Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1248 The Last Diplomatic Effort

Blanco de Sousa Almeida came to the Oriental Hotel with a solemn expression. He was accompanied by a servant of Governor Silva, representatives of Brazilian business people, and even an officer of the Sao Paulo flag team. , these people, like him, are all pale and mournful, because they smell the smell of war and conspiracy in the air.

Today is the end of May in 1660. The autumn harvest of the people on the east coast has already ended, and the winter sowing is coming to an end. If all the judgments are correct, then this war is imminent.In fact, as early as more than two months ago, that is, at the end of March, the Portuguese received news that the war was about to break out through various channels.However, at that time, the Portuguese, including Governor Silva, thought it was just another war blackmail by the people on the east coast. Although they were very angry, it was important to defeat the Dutch and recover Recife, so they did not act thing.

But after two months passed, they were shocked to find that the people on the east coast might really be seriously preparing for the war. For example, some members of the St. Large convoys often come to these places laden with supplies, depositing alarmingly large sacks of supplies.The agent reported that if the East Coasters were not mad, they must be seriously preparing for war.Reminiscent of the news that the East Coast Fleet is going north in a large scale among the foreign sailors in the Tsingtao Tavern, this is more than enough for people to make a judgment. Without him, the people of the East Coast have already spent too much money in the early stage. If it is war blackmail , this "performance fee" is too much.

Fortunately, the naval fleet has already left San Salvador Bay for West Africa, and Brazil has ample supplies of various war supplies—because of the war with the Dutch, all kinds of war supplies were transported for a whole year last year, and even many local craftsmen also came Go to Brazil to repair guns and artillery, and ammunition on site - enough to last them a long time.The only thing that needs to be done now is probably to let the few remaining ships in San Salvador Bay leave the port immediately. They can go to Africa, the East Indies or even return to the mainland. Only in order to effectively attack the enemy.

However, Brazil does not need a war. The Dutch West India Company is about to be destroyed. The Brazilians now only want to resume trade as soon as possible and earn gold and silver. Therefore, Blanco needs to represent the Portuguese Brazilian authorities to the east coast to make a diplomatic test, or Said to be a last diplomatic effort to keep Brazil and the Kingdom of Portugal from being drawn into the vortex of war.

Blanco and the others did not receive an interview soon after they checked in at the Dongfang Hotel. It was not until the last day of May that Mo Sancai, the Central Executive Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the East Coast Republic of China, received Blanco and his party at the Dongfang Hotel.At this time, Blanco no longer kept secrets, but directly asked Mo San whether the East Bank would invade Brazil in the near future.

Regarding this question, Mo San did not answer directly, but said cryptically: "To be honest, even I, who has always advocated peaceful settlement of disputes, has become no longer a [-]% pacifist after seeing certain incidents. Mr. Almeida, we are extremely outraged by your country’s blatant theft, sale, and research of our steam engine technology. If there is anything that will cause war between the two countries, then this will be a very important reason. The world situation has always been It is changing rapidly. Your country has opened up its market to the British, but it has imposed many restrictions on us. Their merchant ships and warships stop at Brazilian ports at will, and you are still immigrating to the border between the two countries and building fortresses. From the perspective of national security, this It has caused us great anxiety. It is true that all people want peace, but in any case, no country dares to forget that stormy moments may occur. I have been restless because of this, and it is also because of this that I remind the people of the country to be sincere at every opportunity. Unity, one heart and one mind.”

"But we didn't intend to provoke any war, and we never thought of confronting the East Coast, never." Blanco was a little anxious, and he heard a lot from Mo San's words, which were related to war Signal, which made him and others feel a wave of heart palpitations and visceral fear.

Others don't know how terrifying the country on the East Coast is, but Blanco, who is known as the "East Coast Expert", knows it all too well.They can easily mobilize at least 3 troops abroad to fight, and because of the abundance of domestic food, the strength of the government's financial strength, and the obedience of the people, they can persist outside for a long time. It is terrible to say that they are powerless to resist.You must know that even after vigorous immigration in recent years, the number of whites in Brazil does not exceed 10, and the number of mestizos is only more than 20, plus some Indians whose combat effectiveness and loyalty are very suspicious. Can they really stand against the East Coasters for the long term?Of course it is negative.

