Antonio immediately became interested, and he came to Li Junwei and said, "Your Highness, colonies protect each other, what does this mean and how to operate it."

"Didn't the local area be returned to the local area over the years, and the colonies be returned to the colonies?" Li Junwei said with a smile.

Antonio shook his head: "This is probably history."

The principle of returning home to local colonies and colonies has long been a thing of the past. Even those who adhered to this principle before were non-core colonies or relations between colonial companies. At least, Spain has never adhered to this principle. The war between the empire and Spain originated from the war between the Philippines Governor of Spain in the early years, and later developed into the Governor of New Spain, the Spanish mainland and the entire Catholic world.

Similarly, the empire did not completely accept that the land belonged to the land, the colonies belonged to the colonies, and the empire's major policies and guidelines for overseas colonies were decided by the imperial central government. For example, the division of the sphere of influence between the African Development Company and the Portuguese East African colonies was finally defined by the central government of the empire and the Portuguese king.

But sometimes, this principle also applies. For example, in Western African colonies, African development companies and colonies of various countries are intertwined, so the empire will not evolve into conflicts between countries because of conflicts between colonies. At most, the empire will come forward and intervene in mediation.

"But at this time, you can do this again." Li Junwei put the brewed tea in front of Antonio.

Antonio said: "I understand what you mean, Your Highness. You are letting the Spanish colonies cut between the land and the country, so that the Spanish war will not burn to the colonies, right?"

"It's true, and, I think, you are the best candidate." Li Junwei said confidently.

Antonio's family was in charge of the Indy House for many years, especially when the Empire assisted Spain in building colonial customs. At the beginning, Antonio selected suitable young nobles among the local nobles to join the customs school to win over some great nobles. However, soon, Antonio's family broke up with the Spanish nobles.

Since then, Antonio has run customs schools in four major cities including Mexico City and Lima City in the American colonies. He recruited children of squire who had settled in Spain to enter the school on a large scale. In addition to his special relationship with the empire, Antonio has a great influence in the two major governors districts, several governors districts, and prosecution court districts of the American colonies.

Antonio thought about this matter carefully and nodded slightly: "Yes, there is indeed a lot of room for operation."

From a national perspective, the colonial Spanish were definitely unwilling to stay out of the war when the Spanish mainland was trapped in war, but in terms of interests, this was very appropriate.

First of all, the colonial nobles had a consensus that they could never be enemies with China. It doesn’t matter if the local people were involved in war. If the enemy of the war included China, it would never be acceptable. At that time, the local people would not be able to guarantee the safety of the colony.

The two major governors' districts did not want to be attacked and ransacked by China like the last American War.

Secondly, Spanish colonies are also economically inseparable from China. Most of the industrial products needed by the colonies come from China, and many of them cannot be provided by Europe. For example, the large number of minerals that appear in the Americas and are mined with mechanical power will fall into a state of suspension once they leave China.

The goods produced by the Spanish colonies are also the main markets of China and Europe, and the trade resources to Europe are also mainly controlled by China. When the security and economy of the colonies depend on China, the best choice is not to get involved in the war.

On the matter of mutual protection in the colony, Antonio and Li Junwei discussed at their residence for half a month. After that, Antonio returned to Spain and said that he would no longer interfere in the issue of the succession of the Spanish throne in the future. Then he volunteered to the king and went to the colony to inspect the colony as the king's special envoy.

Except for some radical Spanish nobles, the rest could accept this situation. Most Spanish nobles hated Antonio but did not want to really kill him.

Spain does not want its relationship with the empire to deteriorate, and on some issues, Antonio's role is irreplaceable, such as the Spanish national debt management.

In the early days of Antonio's rule, almost all the fiscal revenue obtained from Spain was transported to Amsterdam to still have the interest owed over the years, and only about half of the debt was paid, and the rest was required. However, after Antonio's rule, especially after the establishment of colonial customs, Spain's income in the colony grew rapidly, at least enough to pay off the interest on national debt.

