Guzman looked at the category that Hart had written, frowned slightly, and said, "No, Hart, there are too many of these things, which have exceeded the cargo space of the Kingdom of Sweden on diplomatic ships."

"Yes, Your Excellency. But I have heard of a crucial news that in addition to these, the Swedes purchased other military equipment, including artillery, only from another company, and they were going to hire Chinese merchant ships to transport these freight back to Stockholm.

Perhaps, the problem that has puzzled us for a long time can be solved." Hart said.

The problem that Hart said that the long-confused problem was the import and export of military equipment in the Swedish Kingdom. Since Carl XI, the Swedish army began to be sinicized, but in the early years, it was relatively small and gradually progressive. The Kingdom of Denmark did not pay attention to it for a long time. However, after Carl XII ascended the throne, it was no longer a large-scale change of clothes, but was in a state of preparation.

Sweden has about 80,000 standing troops, which have been completely flintlocked, and more than half of them use Chinese equipment. Since Denmark learned about this situation, it has been wondering how these Swedish military equipment were transported from China to Sweden.

If it is shipping by sea, the ship must pass through the Sound Strait, and Denmark has always controlled the Sound Strait and used tax collection to strictly investigate passing ships. The several times the military equipment found entered the Baltic Sea were also purchased by Prussia.

At first, Denmark suspected that Sweden was purchasing in the name of Prussia, but later found out that this was not the case. Later, it was suspected that it might have been transported from Poland or Russia on land. However, after Denmark secretly reached a military alliance with the two countries last year, the two allies also made strict investigations and no situation was found.

The final conclusion was that it must have been sent by Chinese merchant ships.

"This time, I have to catch someone in the right direction," Guzman said.

Hart frowned and asked, "So what if we catch it, we are not in a state of war with Sweden. According to international law, China is not at fault for exporting weapons and equipment to Sweden. Moreover... Denmark has not signed an international treaty on the rules of engagement and the protection of neutral countries."

"Tax, Hart! We are grasping the issue of passing tax. China exports weapons to Sweden and does not pay tax at all. For this point, we take the legal principles." Guzman said.

On the afternoon of the next day, Guzmann, guided by Hart, took a bus to the dock and stood in front of a restaurant window in the port area. Hart pointed to a four-mass steam-powered sailboat in the deep water dock area and said, "Your Excellency, I have found out clearly that Swedish merchants purchased a lot of military supplies in Ceuta and Xijin, including but not limited to six field guns, fifteen tons of high-quality saltpeter in colonial real estate, and one hundred and thirty boxes of fixed-loaded bullets for rifled guns, all of which were loaded on the Miluo merchant ship."

Guzman took out his telescope in the direction indicated by Hart and saw the large merchant ship in the deep water dock area and the Chinese-character ship name on the stern.

"Then how do they plan to pass through the Sonde Strait?" Guzmann was puzzled, because ships passing through the Sonde Strait must be inspected by the Kingdom of Denmark and pay customs duties. The capital of the Kingdom of Denmark is on the island of Zeland, which controls the Sonde Strait.

"They loaded this morning, the cannons were disguised as agricultural machinery, saltpeter was loaded in wine barrels, and bullets were loaded in containers, you see where, loading area..."

Guzman looked along Hart's finger and saw a group of dock workers unloading goods. On the dock next to the board, there were two broken barrels scattered on the dock, but no wine flowed out. On the contrary, the white patch on the ground must be saltpeter.

"It seems that there are no white flowers for one hundred silver dollars. Hart, you are doing well." Guzman patted Hart on the shoulder and said happily.

"This Miluo has been on the Baltic Sea route for four years, this is the fifteenth time to Sweden. In the official documents at the port, they imported food, wine, textiles and machinery to Sweden, and bought wood, wool and high-quality iron ore from Sweden. Apparently, most of the smuggled military equipment was made of this ship."

Guzman took out a notebook, sketched it with a pencil, and said, "Do you know when this ship will be opened? I want to draw the whole picture of this ship and let our warship stop her in the Strait of Sond!"

Hart said, "The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and they will not set off until after the New Year. Considering the ice period of Sond Strait and Stockholm, it is expected to set off until late February next year. You see, they are unloading the goods, unloading the weapons and ammunition from Xijin in the warehouse in Ceuta.

The ship had to take a Lisbon-Panama route before the New Year, transporting the building materials purchased in Europe to Panama. It will then return to Ceuta for repairs and then set sail to the Baltic Sea. But because of this, the specific time has not been decided yet, and the Swedes may also purchase more military supplies."

"Very good, Hart, you did a great job. Now I'm going to paint the whole picture of this ship."

Hart thought for a while and said, "Maybe we have a better way."

"What's the solution?"

Hart said: "Your Excellency, look at the Tea City."

The closest commercial street to the pier is Tea City, and there is a huge purple clay teapot sculpture at the entrance of Tea City, and a fountain was created. It is one of the several iconic buildings in Ceuta and has also become a must-visit spot for many travelers and businessmen to Ceuta.

At this attraction, a new service has recently appeared, which is photography souvenirs. This is a photo studio opened by a family of a naval officer. A photo studio is four silver dollars. Recently, the photo studio is extremely busy. Due to international conferences, many foreign guests have come to Ceuta. These noble guys have seen a novelty like a camera for the first time, and many nobles have brought female relatives.

European nobles dressed up and took photos in front of residences or some landmark buildings in Ceuta. In the early stages of international conferences, the photo studio was also invited to the conference center to take photos for all the guests, and everyone learned about the camera.

Hart's meaning is very clear. Sketching is too cumbersome. How easy is it to hire people from the photo studio to take photos?

