"Mr. Almeida, please see the scenery along our railway." On October 25, 1689, on the train from Melo County to the north, Zheng Dexiang, deputy director of the Iberian Department of the European Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, introduced.

At this time, the train had passed Meilo County and was driving in the beautiful plains and countryside. On both sides of the railway were large areas of neatly cultivated farmland, all planted with wheat. When the breeze blew, the golden wheat waves rolled. In about a month, the wheat on the prairie on the east coast could be harvested one after another. In addition to some of the harvested wheat, some of which were stored in the local area for consumption or to cope with famine, most of them needed to be transported out. The railway is undoubtedly the most important means of transportation.

Because it is running the old East Coast Star locomotive, and the busy farming season is approaching and the transportation volume of various materials (such as fuel, tools and even personnel) has increased significantly, the train's running speed is only about 35 kilometers, which is very suitable for passengers on the train to see the scenery.

Louis Almeda saw it very seriously and compared it with the rural scenery of Portugal in his memory. In his opinion, the farmlands of the people on the east coast were relatively flat, and the land was concentrated and stretched to the distance. He knew that there were many agricultural machinery on the east coast, some of which were even exported to Europe, and were very popular among people. But there is no doubt that with the fine division of European land and the relatively complex property rights relationship, the scope of use of this agricultural machinery was greatly limited, and it was not as widespread as in the east coast where land was concentrated and property rights were clear.

In the past, Europe might have an advantage. That is, their population is large, which is enough to make up for the shortcomings in the use of agricultural machinery. However, with the rapid population growth for decades, the population of the East Coast Republic has risen rapidly. Although the density is not as good as that of many European countries, it cannot be said that the population is small. At this time, with the advantages of agricultural machinery and the use of excellent seeds (persisting in breeding for decades), their agricultural output is considerable, so that if the grain of the entire country is not supported by the state, it will slowly fall - the East Coast grain price after the abolition of the food protection purchase policy proves this.

Another point where the East Coast has the advantage is the large-scale use of servile livestock. The East Coast Republic, which has two natural pastures, has a great advantage in using livestock. Their government has established multiple livestock breeding centers and continuously cultivates excellent servile livestock (mainly horse-drawn horses). In order to enrich the gene bank, it has been imported from Persia, Ottoman, England, Spain, Portugal and France for many years, including horses, cattle, donkeys, camels, and pigs. Finally, it successfully developed its own livestock species that adapt to the local climate.

These livestock have now entered thousands of households on the east coast. Whether in agriculture, industry, commerce or military, these livestock are very widely used and play an unparalleled role. In Portugal, a horse is a lot of money, and even if it is to pick up a horse, it is very expensive. Ordinary farmers may not be able to save enough money to buy horses in their lifetime. This is the gap.

So - the gap is really big, even if it is just agriculture! Louis Almeida sighed silently, the people of the East Coast have indeed gone further and further away, and they can't catch up with the farther and farther they can't catch up with the Portuguese Kingdom.

The train continued to move forward and entered the Dongtang River Bridge for more than two hours, and slowed down here. The Dongtang River was the boundary river between Uruguay and Brazil in later generations, and was the boundary river between Melo County and Hengtang County. In the era when neither the Northwest Reclamation Bureau nor the Yazihu ​​District Administration was abolished, this river was still the boundary river between the two regions, which was of great significance.

The Dongtang River Bridge was built by the Third Construction Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation. It is currently maintained and operated by the Central Railway Company. It is a Great Northern Railway that runs through the north and south of the east coast, including the original grassland railway, which starts at Jingjiang Port, and passes the east coast grassland into the Yazihu ​​River basin, and then goes straight north, crosses the Dingjun Mountains and enters the southern section of the Brazilian Plateau. It has now extended to Jinglong County in the Jiangbei region - an important part, reflecting the industrial and construction level of the East Coast Republic.

When the steam train was running smoothly on this bridge with a steel-wood-mixed structure, Louis Almeida's sigh reached its peak: the East Coast Republic of China, with such a powerful means of transportation, has such a good international environment, and almost no one can threaten them, allowing them to devote most of their energy to economic development. If this state continues for a long time, can anyone stop them from taking the center stage of dominance?

Zheng Dexiang sat opposite Louis Almeida, stirring coffee slowly with a spoon while secretly looking at his face, hoping to tell something from it. It seemed that the scenery along the way made Almeida a little out of control. Perhaps he was a businessman himself and was not good at hiding his own worries. In short, Almeida's face was quite wonderful, allowing Zheng Dexiang to see many things, and he was a little optimistic about the final result of the Cape Verde Islands negotiations between the Eastern and Portuguese governments.

