On February 24, 1701, in Gibraltar Bay, two Nordic people closed the shop door, indicating the end of a day's business.

This is a street with sparse populations, and most of the people living nearby are poor fishermen, mercenaries or others. The fishermen dry fishing nets and seafood all day long, making the streets smell bad. The worn-out mercenaries bask in the sun bored and hungry and full. Occasionally, they have the opportunity to act as temporary bodyguards at the rich and earn one or two pesos. It is an amazing business. This is enough to order a large glass of tequila imported from America in the tavern, and have a delicious lamb chop meal. The remaining money can also be found in the alley to find a prostitute to spend the night. It is a happy life that is nostalgic!

But most of the time, their lives are not satisfactory. Many people need to work odd jobs to make a living. The daily wages are very low, and one day without a day, which makes people feel very sad. Of course, it is not without stable jobs. In fact, there are two seafood processing factories and a wool factory in the nearby streets that recruit workers all year round. The work is very stable. However, the mercenaries are used to being lazy and can't stand the management of factories. At the same time, they can't stand the intensity of their work, and their wages are even less attractive. They are a typical "black factory". So they would rather go to the odd jobs of daily wages and go to the tavern if they make money. They lie down while basking in the sun when they have no odd jobs, and they are never willing to work in the black factory.

However, in the past month, there have been many fewer mercenaries on the streets. They called their friends, wore tattered clothes, old-fashioned mecha guns and stings, and gathered near the docks, and then boarded the ship and left at sea. Everyone knows why, it’s time to fight!

Since the new King Philip V from the Bourbon family officially ascended the throne and became queen, the Kingdom of Spain stopped the principal and interest of the loans that should have been paid to the Netherlands and other countries and openly relied on the account. However, perhaps considering the possibility of debt in the future, they did not stop paying the principal and interest of the loans from the Bank of St. George, Venice Bank, the Bank of Piazza Liato, and the Bank of Savoy. In addition, the more than 2 million yuan sovereign bonds issued publicly in Qingdao financial market of the East Coast Republic of China are still paying interest. They dare not offend the East Coast, especially in the current situation of war, the East Coast people have "collection tools" in Europe and the New World. They are simply thinking about not paying back the money, even if you borrowed it by your ability.

The Spanish stopped paying the principal and interest of the Dutch loan, the French team entered the South Netherlands, and Louis XIV's envoy went to Sweden, German states, Poland, Turkey and other places to connect. These iconic events indicate that war is inevitable, if Britain, the Netherlands, Austria and other countries do not want to see France dominate.

The Dutch had mobilized a total of the time, and the government issued another 100 million munitions of war bonds. Subscribers were very enthusiastic, and it was said that they were sold out within a month. Regular troops, militias and mercenaries were deployed one after another, naval ships continued to be unblocked, cannons purchased from Britain and the east coast were armed one by one, and the entire country began to enter the wartime economy.

However, there are also political parties in the country who do not like war. Although there are not many people, they want to continue to work hard. After all, once the war starts, foreign trade will inevitably be greatly affected, which is unacceptable to the merchants who love money as life. They came forward to connect and influenced the third-level parliament, and then competed for an opportunity.

In early February, representatives from England and the United Provinces and Austria met in The Hague. After a day of discussion, they put forward several requirements: First, the Holy Roman Emperor had the right to inherit the Spanish throne, which was necessary for European peace. The Southern Netherlands should be given to Leopold management; Second, England and the United Provinces should obtain the overseas territory of Spain and the corresponding shipping and commercial security; Second, Philip V could serve as the king of Spain, but prohibited the merger of the West and France and prohibited France from conducting commercial activities in the Western Americas.

It is worth mentioning that these three requirements almost completely ignore the demands of the East Coast people. The East Coast people's desire to control Western America is well known to the world, and these three countries are not so unwise. Therefore, they also negotiated a supplementary agreement, signed by representatives of the three countries, and sent it to the Ambassador of the East Coast to the United Provinces, saying that the status of the Western Coast America can be negotiated separately with the East Coast, after all, they are also afraid to force the East Coast to France.

Three points of demand were formed and handed over to Paris by the messenger. They gave the French a grace period of two months to decide whether to accept these conditions, otherwise the three countries would jointly declare war on France. The proud Louis XIV said on the spot that there would be no grace period. He believed in the will of King Carlos II and the determination of the Spanish people not to disintegrate the country, and would be "happy to accept any challenges."

