Marin's concerns are not unfounded, as there are now only four maritime powers in Europe – Spain, Portugal, England and Venice.

Among them, Spain is a dual maritime power in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, with not only a strong carac sailing fleet, but also a strong galleys fleet, with the strongest comprehensive strength. Portugal is second, but in terms of sail warships active in the ocean, Portugal's strength is even stronger than Spain, and it is the first naval power in the Atlantic Ocean on the surface.

As for the later overlord England, it is currently limited by its national strength and population, and can only be subordinated to the two countries. And Venice, this is a pure galleys country, which can only dominate the Mediterranean Sea with little wind and waves.

In fact, if you talk about the strength of the galleys alone, Venice is much more than Spain. The problem, however, was that Venice now needed to compete with the newly rising Ottoman Turkey for maritime supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean, so it could not go all out against Spain. Otherwise, Venice would certainly have taught Spain to be human on the Mediterranean.

In addition, there is a maritime "power...... Well, it's not a country, it's a federation, and that's - the Hanseatic League!

The Hanseatic League's maritime power was on par with that of England. Even, more than one end. If Lübeck and Hamburg, the "one king and one queen", join forces, England will also have to concede three points.

As for the third Bremen, it has been seized by Marin and is considered Marin's territory. Moreover, in the eyes of foreign powers, because of the friendly relations between Marin and the Hanseatic League, the maritime power of the North Sea States was actually counted as a "Hanseatic League", rather than an independent power. Because, in terms of the number of ships alone, the North Sea Country is indeed a bit small.

At present, there are only seventy or eighty merchant ships in the Beihai country that are active in various parts of Europe all year round. And there are only thirty or forty ships active between the Americas and Europe. But ships active between the Americas and the mainland are not seen by other European countries. Therefore, the outside world's assessment of the North Sea State is 10 warships and dozens of merchant ships. This kind of strength, in the eyes of the outside world, is not even as good as the original Hanseatic Free City of Bremen. In terms of the number of ships alone, this is indeed the case. Therefore, the North Sea Kingdom will be looked down upon by Portugal.

But Portugal did not know how powerful the hidden firepower of the North Sea States was......

For example, there are seventy or eighty armed merchant ships of the 250 class currently active in various parts of Europe, and theoretically, each ship can be equipped with 20 guns. Moreover, they are all main battle guns of the kind of 12-pounder guns.

However, the merchant ships of the North Sea Kingdom, when traveling around Europe, dismantled most of their guns, and only retained three or four 12-pounder guns as symbols. At the same time, it is also to confuse the enemy. Then, it gave other countries the illusion that the merchant ships of the Beihai Kingdom did not seem to have much combat effectiveness.

In fact, most of the sailors of these merchant ships, with the exception of newcomers, were mostly trained in naval warfare. Moreover, each ship was equipped with an additional 40 arquebuses. As soon as a pirate approached, the sailors would take out Vulcan guns from the bilge and fight back. In the Mediterranean, the merchant ships of the North Sea countries have repelled several pirate attacks.

That is, theoretically, in the event of a naval battle, the North Sea State can dispatch up to 30 warships and 120 250-class armed merchant ships to fight. The premise is that these merchant ships are all domestic......

But this is impossible, because the thirty or forty armed merchant ships of the 250-class class that travel to and from North America are on the go all year round, and it is difficult to gather them back. Even the seventy or eighty merchant ships on the mainland usually have at most thirty or forty at home.

Therefore, in order not to affect trade, Marin sent a maximum of 20 armed merchant ships to war, and 20 warships to form a combined fleet.

Although there were only 40 ships, their firepower far exceeded that of the Portuguese. Although the Portuguese warships also had twenty or thirty guns on them, most of them were two or three pound-pound Franc cannons, and their power was very small. This kind of artillery, not to mention penetrating the side of the Beihai State warship, cannot even penetrate the side of the 250-class armed merchant ship.

Moreover, in order to prepare for war, this time Marin directly ordered to nail white iron sheets to the sides of the 20 250-class armed merchant ships preparing for war to prevent shelling. In this way, with the firepower of the Portuguese maximum 12-pounder gun, it could not do much damage to the warships of the North Sea State at all.

Moreover, because Da Gama had already led a fleet on an expedition to the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, at present, the Portuguese court can use a maximum of fifty or sixty warships, and most of them are about 200 tons of carak and caravel sailboats. On such a scale, it is simply not possible to defeat the combined fleet of the North Sea State.

However, if Portugal broke out and requisitioned large ships to fight, it would be able to mobilize a hundred or dozens of ships. Therefore, Marin prepared 20 warships and 20 armed merchant ships in case of contingency.

However, if he could not fight, Marin would still avoid this battle. After all, winning or losing, it's not good for Marin.

How to say it, if the war is lost, needless to say, the colonies of the North Sea Kingdom may be snatched away by Portugal, and it will naturally be over. And if you win, it's not a good thing......

Why? Because Marin did not yet have the strength to annex the benefits that Portugal had spit out after its defeat. The result could be – cheaper Spain......

After all, there are too few ships in the North Sea, and too few sailors. Even if you win against Portugal, you won't be able to eat the benefits that the Portuguese spit out. In this way, even if the war is won, what good is it?

And if Spain is cheaper in the end, it is not what Marin wants to see. You know, Spain is already very strong, both sea and land. If they take advantage of Portugal, a stronger and more ferocious opponent will appear in front of Marin.

Therefore, Marin's current preparations are actually mostly to force the Portuguese back, rather than share the victory with the Portuguese.

But the future is uncertain, once England is annexed, the demographic dividend of England is digested, and there are enough sailors, Marin will dare to suppress Portugal and boldly swallow the benefits of the Portuguese. Because, England has no shortage of sailors. As long as there were ships, they could rob the Portuguese of their overseas interests to their heart's content.

……

However, those preparations are all later. For now, Marin intends to take revenge on Rui first. Silva, he's not the one to swallow his anger when he's been violated.

Send a fleet directly to the Azores to beat the Rui . Silva certainly can't, that would be tantamount to declaring war on Portugal. So, we have to think of something else......

So, Marin called Kohler and asked:

"Where is this Silva fiefdom?"

After Kohler went back to check the information, he reported:

"In a mountainous area near the city of Bragança in northeastern Portugal......"

"Bragança?" Marin remembered the Bragança dynasty, which ruled Portugal after 1640. But now, apparently, the Duke of Bragança has nothing to do with the throne. Moreover, the Silva family is only an inconspicuous aristocratic family in the Duchy of Bragança.

After coming to his senses, Marin asked:

"What other industry does the Silva family have in their territory besides cork production?"

After Kohler flipped through the information, he said:

"Yes, there is viticulture and winemaking, as well as logging and timber processing. In addition, there is the cattle industry ......"

Marin thought for a moment and ordered:

"Well, you order the spies of the North Sea Kingdom in Portugal - from now on, do everything you can to attack all the estates of Barony Silva. Cork products we are in need of normal purchases. As for its wood processing industry...... Send someone to burn down the timber mill in Barony Silva, there must be a lot of timber there......"

"The wine industry...... Send someone to sneak into its winery in the middle of the night, smash the barrels, and let the wine flow all over the ground......"

"Cattle raising...... Not...... Send for them to be poisoned......

After the order, Marin sneered:

"Hmph, you want to take advantage of me? Let's go in the next life! ”

He estimated that after these things were done, the Silva family would lose at least tens of thousands of gold coins. Although it can't offset Marin's losses yet, Marin doesn't care either. He's just there to give Rui. Silva gave a warning, disgusting to the other party by the way. As for the loss, he has a lot of money and can afford to lose......