open sea

Chapter 843 Conspiracy
There is indeed no good news.

Some time ago, Vazquez was still counting the time when Spain had no war, and planned to pick a time-consuming time to tell Philip.

Just as the sun shines on the land of Spain at every hour, Spain is at war all the time. This situation began when Philip took the throne at the age of 16 and continued until last year.

Since September last year, Vazquez, who is in charge of the palace documents, has found that there is no news about the war. Although the documents sent to the palace are mixed with nobles' clamors for expansion from east to west, they are all preparations for war and are not Not really entered a state of war.

A truce with the Ottomans, a little calm in the Netherlands, they are not involved in any wars!
This is too surprising for Spain, a country that had no chance of getting out of war in Philip's time.

However, Vazquez was not happy for long. This time lasted less than four months before they received the news that New Spain was at war with the Ming Dynasty.

Peace can bring prosperity, peace can also reduce the court's military expenditure, but peace is only a luxury for Spain.

Before losing the Philippines, Spain was the first world power in human history. In such a country, the core land is not contiguous. Its Milan, Naples and other places have to pass through the French territory, which in itself is prone to turmoil disturbed.

Because the size of the country will make neighboring countries feel uneasy, the author of the pamphlets distributed in the streets of France called for preemptive strikes decades ago:
"France has Comte on one side, Naples and Milan on the other. Seeing that the Netherlands is in front and Spain is behind, where is the safety?" '

For this reason, the French did not hesitate to form an alliance with Ottomans to fight against Spain.

Of course, this is not the first time that France, the filial son of the Catholic Church, has done this kind of thing. For example, he owed a lot of money to the Knights Templar. The Holy See moved to Avignon, and the pope was arrested and killed.

Not only France, but the pope was also frightened by the excessive secular kingship in Spain. Although Philip was very devout, it was devout to God, not to the Holy See.

What's more, Spain also has a criminal record.

Charles V’s troops sacked Rome in the sixth year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign in the Ming Dynasty. His son Philip’s right-hand man, the Duke of Alva, actually occupied the Papal States during the Italian War in Jiajing’s 36th year, cut off Sicily’s grain transportation, and starved Pope Paul IV to death.

In fact, Vazquez knew what Philip wanted to hear most, but he could only lower his head and say to Philip in a comforting tone: "I'm sorry, the Pope still hasn't responded."

The good news that Philip wanted to hear most was that the Pope responded to the Dutch incident, but he didn't.

This answer made Philip furious almost instantly. Although he was hairless, he still clenched his fists and circled in front of the cross of Jesus’ crucifixion. Annoyed."

"I believe that if the provinces of the Netherlands had belonged to anyone else, the Pope would have used his means to prevent them from leaving the Church; but now, because they are my subjects, I believe he is ready to let it happen."

"Most of the misfortunes that landed in Spain happened because I tried so hard to defend the Church and eliminate heresy, but the more serious these misfortunes, the more indifferent the Pope is!"

Regardless of what Philip did, several times he launched a crusade, against heretics or heretics, and the pope was all well kept silent lest the Habsburgs should have any success.

This puts Philip in a very awkward position. He may be the most pious secular king in the whole world, but he has no support from the Papal States, which has a huge impact on his strategy.

In fact, Spain did not have any strategy at all, but soldiers came to block the water and flood the soil. The long-term confrontation made them form a set of defensive goals. Philip's life goals are only three things, to maintain the country, attack heresies and heretics, and create a country. Super little people.

The last wish has obviously come to nothing, and the first two are becoming more and more difficult under the current situation.

What can Vazquez say?Facing Philip's anger, he couldn't say anything. Could it be that there was something wrong with the Pope?
"There are still a few news that can't be said to be good or bad. Portugal's affairs are still in progress. Some nobles have turned to us and supported His Majesty to inherit the throne, but someone invited Sebastiao's uncle Enrique back to inherit the throne. He Without an heir, these two years are a transition."

Vazquez explained: "Three candidates, Dean Antonio of Crato Monastery is supported by the common people, His Majesty is supported by the nobles, and Duchess Caterina of Braganza, but neither the nobles nor the common people support him."

Before he finished speaking, His Royal Highness Philip turned his face horizontally and said, "Correct your mistake, my succession to the throne of Portugal is undisputed!"

Vazquez nodded expressionlessly, "Okay, your wish is undisputed."

"There is also news from the Ming Kingdom."

Philip nodded, connecting points, moving quickly.

"The kingdom is about to lose all the land in the west and north of Mexico in the New World, and the south also cedes hundreds of leagues of land south of Lima to the Ming people in exchange for peace and trade."

The Spanish court had probably been prepared to lose their land a long time ago. Both of them looked calm about this. Vazquez added: "They have agreed to His Highness's request. Thirty percent of the silk and porcelain trade in the future will be sold at a price lower than the market price." The finished price is exclusively purchased by the Spanish royal family, and the amount is huge, and the sale to the country should be able to make up for the emptiness of the treasury caused by years of war."

In fact, for Philip, as long as he ceased war with the Ming Kingdom, he would already be making money; if he ceded a large amount of idle land to the Ming Kingdom, his losses from taxes would be negligible. It's all taken as the maintenance fee there.

The royal family’s income is mainly from silver mines and gold mines. The Ming Dynasty did not capture much in this regard. Generally speaking, Bald Philip is quite happy.

But Vazquez's next words were not so pleasant.

"But on the land we handed over to Ming, I heard that they discovered a large gold and copper mine on the west coast. I don't know the exact location, scale and output, but judging from the rumors, it's huge."

Philip wondered: "We haven't discovered it in the New World for decades, but the people of Ming Dynasty discovered it just half a year ago?"

"Yes." Vazquez nodded, and continued: "Ming's silk and porcelain trade on the border between the two countries is huge, but these two goods are priced very high. Even the royal family needs ten silver coins to buy a bundle of silk. The most inferior porcelain requires a set of one hundred silver coins, but it is said to be very delicate."

"At the same time, they stipulated that the trade method is to use silver to buy their money and a kind of paper at the border, and then use the paper to buy silk and porcelain. It is said that future muskets and artillery will also need to be purchased in this way."

Philip didn't care how to buy it. He weighed the price in his heart. To be honest, he felt that it was about the same. He could still make money shipping it back to Europe, and the military expenses would definitely be enough. If he could buy more guns and artillery, he thought he would have no loss.

"However, the news brought back by the spies in Africa and Egypt is not very good. In Africa and Egypt, people have found traces of Ming people. It is said that although they are Ming people, they call themselves Han. Most of the slave ships were snatched by them."

"Chen Mu's conspiracy?"

Philip frowned, squinted his eyes into a line, clenched his hands together under the cloak, and said through gritted teeth, "He negotiated peace and trade with me in the west, and then sent someone to rob us from the east?"

(End of this chapter)