"No, Your Majesty the Queen Mother!" Archbishop Regent Enrique's eyebrows jumped, and he stretched out his withered right hand from his lenient robe, and whispered to stop:

"I'm afraid the English have other intentions for such behavior!"

The Queen Mother rolled her eyes, and her face was a little solemn.

"You mean, the English are plotting against us Portugal?"

"Yes!" Nodding, Archbishop Enrique continued:

"A while ago, I heard that the English went to meet Philip II and asked to persecute our country together and share the trade of the East!"

"And Philip II did not agree because of the checks and balances of the Entente, and the ambassador of England left with a smile on his face, and now it seems that they have long been dissatisfied with us!"

His Excellency the Archbishop sighed and said.

"Aren't the English afraid of our navy?" The Queen Mother hurriedly asked.

"Alas! According to the information I have received, the number of warships owned by the English is already about the same as ours, and if a fight starts, the Spaniards will be the last to profit! ”

As the regent of Portugal, Archbishop Enrique naturally knew a lot about politics, and he explained politics to Her Majesty the Queen Mother.

"The Spaniards have always coveted our trade, and now the English are just a temptation, and I think it won't be long before the English will go to war with us!"

"How can it be, there can be no more war!" Queen Catherine immediately shook her head and refused.

"The current Portugal cannot afford any war!"

Today's Portuguese Empire has vast colonies in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as numerous trading posts, such as Macau in China.

But in fact, Portugal has a population of only two million, and it does not have much population to maintain this huge empire, and most of the current overseas colonization is maintained by mercenaries, let alone to fight a war.

Of course, if the population is not large, it can be hired for money, but it is surprising that Portugal wrote about this huge colonial empire, and there was no money in the treasury.

The profits of the Oriental trade, as well as the gold and silver of the Americas, directly caused inflation, bankrupted the peasantry, and the gold and silver obtained were either squandered by the aristocracy or flowed into England, France, and the Netherlands.

For example, every year Portugal imports large quantities of raw meat, timber and furs from England, cloth from the Netherlands, and grain from France.

By the middle of the sixteenth century, the Portuguese empire had declined.

"Let's make peace! We agree to allow England to stop at our trading post for replenishment and repair, under certain conditions! Her Majesty the Queen Mother thought about the current treasury of Portugal, and then recalled the lazy soldiers, and said helplessly.

"It's all a matter of time, just get there early!"

The Queen Mother seemed to be unable to stand the fact that the Portuguese Empire was in decline, wiped her eyes with thick foundation, whispered a word of rudeness, and walked away quickly.

Watching the Queen Mother leave, Archbishop Enrique glanced up at her back, blinked his cloudy eyes, sighed, and staggered away.

Mediocre leaders, extravagant aristocrats, bankrupt agriculture, a large number of competitors were the reasons for the decline of the Portuguese Empire.

His Majesty Edward VI was only slightly surprised when the Portuguese ambassador came to deliver the news that the English were allowed to make reasonable use of the Portuguese trading post and that the shipping routes were to be shared, and then he consulted with the Portuguese ambassador as if nothing had happened.

"Your Majesty, the Portuguese have indeed succumbed!" Prime Minister William. Sersi looked at the somewhat lonely figure of the Portuguese ambassador and sighed.

"Of course, Portugal, a huge empire, is currently just a foreign power, and with a slight poke, it will reveal its prototype!"

Edward smiled and whispered, not seeming to take Portugal, a colonial empire of tens of millions of square kilometers, in his eyes.

In fact, decades ago, Portugal had to abandon its four strongholds in North Africa, namely Safi, Azemol, Alcassel-Segal and Al Zira, leaving only Ceuta and Tangier in Morocco.

And during the reign of the previous king, João III, Portugal pursued a policy of complete or near-isolation, preferring to endure humiliation rather than go to war or form alliances with other European powers, and Portugal seemed to be fully engaged in trade.

At this time, Portugal could only scare countries weaker than it, and for England of the same level, in Edward's eyes, these were just showmen, not worth mentioning.

Of course, our Prime Minister William was limited in his vision, and did not see the slow decline of Portugal, and naturally made a fuss about the submission of the Portuguese.

"Your Majesty, in this way, it can be expected that there will definitely be more financial enhancements next year!" The Prime Minister looked at His Majesty the King and said respectfully.

"Yes! The kingdom will definitely make great progress in the trade of the East! His Majesty the King sighed.

"These are all the credit of Your Majesty, the issuance of privateer licenses can not only harvest a large amount of wealth and control the huge pirates, but also open up the kingdom's eastern trade!"

The Portuguese monopoly on trade in the East was not only due to their monopoly on the seafaring routes, but also in the fact that they occupied most of the strongholds along the African coast, which were the main support points for the trade in the East.

Cooperating with the Portuguese is tantamount to sharing the mature routes opened up by the Portuguese over the past century, saving a lot of manpower and financial resources of the British in one fell swoop, at least omitting more than ten years of effort.

The English made a fortune.

"Now that the agreement has been signed, then let those pirates attack the Portuguese lightly, and the Spaniards will be rich!"

"Ahh Be! The Prime Minister then looked at his majesty in disbelief, and when he received the affirmative gaze of His Majesty the King, he relented and hurriedly responded.

"Anglo-Spanish relations are about to break down? What is His Majesty thinking? Unable to suppress the thoughts in his heart, His Excellency the Prime Minister quietly retired and left the office.

Looking at the Prime Minister, whose footsteps were a little chaotic, Edward put away his smile and thought:

"I'm also going to fight with the Portuguese to see what the strength of the navy is, who would have thought that the Portuguese would give in directly!"

"For the sake of today, only the Spaniards are in front of England!"

His Majesty frowned and thought.

The early detonation of the Dutch Revolution was just to consume Spain's national strength, and then plundered Spain's treasure ships, which would make its original finances even worse.

"But that's not enough! Spain's Mediterranean fleet is still huge! ”

"It seems that the only way to occupy the Ceuta area of the Portuguese is to occupy it!"