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Portugal has actually been independent for ten years. After repeated considerations, Spain finally agreed to Zheng Jie's suggestion and recognized Portugal's independence.
You have to admit it. Portugal, Britain and Qin can unite once, but why can't they unite a second time? Now Philip IV has brought his army to the French border, sharpening his sword and preparing for a big fight.
This time, Philip IV invested a lot of money. Not only did he want to recover the land that he had been forced to cede to France, but he also wanted to cross the Pyrenees and penetrate into the heart of France, taking advantage of the enemy's weakness to kill them and further achieve more brilliant results.
If Portugal's independence was not recognized, not only would such a grand undertaking not be accomplished, but China might also be subject to continued attacks from Portugal, Britain and Qin.
Now Spain's finances are on the verge of bankruptcy again. If it goes to war with the three countries again, how long can Spain last with enemies on all sides
These are the problems that Spain must face. Therefore, although reluctantly, Spain decided to focus on the big and let go of the small and recognize Portugal's independence.
What King John IV of Portugal dreamed of was nothing more than the recognition of Portugal's independence. In the past ten years, the war with Spain has been going on non-stop, and Portugal, a small country with a sparse population, is also overwhelmed;
While a lot of energy was tied up in the domestic war, many overseas colonies were also snatched away by countries such as the Netherlands;
For example, Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, these war fortresses originally belonged to Portugal, but were later taken away by the Dutch.
The Portuguese, from the king to the ordinary people, were all delighted that the endless war with Spain could be settled in this way. The whole country was jubilant.
All of this was thanks to the ally, Daqin. At this time, they naturally obeyed Daqin's orders and asked them to send out their fleet to jointly attack the Ottoman Empire without hesitation;
Portugal was still worried about Spain, fearing that once the Qin delegation left, Spain would change its mind and hoped to enhance its "comradeship" with Spain through joint operations.
In general, the Qin delegation's success in capturing Paris, France, has made European countries dare not underestimate it. All European countries need to listen carefully to what the Qin diplomats say.
Thanks to its astonishing strength, the Qin delegation was able to make things happen in Europe at will.
Of course, the British were not all fools. They had already suspected that the ambush at the Battle of Gibraltar was a trap set by the Qin envoys, but they had no direct evidence. In addition, Britain's interests in India depended on the Qin's favor, so it was difficult to break off relations without evidence. However, it was inevitable that resentment would arise in their hearts.
Zhang Haoran and his team were not afraid of this, as the British navy was constantly rising and had not been weakened by the civil war. Objectively speaking, it was probably only a matter of time before Britain became the new maritime hegemon in Europe, and Zhang Haoran and his team were wary of this.
In other words, the relationship between Daqin and Britain is purely a combination of interests, but conflicts of interest will be difficult to avoid in the future, and Daqin and Britain will inevitably have a war. In this case, why should we be afraid of the British people's resentment
At this time, four armed merchant ships of the Qin Dynasty arrived in Lisbon, Portugal.
These four armed merchant ships did not belong to an ocean-going trading company, but to a trading company called "Minnan Ocean Trade Company" formed by Fujian merchants.
These four merchant ships were strictly speaking the first Eastern merchant ships to arrive in Europe. They brought a large number of goods, among which the women's clothing "Mobile Garden" caused the most sensation, attracting thousands of people in Lisbon.
Several Portuguese businessmen with vision jointly bought all the "Mobile Gardens" and then resold them. After being tried on by the Queen and Princess of Portugal, the "Mobile Gardens" have long become a fashion brand.
None of these were important to Zhang Haoran and his men. What was important was that these four merchant ships brought an encouraging piece of news: after a rest, the ocean-going fleet, with the reinforcement of the South China Sea Fleet, sent out troops again, seized control of the Cape of Good Hope in one fell swoop, and defeated the Dutch again.
