The Spanish palace almost seemed like an ironworks with a boiler explosion, and it was completely messy. Unlike the honey confidence just now, the Spanish were completely in a state of hysteria at this time, because the judgment of the situation was all preset, that is, the French Navy would fail, but Fajado directly shattered everyone's fantasy, and there was no need to doubt this news, because such a thing could not be hidden.

The failure of the British-Dutch joint fleet means that the sea control power fell into the hands of the French. There are two most dangerous countries, Britain and Spain. The deposed king James II of the United Kingdom is in France. France may organize an army to land in Britain to regain power. Spain was originally under the French naval blockade and land threat. Now China has come up again. Under the attack on both sides, Spain has no way to survive.

"We must carry out a comprehensive war mobilization, collect new taxes immediately, and allow the nobles to donate their salaries, and at least expand the army to 150,000." The general of the army waved his fists and shouted. At this moment, he became aware of crisis and also fought for a higher status and power for himself.

"If that is the case, the French and Chinese would just suspend the attack, because the 150,000 troops had nothing to do and the country could be dragged down in two years," the Chancellor of the Finance Minister angrily rebuked.

"Then do you have any suggestions? What the kingdom needs now is not opposition, but real suggestions!" the generals retorted.

The Chancellor of the Finance Department gritted his teeth and said, "The kingdom was on the verge of bankruptcy, and the overseas colonies that depended on for survival were also in a collapse. Now the British-Dutch joint fleet has failed and foreign aid has disappeared. Now the only way to protect the kingdom is to leave the Great Alliance and form an alliance with King Louis. Only in this way can we avoid being attacked by China."

This method is not a solution, and you can't beat joining. Anyway, Spain is already a second-rate country and you are not afraid of losing face.

"I absolutely cannot agree with your suggestion to betray the Holy Alliance! This is stupid and ridiculous. If we form an alliance with the Tyrant Louis, we can only save our homeland, and Spain will be controlled by France, which will make the king and the queen mother face their subjects. What should we do with our colonies? Will China return the colonies of the New World because of our alliance with France? Surely not, on the contrary, this may promote their alliance with the Holy Alliance and divide our colonies."

"But if we don't do this, even Spain will not be able to save us. Without survival, what's the use of dignity?"

The quarrel made the kingdom extremely noisy. Queen Mother Anna kept silent. Even among a group of crazy men, she maintained the standard aristocratic etiquette of the Austrians. This was her cultivation and the key to her as a woman in charge of the kingdom. That was, she should never speak casually. She must clearly express her support for the majority when the argument came to a conclusion and protect the minority.

Duke Fajado just smiled and looked at it for a while. In his eyes, everyone here was stupid. He just thought these people were noisy. So he turned around and left, but was stopped by someone: "Duke, Duke Fajado, as the provider of the news, don't you want to provide some advice?"

"I am not a Regent and I am not qualified to participate in the discussion. I am here today, just as His Majesty the King's faithful servant, to provide some information related to the kingdom." Fahado came back to his senses, but owed Queen Mother Anna, and continued to turn and leave.

The members were speechless by him. When Fahado was about to go out, he suddenly turned around and said, "For my reputation, I will not make suggestions. Now someone has slandered me as a 'Chinese businessman'. If I don't make suggestions with self-awareness, I may be called 'Chinese'."

Fajado finally left, but instead of leaving the palace, he wandered around the garden, and he knew that Queen Mother Anna would need him.

However, Fajado's last sentence implicitly gave a key suggestion to the regents, that is, he could choose to seek peace from China. However, Fajado could not make this suggestion to avoid being misunderstood. For the Spanish, he also surrendered, and his knees that could be bent to France could naturally be bent to China. Fortunately, surrendering to France could only preserve the land. The king's economy, politics and military would be intervened by the French. Not to mention anything else, the king had no heirs, and Louis XIV had always sought to make his heirs become the king of Spain.