Blanco vaguely remembered that when they encouraged the Indians to attack the land reclamators on the east coast who entered the Gerard Mountains, this Mr. Mo San also publicly wrote an article in the east coast newspaper, condemning their actions. The memory is still fresh, that is, "sooner or later, the Brazilian invasion of the Dingjun Mountains must be contained, either with bayonets or with other tools."This sentence has clearly shown that Mr. Mo San and the foreign affairs department on the East Coast he represents believe that it is timely and reasonable to take tough actions on the Brazilian plateau issue. In this regard, he is no less inferior than those in the Ministry of War , which means that they are likely to have a high degree of agreement on this matter.Then this means that Brazil is in danger, and they may not be able to prevent the outbreak of war by convincing some people in the East Coast government.

"There used to be a peace faction in our government, but it doesn't exist anymore. I was once said to be pro-Portuguese peace, but to be honest, I don't have any hope for peace now." Mo San looked into the eyes of Blanco and others, and pronounced the death sentence for their last diplomatic efforts.

But Blanco and others still refused to give up. After Mo San left, they still planned to visit some other officials, trying to save the imminent crisis through them.However, the signed article published by Pravda the next day shattered their last illusion.In the article, Qiang Quansheng talked endlessly about how Portugal had made things difficult for the East Coast in the past, harmed the interests of the East Coast, hindered the business of the two countries, and some piracy, and pointed out that their "*******" kept repeating He violated the commercial agreement he signed for the first time, and then talked about the struggle between the people on the east coast and the Portuguese in the Dingjun Mountains, the strength of the army and navy on the east coast (in a boastful tone), and future strategic assumptions, etc.He asserted that as long as the Government of the Kingdom of Portugal does not make sufficient concessions, war will definitely happen and is inevitable!He even predicted that the war would happen "within a month or two", and believed that the Eastern China Republic would definitely win a great victory.

As soon as this article came out, the East Coast society, which had long been undercurrents and rumors, immediately boiled over. Pravda was sold out in a short period of time, and young students copied the signed article of Qiangquansheng everywhere, "The soldier "Soul Promotion Association", "Reporting to the National Assembly", "Resident Soldiers Mutual Aid Association" and other "ghosts and snakes" have come out one after another, arousing public opinion among the people, demanding that the Portuguese be severely punished for their evil deeds.At the same time, some students who received military and national education also took to the streets to raise money for the war. The originally quiet East Coast society seemed to wake up suddenly, showing its fangs of evil intentions to its neighbors.

At this time, Blanco, who had been studying the East Coast for 30 years, also understood that it was the East Coast people who had expanded the mobilization level to the lowest level of society, and this often meant that the war could no longer be controlled by any factors. Any diplomatic efforts at this time will be doomed to be futile.

Blanco estimated that in a few days, not only the capital of the people on the east coast, but also other cities will start large-scale mobilization—whether it is military mobilization, public opinion mobilization, or production mobilization—and this is what scares him even more !Even people from the east coast are mobilizing across the country. What a huge force this must be?How many people are they going to dispatch?Blanco felt that it was difficult for him to breathe. Could it be 5 or [-] people?Otherwise, why do we need people from all over the country to serve them!If it is an ordinary small-to-medium-sized war, then there is no need for this level of mobilization in the country, but now that they have done so, they can only think that they have dispatched far more manpower than before, and there is no other explanation.

Is this a posture to occupy the whole of Brazil?Blanco didn't dare to imagine, he just felt drenched in cold sweat, and the other people who came with him also didn't have a good face when they realized the seriousness of the problem.The servant of Governor Silva was anxiously asking whether Blanco should ask for assistance from Lisbon or other countries. The business representatives were uneasy because they had heard of the "Wallenstein-style locust army" style of the pagans on the east coast. The officers of the St. Paul's Banner Corps pinched their knuckles so white that they didn't know what they were thinking.

On June 6, Blanco met Mo San, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the East Coast for the last time.Blanco was also in a hurry to go to the doctor at this time. He even bluntly told Mo San that if there was a war between the East Bank and Portugal, then Portugal could count on the support of the United Kingdom. "War Faction" momentum—but it is doomed to be a futile effort. According to some people in the East Bank government, "The mainstream opinion of the current government is to hope for war, because otherwise, the East Bank may miss the last chance." , and they judge that Britain is very likely to remain neutral in this war, so they will continue this war without scruples until the Portuguese completely surrender.

