"Malta is now temporarily under the jurisdiction of the Disaster Relief Committee we established, and its sovereignty belongs to Spain. At present, our relationship with Spain is very friendly, and it is probably not wise to offend Spain rashly." Li Su said carefully.

Who is the most important trading partner of the empire now? In fact, Spain is counted over and over again, especially in the European region. After all, Spain has a large number of colonies overseas, and these colonies have been opened to the empire, and customs are controlled by the empire. It is conceivable that Spain cannot fight with the empire because of Malta. However, economic cooperation and military and diplomatic aspects are different. The more friendly the economic cooperation, the better. After all, there are too many ways to make the means. The Spanish are angry and secretly using some means will have a great economic impact on the empire. There is no need to think about this kind of thing. After all, the Spanish never treat the colonies as humans.

"I am not asking you to seize the sovereignty of Malta, but to solve the Malta!" Li Junwei reminded.

Li Su still doesn't understand how many islands there are in Malta, and the Maltese have a total of less than 40,000. Because they are located in the heart of the Mediterranean, they can be regarded as a nation. Malta was once an outpost for the Catholic world to fight against the invasion of the Ottoman Empire, otherwise the Knights of Malta would not have received such honors and enjoyed so many privileges.

The earthquake on the east coast of Sicily caused 60,000 deaths to Sicily. More than 2,700 people died from Malta, not far away, and at least 2,000 people were missing. Most of these people were dead. It can be said that an earthquake destroyed more than one-eighth of the population on Malta. The churches, docks and other important facilities on the island were destroyed. However, the empire provided assistance and quickly solved the problem of famine and provided some medicine so that Malta did not have any infectious diseases such as plagues due to the earthquake. Li Su really couldn't figure out how to solve the remaining 30,000 Maltese people, and a large-scale massacre would definitely be impossible.

But Li Su knew clearly the significance of Li Junwei's request.

To put it bluntly, the Empire wants Malta to have sovereignty and always belong to the Empire, not colonies. The Empire has expanded over the years and has rich experience. The sovereignty problem is very easy to solve, and it is often possible to solve it with a treaty. The problem of real landization lies in people. Places like Malta are located at the critical moment of transportation and are at the edge of the empire's sphere of influence. They are so close to the hinterland of Europe. If operated normally, it may take decades or hundreds of years to make the people of the empire the main nation on the island, but no one can wait for so long.

If the Maltese are not resolved, the territory of the empire will definitely be greatly affected by Europe in the future, which is to lay mines for future generations. Although Malta does not have much sense of identity with Spain and Sicily, and is in Europa because of Catholic religious factors, in comparison, it is more different from the imperial race and has a lower sense of identity with the empire, let alone Catholic involvement, which is actually more complicated.

"Your head is still the head of a soldier. I don't know how to make a turn for this kind of thing." Li Junwei reminded.

Li Su shook his head. He knew that he had always lacked inspiration in such matters and didn't know what to do if he wanted to break his head. However, Bai Jingyu had already understood Li Junwei's intention after thinking for a moment.

Bai Jingyu said: "The disaster relief committee established by the Imperial Navy has actually controlled Malta. Disaster relief is a systematic project. It can be used as an excuse to solve many problems, and there are also Genoese people to help."

Seeing that Bai Jingyu was interested in making some suggestions, but he still didn't turn that corner, Li Su gritted his teeth and said, "Honey, please make it clear."

Bai Jingyu asked helplessly: "I ask you how the disaster relief committee rescued the disaster in Malta."

"Build refugee camps, manage Malta refugees, arrange food and accommodation in a unified manner, and distribute medicines..." Li Su had a lot of knowledge about this and said immediately.

Bai Jingyu said: "Can this solve the fundamental problem? Can the Disaster Relief Committee help the Maltas for the rest of their lives, or is the Imperial Navy going to contribute funds to help the Maltas build houses and live again?"

"That's impossible. It's just humanitarian rescue, not imperial subjects, so how could they spend so much?" Li Su shook his head immediately and said, "And it's impossible to build a house. My husband didn't know that this major earthquake in Sicily has both high-level foreshocks and high-intensity aftershocks. As far as I know, aftershocks occur from time to time, and even our disaster relief committee was hit. A few days ago, Su Jing also sent a message saying that the aftershocks had killed two people in our navy and injured fourteen people. Now there is no sign of ending aftershocks."

"Yes! Isn't this very good? The best ending is that aftershocks are so powerful." Bai Jingyu smiled.

Li Su still shook her head, Li Junwei was helpless: "Yumu Gada's head, you think so, and the aftershocks are so powerful. Can you determine that Malta is no longer suitable for human survival? Then the most thorough disaster relief plan should be to migrate the Malta and build another home elsewhere, right?"

When Li Su heard this, he realized that he wanted to use disaster relief to pack the Maltese people away. Even if he could not take them away completely, as long as he took away most of them, it would be beneficial to the empire occupying the local area. Li Su said: "But the question is, where should we settle these people?"

"Corsica, this is still a question." Li Junwei said.

When Li Su heard this, his eyes lit up instantly. Corsica is indeed suitable. This island is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean. It is no problem to place more than 30,000 Maltese people. Moreover, it is a Genoese colony, and the colonies have always refused to accept people. With more people, there will be more taxes. This is the iron law of the colony.

Bai Jingyu said: "Doing this kind of thing is to be true, false, false, aftershocks are just a reason. You can also create a few artificially, such as plagues are prone to break out during earthquakes. Malta's medical system has been taken over by the navy. It can spread rumors of plagues and scare those Maltese people. Of course, the reason for earthquakes can also be bigger. In terms of earthquakes, the level of empires is the highest. You can find geologists, or even find a few people who look like geologists to argue the geological environment of Malta Island, so that the Malta people believe that this earthquake is only the beginning, and more earthquakes will break out in the future. As for the rumors, the more the better."

