Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1265: Voyages to the West After the Voyage ([-])

In general, Spain, which has been sleeping for nearly a hundred years, ushered in a hero in the Age of Enlightenment, who can be regarded as the hero of the representative figure of enlightened autocracy.

As far as the things he did in Sicily and Naples before, such as checking the acres, cracking down on the church, monks returning to the secular world, confiscating real estate, etc., if they can be done in Spain, it seems that Spain can indeed be pulled out of the quagmire.

But this is actually a correct nonsense, because if France can solve the problem of the gentry’s payment of food, Ming can solve the problem of the central government’s fiscal revenue, and the Netherlands can solve the problem of the commercial and industrial factions... then everyone will have a bright future.

Of course, the Spanish government attaches great importance to trade, because a large part of the royal family's income comes from monopoly.

For example, the tobacco in Havana, the royal family holds a huge share, and established the Havana Tobacco Company, and the rest are not allowed to operate the tobacco business, thus obtaining an annual profit of about 1000 million pesos.

Of course, this is not the root cause of Spain's backwardness. The British government also monopolizes cotton cloth, sugar, and tea and prohibits others from privately owning it. In the later period, it can also earn 1000 million pounds a year.

The problem is that playing a monopoly franchise also requires administrative capabilities.

Either rely on the strong feudal household registration system, establish a ban on the sea, and have a commercial market.

Either rely on a powerful navy, engage in anti-smuggling, and cut off the ears of the smugglers.

Either rely on the natural good terrain, such as the Dashun card in Malacca and Sunda, to patrol the strait for anti-smuggling.

Does Spain have this capability?
Therefore, Spain very much hopes to use external and non-European forces to balance the situation in Europe and disrupt Europe's original trade.

Of course, sometimes some national defense issues have to be considered, making it impossible for many things to be completely capital-oriented.

Like the sugar industry in Havana.

Cuba is very suitable for developing the sugar industry.

Spaniards know that.

But Cuba also had timber that Spain desperately needed.

Cuba's population has been insufficient, until the British took Jamaica, about [-] to [-] Spaniards migrated from Jamaica to Havana.

Ordinarily, if it is profit-oriented, Cuba should fully engage in the tobacco and sugar industries.

However, Havana is underpopulated, and Spain has to consider another thing.

Namely: warships, shipbuilding.

The saying of the century-old navy originated from the United Kingdom, not because the training takes so long, but because warships need to use oak trees as materials.

The characteristic of oak trees is that after being hit by shells, they will not produce a lot of sawdust. In the era of solid bullets, ship materials that can produce a lot of sawdust are fatal to their own crew.

Therefore, the United Kingdom has a special committee for planting oak trees, which is affiliated to the Ministry of the Navy, and it is said that there is a century-old navy.

Spain... Spain's climate, he can't grow oak trees suitable for naval warfare.

Spain... has no colonies in North America, and he has no oak trees.

Therefore, if Spain wants to develop warships, it can only rely on Cuban cedar. Cuban cedar is a shipbuilding material at almost the same level as oak, and has almost similar physical properties: after being hit by shells, it will not produce a lot of debris.

Therefore, due to the shortage of labor force in Cuba, Spain can only choose two of the three industries of tobacco, sugar, and shipbuilding.

It is of course good to choose three, but the population is not enough to choose three.

Therefore, Spain chose tobacco and shipbuilding, and the sugar industry has carried out a certain degree of control to reduce the cost of shipbuilding and avoid the sugar industry from causing huge competition for shipbuilding workers. In addition to labor, the sugar industry also needs wood. Spain Cedar was also regulated, and the sugar industry could not compete with shipbuilding for timber.

Many times, Dashun is confused when looking at European policies.

Because the situation in Dashun is completely different from the situation in Europe. For example, Dashun wishes to distribute 100 acres of land to 10 families, because if one household can work, Dashun will not be able to find enough jobs for the remaining 9 households. jobs for them.

In some places in Europe, such as Cuba, the exotic sugar, tobacco, and shipbuilding industries cannot develop at the same time due to lack of people.

In addition to these realities, from a more macro point of view, it is also extremely beneficial for Spain to intervene in this war rather than the Europeans themselves.

Because the history of the decline of Spain is a history of the rise of emerging countries, Spain suffered a disadvantage in the trade era of emerging countries.And Dashun wants to be an emerging country and break the current European pattern, which naturally means that good times are back for Spain.

At the very least, if it can be established as a free trade zone within the empire, in the view of Carlos III and his Enlightenment ministers, Spain can still maintain a decent form of imperial federation and enter a new era.

Therefore, Spain and France have completely different attitudes towards cooperation with Dashun.

France is not considered a loser of this era, at least not now, but has been seeking the status of European hegemony.

France hopes to use the power of Dashun to dismember Britain.

Spain is the loser of this era, at least for now, so it has been seeking a balanced posture in Europe and moderately suppressing emerging countries.

In Carlos III's own words, his dislike of Britain stems from [they show a kind of dictatorship over the world's oceans].

A Europe that checks and balances each other and has no hegemon is the most beneficial to Spain, an aging country.

Of course, the French are not good birds. Although they are all from the Bourbon family, Spain and Portugal have intermarried for generations, so why not fight as usual?
France is too strong, so it is not good news for Spain.

