Chapter 1548 The butterfly flapped its wings and finally created a storm

Governor Sander also declared in the memorandum that after controlling the Ming Dynasty's waters with the Invincible Fleet, only 5,000 to 6,000 elite Spanish soldiers would be enough to occupy Guangdong Province, which was far away from the ruling center. Then, using the ports there and the almost endless resources, it would be easy to form a powerful army and continue to conquer the entire Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, after defeating the South China Sea Group and rescuing the Japanese from their blockade, they can also reduce the loss of precious Spanish officers and soldiers by recruiting a large number of experienced and God-believing mercenaries through priests in Japan.

Then in the next stage, a Spanish army of 12,000-15,000 people and 5,000 Japanese mercenaries will be organized. This army will go all the way north, control Taiwan, Ryukyu, and Japan as a landing springboard, but will not entangle with the provinces along the way of the Ming Dynasty, and will directly attack its political center-Beijing.

They made a full-scale attack on the capital and forced the Ming Dynasty's supreme ruler, a ten-year-old emperor, to surrender.

Then, in the name of the emperor, he ordered the governors and generals of various provinces to surrender, so that the vast territory of the Ming Dynasty could be conquered without a fight.

But care must be taken to keep the existing government structure intact, because it so effectively maintains order for a large population. So after the occupation of China, it is necessary to retain the Ming government in order to keep the Ming stable, prosperous and wealthy.

Interestingly, Sander explained this by saying: "The Ming people are the most civilized people outside of Europeans, and are also potential excellent subjects of the empire, so they should be distinguished from the Indian savages. Therefore, the previous invasion method should be changed - the Chinese population should not be reduced, because the disappearance of population means the disappearance of wealth."

"We need to let the people who are participating in the expedition know that this is not a massacre or extermination, but to make China a part of the empire. That is definitely more in line with the long-term interests of the empire than a momentary pleasure. Therefore, the invasion of China should be done in a cautious and gentle manner, and not too many crimes should be committed against the Chinese..."

Governor Sander was obviously a man with great governing talent. At the end of the memorandum, he also described in detail how Spain should rule China after the war.

He stressed that a large number of schools should be established first to inculcate Spanish culture and introduce Spanish lifestyle to the Chinese;

At the same time, a large number of churches were built to spread the gospel of the Lord. In particular, the peasants, who made up the absolute majority, were extremely poor and most dissatisfied with the status quo. They were the best targets for preaching. As long as a small favor was given, a large number of believers could be developed quickly, forcing the upper-class landlords and nobles to be baptized. Of course, first of all, their little emperor had to become a believer of God...

Then, we should reconcile with the Tatars in the north as soon as possible, turn the national strength to the development of shipping, and make all efforts to the south and west.

Because when Philip II becomes the master of China, he will automatically become the monarch of dozens of Chinese vassal states, including Korea, Ryukyu, Annan, Cambodia, Siam, etc. His influence can be extended to India overnight, making Spain a veritable empire on which the sun never sets.

His Majesty can easily establish sovereignty among these dependent states to establish alliances and trade. 'The world's trade will then become our domestic trade, and our noisy neighbors can only look on in despair.'

We can also drive the Muslim sphere of influence out of the Eastern world. 'If necessary, we can also recruit a large army from the East to attack our real enemy, the Ottoman Empire, from behind!'

'Going around the entire globe and attacking our enemies from both sides is a feat that even Alexander the Great could never have imagined!'

'In addition, after the relationship between the Chinese and the Spanish is further consolidated through intermarriage, assimilation, missionary work, etc., we can also use their talents in agriculture, industry and commerce, especially their population advantages, to enrich our colonies that are short of population.'

'The Chinese people have no land, so they have a perverted desire for land. Once we allow them to enter the Philippines, New Spain and the South American colonies, they will quickly help us develop vast colonies. By then, the colonies will no longer be a bottomless pit of money, but will become the empire's rich granary and water source, supporting your majesty to unify Europe, and then completely eliminate the pagans and become the king of kings! '

~~

After reading it once, Zhao Hao handed the manuscript to Tang Baolu and others. He picked up a cigar and looked at the warships in the sea in the distance, without saying a word.

Tang Baolu and others were just having fun at first. A few thousand people wanted to conquer the Ming Dynasty? If there was a plate of fennel beans, they wouldn't be so drunk, right?

But as they watched, they couldn't laugh anymore. It wasn't just the Spanish war plan that was indeed feasible.

More importantly, the Spanish post-war plan is enough to make every Ming person, except you, feel ashamed and reflect on themselves.

How many years have the Spanish arrived in Luzon? With the absurd intelligence collected, we can find the crux of the Ming Dynasty and know how to adjust the country's strategic direction. Going south to redeem the golden signboard accumulated by the Celestial Empire for two hundred years is the kingly way!

Isn't this exactly the route that you have been adhering to all along, against all odds?

