unclear

Chapter 452 Albrecht VII

"Okay, my dear, don't complain anymore. In fact, it's not too bad now. Not only did His Majesty the Emperor give you and me a suitable job and decent remuneration, he also promised to bring little Julie over from Spain. Compared with Spain Life here is more worth looking forward to, isn’t it?”

The character of the Baroness is obviously different from her husband. When faced with insurmountable difficulties, she did not blame others and give up the struggle. Instead, she worked hard to find hope from the difficulties and took the initiative to create opportunities.

"Can the emperor's words be trusted?" Baron Silva grinned and once again issued a soul torture.

"Shh! Don't say that again in the future. So what if you don't believe it? Our only chance of survival now is to believe in the emperor. Let's go, my dear, there are still many things to deal with in the bank. I hope Archduke Albrecht VII Don’t make that mistake again.”

The Baroness quickly reached out and covered her husband's mouth, glancing around nervously. Although the little eunuch nearby could not call everyone by name, they were all familiar faces from Latin class.

These physically handicapped men were not accepted by society and were treated as little more than animals in the eyes of the royal family and officials. Only one man gave them hope of human dignity.

With women's intuition, they can clearly feel that any slander or slander against the emperor will destroy everything they have. To some extent, it is more serious than the hatred of killing their father. Even questioning will be met with collective hostility.

As for the fate of Spain, my motherland, I and my husband are really powerless now. In fact, even if you have the ability to affect the outcome, you may not necessarily use it. Now, the fate of your family has left Spain, but is firmly tied to this mysterious country in the East.

Whether it is Silva or his own family, they can only barely qualify as nobles in Spain, and there are still a lot of real noble lords on them. Any good thing must be done by them first. There is almost nothing left, and it is difficult to achieve anything.

But it was different in the Ming Dynasty. Although he had no official position or public status, he was working for the emperor and was only one finger away from the center of power. The young emperor is obviously not a fool like Felipe III. Some clues can be seen from a battle to defend the capital.

The first is military capability. I heard that the enemy who came to attack the city was very powerful, but the emperor led thousands of guards to easily defeat him without even touching the city gate, and also killed the opponent's generals.

Even if there is no specific concept of the national forces surrounding the Ming Dynasty, it can be estimated from the combat effectiveness of the defeated 50,000 regular troops that this enemy should be called powerful, which further highlights the emperor's military ability.

Secondly, there is political skill. Whether in Europe or the East, politicians will never lack political opponents, and they will never waste any opportunity to attack their political opponents. The Ming Emperor was obviously a master in this regard. Not only did he win the war, he also took the opportunity to teach his political opponents a lesson and gained some military power.

Working for a young and capable emperor was obviously much more promising than returning to Spain and asking for bribes in exchange for scraps. If the emperor needs it and the price is right, there is nothing wrong with Spain being cheated a little.

In fact, the Baroness overestimated her ability. Emperor Jingyang didn't need help at all on how to harm Spain, and this time it was not just Spain that was going to be harmed, but the whole of Europe.

At the end of July, the Manila galleon carrying Archduke Albrecht VII, the special envoy of the King of Spain, slowly sailed into the Bohai Bay accompanied by three navy armed cargo ships. "Garcia, now you can clearly tell me the difference between the battleships of this mysterious Eastern Empire and the Spanish galleons. You must be fair and objective. Every word you say may be relayed to His Majesty the King. It will serve as an important reference for Spain’s future overseas strategy.”

When he was told that he would arrive at the port berth in four hours, Albrecht VII asked his entourage to put on makeup and dress up, while inviting Major Garcia to the cabin to start collecting information before the negotiation.

There is still quite a bit of controversy within the Spanish government regarding this trip. Some nobles believed that there was no need to pay attention to the suggestions from the Eastern Empire. They could just repeat how they conquered the Inca Empire and try again. At most, they would send several times more troops.

Although Spain is in decline, it is still compared with the newly rising Britain and France. Even if the mysterious East is not the primitive and backward Native Americans, it should not be much stronger.

Some nobles were more cautious and pragmatic and saw no harm in talking. Most of their families were involved in maritime trade. Even if they had not actually been to the East, they could estimate the size and development of the Ming Empire from the trade goods and volume.

It’s not that Spain can’t defeat the Ming Empire, it’s just that the difficulty is relatively high. Given the current overall situation of Spain, I’m afraid it will be a big burden. Rather than taking great risks and going on an expedition, but ultimately not getting much benefit, it is better to reach an agreement through negotiation and gain more.

At this time, the opinion of the Governor of Manila became the last weight on the balance. Although Count Aguna was overseas, he wrote three consecutive letters to the king and Duke Lemar, carefully analyzing the current situation of the Ming Empire. , two points struck the First Minister.

First, Count Aguna carefully described the combat effectiveness of the Ming Empire, especially its maritime strength. He believed that the Ming Empire was far more advanced than the Inca Empire and had a large number of ships and muskets and artillery technology passed on by the Portuguese. Even though the individual combat effectiveness of its individual soldiers was not as good as that of the Spanish army, it took advantage of the right time, place and people.

The Ming government was also more organized than the Inca Empire. It valued land gains and losses very much. If a fight really broke out, the scene would be bloody and cruel. Neither side could win easily. However, a tragic victory did not seem to be in the interests of Spain.

Second, it is the international situation. At this time, it was not only Spain but also the Dutch who were trading with Eastern countries. If Spain and the Ming Empire were at odds, you can guess whose side the Dutch would be on without asking. It is possible for Spain to defeat the Ming Empire alone, but it really cannot defeat the Sea Coachman.

Rather than stealing chickens and losing rice, it is better to unite with the Ming Empire to deal with the Dutch. If we can monopolize the maritime trade routes in the East, it will be equivalent to grabbing the throat of Europe, effectively curbing challenges from Britain, France, and the Netherlands, and putting more energy into the Americas.

America became the key word that finally impressed the Spanish king and nobles. Compared with the distant East, the gold and silver in the Americas are more important to Spain, and are being eroded by European countries. It is indeed a good way to use the power of the Ming Empire to protect the interests of the East.

(End of this chapter)