“That’s right, it’s unrealistic. Hasn’t Spain been living in an unrealistic dream for decades?”

Admiral Garcia de Toledo-Mendoza muttered, closed the "Far East Situation Report", then stood up and adjusted his military uniform. He was from a well-known family, received a good education, and had good looks.

He is very elegant, and you can tell at a glance that he is a Spanish aristocrat who is knowledgeable and sober-minded.

Unfortunately, his clear mind and profound knowledge were of little use to the declining empire. The only thing he could do was to command an increasingly smaller fleet and maintain the last dignity of the Spanish Armada on the boundless ocean.

This time, five Galenic warships, including the New Spain, were dispatched to sail to the east, and the Eastern Fleet was established to unify the command of Spain's maritime power in the Far East. In the García de Toledo-Mendoza Navy

From the Admiral's point of view, this is somewhat unrealistic.

Although Philip IV knew that the Ming Dynasty's land power was very powerful and could not be defeated by the Spaniards from afar, he still fantasized about using about thirty Galenic ships to form an Eastern Fleet to give the Ming Dynasty's naval power a devastating blow.

Strike!

The King of Spain believes that after completely destroying the maritime power of the Ming Dynasty, Spain's Eastern Fleet will be able to transport an expeditionary force with Spanish soldiers as the core and Japanese, Manchurian, and Mongolian mercenaries as the main force, to any point along the Ming Dynasty's long coastline.

Login.

No matter how powerful the Ming army was, it was impossible to defend such a long coastline tightly. Therefore, the Spanish expeditionary force could definitely cause heavy losses to the Ming Empire and force the Ming Emperor to sign a peace treaty tailor-made by the Spanish Empire for the Ming Dynasty.

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At first glance, this plan seems to be quite good, just like the various combat plans formulated by the Kingdom of Spain in Europe. If it can be realized, the entire Europe will probably be unified by the Habsburg Dynasty!

But what about actually?

In fact, the plans formulated by Spain always require more power than Spain has, so Spain's national power has been in a state of overdraft in the past few decades.

Under this situation, Spain has no strategic reserve force, and is facing extremely tight military and financial resources on all fronts.

Once the plan cannot be realized, Spain will fall into various crises! In order to pull itself out of the crisis, Spain must formulate a new battle plan that is difficult to realize.

This expedition to the East also continued this bad tradition because the rise of the Ming Empire, the country's excessive population, and its rapidly expanding maritime power all threatened the Spanish colonial empire's absolute dominance over the west coast of America. And the empire did not.

We have enough strength to deploy defenses, so we have to adopt a proactive offensive strategy and send a fleet to the Far East!

And the fleet sent to the Far East is not strong enough, at least on paper, it is far inferior to the Ming Dynasty's navy. This insufficient Far East fleet has to complete a battle plan that is difficult to realize!

Admiral Garcia had already tidied up his military uniform and went to open the cabin door for Captain Barbosa himself. A rough face reddened by the sun immediately appeared in front of him. This was the face of Captain Barbosa.

This is a disgustingly ugly face, and it looks a bit dirty, as if it has not been washed for a long time. It does not look like a nobleman from the Kingdom of Spain. In fact, he is not a Spaniard, look at his blond hair.

Just know that he is a descendant of the German knights who came to Spain with the Habsburg family.

However, this dirty Germanic man was also a very good naval officer. Not only did he perform well in the Caribbean, but he also served in the Philippines earlier and was very familiar with the situation in the East.

This is why Admiral Garcia transferred Colonel Barbosa to the New Spain as captain.

"Okay!" Admiral Garcia nodded, "Let's go take a look. This is my first time in the Philippines! By the way, we won't be discovered by Chinese merchant ships, right?"

"No." Barbosa shook his head and said with certainty, "They don't have any merchant ships in the Philippine Islands and the sea east of the islands. In fact, what they need to worry about is the Sulu ships."

"Sulu people?"

"They are vassals of China. Considering that China is rushing towards the sea, the Sulu people are likely to establish a close vassal relationship with China. However, I have already considered this issue. Our route will avoid Suzhou as much as possible.

An area where Lu people’s merchant ships frequently move.”

"What about Manila? There are many Chinese there, right? Are there spies among them? I think the Chinese emperor will keep a close eye on Manila."

"Long gone!" Barbosa said. "Ever since the Chinese opened up the two overseas territories of Ca Mau and Tranquility, and turned Annan and Siam into close vassal states, the Chinese in Manila have left in large numbers to go to

They have made a living in their own place. Now there are no Chinese there and it is very depressed."

In fact, the Chinese in Manila left not only because of the development of Ca Mau and Tinghai and the "return" of Siam and Annam, but also because of the opening up of the Ming Dynasty.

After the Ming Dynasty opened up, trade between China and the West no longer required re-export. Western merchants could enter China directly, and Chinese merchants could also go to Malacca and Batavia for trade, so Manila was not a strategically located trade transit hub.

If it stops, it will inevitably weaken.

However, a depressed Manila is more suitable as the home port of the Spanish Eastern Fleet!

Because it is difficult for spies of the Ming Empire to enter there, and the harbor of Manila and nearby waterways are no longer prosperous, it is also difficult for the spy ships of the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang Fleet to operate in that area.

"That's good!" Garcia said, "Let's go to Manila to rest for a few months, and wait until all the armed merchant ships of the Philippine Fleet and Pacific Trading Company have arrived before we attack!"

"Admiral, where are we going to attack?"

Garcia said: "They can always find a place. With such a long coastline, there must be a weakness!

In addition, I still need to meet with Ambassador Caballero and listen to his opinions before I can make a decision!"

Caballero did not yet know that five powerful Spanish Galenic warships had arrived in the Philippines.

He also didn't know that the Henan had entered the American Gulf, and began to look for the establishment of Peanutton, Ming's first colonial stronghold in the New World, in the deepest part of the American Gulf. The location of this stronghold was approximately the city of Olympia, Washington State, and the location was very secret.

, and the climate is not cold. It is surrounded by large areas of dense woodland and plains. There is also a river that can be used for navigation and irrigating fields flowing south. I don’t know where it goes.

Caballero was in Edo at this time, and lived in the Sendai Domain. The first feudal lord of the Sendai Domain, Date Masamune, was once responsible for the mission to New Spain. His retainer Hasakura Tsunenaga was ordered to imitate a Galenic ship and sail on it.

This sailing ship went to New Spain (the sailing ship was later forcibly purchased by the New Spanish authorities), and he himself went to Europe on a sailing ship provided by the Spanish in the name of "King Mutsu Date Masamune's retainer", and also paid an audience

King Philip III of Spain and the Pope of Rome.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Spanish, the Sendai Domain should be a domain that was relatively close to both Catholicism and Spain. The Tokugawa Shogunate obviously also understood the Spanish views, so it specially arranged for the Sendai Domain to be responsible for negotiations with the Spanish.

In other words, it was not the shogunate who came to receive Caballero, but Date Tadamune, the lord of the Sendai domain.
Chapter completed!