Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2365 Efforts ([-])

Spanish Embassy in Port Orient, February 1699, 2.

Castro sat down at his desk with a bored face, grabbed a pen and wrote the letter.After finishing writing a page, he didn't know what to think of, he rolled up the page and threw it in the trash can.Then, he said nothing until Menendez, his adviser, walked in.

Castro is the new Spanish ambassador to the east coast, a military officer of non-noble origin, who participated in the war against France a few years ago, and finally expelled the invading French army in the Barcelona area, gaining a great reputation.Later, regardless of the delicate situation in the local area, he brazenly suppressed several local nobles in Catalonia who raised their troops to respond to the French invasion, and made a huge name for a while.

It's just that Castro's cruel methods aroused the collective hostility of the nobles in Catalonia, and they jointly signed a letter to the king, demanding that this person be removed from office.Even in Castile, some nobles opposed Castro’s fierce methods, thinking that he humiliated the nobles like killing serfs—although he was a rebellious noble—disgraceful, so they also demanded that this person be removed from office. .

Although King Carlos II was physically weak, his mind was not so confused. He knew that Castro was loyal to the royal family and was fighting for the king he served, so he did not remove him from office and investigate. Transferred to the New World as ambassador to the East Coast—a position that could hardly be called punishment.

King Carlos also took action on the New World colonies at the suggestion of his favorites.He selected a large number of officials and aristocratic children in Castile, and then sent them to the two major colonies of New Spain and Peru as officials at all levels. For this reason, he purged many peninsula and native white officials who were said to have "degenerated" for a long time. It's a big purge.

Well, the so-called "degenerate" is actually very simple, that is, people who are too deeply involved with the people on the east coast and collude with people who harm the interests of the Kingdom of Spain.These guys can really do anything for money, but all of them are very high-profile, earning a lot of money, making the local people envious so much that their eyes almost popped out, and they are gearing up to come to the New World. Make a fortune.So, the cleaning of King Carlos is really nonsensical, it is useful for birds!These new peninsula people, within two years, will collude with people from the east coast again, repeating the "degenerate" story of the previous group. Apart from offending a large number of vested interests, Madrid has changed almost nothing. no.

Castro didn't care much about what happened in New Spain and Peru.What he values ​​is the relationship between the East Coast and Spain, that is, how to carefully maintain the relationship between the two countries so that it will not break down and maximize the benefits for Spain.The nobles in Madrid are not fools. Through a series of events in the past few years, they have been keenly aware that something is wrong, and there are many bad guesses about what the people on the east coast are going to do.They also sent people to test, but the foreign affairs department on the east coast did not leak much information and did not give them much useful information.

However, even so, the Spaniards still found considerable clues.For example, at the beginning, it was agreed that the port of Ceuta, which was only used for business on the east coast, was flooded with a lot of strange people, such as soldiers, priests, craftsmen, etc. It is unknown what these people came to Ceuta for, but it was not a good thing after all. .The Spanish local officials in Ceuta are now almost completely emptied. Apart from being able to regularly collect taxes, they lack control over the entire city, so that Ceuta has gradually become the source of conspiracy on the east coast.

In addition, it is no secret that the Campo Morone fortress in Italy has a large group of East Coast soldiers stationed.Although the Spanish rule in northern Italy has existed in name only, it still has some influence after all, and it is not difficult to detect this matter.They are now very worried that these soldiers on the east coast will support the Italians, allowing Milan, Parma and other places in northern Italy to become independent immediately and get rid of the rule of the Kingdom of Spain. Then they will really not receive a penny. The right to speak will also be taken away, although it is now very weak.

Of course, the Spaniards will not fail to see that the main force of the navy on the east coast is still gradually moving north.The Portuguese sold half of the entire island of Cape Verde on the front foot, and the people on the east coast built a lot of construction there on the back foot. They sent a lot of warships and soldiers to conduct various drills every two days.The port of Praia is not a military restricted zone, but a busy commercial port. As long as the sailors on the foreign merchant ships anchored in the port are not deaf, they can often hear the rumbling sound of the exercise guns-who is this exercise aimed at? of?

In fact, it is no wonder that the Spaniards are thinking wildly. It is true that the military deployments strengthened by the people on the east coast are all located near them, such as the Principality of Milan, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, and so on.In addition, they themselves have ghosts in their hearts, and the secret contact with the French cannot be hidden from those who are interested. It is actually normal for people on the east coast to react to fear that their interests will be damaged.It's just that this kind of reaction made the Spaniards a little scared. They were really afraid that the people on the east coast would fight if they disagreed, and they would be suffocated to death.

