Facing Li Yongzhong's question, Lou Huan was not panicked at all. He smiled and said, "No, the Prussian royal family will only suppress our prices through Spain or Portugal, and will not really kick us aside."

Lou Huan gave a convincing reason, that is, the state monopoly of the tobacco industry is inevitable. As long as it is a monopoly, the interests will inevitably be guaranteed, which is only a matter of how much. Although the Empire is in the field of tobacco cultivation, the average price of tobacco production is slightly higher because of the inability to use slave plantations, the problem is that all tobacco cultivation is controlled by the Imperial Tobacco Company, and it can also be adjusted between different regions.

In short, the empire can provide a very stable source of goods. On the contrary, tobacco cultivation in any other country is completely private. Although at some times, the price is relatively low, the tobacco supply is greatly affected by the market and cannot achieve a stable supply.

And Imperial Tobacco can provide more than just tobacco, but also the technology and management experience required from planting, transportation, production, processing and sales.

More importantly, Prussia's colonies overseas cannot provide them with sufficient tobacco supply, and its local area is not very suitable for tobacco cultivation. If tobacco, a resource involving national economy and people's livelihood, it is naturally more reasonable to rely on the strongest country in the world. After all, the relationship between the two countries is there.

Li Zhaoyu recognized Lou Huan's judgment of the situation and his plan, Lou Huan was able to leave with satisfaction. In the next period of time, he would assist Li Zhaoyu in completing this plan. Although he had achieved some results, Li Zhaoyu's face was not good-looking.

"I didn't expect that the cooperation between Britain and France and Spain had reached this point." Li Yongzhong spoke first, which was also the reason why Li Zhaoyu looked ugly. After the war of inheriting the throne of the Spanish, the interests of Britain and France in the Spanish colonies continued to grow, but on the contrary, the interests of the empire were gradually shrinking. Even though the Spanish always gave the empire fair conditions with European countries, due to the limitations of the position, the imperial merchants' colonies in Spain were still unable to compete with Britain and France.

Li Zhaoyu nodded slightly: "It seems that our relationship with Spain will be further improved."

The approach of Spain and Britain and France is inevitable, but this does not mean that the Three Nations will be integrated and will unite against the enemy.

It is true that Britain, France and the Empire have conflicts in history. From the perspective of hatred, the three countries have the need to unite, but Spain is clear that union with Britain and France cannot protect Spanish colonies. On the contrary, if they openly become enemies with the Empire, the Empire will take the initiative to find fault in the Spanish colonies, and then Britain and France will not protect their territory.

Moreover, Spain also has many conflicts with Britain and France. Spain's colonies in Africa were taken away by Britain and France. Spain's biggest enemy in Europe was the Austrian Empire, but Britain and France were friendly with it.

Britain and France expanded their colonies in North Africa and violated the interests of the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, Britain and France had conflicts with the Ottoman Empire, while the Ottoman Empire and the Austrian Empire competed for power in the Balkans, so Britain and France had to form an alliance with Austria, while Spain and Austria competed for the Italian region was irreconcilable hatred.

But the problem is that it is an indisputable fact that Britain and France benefited from Spanish colonies and promoted their own development, and curbing Britain and France has always been the empire's national strategy in Europe.

Li Yongzhong said: "From an economic perspective, Spain competes more with the Empire than cooperate."

"Improving relationships is not just about economic cooperation." Li Zhaoyu said lightly.

June of the forty-fifth year of the empire.

Li Zhaoyu's ship Qingluan fired a loud cannon in the western section of the Strait of Gibraltar, which was the final farewell to the cruise ship heading to the fief. After the two fleets separated, the Qingluan went north and came to the port of Cadiz in Spain, which is the largest port in Spain in the Gibraltar region, both military and civilian.

The reason for arriving here is that the League of Nations conference will be held in Seville, Spain. More than 20 countries attending the conference will arrive at the Port of Cadiz, and then take the train to the Spanish King's Palace in Seville City, the Palace of Seville. Among all the important countries in the world, only Austria has not sent anyone.

