The Rise of the European Emperor

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Morocco is located in the far northwest of Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Morocco's climate is not humid, but rather dry. The annual precipitation is only a few hundred millimeters, and the seaside area does not exceed 800 millimeters, which is equivalent to the precipitation in the inland provinces of China. Moreover, this precipitation is very unstable, it may be high this year and low next year.

This led to very erratic flow of some rivers originating in the Atlas Mountains. The difference between wet years and dry years can reach more than 5 times.

But don't underestimate Morocco. Because, no matter how dry Morocco is, it is also the area with the most precipitation in North Africa. Places such as Egypt and Libya have not yet wanted so much precipitation. If Egypt wasn't fed by the Nile River, it would be almost as dry as the Arabian Peninsula.

Morocco has plenty of sunshine and high temperature, and the water used for agricultural irrigation varies from time to time. When there is a lot, the harvest is good, and when there is little, the harvest is poor, it all depends on the mood of God.

Moreover, the crop here is not rye, which is popular in Central and Eastern Europe, but barley. Barley has a shorter growth cycle and is easier to care for than wheat. As long as the wheat is not well served, the yield will be very low. But barley is much more extensive, as long as there is enough water for irrigation, the yield will not be much worse. Therefore, in Europe at present, barley is popular in the south, and rye is popular in northern and eastern Europe. Moreover, barley is also an important brewing raw material for beer.

In addition to barley, Morocco is also popular in the cultivation of olives, which produce a very popular olive oil. What the Spanish army coveted was the barley and olives produced in Morocco.

Although the taste of barley is far less than that of wheat, barley is easy to serve. In this era of backward agricultural technology, barley is an important food in southern Europe. Basically, barley is as popular among ordinary people as rye is popular among Germans. Of course, rye is also very popular in Spain because it is cheap. But rye is mainly imported, while locally, barley and oats are mainly produced. If you grab enough barley, you can save a lot of food expenses.

In order to seize Moroccan barley, the Spaniards had already figured out the situation in Morocco. The barley producing areas are mainly located in the Um Rabia River and the Seb River, which estuary in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, and Moulouye, whose estuary is on the Mediterranean Sea in the northeast. The areas along the banks of the three major rivers.

For this reason, the Spaniards specially divided their troops into two groups, and launched attacks on the Moroccan mainland from Melilla in the north and the Moroccan coast in the west.

Melilla was a colony that Spain had acquired long ago, and it was easy for the Spanish army to land here. And on the west coast of Morocco, Spain has no foothold. For this reason, Spain had to turn to Portugal for help, and purchased the coastal port stronghold of Mazagang, the descendant of Jadida, from the Portuguese as a foothold for the landing of the army.

Spain and Portugal had previously reached an agreement in Rome to carve up Africa,

Africa is now North Africa including Morocco and Western Sahara and Mozambique in Southwest Africa was colonized by Spain for a generation. Other areas belong to Portugal.

According to this agreement, Juan III directly contributed to the purchase of coastal strongholds such as Ceuta, Tangier, Mazagang Jadida and Agadir on the coast of Morocco that the Portuguese had previously acquired. Moreover, the focus of the offensive was placed on Mazagang Jadida at the mouth of the Umm Raibia River and Melilla near the mouth of the Muluye River. Because the two river basins near these two cities are important agricultural areas in Morocco. As for the mouth of the Sebu River, because there is no Portuguese stronghold, the Spaniards plan to send warships into the Sebu River, looking for opportunities to send troops ashore to grab food...

Moreover, in order not to affect the autumn harvest in Spain, Juan III ordered the army to set off in batches to attack Morocco. The first batch of troops to land on the territory of Morocco was the 20,000 German mercenaries hired from Germany by Margaret of Austria. Accompanying these German mercenaries to land were 10,000 Spanish herders conscripts. The recruitment of herdsmen has no effect on the Spanish autumn harvest, just as the country can enjoy the autumn harvest with peace of mind. The herdsmen also brought a lot of Spanish horses such as Andalusian horses to supply 20,000 German mercenaries. Of course, instead of letting them go out to fight on horseback, they should ride horses to grab food...

The main task of these 20,000 German mercenaries is to consolidate the city defenses of Melilla and Mazagang Jedida while grabbing food. After all, these German mercenaries may not be able to adapt to the local hot and dry climate all at once. In addition, the main Spanish army and supplies have not arrived, and it is impossible for these 20,000 German mercenaries to single out the 20,000 to 30,000 scimitar cavalry in Morocco.

As for the other 30,000 Spanish troops and another 40,000 Spanish civilians, they will not be able to land in Morocco until the autumn harvest in Spain is over. And when 30,000 Spanish troops landed in Morocco, it was also the time when Spain officially launched a general offensive against Morocco...

...

Marin frowned at the beginning that the Spaniards had begun to attack Morocco. But soon, he became happy because the Spanish military action attracted the attention of all Europe. And Marin secretly sent troops to plot Siena's actions, which was not noticeable. Originally, he was worried that the arrival of 25,000 troops in Italy would attract the attention of interested people. But now, the Spaniard is showing off and attracting the attention of the whole of Europe. In this way, Marin's actions were covered by the light of the Spaniards.

In order to attract more attention to Spain, Marin specially asked the Pope's father-in-law Julius II to publicly express his appreciation for the Spaniards' righteous deed of "recovering the territory of the ancient Roman Empire". King Juan is really young and promising ...

Sure enough, following the Pope's statement, the attention of the Europeans was further focused on the Spaniards. Many countries sent envoys or spies to Madrid to find out what Spain was doing. As for the quiet movement of troops by Marin, no one paid attention. Moreover, it is the autumn harvest season, everyone is very busy, who has time to care about things that have nothing to do with themselves? For those poor nobles, it is reasonable to squander for a while after the autumn harvest is over... These nobles are no different from those college students in Marin's previous life. When the autumn harvest was just over, they had the most abundant money Then they start to squander...then when the summer starts the next day, they have no money on hand, and start to wait for the autumn harvest...At this time, they are like students who have run out of living expenses at the end of the month, with a lot of money in their hands. Difficult, need to borrow money from the banker to survive. And when the autumn harvest is over, they not only have money to squander, but also have to pay off their debts...

In addition to asking the Pope's father-in-law to publicly commend Spain's attack on Morocco, Marin also arranged for his spies to talk and comment on Spain's attack on Morocco in taverns in Italy, further attracting people's attention. Especially in the Siena area, Marin sent many spies to guide the local people's public opinion and attention points in the tavern, making them forget their own danger.

Then, Marin disguised himself as a grain merchant, went to Siena, and conducted investigation activities in person...

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