Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 720: Heavy Military Deployment in America
"Father, your speech last night was so wonderful that I was so excited that I couldn't sleep all night."
In the early morning of the 25th, Philip gave a speech titled "We are not afraid of total war". That evening, the Spanish government took the lead, the heads of EU countries participated, and countless fanatics followed. A team of about 15,000 people held a massive torch parade in Jerusalem.
As a historian, Philip was actually very disapproving of this kind of thing that was started by the National Society in the 1920s and 1930s, so he stepped back to rest after leading the way. But for the Europeans in the 17th century, such a large-scale torch march was really shocking. Especially the 22-year-old Crown Prince Louis was so excited that he walked all night until the morning light gradually brightened and the effect of the torch parade was reduced.
When Philip got up for breakfast, the energetic young man sat opposite his father tirelessly, talking endlessly about everything that happened last night. His words and eyes were full of admiration and love for his father.
Looking at his son who was caught up in a frenzy, Philip sighed in his heart: If the Chinese time traveler wasn't so good at fighting, why would he have to use such a trick?
But to be honest, when the news came at the end of November that the Allied Forces were defeated in the Malay Peninsula and 200,000 Allied troops were captured, although Philip was sad, he really did not feel any danger or despair.
Thanks to the progress of medicine in recent decades, the leap in productivity, and the rapid end or even disappearance of many large-scale wars such as the brutal Thirty Years' War that caused the population of Germany to be halved, Spain now has a population of 130 million in the European region controlled by the European Union. Among them, there are about 16.2 million men of the right age. With this base number as the basis, the cumulative loss of more than 400,000 troops and the capture of 200,000 troops since the conquest of India are heartbreaking, but it is not the case that there is no manpower left.
What's more, among the more than 400,000 troops lost, one-fifth were black, two-fifths were Germans, and another one-fifth were Nordic, Anglo-Saxon, Slavs... In short, there were only more than 70,000 real Castilians.
In addition to the tolerable loss of manpower, economically, unlike the Ming Dynasty, which almost collapsed due to the blockade of the South China Sea economic circle, the EU, although the cost of supporting 600,000 expeditionary forces is huge, in the past three years, the EU's fiscal revenue and expenditure has actually been in surplus!
The reason for this is that the EU has taken India into its fold: unlike the Americas, where there are only 10 million Indians to exploit on more than 40 million square kilometers of land, India has a population of more than 80 million people on more than 3 million square kilometers of land (not counting Pakistan, which was given to the Ottoman Empire) - and unlike the vast pristine landforms of America, the land here has been developed for thousands of years, accumulating a large amount of wealth.
On the other hand, of course, electrical technology has entered the stage of large-scale practical application, and society has a new point of wealth growth.
The most surprising thing is that the trade volume between China and Europe has been reduced to almost nothing because of the large-scale war. Since the new route was opened and direct economic and trade exchanges between China and Europe were established, Europe has always had a trade deficit with China: silk, porcelain and tea, the three major products of China, are very popular among Europeans, but they cannot find suitable substitutes. Therefore, they have to spend a lot of silver to buy them every year. According to the estimation of Spanish Prime Minister Osvalles, the trade deficit between China and Europe has been getting bigger and bigger in the past 20 years. Especially in the second year after the opening of the Suez Canal, European merchants spent a total of 150 million silver coins on silk, porcelain and tea.
This expenditure seems to be spent by European merchants. However, after the merchants buy Chinese goods, they still have to sell them in Europe. After ordinary European people buy these, their limited funds cannot buy other goods produced in Spanish factories. The economic damage will eventually be borne by the Spanish government.
On the contrary, the large trade surplus not only brought high taxes to the Ming government, but also enabled the Ming government, which itself had a serious shortage of silver, to continue to maintain its silver standard monetary system.
It can be said that the ins and outs of China-Europe trade are what Philip is most unhappy about in the past few decades: the two sides are mortal competitors, but our side continues to support the enemy!
However, after the Southeast Asian War, the economic and trade exchanges between China and Europe were almost completely cut off. Osvalles was surprised to find that the trade deficit that had lasted for decades since he became prime minister had been completely reversed in the past one or two years.
As for the military expenditures for the 600,000-strong army and the huge fleet? Come on, aren't these weapons and gunpowder factories owned by Philip? For a time traveler, money is enough. All the profits earned are used in conjunction with the national treasury .
Therefore, even though Zhu Youdong's finances were already out of balance after three years of war and he was so poor that he had to rely on selling naming rights to buy new ships for the navy, the finances of Spain and the European Union actually improved!
