Mexico City, Grand Palace.
It was originally the royal palace of the Aztecs, but was later occupied by the Spanish. After it was razed to the ground, the Governor's Palace of New Spain was built on its foundation. Later, the Governor's Palace of New Spain was converted into the royal palace of the Kingdom of New Spain.
Although it is a royal palace expanded on the basis of a colonial governor's palace, the Grand Palace of Mexico City far exceeds the Royal Palace of Madrid in terms of area and architectural luxury.
The current royal palace of the Kingdom of New Spain and Mexico City, where the royal palace is located, have a bit of a big power atmosphere. Madrid, the capital of the mother country of Spain, and the royal palace of Madrid cannot compare with it - the wealth that New Spain already possesses is already huge. Much more than in mainland Spain!
In the era of Philip IV, New Spain was in a state of "semi-out of control" for a long time because the king's intelligence was insufficient and his "hands" were not that long. A large amount of wealth was illegally possessed by the local nobles and high-ranking clergy sent by the Holy See.
According to Don Juan Jose's later investigation, New Spain lost about 90% of its revenue from tariffs alone... Nine of the ten merchant ships bound for New Spain turned out to be smuggling ships.
As for the officials who managed the gold and silver mines across New Spain, how much gold and silver did they put in their pockets? There are also those extremely wealthy manors. Only God can really figure out how much tax they have evaded!
However, since Don Juan Jose became the regent of the Kingdom of New Spain, the situation has gradually improved, and the financial revenue of the Kingdom of New Spain has been getting higher and higher. After 1670, compared with before Don Juan Jose took office, An increase of five to six times. Moreover, the Catholic population of the Kingdom of New Spain also increased significantly.
If we only look at population, tax revenue, number of troops, and actual territory controlled, the current Kingdom of New Spain is definitely the most powerful country in the Americas, and its strength is even greater than that of Spain itself.
But the United States of New America, established by Chinese immigrants in the north of New Spain and occupying most of the coastline on the west coast of North America, has always been a worry for Don Emperor Jose.
There are too many Chinese...they are constantly coming across the Pacific, making the population of the United States of New Zealand more and more every year, and the increase is alarming.
According to data released by the United States Government of New Zealand itself, the country's "national" population has almost exceeded 1 million!
Moreover, due to the continuous increase in the number of Han (East Asian) women, the birth rate in the United States of New Zealand is also rising.
If New Spain allows this situation to develop, in a few decades at most, the United States of New Zealand will be able to rely on its "womb" and immigrants to win without a fight.
It is for this reason that Don Juan Jose regards the United States of New Zealand as a thorn in his side and a thorn in his flesh. For so many years, they have not given up the idea of completely wiping out the United States of New Continent, or at least defeating it.
New Spain became increasingly powerful under his governance, giving him the confidence to fight again. The intervention of French King Louis XIV gave Don Juan Jose hope of victory...
But after all, his hope was too good and too difficult to realize.
In the conference room of the Grand Palace in Mexico City, the seats were full of high-ranking officials from the Kingdom of New Spain and senior generals sent by France and the Netherlands. They all sat in awe, and everyone looked at a briefing on the conference table in a daze.
Don Juan Jose, on the other hand, turned his back to them, looking at the huge map hanging, motionless.
Outside the window, there was the Palace Square, the sun was shining brightly, and the sky was cloudless. The sun shines into the conference room, but in this low-level atmosphere, it becomes gloomy.
That briefing was an urgent notification sent by the landing fleet of the New Spanish Navy, which had fled back to the port of Acapulco, to the Prince Regent in Mexico City. The report reported that the combined fleets of France, the Netherlands, and Spain were ambushed by the combined fleets of the Ming Dynasty and the United States during the raid on Kinmen Bay. Except for a small number of mortar ships that escaped because they did not enter the port, all the other ships had There is no return.
Excluding the arson ships, the Three Kingdoms Combined Fleet lost at least 67 warships of various types in the battle... The number of officers and soldiers lost exceeded 8,000!
This is not the most terrifying thing. The most terrifying thing is that the scale of the Ming-Xin combined fleet in Kinmen Bay is unimaginable, probably reaching 150 warships of various types!
This is really terrible, and it also means that France, the Netherlands and Portugal's strategy of luring enemies in the Indian Ocean is completely bankrupt... The Ming Empire's development focus has always been the Americas! To be more precise, it is the Kingdom of New Spain - you don't need so many warships to attack New France!
The Chinese must want to go all the way south along the western coast of America and fight their way to South America...
Now the combined fleet of the three countries has been destroyed. On the Pacific coast, there is only one battleship left belonging to France, the Netherlands, and Spain (New Spain) (that one was repaired in the port of Acapulco due to an accident. battleships), after losing control of the sea, what could New Spain do to defend such a long coastline?
Don Juan Jose kept his hands behind his back and said nothing, and the air pressure in the conference room became lower and lower. The knight Francois II de Créquy, who was born into the famous French Créquy family and was granted the title of Marquis of Marina, sat there, feeling an atmosphere of impending disaster and doomsday.
The Marquis, who is less than 50 years old and at the peak of his military career, does not think that the situation is so serious.
In his opinion, the naval defeat did not completely reverse the balance of strength and weakness on the battlefield in the New World...the advantage still belonged to France and its allies.
What France and its allies have lost now is just the opportunity to eliminate the United States of New World - there is no doubt that this country will exist on the west coast of the New World in North America for a long time!
But under the current circumstances, the living space that the United States of New Zealand can effectively utilize is the west coast area.
Going south or east is not an easy task.
If they wanted to go south, they would have to attack fortresses one after another that the Kingdom of New Spain had painstakingly built, and endure losses caused by various tropical diseases.
If they move eastward, the Great Suzu Alliance in the Pacific will already be determined to be on the side of France - this should be the greatest success the French Kingdom has achieved in North America.
With the support of this group of North American natives, France and New Spain could attack the United States of New America in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.
This is actually a huge and very critical advantage. With the support of the Soviet Union, the Franco-Spanish coalition forces that penetrate deep into the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains don't have to worry about food shortages as long as the numbers are not too outrageous.
"Your Highness the Regent," Marquis Marina finally couldn't help but speak, "Failure at sea does not mean the loss of all initiative... On land, mainly in the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, we still have advantages. !
Because the Great Soviet Union is still on our side! With their support we could launch an attack east of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. The enemy can only be helpless and passively beaten! "
Of course, Marquis Marina's words made sense, but Don Juan Jose still couldn't feel reassured.
"But Marquis," he asked, "can you tell me, why did the Ming Dynasty and the United States of New Zealand send their troops to the Great Plains to be beaten? Now that they have the advantage at sea, why do they want to risk marching eastward on the mainland? ?”
"Because of gold!" Marquis Marina said with a smile: "Your Highness, Prince Regent, what do you think of the reason why we discovered a large gold mine at the eastern foot of the Rocky Mountains?"
Don Juan Jose nodded, "That's a good reason... Is there really a gold mine there?"
"I don't know," Marquis Marina just shrugged, "Just make up a lie to deceive them... As long as they can march eastward, our advantages will be fully utilized, and victory will definitely belong to us!"
