prosperous age

In the heart of Mexico City stands a massive building, the Spanish Viceroyalty in Mexico.

Mexico City was not built by the Spanish, but was a lake city established by the Aztecs hundreds of years ago, and the Aztec capital was Tenochtitlan.

In 1325 AD, the Aztecs, guided by divine revelation, established this city on a marshy island in the center of Lake Texcoco.

In 1519, Spanish colonists Cortés landed in Mexico City. In 1521, the city of Tenochtitlan fell and was severely damaged. The colonists rebuilt Mexico City on the ruins using a European checkerboard layout.

The Spanish filled in the lake to prevent flooding, resulting in the city being built on unstable backfill. At the same time, they built a large number of European-style palaces, churches and monasteries, such as the National Palace and the cathedral, creating a landscape that blends local heritage with colonial architecture.

In 1535, Mexico City was designated as the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, becoming the center of a vast region that included Manila in the Philippines, and the city continued to expand.

Although the current Governor's Palace has undergone several renovations, it largely still uses the original architecture of the Aztec Palace.

At this moment, in the governor's office, Mexican governor Pedro de la Régis was discussing with a group of officials and generals the documents brought back by fleet commander de Pero from Manila and the Ming Dynasty.

The news of the return of the large sailing fleet alarmed the entire American elite.

The Governor's Office held meetings for several days in a row, which included not only discussing countermeasures but also making military preparations.

In fact, just two days ago, five warships, including the Fighter and Hutmanzu, led eight temporarily recruited small and medium-sized armed merchant ships southward, preparing to pass through the Strait of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean to support the Spanish Navy on the west coast.

Although Spain's naval power was the strongest of its time, its actual military strength was still extremely limited compared to that of the Ming Dynasty.

Later generations of Chinese people actually have many misunderstandings about the power of Western countries.

When the Spanish were traveling all over the world exploring and colonizing, it was obviously incorrect to assume that their warships covered the entire ocean.

In fact, even at the end of the 16th century, Zheng He's fleet, two hundred years ago, was still the largest fleet ever to exist on Earth in a thousand years.

Two hundred years later, even with the fleet that Spain had built with all its national resources and could swagger around the world, it was still far inferior.

Spain's naval force actually consists of fewer than 200 warships, which are actual warships built with funds allocated by the kingdom.

In the following decades, Spain successively built several "invincible armadas" to invade Britain, accumulating the loss of hundreds of warships. In fact, most of them were not warships as people understand them, but armed merchant ships requisitioned by the navy.

Therefore, the claim that the Spanish Navy had a thousand warships in that era is a misunderstanding.

In this era, over 90% of merchant ships belonged to maritime traders, but they had to obey the kingdom's summons.

Of the warships that truly belong to the navy and whose military pay is borne by the kingdom, less than 10% are actually naval vessels.

For at least the next two centuries, the main force in large-scale naval battles in Europe was not the navies of various countries, but rather armed merchant ships belonging to merchants.

Of course, the kingdom will compensate for the damage to these armed merchant ships after the war.

If the war is won, the compensation will be very generous.

If the war is lost, the reparations will be very small, or even lead to the bankruptcy of merchants.

At this time, this powerful governor had only 38 warships under his command.

Originally, the Spanish Navy had more than fifty warships in the Americas, but after more than ten were transferred back to Spain, its forces were already stretched thin.

This time, deploying five warships from the Atlantic to the Pacific is the limit of what he can muster.

"Your Excellency, based on the Ming Dynasty's naval strength that I witnessed in Manila, thirteen warships are definitely not enough."

Including the existing forces and the armed merchant ships that could be temporarily recruited, the total number of troops was less than thirty.

If peace talks with the Ming Dynasty cannot be reached and war breaks out, the Pacific Fleet could very well be annihilated quickly.

De Perot stood in front of the long table and said loudly, "You have not seen the Ming navy with your own eyes. They are exceptionally large in scale."

I heard that more than two hundred years ago, they organized thousands of warships to carry out ocean operations, sailing thousands of miles to reach the east coast of Africa.

Their fleet alone has more warships than all the warships we have here combined.

De Perot repeatedly emphasized the strength of the Ming Dynasty's navy, which was not without the intention of exonerating himself.

