Shanghai, Huaihai Long Street, Wujia Garden, inside the study room.

"Your Excellency, where we are, including Mr. Udia's property, the prosperous streets outside, the crowded docks, the busy factories, and the two fortresses guarding Wusongkou. All of these are in a short period of time.

It was built in just four years! It’s unimaginable! The Chinese can actually build their city at such a speed. How about your Manila? It’s been almost 70 years, how many houses have been built? The current level of prosperity is worse than Shanghai

Is that too much?

Did you know that there are now more than 200,000 construction workers working in various parts of the city every day, and an equal number of craftsmen working in the shipyards, ironworks, textile factories and various other industries in the east of the city?

Working in a handicraft factory!

There may not be as many craftsmen and construction workers in the entire Netherlands as there are in Shanghai!

And the potential of a population of hundreds of millions is far from being realized! With a population of hundreds of millions, how many people do we have in France, the most populous country in Europe? It’s less than 20 million, right? What would it be like if France had 100 million people?

!”

The heart of France Caballero, a country with a population of 100 million, is throbbing!

In the 17th century, most European countries faced the problem of slow population growth, with the exception of the Netherlands, England and Spain.

The population of the Netherlands and England increased significantly, while the opposite happened in Spain, where the population dropped from more than 6 million to more than 5.2 million!

Of course, this refers to the population of the Kingdom of Spain (mainland), and does not include the population of the various colonies. Counting the colonial population, there are still more than 10 million. But among the tens of thousands of colonial populations, it can be said that for the Spanish world empire

There wasn't much fighting.

However, Spain, which is a large country, only has a population of over 5.2 million, which is indeed a problem! There are 178 million people in France next door!

Let alone 100 million, even if there are less than 20 million French people, it is enough to give Spain a headache. If there are really 100 million, all of Europe will have to speak French!

"There are 130 million Chinese people!" Van Diemen shook his head repeatedly. "There is not enough food! If there are 100 million French people who cannot eat bread, what will happen to us in the Netherlands and you in Spain?"

Waiting to be wiped out! Caballero thought to himself: What else can be done? 178 million French people are already difficult to fight, but if there are 100 million, Spain and the Netherlands can still be there?

“The French still believe in God!” Van Diemen said, “The 100 million Chinese here don’t even believe in God!

They have now learned to make various types of bronze cannons, Spanish-style light and heavy muskets, Dutch-style Galenic gunboats, and plate armor with very good defense. Justice, what do you think they will do?"

"Mr. Ambassador," Caballero frowned and said thoughtfully, "Do you mean that we Europeans in Asia should unite to prevent the expansion of the Ming Empire?"

"No, no, no" Van Diemen shook his head repeatedly, "The Habsburg dynasty is the leader of the Western world, and we Dutch are just sea coachmen."

What? Now we know that the Habsburg dynasty is the leader? Caballero thought to himself, what have you been doing?

"Mr. Ambassador," Caballero shook his head and said, "I think you know very well what the Spanish Empire looks like now. The wars in Germany and the war in the Netherlands have exhausted the empire's strength.

It is impossible for us to organize a huge expeditionary force to deal with the Ming Empire!"

The Eighty Years' War plus the Thirty Years' War, plus wars with the Portuguese or others, had already overwhelmed the Spanish Empire.

The silver flowing in from the Americas was not even enough to pay the interest on the debts owed for these wars.

Caballero added: "And the current Ming Empire is much more powerful than the Ming Empire that His Majesty Philip II wanted to conquer!"

Philip II was the second king of the Habsburg dynasty of Spain. He was basically a war maniac and a religious maniac. He fought all his life and destroyed all the little wealth of the Spanish colonial empire! After his death

At that time, he left a huge debt of 100 million gold coins to his son Philip III. The interest payment alone would cost two-thirds of the country's fiscal revenue.

Before the Armada, which cost Spain 10 million gold coins, was defeated by the English pirate navy, Philip II wanted to organize an expeditionary force of 20,000 people to conquer the Ming Dynasty. This expedition had not even started yet because of the disastrous defeat of the Armada.

And it was all in vain.

Van Diemen certainly knew that the current Spanish Empire was empty, and he did not expect to provoke a war between the Spanish Empire and the Ming Empire by fanning the flames on his own.

"Your Excellency," Van Diemen shook his head and said, "I think you have misunderstood me. I want you to understand that there are tens of millions of Chinese people who need enough food to satisfy their hunger. And food can only

Originating from the fertile land! Their expansion to the south was in search of food.

But how much land is there in the south? Chenla and Siam are just that! It doesn’t solve the problem at all. You have to know that 100 million Chinese will continue to multiply their descendants! Maybe in a few decades, their population will

There will be more than 300 million!

By then, what they need will be boundless fertile plains, and we Dutch don’t have the plains they want!”

Caballero suddenly realized, "New World!"

There is no United States yet, Britain and France do not have much territory in the New World, and the great plains in the middle of the United States are still empty.

New Spain was the largest in North America, not only occupying later places such as Mexico and Florida, but also occupying most of the west coast of the United States!

If the Ming Empire wanted to cross the Pacific to find land suitable for reclamation, it would inevitably conflict with New Spain. Therefore, the conflict between the Spanish Empire and the Ming Empire is inevitable!

"Yes," Van Diemen said, "The conflict between the Spanish World Empire and the Ming Empire will be inevitable. As a believer in God and a European, I sincerely hope that the Spanish Empire can become the leader of this battle to defend the interests of God and Europeans.

The winner of the struggle!

May God bless Spain, Amen!”

At the same time, Emperor Zhu, who was far away in Nanjing and was worried about the opening of Jing Haijun and Jin Ou Army, also received a 600-mile urgent message from Grand Duke Luo and learned about the visit of the Spanish envoy.

Although the Spanish Empire is on its deathbed, it is still the leader of European colonialism!

Moreover, this country is different from the Netherlands, which is a country of carier merchants. Although there is a certain conflict of interest with the Ming Dynasty, merchants who can cooperate in the general direction have to settle economic accounts, and they will not borrow money.

A loan shark with 100 million gold coins is fighting a war destined to lose money with the Ming Empire!

But Spain is different. Ever since they got the gold and silver in the Americas, they no longer live a careful life. They don't care about money at all when fighting wars, so much so that the country has been bankrupted several times!

The most troublesome thing for Emperor Zhu was that although the Spanish Empire was no longer the overlord of the sea, they still controlled the sea power in the Pacific. Because New Spain was not open to the outside world, other European countries could not find any economic benefits in the Pacific.

, and was not very interested. Therefore, a weakened Spain still controlled the Pacific and was determined to squeeze out any competitors.

Therefore, Japan's request to trade with New Spain was flatly rejected by the Spanish, and the Ming Dynasty's Pacific trade negotiations to the Spanish Governor's Office of the Philippines have never received a reply. Until now, the Ming Dynasty has just destroyed the Champa State, and the Spanish envoys

So I came to Shanghai.
Chapter completed!