Although it costs fifty silver dollars a day to hire a photo studio, the photos are unlimited, so Guzman can still take out the money. After having dinner with Hart, he entered the photo studio, and as soon as he entered the door, he saw the display photos hanging on both walls. On the left wall was a photo of the Supreme Emperor Li Mingxun in military uniform, which was almost the standard configuration of the Imperial Photo Studio.

In the center of the display wall on the right is a huge, somewhat blurry black and white photo, which is the image of a woman bowing and weeding in a vegetable garden. This is the first photo in history - a busy mother.

This photo was taken in the 21st year of the Empire. At that time, there was no camera but photography technology. The inventor was a young businessman, and the weeding woman was his mother. The imperial history textbook made up a very inspiring story for this photo. The young hero who invented the photography technology was desperate for his ideals. His widowed mother also supported him. In order to invent this technology, the family lived a very poor life.

The reality is that the inventor of photography technology has good family conditions. His father died of illness, leaving him a large inheritance. The inventor transformed the second floor of the main building of the manor into a studio. The first photo was taken of his mother who was growing vegetables in the manor's small vegetable garden.

Of course, the inventor repeatedly improved his photography technology, but his family finally fell into poverty and became poor. It was not until the imperial royal family invested that he invented a practical camera.

"Busy Mother" was filmed with the most primitive technology. The craftsmanship at that time was also very simple. It was a thin layer of asphalt on a wax board. This asphalt was called jewish asphalt. Then, the scene of the mother's busy outside the window was captured with sunlight and simple lenses, and it was exposed for eight hours. Then it was washed with lavender oil, and finally got the first photo in human history.

During the 27th year of the empire, Li Mingxun learned about this from the newspaper. After hearing that the inventor was in poverty, he supported him to continue his research and specially arranged personnel to build a new studio for him. There were carpenters and mechanical experts who improved the camera body, as well as the latest glass lenses. Even several chemistry experts from the Imperial Academy of Sciences participated and finally improved the silver photography technology.

This photography technology first requires making a silver-plated copper plate, polishing it to a brightness, and then putting it into a box of iodine solution to generate silver iodide, and then put it in a dark box to shoot. The intensity of light will produce different light and shadows on this copper plate, and then put the exposed copper plate into the box and pour mercury, and then heat it with an alcohol lamp, and the image will not disappear.

This is the most practical shooting technology at present, so the cameras manufactured can also be commercially produced practical cameras.

Although it was a job, Guzman, like other nobles, changed into the most beautiful clothes and wigs, and took many photos under different backgrounds, including the ship Miluo.

Guzman also thought of a good way to allow the Danish Navy to better control the Miluo. He deliberately ordered a large amount of cotton cloth from a textile company and ordered the Miluo transportation company where the Miluo was located. When the Miluo was sent to Sweden to deliver military equipment, the Miluo would inevitably stop in Copenhagen. Guzman also revealed his identity and told the shipping company that when he arrived at the port of Copenhagen, he could contact him and reduce customs clearance tariffs.

The tariffs were reduced by 30% to 70% of the two parties. Because of this, the manager of the shipping company agreed very happily.

Ten days later, Copenhagen.

"His Majesty the King, Guzman is back, he has not fulfilled your instructions. On the contrary, the Viscount spent most of his time in Ceuta to enjoy himself. He bought half a boat of Oriental goods and is still unloading the goods. Because of him, the price of our East India Company's silk store was forced to be 30% off..." Secretary of State Field reported to King Christian V who was reading in the study in the Cronborg Palace, and there was no shortage of contempt for Guzman in his words.

Christian V was already in his fifties. Although he fought failed wars during his reign, these failures taught him a lot of lessons.

The ability of the minister of state in front of him is to improve the finances of the kingdom, but it is impossible to know people and responsibilities. King Christian would not take his introduction to Guzman's work seriously. Although Guzman was a viscount, he was a newly enfeoffed viscount. He was promoted from the citizen class and was also his son's confidant.

"He rejected the proposal for internationalization of the Sond Strait, which is very good and has a backbone." Christian V interrupted Field, and at this time the attendant came to report that Prince Frederick and Guzman came to meet. Christian asked someone to take the two to the living room and sent Field away.

"My Majesty, I think it is necessary for me to follow you, and as your most loyal minister, I can assist you in your work," said Field.

"It's just a private meeting. The official meeting will be held at the State Council two days later. Field, my loyal friend, go." Christian said, he was a little cold towards Field recently because his son Frederick found evidence that Field colluded with China and the Netherlands and betrayed Danish interests.

When Christian walked into the room, he glanced at Guzman and asked, "Vissue, are you short of money? I heard that you brought back a lot of oriental goods?"

Guzman immediately raised his head and said, "Your Majesty, that's just an illusion made, for Field to show it, and for the Chinese to show it."

"What, are the Chinese monitoring you on the boat?"

Guzman said: "No, because I found something in Ceuta that has puzzled us for a long time. I finally figured out how Swedish weapons arrived in Stockholm. At the same time, I also found key evidence for you. And the whole story is like this...."

Guzman said again what he said to Frederick on the road, informing Ceuta about everything, but turned his smuggling with diplomatic ships into cover for Denmark. Finally, he placed a stack of photos on the table.

The king picked up the photo: "Is this oriental magic the evidence?"

"No, Your Majesty. The evidence will be delivered to my door. This ship named Miluo will arrive in Copenhagen some time in March. The weapons purchased by Sweden this time are all on it, but they are disguised as wine, granaries and agricultural machinery. Send these photos to my port officials and you can find the evidence.

At that time, the Chinese will bend down in front of you, Your Majesty." Guzman said.

"You're sure that those arms are on this ship."
Chapter completed!