"Your Highness, something is wrong!" The guards panicked and said, "The Spanish army is gathering on the border, and I am afraid that it is going to attack our Portugal!" ”

After Spain's troops were transferred from the north to the south, they could not hide from Portugal after all.

"What?" When João IV heard this, he was immediately shocked, and the piece of silk that he had just touched in his hand immediately slipped off without knowing it, but he just stared at the urgent report handed over by the guard at a hurry, and at the same time asked, "What's the matter, aren't they at war with France, do they want to start a war on two fronts?" ”

As he spoke, the urgent report was already in his hand, and he immediately opened it and looked at it.

After reading ten lines at a glance, he suddenly panicked, looked up at the guards and asked, "Where did Spain get so many troops?" ”

As soon as he discovered that the Spanish troops were gathering on the Portuguese border, he immediately sent out the news. Therefore, in addition to estimating the approximate strength, further news needs to be followed.

Of course, the guards could not answer, and João IV immediately sprang into action, issuing successive orders.

"Send an envoy to France at once to inform the Cardinal of the situation, so that they can take advantage of this opportunity to intensify their attack on Spain. With such an echo between the north and the south, Spain will definitely not be able to survive. ”

"Gather troops at once, go to the border, defend against the Spanish invasion, and defend the freedom of our Portugal!"

“……”

As the order was given, Lisbon became nervous.

On the whole, however, both João IV and the rest of the Portuguese were generally calm, except for the initial panic at the news.

Because in their opinion, from the previous news, Spain was defeated by France in a row, and now the Spanish king Philip IV is even more brain-pumping, and he even has to fight on two fronts in this situation. How much strength Spain can have, see how long they can last!

Even Ottoley and others of the British royalist party, except for a little schadenfreude at first, did not take it to heart.

However, as time went by, things suddenly took a turn for the worse.

The border towns of Portugal soon fell, and the Spanish army soon penetrated deep into Portugal and came straight to Lisbon.

It was only by this time that further news arrived, leaving João IV and the rest of the Portuguese stunned.

The commander of the Spanish army turned out to be Condé the Great, didn't he fight with France in the north? And the Spanish troops, aren't they also in the north?

At this time, there was more and more evidence that the Spanish armies that attacked them were the same ones that fought with the French!

At this time, João IV almost guessed: Portugal was once again betrayed by France, and fell victim to some kind of agreement between France and Spain.

As a result, João IV panicked. He had no confidence that Portugal would resist the Spanish invasion alone. A lot of previous efforts were made in the hope that France could pull Portugal along.

In a panic, he couldn't help but look up to the sky and ask: "Why, why is the Ming army so far away from Portugal?" ”

At this moment, João IV felt that only the Ming in the Far East was an ally worth relying on. As for the rest of Europe, they are a pack of white-eyed wolves.

In fact, at this time, the battle of Bitlis had ended, and Emperor Chongzhen had already embarked on his return journey. At this level, it is already jaw-dropping to defeat the Ottoman army and the Persian army in succession, destroy Persia, and capture many Ottoman territories.

After João IV complained, he immediately ordered to send a ship to the American continent to ask for help from the Ming army there. Then he ordered a general mobilization of the whole country, calling on the people to resist the Spanish invasion. And tell them that as long as they hold on, the Ming army will come to the rescue, and at that time, it will be the time of Portuguese victory!

With the hope of foreign aid, the Portuguese did not want to be ruled by the Spaniards anymore, so they naturally had the motivation to resist the Spanish invasion.

This time, however, the commander of the Spanish army was Condé. This is a person with great military talent, although he has been very unlucky in the past few years, and has been defeated by his lifelong enemy in a row. But now it's easy to run over and bully the Portuguese side.

In less than half a month, Condé led the Spanish army to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Along the way, the Spaniards hated the rebellion of the Portuguese, and were jealous of their wealth from selling oriental products, and burning, killing and looting were inevitable.

Perhaps as well, the Portuguese eventually fled to Lisbon, gathering all their strength to resist the Spaniards. In the end, the decisive battle between Portugal and Spain kicked off in Lisbon.

