"What? Sanchez, what do you say? ”

Juan. The door to José's office was opened at once, and then the long face of the Spanish prime minister was seen.

"Prime Minister, I say that the Ming occupied the port of Acapulco, located on the Pacific side of New Spain, and that they raised the banner of 'liberating the Americans, establishing a republic, and overthrowing the Spanish monarchy'!"

"What? Down with the Spanish monarchy? And to establish a republic? "Juan. Jose was stunned, "Are they really Ming people?" It can't be the radical republicans in the Netherlands or the Cromwellians in England? ”

"No, no," Sánchez said as he handed over a letter from Mexico City from the Vice-King of New Spain, "Prime Minister, you better see for yourself, this is a personal letter from the Duke of Avar. ”

Juan. José grabbed the envelope, pulled out the stationery, walked briskly to his desk, and looked through the dim candlelight. The letter is from Juan. A friend of José's, Antonio, the 7th Duke of Avar. Written by Alvarez. In the letter, this Antonio. Álvarez told Juan. Jose Five Bad News!

First, the galleon fleet engaged in trade between Asia and the Americas was raided and captured by the Ming army stationed there while passing through the Ryukyu Island, and eight Spanish Galen ships of four or five hundred deadweight tons, together with 16,700 brave Spanish sailors and officers and soldiers on it, all fell into the hands of the insidious and evil Ming army!

Seeing this news, Jose was taken aback: I didn't expect the Ming people to be so insidious now! They weren't like this in the past, Acapulco has been the home port of galleon trade for more than a hundred years, and has never been watched by the Ming people, this must be a good thing done by the republican general!

The second is that the Ming people have mastered the route map from the Ming mainland to the Americas through torture and seized charts! They then sent a large expeditionary fleet, including eight captured Spanish Galen ships and a hundred British-style Galen ships built in Daming, carrying a full twelve thousand soldiers, to launch a surprise attack on the unsuspecting port of Acapulco!

Colonel Fernández, the commander of the infantry regiment in Puerto Acapulco, was still unable to resist the attack of the Ming after a bloody battle, and in the end, less than 100 men of the 3,000-man phalanx infantry regiment fled back to Mexico City. A whole Phalanx infantry regiment!

Jose gasped: I really didn't expect the Ming people to be so able to fight! You can actually kill an entire Spanish phalanx infantry regiment with 12,000 men!

The third is that the Duke of Avar, after learning of the Ming people's sneak attack on Acapulco, immediately sent five phalanx infantry regiments to try to recapture the lost port. As a result, they were ambushed by the Ming outside the city of Puerto Acapulco, and thousands of men were killed and captured, while the rest withdrew to the foot of Mount Potre, northeast of Puerto Acapulco, and fortified.

Seeing this, Jose couldn't help but complain about his good friend - this Duke of Avar can't fight, how could five phalanx infantry regiments, 15,000 people, be defeated by 12,000 enemies? No, the enemy should not have twelve thousand, how can a Spanish phalanx infantry regiment be annihilated before a thousand people should be lost, right?

And the fourth bad news. It was the Ming general named Geng Dongzheng who landed in Acapulco who gave a speech entitled "Long live GH!" in the municipal square of Acapulco. Down with the Monarchy's speech!

In his speech, the Ming general lashed out at the brutal rule of the Spanish crown in the New World, and declared the establishment of a republican colonial city-state in Acapulco, in which all whites, native-borns, Indo-Europeans, and Indians who wished to remain in Acapulco would become citizens of this glorious republican city-state, and would have the right to participate in citizens' assemblies, freedom of religion, inviolability of property, and the right to acquire a piece of arable land outside Acapulco to ensure that they would not be confined to poverty.

José was stunned when he saw this! This Geng Dongzheng can't be a guy wearing an ancient Greek robe and a laurel wreath on his head, right?

But the three kingdoms of the Ming, Qing and Zhou dynasties, which now rule the territory of the Ming Dynasty, also seem to have emperors! How did they come to a republic?

Thinking of this, Jose asked his secretary, the knowledgeable Sanchez: "Sanchez, when did this Ming become a GH country?" ”

Sanchez replied: "Mr. Prime Minister. The original territory of the Ming Dynasty was divided into three parts, ruled by three rival dynasties of the Ming, Qing, and Zhou, and the supreme rulers of these three dynasties were all supreme emperors. ”

Jose was surprised: "They themselves are emperors, and they still have the face to export the republican system everywhere?" ”

"Prime Minister. They practiced a republic with an emperor! ”

"A republic with an emperor?" Jose was a little no, "What do you mean?" ”

"There is an emperor, but the emperor does not hold real power, but the general or prime minister holds real power together with the Senate and the Citizens' Assembly, and the Ming people also call this system a republic."

