In the 19th year of Chongzhen, on June 22, 1646 AD, a fleet of unprecedented scale crossed the Indian Ocean, passed through the Sunda Strait, and appeared in Manila Bay with great force.
The Zheng warships patrolling the sea received the order and immediately gave up their defenses, bypassed the northern part of Luzon Island, and withdrew to the southern archipelago waters to conduct guerrilla warfare to contain the enemy fleet.
This extremely large fleet consisted of 1,172 Spanish armed merchant ships and 566 British armed merchant ships.
The former also carried 50,000 Spanish Army soldiers. The purpose was not to recover the Philippine territories taken away by the Ming Empire, but...
In the summer of the previous year, as the Spanish Netherlands was invaded by as many as 100,000 French troops, the local Spanish defenders could only adopt a huddled defense strategy.
Philip IV wanted to help this overseas enclave, but his main fleet was severely damaged in the Battle of Downs, and the French fleet teamed up with the Dutch to implement a naval blockade of the Spanish Netherlands.
This means that it is impossible for reinforcements to reach the battlefield, and it is even more impossible to take the land route. What is separated between Spain and the Netherlands is the old enemy France!
After fighting Spain for so long, nothing has been gained. This is a result that Mazarin absolutely does not want to see.
Philip IV refused to send anyone to sign the Munich Peace Treaty, and even refused to recognize it, saying that it was just a piece of waste paper!
Mazarin realized that the king was still evil and unwilling to make any concessions or compromises.
He ordered Boudes to lead one hundred thousand elite French troops to attack the Spanish Netherlands and teach Philip IV a painful lesson!
The military commander of the Spanish Netherlands was still Marshal Francisco Melo. The previous losses of the Flemish army were mainly due to the new tactics and new weapons adopted by the French army.
Philip IV was also willing to give this direct general a chance to atone for his sins, so he sent an additional 50,000 troops to this enclave in an attempt to defend it against a possible surprise attack by the French army.
Sure enough, Mazarin did order the main force of the French army to march into the Netherlands later in the evening, in the name of compensating for the economic losses caused to France by the Spanish army.
Marshal Merlot, who had suffered heavy losses, no longer dared to fight the French army in the wild. The opponent's advanced weapons were absolutely beyond his control.
We can only strictly order the garrison troops from all over the country to defend the bastions and major cities, gradually delaying the French army's advance. On the other hand, we can ask the local players in the hope that His Majesty the King can send more reinforcements.
This tactic is not impossible. Back then, the natives of the Northern Netherlands, that is, the Netherlands, used this tactic to make the invincible Spanish phalanx frequently fall under the bastion.
If bastions and strongholds can be used to resist the French attack, and a higher battle loss ratio can be created, the enemy will be forced to abandon their established goals. This is Marshal Merlot's plan.
However, the tactics adopted by Budes were completely different from those used by the Spanish army to suppress the resistance of the Dutch. Mainland France borders the Spanish Netherlands.
This means that the French army can come and leave whenever they want, and no one can stop them.
More importantly, the French army can completely adopt the strategy of supporting war with war and persist from summer to autumn wheat harvest.
The wheat in the entire war zone was used as military rations, and the defenders were not allowed to get a single carriage of food.
Moreover, this operation was supported by the Dutch, who not only sent a fleet to cooperate with the naval blockade.
They also sent 20,000 troops, intending to recover the interest paid by the Spanish army for harming the Dutch mainland...
For Mazarin, sending troops to the Spanish Netherlands would be more economical than not sending troops at all!
What's the point?
Because if we don’t send troops, we will not only have to pay the soldiers, but also have to provide military rations.
After sending troops to the Spanish Netherlands, Mazarin only needed to pay the troops, and the military rations could be requisitioned from the war zone!
Budes had repeated victories against the Habsburg armies, and Mazarin was willing to continue to reuse this general and delegate power.
In the Spanish Netherlands, Boudess can fight however he wants. If any French combat unit dares to disobey Boudess's orders, the commander has the right to kill them first and then deal with them later.
Wasn't Philip IV unwilling to cede territory or pay compensation?
very good!
One hundred thousand French troops live in the Spanish Netherlands and will not leave. Every autumn harvest is packed up and taken away to see how long you can carry it!
Want to play in the wild?
Sorry, the main force of the French army has popularized tanks and mortars, and combined with 20,000 fully armed heavy cavalry, it can beat the Spanish defenders to vomit blood!
If the defenders dare to abandon the bastion and take the initiative to fight, they will be destroying themselves!
For another piece of fat - Catalonia, Mazarin adopted another tactic.
