"Is the Central Envoy coming so quickly?" Beside a bonfire, the battalion commander of the 12th Mixed Battalion of the Army leaned on a wooden box and asked Xiang Zirui, director of the Preparatory Office of the Fourth Fortress in the Corps in front of him.

The two of them are currently the two most powerful people on the land in front of them, one in charge of the army, the other in charge of the people, and the combination of civil and military affairs. Of course, in terms of the status of both sides, there may be some inequality. Battalion Commander Jiang is a major and one of the top leaders of the army system, but Xiang Zirui is just a deputy section-level director. Moreover, this is the East Coast, not the Ming Dynasty, and there is no environment in which the small seventh-rank civil servant can look straight at the general. Therefore, if the two really need to look at each other in detail, it is still mainly Jiangning. Xiang Zirui often has to listen to his words.

At this time, Xiang Zirui had just rushed over from the newly built shed for his own new shed - the house of the little Spanish nobleman who was wiped out was occupied by the army as the battalion headquarters and discussed things with Jiangning. Jiangning was resting in the yard of the battalion headquarters, and several orderly soldiers were setting a pot for him to stew meat, which was also enjoying it.

In front of them was a huge three-legged iron pot, which contained animal elbows and other things, and under the iron pot was full of burning firewood. Three orderly soldiers were busy around the iron pot, one with a knife in his mouth, and was stirring in the pot with a huge wooden spoon in his hands; one was half kneeling on the ground, carefully adding firewood to the bottom of the pot; the last one was preparing spices, sauces and other meals, with clear division of labor and extremely familiarity.

A few footsteps recalled that a non-commissioned officer with a military cap and a thick face walked in quickly, threw a flamingo weighing four or five pounds on the ground, and then looked proudly at the three orderly soldiers who were busy in front of the iron pot, as if showing off. Xiang Zirui laughed when he saw it, but this man had a reason to show off, because there was a feather arrow inserted into the Chilean flamingo. It was obvious that he shot it with a bow and arrow, which was amazing. I don’t know what his origin was. He should be a Shandan or a Mongolian, otherwise who would have such a superb archery technique these days.

Seeing this, the man with a knife in his mouth lit up his eyes and immediately walked over to pick up the flamingo and prepared to simmer it. Jiang Ning was very happy when he saw it, and even claimed that Xiang Zirui was lucky, so he would eat it with rare foods such as goose and geese. It would be great if he continued to be lucky in the next negotiation with the Spanish.

"The Central Envoy has arrived at Maolin Port and has arrived day and night. I heard that there are many tasks, not only limited to the current affairs we are here." Major Jiangning moved the chair to the big iron pot, and looked at the bubbled pot noodles of Gudong Gudong and said to Zirui: "Director Xiao Xiang, now you can make some effort, right? The Central Committee has sent a powerful official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to come here solemnly, with the purpose of solving all things once and for all. This is obviously more beneficial to you. The little pitiful foundation I have made here is likely to not be removed. I will make some small contributions and you will gain a future. Do it well, Xiao Xiang, many big figures have come out of Southern Chile, and you can do it too."

Xiang Zirui smiled shyly when he heard this, and said, "Your auspicious word from Battalion Commander Chengjiang. However, this time the superior sent a special envoy to negotiate. It is hard to say what the specific negotiations will be like. I heard that the Spanish envoy had just arrived in Valdivia and did not go to Maolin Port. What is the reason? Is there something wrong?"

"It shouldn't be." Jiang Ning pondered for a moment, then replied: "The Spanish envoy was ordered by the Governor of Peru. As a plenipotentiary, he naturally needs to go to the scene to understand the situation first. I believe that after understanding these things, he will have a new understanding and then rush to Maolin Port for negotiations."

"In addition, it's okay if I've said something. You'll know sooner or later." Major Jiangning finally came a bowl of broth handed over by the orderly soldier. After smelling the fragrance intoxicatedly, he said to Zirui: "I just received a document from the Army Department and a letter written by some comrades to me the day before yesterday. I learned that the special envoy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came to Maolin Port to negotiate with the Spaniards, mainly to implement three things."