"This is the Republic?" José frowned, "The monarch does not hold real power, and the prime minister and the council are in power together. Sanchez, do you think this system is familiar? Where have you seen it? ”

"Yes, it's familiar." Sanchez shrugged, "Like. We're a bit like Spain! Now it is clearly impossible for the king of Spain to be in power, and the queen mother is no longer regent. The power of the state is in the hands of you, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain, and the ancient Council of the Kingdom. ”

Jose made a calm face: "That is, those Ming people are exporting their republican claims to a republic like them?" ”

"No, our Kingdom of Spain is not exactly like them." Sánchez said, "The Ming emperor of the Ming Dynasty was not an intellectually unsound monarch. The reason why he did not actually hold power was based on a system known as the 'original king', not on his intelligence. And in Spain, if in the future there is an intellectually sound monarch who inherits the throne, then you have to return the power to the monarch. Therefore, the republic of Spain is temporary, and the royal government is lasting. And the republic of the Ming Dynasty is long-lasting, and the royal government does not exist! ”

"This" Jose said: if Spain is forced to become a republic like the Ming Dynasty, then I will only have to hold real power all the time? This republic doesn't seem to be impossible! If I had learned from the Ming and been a republican prime minister who had always held real power, would they have retreated from Acapulco? It doesn't seem like that good, right?

At this time, Sánchez added: "Prime Minister, the general of the Ming Republic has also granted citizenship to all who wish to stay in Acapulco, regardless of his religion, wherever he was born, whether his skin is white, yellow or brown. In Acapulco, Spaniards, native whites, mestizos and Indians, are equal citizens! ”

"That's not going to work!" Juan. José immediately shouted, "If the Spanish Empire implements such a system, the empire will cease to exist, all the colonies and royal territories outside the peninsula will seek independence, and we will lose everything!"

Our Spanish peninsula itself has only six million people, while the entire empire has at least twenty million people! If all 20 million people had citizenship, the Spaniards would be a minority in the country. And why are the citizens of the colonies and the royal territories who have citizenship willing to pay all kinds of exorbitant taxes for the endless war? And on what basis did the lowly Indians endure the oppression of their ancestors in the land where they lived? ”

This Juan. José, who was the "intellectually superior" figure of the Habsburgs, immediately understood that he could not transform the Spanish Empire into a republic, because the country was full of undisguised oppression and inequality! Moreover, the Indians, who made up the majority of the population of the empire, and the mixed Indo-European people, in some parts of the American colonies, were simply inferior to slaves.

Because slave owners also need to consider the life and death of slaves, and those Spanish governors who use the forcibly conscripted Native Americans to develop silver and gold mines do not have to think about the life and death of laborers at all, and they can continue to be forcibly conscripted when they die!

Juan. José immediately said to his secretary: "Draw me two letters, one to the Marquis of Asenta of the Dutch Legion, asking him to immediately hand over command to Gaspart. Morality. Weiss, and then immediately came to Madrid and said that I, along with the Spanish Empire and our New Spain, need his military ability!

The other letter was addressed to our ambassador to the Netherlands, Pedro. LONGIRO. Briceno told him about the Ming attack on Acapulco, and ordered him to go and negotiate with the Prince of Orange at once: Spain was now fighting France for the independence of the Netherlands! So the Netherlands is also obliged to go to war with Spain against the Ming Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty! If the Prince of Orange is unwilling to fulfill his obligations as an ally, then Spain will have to withdraw from the war with France! ”

When William III, Prince of Orange, met with the Spanish ambassador to The Hague and learned from him that the Ming had invaded Acapulco and that Spain was preparing for war against the Ming Dynasty, he was so shocked that he could barely speak.

Or his new wife, Mary, who looks a little "fat and round". Princess Stuart was quick to respond, and asked the Spanish ambassador in fluent Latin: "Mr. Ambassador, are you mistaken?" Daming is a whole Pacific Ocean away from Acapulco! How could they possibly invade there? Where are they going after all their raids in Acapulco? The entire Pacific coast of the New World was a Spanish possessions, right? ”

The Spanish ambassador, an elderly nobleman who looked a little dry, replied with a calm face: "Your Royal Highness, this matter cannot be mistaken. Because now Acapulco is still in the hands of the Ming people! ”

"What? You didn't reclaim there? These Orange Princes couldn't help but exclaim.

Although the current Spanish army is no longer first-class, it is not even a small Ming army that has crossed the sea, can not be defeated?

"They have a lot of them!" "They dispatched 108 galleons with a deadweight of more than 500 tons to transport 12,000 heavily armed soldiers to Acapulco at once!" ”

"What? How is this possible? "The Prince of Orange doesn't know what to say.

108 Galen ships with a deadweight of 500 tons. That's a total of more than 50,000 tons of deadweight tons! The total tonnage is less than that of the Dutch Navy.

If the Ming people want to have such strength, then the Dutch East India Company is still so mixed?

"Impossible! When pigs fly! William III shook his head repeatedly, "It is impossible for the Ming people to have so many large Galen ships. They had no more than 10 armed Galen ships with a deadweight of more than 500 tons. ”

"Your Royal Highness, do you doubt the authenticity of the report submitted to Madrid by the Vice-King of New Spain?" The Ambassador of Spain asked.

