Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 313 Tulips bloom, France dies!
Spain and Portugal have many similarities. They are both located on the edge of the European continent and are both maritime powers.

But there is one thing that is very different, and that is the population.

The population of Portugal is only about 1.5 million, while the population of Spain is as high as 10 million.

With such a population, it is not a populous country compared to the Ming Dynasty and the Mughal Empire in the East, but it already has the potential to "explode troops in war."

Moreover, Spain and Portugal also had great differences in colonization. The Portuguese completely distrusted people and things outside of their own country. In the colonies, the natives were prohibited from possessing any weapons.

Spain was different. The vast American colonies, countless plantations, native Indians, and slaves captured or traded from Africa distracted Spain too much.

Therefore, in order to ease the pressure of ruling the colonies, Spain spent decades and devoted countless manpower and material resources to select a large number of "American traitors" and "Non-traitors" from the natives and slaves, forming armies, distributing weapons, and managing everything in the colonies.

In order to encourage these "American traitors" and "non-traitors", Spain not only gave them a higher status in the colonies and plantations, but also the descendants of the most outstanding people among them would be allowed to study and live in Spain.

It can be said that Spain only took away "people" from Africa and "plants" from America, and everything else was done by those "puppet troops".

This made many Americans and Africans hate this group of Spanish puppet troops rather than the Spaniards.

The Spanish puppet troops on the two continents tasted the power of the superiors and received charity from the Spanish. Whether for themselves or for their descendants, they naturally became more dependent on Spain and suppressed their fellow brothers more.

In addition, like Portugal, Spain built schools and churches wherever it went, provided free education and faith, and on festivals such as Thanksgiving, the Spaniards in the Americas and Africa would also donate food.

As a result, Americans and Africans fell into a very contradictory situation: on the one hand, they hated the Spanish puppet troops, on the other hand, they were grateful to the Spaniards; on the one hand, they wished they could eat the Spanish puppet troops alive, but on the other hand, they looked forward to the day when they would become "puppet troops" themselves.

This is the real reason why Philip II dared to say in the Great Council that even if Spain suffered a major defeat on the European continent and most or even all of its territory was lost, Spain could still establish a country in its overseas colonies.

In the eyes of Chen Ping, the patriarch of the Chen family, Portugal is like a troublemaker. No matter where it goes, it will mess up things and then profit from it.

A country like this will become obedient after a few good beatings, and will not even dare to show its teeth in the future.

But Spain is different. It can abandon its homeland at any time and open up a second country, a third country... The size of the country depends on the size of its colonies. It is like a poisonous snake or a centipede. Even if it dies, it may bite you and come back again.

Especially when there is an excellent leader, this advantage will be infinitely magnified in wars between countries.

Obviously, Philip II was such an excellent leader. He was well aware of all the advantages of the Spanish Empire, including its numerous colonies, the Invincible Armada, etc.

The only thing lacking is the unity and solidarity of all the citizens, which is lacking in other empires and kingdoms on the European continent.

Now, Felipe II has made up for this missing part through a speech and has reached a position in the Spanish Empire that his father Charles V did not even have.

The emperor of a powerful empire who combines power and faith.

It would be difficult to completely bring down such a person, even if the Tulip Bubble burst or even if the Holy Roman Empire lost the battle against the Crusades.

The Ming Dynasty could not allow such a powerful empire and emperor to exist in this world. If the spirit could not be destroyed, then destroy it physically.

Assassination was the main business of the Jinyiwei.

Lu Bing, the commander of the Jinyiwei, was startled. He walked out of the parliament with the others, saying, "Great clan elder, is this possible?"

"Yes!" Chen Ping replied in a calm tone.

In the bottom of my heart.

Chen Ping vaguely regretted that he should not have given Spain the opportunity to inject "soul (Roman orthodoxy)".

Although the goal of completely disrupting the European continent was achieved, the integration of the spirit, energy, and soul of a country with a population of tens of millions cultivated a powerful enemy for the future of the Ming Dynasty.

Maybe not very strong, but definitely very resilient.

