Immediately after the Thirty Years' War, France began civil strife again. For the royal family, military spending is a big problem.

Portugal provided a large number of oriental specialties, which made French Prime Minister Cardinal Mazarin see a business opportunity.

So, of course, he showed favor to Portugal and expressed his support for Portuguese independence.

If Spain dared to attack Portugal, France would inevitably send troops to support. After all, if you Spain dare to participate in the internal affairs of France, then if you do the first year of junior high school, don't blame France for doing fifteen.

In addition, he bought a large number of oriental specialties from Portugal, and then sold them to those nobles in China, and even sold them to other countries, which is equivalent to becoming a second-tier dealer and becoming a Portuguese downline.

Oriental specialties have always been sought-after goods in Europe, whether it is silk or porcelain, etc., they are deeply loved by European aristocrats. If a nobleman does not have a little bit of the Orient in his home, he will not be able to entertain guests at all.

In this way, the French royal family has money, and when it comes to fighting the civil war, it will be easier to fight.

On the Spanish side, I didn't expect that the alliance with Prince Condé would still not be able to defeat France. This greatly annoyed King Philip IV of Spain.

Originally, Philip IV's attention was all on the French side, and he had not yet taken charge of Portugal. But now he saw that Portugal and France had colluded to finance the finances of the French royal family, which made him angry and red-eyed at the same time.

Spain has always been a great power in Europe, and even if it has begun to decline by this time, it is still a great power. If you want to be independent in Portugal, it is already tantamount to a slap in the face. Now that he is still eye-to-eye with France, how can he bear it?

In addition, Spain also fought the Thirty Years' War, and its finances were also tight. The huge profits of oriental specialties made Philip IV even more excited. The combination of these reasons gave Philip IV the intention of going to war against Portugal.

However, his current focus, of course, is not to give up halfway, so he will not interfere in the internal affairs of the law. In any case, he wanted to put the Prince of Condé in power in France first, and then turn back and clean up Portugal to avoid fighting on two fronts.

On this day, Philip IV was again worried about the lack of money. In the past, Spain had actually gone bankrupt once. If there is no money, the war with France will not be able to continue.

Philip IV then urged his men: "When will the treasure ship of America return?" It's been so long this year, why haven't you come back yet? ”

The reason why Spain is a European power has a lot to do with the fact that it has a large overseas colony and a continuous flow of energy and goods back to Spain. It is also because of this that Spain's arrogance has made all European countries dissatisfied, and almost all countries have discord with Spain, or even go to war.

Becoming a public enemy of Europe was also an important reason for Spain's eventual decline!

"Back to Your Majesty, Weichen heard that the British sent a lot of pirates to the Americas, could it be their reason, so the treasure ship came back late?" His chancellor of the exchequer replied speculatively.

Hearing this, Philip IV hated the English again. He cursed loudly: "That damn Cromwell, do you really think that he is invincible and dares to challenge my bottom line? ”

Britain was also in civil strife, but it was a successful rebellion, and now it was Cromwell, the invincible kind, who had just defeated the whole of Scotland, and killed the royalists to flee in all directions, including those who fled in Portugal.

Spain can't actually manage this situation, and it can't do it anymore. But now, Cromwell has begun to blatantly invade Spain's overseas colonies, much to the anger of Philip IV.

But in the end, it is just anger, and pirates from various European countries have always aimed to rob Spanish treasure ships, and I don't know how many times it has happened. What could Spain do, and even had to recognize the independence of the Netherlands, which did the same thing.

Now Spain is very short of money, and it is very likely that the British pirates did it. Philip IV should have been angry, and he would have been angry.

After venting, he was also helpless, so he could only say: "You can discuss it and see if you can send warships to the Americas, increase the strength of the escort fleet, and strive to transport back the property as soon as possible!" ”

Knowing the current situation of the kingdom, it is indeed in urgent need of money, so the Chancellor of the Exchequer agreed and wanted to go to the navy to discuss.

However, he had just left the palace, and suddenly, as if he had been chased by a tiger, he rushed into the palace again, and his face was very ugly.

"What is this for? The dignified Imperial Chancellor, what kind of system has he become? Philip IV was in a bad mood, and when he saw him like this, he immediately rebuked him unhappily.

"Your Majesty, something is wrong!" The Chancellor of the Exchequer ignored his reprimand and said to him in fear: "America is lost, there is no ......"

"What? That's impossible! When Philip IV heard this, he was shocked, but he refused to admit it directly, "How did Cromwell's hillbilly get into America?" How many pirates did he send? Even if they all go to the British, they may not be able to absorb the entire American continent......"

