Just after the Thirty Years' War, France began to suffer civil strife again. For the royal family, military expenditure is a big problem.
Portugal provided a large number of oriental specialties, which made French Prime Minister Cardinal Mazarin see business opportunities.
So, of course, he showed favor to Portugal and expressed his support for Portuguese independence.
If Spain dares to attack Portugal, France will definitely send troops to support it. After all, Spain dares to participate in France's internal affairs, so if you are in the first year of junior high school, don't blame France for being in the fifteenth year.
In addition, he purchased a large amount of oriental specialties from Portugal, and then sold them to the nobles in the country, and even sold them to other countries. He was equivalent to acting as a second-rate dealer and the Portuguese's bottom line.
Oriental specialties have always been a hot commodity in Europe. Whether it is silk, porcelain, etc., they are all loved by European aristocrats. If a noble family did not have any specialties from the East, it would be impossible to entertain guests.
As a result, the French royal family was rich, and it would be easier to fight the civil war.
On the Spanish side, I did not expect that joining forces with Prince Condé would still not be able to defeat France. This made King Philip IV of Spain very angry.
Originally, Philip IV's attention was all on France, and he had no time to take care of Portugal. But now he saw that Portugal and France had colluded together to greatly subsidize the finances of the French royal family, which made him angry and jealous at the same time.
Spain has always been a powerful country in Europe. Even if it has begun to decline at this time, it is still a powerful country. For Portugal to become independent is already tantamount to a slap in the face. Now I am still flirting with France, how can I bear it?
In addition, Spain has also been fighting a war for thirty years, and its finances are also tight. The huge profits from Oriental specialties made Philip IV even more excited. The combination of these reasons made Philip IV want to go to war with Portugal.
But his current focus is, of course, not to give up halfway and not to interfere in France's internal affairs. No matter what, he wanted to first put Prince Condé into a position of power in France, and then turn around and deal with Portugal to avoid a two-front war.
On this day, Philip IV was worried about lack of money again. Spain has actually gone bankrupt once before. If there is no more money, the war with France will not be able to continue.
So Philip IV urged his men: "When will the treasure ship from America come back? It's been so long this year, why hasn't it come back yet?"
The reason why Spain is a powerful country in Europe has a lot to do with its huge overseas colonies and its ability to continuously transport property back to Spain. It is also because of this that Spain's arrogance made all European countries dissatisfied. Almost all countries were at odds with Spain or even went to war.
Becoming the public enemy of Europe was also an important reason for Spain's final decline!
"Back to Your Majesty, I heard that the British sent many pirates to the Americas. Could it be because of them that the treasure ship came back late?" His finance minister guessed and replied.
Hearing this, Philip IV hated the British again. Then he cursed loudly: "That damn Cromwell, really think he is invincible, dare to challenge my bottom line?"
Britain is also in civil strife, but the rebellion is considered successful. Now in power is Cromwell, the invincible type. He has just defeated the entire Scotland and killed the royalists, including those who fled in Portugal.
In fact, Spain cannot control this situation and has no ability to control it. But now, Cromwell began to blatantly invade Spanish overseas colonies, which made Philip IV very angry.
But in the end, it was just anger. Pirates from various European countries have always aimed to rob Spanish treasure ships. This has happened countless times. What could Spain do? It even had to recognize the independence of the Netherlands, which also did the same thing.
Nowadays, Spain is very short of money, and it is very likely that the British pirates are responsible. Philip IV should be angry, and he would definitely be angry anyway.
After venting, he was helpless and could only say: "Let's discuss it and see if we can send warships to the Americas to increase the strength of the escort fleet and try to transport the property back as soon as possible!"
Knowing that the current situation of the kingdom was indeed in urgent need of money, the finance minister agreed and wanted to discuss it with the navy.
However, he had just left the palace when suddenly he ran into the palace as if being chased by a tiger, his face looking very ugly.
"What are you doing? How dignified are you, the dignified minister of finance of the empire?" Philip IV was in a bad mood. Seeing him like this, he immediately shouted unhappily.
"Your Majesty, something bad has happened!" The finance minister ignored his scolding and said to him in panic: "America is lost, gone..."