The Spanish presided over this League of Nations meeting, which was expected by everyone, because Spain is one of the five major powers designated by the League of Nations, and the other four are Britain, France, the Empire, and the Ottomans. These four countries are clearly divided, each representing one side's interests. Only the Kingdom of Spain is relatively neutral among the five major countries.

King Philip V was already waiting in the Palace of Seville and did not come to greet him. The reason was simple. In the eyes of this arrogant king, there was no representation worthy of him to greet him in person.

The representative of the empire was the eldest son of Prince Yu's Mansion, and the empire was the old enemy of Spain, and the relationship has only slightly improved over the years. The Crown Prince William of Prussia came to have a great status, but Prussia was a new power, which was nothing in the eyes of Philip V. The representative of the United Kingdom was the Minister of Finance, Robert Harry, the Tory, and the title was only Earl of Oxford.

The closest person to Philip V, who was born in the Bourbon royal family, was theoretically the French Foreign Minister, but the Earl of Bordeaux, Surrey, was a new nobleman.

It is true that Surrey was a nobleman, but she was not a traditional French aristocrat. His family was deeply involved in the capitalist economy. The important industries in the family were not land, but textile factories, wineries and overseas plantations. In the eyes of Philip V, Surrey was a traitor, a fool who was disrespectful to the royal family with civilians.

Li Zhaoyu arrived at the Port of Cadiz at least ten days later than many representatives. It was said that Li Zhaoyu strictly followed the isolation policy and actually did not trust representatives of various countries. This time, representatives from the Ottoman Empire, Prussia, Poland and other countries came directly from the epidemic area, and countries did not prevent the epidemic like Xijin.

Therefore, Li Zhaoyu deliberately arrived a few days late, and confirmed that the arrival of the envoys from various countries did not bring plague to Spain, so he was relieved to go ashore. Representatives of most countries had already gone to Seville. Only the representatives of the Ottoman Empire, Amal Vizier and Prussian Crown Prince William, insisted on waiting for Li Zhaoyu in Cadiz.

As a representative of the Ottoman Empire, Amar will not have any ally in Spain. As for William Little, he would rather discuss with Li Zhaoyu in advance and make a breakthrough.

After meeting at the port, Li Zhaoyu took a day off and took a train to Seville the next day. There were 120 kilometers from Cadiz to Seville. This was Spain's first railway, and this railway was enough to prove Spain's foreign policy.

Among the shareholders of this railway are French and Dutch, while those who undertake the railway are British. However, the locomotives and other railway equipment that operates the railway are imported directly from the empire's Xijin, which is a real stitching monster.

"It's a miracle that this railway can be built so quickly." On the train, Prince William looked at the scenery of the river valley outside the window and couldn't help but sigh.

Li Zhaoyu smiled and said, William was inspired because there was also a railway in Prussia, leading from Berlin to Cologne. It was designed by Prussia and several states of the Shrine. The British and Dutch were also involved in this project. The Empire also provided technical support, but it was quite bumpy.

"William, has your Prussia plague been controlled?" Li Zhaoyu asked.

Prince William nodded: "It has been controlled, at least Berlin has not been affected, but there are quite a few people who died. However, this kind of control may be difficult to last for a long time. The Poles are relaxed very much. Early and late, we will be affected."

However, Prince William seems to be less concerned about the plague. He said: "Compared with the plague, we care more about tobacco monopoly. My father said that your proposal is good. Generally speaking, you can do it according to your suggestions."

"Basically?" Li Zhaoyu frowned and asked, "What about the subtleties?"

Prince William sighed and said, "Zhaoyu, there is no one here, I'll just say it straight. Zhaocheng proposed this matter, but you got another trick. The relationship between you two is there. My father and I are very worried that we have bet the wrong treasure."

"Are you so worried?" Li Zhaoyu asked. After all, the two of them had a childhood friendship, and Crown Prince William grew up in Shin Kyung when he was a child.

"Everyone will worry, Zhaoyu, I believe you have already felt this delicate atmosphere in your daily life. Prussia is now a European power, and the empire is also a great power. It sounds similar, but in fact, there is a world of difference. If the empire coughs, the whole of Europe will get influenza. This is the status quo." William said helplessly.