On June 6th, the atmosphere in Dongfang Port, the capital of the East China Republic, reached its highest point in several days, and the order was a little chaotic for a while. For this reason, **** Qiang Quansheng transferred 5 soldiers from the Guards Academy of the Executive Committee from Luocha County to the capital to maintain order.These 2000 people are part of the military students who graduated in the last three years. They have been fighting together for ten years, and their combat effectiveness is relatively strong. With them in the capital, the order is suddenly abolished.

On June 6, the General Assembly was held in Chengguan Town, Dongfang County. At the meeting, Tao Chenxi, Premier of the Communist Party of China, and Mo Ming, Chief of the Joint Staff Headquarters, gave speeches.Mo Ming, the general backstage of the national military, said strongly at the meeting: "Now it is a struggle for strength and resilience between the East Coast and Portugal. Any written statement, oral agreement, and so-called concession treaty are of no practical value. The Portuguese hereby may sometimes make solemn statements in our favour, in order to avoid war, but as circumstances change, these statements will become obsolete at any time. The question is not what the Portuguese will do, but our What should be done according to the strength we have and the current international situation. It is unwise for us to believe that the Portuguese will sign a treaty of cession. The treaty only works when the balance of power has not changed. We or they find helpers, then they will protect their own interests according to their own ideas, so launching a war to actually get what we want is what we should do..."

The plenary meeting lasted for half a day, and finally passed the motion of declaring war on Portugal with three-quarters of the votes. At the same time, the Planning and Production Management Committee was established for the second time to temporarily replace some functions of the Government Affairs Council. Together with the Joint Staff Headquarters, it became the Executive Committee The most important department in the two major wars under its jurisdiction, the power of the entire country—at least a considerable part—begins to slowly turn to serve the war. The war machine of the East Coast Republic of China has finally started to operate slowly. Enough sacrifices cannot stop it completely.

In the early morning of June 6, Tao Chenxi, who personally served as the chairman of the Planning and Production Management Committee, came to Dayuhe Naval Shipyard to symbolically build four flute-shaped transport ships and two "Madao"-class sail escort gunships. The order was handed over to the representative of the factory (in fact, the construction of these ships began more than a month ago). At the same time, Zhenhai Shipyard and Hyundai Special Shipyard also received a total of 7 flute-shaped transport ships and 4 "Madao" class ships. The construction order for the escort gunship, even the private Nova Shipyard, which is not large in technology and scale, and the Pacific Shipyard affiliated to the Southern Railway Company have also received an order for 2 flute-shaped transport ships—well, the construction cost is issued through the The banknotes are temporarily settled, anyway, the Ministry of Finance has no money for the time being.

At noon on the same day, the navy's main fleet, led by the Minister of the Navy, Colonel Li Yi, assembled in the sea off Zhenhai Port. 9 ship, 18 ammunition supply ships, 2 repair ship, 2 coal carrier, and 1 medical ship.A huge convoy of more than 1 ships caught a southeast wind in the Atlantic Ocean, and began to pull anchor and set sail, heading for the coast of Brazil.They went here to find the Portuguese main fleet for a decisive battle. Although the number of ships seems to be inferior (but the tonnage exceeds that of the Portuguese, exceeding 1 tons), the confidence of nearly 30 naval officers and soldiers is full. He vowed to annihilate the Portuguese fleet in the Atlantic Ocean, clearing the way for the subsequent transport fleet to carry army officers and soldiers for landing operations.

On the morning of June 6, Mo San, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the East Coast Republic of China, formally summoned Blanco de Sousa Almeida, who served as the special envoy of the colonial authorities of Portuguese Brazil, and solemnly declared to him while submitting the declaration of war: The two countries are officially at war. According to the principle of neutral belligerence, the Portuguese have a two-day period of neutrality. During this period, it is best for their ships to leave the ports on the east coast immediately, because the people on the east coast will attack these ships after 8 hours. Detain until the end of the war and then discuss its ownership as the case may be.

Blanco and others calmly accepted the declaration of war, and at the same time stated that they would allow the east coast businessmen stranded in Brazil to evacuate in time, and then hurriedly boarded the ship and left.I believe they will be very busy in the days to come, whether it is organizing resistance, contacting foreign forces or something else, in short, there are a lot of headaches and desperate things waiting for them.

War is never tender!

(End of this chapter)