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Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, was originally forced by the pressure of the alliance, and King João IV of Portugal only planned to save face, and planned to send two warships and 300 men to support the Great Qin Mission.

In the end, the number of warships sailing out of Lisbon was as high as 21, with a total strength of 2,800 men. João IV even went to the port to see off the fleet in a high-profile manner, and generously said that as an ally of Great Qin, Portugal would definitely give full support to the Great Qin mission.

In Madrid, the capital of Spain, King Philip IV made the decision to surprise everyone by taking a personal expedition to France.

Philip IV was originally an arrogant man, known as the "King of the Earth".

However, since the defeat of the "Armada" to England in 1588, Spain's maritime supremacy has never returned, and the empire's treasury has been very poor since his grandfather's death, and by the time he inherited the Spanish throne in 1621, the Spanish Empire still has a vast territory, but it has gradually declined.

At this time, Spain was embroiled in the European War, and in order to win the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), Philip IV had to continue to expand his army due to financial constraints.

In 1625, Spain's total military strength grew to an unprecedented 300,000 men. In 1627, the Spanish government again declared bankruptcy.

Year 1628. Dutch Captain Pete. Peterson. Heine (Pieterszoon Hein) captures the Spanish treasure ship. Spain's economy is in further decline, while the Netherlands is thriving.

Spain found itself unable to cope with the growing naval power of various countries, not only the Netherlands (i.e., the Netherlands), but also France and England.

Beginning in 1623, Spain's monopoly on the Americas was broken, and parts of Brazil, St. Kitts, Jamaica and other places were occupied. But by this time, they still had a strong navy in the Mediterranean, resisting the Ottoman navy and Muslim pirates.

In 1640, Philip IV's attempt to make the Catalans bear some of the military expenses, which, combined with French incitement, led to a rebellion among the local population. In December of the same year, the Portuguese independence movement broke out, and João IV established a new dynasty: the Bragança dynasty of Portugal, ending 60 years of Spanish rule;

Year 1642. The Spaniards were defeated by the Dutch and forced to withdraw all of them from Taiwan. In 1648, with almost all of Europe fighting against the Habsburgs, the Thirty Years' War ended in defeat for the Habsburgs, and Spain's land advantage was lost. Philip IV and all of Europe recognized the independence of the Netherlands.

However, Spain's war with France, which had become a European power at this time, continued. Although a civil war broke out in France in 1648, Spain's economic situation was already too poor to deal with several wars at once.

However, in the midst of this era. Spain's decline is often exaggerated.

Spain wasn't always defeated, having conquered Naples in 1648 and had just regained Catalonia.

It was only Viscount Tirene who led the French army to defeat the Spanish army in the Netherlands at the Battle of Dune, and Spain was forced to sign the Peace of the Pyrenees with France. Ceded Roussillon, Foix, Artois and most of Lorraine to France in the north.

If the loss of Spanish sea power was due to Britain and the Netherlands, then the loss of land power was mainly due to France.

The shame of ceding the land for peace has kept Philip IV, the "King of the Earth", in his mind. You think, even Spain itself was ceded up. Isn't this a slap in the face of the "King of Earth", and it's like being beaten into a pig's head.

Now well, Louis XIV, plus his sister Anna. The Prime Minister Mazarin was captured by the Qin, Paris was occupied by the rebels, and the whole of France was in chaos, and the Viscount of Tyrenne, who was leading his army to fight on the Franco-Spanish border, also hurriedly withdrew his troops and retreated to the north bank of the upper Garonne River.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Spain, and what was it to regain the land it had been forced to cede? The king of the earth wants to conquer in person, not only to recapture Lorraine and other regions, he is going to fight to Paris.

Now, the fertile and densely populated France is like a piece of fatty fresh meat, whether it is a vulture, a hungry wolf, or a wild dog, they all want to take the opportunity to go up and bite it.

***

The Great Qin Mission was like a boulder flying from the sky, suddenly plunging into Europe, and for a while, the whole of Europe became turbulent, and in the face of this unpredictable change, Zhang Haoran and others were quite overwhelmed.

Negotiations with Vanlit, who occupied Le Havre, were still raging, and Vanlitte insisted that the Qin army release King Louis XIV before cooperating with the Qin army.

Van Ritte was a very talented general, loyal to the French royal family, loyal to Orthodoxy, not to Mazarin and Anna of Austria.

At the same time, he had his own little calculations, and Louis XIV, although only a half-grown child, was officially crowned King of France. If he could keep Louis XIV in his hands, he would be able to dictate to all of France, at least nominally, so he insisted that the Qin army release Louis XIV first.

From his point of view, this is not too much to ask.

But from Zhang Haoran's point of view, will Louis XIV, Van Ritte and Willique and others still listen to themselves? The answer is definitely no.

In this case, Zhang Haoran naturally could not agree to release Louis XIV immediately. The two sides were at a stalemate on this point, and by this time as many as 18 French ships had arrived in the Gulf of Seine from the northern port of Dunkirk, and Barak, who led the fleet, soon came to an agreement with Vanlit;

It's just that because the king was on the Qin warship, Barak threw a mouse and did not dare to launch a brazen attack on the Qin army, and the two sides confronted each other in the Seine Bay, where the English Channel belongs.

The reactions of various countries came one after another, which made Zhang Haoran and others have a headache, and everyone gathered in the flagship command cabin again to discuss. The guerrilla general Pang Ning smiled indifferently: "It's France that is messing up, not Daqin, Van Rit is not in a hurry, and he dares to bargain with us, let's be in a hurry!" ”

Zhang Haoran shook his head and said: "Having said that, if the situation gets out of control further, the hostages in our hands will be useless, and it will be difficult to influence the situation in France."

And let's not forget, we came to Europe for another important mission, that is, to persuade the Holy See to unite the forces of European countries and fight the Ottoman Empire together.

France is the heart of Europe, and if there is chaos here, the whole of Europe will also be in chaos, and various forces will compete, so how can we talk about attacking the Ottoman Empire? ”

Zheng Jie said hesitantly: "Lord Zhang, the matter of the Ottoman attack is related to the Central Asian strategy of Great Qin, which is indeed very important, but the so-called plan cannot catch up with the changes, and the changes in Europe cannot be fully controlled by us, all we can do is push the boat down the river and take advantage of the situation."

Now that the situation has become like this, I am afraid it is a little unrealistic to persuade the Christian Church to integrate the forces of all Europeans to flank the Ottoman Empire, as long as we maximize the interests of Great Qin in Europe, even if we fail to complete the task of flanking the Ottomans, Your Majesty is wise, I believe that after we go back, Your Majesty will not blame us and others. ”

Zhang Haoran said: "It is not completely impossible, according to what we have learned, Spain's naval strength is actually not weak, but because of the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, it directly threatens Spain proper, so Spain must maintain a strong naval strength in the Mediterranean Sea to resist the Ottoman navy and Muslim pirates." This made the British and Dutch navies seem to have the upper hand.

Although Great Qin and Spain had a war, in terms of flanking the Ottoman Empire, Great Qin had every chance to reach a cooperation agreement with Spain.

The Habsburg family was the largest royal family in Europe, ruling the Netherlands, Portugal, Austria and other countries, and even if it is now in decline, it still has great influence in southern and eastern Europe;

Moreover, the Habsburg family was also the royal family with the closest relationship with the Holy See, and Spain was the main force on the side of the Holy See in the Thirty Years' War between the Old Church and the Protestant States. And I can let the Holy See lobby Spain, then integrate the forces of various countries and flank the Ottoman Empire with my Great Qin,"

(To be continued......)