When King Philip IV of Spain learned of the situation, he immediately rushed to Lisbon in person. Looking at the mountains of loot, looking out at Lisbon, and thinking that this city is definitely richer than the rest of Portugal, I can't help but feel good. He promised Condé: "As long as you take Lisbon, whatever you want, Lone will satisfy you!" ”

Da Kongdai listened to it and really had an idea. At this time, he had already thought clearly. The reason why he was defeated in the hands of his old enemy when he fought with France was not because his command skills were worse than those of his old enemy, but because he attacked France as a prince of France, this kind of behavior was unpopular, so he suffered defeat.

And this time to suppress the rebellion for Spain, he once again showed his military command skills, and won successive battles. Therefore, he was tired and wanted to go back to France, and he didn't toss anymore.

Hearing this, Philip IV was silent for a while, then agreed to his request, and immediately sent an envoy to Paris to negotiate for Condé.

For Philip IV, although there was one less military genius, Spain would also have one less strong enemy. Over the years, he has realized that Spain's strength is not as good as France's, and now that it has no colonies on the American continent, it is even more difficult to fight with France, and it is better to improve relations.

Seeing that Philip IV was so open-minded, Condé couldn't help but be grateful, and he was even more concerned about the war against Lisbon.

However, in any case, Lisbon is the capital of Portugal, not only is the city strong, but also far more abundant than other towns in terms of materials and manpower, even if Grand Condé tries his best to attack, it is impossible to take Lisbon at once.

Later, Philip IV learned from his captives that João IV had asked for help from the Ming army in the Americas. If he couldn't defeat Lisbon, once the Ming reinforcements arrived, the situation could really change drastically, which made him very worried.

No matter how he fights with France, he has heard more or less about the news from the outside. Not to mention the American continent, in Eastern Europe, Tsarist Russia was crippled by the Ming army, Persia was destroyed, and the Ming army was still attacking the Ottoman Empire. At this time, Spain had long lost confidence and felt that it could defeat the Ming army.

Therefore, Philip IV began to urge Condé to conquer Lisbon before the Ming reinforcements arrived.

But Da Condé has indeed tried his best, and it is no longer up to him to decide whether he can beat Lisbon or not. João IV in the city, that is also desperate to resist.

As a result, the fighting in Lisbon continues to stalemate, and there is no hope of defeating Lisbon in the short term. This made Philip IV very dissatisfied, but he couldn't help it.

On this day, the attack on Lisbon failed again, and the soldiers who dug the tunnels and blasted were killed and wounded, and returned in disarray, much to the annoyance of Philip IV, who was watching the battle. After returning to the Chinese army's big tent, he vented.

After venting, he sat there a little dejectedly, thinking about whether to forget it. If it continues like this, Spain's losses will only increase. Anyway, a lot of things have been robbed, and it has also taught the Portuguese a big lesson......

He was thinking about it, when suddenly Da Kongdai hurried forward, with a look of surprise on his face, and said to him: "Your Highness, there is good news! ”

"What's the good news?" When Philip IV heard this, he immediately stared at him and asked with a look of expectation.

Grand Condé replied excitedly: "Just now we caught a prisoner, saying that it was the British, who were bullied by the Portuguese and were willing to be our internal subordinates. ”

"Ah, well, well, what about people?" When Philip IV heard this, he was immediately overjoyed and hurriedly asked.

As he spoke, his guards walked in with a man.

Needless to say, this man was none other than a British royalist in Lisbon. After the salute, he said to Philip IV: "We have more than a thousand people in the city, and we will serve His Highness if He promises us a sum of money to fight against the damned Cromwell!" ”

Philip IV was certainly dissatisfied with Cromwell, who had his own king executed. This is a conspiracy, and if more people follow the same example, the position of king will be too dangerous.

It's just that Cromwell's ability is indeed very strong, and he is also the kind of one who has won consecutive battles, at least he still has the final say in Britain today. But these British royalists wanted to trouble him, and he certainly liked to hear about it.

If these British can really be the internal response of Spain and conquer Lisbon, not only can they destroy these rebellions, but they can also seize the wealth of Lisbon again, and share part of it to the British, this kind of transaction is very cost-effective.

Thinking so, Philip IV agreed without hesitation. So, the two sides began to discuss the specific details, and agreed on the matters of internal and external cooperation, before sending the Englishman back to Lisbon by sea.

João IV was unaware of all this. It was a joy to see that he had thwarted the Spaniards' attack again. If the stalemate continues, as soon as the Ming reinforcements from the American continent arrive, they will definitely be able to turn defeat into victory.

As long as you persevere, you can win the final victory!