As for the Chinese, they have made more affirmation of the Spanish mainland, and at least they will not control Spain. The two evils are the least, which is the basic ability of politicians.

Neves, Portugal.

A unique competition is being held here. The organizer is the King of Portugal Pedro, and the most important VIP is Prince Li Junwei. The two set up rewards of imperial silver coins of up to 10,000 yuan for the competition, and the competition was a steam pump. The reason why they chose to host it in Neves is that it is an important mining area in Portugal. The tin and copper mines produced are important mining products in Portugal. High-quality ore has become one of the most popular products for Chinese merchants.

Because of Lee Myung-hoon, the Empire began to invest in steam engines since the community stage, and the first practical steam pump was born forty years ago. Twenty-two years ago, the Empire owned the first steam car (the first steam-powered vehicle in history was a car), and then gradually developed power such as trains and ships.

The empire kept the steam engine confidential. The government and intelligence departments controlled the use of steam engines. The steam engine restriction order was once determined by the legal situation. Three years ago, the empire also stipulated that except for South Africa, steam power is not allowed to appear on the Atlantic Ocean. Even sailboats equipped with small steam engines for sailing, lifting, and anchoring cannot appear in the Atlantic Ocean (except military ships), colonies are not allowed to use steam power, and natural steam engines are not allowed to be exported.

But the problem is that this one-size-fits-all approach cannot prevent the spread of steam engine technology. You must know that even without the time travel factor of Li Mingxun, a practical steam water lifter would have been born in 1698 - Friends of the Miner. The atmospheric steam engine of the Newkomen would only take 1712. There was no breakthrough in various technologies. The empire could use the technology from the 17th century to create an atmospheric steam engine, so could Europeans.

In fact, Europeans did better and faster because they were standing on the shoulders of giants. The empire could control the flow of steam engines, so that Europeans could not get the steam engine, but they could not prevent Europeans from getting into steam engines. Machines such as steam drainage machines are everywhere. Europeans do not need technical breakthroughs or designs, just copy them directly.

Therefore, in the fifteenth year of the empire, there were signs of steam water lifters in the UK. By the twenty-fiveth year of the empire, steam drainers were already everywhere in the British coal and iron mines. The empire restricted exports of steam engines, resulting in the popularity of those steam engines in Britain with low technical and low efficiency in Britain in Europe. After Dantai Yunfeng arrived in Europe, he saw steam engines made by the British in Portugal, France and the Netherlands, mainly for drainage, and the design reached the level of the empire ten years ago, manufacturing was at the level of twenty years ago, and efficiency was at the level of twenty years ago. However, the British steam engine industry developed very quickly, and the machinery industry also developed.

Dan Tai Yunfeng believed that the empire's steam engine restrictions did not prevent Europeans from mastering steam engine technology, but instead promoted the great development of British steam engines because Britain gained a broader market.

In the past decade, the Empire believed that the biggest enemy of the Empire in the land direction was Russia, and the biggest enemy on the ocean was Britain. Suppressing Britain was the empire's European strategy. Therefore, Dan Tai Yunfeng reported to Shen Jing that the steam engine restrictions should be lifted to a limited extent.

In the end, the empire formulated a new protection law for advanced technologies, including steam engines, and first required European countries to respect the empire's patent rights in new technologies. Of course, this is wishful thinking nonsense. After the Chinese steam engine was sold, all countries imitated it, and no one or state gave patents. This patent law only prevented these foreign steam engines from entering the imperial market.

The most critical adjustment is the European standard principle. Since the British broke through the steam drainage technology, the Empire should provide the world with steam engines of similar technical standards, because the Empire's advantages in steel smelting and mechanical processing were often lighter and smaller, more powerful, consume less coal, and even lower prices. It is completely possible to use its technical advantages to squeeze out the British steam engine from the European market.

Because the level of the imperial steam engine is far higher than that of Europe, in principle, what technology the Europeans break through and what level of steam engines of the empire dumps to suppress the market of European competitors. This principle ultimately leads that countries such as Britain ultimately have to rely on the situation of trade barriers to provide a market for their own low-efficiency and low-tech steam engines and maintain updates and iterations.

