In the small town of Gibraltar, the door of a ready-to-wear shop opened, and a bald middle-aged man walked out. He and the owner of the shop were lingering at the door of the uninhabited in the morning. After a while, a discordant voice sounded at the entrance of the street: "Old fart, enough, you'll almost harden me."

When the bald man heard this voice, he was not panicked at all. He touched his mistress's pretty face, said a few love words in Spanish, and asked her to go upstairs to continue resting. He turned around and grinned at the Chinese man at the intersection of the street and shouted in Chinese: "I'll say it again, it's the old skin, the sheepskin skin, not the old fart, the fart of the follower."

"Okay, old skin, sheepskin skin." Chinese businessman Jia Ming shrugged helplessly.

Lao Pi's name is Pieno, and he was the mayor of the town of Gibraltar. His nickname comes from his previous position, Mayor Alachisilas's account. At that time, he was just a follower of Mayor Viscount Frances.

After the Empire owned Ceuta, it changed Lao Pi's fate.

As the closest territory of the empire to Western Europe, Ceuta was gathered here and countless trades were generated here, without any immigration policy. In just a few years, Ceuta was a developed commercial city.

As a city, the surrounding rural areas need to support supplies. Most of the supplies come from northern Morocco, which has become a Portuguese colony. However, some things are not produced in Morocco, and are necessary for the Chinese in Ceuta. The most representative of them is pork. Exporting live pigs to Ceuta and becoming the main smuggling business of merchants in Cadis Province, southern Spain.

As a nobleman, Francis, who also serves as mayor, occupies a large part of the pig exports. Just a business controlled by Francis, he exports 300 pigs to Ceuta every month, and he also does other businesses. The old Pi, who is literate and silly, becomes the white glove of Lord Viscount.

In recent years, Lao Pi has played the role of a very good actor. In order to make it easier for him to do things, the mayor of the small town of Gibraltar fell on him.

"Are we going to your town mayor's office? It may not be convenient to speak there." Jia Ming reminded all the way to the town center.

Lao Pi didn't look back: "We are going to the clinic, my brother Jia Ming, the cute and harmless student you are looking for who was injured when climbing the big rock mountain, is still in the clinic."

"So you know why I came." Jia Ming responded with a smile.

When they arrived at the clinic, Jia Ming saw four young men, all around twenty years old. They were wearing students' school uniforms, but they were smart and had bright eyes. They didn't look like ordinary students no matter how they looked. One of them was lying on the bed, with one of their legs fixed by splints, and their expression was a little painful.

"Can I take them away?" Jia Ming asked.

Lao Pi smiled and said, "It's okay, but please settle the medical expenses."

Jia Ming snapped his fingers, and the person behind him stepped forward to check the bill. He walked towards the injured person. The man endured the pain and pulled Jia Ming closer and said, "Sir, our things are still in the hands of the mayor."

Jia Ming pulled open his collar and revealed the bronze medal hidden inside. He gave the young man a look. The young man's eyes lit up and stopped talking. Jia Ming said: "Don't worry, this mayor is my best friend. You are just students who come to climb the mountain with boredom. How could he make things difficult for you?"

Soon, the four of them left the clinic and went to the dock to take a boat. Lao Pi took Jia Ming to a clean and uninhabited room. Jia Ming said directly: "Lao Pi, for the sake of my friends for many years, I will offer a price to a friendly price."

As he said that, he handed Lao Pi a cigarette. Lao Pi did not pick it up, but took out an exquisite tin-plated iron box from his arms and swept the tobacco inside with cut paper. He said, "Jia Ming, why don't you try this?"

Jia Ming was puzzled: "Why don't you smoke or roll it?"

"This is my own tobacco stock." Lao Pi said proudly.

Jia Ming smiled and said, "Then I want to taste it. By the way, little Carlo is really capable."

"If it weren't for him, I would have given these things to the mayor long ago." Lao Pi took out a map and a notebook from his pocket and threw them to Jia Ming. There were many lines on it, with a lot of numbers and words standardized. Obviously, the four young men were not students who were mountaineering and recreating, but surveyors from the navy.

Jia Ming took a look, put it away, and asked, "Will you put the price on Little Carlo this time?"

"I only have such a son now." Old Pinne said.

Although Lao Pi and the financial owner behind him were doing smuggling deals with the Empire, Lao Pi was one step further than the Viscount. He could be regarded as a spy installed by the Imperial Military Intelligence Agency in the Gibraltar region. Lao Pi had more or less a sense of belonging to the Kingdom of Spain, but he only hated the king of Spain.

Lao Pi once had three sons, one of whom was still in Ceuta. When the Imperial Navy attacked Ceuta, his son resisted to the end. He did not die at the hands of the Imperial Navy. Instead, he returned to Spain and became a scapegoat for noble officers. There was also a handsome young son. When the situation in the Strait of Gibraltar was tense, many nobles came from Madrid to deal with the crisis. One of the palace counts took a fancy to his young son, and the child was taken away and there was no news since then.

Because of these sufferings, Lao Pi naturally betrayed Spain. The Military Intelligence Agency also gave Lao Pi a good reward, most of which was reflected in his second son Carlo.

Little Carlo was seventeen years old that year. Under the arrangement of the Military Intelligence Bureau, he went to the customs school run by the Imperial Customs and the Spanish government in Mexico City and became the first group of students. Theoretically, the first three group of students were the children of Spanish nobles and colonial squires, and Little Carlo had no chance at all.

However, after the Military Intelligence Bureau made a little move, Carlo entered the academy as the son of Viscount Frances.

After graduating, Karlo successfully entered the customs at the Havana port of Cuba. After a few years, he has become the local deputy chief and settled down in the local area. Not only has he got an official, he also bought a tobacco plantation in the local area. Now the tobacco that Lao Pi likes to smoke is from his son's plantation.

