On January 14, the 39th year of the Empire, Ceuta.

There is a six-story building located on Fourth Avenue in Port District. Because there is no elevator, few people are interested in it on the fourth floor, allowing Wu Jiaxing to rent a good office at a very low price. This is the location of the newspaper "Ceota Newsletter", the first local newspaper in Ceuta City. Wu Jiaxing is the newspaper owner and editor-in-chief.

The so-called Ceuta Newsletter has few local newspapers, and all sources of information come from Xijin, Penang and Shin Kyung, which means that the news in domestic newspapers is selected and published in their own newspapers.

Wu Jiaxing made his first pot of gold through this trick. At the most glorious time, he had eight employees who could sell more than 4,000 newspapers every day. Both newspaper sales and advertising revenue were very considerable. Recently, Wu Jiaxing's career suffered a major blow. The Ceuta District Court handed him a summons, and he was sued. A domestic newspaper sued him for infringing on intellectual property rights.

Naturally, domestic newspapers will not be in trouble with Wu Jiaxing. This time, the Spanish throne inheritance war. Domestic newspapers sent reporters to Ceuta for interviews, discovered the tricks of "Ceuta News Agency" and jointly sued him. Wu Jiaxing spent two months and spent 32,000 silver dollars to handle this matter, which led to him almost going bankrupt, and the newspapers were no longer qualified to extract news from domestic newspapers.

This business was monopolized by the Atlantic Communications newspaper, but they bought monopoly rights in more than a dozen newspapers in China. The business scope is not only Ceuta, but also includes Atlantic City, Panama and a large number of Spanish colonies.

As the editor-in-chief, Wu Jiaxing really became the editor-in-chief this time, and he thought about editing some eye-catching content every day. After all, he signed a contract with the printing bureau and even paid the money. However, Wu Jiaxing also knew that if he wanted to turn things around, he had to make a big news.

That afternoon, Wu Jiaxing paced back and forth in the office, and the cigarette butts in the ashtray were piled up, but he still couldn't think of anything. Most of his newspapers and most of the pages had given way to novels by some insignificant writers. If he couldn't think of the content, the newspaper would not be released tomorrow.

It was at this moment that the door was knocked, and Wu Jiaxing frowned slightly, thinking that it was the landlord who collected the rent or the printing bureau who came to urge the manuscript, or that some domestic newspaper came to collect old accounts?

Wu Jiaxing opened the door nervously and found a white man standing outside the door, dressed properly, wearing a top hat, and a Moore servant was following him. Wu Jiaxing said, "Sir, you have found the wrong place."

"Are you Editor-in-Chief Wu?" the man said, speaking Chinese, but in a French accent.

"Yes, I'm the editor-in-chief of the newspaper."

"My name is Mendel, and I've brought you a big news."

“What big news?”

Mendel patted the door with his hand. Only then did Wu Jiaxing realize that he was not well-received, so he invited the other party in. The room was covered with rich smoke. Wu Jiaxing quickly opened the window and dissipated the cigarette. He wanted to make tea, but found that there was no hot water. He immediately turned on the gas stove to burn the hot water, and found that the gas tank was empty.

"Please give me a cigarette." Mendel said when he saw Wu Jiaxing was embarrassed.

Wu Jiaxing handed Mendel a cigarette, lit it on his own initiative, and asked, "Mr. Mendel is a Frenchman, what news do you want to give me?"

"It's news about the naval battle between France and the Netherlands," Mendel said.

"Has they started a naval battle again?" Wu Jiaxing asked, but he was not very interested. Once such news came, it would definitely not be a scoop.

Mendel said: "No, it's a naval battle that has not yet broken out, just in Gibraltar, just recently."

In Wu Jiaxing's heart, he felt that the guy in front of him was a liar. He could only say: "Mr. Mendel, metaphysical things are not the business scope of our newspaper."

"Not at all metaphysical..." Mendel said, as he stood up and opened the curtains. From here he could see most of the port. Mendel pointed to a dock in the distance and said, "It was the dock where Dutch merchant ships docked. There were at least 25,000 tons of cotton stored in the warehouse. They came from the Port of Said and Smyrna... They also concern whether the entire textile industry in Amsterdam and Berlin could survive the war.

