Daming Military Empire

Chapter 379 Going to Europe Again
In September of the 12th year of Chongzheng, the second batch of fifty super battleships sold by the Ming Empire to the Kingdom of Spain finally arrived at the port of Valencia. They all rushed to Valencia from Madrid.

After several days of assembly, the number of large and small warships outside the port of Valencia has reached more than a thousand. The Spanish Armada has finally regained its glory, and it is time to launch a full-scale counterattack!

Philip IV directly appointed Admiral Antonio de Oquindo as the commander-in-chief, and ordered him to lead the Armada and escort an army of [-] to the Spanish Netherlands. Based in Dunkirk Port, he would travel by sea and land. Attack the Netherlands on two fronts, eliminate the rebels there, and bring the seven northern provinces of the Netherlands back into Spain's territory!

His idea is very good. Among the anti-Habsburg alliance powers, the Netherlands has the strongest navy. As long as the Netherlands is defeated and all the land in the Netherlands is recovered, Spain will regain its dominance of the sea. By then, As long as the English Channel is blocked, the Habsburg alliance will become a mess, and the final winner of this war will definitely be the Habsburg dynasty!

Would the anti-Habsburg coalition be so easily defeated?Of course it is impossible. The huge Armada was discovered by the sentry ships of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom as soon as it entered the English Channel. The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and even France, Sweden, and Denmark responded successively. Countless warships and troops began to gather in the Netherlands. A big battle is inevitable, and it is unknown who will win the final victory.

At this time, a news began to spread secretly all over Portugal, that is, the Duke of Braganza is the descendant of Joao the Great, and he is the legal heir to the Portuguese throne. He will lead everyone to drive away the Spaniards and restore the country to independence!
This is not false news. The first Duke of Bragança, Alfonso, is really the son of João I, but he is an illegitimate son. Many Portuguese nobles know this.

In fact, the Portuguese seem to have gotten rid of the Spanish rule a long time ago. It doesn’t seem to matter whether the news is true or not, as long as someone comes out to lead them to drive away the Spaniards. As soon as the news spread, nobles from all over the world began to secretly form armies and swear an oath Allegiance to the Duke of Braganza, an independence movement is quietly brewing, and the countdown to the restoration of Portugal has entered.

When Zhu Cijiong received the news, it was already in the mid-teens, Spain finally made a move, and Portugal was finally going to be independent, so did he really want to go to Europe to be a peacemaker?
It is definitely a must. The European powers are the main opponents of Ming in the struggle for maritime supremacy, and Spain and Portugal are one of the few European countries that cannot join forces with the great powers to deal with Ming. It can be said that they are destined to be the enemies of the European powers. .

Why do you say that?The main reason is that Spain and Portugal have too many colonies around the world. You must know that they are the pioneers of the Age of Discovery. The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries can be said to be the centuries of Spain and Portugal. At that time, almost all colonies in the world Both Spanish and Portuguese.

In 1493, Pope Alexander VI even divided the papal meridian for them. All the land west of this line belonged to Spain, and all land east of it belonged to Portugal, as if the two countries were dividing the whole world equally!
Of course, in fact, there were still many countries in the world that were not colonized by Spain and Portugal at that time. However, those with better geographical location, richer resources, and easier occupation and colonization were almost all divided up by the two countries. In other words, good places They have almost finished taking advantage of it, and the later European powers have almost nothing to take advantage of!
Naturally, the European powers cannot tolerate this kind of thing, so the 30-year war broke out in Europe in order to defeat Spain and re-divide the colonies. Therefore, Spain and Portugal are destined to be the enemies of the European powers.

An enemy's enemy is a friend, so Spain and Portugal are Ming's natural allies. Zhu Cijiong naturally cannot allow Spain to be easily defeated by the big powers, and at the same time cannot allow Spain to return to its dominant position, because Spain has too many colonies. To become the overlord of the sea, then Da Ming has to be his little brother.

What should we do if we can neither let him lose nor let him return to the overlord?Of course, it is to prepare a competitor for him to restrain him, and Portugal is the first choice. As long as Daming supports Portugal, even if Spain defeats the anti-Habsburg alliance in the future, it will not be possible to dominate the European continent, let alone May regain supremacy at sea.

Portugal is still very fragile at this time. Without the help of foreign aid, they will never be able to defeat Spain. In history, Portugal sought the United Kingdom. As a result, the United Kingdom became the hegemony of the sea. Of course, Zhu Cijiong cannot let this history repeat itself, so he decided to set off immediately , Go to Europe to act as this foreign aid.

Due to the rush of time, he didn't call too many people. He only brought the Beiyang Navy, the Beihai Fleet, and the First Army Corps of the Imperial Guard. They brought a lot, because Portugal will lease a port to Daming, so it is natural to bring more people to build it properly.

The itinerary for this road is also very simple, just replenish at the Star City Port base and Goa, and then go straight to Europe.

At this time, the troops recruited by nobles from all over Portugal had secretly gathered in Lisbon. The number was not very large, less than 3, but it was enough, because almost all Spanish troops had been transferred to the Western Front. Less than two thousand.

With the assistance of Shivela, the Duke of Braganza equipped more than 2 people with the weapons secretly sent by Ming Dynasty, and then started the restoration operation.

This action is actually very simple, because the Spanish garrison in Lisbon is too small to pose a threat to them at all. He just asked Shivera to take 2 horses to surround the camp of the Spanish garrison and force Spain The garrison surrendered, and then rushed directly into the Lisbon Royal Palace with the remaining thousands of people, and arrested the Spanish minister of state. Then, there was no more, the restoration operation was successful!
The next day, Portugal announced the abolition of King Philip IV of Spain, and established the Duke of Braganza as the new king, called Joao IV. Soon Portugal and all overseas territories announced their allegiance to the new King Joao IV, and Portugal was restored. !
This restoration operation seems a bit too simple, and it succeeded so easily, which is a bit of a joke. However, in history, Portugal's restoration operation was so simple, but the struggle with Spain later was more complicated.

Of course, Spain will not let it go and recognize Portugal's independence. However, His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty came here to mediate. Will they still fight?

(End of this chapter)