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In Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, under pressure from the alliance, King John IV of Portugal only intended to save face by sending two warships and three hundred troops to support the Qin delegation.
In the end, the number of warships that sailed out of Lisbon was as many as 21, with a total force of 2,800. John IV even went to the port to see the fleet off in a high-profile manner, and generously stated that as an ally of the Qin Dynasty, Portugal would definitely fully support the Qin Dynasty's delegation.
In Madrid, the capital of Spain, King Philip IV made a decision that surprised everyone. He wanted to lead the army to France in person.
Philip IV was an arrogant man who called himself "King of the Earth".
But since the defeat of the "Invincible Armada" by Britain in 1588, Spain's maritime hegemony was gone forever. In addition, the empire's treasury had been very poor since his grandfather's death. By 1621, when he inherited the throne of Spain, although the Spanish Empire still had a vast territory, it had gradually declined.
At this time, Spain was involved in the European war. In order to win the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), Philip IV had to continue expanding his army despite financial constraints.
In 1625, Spain's total military strength expanded to an unprecedented 300,000. In 1627, the Spanish government once again declared bankruptcy.
In 1628, the Dutch captain Piet Pieterszoon Hein captured a Spanish treasure ship. The Spanish economy further declined, while the Dutch economy prospered.
Spain found itself unable to cope with the growing naval power of not only the Netherlands but also France and Britain.
Since 1623, Spain's monopoly on the Americas has been broken by them, and parts of Brazil, St. Kitts, Jamaica and other places have been occupied. But at this time, they still have a strong naval force in the Mediterranean to resist the Ottoman navy and Muslim pirates.
In 1640, Philip IV attempted to make the Catalans bear some military expenses, and with the instigation of France, the local people rebelled. In December of the same year, an independence movement broke out in Portugal, and John IV established a new dynasty: the Braganza Dynasty of Portugal, ending Spain's 60-year rule.
In 1642, the Spanish were defeated by the Dutch and were forced to withdraw from Taiwan. In 1648, since almost all of Europe was against the Habsburgs, the Thirty Years' War ended with the defeat of the Habsburgs, and Spain lost its land advantage. Philip IV and the whole of Europe recognized the independence of the Netherlands.
However, Spain's war with France, which had become a European power, continued. Although the French Civil War broke out in 1648, Spain's economy was already in dire straits and could not handle several wars at the same time.
However, during this period, Spain's decline was often exaggerated.
Spain was not actually always defeated; they conquered Naples in 1648 and had just reconquered Catalonia.
However, the French army led by Viscount Turenne defeated the Spanish army in the Netherlands in the Battle of the Dunes, and Spain was forced to sign the Treaty of the Pyrenees with France, ceding Roussillon, Foix, Artois and most of Lorraine in the north to France.
If Spain's loss of sea power was due to Britain and the Netherlands, then its loss of land power was mainly due to France.
The humiliation of ceding territory for peace has always been a source of resentment for Philip IV, the "King of the Earth". Just think about it, even the Spanish mainland was ceded. Isn't this a slap in the face of the "King of the Earth", and it's like being beaten into a pig's head.
Now, Louis XIV, his sister Anne, and Prime Minister Mazarin were all captured by the Qin people, Paris was occupied by the rebels, and the whole of France fell into chaos. Viscount Turenne, who was leading his troops to fight on the Franco-Spanish border, also hastily withdrew his troops and retreated to the north bank of the upper Garonne River.
This is a golden opportunity for Spain to take back the land that it was forced to cede... What is this? The King of the Earth is going to lead the expedition in person, not only to take back Lorraine and other regions, he is going to fight to Paris.
Now, France, with its fertile land and dense population, is like a piece of fat meat. Whether it is vultures, hungry wolves, or wild dogs, they all want to take the opportunity to take a bite.
***
The Qin envoys were like a huge rock that suddenly came from outer space and crashed into Europe. For a moment, the whole of Europe became turbulent. Faced with this unpredictable change, Zhang Haoran and others were quite overwhelmed.
The negotiations with Van Ritter, who occupied Le Havre, were still in fierce dispute. Van Ritter insisted that the Qin army release King Louis XIV first before he would cooperate with the Qin army.
Van Ritter was a very talented general. He was loyal to the French royal family and orthodoxy, rather than to Mazarin and Anne of Austria.
At the same time, he had his own plan. Although Louis XIV was only a half-grown child, he was the officially crowned King of France. If he could control Louis XIV, he could issue orders to the whole of France, at least in name, so he insisted that the Qin army release Louis XIV first.
From his point of view, this request is indeed not excessive.
But from Zhang Haoran's perspective, if Louis XIV was released, would Van Ritter, Willick and others still listen to him? The answer is definitely no.
In this case, Zhang Haoran and his men naturally could not agree to release Louis XIV immediately. The two sides were deadlocked on this point. At this time, as many as 18 French ships rushed to the Seine Bay from the northern port of Dunkirk, and Barak, who led this fleet, quickly reached an agreement with Van Ritter;
However, because the king was on the Qin warship, Barak was afraid to launch a brazen attack on the Qin army, and the two sides confronted each other in the Seine Bay in the English Channel.
The responses from various countries came one after another, which made Zhang Haoran and others feel a bit headache. Everyone gathered in the flagship command cabin to discuss again. Guerrilla General Pang Ning smiled indifferently and said, "It is France that is in chaos, not the Qin Dynasty. Fan Li Te is not in a hurry, and he dares to bargain with us. Why should we be in a hurry!"
Zhang Haoran shook his head and said, “That being said, if the situation gets out of control further, the hostages we have will become useless, and it will be difficult to influence the situation in France.
And everyone, don’t forget, we have another important mission in coming to Europe, which is to persuade the Church to integrate the strength of European countries and jointly attack the Ottoman Empire.
France is the heart of Europe. If there is chaos here, the whole of Europe will also be in chaos. With all the forces competing with each other, how can we attack the Ottoman Empire?"
Zheng Jie said hesitantly: "Master Zhang, the matter of attacking the Ottoman Empire is related to the Central Asian strategy of the Qin Dynasty. This is indeed very important, but as the saying goes, plans cannot keep up with changes. The changes in Europe are beyond our control. All we can do is to go with the flow and take advantage of the situation.
Now that the situation has become like this, it is probably unrealistic to talk about persuading the Christian Church to integrate the forces of all Europeans to attack the Ottoman Empire. As long as we maximize the interests of the Qin Empire in Europe, even if we fail to complete the task of attacking the Ottoman Empire, Your Majesty is wise. I believe that after we return, Your Majesty will not blame us. "
Zhang Haoran said: "It's not completely impossible. According to what we know, Spain's naval power is not weak. It's just that the expansion of the Ottoman Empire directly threatens the Spanish mainland. Therefore, Spain must maintain a strong naval force in the Mediterranean to resist the Ottoman navy and Muslim pirates. This makes the British and Dutch navies seem to have the upper hand.
Although there had been a war between Great Qin and Spain, Great Qin had every opportunity to reach a cooperation agreement with Spain in terms of attacking the Ottoman Empire.
The Habsburg family is the largest royal family in Europe, and has ruled many countries including the Netherlands, Portugal, and Austria. Even though it is in decline now, it still has a huge influence in Southern and Eastern Europe.
Moreover, the Habsburg family is the royal family with the closest relationship with the Holy See. In the Thirty Years' War between the Catholic and Protestant countries, Spain was the main force standing on the side of the Holy See. And we can let the Holy See lobby Spain, then integrate the forces of various countries and attack the Ottoman Empire together with our Great Qin."
*****(To be continued...)
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