That must be suspicious!

William III said in his heart: What are the things about all those officials sent by Spain to the New World, that stupid king does not know, and you ambassador does not know? If they were honest and reliable people, how could I possibly become the Prince of Orange? My grandfather's generation should have been defeated by Spain!

In fact, the Spanish ambassador also knew that the report of the vice-king of New Spain must be nonsense. Most of this goods are too much empty food, so there are not enough troops to drive away the Ming people entrenched in the port!

Alas, the current Spain is no longer the Spain that could dream of conquering the Ming Dynasty with 20,000 men during the time of Philip II

William III was still quite clever, and he probably understood what was going on by this time? What a bitterness in my heart! How did I end up with this ally? Is there anything that is more reliable? Can you still beat Louis XIV like this?

"Well," William III didn't do it, he couldn't fall out with the Habsburgs now, or else he would really have nothing to do, "or I should let the Batavian Council of the East India Company intervene to mediate the conflict between the Ming and Spain?" Let them withdraw from Acapulco. Again, you lose a little more money? If you're too tight, we'll pay for it. ”

William III, of course, was unwilling to go to war with the Ming Dynasty, how could he make money if he started a war? And if the Netherlands declares war on the Ming together with Spain, will the Ming ally with France?

In addition, Britain has not yet joined the Netherlands against France. If the Netherlands and the Ming are enemies, then Britain is still willing to form an alliance with the Netherlands? Do they hate money? If you don't make good money, go to war with the Ming people?

"It can't be!" The Spanish ambassador shook his head, "It's not a question of money, it's a question of whether the Spanish crown and the Spanish colonies in the Americas can be stable!" ”

"Why is it still about the Spanish throne?" Princess Mary of England on the side was stunned, "Does the Ming Emperor also have the right to inherit the Spanish throne?" Could it be that the marriages of the Habsburg family were all connected to the Ming Dynasty? ”

"It's not about the throne, it's about the king." The Spanish ambassador said, "The Ming who occupied Acapulco formed a republican city-state there and incited the indigenous and Indo-European people of New Spain to challenge the rule of King Carlos. It seems that these Ming people wanted to establish many republican city-states in the Americas governed by the Senate and the Citizens' Assembly! ”

"Are you sure it's a Ming man?" William III looked at the Spanish ambassador in front of him, "How do I feel like they are conquerors from Atlantis?" ”

Princess Mary's analysis of the Prince of Orange was disagreeable: "William, I think those people seem to be from ancient Greece. ”

Although the Spanish ambassador also felt that William III and Princess Mary were right, his duty was to try to negotiate: "Your Royal Highness, Spain needs you and the Netherlands to fulfill their obligations as allies!" ”

The Prince of Orange said with some embarrassment: "Mr. Ambassador, you should understand that we in the Netherlands are also a republic headed by a Great Council. I can't declare war on anyone without the approval of the Great Council.

But I can assure you that I will try my best to enlist the support of the Great Council and will also do everything I can to help Spain. In addition, I would recommend that the issue be resolved through negotiation first. Even if we finally have to resort to war, ask the Spanish Prime Minister to wait a little longer, at least until we defeat Louis XIV. ”

"Your Highness the Consul," the Spanish ambassador knew that he could not convince William III at once, so he had to retreat, "I hope that the Netherlands can forge an alliance in the near future to put pressure on the Ming together. This alliance should include at least Spain, Austria, Prussia, the Netherlands, England! ”

"Alright," Prince Orange nodded, "I can try. However, I still hope that mediation can be carried out, and if the problem can be solved with money, I advise the Kingdom of Spain to exercise restraint and refrain from going to war lightly. Even if there is to be a war, a broader coalition must be organized. ”

The Spanish ambassador replied: "I will convey your proposal to His Excellency the Prime Minister of Spain. ”

The day after the Spanish ambassador met with the Dutch consul, on the other side of the world, Li Yat-sen was meeting Zheng Jing and Chen Yonghua, as well as Zheng Jing's general He You, and Li Jizhen's brother-in-law Jia Liujia Guozhu in a meeting room next to his capital room.

Li Yat-sen also knew that a storm was about to sweep through East and Southeast Asia!

Because he knew very well that Louis XIV, the Sun King who was responsible for pulling hatred on the European continent, could not hold on for long, and he would soon sue for peace with the Netherlands, Spain, Austria and other countries.

Once the war on the European continent ended, Spain, the Netherlands, and England might join forces to put pressure on the Ming Dynasty.

Although the Ming Dynasty is not afraid of their pressure, the Ming Navy is still relatively weak at the moment, and there is no chance of a decisive battle with these maritime powers. Therefore, it is necessary to make preparations in advance to hold on to the key positions on the front line to protect the local coast from intrusion.

And He You and Jia Liu are the commanders of the land and water garrison that Li Yat-sen chose for Bintan Island at the exit of the Strait of Malacca.

(End of chapter)