"These are the lazy people you told me?" José Rodriguez looked at the workers who were working hard in the workshop with some surprise and said in a somewhat incredulous tone.

In front of me were about sixty men with typical Latin faces, busily working in the workshop, processing wool. Given their skillful movements and tight pace of work, it is indeed difficult to associate them with any words like "lazy", but the captain of Castile, who sent them there, was unequivocal in calling them "lazy".

"How can I say it, José......" José Rodríguez was accompanied by a young man in a hunting costume, and then he organized his language with some distress, and then briefly stated the reason: "Oh, they are all craftsmen of the former Duchy of Milan under King Carlos, and they have been convicted of not obeying the order issued from above to open their business. In fact, they are really lazy, and I've heard that they would rather sit idle all day than open a business, which is horrible. ”

In fact, how can this young nobleman say that things are so unbearable! The Duchy of Milan, a country in northern Italy, had been in a very difficult situation since it fell into the hands of the Habsburgs, just like other Italian territories under the Habsburgs.

The prosperous and wealthy Lombards were heavily taxed and their wealth flowed from Milan to Madrid, and the locals once angrily said: "They mean that the Spaniards eat in small bites in Sicily, normal in Naples, and gobbling up in Milan." ”

No amount of wealth could withstand the enormous consumption of years of war, and the originally prosperous economic centers under Spanish rule declined one by one: Bruges, Antwerp, and Milan all became economic or financial centers, but all failed because the Kingdom of Spain was unable to support them at the national level.

The decline of the Milanese industrial system was much later than that. The Milanese handicraft system, which had been civilized by the manufacture of weapons, gold and silver utensils, glass, cloth, silk weaving, etc., was irretrievably destroyed in a few short decades by the constant heavy taxation of the Kingdom of Spain and the competition of foreign industrial goods. The first was the strong competition of the British in the arms manufacturing, glass, cloth and other industries, and the second was the surprise attack of the French silk textile industry, which dealt a fatal blow to the East coasters, who poured large quantities of cheap industrial products into many parts of the Italian peninsula, leaving the craftsmen of Milan unable to compete and had to close their doors.

However, the Spanish court was dissatisfied with the artisans who did this, because they could no longer collect taxes and could not provide for their huge expenses at the court and for the war, so they forced the artisans to open their businesses so that they could collect taxes per shop. But this violation of the laws of the economy was not destined to last, and after the mass exodus of the craftsmen to other countries, the Habsburg royal family finally sobered up a little, accepted the reality, and finally stopped persecuting these poor craftsmen. Subsequently, due to strategic reasons such as denying the French access to these artisans, the Spanish court eventually encouraged them to emigrate to the New World, mostly to New Spain, but also to Peru, including hundreds in the more remote Buenos Aires.

These people were accompanied by a large number of Neapolitan peasants. The Kingdom of Naples was also historically wealthy, and since the 15th century, few regions of Italy have been as fertile and intensively cultivated as the surrounding areas of Naples, as evidenced by the fact that the urban population of Naples once reached more than 300,000.

You can't feed that much without enough food!

In addition to grain, there are also many mountain pastures in the territory of the Kingdom of Naples, which in turn provide very good conditions for sheep raising. The scale of this sheep farming is so large that the annual toll levied on the shepherds who change their pastures amounts to 200,000 ducats, or about 500,000 East Bank silver dollars. The sale of wool to other city-states in the Italian peninsula increased the amount of taxes on the government, showing that the Kingdom of Naples was indeed a treasure trove of wealth.

But such a rich kingdom, once it falls into the poor management of the Habsburgs, sooner or later it will end up like the Duchy of Milan. Years of war burdens and huge court expenses have drained the Kingdom of Naples to the last of its sweat. The once agriculturally dense and densely populated Kingdom of Naples fell into a long period of Great Depression, and its residents continued to emigrate outward, and once became the first choice for Genoese and Tuscan merchants.

At the same time, both the northern and southern Italians were so desperate that the Habsburgs had to cross the ocean to the New World, where they continued to live in this strange land, and continued to pay taxes for King Carlos. The East Coasters also carefully observed the continuous immigration of their next-door neighbors to the colonies, and analyzed their internal motives.

"Well, Diego, maybe they're lazy as you say, but at least now they're pretty good workers under our effective management." Jose Rodriguez said.

The textile factory was built by a number of prestigious families in the Buenos Aires area, using a full range of hydraulic equipment imported from the east bank, and is located on the outskirts of Santa Fe, a city on the banks of the Paraná River. The main reason for its existence is to spin yarn from the relatively abundant local wool resources, and then export this semi-finished product to the private textile workshops that have slowly grown in the east coast over the years to obtain profits.

