Spain, one of the pioneers of the Age of Discovery, from the fifteenth century, Spain has set its sights on the vast sea, intending to discover the New World, to rule, to plunder.

At that time, Portugal should be the most enthusiastic about finding the New World and discovering new routes, and the famous navigators in world history such as Prince Enrique, da Gama, and Magellan came from Portugal during this period, while Spain signed the famous "Treaty of Santa Fe" with the great navigator Columbus to jointly "develop" the so-called New World.

Spain was also one of the first colonial powers, having occupied Haiti in the early sixteenth century and used it as a base to conquer Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the entire West Indies.

Subsequently, they marched to the American continent, conquering Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile and other places, and by the middle of the sixteenth century, Spain occupied almost all of Central and South America except Brazil, establishing a huge colonial empire.

How powerful was Spain at that time?

Their strength alone does not reflect their strength, because at that time, neither the level of weapons and equipment nor the number of troops could be compared with modern times, and the mark of a country's strength in the Age of Discovery was the scope of its colonies.

At that time, Spain and Portugal successively signed the Treaty of Tordesillas and the New Covenant of Saragosa, these two treaties actually mean the same thing, that is, along the vicinity of the American continent, from the South Pole to the North Pole to draw a dividing line, all the colonies east of the dividing line belong to Portugal, and all the colonies west of the dividing line belong to Spain, that is, all the colonies in the world were divided between Spain and Portugal at that time!

The wealth brought by the colonies is immeasurable, according to statistics, from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century in less than three hundred years, Spain plundered about 2.5 million kilograms of gold from Central and South America alone, and about 100 million kilograms of silver!

This is only the income from gold and silver plunder, the income of corn, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cocoa, cotton, tobacco and other cash crops even exceeds the income of plundering gold and silver several times, the colonists opened plantations everywhere on the American continent, and controlled a large number of local indigenous people and blacks as slaves to engage in extremely hard labor in the plantations, according to statistics, from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century in less than three hundred years, the black slaves trafficked from Africa alone amounted to more than 15 million, at that time after the young and middle-aged slaves entered the plantations of the colonists, The average life expectancy is only seven years, and the intensity of its work can be imagined, and the number of cash crops planted is incalculable.

The huge income of the colonies created the myth of Spain's invincibility, at that time, whether on land or sea, Spain was a large number of powers on the European continent, and only a few countries in the whole European continent, such as Britain, France, Denmark, Sweden, etc., were not included in the rule of the Habsburgs led by Spain, and even Portugal was annexed by the Spanish Habsburgs in 1580.

During this period, Philip IV, the king of the Habsburg dynasty of Spain, was even known as the "king of the earth", which shows the strength of Spain.

At that time, the Spanish Habsburg royal family used the plundered gold and silver treasures for the royal family's extremely luxurious foreign luxury goods, rather than for the development of industry, resulting in Spain's comprehensive strength gradually being caught up and surpassed by the British.

The development of industry and commerce forced Britain to rush to find overseas commercial markets, and the innovation of shipbuilding and navigation technology further expanded Britain's ambition to seize the colonies, so Britain began to organize pirates to plunder Spanish ships carrying gold and silver, threatening Spain's rule over the American colonies.

King Philip II of Spain was so furious, in the case of political struggle and subversive activities to no avail, he began to organize a huge armada expedition to England, from 1588 to 1601, in just ten years, Spain organized a total of five warships up to hundreds of warships of the armada, from the sea to attack the British mainland, but, unfortunately, each time the armada encountered a storm at sea, before it reached England was blown away, five expeditions ended in failure.

The huge fleet, countless artillery, and the supply of tens of thousands of soldiers, as well as all kinds of supplies and equipment, the loss was quite staggering, and Spain fell into a financial crisis, so it was unable to cope with the rebellion of the Netherlands, so the Netherlands slowly rose, and Spain's supremacy at sea was slowly lost.

