Morocco is located in the far northwest of Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The climate of Morocco is not humid, it is dry, and the annual precipitation is only a few hundred millimeters, and the seaside area does not exceed 800 millimeters, which is equivalent to the precipitation of the inland provinces of China. Moreover, this precipitation is very erratic, maybe high this year, low next year.

As a result, some rivers that originate in the Atlas Mountains have very erratic flows. The difference between a wet year and a dry year can reach more than 5 times.

But don't be fooled with Morocco. Because, no matter how arid Morocco is, it is also the region with the most precipitation in North Africa. For example, Egypt, Libya and other places have not yet wanted so much precipitation. Egypt would be as arid as the Arabian Peninsula if it weren't fed by the Nile.

The Moroccan region is sunny and warm, and there is more and less water for agricultural irrigation. When there is a lot of harvest, when there is little, the harvest is poor, it all depends on God's mood.

Moreover, the crops here are not rye, which is popular in Central and Eastern Europe, but barley. Barley has a short growth cycle and is easier to serve than wheat. As long as the wheat is not served well, the yield will be very low. Barley, on the other hand, is much more extensive, and as long as there is enough irrigation and water, the yield is not much worse. So, in Europe at the moment, barley is endemic in the south, and rye is prevalent in the north and Eastern Europe. Barley is also an important brewing ingredient for beer.

In addition to barley, olive is also popular in Morocco to produce the best-selling olive oil. The Spanish army coveted Moroccan barley and olives.

Although barley is far inferior to wheat, barley is easy to serve. In this era of backward agricultural technology, barley was an important food in southern Europe. Basically, barley is the staple food of common people, just as rye is popular among Germans. Of course, rye is also popular in Spain because it is cheap. However, rye is mainly imported, while locally, barley and oats are mainly produced. If you grab enough barley, you can save a lot of food costs.

In order to seize Moroccan barley, the Spaniards had long since figured out the situation in Morocco - the barley production area was mainly located along the three main rivers of the um Raibia and Sebu rivers in the northwest Atlantic, and the Muluye River in the northeast on the Mediterranean coast.

To this end, the Spaniards launched two attacks on Morocco mainland from Melilla in the north and the Moroccan coast in the west.

Melilla was a colony that Spain had acquired long ago, and it was easy for Spanish troops to land here. And on the west coast of Morocco, Spain has no foothold. For this reason, Spain had to turn to Portugal and purchased from the Portuguese the coastal port stronghold of Mazagang (later Jedidai) as a foothold for the landing of the army.

Spain and Portugal had previously reached an agreement in Rome to divide Africa, which was now colonized by Spain in North Africa (including Morocco and Western Sahara) and Southwest Africa (Mozambique generation). The rest of the region goes to Portugal.

Under this agreement, Juan III directly financed the purchase of the coastal strongholds of Ceuta, Tangier, Mazagang (Jadida) and Agadir along the Moroccan coast, which the Portuguese had previously acquired. Moreover, the focus of the offensive was on Mazagang (Jedida) at the mouth of the um Raibia River and Melilla near the mouth of the Muluye River. The two river basins near these two cities are important agricultural areas in Morocco. As for the mouth of the Sebu River, since there was no Portuguese stronghold, the Spaniards planned to send warships into the Sebu River to find an opportunity to send troops ashore to grab food......

Moreover, in order not to affect the autumn harvest in Spain proper, Juan III ordered - the army set off in batches to attack Morocco. The first army to land on Moroccan territory was none other than 20,000 German mercenaries hired by Margaret of Austria from Germany. The German mercenaries were accompanied by 10,000 Spanish herdsmen conscripts. The recruitment of herders has no impact on the autumn harvest in Spain, and it just so happens that the country can carry out the autumn harvest with peace of mind. The herders also brought a lot of Andalusian horses and other Spanish horses to supply 20,000 German mercenaries. Of course, not to let them go out to fight on horseback, but to go on horseback to grab food......

The main task of these 20,000 German mercenaries was to consolidate the city defenses of Melilla and Mazagang (Jedide) while grabbing food. After all, these German mercenaries may not be able to adapt to the hot and dry climate all at once. In addition, the main Spanish army and baggage supplies had not arrived, and it was impossible for these 20,000 German mercenaries to take on the 20,000 or 30,000 Scimitar cavalry of Morocco alone.

The other 30,000 Spanish troops, as well as another 40,000 Spaniards, could not land in Morocco until after the end of the autumn harvest on the Spanish mainland. And when 30,000 Spanish troops landed in Morocco, it was also the time when Spain officially launched a general attack on Morocco......

……

For the Spaniards who had already begun to make their hands on Morocco, Marin frowned a little at first. But soon, he was happy, because the military operations of the Spaniards attracted the attention of all Europe. And Marin's operation of secretly sending troops to plot Siena is not noticeable. Originally, he was worried that the arrival of 25,000 troops in Italy would attract the attention of those who were interested. But now, the Spaniards are in the limelight, drawing the attention of all over Europe. In this way, Marin's actions were overshadowed by the light of the Spaniards.

In order to attract more attention to Spain, Marin, who was secretly refreshed, specially asked the pope's father-in-law, Julius II, to publicly express his appreciation for the Spaniards' righteous act of "restoring the territory of the ancient Roman Empire......

Sure enough, with the Pope's statement, the attention of Europeans was further focused on the Spaniards. Many countries sent emissaries or spies to Madrid to find out what Spain was doing. As for the quiet transportation of troops from Marin's side, no one paid attention to it. Moreover, it is the autumn harvest season, everyone is busy, who has time to care about those things that have nothing to do with them? For those who are poorer than nobles, it is only right to take advantage of the abundance of money after the autumn harvest and squander it for a period of time...... These nobles were no different from those college classmates in Marin's previous life—just after the autumn harvest was over, when they had the most money on their hands, and then they began to splurge ...... Then when the next summer begins, they run out of money and begin to wait for the autumn harvest...... At this time, they are like students who have run out of living expenses at the end of the month, and they are very strapped for money and need to borrow money from bankers to get by. At the end of the autumn harvest, they had to squander their money and pay off their debts......

In addition to asking the papal father-in-law to publicly commend Spain's "righteous act" in attacking Morocco, Marin also arranged for his spies to talk about Spain's attack on Morocco in taverns in Italy, further attracting people's attention. Especially in the Siena region, Marin sent a number of spies to guide the locals' public opinion and attention points in the tavern, so that they forgot about their own dangers.

Then, disguised as a grain merchant, Marin went to Siena to conduct reconnaissance activities himself...... ()

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