"The first thing is the matter of the two-western trade that everyone is most concerned about." Major Jiangning raised a finger and said, "To put it simply, the bigwigs of the State Council want to implement the two-western trade that had lasted for many years. The previous one was too vague and had already expired. This is not serious enough and it cannot be reassured. This time I want to confirm with the Spanish in black and white, what should we do after the two-western trade."

In fact, the government of the East Coast Republic of China had long wanted to clarify the trade with the two major governors of New Spain and Peru, but it did not care about the fact that it had been busy with many other things before, and these trades were continuing smoothly, so it did not inquire. This time, there happened to be some conflicts between the East and the West in the southern section of the Central Valley, and Spain even put forward a threat to interrupt trade. Then the central government felt that it was indeed time to clarify the matter here, so as not to get stuck in the future and cause changes.

The Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce jointly promoted this matter. They suggested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' negotiation envoys try their best to reach the following agreement with Spain: First, the existing Atlantic trade model continues to be maintained, but fine-tuning is made, that is, the monopoly trade period of Air Canada ends, but it still manages the customs of the Kingdom of Spain in the five places of Bello, Villacruz, Havana, Cartagena and San Augustine around the Caribbean. Other East Coast merchants can enter the region for trade, but no longer go through Air Canada; Second, the Pacific trade model has made major adjustments, and it is still managed by the Southern Railway Company (after the Southern Railway Trade Concession expires, the State Council will continue to manage the customs). The five major majors of Acapulco, Panama, Guayaquil and Lima are

The customs were handed over to the central government to manage, and at the same time, the Governor of Peru was required to formally recognize that Valparaiso Customs was also managed by the East Coast people. Previously, after the port of Maolin was annexed by the East Coast people, a considerable number of merchants from the two countries who originally traded here were transferred to the outer port of Santiago for trade. This time, the East Coast people formally proposed that the ports opened by the Spaniards on the Pacific coast were just enough to make up for five ports opened by the Spaniards; Third, in order to compensate the Spaniards, the New Continent Friendship and Mutual Aid Bank, a wholly owned policy bank of the East Coast Government of the China East Coast Government, will give the Spanish Government a total of 4 million yuan in a credit line within ten years, and allow the Spanish Government to issue up to 3 million euros long-term bonds on the Qingdao financial market.

To be honest, this condition is quite generous. The East Coast people control the top ten customs in the two oceans and obtain legitimate trade monopoly. They can freely fight the so-called "pirates" (in fact, most of them are smuggling merchants, or the difference between the two is not too big...). Although this has indescribable benefits for dumping domestic goods, is it not good for the Spanish Kingdom? How is it possible! The Spanish Kingdom can receive customs taxes (transferred by the East Coast people) is the greatest benefit!

Before, with their low-energy management level, the top ten customs were basically the world of smugglers. Smuggling merchant ships from France, Britain, the Netherlands, even Sweden, Denmark and other countries frequently "visit" these ports, selling a large amount of goods from the Old Continent, and then taking away American specialties, making huge profits from one in and out.

These commodities undoubtedly squeezed the profit margins of Spanish merchants (the Spanish Kingdom stipulates that only Spanish ships or foreign ships owned by Spanish merchants are allowed to trade in the New World). Historically, 90% of the goods on the American continent were supplied by smugglers. Smuggling is so rampant, and the two major governors in Peru and New Spain also charge a tariff on eggs!

Now that the East Coast people take over, although they trade and collect taxes by themselves, the Spanish cannot supervise them, they will more or less transfer a lot of tariffs to them. Over time, they will also be a huge amount of income, which is a real benefit. In this process, the East Coast people obtain trade returns by attacking other competitors (in the name of combating pirates and smugglers). The Spanish government obtained tariff income from the sky, and everyone was happy.

The only losses were probably those smuggling merchants from the Old Continent. Although they were able to avoid the attacks of East Coast people by smuggling trade in other small ports, this undoubtedly greatly affected the efficiency and quota of trade (how can a small port be comparable to a large port?), and the losses were still quite large. Oh, by the way, we cannot forget the borer officials in the Spanish colony. Their losses were not small! These guys have been selling national interests for many years to enrich their private individuals by colluding with smugglers. Now the income of East Coast people has dropped sharply, so they are naturally full of resentment. The customs officials who attacked the East Coast and sent them to the East Coast that year were a concrete manifestation of this dissatisfaction. Fortunately, after years of cleaning, the nine customs under the control of East Coast people have already gained a foothold, and these people can basically not make any trouble.