Jia Ming picked up the piece of paper, rolled up a cigarette, took a sip, shook his head slightly, obviously not used to this smell, he said, "Laopi, we are old friends, let's talk about what conditions are."

Lao Pi said: "The children fell off the big rock yesterday. Maybe others didn't see anything, but I know your words. They mapped this land. I think you are going to occupy this place, right?"

"Why, are you worried about the country and the people?"

"I don't care about those." Lao Pi said while smoking: "I mean, when will you start fighting? Shouldn't you wait for the king to die? Is it about to start? I need to know in advance and be prepared. For example, transfer assets and take my wife, daughter and sister's family away from here."

"I really don't know when exactly, but you're right. If the fight starts, you will definitely wait for your king to die." Jia Ming said bluntly. He thought for a while: "Although we have a good relationship, you also know that we have rules. Even if I know the exact date, I won't disclose it to you in advance. However, you can transfer assets now and go to Ceuta first. I can help with this."

"Okay, but I won't leave. Jia Ming, you are a very reputable person. The more I contribute, the more I get, right? Maybe by the day when the war begins, you still need me, and I will get more from you."

"This is very good. We have a saying that strong dragons do not defeat local snakes. Even if the battle starts, we need your support. After all, you are very familiar with this place. But didn't you say that you should use the chips on your son Little Carlo?" Jia Ming was actually a little nervous, because Little Carlo has now entered the upper class of the Spanish colony, and is not the kind of person who can pass hundreds of imperial silver dollars.

If the price is too high, Jia Ming thought to himself that perhaps the people above would find an opportunity to kill Lao Pi and avoid being constrained by it.

But Lao Pi's next price was indeed beyond Jia Ming's expectations, and he said: "My son sent a letter from Havana, and he told me that a major change was brewing in the colony, which was said to be related to a great nobleman named Antonio.

To be honest, I have only heard of such a big man and never met him. But Little Carlo said that since it is related to him, it is related to your country. I don’t know what the big change Carlo said was, but he said it was an important opportunity in life.

You know my child has the ability and ambitions, so he wants to participate, but he doesn't get the chance. And this time the reward for helping you is to give my son a chance."

Lao Pi is a man with no ambitions. Jia Ming knew this. He knew more about the big change that Carlo said was that Antonio was inspecting and connecting the trial courts in the Spanish American colonies. The purpose was that when Spain was in war, the colonies could help and protect each other and stay away from war.

Obviously, in order to achieve the goal of "colonial mutual protection", the partner is the local squire landlords in the colonies. Because Spain has always had a tough colonial policy, these real power figures have no interests in the Spanish mainland. On the contrary, they will be bullied by the nobles from the Spanish mainland.

The colonial squire had conflicts with the Spanish natives, and every time Spain fell into war, it was a plunder of the colony, so they had the motivation and willingness to participate in the colony's mutual protection.

Although Carlo Little settled down on Cuba Island and owned a plantation, he obviously did not belong to the category of colonial squire, and was more classified as a team of Spanish dispatched officials.

But then I thought about it, although Antonio might not be able to use Carlo Little Carlo, the Military Intelligence Agency would use it. Although Antonio came to the Colonial Mutual Protection, the Empire also intervened. To control the situation, there must be someone in a critical position. Carlo Little Carlo may be a good choice.

After careful consideration, Jia Ming said, "I promise you, Lao Pi, but I can't give you any real guarantees. What I can save is just put your son's name on my boss's desk."

But Lao Pi was very calm about this answer: "That's enough. This is already the limit that my father can do for the child. If I ask too much, I think your Shangguan will find someone to kill me."

"No, you are my friend." Jia Ming patted Lao Pi on the shoulder. Although he said that, Jia Ming knew in his heart that if Lao Pi insisted on giving him some guarantees or making other excessive demands, the people from the Military Intelligence Bureau would not care about giving this old guy a peanut.

The two came out of the clinic and went to the port. The smell of livestock manure was everywhere, not only pigs, but also birds such as chickens, ducks, geese and other birds. In the province of Cadis, Spain, there is a rumor that every Chinese in Ceuta, Spain transports an extra pig to Ceuta every year.

Although this statement is a bit exaggerated, it is still suspicious that Chinese immigrants in Ceuta who consume half a pig a year.

"I noticed that many young Chinese people have come to Gibraltar recently. Are you going to fight a war?" Lao Pi confirmed again.

Jia Ming shook his head. As far as he knew, these groups came to Gibraltar to survey and map for war preparation, but not pre-war reconnaissance. In fact, this was a joint operation between the Military Intelligence Agency and the Navy, and was to survey and map areas where wars could break out in the future. However, Gibraltar was a bit special, and the empire had determined that once the issue of the inheritance of the Spanish throne gave birth to war, the empire must take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to snatch Gibraltar and completely control the throat between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean.

"Don't worry, Lao Pi, you are very important to us. Once the war breaks out, you will never suffer any losses." Jia Ming could only comfort him like this.

Lao Pi was helpless and said, "Okay, I'll just send someone to find me next time. You know my price. I can take you to the places around Gibraltar, including the castle where the troops are garrisoned."

The most critical part of the Gibraltar region is the stone mountain with a height of more than 400 years. It is composed of a whole piece of stone. On the hillside, there is a Moor Castle. This castle was left by the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Tianfangists and has a history of 600 years. Of course, the current main body was built three hundred years ago, and it is completely visible to the Gulf of Gibraltar.

Originally, there were no troops here, but after the empire seized Ceuta last time, troops were stationed in Moore Castle and artillery was added.

"I'd better not, Lao Pi, your safety is more important than anything else. If you lose your friend, it will be more difficult for us to be local." Jia Ming said.
Chapter completed!