Chongzhen Wiretapping System

Chapter 946 The Fury of Philip IV

After the 30-year war in France, civil strife began again.For the royal family, military expenditure is a big problem.

Portugal provided a large number of oriental specialties, which made French Prime Minister Cardinal Mazarin see business opportunities.

So, of course, he showed his favor to Portugal and expressed his support for Portuguese independence.

If Spain dares to attack Portugal, France will inevitably send troops to support it.After all, Spain dares to participate in the internal affairs of France, so if you do it in the first year of junior high school, don't blame France for doing fifteenth.

In addition, he purchased a large amount of oriental specialties from Portugal, and then sold them to the nobles in the country, and even sold them to other countries. He was equivalent to acting as a second-rate dealer and the Portuguese's bottom line.

Oriental specialties have always been popular in Europe, whether it is silk or porcelain, etc., are deeply loved by European nobles.If a noble family does not have a little special product from the East, it is impossible to entertain guests at all.

In this way, the French royal family has money, and it is easier to fight the civil war.

On the Spanish side, I did not expect that joining forces with Prince Condé would still not be able to defeat France.This made King Philip IV of Spain very angry.

Originally, Philip IV's attention was all on the French side, and he hadn't had time to control Portugal.But now he saw that Portugal and France had colluded together and greatly subsidized the finances of the French royal family, which made him angry and jealous at the same time.

Spain has always been a powerful country in Europe, even if it has begun to decline by this time, it is still a powerful country.If Portugal wants to be independent, it is already a slap in the face.Now flirting with France, how can you bear it?

In addition, Spain has also fought a 30-year war, and its finances are also tight.The huge profits of oriental specialties moved Philip IV even more.The combination of these reasons gave Philip IV the idea of ​​​​going to war against Portugal.

But his current focus, of course, is not to give up halfway and not to intervene in France's internal affairs.No matter what, he wanted to help Prince Condé to the position of power in France first, and then go back and clean up Portugal to avoid fighting on two fronts.

On this day, Philip IV was worried about having no money again.Before that, Spain had actually gone bankrupt once.If there is no more money, the war with France cannot continue.

So Philip IV urged his men: "When will the treasure ship from America come back? It's been so long this year, why hasn't it come back yet?"

The reason why Spain is a powerful country in Europe has a lot to do with the fact that it has a huge overseas colony and continuously sends property back to Spain.It is also because of this that Spain's arrogance has made all European countries dissatisfied. Almost all countries are at odds with Spain, and even go to war.

Becoming a European public enemy is also an important reason for Spain's final decline!

"Back to Your Majesty, I heard that the British sent many pirates to the Americas. Could it be because of them that the treasure ship came back late?" His finance minister guessed and replied.

Hearing this, Philip IV hated the British again.Then he cursed loudly: "That damn Cromwell, really think he is invincible, dare to challenge my bottom line?"

Britain is also in civil strife, but it is considered a successful rebellion. Now Cromwell is in power, the invincible kind. He just defeated the whole of Scotland and killed the royalists to flee everywhere, including Portugal.

For this situation, Spain can't actually manage it, and it has no ability to manage it.But now, Cromwell has begun to blatantly invade Spain's overseas colonies again, which makes Philip IV very angry.

But it's just anger after all. For a long time, pirates from various European countries have aimed to rob Spain's treasure ships. I don't know how many times it happened.What could Spain do? It even had to recognize the independence of the Netherlands, which also did the same thing.

Now that Spain is short of money, it is very likely that British pirates did it.Philip IV should be angry, and he will definitely be angry.

After venting, he was helpless, and could only say: "You guys discuss, see if you can send warships to America, increase the strength of the escort fleet, and strive to bring back the property as soon as possible!"

Knowing the current situation of the kingdom, it is indeed in urgent need of money, the Minister of Finance agreed, and wanted to discuss with the navy.

However, he had just left the palace when suddenly he ran into the palace as if being chased by a tiger, his face looking very ugly.

"What are you doing? How dignified are you, the dignified minister of finance of the empire?" Philip IV was in a bad mood. Seeing him like this, he immediately shouted unhappily.

"Your Majesty, something is wrong!" The Minister of Finance ignored his scolding, and said to him in fear: "America is lost, gone..."

"What? It's impossible!" Philip IV was shocked when he heard that, but he directly refused to admit it, "How did that crimson Cromwell get to America? How many pirates did he send? Even if they are all British Now, it may not be possible to swallow the entire American continent..."