Therefore, based on the above factors, it is very likely that the East Coast people and the Spanish will reach an agreement on this. Although officials in Peru, New Spain and other places are not very happy, the resistance is no longer great at present, because a considerable part of them have been developed by the East Coast people into comprador merchants and formed a community of interests with the East Coast people. Therefore, this is basically a foregone conclusion. Instead, it is not ambiguous as before, which is beneficial to everyone.

"The second thing is the matter you are concerned about the establishment of the Four Forts of the Corps." After picking up the bowl in your hand and drinking a sip of the fragrant broth, Major Jiangning continued: "The official document from the Ministry shows that our Ministry may have to be stationed here for a long time, at least for more than six months. If we do not withdraw, the possibility of you not withdrawing is also very high. Moreover, I also vaguely heard that the superior sent people to strive to establish the Four Forts of the Corps is that this is a pure teaching institution, without any military purpose, will not have any impact on the production and operation activities of the Spanish people, nor will it interfere with the internal affairs of the Spanish Kingdom, nor will it use this as a springboard to invade the gold and silver mines of the Spanish Kingdom."

In fact, as Major Jiangning said just now, after several big bosses of the Executive Committee held a closed-door meeting to discuss, they finally set a prerequisite for insisting on the existence of the Red Flag Prison and the Four Forts of the Corps. Then, based on this, they negotiated with the Spaniards and must finally achieve the goal. Liao Xiaoyao, chairman of the Executive Committee, believes that this is the best opportunity to test the bottom line of the Spanish Kingdom. He believes that if the diplomatic negotiation envoy is smart and capable, he should be able to achieve satisfactory results in the end.

In order to reduce the difficulty of negotiation and convince the Spaniards, the East Coast negotiation envoy was also preparing to use some bargaining chips that might make the Spaniards more excited. First, it was to sell many machinery, including mining equipment, to the Kingdom of Spain to help them mine many minerals from Valdivia to Biarica more efficiently. There is no need to doubt the temptation of this condition. Even the modified hydraulic machinery equipment has very high design, materials, work efficiency, reliability and lifespan, which will definitely be of great help to the Spaniards, so they cannot be moved. Second, the East Coast people will also promise to help the Spaniards build a highway that runs through Valdivia and Biarica. The standard is a second-class or third-class national highway for the East Coast people, which is used to transport mineral products, daily necessities, food and other things. Both sides can use this highway to jointly invest in maintenance.

These two conditions are very tempting to the Spanish. If the negotiator's eloquence is better, it should be possible to force the Spanish to admit the inheritance facts and make them acquiesce the existence of the Red Flag Prison and the Four Forts of the Corps. All this depends on their determination, that is, where their bottom line is - in this matter, the Governor of Peru may blame Madrid for letting King Carlos make a decision, although this kind of decision can be made by his authority.

"The third thing is to promise to help the Spanish Kingdom eliminate the Araucan Indians who are still active in the mountains or lakes of southern central Chile. These people not only do not pay taxes to the Spanish colonial government and do not accept the labor levy of Spanish colonialism, but also often resist, flee, and attack white settlers, which gave the Spanish a great headache. Therefore, we plan to send some people to help them eliminate the Indian resistance forces in exchange for their apology for our previous behavior of cross-border expansion." Major Jiangning finally said: "Of course, this clearance may not be based on this."

Our 12th mixed battalion relies more on the power of militia and guards in the six counties in southern Chile, and we may just serve as auxiliary services. Of course, I don’t think this is not worth doing. In my opinion, the relatively large and sparsely populated areas of Chile will sooner or later be from our East Coast Republic. These Indian tribes that do not obey discipline, love freedom, and are hostile to outsiders are also a great threat to us and must be cleaned up. So it is better to clean up early than to clean up late. Now it seems that they are helping the Spanish to work, but they are actually helping ourselves."
Chapter completed!