Chapter 4

Instead of Paris, I went to Madrid with the same gifts I had given the regent. The French upper crust looked out for themselves but the Spanish were only different in that they tried to think of honour more. This was just a sop to the way they killed people.

The number of the Enlightened aristocracy was a lot lower than in France. I saw this as their rigid social structure. There were some though as well as a few of my French friends.

Philip V was 38 now and his wife of 8 years was a decade younger. The male half of the family was a manic depressant. The female portion, Elizabeth Farnese dominated her husband and pushed him into costly wars. The Treaty of Utrecht after the War of the Spanish Succession saw Spain loose lots of its territories. Wars would be fought in a futile attempt to get this land back.

Money, or rather gold and silver could be offered to get the land I wanted, but I was sure that it would not be enough. On top of that, they may make a deal then a few years later attack to take it back.

Another incentive to garner this land was to trade. Silks, tea, sugar, spices and coffee would not be enough. What would inspire them was my weapons but that meant deaths and they would be on my hands.

The wooden ship was complete. If I stripped the cannon, I would be selling a freighter that was far larger then anything in existence today. I also had the twenty ships now being built in England. Again, without guns, they were merchant ships.

Cardinal Alberoni had been behind the schemes to recover the lands once held by Spain. He assisted the Scots to rebel against England and fermented many wars that were not well thought out. The man was blamed for the loses and expelled from Spain. These small wars along with the War of the Spanish Succession bankrupted the country.

I procured a costly audience to see Elizabeth Farnese, the consort to Philip.

The woman was attractive and she immediately found me the same way.

Her people had appraised her of my particulars and she said, "Prince Michjo."

I knelt and kissed her hand which was the custom. My tongue touched her fingers too and I could feel that she felt this. I kept my position and greeted her the way she wanted.

She got me to stand and said, "Are all the people of your land so fair?"

"I am but average. Good breeding tends to make this happen. We have been doing this for many thousands of years. I can see that your ancestors have worked to the same ends."

"Why thank you."

We talked for a long time about inconsequentials and I did not try to push my agenda in any way as if happy to be in her company. Near the end of my appointed time she said, "What is it that brings you here?"

"I told you about my country being small. We would purchase land and gain all titles for it. Spain has land that might be for sale."

"How much are you looking for?"

I pulled out my attache case and presented her with an outline map showing the world much better than any of her cartographers had shown. On it were only two colours. One was all the lands Spain claimed and a green colour which was the land I wished to purchase. This was not all together but comprised both Floridas, the disputed land of Georgia and all the land west of the French owned Louisiana. There was unclaimed land in the American north west and what would one day be Alaska. I was planting benasso monoliths to show that it was owned by Mu.

She stared at it for a minute but she was thinking very hard. "This is a very large area. We could not possibly sell all this."

"The land is large but so is my offer, in fact it is overly large."

"What do you offer?"

"Thirty two tonnes of the purest gold or up to a third of that value in silver when it exchanges at fifteen to one for the gold."

"Few men talk of tonnes of gold."

"It is easier that way and my tonne is the real tonne of a thousand kilograms and not the English ton."

"Does your tiny country have that much?"

"We do. We have aided China and India for thousands of years. We took little in trade, the same way China now trades with you."

"I will have to talk to my husband about this."

"I thank you and for doing such a service, I have brought a gift from my country."

"Why thank you."

"It is rather large, so it has to come by carriage. May I deliver it to you in the next few days?"

"You may."

"When would be convenient? There are secrets needed to open the chests."

"Secrets?"

I smiled. "Why of course. It makes the gift even nicer."

I waited two days then had three local wagons bring three of my ceramic chests. The consort was not around to receive them so I put them in the hands of an official and left. Nobody could open the chests unless they used a lot of force and this would destroy the contents.

It was four days later that a messenger found me and gave me an invitation to a party. Perhaps they wanted the combinations to open the chests.

I accepted and an hour after the appointed time, I arrived in a rental carriage. The party was in full swing. It was no different than the ones in Paris except less French was spoken here.

My clothing set me apart from the rest and this is what I sought. A foreign prince could dress in the clothes of his country.

There were people here that I knew from Paris. I was introduced to their friends here. I had learned some of the news from Madrid but not nearly enough to comment much.

When an opportunity arose. I talked of the Suez canal that I wished to build. The Persians and the Romans had worked on this but with little success. To add to this I talked of the Panama canal that I would build that would allow Spanish ships to the Pacific but restrict all other nations but my own.

Both of these proposals had been researched for a long time but they were too difficult for present technology.

I was asked how I was going to do it but I relied on new horse drawn tools and a lot of hired help. Some of the people that had seen my construction in Paris assisted me in getting them to believe.

On man asked me about financing. I said in reply, "My country can handle this though it will do much to deplete our funds." Basically I was saying that I did not want partners.