There are still people in the ridiculous group who don't understand. Many people, even the top executives of the group, think that why should we go all out to develop in Southeast Asia when we can make easy money in China? What can this broken place of Luzon have? What does the life and death of 20,000 or 30,000 overseas Chinese have to do with us?

To be honest, those guys in Jiangnan don't even look down on Lingnan, Fujian and Guangdong. They only have their own little piece of land in their eyes!

Although the young master has absolute control over the group, his high personal prestige forces everyone to shut up. Strict assessments and inspections force them to work diligently.

However, each family is only willing to invest the talents cultivated and the money earned by the group in Jiangnan to make a fortune, and is unwilling to follow the young master's footsteps and move south.

This Zhao Hao is out of control, right?

This undercurrent of resistance will naturally become an invisible obstacle, making the young master feel restrained in some matters.

Even the emperor is sometimes helpless against his own subjects. Although the prince has the final say in the group and his authority is like that of Taizu, he cannot force a cow to drink water all day long.

Tang Baolu, a confidant, could vaguely realize that although the main purpose of the young master's establishment of the Nanhai Group was to unite the gentry and maritime merchants in Fujian and Guangdong, he also had the intention of opening another table and letting those who were willing to eat the Nanyang meal to manage Nanyang affairs...

By the time they finished reading the manuscript, it was getting dark. After all, it was almost October, and the days were noticeably shorter.

"What do you think?" Zhao Hao asked with a light cough.

The guards had not yet had time to light the lamps, and only the orange-red light from cigars and cigarettes was flickering.

"What a shame. If the young master hadn't come into the world, we might have become slaves of a conquered nation." Everyone sighed.

"It's not that exaggerated. Spain itself is still facing a lot of lawsuits." Zhao Hao smiled faintly and said, "In terms of the international environment, they are far worse than us."

Although Philip II of Spain was a man of great talent and strategy, and had plundered endless wealth from his vast colonies, which was enough to support his ambitions, too vast a territory would inevitably bring too many neighbors and troubles. And too much self-confidence would definitely make too many enemies:

For example, as the number one fighter of Catholicism and the owner of Sicily, Spain had to stand on the front line against the Ottoman Empire.

In addition, there is a powerful neighbor, France, to the north that competes for hegemony in Western Europe. After being defeated by Spain, it has always been dissatisfied. Although it dares not to start a war directly, it secretly supports the independence of the Spanish enclave of the Netherlands further north.

At sea, the Queen of England was originally the Queen of Philip II, and after her death, he wanted to marry his sister-in-law. Since they were not from the same sect, Queen Elizabeth was of course unwilling to marry her brother-in-law, so she could only swear to be single for life, and the two countries suddenly became superficial relatives.

Encouraged by the queen, whose name was written as "virginity"... and pronounced as "poor boyi", most of the people were pirates. They went to sea as pirates and began to rob the Spaniards crazily.

So Philip II still had to figure out how to deal with his disobedient sister-in-law...

Also, because of the excessive killing during the conquest of South America, the indigenous people had a strong backlash, so they had to send more troops to suppress it, etc.

Therefore, the expedition to China has to be put at the back of the queue.

Zhao Hao remembered that in another time and space, Philip II approved the plan submitted by Governor Sander ten years ago in 1586, 12 years later, which was the 14th year of Wanli. He also set up a special committee in Madrid to further review and formulate a detailed plan for attacking China from the aspects of policy, strategy, tactics, action plan, logistics mobilization and public opinion propaganda.

At that time, Philip II planned to first get rid of his disobedient sister-in-law, stabilize the rear, and then implement this ambitious plan.

But then, in the famous year of 1588, his Invincible Armada was defeated by pirates led by his sister-in-law...

Philip II was shocked. His navy was so useless. How could he dare to attack Ming Dynasty? He spent all the military funds for the expedition on rebuilding the Invincible Fleet.

After that, Spain's national fortunes began to decline, and the plan to conquer the Ming Dynasty was completely shelved.

So the Chinese could have viewed this plan as a joke.

Of course, there was nothing to be proud of, because without Zhao Hao's efforts, they would still become slaves of a conquered nation, only they would be conquered by their own slaves...

The problem now is that Zhao Hao, this big moth, has come to Luzon.

Not only did he come, he also slaughtered all the Spaniards in Luzon. According to preliminary statistics, the number of Spaniards killed by him at sea and on land, plus those killed in the city, has exceeded 8,000. Even if we only count the red-haired devils born in the Iberian Peninsula, there are nearly 2,000, right?

Spain was at its peak at the moment, how could Philip II have suffered such a big loss? Could he swallow this?

Moreover, at that time, the relationship between his sister-in-law and the Netherlands was just a minor issue. After Philip II, who had just won a great victory at Lepanto, read the report, would his head become hot and his blood pressure rise, and he would immediately agree with it?

That will be a real treat!

(End of this chapter)