Therefore, at this time, Spain has been prevaricating against France, and France also knows that if Spain wants to participate in the war, it needs to have enough bargaining chips. Now it seems that Dashun will at least not need to pay for the colonies—the colonies of India. It was lost when Dashun joined the war, and it is no longer French.

Spain, on the other hand, hopes to use a special way of cooperation, that is, to fight against British smugglers and privateers, and to destroy Britain's trade capabilities in the Caribbean. It does not want to form an alliance with Dashun and France to form China and France. , Western Union Fleet, landed in Britain.

Spain could of course choose to attack Portugal and destroy Porto, the trading center of the British merchants in Portugal.

Because of Spain's strategic choice, as long as Dashun reaches a trade agreement with Spain, Spain will join the war and launch an attack on Portugal to "rescue Portugal from the British colonial chain".

Participating in the war, of course you have to participate, such a good opportunity to pick the fruit, if you don't pick it, you won't pick it.

How to fight and how to fight, this involves internal struggle.

For example, to fight Portugal, in addition to the above-mentioned strategy of directly attacking Porto, there is another strategy.

That is to say, march from the Alentejo in the south-central, besiege Lisbon, and take the capital.

The difference between these two strategies lies in the post-war negotiations, as well as Spain's strategic purpose in this changing situation, and what is the desired result of dividing up the spoils in the future?
In fact, Spain is divided.

Some support to attack Porto.

There was also support for going to the Alentejo and marching into Lisbon.

In other words, to fight Porto is to fight Britain and destroy the British trade in Portugal.

To fight Lisbon is to fight Portugal, to go straight to the capital, and you have to swallow.

But in the end, the opinion of playing Porto prevailed.

Because the stepmother of the former king of Spain and the mother of the current king has a great say in Spain, and before Carlos III stepped down from the government affairs of Sicily and Naples, she was the queen regent of Spain.

And her own daughter, who is the sister of the current King of Spain, is the Queen of Portugal.

When the stepson of the queen regent was in power, she was the biggest opponent of the stepson. Everyone knows that when the former Spanish king succeeded, it was "not so much the handover of the father's death, but the power of Spain is inherited by the daughter-in-law. Mother-in-law".

Although she was deprived of power by her daughter-in-law, behind this sentence, it means that before her stepson and daughter-in-law succeeded to the throne, she was the one who controlled the power in the Spanish court.

Now, her stepson and daughter-in-law are gone one after another, and her own son came from Sicily to take over the throne. She was exiled and became the legitimate regent before her own son came. Naturally, she has great influence in the court.

Fight Porto, fight the British, drive away the British businessmen in Porto, don't fight Lisbon, and your own daughter will continue to be the queen of Portugal, isn't that good?

The French ambassador has been in contact with Portugal since the Dashun Navy arrived in the Mediterranean.

I hope that Portugal will see the reality and the situation clearly, and participate in the anti-British alliance between China and France.

This is of course not a good thing for Spain. Historically, when France was at the end of its rope, it ceded Louisiana to Spain before allowing Spain to send troops.

But now, because of Dashun's participation in the war, France suddenly trembled, hoping to directly bring Portugal into the war, and try not to give Spain enough benefits.

Of course, the two countries will not be at odds with each other, but it is always justifiable that they seem to be close to each other.

As for why France urged Portugal to oppose Britain, because Portugal really, as Spain said, has British colonial chains and is part of the British trading system.

Spain's reason is not nonsense.

After the Treaty of Methuen in 1703, Portugal was indeed regarded as a "semi-colony" of Britain.

The textile tariffs were opened, and Portugal's textile industry was blown up by the United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom has released wine tariffs on Portugal, but there are many wine-producing countries in Europe: France, etc., are all big wine countries.Coupled with the rum produced by the development of the sugar industry and the potato shochu that was introduced long before the introduction of potatoes, the market for wine is actually not that big.

Therefore, after the wine market became saturated, Britain began to control Portugal's grape planting and winemaking industries, lowering prices and acquiring assets.

Standard routine.

The reason why British textiles can be sold is that Britain has a powerful navy and the "Navigation Regulations", as well as the "Cotton Cloth Prohibition Order" and "Cotton Cloth Luxury Tax" that can be strictly enforced, making massive Indian cloth and Chinese cloth. It is difficult to break through the "Navigation Regulations" and widely enter the European market.

As far as France is concerned, using Spain as a bargaining chip to force Portugal to oppose Britain can seriously affect British trade. This is France's choice.

But, it's actually quite unreasonable.

Using Spain to scare Portugal, the question is, what benefits can Spain get?As far as France's diplomatic strategy is concerned, it is actually quite speechless: because the relationship with Spain is better, it does not consider Spain's feelings and interests; because the relationship with Portugal is poor, Portugal and the United Kingdom stand together, so I hope Spain and Portugal do not want to go to war, but want to draw Portugal into the anti-British alliance.

This kind of diplomatic behavior not only made Spain dissatisfied, but Dashun was also quite unhappy.After all, Portugal still has a few territories in Asia. If you bring Portugal in, it will be very difficult for Dashun.

(End of this chapter)