However, Ferdinand's good (lucky) wishes (heart) and hope (reason) were hit by reality. The Moroccans attacked so uninterestingly, and without self-control, that Ferdinand was so annoyed that even the turkey of the box day was tasteless.

……

"Alas...... Despite the acceptance of Tunisia as a protectorate, I did not want to be an enemy of the Wattas dynasty. And yet......" Ferdinand shook his head helplessly.

“…… Now it's time to teach them a lesson! ”

As for the handling of Northwest Africa, Ferdinand was a little undecided.

For Spain, the conquest of the Maghreb region of north-west Africa seemed like a "geographical mission" for the Iberian Peninsula, yet at the same time it peered into Italy and the Americas.

The development of things has changed from quantitative to qualitative. From 1492 to 1510, in terms of historical performance, Spain's strategic actions, under the leadership of Ferdinand's original lord, were fairly decent, forming many points and lines from Melilla to Algiers.

At this time, the number of strongholds and lines of defense accumulated to a certain extent, and it reached a "critical state".

Both the colonies and the occupied territories should be able to provide raw materials, capital, and markets to the local population, and even if they are poor, they should also be able to obtain supplies from the local area to feed the war. And this requires the colony to form a certain size, just as arable land is better concentrated and contiguous, so that it can be developed on a large scale and produce satisfactory results.

It was not that North Africa was without an economic base, and it was not that it was unable to support the Spanish garrison, but Spain in North Africa at that time had only points and lines separating each other and scattered along the coast, and those strongholds and fortresses were separated from the vast towns and villages of the peaceful inhabitants, and Spain only captured a fortress, a port, and even a fort, but ignored the vast hinterland around it.

This hinterland does not refer to the uninhabited Sahara Desert in southern Algeria, but to a belt of urban-rural distribution along the coastline to a depth of 200 kilometers inland. North Africa's people, wealth, towns, villages, livestock, and pastures are all distributed among them, constituting a relatively complete North African agricultural society.

In terms of history, before and after, if Spain had been based on these important strongholds......

“…… If we muster enough forces to destroy the two Maghreb dynasties east of Morocco, Spain will be able to form a deep strip of North African territory along the coast of Northwest Africa, along the city of Melilla to Tripoli......" Ferdinand looked at the map of the Maghreb coast, contemplating this method that was admired by later historians.

In the case of the Western Mediterranean, such a solution is certainly an excellent and timely idea!

If, in the form of a continuum of "Spanish North Africa", as in French North Africa, ruled Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripolitania, then Spain would rule a stable colonial society, and the Spanish crown would replace the Berber sultans who had occupied the area, impose taxes, and provide the army with local provisions, as the Ottoman Empire later did in Algeria and Tunisia.

As for stability, you know, the biggest threat to peace is not that it exists alone, but that it is mixed with something else.

Take, for example, the Russian Empire, including its successor, the Soviet Union, and what is now the former Soviet Union. In Central Asia, the Russians, who were advancing rapidly, and the pacifist peoples of Central Asia who were conquered, actually lived in "two worlds", and the Russians and the Central Asian peoples each had their own vast and historical settlements, and there was no deep intersection in the past. The education of the pacifists was still carried out by their mullahs, and the Russians did only a few things to strengthen the central rule and increase revenues - railways, cotton planting, the abolition of slavery, taxes, governors. That's all. The conquerors and the conquered have not changed from each other, they actually live in different worlds separated by barriers of language, religion and customs.

As a result, there has been little clamor for the religious conversion of indigenous peoples, and not many holy warriors have chanted for Allahu Akbar.

The mixed situation in the Caucasus is quite different. The same is true of Andalusia and Granada, where the fierce clash between Christianity and peace religion, between European peoples and Asian and African peoples, is full of blood and hatred.

For the Iberian Peninsula and Northwest Africa, the combination of geographically separated but not moat-separated by the Mediterranean and the relatively close but not inseparable ties in history and culture, just as the relations between Russia and Central Asia are confirmed by the respective events in history, and there is no need for fierce religious struggles and vendettas in North Africa - the Maghreb under the Spanish monarchy, a land of tranquility and vicissitudes. It is possible to realize this kind of thinking.

