In early August of the 10th year of Wanli, the camp of the Grand Cave Hill stationed in Bordeaux conveyed a piece of information from the northern seas of France to Bilbao, Spain.

A fleet of thirty-two small and medium-sized armed merchant ships armed near the sea, poorly armed with the men of the fleet, using weapons from England, France, Spain, etc., but with a limited number of well-made guns.

They were warmly entertained by Catherine, Queen Mother of France.

This information meant that the Duke of Parma of Spain had once again failed in his pursuit of the Netherlands, and the Spanish traitors had regrouped and continued to work against the suzerain.

No one doubted the veracity of the information, and it was not long before the same news came back from Philip's army in the Low Countries, and it became clear that the Netherlands had joined Antonio's coalition against Portugal.

Nervous about the news, Philip used the new methods he had learned from his aide, Brother Acosta, to offer rewards to forty-two shipyards in Lisbon and Seville to get six ships that were supposed to be completed in three months to be delivered to the navy in time for October.

Since August, at least 30 merchant ships from all over Europe have docked at the port of Lisbon every day, and even cheap goods that maritime merchants were reluctant to transport on board in the past are now being moved into the hold as a price for their reluctance to sail empty on long voyages.

Merchant ships bring in mercenaries who smell war and want to find work, spies of the Pope or the kings of the Mediterranean, and merchants and intelligence dealers who have returned from France, England or the Netherlands.

It is said today that Hawkins of England had sixty armed merchant ships for this expedition, and tomorrow the number could become fifty or seventy, and it is even argued that there were only ten ships in the whole of England.

In early October, intelligence flew into the palace of Lisbon like snowflakes, and the most striking thing was undoubtedly that France had assembled a fleet of more than ten large galleys and sailed south through the Bay of Biscay, so that King Philippe hurriedly signed an order, ordering the Marquis of Santa Cruz to lead the Neapolitan fleet to intercept it, so as to ensure that the war would start in the coastal waters.

As a result, the French fleet only went around the sea, and half a month later returned to Morbihan in disgrace.

More than 1,800 pieces of information on the situation in various countries were compiled in Lisbon, and 44 conclusive and credible pieces of information were selected on the basis of intelligence sources, proving that the situation was indeed a mixed bag for the Spaniards.

The bad thing is that the size of the fleets assembled by Britain, France, and the Netherlands for the Portuguese puppet king Antonio has far exceeded the Spanish estimate from any intelligence source, and the scale of the war has been invisibly expanded.

Philip attributed the root cause of this situation to the self-defeating efforts of Chen Mu, the commander of the Ming army.

You sent reinforcements, and there was nothing left in the Azores, just waiting for the Portuguese to attack, and the two armies joined forces to kill them by surprise; But why did Chen Mu send two armies, one into the Azores, and the other in Lisbon?

Nominally, this fleet is going north, but Fu Yuan's goal is so big, the whole of Europe knows that a powerful Ming fleet is staying in Lisbon, where do others dare to send troops?

The good side is naturally the same, because Fu Yuan is stationed in Lisbon, the fleets of the three countries do not dare to go south, and they keep increasing the military budget, and the battle that was about to break out has been pushed back to the preparatory stage, so the next step is to compete for national strength.

Competing for national strength, Spain has never been intimidated!

Except in front of Da Ming.

Philip felt that he was pitted by Chen Mu again.

Looking at the official letter sent by Acosta to Fu Yuan urging the salary, Philip in the Lisbon court was so angry that his teeth itched: "You tell him, I only give him the rations of the garrison, and the military salary is owed first, so that he can stay in Lisbon with peace of mind, don't go anywhere, General Chen has already sent a letter to explain." ”

Philip tore open a packet of wild tobacco, touched his smooth hairline with concern, and asked Acosta with a frown, "Did Chen Mu do it on purpose?" ”

Two months ago, Fu Yuan asked him for a fleet of 10,000 people to sail for thirty days of food and grass, except for the gunpowder that the Ming army wanted, he did not have all the other needs, and tried his best to meet all other needs, just one purpose, let Fu Yuan lead the army to leave as soon as possible.

At that time, he wanted the Ming army to leave Lisbon, but Fu Yuan was reluctant to go.

A month ago, Lisbon received news that the Ming army that landed in the Azores occupied the westernmost islands of Flores and Corvo, drove away the Portuguese rout troops who originally occupied there, and set up camp on the island to build fortifications, ignoring the warning of the Spanish fleet trying to let them leave, and took out the official document that Philip asked Li Dan to hand over to Chen Mu, saying that they were reinforcements invited by Spain and would continue to be stationed here.

At the same time, the development of events exceeded Spanish expectations, and Philip's close admiral, the Marquis de Santa Cruz, the commander in chief of the navy, was worried that the size of the fleet assembled by the three countries exceeded that of the Spanish navy; The Duke of Alva suggested that the fleet of Fu Yuanbu should be left in Portugal for the time being.

The presence of this powerful fleet in Lisbon would maximize the Spanish navy's superiority against the three powers.

Fu Yuan's banner army had already taken turns on the shore to take a vacation, breathe, and prepare for the battle with a full mental state, but Philip didn't want him to go.

This is just in line with Fu Yuan's judgment of the situation, he believes that the best time for the fleet to go north is after the outbreak of the naval battle, the more the French help Portugal put in ships, the more empty the coastal defense will be, and at the same time, for the flag army with excellent cold protection measures on his ship, winter will be the most beneficial for him.

Therefore, on the one hand, the Eastern Army sent back news about the change of situation to the New World, and on the other hand, negotiated with Philip, and Spain would pay the military salary, grain and grass, and they would temporarily defend the ports and coasts for Spain.

All this seemed very good, but Yang Ce also sent people to the Lisbon court to demand that Philip pay his subordinates' military salaries, food and water, and all the materials needed to repair the warships, because the two islands could not meet the normal supply of Yang Ce's tens of thousands of troops and fleets.

Before the battle began, Philip had to bear the high supply of an additional 20,000 troops, but he did it voluntarily.

"Money can't be spent in vain." In the palace of Lisbon, the little bald man tapped his fingers on the table and said viciously to the monks: "If they don't attack this winter, I will let Bazin take Alva and Fu Yuan to fight France next spring!" Break into Paris! ”