Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1525 Sphere of Influence ([-])

"Official news from the Spanish court: King Carlos is in good health and will recover soon." After hearing Alessandro ask about the health of the young King Carlos, Li Qing had a look of surprise on her face. Then he smiled and replied: "So, those who are worried can breathe a sigh of relief. The health of King Carlos is the guarantee of peace in Europe. We look forward to his eternal health."

Li Qing's words were not casual.In fact, he did visit the court of Madrid before. Although he failed to visit the young king of Spain who was ill in bed, he had conversations with those in power, including the Queen Mother and Don Juan.They made it clear that although little Carlos was young and frail, his condition this time was really not particularly dangerous, and after a period of proper recuperation, he would naturally recover as before.

Li Qing chooses to believe this, because it's all for this, they don't need to deceive themselves anymore, it doesn't do any good.Therefore, if you look at it this way, the news that King Carlos will die soon is worth pondering. Is this a wild guess from outsiders, or was it released by someone specially?Li Qing didn't know, nor was she interested in knowing.

After listening to Li Qing's words, Alessandro Doria really had an expression of disbelief on his face.In fact, it’s no wonder that in the past nearly a year, news about King Carlos’ health has been flying all over Europe—Alessandro is well-informed, and he has received a lot of news. After a long time, he naturally believed the outside world The things that are circulated—the ones that can surprise the courts of various countries every time, especially in Paris, Vienna, London and other places, the spread is particularly crazy.Of course, the United Provinces, Sweden, Genoa, Portugal and other countries have also been paying close attention to the development of the situation. They don't think they can stay out of it. After all, no one wants to see the birth of a European power.

According to unreliable gossip, the reason why French King Louis XIV reluctantly agreed to the mediation request of the Dutch this time was that he was facing too much internal and external pressure—the United Provinces and a group of small partners assembled by the United Provinces exerted aggressive pressure on the outside, and internally Colbert kept warning that the expenses were too high, the inventory was running out, and the appearance had plummeted due to the existence of the East Coast Fleet. There was no other way but to increase taxes——in addition, there was also the news that Prince Carlos I have been bedridden for a long time with a serious illness, and my health condition is not optimistic, so I have a different idea, wanting to pick up ready-made peaches.

It has to be said that this idea actually makes sense.Before the death of Prince Carlos, any war launched by Louis XIV against the Kingdom of Spain would be firmly opposed by the vast majority of Hidalgo in his country.They will borrow money from the Dutch and Genoese, buy weapons from the people on the east coast, ask for help from their relatives in Austria, in short, they will do everything possible to deal with the Kingdom of France.Moreover, judging from their strength and family background, even if they lose to the invincible army of the Kingdom of France on the battlefield, it is impossible for France to end the war in a short period of time. Therefore, the time will increase and the consumption of France's national power will also increase. The sharp increase was somewhat unacceptable to Louis XIV.

On the contrary, if King Carlos, who has been troubled since birth, died of illness, then the domestic public opinion in Spain (of course it is the public opinion of the nobles, is the opinion of the prostitutes important?) There will be a certain degree of differentiation up.Some of them would naturally think of going to Austrian relatives to find another person to be the king in order to continue to protect their own interests. Most of these people are court nobles and military nobles; however, Spain is full of disgust and hatred for Austrians. There are also quite a lot of people who think that they dragged Spain into its current weakened situation. These people are mainly local land aristocrats and civil officials. , then it is better to simply invite the children of King Louis XIV of France and Princess Teresa to come back to rule, anyway, they have full rights and qualifications to inherit the Spanish throne.This may also allow the Kingdom of France, which has a powerful army, to provide Spain with a certain degree of asylum, which is undoubtedly crucial to the development of the Kingdom of Spain.

