Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 604 Midsummer in the Western Mediterranean ([-])

In fact, people are right. At this time, the Kingdom of Spain is in a "strange" state from top to bottom.The nobles are extravagant and flamboyant, they only know how to enjoy themselves all day long, and they lack enough interest in undertaking national obligations (such as politics or military service). Although they have to engage in various jobs due to the system, they are generally not interested in their own jobs. superior.

The Spaniards expanded too fast in the past 100 years, money came too easily, and domestic production capacity could not keep up with the huge demand of overseas colonies, which caused the rapid rise of Spanish domestic labor prices.Coupled with the fact that many legendary stories about getting rich overnight are constantly stimulating people's fragile nerves, so the traditional concept is subverted, and no one is willing to get rich through hard work honestly, and a large number of adult men travel across the ocean to overseas colonies " Get rich", which caused a shortage of domestic labor in Spain, and the price of labor rose further.

The rise in labor prices is bound to drive up commodity prices, which is especially evident in the era of handicrafts.Under such circumstances, the Spanish royal family, aristocrats, and large merchant groups that monopolized trade with the colonies quickly turned their attention to foreign countries, and the thriving handicraft workshops in the Netherlands, Britain, France, and Germany quickly filled the gap. The lack of demand, and the low price of their goods, suddenly squeezed out the high-cost Spanish handicraftsmen.Although the Spanish government made various restrictive measures, such as "only Spanish goods can be shipped to the Americas", foreign factory owners and Spanish businessmen quickly colluded together to circumvent this clause by smuggling foreign goods into Spanish territory for shipment.

In this way, the Spaniards wasted a huge raw material market and commodity dumping market, which not only enriched foreign industries, but also caused hyperinflation in their own country, corrupted the social atmosphere, and crushed their own industrial base. There is nothing worse than this.At this time, the only remaining industry in Spain may be the luxury industry, because people who have made a fortune in the colonies need a lot of luxury goods, and their money has nowhere to spend.But in this way, this is also tantamount to clearly declaring the disillusionment of the possibility of developing capitalism in the Kingdom of Spain, because the luxury market alone will never give birth to industrial civilization.

The Spanish upper class made a fortune by relying on colonial trade, but the lives of the lower class people became increasingly difficult due to inflation and foreign commodity competition.Many simple-minded farmers or handicraftsmen have no chance of getting rich even if they want to work hard. At this time, the best job for them is soldiers. Some loot has become the best choice for these poor Spanish people in desperation, and this has naturally led to a long-term population loss in the Kingdom of Spain.

The current Spanish society is a deformed society. This country does not produce or only produces a small part of consumer goods that meet its own needs, and the rest is maintained by imports.The whole country is mired in multiple wars, costing a lot every day, but this is ignored by the pious king, who is very fanatical about building a pure catholic empire under his leadership, so this further drains the kingdom of Spain Not much energy at all.

More than 100 years have passed since the Kingdom of Spain entered into such a state, when the whole society was already terminally ill.Captain Couette often came to Spain many years ago, and he has a deep understanding of this: "The Spaniards often say that London produces cloth for us, Lyon produces silk for us, Holland produces cotton cloth for us, Milan produces munitions for us, and Poland produces fabrics for us. We produce wheat, Moscow supplies us with our boats, Germany supplies us with mercenaries, the West Indies supplies us with sugar... See, the whole world revolves around Madrid, we don't have to work at all, naturally foreign merchants will send them Come and let us enjoy."

"But there is a very important premise, that is, Madrid still has silver coins to pay all these rewards." Mr. George Hampton took a sip of the brandy produced in Provence, and then said teasingly: "But I doubt that Madrid Can they provide enough money? I heard that their finances are very tight. Genoese, Jewish, and Dutch bankers have been in and out of Madrid recently. It seems that they have to borrow a lot of money again, but the problem is that they can afford it. Is it? Without its lovely silver coins, Madrid will be like a proud dame stripped of her dress, an ugly old crone that no one cares about."

"Spain's recent actions are very abnormal. They are recruiting troops on a large scale while continuing to build ships. For this reason, they collected a large amount of taxes, which further detonated the tension in Navarra, Aragon, Naples and other places. The residents of these places are extremely angry at the excessive extortion of the Castilians, and they only need one opportunity to revolt against the rule of the Castilians on a large scale." Captain Couette is from the Netherlands People naturally have a natural hostility towards the Spaniards in their hearts, so talking about the current predicament of the Spaniards is a pleasure.

