……

This is much the case with the major large (because there are also readily available iron ores) iron ore mines in the United States.

However, the coal mines were in a more advantageous position for the Spaniards to exploit.

The Appalachian Mountains in the eastern region of the United States run through the eastern part of the United States. There are extensive and abundant Appalachian coalfields.

……

Unfortunately, the richest coalfields are located in Pennsylvania, and although Spain has a New York stronghold on the coast, it does not yet have the strength to penetrate deep into the interior of Pennsylvania.

However, as early as 1492, Ferdinand demarcated a "Feng Shui Treasure Land" in the south of North America.

The Appalachian coalfields stretch south to the Gulf of Mexico – the Alabama Coalfield, and near this coalfield there is abundant iron ore and limestone on an industrial scale in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. This place is the industrial city of Birmingham in the southeastern United States.

Even better, Birmingham is also navigated by the Tombigbee River to Mobile Bay, a small bay in the Gulf of Mexico. This place is easy to get to – originally historically, the Spaniards arrived at Mobile Bay as early as 1519. By 1540, a Spanish expedition of 500 men had traveled through the entire Alabama region.

……

"Well, agriculture in the Alabama region is also rich in cotton, soybeans, and peanuts, which can be used as an important industrial and agricultural base in North America." Ferdinand was very interested in Alabama. Alabama, which means "I carved out a barren forest area", was rich in resources and easy to control, and could be considered as a major Spanish base in North America in the early days.

It's not just Birmingham, the port of Mobile Bay – the only seaport city in the Alabama region – is located at the confluence of the Mobile River (where the Tombigbee River meets the Alabama River) and Mobile Bay, and the inland waterway between Mobile and Birmingham can be used to transport large quantities of goods.

In this way, Birmingham could become the center of the steel industry in North America, and Mobile could build a shipyard to directly expand the fleet in the Americas.

However, in the next three years, the voyage to the Americas, the climbing of the technology tree, the Italian war, and the continued expansion of the Americas made Ferdinand forget about it, so that when planning the voyage to the Americas, he only focused on New Orleans, Savannah, Philadelphia, Boston, and other large cities in the United States.

But now the United States is completely wild, and the resources of the interior have not been developed, and the role of these large cities is not so significant.

So in terms of the early major bases, for Spain that is now short of coal and iron and is eager to gain a foothold in North America, places like Mobile and Birmingham in Alabama are better bases — and in the Gulf of Mexico, hehe, this is the first place where Spain came.

In the Gulf of Mexico, Spain occupied the island of Hispaniola, and the fleet ran through the West Indies and the mainland coastline. It is the destination of the shortest route from mainland Spain to the New World, and as long as Spain's own maritime power is sufficient, no country can compete with Spain on the Gulf Coast.

That's why Ferdinand was in such a hurry after he realized that he had forgotten to send a detachment of the Reclamation Corps to Mobile and Birmingham. So much so that a piece of Chinese porcelain was dropped.

"It seems that there is one more stronghold in North America......" Ferdinand considered.

"Next year, play hard! A total of 20,000 people will be sent to the Americas throughout the year! Completely establish Spanish control over the Americas, especially North America! Ferdinand made up his mind.

Speaking of the Reclamation Corps sent to the Americas, now, the vast majority of the Reclamation Corps is under the control of Ferdinand. At first more than a thousand people were mainly Castilian troops, but then, Ferdinand in the 1495 year had more than two thousand Aragonese sent to the New World. Of the 20,000 people who were to go to America in 1496, there were 2,000 Castilians—a far more than the historical number, but the Aragonese were 18,000! Ninety percent of the cantonment corps went to the New World, and the Castilian army in the cantonment corps of Brazil, Panama, and New York was also under Ferdinand's command. The forces directly under the official Castile are mainly in the Caribbean. And with the expansion in 1496, Aragon also increased its military projection to the West Indies.

This is not surprising, because Ferdinand was clever enough (he proposed all the development plans for the Americas) and hard enough (the king himself led a team to expand the territory of the New World, so he asked if you have seen it?). And even more important enough! Don't forget, the treasury is now full, but that's the money Aragone's money, or more precisely, Ferdinand's private income to subsidize the state, so Aragorn can send as many people as he wants, and Castile can't be so unscrupulous.

Queen Isabella had nothing to say, because Ferdinand had already put more effort into it than most Europeans could have imagined, and who would have thought that this man would send 20,000 men to the New World next year and open ten new strongholds! - And the maps and charts of the whole of America were obtained by Ferdinand from the countries of the Far East (in fact, Ferdinand hid more detailed information himself). What is even more amazing is that Ferdinand is ready to go around the southern tip of the Americas to Chile, and then from Chile to the west across the entire "The-Pacific-Ocean", directly to the real China, Japan, the "Southern Continent" (Australia and New Zealand) and the "Spice Islands" (Maluku Islands), and truly go west to the East.

Ferdinand naturally had his own considerations, and he was worried about ten years from now...... Isn't it, the Castilian nobility isn't that easy to stop, is it? Ferdinand was sure to put strong pressure on the Castilian nobility. The original owner's control of Juana, the use of the queen's edict and the use of military pressure at the same time can be used - Ferdinand was very interested in the application of military pressure, so except for the Spanish phalanx shared between the Castile and Aragon armies - 1502-1505 to fight the French! State-of-the-art arquebuses, revolver muskets (assassination weapons?) and important weapons such as flintlock pistols, as well as powerful naval guns, he stuffed them into the Aragonese army and the Mediterranean fleet.

Naturally, there could be no chaos in the Americas, and if the vast majority of the cantonment corps were in Ferdinand's hands, then the Americas would be able to maintain stability—controlled by Ferdinand's stability. Although he did not want the situation to develop to the point of civil war - if the civil war broke out, no one would have good fruit to eat, but he had to let himself have more and more weighty cards in his hands, and when the time came for a showdown, he could subdue the Castilian nobles, and he had to make them realize that if the civil war started, I just wouldn't be able to eat good fruit, and you guys would be sure to break down and gnaw mud! Also, Is it bad to be alive?

……