Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 649 Winter in Spain ([-])

Mo San was sitting in a rickety carriage, walking on the road to Valladolid, while Alessandro from the Doria family sat across from him with his eyes closed.

They disembarked from Barcelona, ​​and then took a carriage across the entire territory of the ancient kingdom of Aragon. On the way, they stopped in relatively prosperous Zaragoza for a few days. After doing some business, the group drove west again to Valladolid, a city that was the capital of the Kingdom of Spain before, and is still the seat of many Spanish government agencies, and the dignitaries and kings often patrolled the city.

Mo San was disturbed by the lack of a shock-absorbing system in the carriage, and he was bored sitting in the carriage, so he lifted the curtain hanging on the lathe and looked out the window at the vast wilderness.

This should be the northern edge of the Castilian Plateau, with a temperate maritime climate, and an important agricultural area in Spain.But Mo San looked out from the inside of the car, only seeing dilapidated scenes everywhere.First of all, the number of villages is small and the scale is not large, far less than what he had seen in France, Italy, and even the Rumilly area of ​​​​the Ottoman Empire.The scarcity and small scale of villages means that the population here is not very rich, and the lack of population means that the economy here is not very developed.

In fact, this is also the case. As a peninsula kingdom with a territory larger than France (excluding the Iberian Peninsula of Portugal, the eastern border of France has not yet expanded significantly at this time), compared with France's population of more than 2100 million, Spain The population of China is only more than 400 million, less than 500 million.Although the land of the Kingdom of Spain may not be as arable as that of France, it is by no means that the population gap between the two countries is so wide.

To a certain extent, it is actually Spain's own continuous death that keeps its country's population growing weakly.They first expelled the Jews and Moors who possessed technology, capital and knowledge in large numbers. The population of these people even accounted for a quarter of the population of the Kingdom of Spain at that time. What's even more amazing is that the Spaniards even allowed these people to be deported The heretics left with their property, livestock and tools; after the expulsion of the heretics, there were endless trials of heretics, and a large number of Spaniards died after undergoing cruel religious trials; finally, it was short-sighted The policy of indiscriminate tactics has led to the overall collapse of the economy, the people's life has fallen into an extremely difficult situation, and the people's willingness to have children has been greatly reduced. This is the most important factor leading to the slow population growth of this country.

"What's there to see?" Maybe it was a gust of cold fresh air blowing in from the window. Alessandro, who was dozing off, opened his eyes. After glancing at the scenery outside the window, he quickly lost interest: "I have walked this road many times, and every time I see this kind of dilapidated scene, there is no bright color. The residents here are not very interested in farming, they are more used to raising sheep. Of course, Raising sheep is only a last resort for them. If given the opportunity, their first choice is still to be a priest, followed by servants of nobles, and then soldiers and sailors. Almost no one is willing to be a craftsman or a businessman. roles like that."

"If the Spaniards are also willing to be craftsmen or merchants, what about you Genoese or Jews?" Mo San lazily replied.A group of dirty sheep outside the window are being driven along the road by an equally dirty herdsman. These sheep are gnawing at the withered yellow thatch on the side of the road. It seems that they are about to go to a place where enough forage has been stored for the winter. to camp.

In Spain in this era, the ancient guild system is still tenaciously working.For example, the Wool Merchants Guild, which bears most of the domestic tax revenue, is so powerful that no one dares to control the sheep when they gnaw the wheat seedlings in the field at will. Over time, this behavior undoubtedly led to the planting industry. The degradation of animal husbandry and the prosperity of animal husbandry, and animal husbandry is obviously not as good as planting to feed a larger population. Therefore, the Kingdom of Spain needs to import a large amount of grain from abroad every year to ensure that there will be no large-scale famine in the country—in other words In short, small-scale famines are staged in Spain almost every few years.

"Hehe, the Spaniard's society always seems weird, I don't know how to describe it." Alessandro laughed a few times when he heard this, and then changed the topic and said: "After arriving in Valladolid the day after tomorrow, we will have a rest for a day. , and then went to meet His Excellency Secretary Balboa, who happened to have just arrived in Valladolid from Madrid to accompany the King. Decision. Therefore, if your country wants to end the war quickly, it is very important to obtain the understanding of His Excellency Balboa. Of course I know it will not be easy, but we have to try, after all, this time Mr. Balboa tried to Starting a conversation with us is a good start, isn't it?"

