Chapter 921： Spain doesn’t play by the rules

Chapter 921: Spain doesn’t play by the rules

And it is naturally impossible for Ernst to say such stupid things to his subordinates as "I am a time traveler, and there will be a conflict between the United States and Spain...".

Ernst said: "Of course we don't intend to offend Spain. After all, I have a good relationship with the Spanish royal family."

The royal family of Hechingen once made great efforts before Alfonso XII ascended the throne, so the relationship between the two countries has always been friendly. Of course, now that Alfonso XII has passed away in November 1895, he is now the king of Spain. Son, Alfonso XIII, the relationship between the two countries has not changed due to the change of king. Not to mention the connection between the two countries, even the strength of East Africa now deserves Spain's attention.

After the South African War, the relationship between East Africa and Spain even got closer. After all, Spain and Portugal next door were not too confrontational. At that time, Alfonso XII wrote a special letter to Constantine to express his congratulations.

“So, how we get Mindanao requires your Ministry of Foreign Affairs to play a role.” Ernst continued.

"What do you mean, Your Highness?" Herman asked with some confusion.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs came forward and we purchased the ownership of Mindanao from Spain,” Ernst explained.

This is indeed a solution, but Herman is not optimistic about it. After all, although the sale of territory is not unprecedented, the most classic one is the Alaska colony purchased by the royal family, but could Spain be the Tsarist Russia at that time? Herman naturally did not believe that Spain would want to sell its colonies. After all, there was news that Russia was selling Alaska.

But it’s not a bad thing to give it a try. It’s more reliable than a group of agents from the National Defense and Security Bureau conducting a coup on the island.

So Herman asked: "Your Highness, how much did we spend to buy Mindanao?"

In Herman’s opinion, whether you can get Mindanao depends on how much you spend. If the price is right, not to mention Mindanao, even India will sell it, but no one can afford that price.

As to Hermann's question, Ernst did not say anything clearly, but stretched out two fingers.

“Twenty million? Pounds or US dollars? Is it too high? After all, a large piece of land like Alaska only cost a few million US dollars. Even if the currency depreciates now, it is not very cost-effective.”

Ernst said: "It's the Rhine Guild, how can it be pounds and dollars, and it's the highest price, and it's impossible to exceed this price."

Twenty million rhine guilders is almost three million US dollars. If we look at the US$20 million that the United States paid to Spain in its previous life, it is indeed more sincere to buy Mindanao at this price. After all, East Africa is not buying Luzon.

Of course, the accounts cannot be settled this way. After the Spanish-American War, the United States gained not only the Philippines, but also colonies such as Cuba, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

As for the fact that 20 million seems like a lot, in fact, Cuba alone is much more than this price. At most, it can be regarded as a little "comfort" from the United States to Spain. After all, Spain is a great power. Even if it loses to the rising star of the United States, according to the strength of the United States at that time , and don’t want to completely offend Spain.

With three million US dollars, it seems very insincere to buy Mindanao. After all, Mindanao accounts for nearly one-third of the Philippines. And if East Africa offers this price, why should Spain accept it? It's not like Spain was defeated by East Africa and forced to cede land.

At this time, Herman's psychological thought was that even if Mindanao had little value, Spain would be unlikely to sell its colony. Of course, Herman did not say much. After all, the asking price of 20 million Rhine guilders, in his opinion, East Africa's Sincerity is enough, and you can do a lot of things without buying territory.

In fact, Ernst also believed that Spain would not accept the conditions in East Africa. After all, the Philippine colonies were very important to Spain, mainly because of their location. To the north was the supermarket of the Far Eastern Empire. The conditions in the Philippines were relatively mature after hundreds of years of development by Spain. .

"Okay, your Ministry of Foreign Affairs will first contact the Spanish government. If this kind of thing can be realized, it would be best. If it cannot be realized, we can only use other means. Of course, 20 million rhine guilders is our bottom line. Don't throw it away at the beginning. Come out and start bargaining with Spain at a lower price, provided Spain is willing to sell Mindanao," Ernst said decisively.

According to Ernst's idea, even if Spain does not sell now, when Spain and the United States come to war next year, East Africa can make another bid. At that time, it will be out of the hands of the Spaniards. As for offending the United States by trading during the war, so what! In fact, there was another beneficiary in the previous Spanish-American War, and that was Germany. After the war, Germany took the opportunity to purchase the Spanish Palau Islands and the Mariana Islands except Guam.

In fact, before the Spanish-American War, Germany had the idea of ​​​​purchasing the Philippines and surrounding islands from Spain, but Spain did not agree.

So Ernst judged based on this, Spain would also not agree to East Africa's conditions. After all, even if East Africa offered money, it would not be higher than the wealthy Germany.

…

However, the actual situation is always unexpected, and what Ernst and the East African government thought was impossible actually happened.

"What? Spain agreed to our conditions?" Ernst asked Hermann in disbelief.

Hermann was also very excited at this time, but he still calmed down and explained the reason to Ernst: "We first expressed our intention to purchase Mindanao to the Spanish government, and then this matter received the attention of Alfonso XIII. They actually agreed, but we had some disputes with the Spanish government over the price. According to His Highness's request, we initially only quoted 10 million Rhine guilders. Spain thought this price was too low. After some wrangling, In the end, the two parties set the final price at Rhine 17 million.”

Ten million rhine guilders is a price of more than 2.6 million U.S. dollars, which is nearly 400,000 U.S. dollars lower than Ernst’s psychological price.

“It shouldn’t be!” Ernst couldn’t believe it, “Why did the Spaniards just agree?”

Herman thought the same way: "Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also surprised, but later we got the answer from Count Rawls in Spain."

“What did he say?” Ernst asked curiously.

Hermann: "Mindanao is still too barren. If we ask Germany to buy Luzon and other islands, Spain will definitely not agree. After all, Luzon is the essence of the Philippines."

"Of course, another important reason is that Mindanao is a hot potato in the eyes of Spain, and they have not established effective rule there. The local Moro people are green believers and have been fiercely resisting Spain, so the Spanish government has also It only has a few fixed strongholds in Mindanao and does not actually rule the area. "

Sure enough, there is no free lunch in the world. In fact, Spain is not optimistic about the prospects of Mindanao, so it is willing to sell Mindanao.

Of course, there may be other factors interfering, such as the attitude of Alfonso XIII, the offer from East Africa, etc.

East Africa’s price is indeed low, but Spain also has its own considerations. First of all, East Africa only purchases Mindanao, which does not involve Luzon, the core of the Philippines. Otherwise, Germany will learn from its mistakes.

Secondly, the Spanish government believes that if Mindanao is not sold to East Africa, does East Africa have no other means? East Africa has also made some achievements in the Pacific region in recent years. For example, Lanfang Overseas Province, Southern Ryukyu Islands, Northern Hawaii Kingdom, and Balabac Island have become new players in the Pacific region.

So the Spanish government believes that it would not be a big deal to sell Mindanao, which cannot be actually controlled, cannot generate economic value, and is fiercely resistant, to East Africa.

Of course, this also means that the problems encountered by the Spanish government in Mindanao will also be passed on to East Africa as Mindanao becomes an East African colony.

(End of this chapter)