My British Empire

  Chapter 489 Portugal, strong on the outside but strong on the inside

   "No, Your Majesty the Queen Mother!" Regent Archbishop Enrique twitched his eyebrows, stretched out his withered right hand from his large robe, and stopped him softly:

   "The English are acting like this, I'm afraid they have other plans!"

  The Empress Dowager Wang turned her eyes and her face was a little dignified.

   "You mean, the English plotted against us Portugal?"

   "Yes!" Nodding, Archbishop Enrique continued:

   "A while ago, I heard that the English went to meet Philip II and asked to persecute our country together and share Eastern trade!"

   "But Philip II did not agree because of the checks and balances of the agreement. At that time, the ambassador of England left with a smile on his face. Now it seems that they have long been dissatisfied with us!"

   His Excellency the Archbishop sighed and said.

   "Aren't the English afraid of our navy?" The Queen Mother hurriedly asked.

   "Alas! According to the information I have received, the number of warships owned by the English is almost the same as ours. If there is a fight, the Spaniards must be the ones who will profit in the end!"

  As the regent of Portugal, Archbishop Enrique naturally knew a lot. He explained politics to Her Majesty the Queen Mother.

   "The Spaniards have always coveted our trade, and the English are just testing it out. I don't think it will be long before the English will start a war with us!"

   "How can it be, no more wars!" Queen Catherine immediately shook her head and refused.

   "The current Portugal cannot afford any war!"

   Today's Portuguese Empire has vast colonies in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as a large number of trading posts, such as Macau in China.

   But in fact, Portugal's population is only two million, and it does not have a large population to maintain this huge empire. Most of the current overseas colonies are maintained by mercenaries, let alone a war.

  Of course, if the population is not large, you can spend money to hire them, but what is surprising is that Portugal has no money in the treasury to write this huge colonial empire.

  Profits from Eastern trade and gold and silver from America directly caused inflation, and farmers went bankrupt.

  For example, every year Portugal imports a large amount of raw meat, wood, and fur from the United Kingdom, cloth from the Netherlands, and grain from France.

  In the mid-sixteenth century, the Portuguese empire had declined.

   "Let's make peace! We agree to allow England to dock at our commercial station for supplies and repairs under certain conditions!" Her Majesty the Queen Mother thought about the current Portuguese treasury, recalled the lazy soldiers, and said helplessly.

   "These are all things that will happen sooner or later, it's just that they arrived earlier!"

  The Queen Mother seemed unable to bear the fact that the Portuguese Empire was in decline. She wiped her eyes with thick foundation, said something rude in a low voice, and left quickly.

   Watching the Queen Mother leave, Archbishop Enrique looked up at her back, blinked his cloudy eyes, sighed, and staggered away.

  Mediocre leaders, extravagant aristocrats, bankrupt agriculture, numerous competitors, these are the reasons for the decline of the Portuguese Empire.

   When the Portuguese ambassador came to convey the news that the English were allowed to use the Portuguese trading post reasonably and allow the sharing of routes, His Majesty Edward VI was only slightly surprised, and then he negotiated with the Portuguese ambassador as if nothing had happened.

   "Your Majesty, the Portuguese have really surrendered!" Prime Minister William Selsey sighed as he looked at the lonely Portuguese ambassador.

   "Of course, Portugal, a huge empire, is currently nothing more than a strong foreign power. With a light poke, it will reveal its original form!"

  Edward smiled and said softly, as if he didn't pay much attention to Portugal, a colonial empire of tens of millions of square kilometers.

In fact, as early as a few decades ago, Portugal had to give up the four strongholds of Safi, Azemur, Alcaser-Seger and Alzira in North Africa, leaving only Ceuta in Morocco. and Tangier too.

Moreover, during the period of the former King Joao III, Portugal implemented a policy of complete isolation or close to isolation. He would rather endure insults than go to war, and would not form alliances with other European powers. Portugal seems to devote himself to trade , irresistible.

  At this time, Portugal can only scare countries that are weaker than it. For England of the same level, in Edward's eyes, these are just showy and not worth mentioning.

  Of course, our Prime Minister William was limited in his vision and did not see the slowly declining national power of Portugal. Naturally, he made a fuss about the Portuguese's submission.

   "Your Majesty, in this way, it can be expected that next year's finances will definitely increase more!" The Prime Minister looked at His Majesty the King and said respectfully.

   "Yes! The kingdom's trade with the East will definitely make great progress!" His Majesty the King sighed.

   "These are all thanks to your majesty. Issuing a privateer license not only allows you to harvest a large amount of wealth and control the huge pirates, but also opens up the kingdom's eastern trade!"

  Portugal’s monopoly on Eastern trade lies not only in their monopoly on navigation routes, but also in the fact that they occupy most of the strongholds along the African coast, which are the main support points for Eastern trade.

  Cooperating with the Portuguese is tantamount to sharing the mature route developed by the Portuguese over the past century, saving the British a lot of manpower and financial resources in one fell swoop, at least more than ten years of effort.

  The English made a fortune.

   "Since the agreement has been signed, let the pirates attack the Portuguese lightly, and the Spaniards will become rich!"

   "Ah! Yes!" The Prime Minister immediately showed a look of disbelief, and after receiving the affirmative look from His Majesty the King, he slowed down and quickly responded.

   "The relationship between Britain and Spain is about to break up? What is His Majesty the King thinking?" Unable to restrain the thoughts in his heart, His Excellency the Prime Minister resigned softly and left the office.

  Looking at the Prime Minister whose footsteps were a little messy, Edward put away his smile and thought:

   "I'm going to fight the Portuguese to see how powerful the navy is. Who would have thought that the Portuguese would give in directly!"

   "For the current plan, the only ones standing in front of England are the Spaniards!"

   His Majesty the King frowned and thought.

   Detonating the Dutch revolution in advance was just to consume Spain's national power, and then robbed Spain's treasure ship to make its financial situation even worse.

   "But these are far from enough! Spain's Mediterranean fleet is still huge!"

   "It seems that the only way to occupy the Portuguese Ceuta region! This matter is not so easy to solve!"

  (end of this chapter)