Let the French army completely withdraw from this area, leaving weapons and equipment to the Catalan natives.
After the French army retreated to the mainland, the armed Catalans could concentrate on dealing with the Spanish army.
The spot was like an ulcer on Philip IV's face, and Mazarin had no intention of letting it heal.
The south used Catalans to contain part of the Spanish army, while the north used to cut off its maritime supply lines.
This combination boxing tactic achieved very obvious results, and Mazarin was very happy about it.
But this trick was not thought up by the Prime Minister, but by an expert from the East...
The Spanish fleet could not defeat the Dutch fleet, let alone the French and Dutch fleet.
The Spanish Netherlands is bounded to the north by the Netherlands, to the south by France, to the west by the sea, and to the east by the Holy Roman Empire, which has withdrawn from the war.
Neither Maximilian I nor Ferdinand III had any interest in supporting their mentally retarded ally, having already foreseen the outcome.
Giving up here can save tens of thousands of troops from losing. If we continue to hold on, it will be asking for trouble.
He couldn't defeat the French army in the field, and he couldn't defeat the Netherlands at sea. So what did Philip IV use to resist the joint invasion of France and the Netherlands?
Not to mention that Mazarin also had an ally, Sweden, which could send 20,000 elites to join the war at any time.
The Spanish Netherlands, which has cut off hope of aid, has been reduced from an enclave to a large isolated island!
After being stubborn for a winter, Philip IV finally relented under the persuasion of his ministers.
A more tactful strategy was adopted, stating that the Spanish Netherlands could be temporarily leased to France for thirty years.
However, within five years from the signing of the contract, Spain has the right to redeem this place with 30 million silver coins, and France cannot refuse for any reason.
In exchange, the local Spanish garrison could bring weapons and all their families back to the mainland.
The purpose of this battle has been achieved, but Mazarin did not push further and signed the agreement happily.
He didn't know what Philip IV had planned, but it was impossible for France to spit out this piece of fat again.
Philip IV had become a poor man. How could he spend 30 million silver coins at once?
In the Europa region, the Spanish army has suffered repeated defeats, but that does not mean that this is still the case around the world.
Philip IV's plan was to withdraw the Dutch garrison and then launch an expedition!
There is only one goal, and that is the very wealthy Ming Empire in the east!
As long as the Ming Empire is defeated, it can be forced to compensate itself for 60 million silver coins.
Not only could he redeem the Spanish Netherlands, but he could also make a profit of 30 million.
More importantly, the fleet and the army could sail upstream and loot the Jiangnan area that was most favored by the Ming Empire.
Based on the calculation that one ship is worth 50,000 silver coins, the total value of the goods on a thousand ships can also reach 50 million!
In order to improve this plan and make it more feasible, Ferri IV also did enough homework.
After learning that the Tatars in the north of the Ming Empire had repeatedly invaded and were very successful, they planned to use them as temporary allies of the empire.
Let the Tatars send 200,000 troops to contain the main army of the Ming Empire, making it difficult to rush to the south of the Yangtze River.
This will give the imperial fleet and army enough time to sweep the target area. Perhaps it is not difficult to return with a full load.
The last goal is to use the captured prisoners to exchange for the Philippine Governor Coquilla and a group of subordinates.
The fleet began to gather gradually in the early summer of 1645 and officially set sail from the mainland in early October.
The plan is to pass through the Cape of Good Hope and supply supplies in eastern Africa and western India. It is expected to take seven to eight months to reach the sea areas controlled by the Ming Empire.
Considering that Spanish armed merchant ships were enough to deal with the weak Eastern warships, and that after the Battle of the Downs, it was difficult for Spanish naval warships to be replenished in time, Philip IV decided to recruit cheaper armed merchant ships.
Use thousands of armed merchant ships to raid the Ming Empire, and they can carry more loot than battleships.
It is perfect for them to carry out this sacred mission.
Moreover, Philip IV simply could not find enough sailors, so he could only use looting as bait to allow the owners of armed merchant ships to participate in this operation.
In this raid on the Ming Empire, the tactics were to fight first and rob first!
Whether it is silk, porcelain, tea, or various novel goods, they are all needed by the mainland and European countries.
As long as it can be loaded onto a ship and shipped back, it can be considered a huge profit.
In order to attract the shipowners to participate, Philip IV also promised that they could share half of all the spoils except compensation.
Due to the unprecedented scale of the fleet, it also carried an army of 50,000 people.
Therefore, in the opinion of the ship owners, the probability of success of this operation is extremely high.
In addition, the conditions offered by His Majesty the King were very generous, and I really had no reason to refuse.
