In Toledo, Spain, in a luxurious palace decorated with a large number of oriental colors, Spanish King Fernando II and Isabella I are discussing national affairs.
"The English pirates do not seem to intend to fulfill the signed challenge agreement. This year's war indemnity has been refused to be paid, and Henry VII has been threatening to take back the ceded land and continues to recruit troops."
Isabella I said worriedly that she finally won the war last year, but before she had even tasted the cake of victory, the English pirates planned to tear up the treaty.
"Have they paid the Ming Empire's war reparations?"
Fernando thought for a while and asked.
"It is said that all payments have been completed."
Isabel I replied.
"Hmph~"
"These English pirates seem to be more afraid of the Ming Empire than us. I think it is necessary to let them know how powerful our Spanish matadors are."
When Fernando heard this, he immediately became even more angry.
Who are you looking down on? The Ming Empire has paid all its war reparations, but it still owes Spain its war reparations. This difference in treatment is too obvious.
"I think so too~"
"However, England and France have a very good relationship. The two countries have become very close recently, and our alliance agreement with Ming Dynasty has expired, and Ming Dynasty has never agreed to renew the agreement with us."
"The English must have known this, so they dared to treat us so differently."
Isabella I nodded and said, "Perhaps we can form an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire."
"This is a good idea. I think Maximilian should be very happy with it. Recently, they seem to be facing huge pressure from the Ottoman Empire and are in urgent need of allies."
After pondering for a while, Fernando also expressed his agreement.
Because the Ottoman Empire was severely repaired by the Ming Empire, it not only lost its huge territory in the South Caucasus, but also had to bear huge war reparations.
In order to shift its own burden, the Ottoman Empire has continued to use foreign troops during this period. On the one hand, it aggressively attacked the Persian Empire, and on the other hand, it mobilized a large number of troops to fight in the war in Eastern Europe.
The European knights were being beaten back steadily, and Hungary was almost unable to support it, and had to ask for help from the Holy Roman Empire. However, even with the support of the Holy Roman Empire, it still could not withstand the advance of the Ottoman Empire's army.
.
The Ottoman Empire learned many very useful tactics from the Ming Empire's army, and the European knights were unable to find the southeast, northwest, and northwest.
"Then it's settled~"
Isabella I agreed.
"Hmm~"
Fernando also nodded.
Thinking about it also shows how powerful and terrifying the Ming Empire was. Losing such an important ally would make life difficult for Spain. Especially if it wants to continue to maintain its position as the number one brother in Europe, it will need to face more challenges.
.
The French in the north are larger than Spain in terms of land area and population, and even more so in terms of military strength. They have always been known as the strongest army in Europe.
The French opposed the Spanish everywhere, from the battle for Naples in Italy to the battle for Corsica and Sicily, the conflict between the French and the matadors was very great.
There is also the Portuguese in the southwest. Although they were dealt with once last year, the Portuguese have never surrendered to Spain. Without the deterrence of the Ming Empire, the Portuguese began to rapidly develop their own maritime power.
There is also the Ottoman Empire on the southern coast of the Mediterranean. Because it participated in the war between the Ming Empire and the Ottoman Empire, it dealt a heavy blow to the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire has always held a grudge, and now it continues to support pirates from all over the country to loot and plunder Spanish ships. The Mediterranean
Ports, villages, etc. along the coast.
These are all challenging Spain's status and hegemony, but Spain does not have the same powerful and terrifying strength as the Ming Empire, which is powerful enough to beat anyone who doesn't like it.
Spain does not have this strength, far from it.
Whether it is territory or population, or military strength, economic strength, etc., Spain is far behind, so Spain needs allies.
"Your Majesty, something happened~"
Just when the two of them were worried about their allies, a minister hurried over and said.
"What happened?"
Fernando asked quickly.
"The ship that just returned from America brought news that the Ming Empire is attacking our European missionaries here in Golden Continent. Here in Penglai City, because of this matter, we have hundreds of merchants, sailors and Ming Empire officials in Spain.
There was a conflict here, causing some casualties."
"Then the Ming Empire directly dispatched its troops and arrested those merchants and sailors. The Ming Empire directly executed more than 400 people without the consent of our Kingdom of Spain."
Baria quickly told the story of what happened.
"What?"
"Directly executed more than 400 of our merchants and sailors?"