The last change is to open steam engines to private capital, allowing Imperial private enterprises to produce steam engines. In the past, in order to protect steam engine technology, the Empire only allowed state-owned enterprises, at least enterprises with state-owned capital, to produce steam engines. However, this time, it was only allowed private enterprises to produce steam engines that meet European standards. However, the Empire had relatively strict patent laws, and state-owned enterprises would deliberately make things difficult for private enterprises in order to protect their own markets.

This leads to a very strange phenomenon. Private enterprises that are facing the European market will go directly to the UK to purchase steam engines, and then copy them and make some improvements. Then, they use the technological advantages and material price advantages of the Empire's mechanical processing to produce high-efficiency and low-priced European steam engines to achieve direct competition for the British steam engines. This European design, Chinese-made model will not violate the Empire's ban on steam engines, and is also the most supported by the Empire.

Private enterprises use European designs. Even though many designs directly copy China, private enterprises do not need to abide by the Imperial Patent Law for this purpose. Because the UK implements trade barriers and similar mature products cannot be sold in the UK, they do not need to abide by the UK's trade laws, and are also the most popular among private enterprises.

With the arrival of the first batch of Chinese steam drainers (the original batch was sent to Xijin, but was directly intercepted by Li Junwei), Li Junwei suggested holding a steam engine drainage competition. After a hustle and bustle, the Chinese steam drainers completed their work one after another and won the victory. Not only did the drainage efficiency far exceed that of British goods, but they also used less coal. This was very important for Portugal, which lacked coal, and attracted the attention of many mine owners. The seven steam drainers participating in the competition were sold out, and some mine owners placed orders on the spot to order new steam engines.

"My father likes this kind of game, but there are more tricks of the game." Li Junwei said to King Pedro who was watching the game.

Pedro was also very happy because there was no real industry in Portugal. The introduction of steam engines would not impact Portugal's industries, but would promote the development of Portugal's mining industry. This is a good thing that is harmless. He did not feel that he would lose money when he took out money to make King Yu happy. The reason was even simpler. In the past few months, many Spanish prisoners have been redeemed by the Spanish by his hands, and he has also made a lot of money.

At this moment, a servant came over and said a few words to Pedro. Pedro coughed lightly and said, "Your Highness, Lisbon just sent news. The Spanish sent a delegation to you, as if they wanted to negotiate with you. Obviously, they also got the news of the failure of the British and Dutch fleet."

Li Junwei nodded slightly and said, "Don't panic, we have to present awards to the winners, and we have to hold a dinner tonight so that the Spaniards can wait."

Pedro said, "I still hope this matter can be resolved as soon as possible."

Li Junwei smiled: "Dear King, now I can tell you that we will not form an alliance with France to deal with the Kingdom of Spain. You can keep your heart in your pelvis."

The two have formed a deep friendship in recent months. Pedro laughed, not only because of Li Junwei's joke, but also because of his attitude. In fact, Pedro did not have much opinion on the alliance between China and France, but could not accept the alliance between the two countries against Spain.

You should know that if the two countries have annexed Spain as the goal, the result will be that France annexed Spain, which will make Portugal's land neighbor, and only France. In Europe, who would be the neighbor of Louis XIV, the tyrant? Now that Li Junwei has expressed his attitude, Pedro's final worries are gone.

"As you wish, my most sincere friend. I will do whatever you ask me to do." Pedro said to Li Junwei with a smile. After the award ceremony, they accepted the cheers of the miners and the people on the scene. Pedro said: "Even so, I still hope that we will receive the Spanish as soon as possible."

Li Junwei said: "As long as I am willing to contact, I will definitely be able to resolve the issue peacefully in the end. This is a reward for my son-in-law, and I hope that my son-in-law will do this, so wait and wait until the poor child comes back from Paris. You know, I'm sorry for him."
Chapter completed!