Li Zhaoyu smiled and said, "Well, as your friend, I can tell you the truth. Zhao Cheng is the only thing that is tobacco for sale. I just help you. Don't think too much. If you do it well, you won't offend me, and if you do it badly, you won't please me."

"Okay, I can only believe you when you say that." William was still helpless, but since he had reached this point, what else could he say?

On a day's train, Li Zhaoyu arrived in Seville. This time, representatives of the Three Kingdoms arrived. King Philip V personally went to the train station to greet him. Representatives from various countries cooperated with the king to take photos. Philip V invited Li Zhaoyu and others to attend the banquet. The League of Nations agreed that it would start two days later, that is, on June 17th, but when the seventeenth arrived, the meeting announced the beginning, but it quickly ended unhappily.

This time the disagreement gave reporters from all over the country a lot of imagination, but the actual situation was not that complicated, and there were no conspiracy theories, just because there were problems with the preparations for the meeting.

The League of International Conference was held at noon in the Palace of Seville. Early in the morning, delegations from all countries sent people to contact each other. The staff were surprised to find that the Spaniards were really bullying.

In the Emerald Hall at the opening of the conference, the Spanish prepared gorgeous furniture, which was beyond everyone's expectations. The luxury of the Spanish royal family was beyond imagination. However, the problem is that these luxury is far less important than the respect of the country, while the Spanish did not take into account the national dignity of various countries, which was mainly reflected in the flag.

Although the five permanent members of the League of Nations had already decided, they had to go through a formality and announced it only after the permanent members of the meeting ended, the Spaniards were obviously too happy. They prepared flagpoles for the countries to fly their national flags, but the flagpoles of the five major countries were higher than those of the other countries, while Spain's center was higher than those of the other four major countries.

Obviously, no country, regardless of strength, cannot accept that its own country is inferior to other countries. Therefore, representatives of various countries protested. The Spaniards wanted to fool them, but no representative of any country agreed. So on the entire 17th, representatives of various countries were very busy.

All countries purchased flagpoles in Seville and placed them behind the main seat of the representative seat, and bought ones higher than the other. The Portuguese representative took the lead in making a flag that was taller than the host. The same is true for France. When various countries bought flagpoles, they found that they were not as tall as the other party, so they went to buy new ones until all the flagpoles were to be pushed to the top of the Emerald Hall, and they did not give up. The reason was that this was a building full of Gothic and Arabic styles. The Emerald Hall was a dome building, and the five major countries in the middle must have a better advantage.

Under the threat of the rude Russian representatives trying to poke the dome of the jade hall, the Spaniards finally agreed that everyone was as tall as they were, but soon used tricks. The Spanish flag was particularly large, much larger than that of all countries. This once again aroused the dissatisfaction of representatives of various countries. The flagpole can still be bought, and the national flag cannot be embroidered temporarily.

It is obvious that Spain has no experience in organizing international conferences and is too arrogant, which has caused a lot of criticism. Although these are trivial matters, they are related to national dignity and no representative is willing to take a leg.

Li Zhaoyu was tired of quarreling with the representatives, so he invited William to visit the ancient city of Seville.

After two consecutive days of travel, the quarrel in the Emerald Hall was still going on. When Li Zhaoyu was thinking about whether to go out of the city, the Spanish King Philip V invited him to visit the farm outside the city.

"I'm sorry, I didn't entertain you, the honorable Chinese guest." Philip V personally welcomed Li Zhaoyu and said apologetically. Although Philip V was arrogant and did not take all European countries seriously, the power of the empire was something that his eyes could not accommodate, and he could not ignore it.

Li Zhaoyu didn't care. From the beginning, he knew that the negotiation would be extremely troublesome, so he said: "It was your servants who had problems. They were not professional. There were several members in my mission who had dealt with similar things and could help them if needed. But one thing needs to be confirmed, that is, the League of Nations Conference, and all countries must be equal."

"I don't think that countries are equal." Philip V smiled.
Chapter completed!