"These are the lazy people you told me?" Jose Rodriguez looked at the hardworking workers in the workshop in a little surprised and said in an incredible tone.

In front of us are about sixty men with typical Latin faces, busy working in the workshop, processing wool. Judging from their skillful movements and compact working rhythms, it is indeed difficult to associate them with any words like "lazy", but Captain Castilla, who sent them, was convinced that these people were "lazy".

"How to say, Jose..." A young man in hunting suit was accompanied by Jose Rodriguez. At this time, he organized the language with some distress, and then briefly explained the whole story: "Oh, they are all craftsmen of the former Principality of Milan under King Carlos. They were found guilty of not following the orders issued by the above to open their business. In fact, they were indeed lazy. I heard that they would rather be idle all day than open their business. This is really terrible."

In fact, the matter is not as unbearable as this young nobleman said! The Principality of Milan, a country located in Northern Italy, has fallen into a very unpleasant situation since it fell into the hands of the Habsburg family, just like the Italian territory under other Habsburg families.

The originally prosperous and wealthy Lombards were imposed on their heads with heavy taxes, and the flowing wealth flowed from Milan to Madrid. The locals once said angrily: "They mean that the Spaniards eat in small sips in Sicily, in Naples, and in Milan, they eat in voraciously."

No matter how much wealth is, it cannot withstand the huge consumption of years of war. The originally prosperous economic centers under Spain have declined one by one: Bruges, Antwerp, and Milan have all become economic or financial centers, but because the Kingdom of Spain cannot support it from the national level, they all failed without exception.

The decline of the Milan industrial system was later than this. The Milan handicraft system, which was originally civilized because of weapons manufacturing, gold and silver utensils, glass, cloth, silk weaving and other industries, was irreversible in just a few decades under the constant taxation of the Kingdom of Spain and the competition for foreign industrial products. First, the British were strongly competitive in the weapons manufacturing, glass, cloth and other industries, and secondly, the French silk textile industry's outrageous attack. The East Coast people gave them a fatal blow. Their large number of cheap industrial products poured into many places on the Italian Peninsula, leaving Milan's craftsmen unable to compete and had to close their doors.

But the Spanish court was dissatisfied with the craftsmen doing this because they could not collect taxes and could not provide their huge expenses in the court consumption and war, so they forced the craftsmen to open their businesses so that they could collect taxes by shops. But such violations of economic laws were destined to be unsustainable. After the craftsmen lost a large number to other countries, the Habsburg royal family finally woke up and accepted the reality, and finally stopped persecuting these poor craftsmen. Then, for some strategic considerations, such as not allowing the French to obtain these craftsmen, the Spanish court finally encouraged them to immigrate to the New World, most of them went to New Spain, but there were also many people who came to Peru, and even the more remote Buenos Aires had hundreds of people.

Along with these people, there were also a large number of Naples farmers. The Kingdom of Naples was also very rich in history. Since the 15th century, few areas in Italy have been as fertile and intensively cultivated as they are around Naples. This shows how outstanding agricultural conditions in this area are from the urban population of Naples once reached more than 300,000.

Without enough food, you can't support such a large population!

In addition to food, there are many mountain pastures in the Kingdom of Naples, which provide very good conditions for raising sheep. The scale of this sheep farming industry is so large that the toll levied on the shepherds who change their pastures every year is 200,000 Ducates, which is about 500,000 East Coast silver dollars. After the wool is sold to other city-states on the Italian Peninsula, it can increase the government a lot of taxes, which shows that the Kingdom of Naples is indeed a treasure house of wealth.

But once such a wealthy kingdom fell into the unmanaged Habsburg family, it would sooner or later have the same end as the Principality of Milan. Years of war burdens and huge palace expenses have caused the Kingdom of Naples to be drained from its last blood and sweat. The once developed agriculture and densely populated Kingdom of Naples fell into a long period of depression. The residents continued to immigrate abroad and became the first choice for Honaya and Tuscan merchants to hire. Now in the New China Colony of the East Coast Republic, the main people hired by Honaya African Company, Delta Company and Marco Polo Company were Naples and Sicilians, and even the local forest development companies on the East Coast have recruited a large number of Naples.

The northern Italians and the southern Italians were at the same time, and the unmanaged Habsburg family were so motivated that they were dying. They had to cross the ocean to the New World and continue to live on this strange land, so that they would continue to pay taxes for King Carlos. The people of the East Coast also carefully observed the actions of the neighbors who continued to immigrate to the colonies and analyzed their inner motivations.

"Well, Diego, maybe they are lazy as you said, but at least now they are very competent workers under our fruitful management," said Jose Rodriguez.

