, and Lin Wei went ashore as a representative to feel the enthusiasm of the Spaniards.

Lin Haitao, who led the envoy to Spain, hurriedly boarded the flagship, and after the salute, Shi Shibiao asked in a deep voice: "Did you go to France?" ”

"No, the mark has been in Madrid, the capital of Spain." Lin Haitao calmly reported: "Five days ago, French Finance Minister De Maret arrived in Madrid. He had come to Cádiz, along with the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Reinaldo. ”

After a slight pause, he continued: "France and Spain are strongly in favor of the alliance, and they have no opinion on the cession of the port of Acapulco in the Americas, and agree to cede the port of Acapulco within a radius of fifty miles to the Qing Dynasty, and recognize Luzon Island as the territory of the Qing Dynasty. Willing to open the port of Octerville to trade with the Qing Dynasty, Spain said. They were willing to open the port of Cadiz as a trading port, but they demanded a treaty of offensive and defensive alliance with the Qing Dynasty and the opening of free trade. ”

Signing an offensive and defensive alliance treaty, France wanted to pull the Qing Dynasty into the water and tie the Qing Dynasty to his chariot for hegemony in Europe, which was no problem. The Qing Dynasty came to Europe to deliberately stir up the situation, and it was no problem to open free trade, and it was impossible for the Qing Dynasty to close itself off from the country now. Recognition of Luzon Island as the territory of the Qing Dynasty is just a favor, whether it is recognized or not, the Qing Dynasty will not give up Luzon again, and the old fourteenth has already sold Luzon Island, and there is no room for negotiation at all.

As for agreeing to cede the port of Acapulco in the Americas, this is also expected, the Qing Dynasty has already sent troops to occupy it, and the cession is just a proper name, and Spain is so generous to cede and demand the signing of an offensive and defensive alliance treaty, which is intended to lose the car to protect the commander and cut off the idea of the Qing Dynasty annexing New Spain in the Americas.

After a little hesitation, Yin Zhen asked, "Where is Port Oaktville?" ”

"Back to the prince, the port of Octville is in the west of France, frequently bordering the English Channel, opposite the United Kingdom, and is an important commercial port and military port in France." Lin Haitao hurriedly bowed down to report.

Yin Zhen nodded slightly, no wonder France was so generous, and took the initiative to open the port of Octville, which was deliberately placed in the forefront of Britain and France, once the two countries had a war, the Qing Dynasty could not stay out of it anyway, and at the same time, it could also play a role in effectively controlling the Qing Dynasty's trade with Europe, which was really exhausted.

After thinking for a moment, he got up and walked to the large European map hanging on the bulkhead, and looked at it for a long time before he spoke: "We all want the port of Octville and the port of Cádiz, but the Qing Dynasty must have its own foothold, otherwise it will be controlled by others everywhere." As he spoke, he pointed to the location of the Strait of Gibraltar and said: "It is still difficult to cede territory in Europe, so we might as well retreat and occupy Tangier." ”

Tangier? Shi Shibiao got up and walked to the map, looked at it, and said in a deep voice: "This place is only a few nautical miles away from Spain, and it is close to the Strait of Gibraltar, so its strategic value is extremely high, and what is even more rare is that its belly is vast and there is room for expansion. ”

After a slight pause, he continued: "The Nanyang Fleet can't always send people under the fence, it is naturally best to have its own port, but, as far as I know, this port is currently under the control of Spain, and it is not easy for Spain to cede this place." ”

"As the so-called time comes from time to time, since France and Spain are trying their best to form an alliance with the Qing Dynasty, they naturally have to show some sincerity." Wu Sidao smiled slightly, and said: "If we don't come, it will be difficult for Spain to keep this strategic place in the end, not to mention, the Qing Dynasty has a foothold here, Spain has the advantage of being close to the water, and the opposition will not be too great, don't do it at this time, it will be difficult to open your mouth in the future, even if you don't cede it, you can borrow it." ”