Now, France and the Netherlands are ready to move for this, and a naval battle is about to break out soon..."

Wu Jiaxing saw Mendel talking nonsense at all, but he didn't look like a liar at all. Instead, he talked about the relationship between cotton and textile industry and governments. And if Louis XIV also appeared in this office, he would definitely be surprised, because some of the intelligence information was not known to his ministers of the Navy and the Marshal.

Although Ceuta Newsletter is not a military report, the news that sea power is controlled in Europe now affects all the merchants in Ceuta. Everyone relies on the European war to make a fortune, and any naval war affects maritime policies. For example, if France wins, will it be tougher on the ocean and check on Chinese merchant ships?

Therefore, Wu Jiaxing realized that Mendel did bring a big news. He recorded what Mendel said as much as possible, and published a news the next day, titled "Shock the World! A battle that determines European maritime power is about to break out."

This report is almost the minutes of the former meeting of Louis XIV, detailing that a naval battle between the Netherlands and France would break out due to the cotton stored in Ceuta. This newspaper instantly detonated the entire Ceuta business circle. Although it was a title party, the content was still very meaningful. Wu Jiaxing said that the next issue will announce where the naval battle broke out.

So, the next day's "Ceota Newsletter" gave another title that shocked people's eyes "Shocking Secret! The Battle of France and the Netherlands will break out on the sea outside Tangier."

The so-called sea off Tangier is the west of the Strait of Gibraltar, and the report contains exclusive news and comprehensive analysis, which proves its own argument. For example, Ceuta Newsletter is the first to disclose that the main force of the French Navy Atlantic Fleet has entered the Bay of Vigo in southwestern Spain. Of course, this news was also received at the first time, earlier than Ceuta Newsletter, but Ceuta Newsletter also vowed to say that once the Netherlands wins the naval battle, Portugal will join the anti-French alliance and declare war on France and Spain.

Even the empire officials did not know about this. Because of this, King Yu's camp knew about the contents of the suddenly rising newspaper, and felt that it was just a random guess by some insightful merchants.

However, after the newspaper was published on the third day, King Yu's camp also realized something was wrong. On this day, the newspaper title was "The Netherlands is panicking! The French navy's strength is so terrifying."

The newspapers on this day explained in detail the strength of the French Navy, how many naval ships, the firepower, tonnage and defense of the main battleships, and how many ships are complete. These contents are basically consistent with the information provided by the Military Intelligence Agency, but there are some differences.

On the fourth day, King Yu's camp could not sit still. The newspaper title of this day was "French frightened! The entire Dutch fleet was dispatched."

This time, the strength of the Netherlands Navy was disclosed, and the content was almost exactly the same as the information provided by the Military Intelligence Bureau. Even the name, age and resume of the navy commander were clearly stated. After Li Junwei learned about it, he immediately sent someone to control Wu Jiaxing.

But it was too late, and the "French Mendel" who provided all kinds of intelligence and information had disappeared, and he was not found in Ceuta.

In Ceuta, businessmen from all over the world gathered, and the "Ceuta News" caused a big fuss. The French believed that they had exposed their combat plans, and even believed that the empire carried out large-scale intelligence work in France, and the Dutch side reported that the same was true. They once thought there were traitors in the Netherlands' Navy.

All parties are putting pressure on the empire, but the empire cannot find any law to deal with Wu Jiaxing. Exposing the intelligence of its own country is treason, and exposing foreign countries does not count. All parties have begun to discuss who assigned this French businessman Mendel.

Wu Jiaxing himself believed that Mendel was appointed by the French official. He did not speak French-style Chinese, but even the news of the French Navy entering the Gulf of Vigo was provided by him, which was confidential at the time. Moreover, the later naval battles also proved that this exposure was no harm to the French Navy, but instead forced the Dutch to send a fleet to escort his merchant fleet.

However, the result of the naval war proved that Mendel was the arrangement of the Dutch government. Because the naval war proved that the Netherlands Navy was prepared, and Mendel provided much more detailed information about the Netherlands Navy than the French Navy. After this incident, the empire put a lot of pressure on the Yu King's camp, believing that Yu King's administration means instructing the shipping industry not to transport cotton to Europe was hurting the interests of the imperial machinery and steel industry. After all, the main textile machinery in the Netherlands and Prussia came from the Empire.