The textile workshop in front of me was jointly funded by many famous families in Buenos Aires. It uses a complete set of hydraulic equipment imported from the east coast and is located in the outskirts of Santa Fe, a famous city on the Parana River. Its existence is mainly to use the rich local wool resources for spinning, and then export this semi-finished product to private textile workshops that have gradually grown in the east coast over the years to obtain profits.

Their wool mainly comes from the west and northwest, which naturally includes the Chaco Plain. In fact, the western half of the Chaco Plain is relatively dry, with endless plains and long grass and flying birds, which is indeed a good place for sheep. Over the past decade, more and more Spanish immigrants and Gocho people have chosen to transfer the flock from the south to here in winter, so this can be said to be a more important pasture area for the Spanish. But now it is loved by the East Coast people! There is nothing more sad than this.

The father of the young Diego was Trinidad, the newly appointed ambassador to the East Coast of the Madrid court. This new ambassador, who symbolizes the trinity, came to the East Coast, of course, not to solve the so-called fall of Chaco. In fact, he shouldered a more important mission, and for this, he could even sacrifice the interests of the Spanish Kingdom in Chaco!

The cause of the incident was Louis XIV, the French king who had a headache for the whole of Europe! He was proud of himself and heard that after the Polish king Jansobesky completed the mission of rescue of Vienna, the churches in the city sang hymns for him, and also gave the title of sermon: He was sent by God, named John.

The huge reputation Sobesky gained made Louis XIV jealous and crazy, and the Ottomans accused him of betrayal and moral condemnation. Therefore, he immediately ordered the increase of troops to the border of the Western Netherlands, and began to stockpile ammunition and medicine, as if he wanted to launch a new round of offensive.

The French act frightened the Madrid court. They had not yet escaped from the trauma of the previous war, and they were at the sight of a new crisis. How could they not panic? In desperation, King Carlos could only send envoys everywhere for help, including those in the United Provinces, some in Vienna, and of course, some in the eastern coast.

This Mr. Trinidad is the special envoy appointed by King Carlos and the new ambassador to the East Coast. He is responsible for conveying the current situation in Europe to the East Coast people and asking them if they have any countermeasures. After all, the abnormal movements of the French will bring about changes in the situation and may affect the commercial interests of the East Coast people.

Coincidentally, the French sent envoys to the East Coast. The envoys from the Kingdom of Phenoah had just arrived in Dongfang County, the capital two days ago and met with the senior officials of the East Coast Foreign Affairs Department. The reason was that the French had just sent people to Phenoah and asked them to stop providing loans to the Spaniards, otherwise they would take actions that were unfavorable to them.

The Honnas did not take it seriously, and politely declined the French and continued to provide financial support to the Kingdom of Spain. At the same time, they reselled goods in Cadiz, Seville and other places, making huge profits. However, when the main force of the French Eastern Fleet set out from the Port of Toulon and began to openly patrol the coast of Thunas, the Honnas could no longer calm down. While they negotiated with the French to delay time, they quickly sent envoys to ask for help, and all the way to the east coast.

In fact, the Honnaya people didn't know that the French were much more "gentle" to them this time than in history. In history, the main force of the French Eastern Fleet directly blocked the port of Honnaya, and then tilted more than 14,000 shells into the port, which made the Honnaya people frightened. They later dealt with the French for about a year, and finally surrendered helplessly. Even the consul came to Versailles Palace and begged Louis XIV for forgiveness.

The consul was extremely humble and took off his hats and paid tribute when he spoke to Louis XIV. He was obedient and repeatedly promised not to build ships for Spain and to provide them with financing services. This was why he was able to pass the test.

This time and space French seem to have not directly launched shelling the port of Tengnaya for some reason, but simply sent warships to cruise on the sea and block its overseas trade. However, this is also fatal to the grain trade of this country that relies heavily on overseas trade, especially Sicily and the Black Sea. Therefore, they urgently need a solution to crack it, otherwise they can only choose to give in to the French.

Judging from the common experiences of the Spanish and Hotnoirs, the French's actions were definitely not a whim, but had a plan. Therefore, the Spanish hurriedly sent special envoys to the East Coast. Compared with such major events that concern the survival of the country, some of the destruction on the Chaco Plain was a small and dispensable interest for King Carlos. They could at any time give up the land and the poor Italian immigrants who had just been driven to the New World by him. Anyway, they have gradually integrated into the East Coast economic circle.

Of course, such a major event would naturally not be known to too many people. Mr. Trinidad did not even tell his son, but asked him to go to Buenos Aires to meet some local elite families and prepare for future family investment. Therefore, when the two young people were secretly worried about the possible future fate of the Chaco Plain, they did not know that its fate had long been destined and had long become a bargaining chip for the transaction between the Madrid court and the East Coast people, the Trinidad Ambassador had already understood this.
Chapter completed!