Borrow? I'm afraid that Liu Bei borrowed Jingzhou, and if he borrowed it, Shi Shibiao smiled slightly, and was about to speak, when he reported to the guards outside the door: "Marshal, Spanish Foreign Minister Reinaldo, French Chancellor of Finance Demaré, Commander of the Cadiz Fleet, Archer and Carlos are asking to see outside. ”

They came quickly, it seems that France and Spain are a little impatient to form an alliance with the Qing Dynasty, Shi Shibiao glanced at Yinzhen, and said with a smile: "Lord, the last general is only in charge of the war, and the prince is in charge of these matters." ”

Yin Zhen nodded slightly, and said, "The commanders of the Cadiz fleet, Archer and Carlos, are still received by you, and this king will meet those two ministers." ”

"The last general will respect his life." Shi Shibiao was busy with his body, he had been thinking about how to fight Portugal in the past few days, and he also wanted to find out some information from the mouth of Archer, the commander of the Cadiz fleet, and when Yinzhen and Wu Sidao withdrew, he cleaned up a little before ordering: "Please invite Archer, commander of the Cadiz fleet, and Carlos, deputy commander of the Greater Luzon fleet." ”

Hearing that the two of them got on the ship, Shi Shibiao got up and took Lin Wei out to greet him, there are many places to borrow from the Spaniards in the European conquest, he doesn't want to leave an arrogant impression on the Spaniards as soon as he comes, the four of them meet, Carlos consciously acts as an introducer, in Shi Shibiu's eyes, Westerners all look about the same, after a little look, he returned a military salute, and then stretched out his hand to give the two of them into the command cabin.

Because the translation is time-consuming and they are not familiar with each other, after sitting down, Shi Shibiao did not go around in circles, greeted him slightly, and said straight to the point: "It is said that the Portuguese Navy is also a first-class navy in Europe, I don't know what its scale is?" ”

Listening to the translation, Archer couldn't help but be slightly stunned, why did the Qing people care so much about Portugal, did they want to attack Portugal first? However, Portugal and the Qing State have always been friendly and have constant trade exchanges, but he immediately woke up to the fact that the Qing State was now going to ally with Spain and France, and it was normal to declare war on Portugal.

After a little thought, he said truthfully: "In recent years, Portugal has discovered gold and diamond mines in Brazil, a colony in the Americas, and King João V of Portugal has built a first-class navy in Europe with this gold, and the fleet is huge, with only the main warship, and there are thirty third-class battleships. ”

There were thirty battleships of the third rank alone! Shi Shibiao couldn't help frowning, there are only eight third-class ships in the Nanyang Fleet, and this gap is not small. Lin Wei also secretly complained in his heart, the disparity of nearly four times, this battle could not be fought, and after a slight groan, he opened his mouth and asked: "Isn't the Portuguese fleet stationed separately?" ”

Archer shook his head and said, "No, the Portuguese fleet is all stationed in the port of Lisbon, and the British have a small fleet also stationed in Lisbon, with six third-class battleships. ”

As soon as they heard this, Shi Shibiao and Lin Wei both felt bitter in their mouths, there was actually a small British fleet in Lisbon, and the disparity between the enemy and our strength was too great.

Carlos was not very concerned about whether the Qing navy was interested in attacking the Portuguese fleet, he was concerned about the 1,000-5 Spanish prisoners who came with the ship, he accompanied the Qing envoys to Madrid, knowing that Spain and France wanted to form an alliance with the Qing state, and seeing that there was a little cold, he tentatively said: "The alliance between the Spanish Empire and the Qing Empire is imminent, and the soldiers who came with the fleet." ”

Shi Shibiao nodded slightly, and said: "The envoy to Europe is mainly Prince Yong of the Qing Empire, and this matter will have a result soon, so there is no need to worry." ”

Archer glanced at Carlos dissatisfied, since he wanted to form an alliance, he still had to worry that the Qing people would not release the prisoners, if the Qing people had the intention to use the prisoners as bargaining chips, what if they let go of more than a thousand people? There are still thousands of captives in Nanyang, and after a little hesitation, he deliberately diverted the topic and said: "I watched the artillery drill of your navy warships today, which is really eye-opening, your drill is five third-class battleships, I don't know how powerful the fourth-class battleships are?" ”