"Five boatloads of silver ingots? Ten boatloads of copper ingots? You'd better kill me. You're making things too difficult. This is impossible..." Sirapizzo's face turned red with excitement.
Tang Lei and everyone were stunned. "Why did the general say this? We didn't make excessive demands? Chile has been the capital of gold, silver and copper and iron mines since ancient times. Now there is a saltpeter and struvite mine. You guys?" It can be said that it is a country sitting on a golden mountain!”
"We don't want gold because we know that transactions between the UK and Chile are settled in gold. Your treasury is indeed a bit stretched, but other mineral deposits won't be in such a quandary, right? Isn't this unreasonable?"
Sirapizzo shook his head and said anxiously, "No, no, no, you don't understand what I mean. If I tell you this, you will understand..."
It turned out that Tang Lei and others had misjudged Chile's industrial level. Copper ore and copper ingots were not the same concept at all. What separated them was the industrial strength of a country.
South America is indeed rich in mineral resources. The reserves of non-ferrous metals such as gold, silver, copper and iron are second to none in the world. However, there are not many coal mines on this continent. Maybe there is a large amount of coal storage underground in the Amazon jungle, but let alone the 19th century. , even in the 21st century, it may be difficult for people to mine coal from tropical rainforests.
Without coal, it is impossible to make coke, and without coke, it is difficult to develop a large-scale smelting industry. If all imported coke is used, it is better to just transport the ore away and let others smelt it.
So Tang Lei's request is really embarrassing. It doesn't matter if he wants raw ore, as much as he wants is just a waste of manpower and time to dig it. But what you want is industrial semi-finished metal. Chile really can’t do it. I really can’t do it!
After hearing this, Tang Lei slapped his forehead, "Blame me, really blame me! Let's do this, I will modify it a little, six ships of high-grade silver ore, six ships of high-grade saltpeter, and you can fill the remaining eight clipper ships with high-quality High-grade copper ore..."
"Deal! This business is done. I can agree to you without asking the President! My God, you are really my lucky star. This war has reduced the number of businessmen in Europe by one-third. We have hoarded A lot of ore, you really helped me a lot!"
"If possible, I hope we can develop long-term trade cooperation. We need arms and various light industrial products, and I can also sell you the various ores you need at preferential prices. This is a win-win situation!"
At this point, the agreement was finally reached. The two parties discussed the details of the subsequent cooperation while drinking. Three days later, in Antofagasta, Lapizzo signed a secret agreement with Tang Lei on behalf of the president. Ryukyu and Chile officially established diplomatic relations. Provide tariff most-favored nation preferential treatment and do not restrict investment by businessmen from both sides.
After the secret treaty was signed, 10,000 reinforcements from San Felix Island boarded the ship and sailed toward the Chilean mainland. At three o'clock in the morning, the fleet set off. At five o'clock in the afternoon, the Ryukyu dragon flag and emblems were flying outside the port of Antofagasta. word flag.
Three thousand carefully selected troops in brown lined up at the port to greet their relatives from afar. The whole city of Antofagasta was shocked. More than 30,000 people crowded to the dock to watch an expeditionary force from the legendary country.
Twenty clipper ships deliberately lined up in a single column and sailed over the sea like dark clouds over a city. The scene at that time shocked everyone.
The horns on the ship were connected together, and the Taiping soldiers on the shore also blew the trumpet of victory. The sounds merged and floated throughout the city.
The ship was getting closer and closer, so close that both sides could see each other's faces. The familiar clothes, familiar faces, and familiar accents immediately shattered the strong shells of all the soldiers. I don't know who got up first. The entire port Suddenly there was a lot of howling and crying.
"Someone is coming from my hometown! Someone is finally coming from my hometown... The sky has eyes! Those are our fellow villagers..."
"Our reinforcements, our Chinese reinforcements! We are not forgotten. There are still people in our country and homeland who are thinking about us and thinking about us!"
"Long live the Taiping Army! Long live the Prime Minister!"
The crowd suddenly fell into chaos, and the neat military formation dispersed in a rush. People shouted long live and rushed towards the sea, while the sailing ships almost directly crashed into the pier.
The Chilean people were all dumbfounded. They watched the murderous brown soldiers running towards the sea with loud cries. They swam forward desperately in the waves.
The Chinese on the ship also jumped into the water from the sides of the ship with cries that shook the world, and swam towards their comrades with all their strength.
The two groups of people hugged each other in the sea, and all their emotions exploded at that moment.
"Brothers, good brothers! We are finally together again... Don't cry, we can't go back to our homeland, so we have to create another homeland! The Manchu Tatars don't want us, at least the Prime Minister still wants us!"
"Now that we are together, we will never be apart again! Wherever we are, there is the Kingdom of Heaven!"
The Antofagasta alliance shocked the whole of South America. The Chilean people at the port could not understand why these Chinese people were so excited. The two words "China" seemed to have magic power for them.
A nation that has been colonized for three hundred years and has long forgotten the glory of its ancestors will certainly not understand the spirit of a Chinese nation whose three thousand years of civilization have not been cut off. That attachment to homeland and homeland is the fundamental driving force that supports this nation through countless sufferings. .
Henry, the British arms dealer who was peeping from a distance, said in horror, "Are these really Chinese? Is this the insensitive Chinese in European legends? No, it's completely wrong. The whole of Europe has been misled by wrong information!"
"This group of people has a very terrifying temperament, and they are definitely not a mess! Damn it, once this group of fresh troops joins the battlefield, how can Peru and Bolivia fight? They will definitely lose!"
Henry is indeed a businessman who thrives on arms. He has a very keen sense of the military. At that moment, he had an epiphany. He discovered that if the Chinese were placed in a comfortable environment, then they would be a group of obedient little sheep.
But once these Chinese people are placed in a harsh environment, these people will quickly turn into tigers, leopards and wolves. Without a home, they will have no way out. Without a way out, they will explode and scare the whole world. the power of!
"Contact Peru and Bolivia immediately... Prepare a fast ship for me to go north! This war must not stop. This is the biggest deal in my life. I will never allow these Chinese to mess with it!"
"Absolutely not allowed!" Henry gritted his teeth angrily, and the joyous scene outside the window hurt his heart.