This moving speech spread across Europe at a rapid speed as it was spread by word of mouth among nobles, members of parliament, and cardinals and bishops in the Spanish House of Representatives and House of Lords.

The first person to learn the news was, of course, King Francis II of France, who was almost stunned by Felipe II's speech.

Francis II thought that Spain would ignore the threat of the Crusades from the Holy Roman Empire and the Vatican and claim to be the orthodox Roman Empire, but he never thought that Philip II would make a shocking statement, declaring the Kingdom of Spain to become the Spanish Empire and retaliate against the Holy Roman Empire and the Vatican.

If you want to fight, then fight.

Crusaders, huh?
On land, at sea, in fields, streets, and mountains... the Spanish army is here to fight!

Francis II could even imagine the anger of Pope Peter VII of the Roman Catholic Church.

At this time, the Kingdom of France, located between the Spanish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, was in an awkward position.

Francis II wanted to be like Philip II and announce to the world that France had transformed from a kingdom into an empire and that he himself had transformed from a king into an emperor.

However, my strength does not allow it!

At this time, Francis II wished he had never received those authentic Roman antiquities so that he could hide away.

However, those antiquities were in the treasury of the royal palace, and if nothing was done and they were hidden away, not only the Holy Roman Empire in the east and the Spanish Empire in the west could not accept it, but even the country's own people could not accept it.

The citizens of the Kingdom of France had already had violent conflicts with the citizens of the two empires on the eastern and western borders because of the Roman orthodoxy. The words "France is the only Roman orthodoxy" had been spread long ago. If the king asked them to shrink their heads now, they would not be king. As the saying goes, "a sword that is embarrassed cannot be sheathed", the French citizens, who had seen the toughness of the Spanish Empire, had already put themselves in the perspective of the Spanish Empire. Francis II did not want a civil war to break out, so he had no choice but to spread the words "France is the Roman orthodoxy, and the antiquities belong to the French people" to temporarily appease the people's emotions and hope that the two empires of the East and the West would treat him as a fart.

But the fact was destined to be impossible. After the Holy Roman Empire learned that Spain proclaimed itself an empire, Philip II crowned himself, and the Spanish Imperial Church broke away from the Holy Roman Empire and became the Roman Church, Peter VII almost went crazy.

Soon after, news came that the Kingdom of France had declared itself the legitimate legitimacy of Rome, and Peter VII was so angry that he fainted on the spot.

After waking up from his coma, Peter VII met with Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and asked him to immediately lead 500,000 soldiers to the West to fight against the heretics.

First France, then Spain.

If he disobeyed, he would be deposed. Then, without waiting for Ferdinand I to say anything, he ordered the Vatican Guards to escort him out of the Vatican.

At this point, Ferdinand I had no choice but to choose the throne and lead 500,000 crusaders in person.

At the same time, Spain established its empire and Philip II ascended the throne. Just when he was about to establish his power, he ordered the Invincible Armada to attack the Kingdom of France after learning that France also dared to claim to be Roman orthodoxy.

The development of events ultimately went beyond Chen Ping's plan, and the Kingdom of France was still being attacked from the east and west by the Holy Roman Empire and Spain.

Under the siege of the two empires, in less than a month, the Crusaders of the Holy Roman Empire and the Spanish Invincible Armada reached the vicinity of Paris. Before the two armies entered Paris, the French King Francis II immediately surrendered.

But a general named Andre of the Kingdom of France refused to surrender and issued a call to resistance to all French citizens to continue to resist the invasion anywhere in French territory.

However, caught between the two empires, this so-called civil resistance was not worth mentioning. Just when the Spanish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire were about to strangle Andre completely, the tulip bubble finally burst.

Jinyiwei clearly recorded the true scene of the economic collapse of the European continent. When most of the wealth of various countries disappeared, the tulip market that they expected to rise infinitely became a castle in the air.

On this morning at the end of April, in the exchanges in Madrid and other places, the buying and selling of tulips was going on smoothly as usual. Merchants stretched their necks to bid, and buyers got off luxurious carriages. Everything seemed no different from usual.

