Anna looked at Fahado in surprise. Fahado knocked some ground with a crutch and said, "Mrs. Queen Mother, I don't know anything else about His Highness Yu, but I know very well that he is an absolutely greedy person. Havana has a return fleet of the kingdom, and the funds on the ship are the basis for supporting the kingdom to continue the war. Once there is a problem with the return fleet, then......"

After hearing this, Anna was also in a state of ease. Spain, during the war, needed the colonial wealth brought by the two fleets at any time. Because wars were indispensable, it was much better to be a friend of France than to become an enemy of Louis XIV, because any country became an ally of the King of France and fought against its coalition forces, it could receive subsidies from the King of France. On the contrary, as the enemy of France, although there were many wealthy allies like England and the Netherlands in the Great Alliance, they were all very stingy.

In the past hundred years, foreign hegemony has consumed all the wealth accumulated by generations of Spanish kings. Foreign lending is a necessary financing method for the kingdom to fight. But the problem is that Spain was originally carrying huge debts. Spain has lost a lot of debts by declaring bankruptcy, but the only thing that dares not be relied on is financing in Amsterdam. Now nearly half of the kingdom's annual income is transported to the Netherlands to pay interest, and the galleons bring about a quarter of the finance.

If this large fleet does not bring back the income from the colony, it means that the loans this year will be overdue. The result is that Spain will find it difficult to obtain new financing, and the war will not continue, and Spain will be in danger of defeat.

"What should I do now?" Anna also became anxious, and Fahado said: "The most important and urgent thing now is to preserve the king's wealth on the fleet. And I, Duke Fahado, your sincere friend and the king's most loyal slave, have no choice but to do this."

"Okay, Fahado, as long as you can save the return fleet, the king and I will give you corresponding rewards." Seeing Fahado look confident, Anna couldn't help but be excited to make a wish. He said directly: "I will let the king sign you as Minister of Indian Affairs, how about it?"

Fahado said with a look of loss, "Empress Dowager, I can do nothing about this!"

Anna immediately became furious: "Fahado, your appetite is too big. Can't the colonies in the New World satisfy your ambitions?"

Fahado explained seriously: "Mrs. Queen Mother, you misunderstood. Fahado is already old and can't take on such a heavy responsibility. What I mean is that I can't do anything to your goal. I have no way to save the return fleet."

"Bastard! Fahado, you are too arrogant. You clearly said that it was your responsibility. Are you deliberately bullying me?" Anna angrily scolded.

Fahado shook his head: "I have no intention of doing this. I can only protect the wealth of the Chinese king of the fleet, but I can't do anything to the large fleet."

Only then did Anna realize that she had misunderstood, and that she was deliberately enjoying herself. The entire fleet and the king's wealth were not the same concept. Theoretically, the colonies of the New World were the king's private property, but in fact, many nobles of the king participated in the trade between the colonies and the locals. As the only legal way of trade, the large fleet formed by the double fleet was full of the wealth of all the nobles, the king's private income, the colonies' taxes and the donations from the colonies to the king, together, only a small part of the wealth.

Only this part can be the expenses for the kingdom, and the rest of the income is the private income of the nobles, so they will not take it out. And Anna has been in charge of Spain for many years and immediately understood that whether the private wealth of those nobles can be preserved has nothing to do with the overall situation. Perhaps after losing it, it can make these people more awake! Anna thought deeper. At her age, the matter about Fahado that could still be remembered in her mind was no longer his romanticism, and the rich tricks he showed in bed. She only remembered Fahado's cunning and resourcefulness, perhaps it was related to what he said, "I will die and live."

Fahado was waiting quietly. Anna was already the queen mother and was no longer the Austrian girl who was politely enjoying her under her crotch. She now carried the burden of the kingdom on her shoulders, but there was no one around her who could truly trust. Everything could only be decided by herself.

"Fajado, for the sake of past friendship, I can only believe in you. I hope that Spain will not be destroyed in my hands." Anna said finally.

Fahado nodded slightly: "Mrs. Fahado is willing to bet on his life. You and I will join hands, whether it is to go to hell or to heaven."

"Is that true, then who can do this?"

"Antonio, my most trusted son." Fajado answered seriously.

Antonio, who heard this news from his father, could not calm down for a long time. He knew that as long as he did this, he would not only lose Chile's fault, no one would mention it, but would also inherit all his father's authority in the kingdom and even seek the "Minister of Indian Affairs". Now Antonio already felt inappropriate about this name. India is India, what does it have to do with the New World? But then he thought about it and it was wrong. This is the view of the Chinese. In the language of Europeans, the colonies are really India.

"Father, what should I do when I arrive in West India?" Antonio asked. Fajado smiled: "Child, we, who are in Spain, don't even know the current situation in the West India region. What can I teach you? The only thing that can be said is that the King Yu is deeply educated by His Majesty the Chinese Emperor. The political wisdom of the Chinese is completely different from that of us Europeans. They don't like being aggressive and not like it...what is that the word called? Damn, my head is getting worse and worse..."

Fahado found a key from his body, took out a few letters, and after reading it, he said, "......, yes, yes, they don't like zero-sum games. King Yu and His Majesty of the Great Emperor like win-win situations the most. They generally don't offer conditions that the kingdom cannot accept. On the contrary, the other party will consider us as much as possible. So, if I were you, I will take the initiative to come to King Yu and negotiate with him sincerely. No matter what conditions you get, you must publicize to the outside world. This is what you have to fight for from the Prince of China."

"But I'm worried that His Highness Yu would not do this. His thinking was very prone to it. I had no idea what he was thinking." Antonio said.