As the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhang Haoran was very familiar with Daqin's expansion plan. As far as he knew, according to the Daqin Emperor's wishes, the territorial expansion would only stop at the Cape of Good Hope for the time being.
Of course, the Qin navy will be able to roam the world, but it only needs to occupy some strategic strongholds, without the need for large-scale colonization, and conflicts with European countries will be greatly reduced.
The results of this visit to Europe have far exceeded expectations, but Zhang Haoran and his team are not satisfied with this. After dealing with Spain, Zhang Haoran and Zheng Jie discussed and decided to send a small delegation of ten people to visit Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to seek to end the state of war with the Netherlands and establish diplomatic relations.
After the Battle of the Cape of Good Hope, there was basically no conflict of interest between Daqin and the Netherlands, and that was the case for the time being. I believe that after a series of failures, if the Dutch were smart enough, they would know that being an enemy of Daqin would not be of any benefit to them.
Zhang Haoran believed that there was still a great chance of reaching an understanding with the Netherlands by taking the initiative to send people to Amsterdam.
With the arrival of four merchant ships of the Minnan Maritime Trade Company in Europe, more and more merchant ships of Daqin will sail to Europe. However, the operation of several European ports that Daqin has just acquired has not yet started. If it wants to send a navy, it will probably take at least a year.
In this case, having a strong maritime enemy like the Netherlands in Europe is very disadvantageous to the merchant ships of Daqin. Of course, if an understanding can be reached or even diplomatic relations can be established, wouldn't it be a good thing for the Netherlands
After sending a small delegation of ten people to visit Amsterdam, Zhang Haoran and his party began to sail into the Mediterranean to inspect the port of Marseilles which had just been acquired from France.
Now nominally, Marseille Port and the surrounding Blue Coast area have become an enclave of Daqin, and are officially Daqin territory. Although Daqin has not yet had time to send people to take over.
But since we got it from France, we have to go and take a look. On the other hand, although Zhang Haoran and his team had no special diplomatic missions when they entered the Mediterranean, they still had to visit places like Rome, Florence, and Venice.
A city like Rome can be said to be one of the birthplaces of the European Renaissance, and it concentrates many of Europe's outstanding culture, art, and technology, which are also the focus of collecting when the diplomatic missions visit Europe, so of course we have to go and see it.
At this time, the Apennine Peninsula, which later became Italy, was actually in a fragmented state due to the rise of major city-states in the north. The north was ruled by the Austrian Habsburg dynasty.
Many city-states and principalities were also formed in the south. Nominally, the north was under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire, but in fact, each principality was independent and governed by a grand duke.
The Holy Roman Empire was later honored by Hitler as the "First German Empire", which led to the "Second and Third German Reichs".
However, the Holy Roman Empire had become very loose at this time, and the emperor was only the emperor in name only. No one actually took him seriously. The situation was somewhat similar to the Zhou Dynasty emperor during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.
The Holy Roman Emperor was also hereditary from the House of Habsburg in Austria.
The Habsburg family was the royal family with the widest territory in European history. Its members had served as Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, King of Spain, King of Portugal, and Duke of several Italian principalities. Its territory covered most of Europe.
Because Spain was the most powerful of the countries ruled by the Habsburgs, and because most of the other countries ruled by the Habsburgs followed Spain's lead. Even now, Spain's influence on these countries cannot be underestimated.
Fortunately, Daqin and Spain reached a peace agreement and established diplomatic relations. Zhang Haoran and his team were going to Rome and other places, and there were no longer any political obstacles.
Before their ship reached the port of Marseilles, news came that the people of Marseilles and other places had revolted because they were dissatisfied with being ceded to the Qin Dynasty, and claimed to obey the orders of Prince Condé of Orleans.
For a time, in the ceded areas such as Marseille, rebellion flags rose everywhere and smoke of war was everywhere.
At the same time, there was news that on the Caspian Sea, Li Ding of the Qin Dynasty was fighting fiercely with the Ottoman Empire's army...
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.(To be continued..)
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