If you can get a shipload of goods from the Ming Empire in the East without spending a single silver coin, why not give it a try?
Compared with the Armada of that year, the scale of this fleet was unprecedented. Philip IV called it the "Hegemonic Fleet"!
If there are ten ships in each row and the distance between every two rows is half a mile, then the length of this fleet can reach more than fifty miles!
How spectacular and terrifying!
Philip IV believed that no fleet in the world could compete with it.
The "Hegemonic Fleet" could certainly defeat the Dutch Navy, but the shipowners were not fools.
It's okay to let them fight the Akito who are not good at naval warfare. If they fight the Dutch, everyone will pretend they didn't hear...
Philip IV also knew that there was a former pirate leader named Zheng Yiguan in the Ming Empire, who relied on trade to control the eastern waters.
The fleet under his command exceeds a thousand ships, but there are only a few warships as big as Spanish galleons, and most of them are small broken ships smaller than Dutch speedboats.
Just because he was able to defeat the Dutch East India Company and seize Formosa did not mean that he could compete with the Spanish navy.
The Dutch East India Company did not focus its operations on Formosa, so it was not surprising that it lost to a former pirate leader.
That guy Drake was also a pirate before, and he made Spanish shipowners terrified.
But if it comes to a head-on confrontation with the Spanish Navy, this guy probably wouldn't dare.
If the wind direction had not been unfavorable to the attack of the Armada, the British would have wiped out even the so-called navy.
Philip IV did not believe that his luck this time was the same as that of his fathers, not to mention that he had organized a more powerful fleet this time, with firepower far exceeding that of the Armada.
The Ming Empire and the emperor of this empire must understand that the Spanish Empire is the most powerful empire in the world.
This is the real empire, all others are false empires.
The Ming Empire just had the suffix "imperial" in its name, that's all!
The commander of the Hegemonic Fleet was Admiral Antonio Oquendo, who also commanded the famous Battle of the Downs.
Oquendo wants to shed blood and shame, to atone for his own crimes, and at the same time to regain the capital to defeat France for His Majesty the King.
The fleet also carried Coquilla’s successor, the new Governor-General of the Philippines—Diego Chacon!
Both General Oquendo and Marshal Mero assured that they may not know how much loot can be captured, but the Philippines will definitely be able to recover it.
Spain would continue to control the Philippines and permanently control the islands in this area.
This is unquestionable and no one is allowed to question it!
France learned of this valuable intelligence through reports from the Basques, who also resisted Philip IV.
Regardless of whether it was true or not, Mazarin believed it was necessary to remind Eastern allies to be more vigilant.
Once the Ming Empire was raided by the Spanish fleet, the trade between France and the Ming Empire was bound to be interrupted.
Not only will France suffer huge economic losses, and the tens of thousands of prisoners of war squeezed into its hands will not be able to be replaced, but it will also affect the income of the Prime Minister's small treasury...
Three days later, Mazarin ordered a fleet to set off from Calais to the Ming Empire.
Since it can dock at the Dutch overseas possessions such as South Africa, southern India, and the East Indies for supplies, this small fleet should be able to reach the Ming Empire before the Spanish fleet.
In fact, Mazarin's task force arrived in Xiamen a month earlier than Philip IV's hegemonic fleet, and then headed north to Tianjin, allowing a certain new emperor to learn this key information.
Zheng Zhilong did not come with him, but organized a fleet in Xiamen to resist the invasion of the Spanish fleet. At the same time, he notified the Philippine defenders to quickly abandon Manila and withdraw deep into the dense forest to prepare for guerrilla warfare.
After occupying the entire Luzon Island, Zheng Zhilong only had two thousand garrison troops in Manila. The rest were used to suppress the indigenous people and let the local Ming people organize regiments to train and arm.
There are not many troops, and the quality is not good enough. If you want to fight the Spanish comeback, it is almost like courting death.
Since Manila's city defenses were close to the shore, it was impossible to hold on for a long time under the fierce bombardment of the Spanish fleet.
Abandoning Manila and retreating in order to advance is the best strategy.
Not only can it reduce casualties, but it can also wait for opportunities to delay the invading enemy troops and buy time for incoming reinforcements.
After learning the news, Manila guard Zheng Zhi'ao ordered the local Ming rich gentry to prepare to move away.
But these people were unwilling to follow orders and still had certain illusions about their former Spanish masters.
In desperation, Zheng Zhi'ao could only announce that anyone who resists the order to retreat, regardless of age or sex, will be regarded as a traitor to the enemy!
At this time, these "stubborn donkeys" were driven into the forest one after another, preventing their family property from being blasted into a pile of dust by artillery shells...