Fahado nodded and said, "So, I have prepared a gift for you. I have prepared this gift for twenty years. When His Majesty the Great Emperor was emperor, I wanted to send it, but I held back. When the new emperor ascended the throne, I had another idea. But I am old. Now, this thing that can be called a magic weapon is given to you, my descendants. I hope you can make good use of it and fight for more benefits for our family and the kingdom."

As he said that, Fahado pulled out a sandalwood box from the dark lattice on the wall and placed it in front of Antonio. Antonio opened it and looked at it, his eyes shining: "This is really a magic weapon! The Chinese people are so proud of their face, so is His Highness Yu. With this thing, you can definitely impress His Highness Yu."

Outside the Harbour of Havana, on board the ship of the Weiyuan.

A row of men of different skin colors stood in front of Li Junwei. They were all rebellious, but they maintained basic etiquette in front of Li Junwei. Horayshaun introduced: "This is Captain Coxon, this is Captain Sorkins, this is Captain Eaton, and the remaining two are Captain William and Captain Swan. They are from Nassau or Jamaica. Everyone is willing to accept the agreement you gave, willing to serve the empire, and get your reward."

Li Junwei nodded slightly, his eyes stayed on the last two captains for a while. In the eyes of the two, he saw some resentment and resentment, especially Captain William. There was also a cross sign with a skeleton mark on the back of his exposed hands. This sign means that he was treated by the Empire as a pirate. Of course, this special sign indicates that the African Development Company should have dealt with him.

"Two, there seems to be a misunderstanding between you and the Empire?" Li Junwei asked with a smile.

William smiled: "That happened a few years ago, and it has been untied now."

"Is that so? Can you tell me how it was untied?" Li Junwei asked, taking out a box of cigarettes from the table drawer in front of him and throwing it to William.

After William accepted it, he gave it to all the captains. He smoked a cigarette himself and said, "Ten years ago, we elected Captain Coxon to attack the Spanish Peru Governor's District, and achieved considerable success. Three years later, I personally organized a fleet to attack Panama, but I was very unlucky and encountered another group of French pirates, so we held a crew meeting. In the end, Captain Swan and I decided to go to East India, but we were toads at the bottom of the well and didn't know the sky. I didn't know that it was the place where the empire was dominated. Our two ships failed one after another in Luzon and Malacca.

Swan was a lucky guy. He escaped, and I was more unlucky and caught by the African company of the Empire. But I was also a little lucky, and I had some means to deal with black slaves, so I was free. Four years later, I obtained a small boat, carrying more than thirty slaves to the West Indies, and returned to my old business."

"So you have completed a round-the-world voyage, which is amazing. Maybe I should award you a medal." Li Junwei said approvingly.

William smiled: "No need, His Highness, Your Highness, I would be grateful if you can get us into the battle in Havana."

Li Junwei shrugged: "Obviously not, there is no need for pirates here. The reason why I asked Horayshaun to summon you is that I hope you will go to Panama."

Li Su opened the map and pointed to Panama and said, "The Empire has sent a fleet from the American provinces to attack Panama City. This fleet includes battleships and cruise ships, including at least two thousand men, and your target is the Port of Bello on the Caribbean Sea. You will attack first, but Your Highness has given you enough benefits. As long as you attack Panama one step ahead of the Imperial Army, then the wealth of Port of Bello and Panama City is yours. Now, each of you can receive four thousand pesos of Spanish silver coins and recruit more people or ships."

"This is really a very generous condition, but we have some doubts about what deserves your generosity." William asked.

Li Junwei said, "I need you to help the empire solve the troubles in the Panama Isthmus."

"What trouble?" Several captains didn't understand. Everyone had gone in and out of this area. It was true that there were several forts that were indeed strong, but they were not worth mentioning from the cannons owned by the Empire. They did not think that would be a trouble for the Imperial army.

Li Junwei said seriously: "What I need you to take away is not only wealth, but also people. Everything you meet, the Spanish, Indian, black slave, or anyone else. What we want is the land of Panama Isthmus, and not people."

"Man is also wealth," Horayshaun added.

In addition to looting, pirates also do business. Of course, there are many slaves in the goods. However, most of the slaves are black people and a few Indians. Although they have entered and left the Panama region many times and everyone has killed many people, no one has organized plundered the population. Because pirates have no front and no rear, they can only carry precious things forward and retreat. Not to mention people, even some high-value commodities can be burned in many cases.

But this time, the Empire had an expeditionary fleet in the Caribbean Sea. This fleet blocked all the Spanish main ships in the port of Havana, and there were also battle fleets on the Pacific side, which had both sides of the sea power, which gave the pirates sufficient time and space to capture slaves.

"A few captains, if you think it's troublesome to sell slaves, you can solve it on the spot." Li Su gave his own suggestions. In his opinion, there is no suitable market in the Americas.

And all the captains laughed: "A strong slave is worth one hundred and fifty imperial silver coins, and beautiful Spanish women are more expensive. How can we solve it on the spot?"

The captains laughed because they had already sold. The ocean was not land, there were no borders or fences on the sea, and pirates from all over the country could communicate freely, while the sales of these Caribbean pirates was the fellow travelers in the Mediterranean - the Barbary Pirates.

This is the pirates entrenched in North Africa. They robbed Mediterranean merchant ships and captured slaves. They were both pirates and vassals of the Ottoman Empire. The ones that these pirates like to capture the most are white Christians, and the Spanish are naturally included. It is easier for more blacks, mixed races, and Indians in the Panama region. There is a broad market for such slaves throughout the Americas.

After all the pirates left, Li Su asked in a low voice: "Prince, there are more and more pirates now. Are you talking to General Muta, who is in charge of Panama's battle, that in the end, the birds will be left with bows."
Chapter completed!