How could Spain, the hegemon of the seas, suddenly attack such a small country as Luzon?

It all started with the first circumnavigation of the globe.

During the period from Jiajing to Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, it was the time when the Age of Exploration arose, and the European powers during this period were trying to open up new routes in order to reach the Far East, which was full of gold as described in the "Travels of Marco Polo".

Through the tireless efforts of many explorers and navigators, they have discovered the Americas, Africa, and opened a route to India.

By this time, they had already discovered that the earth was round, but no one had ever circled the earth and returned to its original place.

So the famous explorer and navigator Magellan devised a plan to make the first circumnavigation of the world in human history, and with the support of the King of Spain, he owned five "huge" ocean-going sailing ships.

In the end, his circumnavigation of the globe can be said to have been successful or unsuccessful.

The reason why he succeeded is that the fleet he led set out from Spain and went all the way east, without looking back, and finally the fleet really returned to Spain.

The reason why he is said to have failed is that although the fleet he led went back, he himself did not go back, because he died in the circumnavigation of the world, that is, this circumnavigation was not completed by him, but by the sailors and crews under his command.

As for why he died on the way, it is very simple, because the explorer and navigator at this time had another identity, that is, a colonist.

Magellan was also a colonist, and when he arrived in Luzon with his fleet, he found that it was not only close to the legendary Spice Islands, but also rich in gold.

He naturally didn't want to let go of such a treasure land, so during his voyage around the world, he started a side hustle again, in a vain attempt to defeat the "natives" of Luzon and turn it into a colony!

He quickly learned a lesson in this unscrupulous behavior, and in a battle against the "natives", he was unfortunately hacked to death by the local "natives"!

One of the most famous explorers and navigators of the Age of Discovery, the pioneer of circumnavigation of the world, died on a small island called Mactan in Luzon.

This was the official excuse for Spain to attack Luzon, of course, but in fact because his sailors and sailors brought back a lot of spices and gold from here, and made a lot of money, and the Spanish king was red-eyed.

Spices, that's a good thing, worth as much as gold, not to mention gold, the reason why the European powers colonized everywhere, to put it bluntly, was to plunder gold and silver.

Such a place full of spices and gold, let alone Magellan, even the king of Spain did not want to let go.

So, under the guise of revenge for Magellan, the king of Spain sent a colonial fleet to attack Luzon.

At first, Spain's attack on Luzon was not very smooth, after all, Luzon was located in the Far East, too far away from the European continent, whether from west to east or from east to west, to reach Luzon from the European continent, it would take tens of thousands of miles.

In those days, there were no satellite navigation, let alone communication systems, and sea navigation was dangerous, and it would be lucky to arrive in Luzon alive from the European continent.

As for whether or not Luzon can be taken, it also depends on luck.

If you are unlucky, you will arrive in Luzon with all the food and grass, and the sailors and crew will be exhausted, let alone take Luzon, and it will be good to return alive.

If you are lucky, have a smooth journey, and arrive in Luzon with plenty of food and grass and energy, then it will only be a matter of time before you take Luzon.

Prior to this, the king of Spain successively sent colonial fleets to Luzon in the fourth year of Jiajing, the fifth year of Jiajing, the seventh year of Jiajing, and the twenty-first year of Jiajing.

It was not until the Yongqing period of the Ming Dynasty that the Spanish colonial fleet gained a foothold in Luzon, and successively took Cebu Island, Panai Island and Manila, and established a colonial base.

In other words, at this time, Spain had just taken Manila, the capital of Luzon, and although the state of Luzon was in danger, it had not yet been destroyed.

After Yang Cong understood the situation, he began to prepare to support Luzon and expel the Spanish colonists.

At this time, the fleet of the Daming Naval Division was still relatively strong, there were more than 60 super battleships like the Fuchuan battleship, more than 100 medium-sized warships such as the Cangshan Ship, and the sailors had exceeded 10,000.

However, he knows quite well that Spain is not the most powerful among the colonial powers, they are just a little more powerful at the beginning, and in the future, whether it is the Netherlands or Britain and France, they are much stronger than Spain, if he thinks that he can be invincible in the world with this strength, he can sit back and relax, sooner or later he will be beaten by the colonial powers!

Therefore, the top priority is to expand the strength of the sailors, and since there is a war with the colonial powers, then be fully prepared.

As for how to expand the strength of the water master, he has already thought about it.

He first reorganized the existing naval warships, transferred 60 Fuchuan warships and 60 Cangshan warships to form a fleet, equipped with a full 10,000 sailors and soldiers, as the first regular fleet of the Daming Naval Division.

He also thought of the name of this fleet, it was called the Nanyang Fleet, and the commander was Yu Dayou.

In addition, he also compiled a plan for the expansion of the naval division, planning to expand the naval fleet to four within ten years, each fleet is 60 Fuchuan warships and 60 Cangshan warships, and the name of the fleet has also been thought of, that is, the Nanyang Fleet, the Beiyang Fleet, the Oriental Fleet, and the Western Fleet, and even the commander he has decided, in addition to Yu Dayou, it is Qi Jingtong, Lu Bo, Liu Xian, the three generals.

As for why they are sixty ships, this is the inspiration from the imperial examination, the number of the imperial examination room is in accordance with the Jiazi chronicle, a Jiazi sixty numbers, plus a principal and a deputy will become, the Fuchuan warship is Zhengjiazi, and the Cangshan warship is the deputy Jiazi, which not only reflects the characteristics of the Ming Dynasty, but also conforms to the habitual cognition of the Ming Dynasty civil officials and military generals, he believes that as long as he has participated in the Wenju and the martial arts, he is quite familiar with the way of counting this Jiazi, and it must be a lot more convenient to command.

He is reorganizing the fleet and expanding the sailors, and Zhang Juzheng's side has also begun to implement the plan to build roads, not to mention the appropriation of the imperial court to build roads, even if it is to recruit 40,000 sailors, build warships, and expand the strength of the sailors, the Ming court can't cope with it, because these two plans, once implemented, will cost at least tens of millions of taels of silver, and to change to the previous Ming court, let alone tens of millions of taels, millions of taels can't be picked out.

The current Da Ming is terrible, tens of millions of taels, that's just a trivial matter, in ten years, Da Ming even took out hundreds of millions of taels of silver!

Now the Ming Dynasty has become strong, gold and silver, there is really not much shortage, the only thing lacking may be to transform these gold and silver into hard power.