Another voice is also very loud, that is, Mendel was a Prussian spy. Because Prussia and the Netherlands cooperated on cotton in order to protect their textile industry, both countries made cotton reserves before the war. However, the difference was that the cotton reserves in the Netherlands could be used until April of the 39th year of the empire, while the Prussian reserves could only be in mid-February. The Netherlands was reluctant to send fleets to pick up cotton hoarded in the Port of Ceuta back to China. When Mendel was exposed, the Dutch Navy immediately dispatched.

Until decades later, the Berlin side, which was already the German Empire, announced the truth. Mendel was not an official mission, but was only the diplomatic and financial adviser of the Kingdom of Prussia at that time, and the private secretary of the Jew Perez. This incident was also a conspiracy between Perez and several Jewish bankers.

The motivation is very simple. Whether it is the textile industry in the Netherlands or the textile industry in Prussia, Jewish capital is the main source of investment. Once the textile industry in these two countries collapses, Jewish bankers will lose all their money. They naturally have to help. At that time, Perez was a diplomatic adviser in Prussia in Amsterdam, and another banker was qualified to participate in the Dutch war conference.

Anyway, Wu Jiaxing really made a big news, and the people of Ceuta City were discussing the upcoming naval battle, mainly because they were too idle recently.

The Spanish War of Succession of the Throne has been outbreak for more than a year, and everything we should be busy with is now the shipping industry, warehousing industry and the factories of the empire.

On the morning of January 22, the city with a population of 70,000 was boiling due to the prosperity of trade, and the Dutch merchant ships in the port area were smoking.

Of course, this does not mean that the Dutch merchant ship caught fire, but that the Dutch merchant ship's chimney smoked and pressurized the steam engine. There were a total of fourteen merchant ships, nine steamships, and five fly-scissors. These ships will transport the cotton stored in Ceuta warehouses to the Netherlands and Prussia in two batches. Eight days ago, the Ceuta Newsletter, which had been discontinued, made it clear in the first news reporting on the naval war that the day the Dutch merchant fleet set off was the day when the naval war broke out, and the location was outside Tangier.

In the entire city of Ceuta, people called friends, got on a bike and rode on horseback, stepped on a telescope, and went to Tangier Harbour to watch the fun. Even Ceuta Middle School temporarily notified the holidays because teachers also wanted to see them. The reason why it was so popular was because the Yu King Camp had moved early in the morning, and the cars and horses were flowing, heading to Tangier.

Hugh reached Tangier for a total of more than 60 kilometers, and Tangier was not an imperial territory, but a colony of Portugal and Genoa. In the 16th century, Tangier was stolen by Spain in 1662. In 1684, the Moroccans took back the port. After Portugal had a close relationship with the Empire, Pedro II made the decision to colonize Morocco. The Genoese joined the gang and the Empire supported it. After more than ten years of colonization, most of Morocco had become a colony, and in fact it was shared by the Three Kingdoms.

Morocco is the same as the private areas of the imperial people. If the railway was not under construction now, it would have taken the train to Tangier long ago.

The number of people in the Yu King camp exceeded 300, most of them rode horses, and some were riding cars. Li Junwei himself was sitting in a car at this time. Of course, the car he was riding in was the latest car in the Empire, powered by internal combustion engines, but it was not the kind of gasoline engine cars that later generations were the kind of gasoline engines. His car also had four wheels, which looked a bit like a carriage, but what was unique was that the rear half of the car was a box pocket, which was somewhat similar to the pickup trucks in later generations.

Of course, this carriage is not used for loading. It is loaded with a large stove, and is surrounded by neatly packed charcoal.

The power used by automobiles is an internal combustion engine fueled by gas, and it is also the originator of internal combustion engines in the world. As early as the 30th year of the empire, some people used gas to fuel and transformed the steam engine and made it the first internal combustion engine in the empire. However, the thermal efficiency of the internal combustion engine is relatively low, only four percent, which is not as good as a steam engine.
Chapter completed!