The Minister of Finance did not finish listening, so he had to interrupt him loudly: "Your Majesty, no, it is not the British. It is the Ming Empire in the East that sent troops to unite with the Portuguese to swallow up the entire America. Our Spanish fleet in America is almost All gone."

"What?" Philip IV was dumbfounded when he heard that.

He never expected that it would be such a situation.

He knew about the rise of the Ming Empire in the Far East and wiped out the Spaniards in Luzon.However, Luzon is too far away, and he is fighting a 30-year war, so he has no choice but to forget it first.

Later, he also heard that the Ming people seemed to be still at war with the Mughal Empire, Tsarist Russia and other countries.But it was too far away from Spain, and he had a lot of things to do, so he didn't worry about it.

But he never expected that the Ming Kingdom, which seems to be so far away from him, suddenly gave him a heavy punch, hitting his lifeblood hard and cutting off the source of money he had placed high hopes on.To be honest, it would be strange if he wasn't confused!

After a while, he came back to his senses, became furious, and asked sternly: "What's going on, what's going on? Doesn't it mean that China doesn't have many fleets going to America, can they handle it?"

The appearance of the Ming army on the American continent was reported by the governor of the Americas before.But it was only mentioned at the time, and it was not particularly important.And the situation in Spain is not good, thinking that since the Americas said that there is no big thing, Philip IV will not care.

However, suddenly, when he needed America's money the most, he was told that America was lost.Under this situation, Philip IV really couldn't accept it!

It was also difficult for the Minister of Finance to accept it, but he bumped into the messenger outside just now, and already knew the details, so he hurriedly reported the details to Philip IV.

Philip IV didn't say a word, and listened silently to the process of the loss of the entire American continent, feeling a little sad in his heart.

The Ming Kingdom in the Far East is still too powerful. It not only extended its tentacles to Southeast Asia, but even sent a large number of troops to capture the American continent.In today's Spain, it is basically impossible to regain the American continent from the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

Thinking that from now on, Spain would be cut off from a very important source of money, this was really unacceptable to Philip IV.

After being silent for a while, he suddenly broke out.Jumping three feet high, he roared angrily: "I don't know how to raise a domestic slave. It's a kindness not to go to him to settle accounts, but he even swallowed up the entire America with outsiders. Is it tolerable or unbearable? I swear, I will I’m going to destroy you!”

Needless to say, he meant Portugal.This is simply new hatred and old hatred, which is too exciting for Philip IV.

The Minister of Finance next to him heard this, and said worriedly: "Your Majesty, you must not fight on two fronts now."

Just dealing with France has already made Spain unable to do what it wants, and it is worried about military expenses.If you fight Portugal again, it will definitely drag down Spain.

As soon as Philip IV heard the words of the Minister of Finance, he understood the key point.However, it is one thing to understand, but it is another thing to be angry with Portugal.If this bad breath does not come out, I will really be the king of Spain in vain!

Philip IV thought for a few times, suddenly his eyes lit up, and he immediately said to the Minister of Finance: "I must destroy Portugal. Not to mention Portugal's little military power, how can it withstand the iron fist of Spain? He has so many oriental specialties, which is a huge wealth!"

Hearing this, the Chancellor's eyes lit up.Yes, Portugal is now selling specialties from the Far East, and I don’t know how much money it has made.If Portugal can be conquered, not only can they gain countless wealth, but they can also rob those Far Eastern specialties, and Spain will be able to make a lot of money.

One thing that is very certain is that it is definitely more beneficial to play Portugal than to compete with France.The finance minister had this idea in mind, but when he thought of his current situation, he asked a little frustrated: "Your Majesty, what about France?"

France is indeed a big question, which made Philip IV unable to answer for a while, so he walked hurriedly in the hall, thinking about this matter.

I don't know how long it took, but suddenly, Philip IV stood up and said in a firm tone: "End the war with France immediately, no matter the cost, and then mobilize our troops to attack Portugal!"

Later, under his will, the signing of the Pyrenees peace treaty between Spain and France in 1659 was brought forward.The content of this contract is too disgraceful for the Spaniards.Ceded Roussillon, Foix, Artois and most of Lorraine to France.

But one thing that is different from history is that France agreed not to care about Spain's attack on Portugal.

In this way, Portugal, a weak country, once again became a victim of transactions between powerful countries.

(End of this chapter)