"Maybe." Mo San said uncertainly, "To be honest, I don't think the Spaniards will choose to end the war with us at this time, especially when the Ceuta tragedy happened just now, the Spaniards will do exactly that. What do we get without being cold-faced against the Spaniard when the anger is on the line?"

The Ceuta tragedy that Mo San refers to happened a month ago, when the huge east coast trade fleet led by Captain Guo Zili encountered a small Spanish fleet while passing through the Strait of Gibraltar.After seeing that the Spaniards had only three galleys, Guo Zili immediately ordered the escorting battleships to attack them, and completely sank the three Spanish galleys at night.Then Guo Zili, who was worried that the warships of the Spanish Mediterranean Fleet came, did not order the rescue of the Spaniards who fell into the water, but directly led the fleet to Livorno. Cadiz to Peru) drowned, which is known as the Ceuta tragedy because it happened near Ceuta.

After the Ceuta tragedy, the Spaniards, who are used to a slow-paced life, showed rare high efficiency. As soon as they got the news, they requested to summon Mr. Mo San, the plenipotentiary diplomatic envoy stationed in Europe on the East Coast, through the Doria family. After expressing their strong indignation at the attack on Spanish civilian ships (an immigrant ship and two grain ships) by warships on the east coast, they asked Mo San to leave for Valladolid immediately. Officials from the Spanish Kingdom's West India Affairs Office Formal negotiations will be initiated with them.

Mo San, who was still staying in Messina at that time, was even annoyed when he heard the Spaniard's request relayed by the Doria family.Are the Spaniards out of their wits or something? My warship hits your civilian ship, so what? Is it possible that we need to compensate you?Also, there is nothing to negotiate about this matter, any behavior during the war is normal, if you have the ability, you can find the place.The main force of my navy went to the Caribbean, leaving my home empty and civilian ships unprotected. Who is to blame?

However, the Doria family, who have been operating business in Spain for hundreds of years and are well versed in the Spanish society, have a different view at this time.Alessandro is very optimistic, and has always said that the Spaniards were dismissive of the East Bank, and they were not even willing to give the diplomats on the East Bank a formal and equal dialogue.At this time, the Spaniards were willing to summon the diplomatic envoys from the east bank. Although the tone still seemed very blunt and questioning, it was a huge breakthrough after all, because the Spaniards were finally willing to start a new relationship with the people on the east bank. That's definitely a fantastic improvement.

Hearing what Alessandro said, Mo San, who was about to return to Istanbul, decided to go to Spain for a while after much consideration, to see what farts they have!Big deal break up unhappy!And as Alessandro said, if the Spaniards are willing to start a limited dialogue with the East Coast, this is definitely a very good start for the East Coast Republic, which is eager to end the war, and it is worth grasping by Mo San one time.

"That's not necessarily the case, Mo." Alessandro smiled mysteriously, and said, "You should know that the life of the Spaniards is very difficult now. The northern border was attacked by the French, and the western land was occupied by the Portuguese. Some, and a large part of the cities in the southern Netherlands fell, and the situation on the battlefield in Italy was even less optimistic. What qualifications do they have to be proud of? Now the whole world hates them, envies them, and attacks them. The Netherlands, France, and your east coast were severely damaged. The remaining ships could barely even escort the two fleets that went to America for trade, and the army was also wiped out in large numbers. Guaranteed to be transported back to the country in time, this country has reached the brink of collapse, and she urgently needs to end some redundant and overwhelmed wars to gain a breathing space."

"As for what is a superfluous war, well, this is obvious." Alessandro said, "For example, the war with the Protestant League has long been de facto stopped, and the never-ending naval raid war with the Dutch East and West India Companies , a meaningless war of independence with the Portuguese, and a war with you people on the east coast over a rumored arson incident. Where is the core interest of the Spaniards, of course it is in the mainland! Although the vast American colonies are for Spain contributes a lot of wealth, but nothing without the natives, so the Spaniards need to win in a life-and-death struggle with the French. Or, they need at least a decent draw, which, obviously, requires the Spaniards first Focus yourself."

(End of this chapter)