When it comes to the ownership of the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands, there was actually no big problem. Although the Portuguese were reluctant, the East Coast people were very determined and were willing to give a good quote to take advantage of this key node, so the Portuguese basically agreed half-rejected.

The change in the matter occurred after the British intervened. The country seemed to be addicted to devouring Portugal's land. After gaining benefits such as Mumbai, Ceylon (later driven away by the Dutch), Port Bella, etc., they heard that people on the east coast were negotiating to purchase the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands, so they rushed over and said they would also bid for purchases, which immediately complicated the matter.

The East Coast people were very annoyed by the British because it meant that they might have to pay more to get things done. They didn't know whether this was the idea of ​​King William III of England or the common will of Congress. In short, how could they endure it from the East Coast people?

So, they put pressure on the Portuguese to send a full-power envoy to the East Coast to negotiate, otherwise the East Coast people might feel "offended". The Portuguese did not dare to neglect after hearing the news. They discussed and finally decided to send members of the Almeida family, which was closely related to the East Coast, to come over, and at the same time explained the demands and concerns of the Kingdom of Portugal, so that he could negotiate with the East Coast people.

Louis was a member of the Almeida family who was granted full authority. To be honest, he was a little nervous about this. King Pedro II did not send his important officials to the East Coast, which seemed to indicate some problems, that is, they wanted to reduce their goals, be low-key, and not be watched by more people, especially King William III of England, a man who was full of resentment towards the East Coast.

After arriving in San Salvador by a family's fast ship, he had a secret talk with the Governor on the matter, then he collected a negotiation fund from him, obtained several entourages, and then arrived in the capital Dongfang County on a return-trip East Coast grain ship, and officially communicated with the East Coast people about the Cape Verde Islands.

The first meeting between the two sides was within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the East Coast. The powerful East Coast representative seemed to have asked the Kingdom of Portugal whether it planned to sell the half of the Cape Verde Islands to the British. After not getting a definite answer, they were very dissatisfied and asked whether the Kingdom of Portugal wanted to break the contract, although it was just a verbal agreement.

Louis Almeida was a young man who could not withstand such an aggressive attitude on the East Coast. In their point of view, if the purchase of the Portuguese Cape Verde failed, the East Coast Republic would be "very disappointed" with the Kingdom of Portugal and would not rule out the possibility of occupying that half of the archipelago by force.

Lieutenant General Lieutenant General Lieutenant General Lieutenant General of the Eastern Coast Republic of China, who issued this threat, became the last straw that crushed Louis's psychological defense line. In two further talks held by the two sides, Louis Almeida had made it clear that the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands could be sold, but the price still needs to be discussed, which suddenly accelerated the negotiation process.

The conditions proposed by the Portuguese were not only money. In fact, they were very smart. While only asking the East Coast people to pay 50,000 yuan for island purchase (original people on the East Coast people planned to pay 300,000 to 400,000 yuan), they put forward three requirements: First, the Port of Playa, the largest port in the Cape Verde Islands, will be open to military and civilian ships of the Kingdom of Portugal without any entry management fees; Second, support the Kingdom of Portugal to carry out colonial activities in Angola and Mozambique, exempt export tariffs on grain, arms, medicines and other daily necessities exported to the two places, and cancel the quota restrictions on goods, and at the same time, exempt import tariffs on goods imported from the above two places; Third, help them regain port cities such as Cochin in southern India from the Dutch.

The island purchase fee of 50,000 yuan is basically no different from giving it for free. Not to mention anything else, the Portuguese spent a lot of money on construction in the city of Playa alone over the years. They purchased cannons from the East Coast to transform the fort, imported stone from the local area to build a magnificent official residence, church, warehouse and villa group, and a beautiful military camp (which can be used as a base for the Marine Warehouse). These investments are definitely more than 50,000 yuan, and it is believed that 200,000 yuan is believed! Therefore, the Portuguese dared to give out 50,000 yuan, mainly because the three conditions they proposed could be accepted by the East Coast people.

After discussing the Portuguese conditions behind closed doors, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the East Coast felt that the first one could be agreed directly, and the second one could be agreed to at a limited level, that is, the exemption of commodity tariffs for exports to Angola and Mozambique and the cancellation of commodity quota restrictions should be treated differently. After all, things like Jinjinafrost are not enough to use on the east coast, and there must be quotas for exports to foreign countries, which is not a problem. In addition, it is not impossible to exempt the import tariffs for commodities from Angola and Mozambique, but a time limit is required, such as five years, ten years, etc.

Article 3 can be rejected directly. With the current relationship between the East Coast and the United Provinces, how could they risk the breakdown of their relationship with the Dutch to help Portugal seize several colonial ports? This is completely unreasonable.
Chapter completed!