Rule over Ming Dynasty

The sea breeze, carrying salt, humidity and the smell of blood, swept across the rough sea.

The setting sun was as red as blood. The battle at sea had come to an end. The broken wreckage of warships was scattered all over the ground, like the remains of a giant beast, swaying in the rolling waves.

The bodies of the Spanish soldiers were floating on the sea in all directions. Some of them were unrecognizable, some had mutilated limbs, and some were swollen from being soaked. The scene was truly like floating corpses like fish.

But this is the cruelty of naval warfare, and it was a one-sided massacre. This fleet carrying nearly 10,000 Spanish soldiers were all killed here.

Wang Wuqing looked at the results he had achieved with an expression of being accustomed to it. In fact, he had done this kind of thing many times in the Indian Ocean.

The Ming Dynasty now has huge ships and heavy artillery, and there is no way it can have any rivals at sea. Not to mention destroying the Spanish navy, even if it wants to dominate the entire Mediterranean immediately, there will definitely be no resistance.

Wang Wuqing naturally looked down upon the so-called spoils of war. With a wave of his hand, the three three-masted gunboats immediately left.

The sea breeze at this time brought bursts of wailing, the waves brought waves of sound, and a few seagulls that were pecking at the remaining flesh of the dead made sharp cries, as if telling the endless sadness after this naval battle.

In the main battlefield, the battle also came to an end.

After the Port of Cadiz was subjected to round after round of fierce artillery bombardment by the Ming Dynasty, nearly a hundred ships docked in the port were sunk, the houses on the shore were on fire, and the wails of those who died in the sea of ​​fire could be heard from time to time.

This port, which was once one of the most prosperous ports in Europe, has now become a living hell, and the peninsula country of Spain is losing its maritime power.

But this is already an inevitability of the times. This vast ocean is destined to have only one master, and this master is the powerful Ming Empire.

Wang Zhi, wearing a bullfighting suit, stood on the deck of the ship, looking out at the destroyed port. His face was calm, without a trace of joy in his heart.

The fleet that the Ming Dynasty spent a huge amount of money to build is naturally invincible in the world. This time it is just a small test. The biggest problem now is how to completely conquer all the countries in Western Europe.

Wang Wuqing had already led the fleet back and reported the results of their recent complete annihilation. He then asked seriously, "Godfather, what should we do next?"

"You lead your troops back to Tangier to rest for a while!" Wang Zhi already had a plan in his mind and started to make arrangements.

Tangier belongs to the African plate and is located at the mouth of the Bay of Tangier in the Strait of Gibraltar, only 11 to 15 kilometers away from the Eurasian continent. Ships heading east to the Mediterranean and west to the Atlantic Ocean must pass or anchor here, and its strategic position is very important.

Throughout history, Tangier has been occupied by foreigners many times, and war has always lingered on this land.

Shortly after the Phoenicians built the city, the Kelfakelites drove the Phoenicians out of Tangier; soon after, the Vandals occupied it; after the Vandals, the Romans also came here and turned Tangier into the capital of the Mauritanian Dingitana Province; after the Romans came the Byzantines; after the Byzantines came the Visigoths; in the 7th century AD, the Arabs occupied Tangier and renamed it Tanger, which means "vast bay", and they stayed here until the 15th century.

In 1471, Portugal occupied the city, but Portugal encountered the Ming people. Now this ancient city fell into the hands of the Governor's Office of the Atlantic of the Ming Dynasty and became the temporary location of the Governor's Office of the Atlantic of the Ming Dynasty.

When Wang Wuqing heard that he was going to arrange a return flight, he immediately said anxiously: "Godfather, my formation still has shells, let me follow you!"

"You go back and reload the shells, and you and Wang Wuxi will take Gibraltar together! If you think this arrangement is inappropriate, then Wang Wuchou and Wang Wuxi will carry out the mission together!" Wang Zhi knew that his godson was loyal to him, but he said indifferently.

Tangier is located at the southern end of the Strait of Gibraltar, while Gibraltar is located at the northern end of the Strait of Gibraltar. Both can completely control the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea and can also take care of each other.

"Godfather, I'm going back to refill the ammunition and capture Gibraltar!" Wang Wuqing was immediately excited, and then he asked curiously: "Godfather, I'm a little worried about you, I wonder where you are going?"

"Lisbon!"

Wang Zhi did not choose to march into the Mediterranean immediately, nor did he stop his offensive, so he ordered the fleet to go to the port of Lisbon to completely destroy the Portuguese navy.

Unlike those civil servants who talked about benevolence, righteousness and morality, he was a very pragmatic official at heart and he clearly felt what kind of situation the emperor needed.