The timing was also critical. Of course, personal struggle is inseparable from the itinerary of history.

The phrase "no more good time" refers not only to the decline of the three Maghreb states, but also to a brief period of weakness for the Ottoman Empire, especially at sea.

At that time, the Venetian fleet was able to compete with the fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Turks were far away from Northwest Africa, Istanbul could not interfere with the affairs of the Maghreb, and the nomadic Berber tribes of the Maghreb did not know much about and admired the Turkic peoples who had emerged in Asia Minor. Egypt is in the middle, along with Rhodes, the Ionian Islands, Thessaloniki and Cyprus, the stubborn strongholds of Christendom in the Eastern Mediterranean. The discipline of the French had not yet completely collapsed to the point of alliance with the Turks, at least the Sultan's naval Pasha could not command the Turkish fleet to visit the port of Toulon in a grand manner.

One by one, Spain uprooted the important cities of the Berbers. The victories of 1509 to 1510 were particularly exciting, but after easily defeating Algiers, which he was never able to capture again, Ferdinand's energy was drawn to the Italian wars – and he died in the middle of the war, winning His Majesty Charles V, who tied Spain to the death of the Holy Roman Empire and the war between continental Europe......

At the same time, the Spaniards believed that America was easier to conquer than North Africa, and that Milan was more worthy of protection than Tunisia, so the conquest plan for North Africa fell through.

With no contiguous colonies, only scattered discontinuous strongholds surrounded by hostilities, these fortresses were threatened but unable to get supplies from the surrounding areas, and maintaining them was a huge burden on the homeland.

The Turks became stronger, they welcomed Barbarossa, who had defected to the Turks, they sent troops to capture Penon, Algiers and other places were lost one after another, the expelled Moors and Moriscos, the earlier Berber fishermen and pirates, the Italian apostates, and the Turks behind the scenes, and the local wavering indigenous chiefs, all these forces combined to threaten Spain, and the result was not only the complete collapse of the garrison border in Northwest Africa, but also the sea power and maritime power in the Western Mediterranean, The damage to property was severe, contributing to the bankruptcy of the Spanish government, and the gold and silver shipped from the Americas were not unscathed.

And those reasons for abandoning North Africa are ridiculous. As far as the Americas and North Africa are concerned, Ferdinand undoubtedly attaches more importance to the Americas than anyone else, but he knows that there is no contradiction between the two, because until 1510 Spain only occupied scattered strongholds, and did not organize large-scale expeditions, and during the same period, the exploration of the Americas made very few achievements, almost stopped, and there is no doubt that this is the pot that Ferdinand himself did not attach importance to the Americas, and could not let the Americas or North Africa carry it. If you really pay attention to the Americas, as Ferdinand is doing now, by 1510 the basic situation of the Americas was stable, and it was not difficult to fight a North African kingdom.

As for the covetousness of northern Italy, Ferdinand had nothing to say, it can only be said that it was the consequence of Spain being tied to the chariot by the Holy Roman Empire, and he would not carry this pot.

So, Ferdinand came up with his long-term plan

“…… This brought me to the idea that our long-term goal should be to establish a flank position in the Western Mediterranean, the Spanish Maghreb. Ferdinand proposed this grand plan to Isabella.

"I also deeply agree, both for the safety of Castile and Aragone, and for the fulfillment of the mission given by God."

"But," Ferdinand said, "this is not our focus now, my focus has always been on the development of the New World, and I will not do anything more than 3,000 troops in North Africa next year, because we have more than 20,000 men waiting to land on the other side of the Atlantic, which will cost us most of our transport ships and at least half of our armed merchant ships in Valencia in the Bay of Biscay, and we have no spare energy to act in North Africa." ”

"That's right, not to mention that the French are still entrenched in Naples." Queen Isabella also felt the limitations of Spain's strength, frowning slightly, the current plate duck is at a critical moment in history, and it is easy to drop the chain everywhere.

A more positive attitude collides with a heavier task. Stronger power meets bigger plans. History seems to have been neutralized again.

"So we're still going to wait until 1497?" Ferdinand's inexplicable emotion made the queen a little incomprehensible.

"It wasn't a friendly vintage......