English Channel.

A schooner emerged from the thin morning mist and leaned against a slowly advancing steam-assisted power warship in the gentle waves. The warship had a gun deck, and two black smokers were still spitting out black smoke.

"Welcome to Zelan, Duke."

By the time Churchill climbed onto the deck, Heinsius, with silver hair, was already waiting, and the two of them held their hands together.

"Is this the famous Zelan?" Churchill asked excitedly as he looked at the warship with metal light reflected around him.

Heinsius smiled: "Yes, this is the pride of the Netherlands. I can take the Duke to visit."

Churchill said: "Mr. Heinsius, I dare not bother you. Just have Your Excellency Van der Were."

The young Vanderville is the eldest grandson of Heinsius and the captain of the Zeland. Heinsius smiled and said, "Well, Vanderville, take the Duke to visit."

The Zelan was the first ironclad ship built by the United Republic of the Netherlands, but it was a copy.

After Heinsius became the head of state of the Netherlands, he immediately began to reform the naval forces, abolished the provincial naval departments, established the Netherlands navy, and updated the naval equipment and ordered ironclad ships from the Empire to deal with threats from France.

The self-built ironclad ships were quickly set up, but the most critical technology of ironclad ships was marine steam engines, which the empire did not allow exports. However, when the economic crisis came, some previous restrictions were also cancelled.

In the 31st year of the empire, the empire allowed the sale of steam-powered merchant ships to foreign countries, and the steam-power of the Zelan came from merchant ships. The Dutch wanted to purchase the marine power set directly, but was rejected, so they began to purchase 4,000 tons of steam-assisted merchant ships.

These merchant ships had steam engines of more than 1,000 horsepower as auxiliary power and also had sail power. However, the Dutch were foolish. At that time, the advanced merchant ships of the Empire began to use metal as hull material. The metal hull had a larger capacity and load capacity, so it was quickly promoted.

But the Dutch required their merchant ships to be made of wooden hulls.

As a result, after these merchant ships arrived in the Netherlands, they were immediately dismantled and the steam power set was dismantled. The steam-assisted merchant ship became a sailing merchant ship. The dismantled steam power was installed on the Dutch self-built ironclad ship, and the Zelan was of this type, and it was the first.

The main hull structure of the Zelan was purchased from the UK. Originally, these keels and ribs were used to build a 3,000-ton battleship. They were purchased by the Dutch at a low price and formed on a shipbuilding in Amsterdam, so the construction period was quite short.

The built Zelan waterline is 68 meters long and 14.3 meters wide, with a displacement of 3,200 tons. It uses a Chinese giant-class dual-cylinder direct-drive steam engine as power, and the maximum speed is only twelve knots, because the three-mast is fully equipped with sails, and the speed under sail power is also more than ten knots.

In terms of firepower, the Dutch designer set up a central gun in the center of the hull, which is a hexagonal armored gun in the middle of the hull. There are two gun doors on both sides, one gun door on the front left, left back, right front, and right back. It is usually blocked by the iron ship gulf, so it cannot be seen.

The Zelan has a total of eight cannons, all of which are 100-pound wine bottle cannons. These cannons are purchased from China and are purchased in the name of fortress cannons. Because of the hexagonal cannon design, the eight cannons can have four guns to shoot to both sides. If they are shooting forward and backward, there are also two cannons.

The Zelan has a good defense, with a relatively wide armor belt that extends from the upper deck to three inches below the waterline. It is 4.5-inch thick wrought iron armor, and 26-inch lined hardwood. In addition, the thickness of the armored cannon is similar, but in order to reduce weight, the lined hardwood is relatively weak and there is no lined in the front and rear directions.

In terms of combat effectiveness, the Zelan has reached the level of the Imperial Iron Wall-class frigate as a whole, and has certain advantages against those warships in France.