"What? This is impossible!" Philip IV was very shocked when he heard this, but he refused to admit it directly, "How did Cromwell, that country bumpkin, get to America? How many pirates did he send? Even if all the British guys went there Even if we can’t survive, we may not be able to conquer the entire American continent…”
Before the finance minister could finish listening, he had to interrupt him loudly: "Your Majesty, no, it's not the British. It was the Ming Empire in the East who sent troops to unite with the Portuguese to swallow up the entire America. Our Spanish fleet in the Americas is almost It’s all gone.”
"What?" When Philip IV heard this, he was immediately stunned.
He never expected that it would be such a situation.
He knew about the rise of the Ming Empire in the Far East and the destruction of the Spaniards in Luzon. However, Luzon was too far away and the Thirty Years War was going on. He was powerless and had to forget it for now.
Later, he also heard that the Ming people seemed to be still at war with the Mughal Empire, Tsarist Russia and other countries. But it was too far away from Spain, and he had a lot of things to worry about, so he didn't worry about it.
But he never expected that Mingguo, who seemed so far away from him, would suddenly give him a heavy blow, hitting him hard on the lifeblood and cutting off the source of money that he had placed high hopes on. To be honest, it would be strange if he wasn’t confused!
After a while, he came back to his senses, became furious, and asked sternly: "What's going on, what's going on? Doesn't it mean that China doesn't have many fleets going to America, can they handle it?"
The governor of the Americas had reported the Ming army's presence on the American continent before. But at that time, this matter was only mentioned, and it was not particularly important. The situation in Spain was not good either, so since the American side said it was not a big deal, Philip IV would not care.
However, suddenly, when he needed America's money the most, he was told that America was lost. Under this situation, Philip IV really couldn't accept it!
The finance minister himself found it difficult to accept it. However, he had just bumped into the messenger outside and already knew the details, so he hurriedly reported the details to Philip IV.
Philip IV said nothing and listened silently to the process of losing the entire American continent, feeling a little sad.
The Ming Kingdom in the Far East was still too powerful. Not only did it extend its tentacles to the Southeast Asia, it even sent a large number of troops to capture the American continent. Today, it is basically impossible for Spain to regain the American continent from the hands of the Ming Dynasty.
Thinking that from now on, Spain would be cut off from a very important source of money, this was really unacceptable to Philip IV.
After a moment of silence, he burst out. Jumping three feet high, he roared with an angry look on his face: "It's a mercy not to settle accounts with a house slave who is not well-raised, but he actually swallowed up the entire America with outsiders. Is this intolerable? I swear, I will definitely do it." I’m going to destroy you!”
Needless to say, he was referring to Portugal. This was simply a combination of new hatred and old hatred, which greatly irritated Philip IV.
After hearing this, the Finance Minister on the side said worriedly: "Your Majesty, no, we must not start a war on two fronts now."
Just dealing with France has already made Spain unable to do what it wants, and it is worried about military expenses. If we fight Portugal again, it will definitely bring down Spain.
As soon as Philip IV heard the words of the finance minister, he understood the key. However, it is one thing to understand, but it is another thing to be angry with Portugal. If this bad breath doesn't come out, he will really be in vain as the King of Spain!
Philip IV thought for a few times, suddenly his eyes lit up, and he immediately said to the Minister of Finance: "I must destroy Portugal. Not to mention Portugal's little military power, how can it withstand the iron fist of Spain? He has so many oriental specialties, which is a huge wealth!"
Upon hearing this, the Finance Minister's eyes suddenly lit up. Yes, Portugal is now selling specialties from the Far East, and I don’t know how much money it makes. If Portugal can be conquered, not only can it gain countless wealth, but it can also rob those Far Eastern specialties, and Spain can make a fortune.
One thing that is very certain is that it is definitely more beneficial to play Portugal than to compete with France. The finance minister had this idea in mind, but when he thought of his current situation, he asked a little frustrated: "Your Majesty, what about France?"
France was indeed a big question, which made Philip IV unable to answer for a while, so he walked hurriedly in the hall, thinking about this matter.
I don't know how long it took, but suddenly, Philip IV stood up and said in a firm tone: "End the war with France immediately, no matter the cost, and then mobilize our troops to attack Portugal!"
Subsequently, under his will, the original signing of the Pyrenees Peace Treaty between Spain and France in 1659 was brought forward. The content of this contract is too disgraceful for the Spaniards. Roussillon, Foix, Artois and most of Lorraine were ceded to France.
But one thing that is different from history is that France agreed not to care about Spain's attack on Portugal.
In this way, Portugal, a weak country, once again became a victim of transactions between powerful countries.