At this time, France, Denmark, and Sweden also attacked the Habsburgs in order to compete for land hegemony, setting off a war for hegemony in Europe that lasted for more than 30 years.

Zhang Bin did not know much about the history of the European continent, but he knew that Spain had entered a period of rapid decline at this time, and the position of maritime supremacy had been surrendered to the Netherlands, and the loss of maritime supremacy was simply a disaster for a huge colonial empire.

Without a strong navy, they could not guarantee the interests of the colonies, such as the Spanish invasion of the Far East or the surrounding areas of the Ming Dynasty is a clear example, from 1571, northern Luzon was gradually occupied by Spain, and the Netherlands only gradually set foot in the South Sea waters in 1606, in 1619 the Dutch East India Company established a colonial base in Batavia, but the final result was that the Netherlands occupied a dominant position in the Far East, including the trade of Dongying, including the colonial stronghold of Dongfan, Even the foreign trade of the Ming Dynasty ended up in the hands of the Dutch.

The reason why the Spanish colonists did nothing in the Far East, or was suppressed by the Dutch, was mainly because they lost their maritime hegemony and gradually began to decline, this process began at the end of the 16th century, after nearly 40 years, Spain has long been without the original "king of the earth" of the mighty and domineering, let alone in the Far East, in Europe they were pressed by the emerging powers such as Britain, France, the Netherlands, etc.

Therefore, Zhang Bin is not afraid of Spain at all, a great power at sunset, a country that can't even defend its own colonies is really nothing to be afraid of.

After the test of the light ironclad ship was completed, he immediately sent a clipper to Manila to inform the Spanish governor of Luzon, Coquela, that he would arrive in Manila in three days.

Why was he so sure he would be in Manila in three days?

Because Manila is not far from Dayuan, it is only more than 2,000 miles, and at the speed of a steamship, it can be reached in two days, if he doesn't have to go back to Dayuan to prepare, it will be faster to start directly from Kaohsiung, and it will take almost a day and a half to arrive.

Manila was originally a huge village inhabited by Luzon people, because it is located in the middle of the Ming Dynasty and the South Seas, the geographical location is unique, and there is a natural harbor of Manila Bay, where traders between the Ming Dynasty, Dongying and Nanyang often stop here, and it has gradually become a more developed trading area.

After the Spanish invasion of Luzon, they took a fancy to its location and built a huge star-shaped fortress at the junction of Manila Bay and Bashi River, which was later called the Spanish royal city, and since then it has become the center of Spanish rule in the Far East, and the Spanish Governor's Palace in Manila is also located here.

Early in the morning, a trumpet suddenly sounded in the royal city of Spain, and then groups of Spanish soldiers poured out of the royal city, quickly lined up on both sides of the road, and quickly extended forward, all the way to the port of Manila in the distance, the number of which was afraid that there were not thousands of people.

Immediately afterwards, hundreds of soldiers rushed directly into the port of Manila, driving away all the civilians on the port wharf, and all the merchant and fishing boats moored in the port were also driven away by them, and the entire port wharf was suddenly emptied.

Subsequently, officials from the royal city rushed to the port with dozens of servants, cleaned the grounds, arranged flowers, and were very busy.

What is this for?

The common people of Manila gathered in the distance and looked curiously, usually the garrisons in the royal city rarely appear in the civilian areas and ports outside, but today there are so many at once, there must be something big happening.

When they saw some servants placing flowers in the port, the onlookers showed a sudden look, it seemed that some big man was coming, but they really couldn't think of what big man was, even when the new governor came to take office, they didn't see the garrison in the royal city put up such a battle.

To their amazement, as soon as the servants who were cleaning the port had retreated, the governor of Manila, Coquela, was dressed in full costume and riding on a bantam horse, and with two teams of guards, dressed in fancy clothes, and headed straight for the port!

What kind of big man is this guy, even the Governor has to run out to greet him personally!

