Portuguese envoy López López stayed in Shenyang for more than 10 days and held several in-depth talks with several members of the Standing Committee of the board of directors of the Far Eastern Company.

During López's stay in Liaodong, the Far East Company specially arranged a lot of programs for him, including observing the military exercises of a garrison division of the Far East Army stationed in Liaodong, which also made López once again greatly shocked.

The company also arranged for him to take an airship to the Vladivostok Industrial Zone to visit large enterprises such as the Bac Ninh Iron and Steel Complex, the Vladivostok Machinery Factory, and the Vladivostok Shipyard.

Faced with the chimneys, factories and modern industrial spectacle of the Far East Vladivostok Industrial Zone, for López, it is completely beyond his cognition, and it can no longer be simply described as shocking.

The trip to the Vladivostok Industrial Zone had a very big impact on López, which was an important reason why the two sides were able to reach an agreement as soon as possible.

After López left Liaodong, Qiao Haipeng, the chief general of the Navy Department of the Military Commission of the Far East Company, submitted a plan to the board of directors of the company. As soon as this plan was submitted, it caused a great deal of controversy in the board committee of the Far Eastern Company.

For this plan, the board of directors of the Far East held several meetings, and the standing committee members and members of the board of directors of the company were very different on this plan, both for and against.

Although the plan was passed by a narrow vote when it was voted on by all members. However, in view of this situation, the board of directors of the company still studied the plan repeatedly, and during this period, it carefully voted again, and the plan was approved again.

The board of directors of the company has carefully studied and voted twice. This plan of the Admiralty was finally adopted and entered the implementation stage.

The Admiralty will form an additional Atlantic Exploration Fleet in addition to the two Exploration Fleets. Aim to cross the Atlantic and reach Brazil in South America next year.

The Atlantic Exploration Fleet will be staffed by eight converted sailing ships for the Exploration Fleet members. It will be selected from the guerrilla fleet in the Indian Ocean, which will also be accompanied by a marine unit reinforced battalion of daredevils.

The base of the fleet is temporarily located in Tuliala, Madagascar. The company will carry out a major expansion of the Tuliara base in Madagascar and establish a logistics supply base, mainly for the forward base of the future ocean-going exploration fleet. The expanded Tuliara base will be manned by a battalion-sized garrison of an overseas army.

In addition to the Tuliara base, the Admiralty will also expand the size of several colonies in the coastal areas of East Africa, such as Mozambique and Madagascar, and in the future, it will send troops to sweep the inland areas, upgrade these colonies to colonial scale, and invest a lot of resources in their development.

This year, four colonies will be established in the Cape Town area, the Buffalo River estuary area, the Durban area and Richard's Bay. and sent expeditions deep into the interior to develop the coal fields of Natal province.

South Africa is rich in coal resources, ranking fifth in the world after China, the United States, the CIS and India in terms of mining reserves in modern society, accounting for 10.6% of the world's total recoverable reserves.

Among the recoverable reserves, low-grade bituminous coal accounts for 81.5%, high-grade bituminous coal accounts for 13.1%, and anthracite coal accounts for 5.4%. South Africa's coal resources are concentrated in the eastern region. Among them, the coal reserves of Pumalanga and the Northern Province are generally bituminous coal. The coal seam is thicker and there is anthracite in KwaZulu/Natal. The coal seam is relatively thin.

By next spring, the four colonies in South Africa will be built into bases, which will be used as ports for the ocean-going exploration fleet, and each base will be stationed with a battalion-sized unit of an overseas army group to serve as the garrison force of the colony base.

South Africa is famous for its abundant mineral resources, with proven reserves and more than 70 kinds of minerals. The reserves of gold, platinum group metals, manganese, vanadium, chromium, silicon and aluminate rank first in the world, of which gold reserves account for 60% of the world.

In the next few years, the Far East Company will gradually develop South Africa and send troops to sweep the inland areas, making it the largest overseas colony of the Far East. South Africa's geographical location is more important, and it is also the most important forward base for Far Eastern companies to cross the Atlantic to South America in the future.

1580-1640. Portugal came under the control of the Spanish Habsburgs, and the Anglo-Dutch began to raid the Portuguese coastline frequently in order to plunder the wealth of Spain. The Spaniards were completely unable to cope with the naval threat, so the Jose War broke out.

Although Portugal was restored under the leadership of João IV, the Bragança dynasty was established. But Portugal at this time was no longer the Portugal that was strong at the beginning of the Age of Discovery.

As a result of the counteroffensive of the Spanish army, the weak Portugal had to find the support of powerful countries, mainly the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and other major Protestant countries in the northern half of Europe, as well as the more distant rivals of the Spaniards, the French. But the support needed for reconquest diplomacy is too costly.

Although the Anglo-Portuguese alliance had a long history, the king of England at that time fell and Cromwell reigned. Historically, the Portuguese had to abandon the remnants of the British royalists in exile in Lisbon and accept Cromwell's harsh conditions, a new treaty of alliance that would be detrimental to the long-term development of the Portuguese economy.

The Netherlands, on the other hand, accepted the Portuguese goodwill, but now confined to Europe. Overseas, the Dutch continued to attack the Portuguese colonies, until 1661, when Portugal relented and gave up the overseas territories occupied by the Dutch at the time, and granted Dutch merchants trading privileges similar to those of English merchants in Portuguese possessions. As for the French, France simply ignored the hopes of Portugal.

As a result, Portugal's overseas colony of Brazil was also affected, and between 1638 and 1640 the Netherlands gradually took control of the northeastern part of Brazil, with Recife as its capital. It was not until 1648 that Portugal reversed the situation with a victory in the war against the Dutch, and the Dutch authorities returned Brazil to Portugal.

It was for this reason that João IV of the Bragança dynasty of Portugal sent an envoy to seek help from the Far East. And the current period is definitely an opportunity for the Far East Company, which will reach an agreement with the Far East at all costs as long as the Far East Company proposes some conditions favorable to Portugal.

At this time, Portugal was defeated by the aggressive Dutch, and almost lost a large part of its colony in the northeast. This is the best chance for the Far East to intervene in Brazil. (To be continued.) )