Needless to say, the number of the latter in Spain is quite large at present, covering various powerful institutions such as customs, courts, and the West India Affairs Council, and there are not a few of them who marry French nobles, so they can barely be regarded as "French-friendly" in the West. Pie."Before the death of King Carlos, these pro-French factions were undoubtedly loyal to His Majesty the King (even if the reliability of this loyalty is questionable), Louis XIV could not gain an advantage at this point, and he would fall into a conflict with the French if he was not careful. In the protracted war of the Kingdom of Spain.

Therefore, when he learned from reliable sources that King Carlos was seriously ill and was likely to die, Louis XIV had a subtle change in his heart.He saw greater benefits than the Southern Netherland, Franche-Comté and other territories that he was trying to seize at present, that is, the entire Kingdom of Spain!Yes, that’s right, the entire Kingdom of Spain, the premise is that King Carlos died of illness, and then Louis XIV let his wife, Princess Maria Teresa, inherit the throne after some operations (the reasons are all ready-made, Spain has so far Before the dowry was paid off, because it was a huge fee close to 1600 million silver dollars on the east coast), at that time it was still me who was in charge, which meant that the two countries were in a state of co-ownership, and in the end the two countries merged, and the throne passed smoothly to myself and France. Princess Teresa's sons and daughters.

At this point, a terrifying European power was born!Even, the influence of this power will extend to the New World and the Far East, and Louis XIV will also become a supreme monarch—of course, the premise of all this is that other countries do not stop it, but think about it It is also impossible.Among other things, the East Coast Republic of China, whose fleet is still dangling off the coast of France, probably strongly disagrees.Their plenipotentiary envoys have expressed their attitude more than once. Spain is an ally on the east coast, but once Spain makes a wrong choice and betrays its allies, the east coast will "not recognize the natural sovereignty of the Kingdom of Spain in the southern New World." , "does not recognize the legitimacy of the Caribbean islands occupied by the Kingdom of Spain", "does not guarantee that the overseas and colonial interests of the Kingdom of Spain will not be attacked in any form".

These words, to some extent, have been considered a naked threat, and many people (including Hidalgo in Spain) were dumbfounded after hearing this.Everyone is not a fool. The words of the people on the east coast have completely drawn the Kingdom of Spain into their sphere of influence, and no longer allow other countries to covet them, especially their many rich territories in the New World.And if it is related to the steady expansion of the East Coast people in the southern New World over the years, as well as their strong desire to monopolize the New Spain and Peru markets, then there is basically no doubt about this statement. This is a declaration of the division of spheres of influence!

The attitude of the people on the east coast to monopolize Spain is definitely not welcomed by European countries.Even the United Provinces, which are more friendly to them now, will inevitably oppose the behavior of the people on the east coast because of their interests.But at present, it seems that the intention of the people on the east coast to monopolize Spain is quite obvious, and their attitude is quite firm, even resorting to force for this, so the Western European countries that have not wiped their asses have no time to deal with the east coast for the time being. Instead, the country on the east bank further strengthened its penetration into Spain, and a group of Hidalgos such as Balboa who advocated cooperation with the east bank were cultivated in Spain.

The Genoese are not fools, on the contrary, they are a group of shrewd businessmen, and they can naturally understand the growing influence of the East Coast Republic of China on Spain over the years.Therefore, in their view, the people on the east coast should be very concerned about the condition of King Carlos - in fact, they are almost the same - what they want most is to maintain the status quo, that is, King Carlos recovers and continues to rule The huge territory under its name temporarily cut off the French's thoughts, allowing the East Coast Republic to continue to enjoy the benefits of Spain's huge market exclusively.

Therefore, he asked Li Qing about the condition of King Carlos, and Li Qing replied that there was no problem, but Alessandro still didn't believe it. After all, the East Bank is also a stakeholder, and it is normal not to tell him the truth.However, Alessandro did not delve into this issue, because it was meaningless, so after chatting casually for a while, he wisely turned the topic to his field of interest: "The Crimean Khanate Gelai Khan went to the Tatar trench last time and personally participated in the placement of an 18-pound heavy artillery. So far, this solid line of defense has finally taken shape. No matter what happens elsewhere, at least the peninsula itself is safe, unless the enemy It can attack from the sea. The Khan himself is full of praise for your country’s artillery and engineering construction technology, and said that he will continue to deepen cooperation with your country in the future. It’s really enviable to think about it.”

