open sea

Chapter 872 Dilemma
The border is a place where the Eight Immortals cross the sea to show their special abilities. The Eastern Army can send green cloaks to cross the border with confidence and confidence. Naturally, Alva can also send mixed-race Spanish spies to escape there as slaves to find out information for them.

There is no airtight wall in the Forbidden City, let alone the Mingxi border where the war has just ceased?

No matter which side suddenly increases its troops, it will be known by the other side immediately, and then by the other side.

Lin Manjue was carefully trimming his beard by the stream in the forest camp with a razor in his hand. His subordinates stood aside and whispered the report: "Mr. Lin, the brothers below reported that they came out of Zhangjiagou with three mixed-bloods and sneaked across the border to the west. People planted circles, and soon there was a carriage in the garden going to the camp of the Western Army, and it was supposed to be a spy."

Lin Manjue's hand trimming his beard did not stop, but he tried to nod while completing the work, and said: "Counting the previous twelve, there are fifteen in total. Like last time, take these people Report it to General Fu, and if you ask me for my opinion, just say don’t scare the snake away.”

"These people may be of great use in the future."

In the spy wars between countries, the stronger side always seems to have the upper hand. The spies of the Eastern Military Government are not as sneaky as these Spaniards at all.

For example, one of Fu Yuan’s jobs is to set up spy agencies on the border. Most of them start with Fujian merchants who are familiar with Nanyang. Most of them are proficient in Spanish. There are even door-to-door delivery.

Many plantation owners expressed to Wangjiabao and Zhangjiagou on the border that they hoped to hire tea craftsmen to their homes, and Fu Yuan took advantage of the situation and sent them there.

On the other hand, they are naturalized mixed-race children who are sent to Mexico City after receiving a certain amount of education. What these people guard against is not trivial matters such as increasing troops on the border, but hopes to be able to prepare for large-scale wars when the Western Army mobilizes. One step to get the news.

Then there is Lin Manjue's guerrilla regiment fixed on the east side of the border. Chen Mu sent them to the border at first to prevent the scouts from the Western Army from premeditated destruction and infiltration of the villages of the Ming Army. Now it seems that it is completely superfluous. .

The only goal of the Duke of Alva, who was concentrating on preparing for the Portuguese war, was to stabilize the relationship with the Ming army. He did not make any provocative actions, and he did not even have the idea of ​​sending scouts to the border. The nearest Western military outposts to them are all on the border. Thirty miles away on the east side of the line, the garrison usually does not leave the outpost.

Acosta, who is in charge of Ming relations in Mexico City, has a much more headache than the green cloaks who randomly appear on the Ming-Xi border and frighten away all birds and beasts within a radius of ten miles at any time.

He was going to be annoyed to death by Chen Mu, who was always making trouble on the other side of the border.

Just six days before the news of the Ming army increasing troops to the border reached Mexico City, he had just successfully submitted a report on absorbing Indians and giving them full rights as Spaniards to the West India Affairs Committee.

A large part of it writes about Ming's openness and acceptance of Indians and even mixed races. Acosta believes that Ming is obviously more "imperial" than Spain in this regard, and believes that this is the competition between Ming and Spain for the king of the New World one of the means.

According to the report, if Spain does nothing and its influence is destroyed and deprived, it will only take ten years or less, and New Spain will cease to exist, leaving only the 'Asian State' belonging to the Ming Dynasty.

The committee has issued an order to convene monks from all over the country, and it is scheduled to hold a meeting the next day after two weeks. If all goes well, the affairs committee, which is the legislature of the New World, will be like the more than [-] monks they once promulgated on this land. Like the first decree, the past discrimination against Indians was appropriately abolished, and the royal family’s competitiveness in the New World was enhanced.

But it's not going well.

In the monastery built on the hillside of the Popocatepetl volcano in the southeast of Mexico City, Acosta’s indigenous servants brought him the washed brown monk’s sackcloth and the comfortable satin shirt humbly. It is a rare treasure.

Mexico City silk is not a very scarce material, although it was indeed very expensive after Manila lost control and no longer imported raw silk from the Ming Dynasty, but a few months after the trade resumed, the streets and alleys of Mexico City were flooded with all kinds of silk and satin. figure.

But this thin shirt is really hard to come by, because it cannot be bought, and it has complicated small patterns on it. It is the texture of the official robes of the sixth and seventh grades of the Ming Dynasty. It is not only comfortable to wear, but also a symbol of dignity in the eyes of those who know the goods. .

This kind of fabric is specially made by the Eastern Military Government to reward first-class officers from hundreds of households who have made meritorious service on the battlefield. Acosta's suit was given to him by a businessman in the Ming Dynasty, and he was tailor-made with the best fabric. Made to order, in the words of the businessman named Fujian who claimed to be from the Ming Dynasty, there is only one suit in Mexico City, and no one else can wear it.

The businessman who gave Acosta this official robe fabric was Shi Xiaolou, a veteran maritime merchant who was prosperous in Fujian and Guangzhou. He managed a silver-lead mine and two gold-copper mines. In the waters between Luzon, Kyushu Island and Haojing, his merchant ships traded and made a lot of money.

Using this set of dark pattern brocade official robes, Shi Xiaolou got acquainted with a Spanish businessman who was willing to cooperate with him, and then his young children opened a restaurant and a casino in Mexico City, and built a huge three-story building outside the city. storehouse.

"Master, can the new decree be implemented smoothly?"

The aboriginal servant of the monk was a little worried: "I shouldn't talk too much, but you are going over there, and the meeting here will be postponed."

This brown-skinned mixed-race young man was obviously the first person in Spain to know that Acosta would submit the documents, and whether this decree, which was related to the fate of thousands of Indians, could be implemented was also related to his interests.

"Even if the decree is implemented, I will still serve you."

Acosta, who was changing his clothes, sighed, and he raised his hand to pinch the texture of the silk robe. He liked the clothes very much, but crossing the border and wearing clothes from the Ming Dynasty would put him in a difficult diplomatic position. Even more difficult, he had to dress himself like a messenger—especially when facing Chen Mu, who was always aggressive.

"The decree is difficult to implement. Even if I don't leave, there are too many aftermath problems that cannot be resolved. The issuance of a new decree will allow Spain to strengthen its strength in the long-term competition with the Ming Dynasty, but once the decree is issued, New Spain will not survive in the long run. "

"The plantation without labor will be abandoned, the output of the silver mine will be further reduced and cannot meet the requirements of the royal family, and even the artillery trade just signed does not have enough silver to buy, the salary of the garrison has been owed for several months, and there is no way to make up for it .”

The servant thought for a while, then whispered: "The decree is promulgated, and they should still work in the plantations and mines."

Acosta glanced at the young servant, but said nothing.

"It's a tough dilemma, for everyone, and I've got to go and see what that lunatic is up to."

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)