Of course, they didn't flee because they were afraid, the Spaniards were just more ferocious when they invaded Manila at the beginning, and when they established the royal city and began to rule here, they basically rarely showed their fangs, at least in Manila, so the people here were not very afraid of the Spaniards, and even many local women were married to the Spanish garrison.

The reason why they scattered was to go back and call relatives and friends, there was no movie and television at this time, and if you wanted to watch a big person, you had to watch it in person, and finally a big man was coming, and these people naturally wanted to call their relatives and friends to watch it together.

In a short time, the city of Manila was filled with countless people, all of whom were undoubtedly ordinary people who came to see the big shots.

The shores on both sides of the harbor were soon crowded with people, some of whom even accidentally fell into the sea, and when they climbed up in embarrassment, they would cause a burst of laughter.

Coqueira didn't pay any attention to this, he was holding up his binoculars and staring at the sea outside the harbor.

However, if one looks closely into his eyes, his eyes are not focused at all, and it is clear that he is not looking at the sea ahead, but thinking about the problem.

He was thinking, how to negotiate or settle when he met the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire, now the life of the Spanish garrison in Manila is really difficult, a few years ago they were able to transport countless silver and minerals from the American colonies through the ocean current, and exchange them for scarce commodities here, transport them back to the European continent, and make huge profits.

However, since the Ming Empire recovered the city of San Salvador in Formosa, the American fleet has rarely come, and the silver transported has become less and less, and his business of this in-demand commodity is almost unsuccessful.

Although his speculation in buying Dutch captives won the approval of His Majesty the King and he was re-elected governor of Manila, he still wanted to make money in business, and if he could not reap the benefits of in-demand goods, what was the point of him being a governor for decades!

This time the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire came over is a good opportunity, he wants the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire to open one or two ports for him in Formosa as a supply point, and take care of the fleet from the Americas a little, so that they will not be plundered by pirates, in this way, the fleet on the American side will definitely choose to take this route more and more, and he will earn more and more profits.

I just don't know if the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire is good to speak, he is very fierce to the Dutch, he not only drove the Dutch out of Formosa, but also occupied Batavia, the headquarters of the Dutch in the Far East!

That time really frightened him, he didn't know why the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire would fight with the Dutch, and he didn't know if the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire would beat him together.

He is quite clear about the strength of the Dutch, the Dutch navy is definitely one of the best in Europe at this time, and the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire can even capture their Batavia, and it is not easy to fight Manila.

Fortunately, the governor of the southeast of the Ming Empire did not lead an army to attack Manila at this time, and even said that he would come to visit when he had time.

To this end, he also wrote a report on the situation in the Far East, sent it back to the mainland, and handed it to His Majesty the King, asking His Majesty to give instructions on what attitude should be taken towards the Ming Empire.

At this time, Philip IV was overwhelmed by Britain, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden, where did he dare to provoke a strong enemy like the Ming Empire, which even the Dutch Navy could overturn, and his order to Coquela was very simple, no matter what, he must not provoke the Ming Empire, if he could make friends, try to make friends.

It just so happened that not long after he received the order of His Majesty the King, the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire sent someone to inform him that he was really coming to visit Manila.

Coquilla naturally didn't dare to slack off, whether it was for his own money or to curry favor with the Ming Empire, he had to stammer with the Ming Empire, the governor of the southeast.

He was thinking about it there when the civilians on both sides of the port suddenly exploded with a "coax".

What's going on? Nothing must happen at this time!

He hurriedly put down his binoculars and looked at both sides of the port, fortunately, nothing happened, the civilians on both sides of the port just pointed to the sea outside the port, and there was a lot of discussion, excitement was excitement, but there was no excess.

He didn't pay attention to the sea just now, but when he turned his head again, he found that a row of dense black spots appeared on the sea.

He hurriedly raised his binoculars and looked in the direction of the black dot, my God, what a huge fleet this is!