Li Su was helpless and thought to himself that Bai Jingyu and Li Junwei were really worthy of being young, and they were all in one trick at a time.

Li Suwen: "Your Highness, the man has solved it, but what should I do if the sovereignty issue is?"

"This matter is easier to handle. At worst, you can rent it first. If you don't allow the construction of a military base, we will build a commercial port and then wait." Bai Jingyu said with a smile.

"What are you waiting for?"

"When the next war, in Europe, all peace treaties are just armistice agreements. I don't know other countries and monarchs, I know Louis XIV so well. This guy is a hungry wolf. As long as he lives for one day, he will never stop expanding. Spain, as a neighbor of France, is a weak country, and a weak country with a large number of overseas colonies, cannot escape Louis XIV's covetousness. No matter what the next war breaks out, Spain will definitely be pulled into the water. There is no doubt.

As long as Spain joins the war, everything will be easy. If Spain is enemies of the empire, Malta should be compensated for the empire as a defeat. If Spain becomes friends with the empire in the next war, then Malta should be given as a gift to the empire in exchange for the empire's support." Although Bai Jingyu has been scattering in Paris on the surface, in fact, he has been influenced by the past years and has gained a deep understanding of the situation in Europe.

As Li Mingxun's son, Li Junwei naturally knew that if the devil-beaten king of Spain died, a war between Austria Habsburg and France in order to compete for the inheritance of the Spanish throne. This war was destined to be the main theme of the struggle for European hegemony. Many people would not care about Spain's gains and losses. After a European war, the comparison of territory and strength will definitely undergo large-scale changes. Relatively speaking, Malta is pitiful and is really not worth mentioning.

Li Su looked at Li Junwei, and confirmed that what Bai Jingyu said was exactly what Li Junwei thought, and immediately stood up and said: "Okay, I will do it according to my husband's arrangement. Then I will take over the Naval Disaster Relief Committee of Malta first."

"For more contact with the Genoese people, you will become the commander-in-chief of the Three Kingdoms coalition this time. The support of the Genoese people is essential. Don't look down on others because of Genoa's weakness." Li Junwei reminded.

Bai Jingyu said: "The prince has also had many contacts with Portugal. The Maltese may not necessarily be placed in Genoa. The Brazilian colonies in Portugal are also short of people. They should not refuse Maltese who believe in Catholicism."

Li Su hurriedly thanked. It turned out that this young man lacked only some creative thinking, and his ability to do things was still sufficient. After confirming this, Li Su immediately contacted the Genoese and discussed with the representatives of Genoa, and quickly determined the first plan, which was to establish an army unit for conquering the Maghreb region in the name of Genoa, and recruited them mainly by the Maltese and named the Malta regiment.

The equipment of the Malta regiment was provided by the Imperial Party, and the training was organized to form an officer's regiment, while the funds were led by the Genoese. At the same time, Genoa would also take out land for the Malta regiment in Corsica or the Maghreb region to conquere the future as a general to the soldiers.

The Sicily earthquake destroyed the economy of Malta, and many Maltese lost their source of income. The recruitment of Genoese people was very smooth, and a large number of personnel were recruited into the army. At the same time, the Navy Disaster Relief Committee in Malta continued to send messages, claiming that a large number of human and animal corpses were buried in the ruins and could not be cleaned, so a plague occurred and many people died. Because the power of the Disaster Relief Committee and Malta was really limited, the Disaster Relief Committee demarcated a large number of ruins as forbidden areas.

Moreover, the Disaster Relief Committee has continuously issued aftershock warnings to severely restrict the reconstruction of the homes of Malta. God also gave great face. Although there was no plague in Malta, because everyone lived in a refugee area built by tents, the aftershock did not cause huge casualties. However, the rescue in Sicily was out of order. With the arrival of an aftershock, the buildings that had been restored in Sicily collapsed again, causing huge casualties again. Moreover, the plague really became popular in Sicily, effectively cooperating with the immigration of Malta.

The Disaster Relief Committee and Genoa also responded quickly and decided to establish New Malta on Corsica and settle Malta refugees. Because Corsica is located in the north of Sicily, the earthquake broke out but it was on the east of Sicily. Corsica was suffering very lightly and was not affected by the tsunami. The first batch of soldiers entering New Malta were the families of the Malta Infantry Regiment.

At the same time, officials and merchants from the Brazilian colonies of Portugal recruited immigrants on a large scale in Malta and Sicily, and they stopped slightly until the plague began. The population of Malta was less than 40,000, so how could they withstand such torture? In addition, the Empire intended to do so. By the time the disaster relief committee was over and the disaster relief committee announced its dissolution, Malta still had less than 8,000 people, of which only 6,000 were Malta.

To the empire's expectations, Russia, far away from the mainland, also participated in the immigration of Malta, but they invited not ordinary Maltese people, but the original ruler of the Malta region, the Knights of the Malta region.

After the Knights of Malta were actually expelled by the empire, they were unable to place them well between the city-states and principalities of Italy. After all, the times were different. Although the Pope still had considerable influence in Catholic countries, it was not the sixteenth century. The Pope could find an island for the Knights as a place to live with just one finger. The Catholic countries were already quite independent. However, Tsar Peter regarded the fight for the Knights of Malta as the key to the orthodox struggle between Catholic and Orthodox churches, and took action to win over.

Without any battle, the Knights of Malta almost disappeared and also played the first note for the empire to officially enter the Mediterranean, affecting this sea area located in the heart of Europe.
Chapter completed!