What the Italians envy is the outstanding influence of the East Bank on the Crimean Khanate, and envy the people on the East Bank to firmly attract the Crimeans to their side through the slave trade and Black Sea trade.What's more, a large part of the grain sources that many Italian states rely on for their survival--the proportion is increasing year by year--come from the Crimean Khanate, and this is of course from the East Coast It was brought about by people going through needles and threads.

The benefits of this initiative of the people on the east coast can be described as many.One is that it has greatly improved the financial situation of the Crimean Khanate and cultivated a class of merchants and planters in the country. The existence of this class is extremely important for the possible future evolution and development of the Khanate. Of course, this is even more important. Second, the Italian peninsula has always been short of food. After the people on the east bank introduced Crimean food to the Italian area, they indirectly affected some of the Italian area through the link of food. States, this is extremely critical for their future interests in the Mediterranean.For example, in this West-French war, people from the east coast personally came to persuade Genoese capital to lend to the Spanish royal family (Genoese people had an advantage at the beginning, because they were just cheated by the Spanish royal family 40 years ago and suffered heavy losses) In order to support them in the war with the French, the Italian capital headed by Genoa finally agreed to this matter. Apart from their worries and fears about Louis XIV, is there really no food factor?

In this way, although the Crimean Khanate is a vassal state of Ottoman (of course, it can be regarded as a vassal state with the highest degree of freedom), but to some extent, the influence of the people on the east coast on its khan I am afraid that it is not inferior to the Ottoman Sultan.The situation in Crimea is far-fetched to say that it is the sphere of influence of the East Coast Republic of China, which is not an exaggeration.

To the west is Spain, to the east are Ottomans and Crimea, which are basically allies or quasi-allies of the people on the east coast, plus most of the forces on the Italian peninsula in the middle have a neutral and friendly attitude towards the east coast Well, when Spain, France, the United Provinces, and England are torn apart, the people on the east coast have quietly managed a huge force in the Mediterranean.In the future, in this "big bathtub", the rising navies of European countries may still compete with the people on the east coast. After all, no one wants to give up the big fat of Mediterranean trade.Will the French navy, which is on the rise, choose to challenge the interests of the East China Republic in the Mediterranean because of the dual factors of interests and shame, and then lead to an all-out war?No one can answer this question, so we can only take one step at a time.

After sending away the members of the Doria family, Li Qing carefully discussed the details of the negotiations with the Spanish special envoy Balboa, concluded an offensive and defensive alliance, and then let the Spanish negotiating envoy delegation go to Aachen.As for why the people on the east bank did not go to Aachen to participate in the negotiations, this matter has to be related to Louis XIV, because the unscrupulous activities of the east coast navy on the coast of France made the angry king refuse the east bank to participate in the negotiation. In the midst of a mediation operation chaired by the Dutch.

Li Qing said it didn't matter, because the French probably regretted it soon.The peace negotiations lack the participation of people from the east coast, and you still talk about peace like a bird!Don't say that Spain will not make peace with you alone now, just say that even if Spain is persuaded and signed a peace agreement with you alone, so what?Can you drive away our navy operating in your sea?The answer is probably obvious!

On August 1668, 8, while sending people to pay close attention to the specific news of the Aachen peace talks, Li Qing set off for The Hague to conduct further consultations and confirmations with Speaker De Witt on the implementation of the United Provinces Army purchase contract.This big business of arming an entire country's army is related to the survival of many domestic factories on the east coast, so we have to be cautious, especially when the military industry on the east coast is at a critical moment of transformation and upgrading.

(End of this chapter)