This time, the Spanish court physician did not dare to mention bloodletting again.

King Philip was still not over fifty years old, otherwise Salcedo's desperate letter would have him off, and even so, fainting in anger still achieved the doctor's purpose.

His Royal Highness's mood was much calmer.

The reason for his irritability stems from the fear that the vast empire will fall apart and that he will lose his land.

Now he doesn't need to worry about it - the Philippine Islands, snatched by the general of the Ming Kingdom named Chen Mu, he really lost his land!

"Isn't it bad enough that no Manila galleon arrives in Spain via Mexico?"

Philip lay on the bed, with the velvet quilt of Genoa giving him great comfort, looking at the portrait of himself as a young man hanging on the wall, and in a brief moment of enjoyment, he remembered the arrears he had not yet paid to the painter Titian, and closed his eyes in chagrin.

European velvet is different from Daming velvet.

China's velvet refers to the generation of velvet silk fabrics, like the earliest Han Dynasty velvet circle brocade, Southern Song Dynasty velvet back brocade, velvet yarn and other things, now the Ming Dynasty velvet refers to the velvet, is the Yuan Dynasty cowardly brocade on the basis of the development of silk fabric.

The velvet of the West began with the First Crusade, and they brought back to Europe from Central Asia muslin, canopy, brocade, plain spinning, twill silk satin, velvet, silk, and satin, which were very popular.

Later, with the course of the war, the Europeans got skilled weavers, and in Italy and Avignon, mature textile centers gradually appeared, and Genoese velvet became a specialty, but Genoese velvet was not silk fabric, but cotton wool was made using a process that originated in Egypt.

"I don't want the Philippines, can't he still say that I owe him 260 tons of silver?"

Mr. Philip, who had a large chin and a little bit of a sloppy head, looked like a bearded man with successful hair, and at this time he gave the court adviser a contemptuous look, and sneered: "Why do fools, who are far away across the ocean, think that I need Manila, and are willing to redeem the Philippines with two hundred and sixty tons of silver?" ”

The palace adviser stood upright and said expressionlessly: "Your Royal Highness, we really need Manila, the Philippines is a necessary area for the purchase of large quantities of goods, if the trade route is mortgaged to the bankers, it will be able to form an army to suppress the Netherlands and send troops to France......"

Every year is an eventful year for Spain, which wants to rule the world, and the recent death of King Charles IX of France is an opportunity for Philip II to seize the opportunities of Charenzo, Toulon and Marseille.

Although this is more difficult in legal theory, it doesn't matter, the most important thing is the spirit of contract, in line with the principle of complete equality and voluntariness, when the soldiers come to the city, they will be willing to sign a treaty to accept the rule.

Philip didn't make much of a move, he just raised a hand, pointed at the court adviser with his palm facing up in a very aristocratic manner, and said: "In this case, please ask Your Excellency to get two hundred and sixty tons of silver, go and give it to the one named Chen Mu, as the king, I will write a letter, and ask the Pope to write a letter and conclude a contract, as long as you bring the silver, it will not be a problem." ”

Of course, this is just a joke, Philip shook his head slightly, and said: "I want to report, all the means to get information, collect all the letters that Manila sent to Madrid in the past, I want a report, what they believe, what they have, what they eat, what they use, call advisers, and give me a report analyzing the Ming Kingdom." ”

As he spoke, he lifted the velvet quilt and said, "Let the Chancellor of the Exchequer count all my debts, and he will prepare a new loan to tell everyone about our land...... Attacked! ”

"Uh...... In fact, His Royal Highness, the Viceroyalty of Mexico has already sent troops to attack Chen Mu. ”

Philip's black shirt had not yet been buttoned, and when he heard this, he froze, turned his head and blinked - the Viceroyalty of Mexico was in charge of the Philippines, and he did have such power.

But.

"Great, great. Those damned English protesters attacked my fleet at sea, the Dutch rebels called themselves sea guerrillas attacked my soldiers on land, and the infidels of Constantinople occupied Tunisia as if I wasn't in trouble enough. Philip's eyes widened, "My governor is now going to declare war on a country five thousand miles away!" ”

Although Philip had the jurisprudence of the King of England and Ireland on his head, his wife, known as the Bloody Mary, had long since died, and the current Queen of England was Elizabeth, who supported Protestantism.

Mr. Philip's proposal to Elizabeth was unsuccessful, and the Protestants of England attacked their fleet at sea.

The lack of natural resources in the Netherlands, where the handicraft industry was flourished, made the Netherlands one of the wealthiest regions in Europe and a major tax payer for Philip, but now many people in the Netherlands are fighting for independence.

Philip was also thinking of taking this opportunity to kill all his creditors in the Netherlands.

Plus his enemies are the mighty Ottoman Empire.

When did the Spanish Empire begin to decline? There is no doubt that even now, before the construction of the great and fortunate navy, the fleet that others called the Invincible Armada began, the Spanish Empire had ended its golden years of continuous rise in internal and external troubles and never-ending wars.

In fact, Philip knew better than his Chancellor of the Exchequer how much he owed on loans, which was more than 60 million ducats.

Each ducat had 3.56 grams, which was close to pure gold, which means that he owed as much as 213 tons of gold.

The exchange rate of gold and silver is much higher in Spain, but despite this, the arrears demanded by Chen Mu are also very exaggerated, which is full of 10% of Mr. Philip's arrears over the years, which is higher than his interest.

The principal of his debt is not important, because half of the taxes are mortgaged to the creditor, not to mention the silver mines and other assets in the Americas have been mortgaged, so he only pays the interest, but now the interest is almost repaid, and there is actually another enemy.

Being able to quietly eliminate the Governor of the Philippines means that the enemy is not weak.

Philip scratched his chin when he summoned the court ministers, and finally decided to cancel the meeting on the spur of the day and convene several ministers separately.

Not to mention, Philip now somewhat hoped that the army sent by the governor of Mexico to the Ming Kingdom would be defeated.

If there is no war, the Philippines will not be called a treasure land, and once it fights with the Ming Dynasty, it will become a quagmire, dragging his troops and financial resources...... He didn't think that Spain would be able to send a partial division to attack the Ming Kingdom.

In this way, the loss of the Philippines is not a bad thing, and it may still be a good thing.

"I'm going to send a fleet to the Philippines to negotiate with Chen Mu, the general of the Ming Kingdom, maybe he has an opportunity to reverse the royal family's finances. Ming, Madrid, England, Netherlands......"

Philip believes that there is an inevitable connection.