Therefore, before Ambassador Castro came to take office, King Carlos supported his sick body and taught him the opportunity, asking him to try his best to figure out the intentions of the people on the east coast, and to release goodwill at the right time to restore relations with the east coast , make sure that they do not have any ill intentions for the Kingdom of Spain.

In addition, some big nobles in Madrid also approached Castro.Although these people didn't like this humble man very much, but at this time, they could only pinch their noses and emphasize to him the principles of how to deal with the East Bank. The content was actually not much different from what King Carlos explained.Castro has a clear understanding of the minds of these nobles and is very contemptuous.Among these aristocrats, some were hooked up with Vienna, some were entangled with Paris, and some even secretly communicated with both parties at the same time, in short, none of them were restless.As for the reason, alas, Castro can only let out a long sigh when he thinks of this, who made King Carlos have no heirs, and his physical condition has seriously deteriorated, so the throne is destined to be handed over in a short time?Now that I think about it, there are probably only France and Austria who have the right to inherit. Sooner or later, people from these two families will sit on the throne.Therefore, it is not incomprehensible for those nobles to have undercurrents in private.

Castro had no preference for Paris or Vienna, and felt that it didn't matter who would sit on the Spanish throne.All he cares about is whether the Kingdom of Spain can minimize the losses in this doomed succession storm-it is impossible to stay out of it-and try to preserve a little vitality for the country.Therefore, after coming to the east bank, he has always respected the king and the nobles' explanations, tried every means to inquire about the news, and tested the attitude of the east bank republic towards the succession of the Spanish throne, but he has not been able to get any definite results.The people on the east coast treated him with hypocrisy, but they were not ambiguous in dispatching troops, which made Ambassador Castro even more disturbed.

This way did not work, and Castro asked the Portuguese to make side-steps.To this end, he discussed with the Portuguese ambassador about the border between the two countries’ colonies—although the colonies of Spain and Portugal have the principle of the Pope’s meridian, there are actually many disputes. ——directed the words to the heads of the people on the east coast in a rambling manner.

But the Portuguese ambassador is also a smart man, hehehehaha just didn't know what to say, which completely frustrated Castro's calculations.Of course, the Portuguese ambassador did not know too many details, and King Pedro, who was enthroned by the thief wife in Lisbon, would not inform the diplomatic envoys of such confidential matters.But the ambassador himself is really smart. He analyzed from various signs that King Pedro intends to completely fall into the arms of the people on the east coast, and provide various conveniences for the people on the east coast to move in Europe, in order to obtain economic compensation from the people on the east coast and Support for the expansion of the American colonies——In recent years, Portugal and France have fought fiercely in the Amazon River Basin. French colonists dispatched from French Guiana often attack the local Portuguese. The relationship between the two countries is not very good Harmony, so the Portuguese urgently need the support of the people on the east coast.

The Portuguese ambassador figured this out, so naturally he would not say anything to Castrodo, so he just perfunctory, and finally disappointed.

Today, Ambassador Castro was going to give some semi-annual work report, but he had to write it for half an hour, so he didn't know how to write it.He has no clue about his work so far. Although he faintly feels that there is something wrong with the people on the east coast, it seems that they are destined to attack Spain-they have enough motivation to do so-but it is only his own guess after all, so it is not good to write it in this serious In the work report, so very irritable.

His adviser, Menendez, had just returned from the Dutch embassy.The Dutch are trying their best to win over Spain recently, so that they will not fall to France, so they exchanged a lot of valuable information with Menendez.The more Menendez thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong, so he planned to discuss it with Ambassador Castro.As a result, as soon as he entered the office, he saw the impatient look of the ambassador, and he knew what was going on in his heart, so he immediately said: "Your Excellency, please don't have illusions. The hostility of the people on the east coast towards Spain is already very obvious." , there is no need for us to continue deluding ourselves. In fact, no matter what efforts Madrid makes and what kind of goodwill is unleashed, there is a great possibility that the East Coast people will attack us. They have good reasons for doing so and seem to be A little impatient."

Castro glared at his adviser.But he also knew it was probably true, so he didn't say anything.However, is this really inevitable?Must the East Coasters push the Kingdom of Spain to the brink?Ambassador Castro did not dare to imagine the most dire consequences. He felt that he needed to continue to work hard, so he stood up immediately and said, "Jose, don't say any more. Now pack up and follow me to the east." Shore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I want to talk to them again, I have to work so hard, you know."

(End of this chapter)