In short, the European Union was already very powerful at this time. Compared with Japan and Siam, which would perish if they lost a war more than 20 years ago, they could afford a bigger defeat. Not only that, Philip could also gain many benefits from the war that he had never dared to think of before.
What really troubled Philip was America: Cromwell wrote to him many times for help, saying that the power of the Chinese in America had suddenly exploded. Since the end of 1640, the Chinese had come out of the Andes with a large number of Indians - they no longer fought guerrilla warfare, but used various light and heavy weapons to fight head-on with the Spanish garrison. Cromwell was horrified and said that in the recent battles, the Indian soldiers showed extremely high tactical qualities, which were not much different from the troops composed purely of Chinese.
In addition to the army, which was at a disadvantage in terms of manpower, suffering successive defeats, the American Squadron, led by the Prince of Asturias, also encountered a strong challenge from the Ming American Squadron, which was composed of five heavy cruisers. In the Battle of Lima in early 1641, Cromwell, with his 30,000-man army and the strong city of Lima behind him, was defeated by the 100,000-man Ming and Indian coalition forces. In the sea of Lima, the Spanish American Squadron was also defeated. The Prince was hit by a torpedo and staggered away to the south...
Now, the rebellious Indians have reoccupied Lima, and continued to move north, occupying Quito, and are thinking of marching to Bogota - although the political center of Spain's colonies in the Americas is Mexico. But Lima has the largest silver mine under Spanish control!
Of course, after acquiring India, America was no longer so important to Spain economically. But politically, America could not be lost: Africa was divided among the EU countries, and India was also shared by the countries in the alliance. Only America was a colony exclusively for Spain. If America was lost, how would the countries in the alliance view themselves?
In addition to the headaches in America, what made Philip feel a little desperate was the unity and loyalty to their emperor shown by the Chinese during the three-year war.
Yes, there were indeed some Chinese who colluded with them. Some ministers of vassal states expressed their willingness to surrender to them. But this little gain was nothing compared to the price Spain paid for it: you know, since the Spanish fleet entered the South China Sea, Spanish diplomats have been lobbying non-stop. Its intelligence personnel also landed everywhere and carried out various kinds of subversion.
But what was the result? More than 90% of the diplomats and intelligence personnel were killed or captured on the spot by the parties involved, and then handed over to the Chinese Jinyiwei to show their loyalty to their emperor...
As a historian, Philip knew very well that in the past five thousand years, if there were no traitors leading the way or if China itself fell into civil strife, no external force could have destroyed China's central government purely by military means. However, they had already entered the South China Sea and had already imposed extreme economic oppression on China. But even so, the Chinese still refused to give up their emperor.
This, this is really despairing!
However, after despair, what needs to be done still needs to be done - Philip at this time is no longer the young man who cried and lost control after Spain's defeat in Jerusalem and needed the comfort of an old man like Count Tilly.
To continue working, the first priority is to stabilize America.
"Louis, you are twenty-two years old, right?"
"Yes, father."
"Your uncle Rudolf led an army of more than 100,000 soldiers to fight against France when he was only thirteen years old. Come to think of it, I have protected you a little too much over the years."
The heavy seat made an unusually sharp squeak, and Louis jumped up in surprise: "Father, are you going to give me a task?"
"Please sit down, Louis. You are the crown prince. You should have basic manners and etiquette."
"I'm sorry, father. I was just too excited. Anyway, your son is at your disposal."
"...Go to America. I will anoint you the Prince of Mexico. Go there and help Cromwell to eliminate all the Chinese and Indian rebels who are growing like bacteria everywhere!"
"Yes, father. I will show you all the skills I learned at the Military Academy in Madrid."
"No, my son, you may not have fully understood what I mean. When you go there, don't interfere in military affairs. In fact, as my son, your presence there is more of a political significance. I will let Raimondo Montecuccoli take full charge of military affairs."
"Of course!" Philippe quickly held his son's arm as he looked at him, who was clearly in a bad mood. "You can study hard with Raimondo and Cromwell."
Standing up and patting his son's shoulder, Philip slowed down his speech and said, "This time, I plan to send a large fleet with two battleships as the backbone, and ten Casti divisions. You have never been on the battlefield, how can you firmly control so many troops and so many arrogant soldiers and generals at once ? Follow Raimondo and Cromwell and learn well, as long as you can get their recognition. When we go on an expedition to the East again in the future, I will give you the opportunity to lead an army alone."