While various transactions were going on, God knows what happened, someone started selling out all his "tulip contracts". At this moment, the first domino of the tulip bubble was knocked down.

What followed was that everyone rushed to sell their tulip contracts because no one wanted to be the last fool.

The price of tulips in the Spanish market instantly fell to the freezing point. All kinds of hysterical and strange noises were heard in the exchange. The whole of Madrid was immersed in an atmosphere as if the world was about to end. The tulip bubble was declared to have burst.

Contractual sale: Since the tulip itself is a plant, whether it is the bulb or the flower, it is impossible to be separated from the soil for a long time and be traded in the market; it will die.

Therefore, on the basis of physical transactions, in order to satisfy the frenzy of speculation, merchants (with the instigation of the Jinyiwei) invented a trading method that used contracts to replace physical transactions.

A sells fifteen tulips to B at the current price. After B confirms that A has the real inventory, the two parties sign a contract. B pays A for the fifteen flowers in accordance with the contract. A signs the contract to prove that he has transferred the flowers to B. Then B waits until the price rises again and takes the paid contract to look for the next buyer. This is a contract sale.

In just six weeks, the price of tulips fell by more than 90%, and entered a stage where there were sellers but no buyers. All Europeans knew that the price of tulips would continue to fall. All Europeans knew that the fantasy was shattered and with it disappeared the wealth accumulated over years, decades, generations, and dozens of generations.

The entire European continent fell into an unprecedented economic crisis, with large-scale bankruptcies occurring in all walks of life, inevitably pushing society into turmoil.

On the European continent, the larger the country, the greater the impact of the economic crisis. The first to be hit were the Holy Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Spanish Empire.

Especially for Spain, which had just become an empire, in order to demonstrate its national strength, Philip II made a major decision before attacking the Kingdom of France and anchored the imperial currency with tulips.

After the tulip bubble burst, the wealth that the Spanish Empire had accumulated through half a century of colonial rule over two hemispheres disappeared in an instant.

Felipe II was so angry that he vomited blood. Fortunately, the Royal Guards only took away wealth and treasures from the European countries, but did not take away basic living supplies.

Without currency, gold and silver, Europeans simply returned from civilized society to primitive society, and from currency trading back to "barter".

Since such a market is not regulated by the government, prices will inevitably rise and become chaotic. If smart people try to profit from it, the situation will be exacerbated.

The royal families, parliaments and government offices of various countries are doing their best to stabilize prices, but the Jinyiwei roaming around the European continent obviously cannot let them do so easily.

The Imperial Guards launched a new round of looting and plundering on the European continent with gold, silver and other items. This time, not only treasures but also "people" were wanted.

"A penny can make a hero fall", and when the tulip bubble burst, countless talented people on the European continent immediately became impoverished.

At this time, people from the Jinyiwei appeared like gods in front of these people who were identified as talents, and were willing to give them a generous sum of money to support their journey to the East.

If there are those who wish to stay in the East, the Jinyiwei will give more money and send them and their entire family who want to go to the East.

Those who had no intention of staying in the East, once they arrived in the East, the Jinyiwei had plenty of ways to keep them in the East.

Among the three major empires in Europe, the Spanish Empire was the first to declare national bankruptcy, but it was also the empire that achieved price stability and social stability the fastest.

After all, Felipe II had just injected the soul into the Spanish Empire. Such a spiritual leader, with his personal charm, firmly controlled the military and political circles. With the army, everything became simple.

The Holy Roman Empire declared bankruptcy shortly thereafter. Ferdinand I ignored the orders of Pope Peter VII and forcibly withdrew his troops back to the country. The emperor and the pope officially entered the moment of seizing power.

Although the Spanish Empire's Invincible Armada did not withdraw and formally accepted the surrender of King Francis II of the Kingdom of France, all French territory belonged to Spain, and Francis II became the Vichy Kingdom of France under the Spanish Empire.

The change in the situation gave French General André a chance to breathe. He escaped from Vichy France and fled to the colonies in Africa, where he established Free France...

(End of this chapter)