Before the Chancellor of the Exchequer could hear it, he had to interrupt him loudly and said: "Your Majesty, no, it's not the British, it's the Ming Empire in the East that sent troops and united with the Portuguese to swallow up the whole of America." Our Spanish fleet in the Americas is almost completely gone. ”

"What?" When Philip IV heard this, he was immediately dumbfounded.

He never expected that this would be the case.

Before, the rise of the Ming Empire in the Far East wiped out the Spaniards in Luzon, and he knew about it. However, Luzon was too far away, and he was fighting a thirty-year war, so he had no choice but to forget it first.

Later, he also heard that the Ming people seemed to be still at war with the Mughal Empire, Tsarist Russia and other countries. But it was too far away from Spain, and he didn't bother with a bunch of things himself.

But he never expected that Mingguo, who seemed to be so far away from him, suddenly gave him a heavy punch, hitting him the root of his life, cutting off the source of money he had high hopes for. Seriously, it's strange if he's not confused!

After a long while, he came back to his senses, and suddenly burst into a rage, and asked sharply, "What's going on, what the hell is going on?" Doesn't it mean that there are not many fleets going to the Americas, and they can deal with it? ”

The Ming army had appeared on the American continent, and the governor of the Americas had told him before. But at that time, it was only mentioned, and it was not particularly significant. And the situation in Spain was not good, so I thought that since there was no big deal on the American side, Philip IV didn't care.

But suddenly, when he needed the money of the Americas the most, he told him that the Americas were lost. In this case, Philip IV really couldn't accept it!

The Chancellor of the Exchequer himself had a hard time accepting it, but he had just bumped into the messenger outside, and already knew the details, so he hastened to inform Philip IV of the details.

Philip IV did not say a word, silently listened to the process of the loss of the entire American continent, and his heart was a little gloomy.

The Ming Kingdom in the Far East is still too strong, not only extending its tentacles to the South Seas, but even sending a large number of troops to conquer the American continent. Today's Spain is basically impossible to regain the American continent from the hands of the Ming Kingdom.

The thought that from now on Spain would cut off a very important source of money was really unacceptable to Philip IV.

After a moment of silence, he burst out. jumped three feet high, and roared with anger on his face: "The house slave who is not familiar with it, it is already a blessing not to go to him to settle accounts, and he even swallowed the whole of America with outsiders." Whether it's tolerable or unbearable, I swear that I will destroy you! ”

Needless to say, he was referring to Portugal. This is simply a new hatred and an old hatred, which excites Philip IV too much.

When the Chancellor of Finance heard this, he said worriedly: "Your Majesty, you must not go to war on two fronts now." ”

Just dealing with France has already made Spain powerless, and it is sad about military spending. If we fight Portugal again, it will definitely drag down Spain.

As soon as Philip IV heard the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he understood the key. But it's one thing to understand, it's another thing to be angry with Portugal. If this evil breath is not out, it is really in vain to be the king of Spain!

Philip IV's brain teaser turned a few times, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he immediately said to the Chancellor of the Exchequer: "This Portugal, I must be destroyed." Not to mention the little military strength of Portugal, how can it resist my Spanish iron fist, that is, so many of his oriental specialties, it is a huge wealth! ”

Upon hearing this, the Chancellor's eyes lit up. Yes, Portugal now sells Far Eastern products, and I don't know how much money it makes. If Portugal can be defeated, not only can it gain countless wealth, but it can also rob those Far Eastern specialties, and Spain will be able to make a lot of money.

One thing that is very certain is that it is definitely much more advantageous to play Portugal than to fight France. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had this idea in his heart, but when he remembered his current situation, he asked a little dejectedly: "Your Majesty, what about the French side?" ”

It was indeed a big question on the French side, which made Philip IV unable to answer for a while, so he hurried through the main hall, thinking about the matter.

I don't know how long it took, but suddenly, Philip IV stood up and said in a resolute tone: "End the war with France immediately, at any cost, and then mobilize troops to attack Portugal!" ”

Subsequently, under his will, the signing of the Pyrenees Peace Treaty between Spain and France in 1659 was brought forward. The content of this contract, for the Spaniards, is too disgraceful. Ceded Roussillon, Fois, Artois and most of Lorraine to France.

But one thing that is different from history is that France promised not to care about Spain's fight against Portugal.

In this way, Portugal, a weak country, once again fell victim to the trade between powerful countries.