After all, the powerful Spanish naval admiral and the governor of Manila were actually intimidated by the Ming Dynasty's military might and agreed to many conditions that seemed utterly absurd and laughable to the locals.

If we don't first highlight the strength of the Ming Dynasty's navy, how can we explain their choice of Manila?

"You've been saying this for days, that the country has hundreds of warships, but how is that possible?"

The message brought back by the last mission was that their navy was similar to ours, with nearly a hundred warships and the rest being armed merchant ships.

An official from the Mexican Viceroyalty refuted De Pero's statement.

"They have many shipyards and can quickly build a large number of warships."

I believe you all know the exquisite craftsmanship of the Ming Dynasty; their productivity was truly terrifying.

De Perrot went on to explain that some of the information came from businessmen, while some was, of course, fabricated by him.

Merchants naturally knew a great deal about Ming Dynasty shipyards through exchanges with their counterparts at the port.

In particular, the two large shipyards on the banks of the Yangtze River in Nanjing are, in the minds of businessmen, the world's largest shipyards, even surpassing the shipbuilding capacity of the Netherlands.

"Okay, I saw it with my own eyes. Their South China Sea Fleet has eighty warships."

This was only a quarter of their strength. The Ming Dynasty had four such fleets, stationed in their four cardinal directions: east, south, west, and north.

Although the Fujian ships were large, the Spanish knew that they were merchant ships, not true warships, and could only carry a limited number of cannons.

Therefore, the Fujian ships equipped by the navy were automatically treated as temporarily conscripted armed merchant ships.

After all, that's what they did.

Although the navy also needs these kinds of logistics ships responsible for transporting supplies.

"I have written to all the officers and captains, instructing them to closely monitor the surrounding area for any Ming Chinese, and not to engage in conflict with them. We should first find out where the Ming Chinese are and how many there are before making any further moves."

As for your concern about going to war with the Ming people, I think you're overthinking it.

We will not go to war with the Ming people as long as they do not come to New Spain.

Governor Pedrode's words were met with approval from everyone, who all nodded knowingly.

The mineral deposits here are exactly what the kingdom needs.

As for the north, although the land is vast, they are powerless to help and their reach is limited.

"Giving them the barren lands in the north is not a big deal; we can even trade directly with them."

An elderly man with a bulbous nose and glasses perched on his nose said cheerfully, "I believe they won't refuse the profits they've made, and will definitely ship a large amount of Ming Dynasty goods here."

Our treasure ships can carry back more cargo and generate more profit.

His words attracted the attention of many people around him.

Besides their desire to "achieve great deeds," their primary motivation for coming here was the wealth of the New World. These officials also engaged in smuggling, using treasure ships to transport supplies needed by the king and also smuggling their spoils back with them.

If they could buy Ming Dynasty goods directly here, they could make large-scale purchases and then arrange merchant ships to transport them back to Europe.

High-quality products from the Ming Dynasty were naturally only available to the nobility.

However, the Ming Dynasty also had many mid-to-low-end goods, which were highly profitable and produced in large quantities, thus well meeting the needs of wealthy merchants and lower-ranking officials.

Products sold in large quantities can also generate huge profits.

In particular, the silk produced in the Ming Dynasty was even better than that from Persia.

And tea, that beverage tastes really delicious.

They were among the first Europeans to come into contact with tea through the galleon trade.

When they brought the tea back, the nobles regarded it as a "panacea" and would only brew it when they were sick, mixing it with sugar, ginger and other ingredients to make a decoction.

However, they were unaware that while Europeans still found tea quite rare at that time, nobles and wealthy merchants there had already begun drinking coffee.

Coffee, originally from Africa, had become an important commodity in trade between the Ottomans and Europeans under the management of the Ottomans.

"Let's wait for news. Hopefully, the Ming people won't clash with those rude junior officers."

In the conference room, Governor Pedrode spoke calmly.

The Ming Dynasty suppressed military power through civil administration, and the struggle between civil and military officials was a tradition.

But the situation is actually similar in Europe.

The bureaucratic system looks down on those in the military, considering them rude, especially junior officers.

But for high-ranking officers, it's a completely different story.

Because high-ranking military officers in this era were often of noble birth.

Even in later generations, many European countries still had military commander positions that were long held by hereditary officers from noble families.

