"It's okay to be 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 noble family and received a good education. He also looks very elegant, and you can tell at a glance that he is a Spanish nobleman who is knowledgeable and sober-minded.
Unfortunately, his clear mind and profound knowledge were of little use to the declining empire. The only thing that can be done is 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, it 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 for the Ming Dynasty by the Spanish Empire. signature......
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 in reality?
In fact, the plans formulated by Spain always require more power than Spain has... Therefore, 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 achieve.
And 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 of the west coast of the Americas. And the empire did not have enough strength to deploy defenses, so it had 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... And this Far East fleet, which is not strong enough, has to complete a battle plan that is difficult to realize!
Admiral Garcia had already packed his uniform and went to open the hatch for Colonel Barbosa himself. A rough face reddened by the sun immediately appeared in front of him. It was the face of Captain Barbossa.
This was a disgustingly ugly face, and it looked a little dirty, as if it hadn't been washed for a long time. It really didn't look like a nobleman from the Kingdom of Spain. In fact, he is not a Spaniard. You can tell by his blond hair 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, 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 many merchant ships in the Philippine Islands and the sea east of the islands...In fact, what they need to worry about is the Sulu people's ships."
"Sulu people?"
"They are vassals of China... Considering that China is rushing towards the sea, it is very likely that the Sulu people will establish a close vassal relationship with China. But I have already considered this issue. Our route We will try our best to avoid areas where Sulu 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 Tinghai, and turned Annan and Siam into close vassals, the Chinese in Manila have left in large numbers and gone 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 opening up of the Ming Dynasty, 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. Therefore, Manila is not a strategically located trade transit place. 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: "You can always find a place... They have such a long coastline, there must be weaknesses!
In addition, I need to meet with Ambassador Caballero and get his opinion before I can make a decision! "
...
Caballero did not yet know that five powerful Spanish Galenic warships had arrived in the Philippines.
He also did not know that the Henan had entered the Gulf of America, and began to look for the establishment of Peanutton, the first colonial stronghold of the Ming Dynasty in the New World, in the deepest part of the Gulf of America. The location of this stronghold was approximately the city of Olympia, Washington State in later years. It is very private, and the climate is not cold. It is surrounded by large areas of dense woodland and plains, and a river that can be used for navigation and irrigating fields flows southward. I don’t know where it goes...
Caballero was in Edo at this time, living in the Sendai Domain's residence - the first 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 to New Spain on this sailing ship (the sailing ship was later forcibly purchased by the New Spanish authorities), and he himself named himself "King of Mutsu Date Masamune" In the name of "retainer", he went to Europe on a sailing ship provided by the Spanish, and also met with King Philip III of Spain and the Pope of Rome.
Therefore, in the eyes of the Spaniards, Sendai Domain should be a domain that is relatively close to both Catholicism and Spain. The Tokugawa shogunate obviously also understood the views of the Spanish, so it specially arranged for the Sendai clan 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.
Although Date Tadamune was not a Catholic, as Caballero thought, he did show a good impression of Catholicism and Spain, and he also had an important minister named Hasakura beside him, who was said to be Hasakura Tsunaga's son in Japan. ...
