……

Historically, the 90% rate of the wedding fleet has some positive significance, in addition to making Ferdinand sigh and take it as a warning.

At least it proves one thing - Spain is more powerful than you think!

Don't think that the Europeans were very low when the three ships sailed to the Americas, people are really serious, and the scale of the pie should not be underestimated!

And Castile's fleet of 110 ships, 10,000 sailors and soldiers was also made up by Castile himself, not counting Aragon's mobilization potential!

Aragon was also a maritime power, and the inhabitants of the Catalan province crossed the Tyrrhenian Sea to Alghero, west of Sardinia, and established the Catalan colony. Until the 21st century, the inhabitants of Alghero in Sardinia still spoke Catalan – even though Catalonia had long since lost its independence and its status in Spain was in decline.

All these resources and potentials have provided a solid foundation and footnote for Ferdinand's grand plan to sail to the Americas!

……

Provided, of course, that this costly event does not happen "again".

It's definitely not going to happen now. Even Archduke Philip was tossed by Ferdinand's "despicable methods" to the point that he had a severe cold and neurosyphilis, and died so much that he could no longer die.

If Maximilian I knew the truth, let alone recognize the throne of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires with Ferdinand, it would be good not to completely break off diplomatic relations with Castile and Aragon, or even declare war. Having said that, it is estimated that it is impossible to declare war, after the old emperor fought the collapse of Switzerland, the throne was almost unable to sit still, and then declared war with the Spanish side? If nothing else, the French and German princes must have died laughing, when in reality the two countries did not share a border at all. Therefore, the old emperor still has to be coaxed.

After all, the current Habsburg is not an imperial dynasty that lasts for hundreds of years, and people have been in charge of the HRE for half a century, and there are many people who want to overturn the Habsburgs to the ground.

The achievement of Habsburg requires not only the strength and luck of the clam, but also the obscurity and forbearance of Gou.

……

However, Maximilian I apparently would never have known about this unpleasant event, and now Marguerite became the Archduchess of Flanders because of the impact of it. Although this happened in violation of Salic law, it was carried out because Philip had no other heirs and was supported by Maximilian I. As for the attitude of France? It was supposed to be important, but now that the two sides have fought each other - and it is the European countries that are besieging France, so the beaten France has no say at the moment.

Whether this is good for Spain, whether there is any hope of taking over Flanders through marriage, at present, Ferdinand has little to do, it is still necessary to manage the core forces of Spain and strengthen those territories that can be strongly controlled. For example, maintaining and strengthening the alliance of Castile and Aragon, and strengthening its control over the three main provinces of Aragon. These tasks were more important than trying to master extra-European territories such as Flanders. The most coveted of the outlying territories was the Kingdom of Naples in southern Italy, which was not as wealthy as Flanders, but was also a fairly wealthy part of Europe, and its inhabitants had a high degree of identification with Spanish rule. It is also geographically easy to control: to the north is the Papal States, with no strong enemies; East of the Otranto Strait, a key point to defend against the Ottoman Empire.

……

In 1496, the list of strongholds in the New World to be controlled included thirteen strongholds spanning tens of thousands of kilometers from northern North America to southern South America.

Montreal (Canada)

Cape Breton Island (Canada)

Boston, Massachusetts

Martha's Vineyard (Massachusetts)

New Orleans (Louisiana)

Mobile (Alabama

Birmingham (Alabama)

Near Havana and Moa, Cuba (West Indies)

Grenada (West Indies)

Bahamas (West Indies)

Turks and Caicos Islands (West Indies)

Valparaiso (Central Chile)

Antofagasta (Northern Chile)

To achieve this, Castile and Aragon would need to commit at least twice the size of the historical "dowry fleet" in order to carry out a series of conquests.

Thus, the Castilian fleet, which was to be sent to Flanders, was replaced by a large fleet of equal size assembled in the port of Cádiz. 110 ships, about 10,000 people, and their target will be the American continent, thousands of kilometers away.

The fact that such a large fleet had to cross the stormy Atlantic Ocean to reach the wild western continent might have been considered crazy by anyone else at the time who might have thought Ferdinand was too mad to be mad. But Ferdinand didn't think it was impossible.

In 1496, no Western country had ever organized such a large-scale voyage, but in the East, Zheng He's fleet had achieved such a large-scale voyage - although it was less difficult to follow the route opened by the Arabs than the oceanic route, but the transatlantic route that Spain had already run several times, and it was able to follow a more reasonable and safe route.

And in the West, in 1493 in history, which may be the year when the Spaniards were most enthusiastic about the American continent before Charles V - among countless wonderful legends and dreams, including many high-class and noble children, a fleet of 17 ships and 1,500 men set off under the leadership of Columbus and successfully arrived in the Americas along the ocean current, this time the fleet equivalent to one-sixth of the wedding fleet successfully made a soft landing under the command of the expert Columbus, and the voyage was reduced by 17 days - Because of the monsoon and ocean currents.

It was a good rehearsal. In 1493, Ferdinand personally led the expedition to the Americas, and expanded the size of the fleet to twice the size of the same period in history, reaching more than 3,000 people.

Fifty or sixty years later, the treasure convoy escorted by Spanish galleons sailing in the Atlantic, which was large in scale and had good combat effectiveness—enough to fight off pirates—could break 100 ships and 10,000 people if two or three, three or four of them were put together.

The technology to build the new Galen ships of the second half of the 16th century was already able to be eaten well by the shipyards of Aragon after four years of drawing education and the introduction of a large number of seafaring talents from England, Flanders, Italy and even Northern Europe.

That is to say, in 1496, Castile and Aragon, with the support of Ferdinand, organized a fleet of 10,000 people to sail to the Americas, and there were no insurmountable or difficult obstacles to overcome in technology and practice, and there was not much pressure and concern in terms of ideology - anyway, Ferdinand and Columbus were both masters who liked to play big tickets.