"Your Excellency, has His Majesty the King made up his mind to punish those pirates?"

An official below suddenly looked at the governor and asked.

Everyone knew what he meant: the king was considering teaching the British a lesson by withdrawing more than ten warships from the rotating fleet.

The frequent appearances of British privateers in the Atlantic, plundering Spanish merchant ships, had already enraged the Spanish.

The losses were enormous, leaving the entire navy and everyone else exhausted.

Because you don't know when or where privateers will appear.

Moreover, as the British took large-scale action, many countries along the European coast followed suit.

Nowadays, privateers, or pirates, are no longer limited to the British; the French, Italians, and Nordic countries are also involved.

Politically, Spain's idea of ​​gaining control of Britain through marriage has failed, which greatly angered the King of Spain.

The huge losses of merchant ships further fueled hatred of England throughout the Spanish kingdom.

In recent years, talk of sending troops to attack Britain and retaliating severely against Britain has been rampant in Spain, gaining the support of the vast majority of nobles and common people.

Many of those sailors came from the lower classes.

I hope this job will increase my income and allow me to live a more prosperous life.

However, when they encountered pirates, not only were all the supplies on board looted, but their lives were also in danger. How could they not be hated?

At this time, Spain was in a precarious situation, surrounded by enemies on all sides.

At this time, the Netherlands, which the Spanish king valued, had in fact been divided into the North and South Netherlands.

In the south, as the Spanish army continued its offensive, the rebels suffered successive defeats, and the kingdom's army captured the strategic city of Antwerp, and subsequently recaptured Brussels and other southern cities.

In the north, however, the seven northern provinces had already signed the Act of Expulsion in 1581, formally abolishing Philip II's rule.

Despite facing military pressure, the North, under the leadership of Prince Morris, held firm with its water defense system and received direct military support from Britain, effectively forming an independent regime.

At this time, after the kingdom's army won a victory in the south, it continued its northward offensive but encountered strong resistance, especially since the rebels had a significant number of cannons at their disposal.

Most of these firearms were cannons manufactured in the Ming Dynasty and were provided by the British to the Northern Netherlands.

"Your Majesty, the Duke of Parma's latest offensive has failed again; we have not been able to penetrate the Netherlands and Groningen region."

Inside the Royal Palace in Madrid, Spain, a royal council convened by the King is underway, where military commanders are reporting on the recently received battle report from the Netherlands.

Although Spain regained control of the southern Netherlands, the seven northern provinces resisted fiercely, making it difficult for the Spanish army to advance.

Holland and Zeeland were the main forces of the resistance, while Groningen was relatively weak. Therefore, the Duke of Parma chose to attack Holland with his main force to intimidate the rebels and attract them to gather, creating an opportunity to encircle and annihilate them.

The attack on the flanks would target the vulnerable Groningen, with the hope of achieving a breakthrough and then encircling the rebels in the Dutch province from the flanks.

However, the Duke clearly overestimated the strength of the exhausted kingdom army and underestimated the strength of the rebels after receiving support from the British.

The large number of artillery pieces that appeared dealt a heavy blow to the Spanish army, forcing them to halt their offensive and retreat for rest and reorganization.

"According to information gathered at the front, the rebels have acquired a large number of artillery pieces, all of which came from Britain."

They have in fact participated in the Dutch rebellion, Your Majesty. You need to make a decision.

The officer continued to explain the current situation to the King, saying that the British were almost directly involved in the war, just short of sending men there to fight them.

What is the military's opinion?

Philip II rubbed his forehead in frustration and pressed for an answer.

"Continue to reinforce the Duke of Parma's forces, continue to attack the Dutch rebels, and entice the British to continue providing support there."

The officer looked at the king and said, "After they have used up these weapons, send out a swarm of naval forces on an expedition to bombard London."

The army then landed, reclaimed the wealth they had looted, and taught them a lesson.

These are the results of discussions among the high-ranking military officials of the Kingdom of Spain.

By using the Netherlands to deplete Britain's arms reserves, they could then launch an attack on the British mainland.

"To this end, we plan to requisition one hundred merchant ships and dispatch more than fifty warships of the navy, carrying ten thousand soldiers to attack Britain."

The officer spoke sternly, his face grim. (End of Chapter)