Shanghai, Huaihai Long Street, Wujia Garden, inside the study.
"Your Excellency, the place where we are, including Mr. Udia's property, includes 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... What about your Manila? It’s been almost 70 years, how many houses have been built? Now? Isn't the level of prosperity in Shanghai much worse than that in Shanghai?
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 workshop!
There may not be as many craftsmen and construction workers in the entire Netherlands as there are in Shanghai!
Moreover...the potential of hundreds of millions of people 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? Less than 20 million, right? What would it be like if there were 100 million people in France? "
France, a country with a population of 100 million... Caballero's heart was twitching!
In the 17th century, most European countries faced slow population growth, with the exception of the Netherlands, England, and Spain.
The populations 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 each colony. Counting the colonial population, there are still over 10 million. But among the thousands of colonial people, not many could fight for the Spanish world empire.
But Spain, which is a large country, has a population of just over 5.2 million... This is indeed a problem! There are 17 to 8 million people in France next door!
Not to mention 100 million, even if there are less than 20 million French people, it is enough to give Spain a headache. If there were really 100 million, all Europe would 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 Spain?"
Waiting to be eliminated! Caballero thought to himself: What else can be done? It’s already hard to beat the French with 17 to 8 million people. How can Spain and the Netherlands survive with 100 million?
“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 build various models of bronze cannons, Spanish-style light and heavy muskets, Dutch-style Galenic gunboats, and plate armor with considerable defensive capabilities. Justice, what do you think they will do? "
"Mr. Ambassador," Caballero frowned and said thoughtfully, "Do you mean... 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 know that the Habsburgs were the leaders? 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 is like now...The wars in Germany and the wars in the Netherlands have already consumed a lot of money. We have exhausted the power of the empire. 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 Spanish Habsburg dynasty. He was basically a war maniac and a religious maniac. He has been fighting all his life, destroying all the wealth of the Spanish colonial empire! When he died, he left a huge debt of 100 million gold coins to his son Philip III. The interest payment alone required 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 expedition of 20,000 people to conquer the Ming Dynasty... This expedition had not yet begun. It was ruined because of the disastrous defeat of the Armada.
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. Food. And food can only come from fertile land! Their expansion to the south is to find food.
But how much land is there in the south? Chenla, Siam...that's all! It won't solve the problem at all. You have to know that tens of millions of Chinese people will continue to reproduce! Maybe in a few decades, their population will exceed 300 million!
By then, what they need will be boundless fertile plains...and we Dutch do not have the plains they want in our hands! "
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 The victor in the struggle to defend the interests of God and Europeans!
May God bless Spain, Amen! "
...
At the same time, Emperor Zhu, who was far away in Nanjing and was worried about the opening of the Jinghai Army and the Jinou Army, also received a 600-mile rush 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!
And this country is different from the Netherlands, a sea coachman country. The Netherlands is a country of cautious merchants. Although there is a certain conflict of interest with the Ming Dynasty, they can still cooperate in the general direction - businessmen have to settle economic accounts, and they will not borrow a loan shark of 100 million gold coins to fight a war with the Ming Empire that is destined to lose money. !
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!
What troubled Emperor Zhu the most 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 public, other European countries could not find anything in the Pacific. Economic interests are not of much interest. So a weakened Spain still controlled the Pacific and was determined to squeeze out any rivals.
Therefore, Japan's request to trade with New Spain was flatly rejected by the Spaniards, and Ming's request for Pacific trade negotiations to the Spanish and Philippine Governor's Office has never received a reply, until now... Ming had just destroyed the occupying City-state, Spanish envoys came to Shanghai.
This is a bad sign!