It is said that in such a wonderful country as Spain, since the 16th century, the Spanish Royal Government has leased out taxation rights in many places to some taxpayers-mainly Genoese and Venetians.At the same time, the Genoese also mastered the monopoly trading rights of wool, iron, timber, salt, silk, leather and other bulk commodities. At the same time, the Spanish financial industry was also controlled by the Genoese and the Fugger family (later bankrupt).

The Spaniards only like to constantly conquer and fight, and have no interest in running the country at all.When the Kingdom of Castile was first established, agriculture, handicrafts, and commerce in Spain were all controlled by the Moors and Jews, but Spain expelled hundreds of thousands (about 20% of the population) Moors and Jews out of the country several times ; Later, the fanatical religious atmosphere also caused great harm to the development of the country. Many Spaniards were judged only for some small mistakes, such as forgetting to say "Glory to the Lord" when reading the Psalm of David, such as in White shirts on Saturdays and all that.According to incomplete statistics, a total of 16 people were burned to death, 5 people were tortured, and 3.5 people were deprived of all rights during the five major religious trials in the 1.9th century. These undoubtedly greatly harmed the economy and society of the Kingdom of Spain. , also planted the seeds of resistance in the country.

A large number of artists, craftsmen or talented people were either burned to death, deported, exiled, or fled to other countries, which brought the industrial and agricultural development of Spain to a standstill.In order to get out of this predicament, the Spaniards introduced a large number of French handicraftsmen. For example, in Aragon, Navarre and other places, most of the vineyard owners, carpenters, masons, coachmen, rope makers, stonemasons, etc. were French.Even in Madrid at this time, there are more than [-] foreigners working in various industries.

All in all, in today's Kingdom of Spain, foreigners control the country's economy, and ordinary people in the country are extremely poor, so they step onto the battlefield one after another, shouting the slogan of dedicating themselves to the Lord and the King, and participating in a battle that seems to never end In another war.

"The Spaniards are not stupid." Hampton continued to communicate with Couette in French, "You see, Captain Soldado recruited waves of idlers into the barracks, which greatly reduced the chance of rebellion. After these idlers were roughly trained, they were sent to the battlefield against the French to consume them. Of course, if an uprising or rebellion broke out in the country, these people would soon be sent to suppress it. The king's rule seems to be quite stable."

"Besides, I recently heard that the situation in France is quite unstable." George Hampton continued, "Everyone said that there is a huge crisis brewing in Paris, which even affects the operations of the French army on the front line. The Spaniards They seemed to see an opportunity, so they decided to step up their game and see if they could regain the initiative in the war with France."

"But they also want to vigorously build ships to fight against the people on the east coast. It is said that at the same time, they will increase their troops to the New World to fight against the people on the east coast. How is this possible? No one knows, but you and I know that the navy of the people on the east coast is not weak. At least 20-30 professional warships need to be built to completely defeat the people on the east coast. The construction cost of these warships plus the personnel, weapons, and equipment equipped will cost at least 500 million pesos. They can't get it out anyway. So what are they trying to do? Maybe they think they can defeat the people on the east coast by sending some random ships?" Captain Couette couldn't understand the Spaniards. Did they have other intentions or simply Arrogant enough to think East Coasters are insignificant?

Captain Couette thought about it carefully, and he felt that the Spaniards might really not pay too much attention to the strength of the people on the east coast.Maybe they only think that the navy on the east coast is small, so the Kingdom of Spain needs to build ships to supplement its strength?Maybe they also think that as long as they send some more soldiers to the New World, they can curb the pirate attacks of the people on the east coast?The fall of many towns in Santo Domingo in Spain has spread to Spain. Most people are shocked and puzzled by this, but they still don't pay much attention to the people on the east coast.They only have France in their eyes, especially when France is about to fall into a serious internal crisis, they stare at Paris without blinking, waiting for a golden opportunity to defeat their old enemy in one fell swoop.

"The Spanish man-made ship is to ensure the safety of the mainland, especially after the two treasure fleets set off for the New World at the beginning of the year and the end of the year, their home defense is extremely empty. The last time a grain ship was burned by the people on the east coast near the Strait of Gibraltar It once caused a shock in Cadiz. Today, when the famine spreads to the whole of Castile, they certainly don't want this kind of thing to happen again. In addition, sending some newly recruited soldiers to the Caribbean or Peru will help It is not enough to strengthen their defenses there, so that the city will not be easily captured again, after all, it will cost their king a lot of tax revenue." George Hampton finished his glass of wine and made an accurate judgment.

(End of this chapter)