There was no room for anything like this. The Lords and the people were frustrated, but accepted the reality. Representatives of the three countries continued to work in The Hague and signed the Union Treaty on February 15, namely the Treaty of the Hague, and were preparing to declare war on France unanimously after the two-month grace period ended. Although the proud Louis XIV no longer needed a grace period.

These countries are so tense that they will naturally not be able to control the small fights in Northern Italy for a while. Philip V saw that the Northern Italians were only hurt a little, and they exploded like a hedgehog, and then counterattacked the Principal of Savoy. What was even more shocked was that the alliance-like organization of this country was not afraid at all. The Milan parliament approved the resolution to allocate 18 million bank lira war funds within three days to obtain from federal tariffs and showdowns between countries and four divisions (two of which were recruit divisions) successively threatened the Principal of Savoy. This was a show of its strength.

In addition, the Federal Navy led by the Nazans also collectively left the port and began to roam around the Tyrrhenian Sea. They dispatched more than 30 warships, about half of which were "Star"-class light cruisers and "Solar"-class guard gunboats customized from the east coast, all of which were active equipment of the East Coast Navy. In addition, there were a large number of warships or galloping warships made in Italy, which were still very strong, at least making the Spaniards very taboo. Their Mediterranean fleet has not received enough investment for many years, and currently there are less than ten main warships, although one of them is a super warship equipped with more than 100 artillery guns (manufactured by Havana Shipyard).

Philip V understood that if he did not pay a significant price, he would be difficult to restore his rule and influence in Northern Italy. The three principalities of Milan, Parma and Mantua were determined to be with the Northern Italy Federation. Even if there were a few nobles or priests who were interested in Madrid, it would be difficult to make big waves. Now, it would be great to be able to save his remaining territory on the Italian Peninsula. Naples and Sicily were his two main assets in the local area, and could provide a considerable amount of taxes, soldiers and other materials. If the Northern Italy Federation was not greedy and decided to march into these two places, then the Spanish Kingdom had no choice and had to fight. Although this would inevitably affect other fronts, it would not be too much to deal with. If it really didn't work, I would ask for the help of French allies and believe they would respond.

Of course, what Philip V didn't know was that when he was still paying attention to Italian affairs, a large number of British fleets were entering the port in Amsterdam, far away in the North Sea. King William III had just won a grant of 2.7 million pounds from Congress, and the navy quickly expanded its troops by 30,000. Many veterans who returned home were summoned back. The shipyards in London, Portsmouth and other places were booming. The shipyards were crowded with ships waiting for maintenance, and even orders for some new ships flew like snowflakes. The shipyards had to recruit employees urgently to expand production scale.

More than 20 warships in good condition were sent to the Netherlands. The arrival of these 10,000 British navals made Amsterdam the focus of the North Sea again. The Dutch Navy also selected more than 30 large and small ships to join the British fleet this time, intending to leave the port as soon as it declares war, avoid the main force of the French fleet, and go to the Mediterranean to protect the safety of the trade lifeline, whether in England or the United Provinces, there are a lot of commercial interests in the Mediterranean, and commercial profits are an important nutrient for them to maintain in the war.

The British and Dutch naval generals even formulated a bold plan, which is to attack Spanish ports such as Gibraltar and Cadiz. On the one hand, they can attack the enemy's will to combat, and on the other hand, they can also plunder a large amount of wealth and goods to supplement themselves. You must know that these two ports are important trading ports in Spain, with a large amount of goods and money flowing all year round. It is a bit sorry for you not to grab one.

The people of the East Coast didn't know the plans of the British and Dutch Navy at this time. If they knew, they would be furious and would immediately go north and fight back the fleet from Amsterdam. Damn, there were people who were still basking in the sun in the Cape Verde Islands. What kind of world did they do?

Of course, Sheng Dehong didn't know the conspiracy planned by Amsterdam. He was about to set off to head north to Naha and personally mediate the armed conflict between the Principality of Savoy and the Northern Italian Federation. It is hard to say that the Savoy people would cede land and pay compensation like a few years ago, which was a tragedy. But what can I do? Mobilize the national forces to fight with the Northern Italians? It is impossible, the population, economy and military scale are not on the same level, and the defense is acceptable. If you attack, it is really difficult. It is better to sit down and talk about the conditions.

Sheng Dehong already knew the bottom line of the Milan parliament, that is, the occupied areas are assigned to Northern Italy. It will not belong to the neighboring Nazia or Milan, but the federal territory, which is about 3,000 square kilometers, with a population of 40,000 to 50,000. In addition, Chambery has compensated one million bank lira, not much, it means it.
Chapter completed!