Not only is the butter curious, but the gophers are also scratching their ears and cheeks.

This has to start from a month ago, Xu Zhonglin received the news of the little fat man Zheng Maitreya, and the Zheng family inquired about Li Zhenhai's real intention of visiting Admiral Bamond, the chief of Canary China, and it turned out that he wanted the cinchona tree and rubber tree in the hands of the other party.

These two things are not simple in this world, rubber needless to say, the bark of the cinchona tree is a precious medicinal material, which can refine a thing called cinchona cream, which can treat malaria, and the value in this world is hard to find.

It's a pity that the origin of both of these things is South America, which is occupied by the deep sea, and ordinary people can't get it at all. Governor Bamond traveled across the Caribbean Sea as a young man, and took advantage of an opportunity to lose most of his strength, and it took him nine lives to obtain these two strategic resources.

After returning, he relied on these two trees to marry the British and occupy the Canary Town Guard, and since then he has dominated one side.

It can be said that the Canary Town Guard, as a barren land hanging over the sea, has developed to such a huge scale today because of these two unique strategic resources. I don't know how many people are fighting the idea of these two trees, but unfortunately behind Governor Bamond stands the British, and no one has succeeded so far.

It is impossible for Li Zhenhai to want an empty glove white wolf, even if he uses Yamato-level drawings to exchange it.

But the Zheng family is different, they also have two resources that everyone in the world does not have but are very coveted, that is, cloves and nutmeg.

Lilac is not talking about flowers, it is another woody plant. Both of these things are spices, if you just talk about spices, although they are expensive, but there is no shortage in Europe, whether it is cumin and coriander on the coast of North Africa, or black pepper, saffron and cinnamon in India, they have now been popularized all over the world.

But nutmeg is also an important medicinal material, and its strategic position is no less than that of cinchona.

Both are native to the Moluccas, Indonesia, which is now home to the Deep Sea Fleet, but not far from the South China Sea. The Zheng family was the first to get the moon near the water, and they concentrated all their forces to launch a surprise attack and obtained these two strategic materials.

In this way, the two sides have basically equal chips. Chubby Paper knew that Xu Zhonglin had a relationship in the Canary Islands, so she tried to ask.

Xu Zhonglin contacted Mrs. Windsor Barmond directly, and the two sides finally reached an agreement through his matchmaking, and after half a month of negotiations.

The Canary Islands are small, have little arable land, and the temperature is not very suitable, and they are planted only with the most strategically valuable cinchona trees, and the rubber was moved to India through the connections of Mrs. Windsor Bamond. Therefore, the gopher needs to go to Canary first to pick up the cinchona tree, then go to India to get rubber saplings, exchange cloves and nutmeg with the Zheng family, and then return to India, give them to Mrs. Windsor's henchmen there, and finally come back to receive their own payment.

Fortunately, cinchona, cloves, and nutmeg are all small and shrub-like trees, making them easy to carry. It's just that now the deep-sea fleet is rampant in the Indian Ocean, and transportation is somewhat inconvenient. Since the two families are privately traded, if they are known by France, Italy, and even the Li family, there will be many people who covet them, so they can't make a big deal of it, and they must be transported secretly, and it is difficult to find people. Hui asked Lily to recommend a candidate, and Lily recommended a gopher to him. And there was this conversation.

As an intermediary, Xu Zhonglin was responsible for the escort task on both sides this time, and he also received a lot of rewards. Not only did he get two saplings from each of these four trees, but he also had one of the biggest surprises - the town guard's house!

Since the two trees offered by the Canary side were more expensive, the Zheng family compensated a series of other strategic items, including oxygen torpedoes, drawings of the most advanced light cruisers, and design drawings of the aircraft carrier Shinano, to make the transaction equal between the two parties.

Xu Zhonglin's remuneration was also paid unilaterally by the Zheng family.

According to the conventions of this world, Xu Zhonglin, as a middleman, can receive a considerable amount of resources of 5% of the transaction value as a rebate. But this transaction is strategic, and the value is even immeasurable, and with these parties, Britain's position in Europe can be further strengthened, and the importance of the Balmond family to Britain can be further enhanced.

And the Zheng family is even more profitable, and the two tree species can be described as priceless! With rubber and cinchona, as long as the Zheng family farms with peace of mind for decades, they can dominate East Asia and completely overwhelm the other three.

The priceless five percent couldn't be calculated at all, so the little fat man asked Xu Zhonglin what he wanted. Someone naturally chooses the town guard house that he has in mind. And Zheng Maitreya's wife is also a heroine among women, when she received the message from the little fat man, she agreed without even hesitation, and generously attached a map of the area controlled by the Zheng family, so that Xu Zhonglin could choose at will.

When someone opened the map and marked the Zheng family's sphere of influence one by one, they were almost salivating and drooling. Wanwan Island, Hainan Island, the Philippine Islands, most of Kalimantan, more than half of Java Island, half of Sumatra, and a small half of Indochina......

The little chubby paper lady said, choose at will. And any of these big islands can stand on its own!

At that time, even Sissi, who had always been calm, went crazy, pointing to Kalimantan and shouting: "I want it!" I want this, Admiral, I want this! "That delicate look almost made someone unable to hold it.

As a thoughtful ship girl, of course she knows how good it is, the two islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra, with all kinds of oil and minerals, can build a big power.

Of course, after the frenzy, there is always a calming down. None of these big islands can be chosen, and those who don't know how to advance or retreat are already three feet tall on the grave. Even if he gets it, with Xu Zhonglin's current boats, he will definitely not be able to hold it.

After rational thinking, in fact, Xu Zhonglin does not have many choices, and there are three places that are more suitable, Basilan Islands, Natuna Islands and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Basilan Island belongs to the Philippine archipelago, located in the southwest of Mindanao, and is the gateway to the Sulu Sea and the Celebes Sea. However, this would conflict with the strategic direction of the Zheng family, and the location here is relatively remote, not on the main shipping lane.

The Natuna Islands are one of the best, located at the southern tip of the South China Sea, guarding the exit of the Strait of Malacca, and are of great strategic value. In the original world, China claimed sovereignty over the area. In this world, it is located between Kalimantan Island and the Indochina Peninsula, and it belongs to the gap between the forces of the Zheng family and the Li family, which is very safe, but there is not much room for strategic expansion.

The last is the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are located on the border of the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal and are the gateway to Malacca, and are equally strategically valuable. In the original world, this belonged to India. In this world, it is owned by three families, from north to south, once is the British family, the Li family and the Zheng family. The Nicobar Islands, located in the south, consist of 21 islands, and the eighteen at the southern tip belong to the Zheng family.

And Xu Zhonglin asked the Zheng family for the southernmost seven islands.