Western Europe does not have the resources that the Ming Dynasty currently covets, nor does it need to immigrate people here from afar. Now it only needs to prevent them from reaching America or the Indian Ocean.

That's right. His goal in coming here was very clear. He wanted to dominate this sea area with his indestructible cannons, and also to cripple the maritime countries led by Spain and Portugal.

With the intervention of the Viceroyalty of the Atlantic, the war in Italy quietly changed.

"If our reinforcements don't come, how can I capture Gaeta?" The Spanish commander Gonzalo was dumbfounded when he received the latest military intelligence.

Anyone familiar with geography knows that France borders Italy, but Spain is separated from the Italian peninsula by France, and Spanish reinforcements can only arrive by sea across the Mediterranean.

Originally, Spain had already gained an absolute advantage, and as long as reinforcements arrived on the Italian peninsula, the French troops there would become a group of lambs to be slaughtered.

But now the reinforcements could not arrive on time, and the actual situation was worse than he thought, so the messenger began to hesitate.

"Our reinforcements were completely wiped out?"

"How can those crappy ships of the French Navy compare with ours?"

"It's... it's the Ming fleet in the east. They wiped out our reinforcements at sea and bombed our port of Cadiz!"

When Gonzalo learned the truth, his mind was spinning.

It would have been fine if the country had not sent reinforcements, but now they were completely wiped out by the suddenly appearing Ming fleet. Not only did Spain lose a powerful army, but also most of their fleet.

After suffering such a huge loss this time, even if they really captured Gaeta and seized the Italian peninsula, what would Spain use to defend this territory?

You know, King Charles VIII of France personally led his army to capture this place, but as soon as he left, this place was snatched away by several forces.

The situation in Western Europe is quietly changing, but internal conflicts will only become more and more intensified, and the struggle over the Italian Peninsula may no longer last 56 years, but a hundred years or even longer.

The next morning, bustling Lisbon turned into a hell on earth.

The roar of the naval guns broke the tranquility of the early morning, and the shells streaked across the sky like meteors, accurately hitting every corner of the Lisbon Port.

The ships in the harbor were instantly reduced to ashes by the bombardment, and the raging fire spread to the houses on the coast, turning the sky red. The screams, cries, and shouts of the Portuguese people were mixed together, and there were collapsed walls and burning flames everywhere. They ran around, looking for a place to hide from the bombardment, but under the bombardment, where was the real safe place?
Atlantic Governor Wang Zhi watched all this with cold eyes, without any mercy or sympathy in his heart, only firm determination and cold murderous intent.

He knew that his actions were not accepted by the world, but this was the only way for the Ming Dynasty to dominate the ocean, and Lisbon became a small roadblock blocking the Ming Dynasty's path.

As for himself, he no longer cares about the world's evaluation. No matter whether he was the Chenghua Emperor in the past or the Hongzhi Emperor now, he is the sharpest knife of the emperor.

The shelling lasted for the time it took to burn an incense stick, and the port of Lisbon gradually turned into a living hell.

The streets were full of collapsed houses and burning flames, and the air was filled with the smell of burnt and blood. The cries and groans of the people came one after another, interweaving with the roar of artillery fire, forming a tragic symphony.

The time of a stick of incense may be just a brief moment for ordinary people, but for the Port of Lisbon at this moment, it is an eternal nightmare.

As the shelling ceased, all that remained was the ruins of a destroyed port and houses reduced to ashes.

The Atlantic destroyed the ports of the two countries one after another, and this news exploded throughout Europe like a bombshell.

"Oh my God, is the Eastern Kingdom so strong?"

“I didn’t believe it before when I heard that Columbus was completely wiped out, but it turned out to be true!”

"Spain and Portugal had the strongest fleets in Europe, and they're gone just like that?"

……

After learning that the European maritime hegemons Spain and Portugal had been completely wiped out, the Western European countries were forced to re-examine the mysterious country in the East and realized that their strength was a hundred times inferior to that of the Ming Dynasty.

Although more and more Ming merchant ships have come here to engage in commodity trade in recent years, for various reasons, they have never believed that the Ming fleet has surpassed them.

It was only the appearance of the Ming fleet and its rapid annihilation of the Spanish and Portuguese naval forces that made the European nobles begin to realize that the Ming Empire's naval power was far beyond their imagination.

The Ming Dynasty's ships were larger, faster, stronger, and equipped with more advanced artillery. Anyone who dared to offend the Ming Dynasty would be killed.

But the breaking news spread one after another that Gibraltar was occupied by the Atlantic Governor's Office of the Ming Dynasty, and the Strait of Gibraltar was controlled by the Atlantic Governor's Office.