"It's amazing, Lord Heinsius, this is not only the pride of the Netherlands, but also the pride of Europa. It is also the first step we have taken. Perhaps one day, we can completely eliminate the fear of being dominated by the Chinese." Churchill came to the command room and said excitedly.

Heinsius nodded slightly: "Duke, technology is only one aspect, politically, we have to do a lot."

"Yeah, that's why I took the risk to meet you. Maybe you don't know that the king had placed a lot of people around me, and in the last month, there were people who poisoned my milk." Churchill said.

Heinsius smiled and said, "Then come and have a drink of bar, I promise, there is no poison in it."

Churchill and Heinsius had not had a good relationship at first. A glorious revolution occurred in Britain, and British nobles welcomed William III to be the king. The key to success was Churchill's turn against him, but Heinsius was the king's confidant at that time and was once criticized in the British political arena.

But now, the relationship between the two has to heat up because the issue of inheriting the Spanish throne puts them in danger.

Although James II restored his country, it triggered a civil war in the UK and has not stopped yet. However, the intensity has eased. Churchill was in charge of Scotland and became the de facto warlord in Britain. However, King James II was increasingly dissatisfied with him and wanted to regain his authority. Fortunately, Churchill received support from the Scottish Presbyterian Church.

Now, James II's pressure is getting closer and closer. The reason is that France is preparing for a war caused by the inheritance of the Spanish throne and wants to withdraw from Britain. Not only will it no longer provide any support, but it also hopes that James II will make a difference in future wars.

In order to achieve this goal, James II not only needs to suppress the opposition at home, but also need to regain power from Churchill and Fitz James. It can be said that the issue of inheriting the throne in Spain puts Churchill's status in jeopardy.

The same goes for Heinsius and his Netherlands.

In the Grand Alliance War, the lowlands have always been the focus of France's offensive. The Netherlands blocked the attack with the support of Britain and Habsburg princes. Now Britain has become a vassal state of France. Once a war broke out across Europe, the Netherlands may not receive any support and will be attacked by both sea and land. Heinsius must prepare in advance, otherwise, the first one to perish in the war will definitely be the Netherlands.

Because of common interests, the two people walked together, but the problem is that the cooperation between the two people is not supported by China.

In recent years, Heinsius has been in contact with Churchill. After King Yu Li Junwei failed to mediate the Spanish inheritance issue, Heinsius thought carefully and believed that once a war broke out, there were only two possibilities that the Netherlands could be saved.

First, China participated in the war and directly sent the navy and army to the Netherlands. Heinsius also knew that this possibility was slim. Although the Chinese prince did not express his denial, Heinsius knew that if China wanted to participate in the war, with the wisdom of King Yu, he would have been in advance, but the Chinese prince had not moved for a long time.

Second, promote the alliance between Britain and the Netherlands and jointly fight against France.

Although James II was very dissatisfied with Louis XIV's control, his throne was inseparable from Louis XIV's support. Heinsius believed that there was only one possibility for Britain to form an alliance with the Netherlands. Britain would have another glorious revolution, and would once again turn from a Catholic country to a Protestant country, and be run by anti-French nobles.

But that meant that King Yu's efforts were in vain for many years, and Heinsius did not dare to let the Chinese side know his plan, so he secretly met Churchill.

"The problem is that no matter how confidential it is, the prince of China will know sooner or later." Churchill directly put the problem in front of Heinsius.

Heinsius said: "Don't worry about this. The Prince of China is a very rational person. He knows what is the main contradiction and what is the secondary contradiction. If he wants to turn a deaf ear to the restoration of the parliamentary system in Britain, there is only one way to create a greater trouble and greater threat to him."

"What?"

Heinsius said directly: "It's very simple, it will promote the Duke of Anjou to inherit the Spanish throne. As long as Spain and France unite, it will be China's biggest threat in the world. In order to deal with this threat, the prince of China will turn a blind eye to the British affairs.
Chapter completed!