When Fernando and Isabella heard this, they couldn't help but stand up.
"Yes, they were all executed right here in Penglai City. It is said that the blood stained the water of Penglai Port red."
Baria nodded solemnly and said.
"The Ming Empire is too domineering~"
"Because of such a trivial matter, more than four hundred of us were executed directly without even informing us."
Fernando said very angrily: "We in Spain have always respected the Ming Empire very much, but they actually treat our people like this."
"Why did the Ming Empire arrest missionaries?"
The attentive Isabella asked.
"I heard that it was because the Emperor of the Ming Empire issued a decree strictly prohibiting foreign missionaries from preaching in the Ming Empire. We have many missionaries going to America to preach. The reason this time is because of this matter."
Baria said.
"A strict ban on foreign missionaries?"
"As far as I know, most people in the Ming Empire are not religious. Why would you issue such an order?"
Isabella thought for a while and became thoughtful.
"Judging from the current situation, it is said that the mission sent by the Holy See to the Ming Dynasty threatened and cursed the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, so that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was furious. I heard that he killed more than a hundred people from the Holy See.
.”
"People from the Holy See also killed more than a hundred people?"
"Yes~"
"Aren't they afraid of offending us all in Europe?"
"You shouldn't be afraid~"
"..."
Fernando was speechless for a moment. Thinking about it carefully, would the Ming Empire be afraid of the whole of Europe?
It seems that there is nothing to be afraid of at all.
The Ming Empire had an extremely powerful military, a vast territory, a large population, and huge wealth. Even the whole of Europe combined was not as powerful as the Ming Empire.
"We can't just let this matter go~"
"We must express our Spanish Empire's dissatisfaction to the Ming Empire."
But it's obviously not okay to not show any signs of being bullied.
Fernando walked around, thought for a while and then said: "The Holy See will definitely not let it go. It is estimated that it will definitely start with the Ming Empire's Mediterranean colonies or the colonies on the British Isles."
"We don't need to do anything, we just need to wait quietly. Then the Ming Empire will know the importance of having an ally in Europe."
After hearing this, Isabella nodded in agreement.
It is obviously impossible to start a war with the Ming Empire because of this matter.
Spain is not strong enough to challenge the Ming Empire, not to mention that they are too aware of the power of the Ming Empire. It is too late to hug the Ming Empire, so naturally it is impossible to start a war with the Ming Empire.
But he must also express his dissatisfaction to Daming.
They killed more than 400 Spaniards without any notification. This incident will definitely cause waves in Spain, which makes it difficult for them to do it.
"The Ming Empire is too powerful!"
"The order goes down. Merchant ships heading to the Ming Empire must strictly abide by the laws of the Ming Empire. Otherwise, they will be killed by the Ming Empire. We will not make any remarks."
With a helpless sigh, Fernando ordered again.
Even people from the Holy See of Rome were killed without fail, and they didn't care about you at all. Spain, as powerful as the Ottoman Empire, was beaten to submission by the Ming Empire and had to cede territory and pay compensation.
Such a powerful strength is really enviable and jealous.
"If only we in Spain had such strong strength, then we could not only unify the Iberian Peninsula, but also the entire Europe."
Fernando's ambitions are also very big, especially as Spain's national power is growing and becoming stronger and stronger. Last year, it won the war against three, which greatly stimulated the Spanish ambitions.
In the past, he just wanted to dominate Europe, but now he still wants to unify Europe, which shows his ambition.
"Unifying Europe is too far away~"
"Let's annex Portugal first~"
"While Portugal's strength has not yet recovered and England has no time to worry about it, we should launch a war as soon as possible to completely annex Portugal."
"As long as we can annex Portugal, our strength will greatly increase."
"The most important reason why the Ming Empire was powerful was because they implemented a unified imperial system, with a vast territory and a large population."
"Hmm~"
"The annexation of Portugal is very important, but the colonies in Africa must also be occupied at a faster pace. The colonial strongholds on the southern coast of the Mediterranean and the West African coastline must be occupied at a faster pace."
"The Ming Empire has occupied almost the entire coastal area of East Africa and has a tendency to expand to West Africa. If these places fall into the hands of the Ming Dynasty, it will be difficult for us to seize them again."
"In fact, we should not have recognized the Ming Empire's ownership of America in the first place. It is such a pity that we can't get involved in such a vast place now!"