It was at this time that the Atlantic Governor's Office issued the Ming Emperor's imperial edict banning sea trade: "I have been appointed by heaven, and I have been granted the right to rule the world. My power is felt across the four seas, and my benefits are felt by all. Today, merchant ships from Western countries are constantly coming and going, but the management of the shipping routes is not clear. I think that the vast Atlantic Ocean is a gift from heaven and a product of the earth, and it should belong to our Ming Dynasty. From today on, all ships entering the Atlantic Ocean from the Strait of Gibraltar must register with the Atlantic Governor's Office... Only with the permission of the Governor's Office can they sail freely without restrictions. Anyone who enters the Atlantic Ocean without permission will be attacked by our Ming Dynasty... I hope that Western European countries will obey my edict, jointly maintain peace on the sea routes, and share the prosperity of trade. This is my order!"

This divine message was conveyed to the countries bordering the Mediterranean and Black Seas, knowing that their access to the sea had been blocked.

However, most countries have not been affected. After all, their maritime trade is mainly concentrated in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and rarely sets foot in the Atlantic Ocean.

Even if they set foot in the Atlantic Ocean, they would still have to pay ship money to Spain or Portugal. After all, there has always been a force controlling the port of Gibraltar, and now it just has a new owner.

The Ming Dynasty's Atlantic Governor's Office's control of the Strait of Gibraltar did not have much impact. They were more keen on fighting for territory and did not care about the so-called ownership of the Atlantic.

France was called "Gaul" in ancient times. In the 5th century, the Franks migrated here and established the Frankish Kingdom. From the 10th to the 14th century, during the reign of the Capetian dynasty, it was renamed the Kingdom of France.

Located in the western part of the European continent, it has a superior geographical location, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. It is a land-sea composite country and is considered to have one of the best locations in Europe.

France is high in the southeast and low in the northwest, with plains accounting for two-thirds of its total area. It has many rivers and lakes, such as the Seine, Rhone, and Loire, which provide important water resources for France's agriculture.

Unlike Spain and Portugal, France was not dependent on overseas countries. They had fertile land at home, so they did not have to worry about food, nor did they have the urgency to venture overseas to seek gold.

Seine River, Paris city.

During the Hundred Years' War between England and France that began in 1337, the city of Paris was severely damaged, but King Francis I of France once again made Paris the capital after the war and began to rebuild it.

The Louvre had not yet been built during this period, but the castle of the French king was already quite spectacular.

But today, the castle looks very grand, with precious carpets on the floor, welcoming Wang Zhi, the Governor of the Atlantic who controls the Strait of Gibraltar.

"I am very grateful that Governor Wang has come here in person!" King Louis XII of France came to the castle in person to greet him and expressed his great honor for Wang Zhi's arrival.

He was originally just a small duke. Because the previous French king Charles VIII died without an heir, he gave up his engagement with his niece Jeanne of France and married Charles VIII's widow Anne of Brittany and inherited the throne.

In this matter, he received financial support from Wang Zhi, the then Governor-General of India. Otherwise, he might not have had a chance to ascend the French throne, or it might not have been so smooth.

This time he also begged Wang Zhi to take action, otherwise his strategy on the Italian Peninsula would have failed and the entire Italian Peninsula would have fallen into the hands of Spain.

Wang Zhi looked elegant in his bullfighting suit, holding a white paper fan in his hand as he had done for the past ten years: "Your Majesty, you are too polite!" His eyes lit up as he greeted the woman in the gorgeous dress behind him: "This beautiful lady, you must be Her Majesty the Queen, right? I have heard that Her Majesty the Queen is the most beautiful woman in Europe, but seeing her today, she is truly shy!"

Although Annie is married for the second time, she is only 26 years old this year, which is the most beautiful age for a woman. She smiled happily when she received such praise: "Governor Wang, thank you for your compliment. You also have the charm of an oriental man."

Her life was either fortunate or unfortunate. Fortunately, she was the only daughter of Duke Francis II and became the owner of the Duchy of Brittany.

However, this luck also brought her misfortune. Her marriage determined the future of the Duchy of Brittany. The young Anne had many suitors from various countries. As a result, King Charles VIII of France sent troops to Brittany to seize her marriage.

After the death of King Charles VIII of France, she was forced to marry Louis XII because her throne was related to the ownership of the French king. Through this political marriage, she ensured that the territory of France would not change, and Louis XII became the new spokesperson for the interests of the nobles.

King Louis XII of France looked at the two men staring into each other's eyes. If he hadn't known that Wang Zhi was a eunuch, he would have been jealous: "Governor Wang, please come in!"

Wang Zhi nodded gently and walked towards the palace.

Whether he was in the South Seas or the Indian Ocean, he was always very arrogant in front of the kings of various countries. This was not because he was arrogant, but because their Ming fleet naturally had the capital to become the guest of honor of various countries. (End of this chapter)