Shanghai, Huaihai Long Street, Wujia Garden, in the study.

"Your Excellency, the place where we are includes Mr. Udia's property, including the thriving streets outside, the crowded docks, the busy factories, and the two fortresses that guard the mouth of Wusong. All of this was built in just four years! It's unimaginable! Chinese were able to build their city at such a rate...... What about your Manila? It's been almost 70 years, how many houses have you built? It's much less prosperous now than Shanghai, right?

Did you know that more than 200,000 construction workers now work all over the city every day, and the same number of craftsmen work in the shipyards, ironworks, textile mills, and other various craft workshops in the eastern part of the city?

The whole of the Netherlands may not have as many craftsmen and construction workers as the city of Shanghai!

And...... The potential of hundreds of millions of people is far from being realized! Hundreds of millions of people...... How many people are there in France, the most populous country in Europe? It's less than 20 million, right? What a scene it would be if there were 100 million people in France! ”

France with a population of 100 million...... Caballero's heart is pumping!

In the 17th century, most European countries faced slow population growth, with the exceptions of the Netherlands, England and Spain.

The Netherlands and England have seen larger population increases, while Spain has seen the opposite, with its population falling from more than 6 million to more than 5.2 million!

Of course, this refers to the population of the Kingdom of Spain (proper), not to the populations of the colonies. Counting the population of the colonies, there are still more than 10 million. But among the thousands of colonies, there were very few who could fight for the Spanish world empire.

But Spain has a population of just over 5.2 million...... That's a real problem! There are 17 or 8 million people in France next door!

Don't have 100 million, even if there are less than 20 million French, it's enough to give Spain a headache. If there were really 100 million, all of Europe would have to speak French!

"There are 100 million or 30 million Chinese!" Fan. Dimen shook his head repeatedly, "There's not enough food to eat!" If there are 100 million French people who can't eat bread, what will happen to us in the Netherlands and you in Spain? ”

Waiting to be destroyed! Caballero said: What else? Seventeen or eight million French are already hard to fight, and if there are 100 million, there will still be Spain and the Netherlands?

"The French still believe in God!" Fan. Dimen said, "The 100 million Chinese here don't even believe in God!"

They have now learned to craft various models of bronze cannons, Spanish-style light and heavy muskets, Dutch-style Galen gunboats, and plate armor with decent defense. What do you say they will do, Justice? ”

"Mr. Ambassador," Caballero said with a frown, his brow furrowed, "what do you mean...... Should we, the Europeans in Asia, unite and stop the expansion of the Ming Empire? ”

"No, no, no......" Fan. Dimon shook his head repeatedly, "The Habsburgs are the leaders of the Western world, and we Dutch are just sea coachmen." ”

What the? Now know that the Habsburgs were the leaders? Caballero said to himself, "What did you do earlier?"

"Mr. Ambassador," Caballero said, shaking his head, "I think you know very well what the Spanish Empire is like now...... The wars fought in Germany and the wars fought in the Netherlands had exhausted the power of the Reich. It is impossible for us to organize a huge expeditionary force to deal with the Ming Empire! ”

The Eighty Years' War, plus the Thirty Years' War, together with the Portuguese or anything else, had overwhelmed the Spanish Empire.

The inflow of silver from the Americas was not enough to pay the interest on the debts owed as a result of these wars.

Caballero said: "And the current Ming Empire is also much stronger than the Ming Empire that His Majesty Philip II wanted to conquer!" ”

Philip II, the second king of the Habsburg dynasty of Spain, was basically a war maniac and a religious maniac. I have been fighting wars all my life, and I have tossed away all the little money of the Spanish colonial empire! At the time of his death, he left a huge debt of 100 million gold coins to his son Philip III, and the interest payment alone had to cover two-thirds of the country's revenue.

Before the Spanish Armada of 10 million gold was beaten by the English pirate navy, Philip II also wanted to organize an expeditionary force of 20,000 men to conquer the Ming Dynasty...... Before the expedition had even begun, it was ruined by the crushing defeat of the Armada.

Fan. Of course, Dimon knew that the current Spanish Empire was an empty shelf, and he did not expect to provoke a war between the Spanish Empire and the Ming Empire by fanning the flames by himself.

"Your Excellency," Fan. Dimon shook his head and said, "I think you misunderstood me...... I want you to understand that there are tens of millions of Chinese who need enough food to satisfy their stomachs. And food can only come from the rich land! Their expansion to the south was in search of food.

But how much land is there in the south? Chenla, Siam...... That's all! It will not solve the problem at all, you must know that tens of millions of Chinese will continue to reproduce their children and grandchildren! Maybe in a few decades, their population will exceed 300 million!

At that time, what they need will be boundless plains of abundance...... And we Dutch don't have the plains they want! ”

Caballero suddenly realized, "New World! ”

There is no United States yet, Britain and France do not have much territory in the New World, and the Great Plains in the middle of the United States are still empty.

New Spain is the boss of North America, not only occupying Mexico and Florida in later generations, but also most of the West Coast of the United States!

If the Ming Empire were to cross the Pacific Ocean in search of suitable land for cultivation, it would inevitably clash with New Spain...... So the conflict between the Spanish Empire and the Ming Empire was inevitable!

"yes," Fan. "The conflict between the Spanish World Empire and the Ming Empire will be inevitable...... As a believer in God and as a European, I sincerely hope that the Spanish Empire can be the winner in this struggle to defend the interests of God and Europeans!

May God bless Spain, Amen! ”

......

At the same time, Emperor Zhu, who was far away in Nanjing, was worried about the opening of the Jing Navy and the Jin Ou Army, and also received an urgent 600 li from the Grand Duke of Luo, and learned the news of the visit of the Spanish envoys.

Although the Spanish Empire is on the verge of collapse, it is still the leader of European colonialism!

And this country is not the same as the Holland of the sea coachman, which is a country of merchants who are calculating. Although there is a certain conflict of interest with the Ming Dynasty, they can still cooperate in the general direction - businessmen have to settle economic accounts, so they will not borrow a loan shark of 100 million gold coins to fight a war with the Ming Empire that is destined to lose money!

But Spain is different, since they have fished the gold and silver mountains of the Americas, they no longer live on a budget, and they don't care about money at all...... So much so that the country has gone bankrupt several times!

And the most troublesome thing for Emperor Zhu is that although the Spanish Empire is no longer the overlord of the sea, they still control the sea power in the Pacific Ocean - because New Spain is not open, so other European countries cannot find any economic interests in the Pacific Ocean, so they are not very interested. As a result, a weakened Spain still controlled the Pacific Ocean and was determined to squeeze out any rivals.

Therefore, Japan's request to trade with New Spain was categorically rejected by the Spaniards, and the Pacific trade negotiations proposed by the Ming Dynasty to the Spanish Philippine Governor-General have not been replied to until now...... As soon as the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Champa Kingdom, the Spanish envoys came to Shanghai.

This is not a good person!