The source of their wool is mainly from the west and northwest, including the Chaco Plain. In fact, the western half of the Chaco Plain has a relatively dry climate, and the plains are endless, with grass growing and warblers flying, which is indeed a good place for sheep grazing. Over the past decade, more and more Spanish immigrants and gauchos have chosen to transfer their flocks from the south in winter, so it can be said that this is one of the more important pastures for the Spaniards. But now it's being taken by the East Coast! There is nothing more sad than this story.

The father of the young Diego was Trinidad, the newly appointed ambassador to the East Coast at the Madrid court. The new ambassador, who symbolizes the Trinity, did not come to the East Bank to solve the so-called problem of the fall of Chaco, in fact, he had a more important mission, for which he could even sacrifice the interests of the Kingdom of Spain in Chaco!

The cause of the incident was again the King of France, Louis XIV, who was a headache for all of Europe! Proud by nature, he heard that after the Polish king Jansobieski had completed his mission to rescue Vienna, all the churches in the city sang hymns to him, and the title of the sermon was given: He was a man sent by God, and his name was John.

Louis XIV was jealous of the enormous popularity he had gained, and the Ottomans accused him of treachery, which made him morally condemned. Therefore, he immediately ordered additional troops to the border of the Spanish Netherlands, and at the same time began to stock up ammunition and supplies, as if he wanted to launch a new offensive.

This move of the French frightened the Madrid court. How can they not panic when they have not yet recovered from the wounds of their previous wars and are in danger of falling into a new crisis? In desperation, King Carlos sent messengers everywhere to ask for help, some of them to the United Provinces, some to Vienna, and of course to the east coast.

This Mr. Trinidad was the envoy appointed by King Carlos and the new ambassador to the East Coast, who was responsible for conveying the current situation in Europe to the East Coasters, and asking them if they had any countermeasures, since the French changes would bring about a change in the situation and would probably affect the commercial interests of the East Coasters.

Coincidentally, the French sent envoys to the east bank, and the envoy of the Genoese kingdom had just come to the capital Dongfang County two days ago to meet with the top officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the east bank. The reason was that the French had just sent men to Genoa and demanded that they stop lending to the Spaniards, otherwise they would act against them.

The Genoese did not take it seriously, and politely rejected the French, continuing to provide financial support to the Kingdom of Spain, while reselling goods in Cádiz, Seville and other places to make huge profits. However, when the main force of the French Eastern Fleet set out from the port of Toulon and began to openly patrol the waters off Genoa, the Genoese could no longer be calm, and while negotiating with the French to delay time, they quickly sent messengers out for help, one of which was to the east coast.

In fact, the Genoese did not know that this time the French were much more "gentle" to them than they were in history. Historically, the main force of the French Eastern Fleet was directly blocked into the port of Genoa, and then more than 14,000 shells were tilted towards the port, which made the people of Genoese tremble. They fought with the French for more than a year, and finally surrendered, and even the consuls came to Versailles to beg Louis XIV for forgiveness.

The consul was able to pass by with the utmost grovel, and when he spoke to Louis XIV, he took off his hat and saluted him deferentially, and repeatedly promised not to build ships or finance them for Spain.

At this time, the French did not directly bombard the port of Genoa, but simply sent warships to cruise the open sea to block its overseas trade, but this was no less fatal to this country that was extremely dependent on overseas trade, especially the grain trade of Sicily and the Black Sea. Therefore, they urgently need a way to crack it now, or they will have to choose to back down on the French.

Judging from the common experience of the Spaniards and Genoese, this action of the French was definitely not a whim, but a pre-planned one. Therefore, the Spaniards hurriedly sent envoys to the east coast. Compared with this kind of major matter related to the survival of the core of the country, a little on the Chaco Plains is a dispensable small interest for King Carlos, who can give up the land and the poor Italian immigrants who he has just driven to the New World for the greater good, and who are now gradually integrated into the economic circle of the East Coast.

Of course, this kind of big event is naturally unlikely to be known by too many people, and Mr. Trinidad didn't even tell his own son, but just asked him to go to Buenos Aires to meet some local elite families and prepare for the family's future investment. Therefore, while the two young men were secretly worried about the possible future fate of the Chaco Plains, they did not know that its fate had already been predestined, and that it had long been a bargaining chip between the Madrid court and the people on the east coast, and the Trinidad ambassador had long known this.

And if you look at it from a longer historical period, you will find that the relationship between the East Coast and Spain is basically facilitated by the French. In order to keep its European territory, Spain can only turn to the east coast again and again, and then willingly be slaughtered, this time of course, it will not be an exception, of course, this cannot be said to be completely accurate, because after years of rapid development and accumulation, the current East Coast Republic of China has stronger capital to intervene in the situation of foreign countries, especially when they are now also willing to do so.