The Rise of the European Emperor

Marin's concerns are not groundless. You must know that there are only four maritime powers in Europe-Spain, Portugal, England and Venice.

Among them, Spain is a dual maritime power in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It not only has a powerful carrack sailing fleet, but also has a powerful galley fleet, with the strongest comprehensive strength. Portugal is second, but in terms of sailing warships active in the ocean, Portugal is stronger than Spain, and it is the number one naval power in the Atlantic Ocean.

As for the later overlord England, currently limited by its national strength and population, it can only be inferior to the two countries. And Venice, which is a pure galley country, can only dominate the Mediterranean Sea with little wind and waves.

In fact, when it comes to the strength of galleys alone, Venice is much better than Spain. But the problem is that now Venice needs to compete with the newly rising Ottoman Turkey for maritime supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean, so it cannot do its best to deal with Spain. Otherwise, Venice must have taught Spain how to behave in the Mediterranean.

In addition, there is a "powerful country" on the sea... Well, it is not a country, but a union, that is - the Hanseatic League!

The maritime power of the Hanseatic League is comparable to that of England. Even, even more than one head. If Lübeck and Hamburg, the "one king and one queen", join forces, England will also have to retreat by three points.

As for the third Bremen, it has been taken by Marin as Marin's territory. Moreover, in the eyes of foreign forces, because of the friendly relationship between Marin and the Hanseatic League, the maritime power of the North Sea State is actually counted in the "Hanseatic League", not an independent force. Because, in terms of the number of ships alone, the North Sea country is indeed a bit small.

At present, there are only 70 or 80 merchant ships of the North Sea country that are active all year round in various parts of Europe. And there are only thirty or forty ships active between America and Europe. But the ships active between the Americas and the mainland are invisible to other European countries. Therefore, the outside world's assessment of the North Sea State is 10 warships and dozens of merchant ships. This kind of strength, in the eyes of the outside world, is not even as good as the original Hanseatic Free City of Bremen. In terms of the number of ships alone, this is indeed the case. Therefore, the North Sea country will be underestimated by Portugal.

But Portugal does not know how powerful the hidden firepower of the North Sea State is...

For example, there are seventy or eighty 250-level armed merchant ships currently active in various parts of Europe. In theory, each ship can be equipped with 20 artillery pieces. Moreover, they are all main battle guns like 12-pound guns.

However, when the merchant ships of the North Sea State traveled between various parts of Europe, most of the artillery was removed, and only three or four 12-pound guns were kept as a symbol. At the same time, it also confuses the enemy. Then, it gave other countries the illusion that the merchant ships of the North Sea country seemed to have little combat effectiveness.

In fact, most of the sailors of these merchant ships, except for newcomers, have mostly received naval combat training. and,

Each ship was also equipped with 40 matchlock guns. Once a pirate approaches, the sailors will take out Vulcan guns from the bilge to fight back. In the Mediterranean Sea, the merchant ships of the North Sea State repelled several pirate attacks.

That is to say, in theory, if a large-scale battle occurs, the North Sea State can dispatch up to 30 warships and 120 250-level armed merchant ships to fight. The premise is that these merchant ships are all in the country...

But this is impossible, because the thirty or forty 250-class armed merchant ships traveling to and from North America are on the go all year round, and it is difficult to call them back. Even among the seventy or eighty local merchant ships, there are usually at most thirty or forty at home.

Therefore, in order not to affect the trade, Marin dispatched up to 20 armed merchant ships from it to fight, and formed a combined fleet with 20 warships.

Although there are only 40 ships, their firepower far exceeds that of Portugal. Although the Portuguese warships also have twenty or thirty cannons on them, most of them are two or three-pound Fran cannons, which are very weak. This kind of artillery, not to mention piercing the sides of Beihai state warships, can't even penetrate the sides of 250-level armed merchant ships.

Moreover, in order to prepare for the war, this time Marin directly ordered that white iron sheets be nailed to the sides of the 20 250-class armed merchant ships preparing for the war to prevent shelling. In this way, with the firepower of Portugal's largest 12-pound gun, it is impossible to cause any damage to the warships of the North Sea State.

In addition, because Da Gama had already led a fleet to expedition against the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, at present, the Portuguese court can use up to fifty or sixty warships, and most of them are about 200 tons of caraque sailboats and caravel sailboats. With such a scale, it simply cannot beat the combined fleet of the North Sea State.

However, if Portugal breaks out and calls for large ships from all over the country to fight, it will be able to mobilize more than a hundred ships. Therefore, Marin prepared 20 warships and 20 armed merchant ships in case of emergency.

However, if it is possible not to fight, Marin still avoids fighting this battle. After all, whether he wins or loses, it is not good for Marin.

How should I put it, if the battle is lost, needless to say, the colonies of Beihai State may be snatched by Portugal, so naturally it is over. And if you win, it's actually not a good thing...

why? Because Marin does not have enough strength to annex the benefits spit out after Portugal's defeat. The result could be - cheaper Spain...

After all, there are too few ships and too few sailors in Beihai. Even if you win Portugal, you will not be able to enjoy the benefits that the Portuguese spit out. In this way, even if you win, what is the benefit?

And if Spain is cheaper in the end, that's not what Marin wants to see. You know, Spain is already very strong, both sea and land. If they took advantage of Portugal, a stronger and fiercer opponent would appear in front of Marin.

Therefore, Marin's current preparations are actually mostly to force the Portuguese back, not to win or lose with the Portuguese.

But the future is uncertain. Once England is annexed, England's demographic dividend is digested, and there are enough sailors, Marin will dare to suppress Portugal and boldly swallow the benefits of the Portuguese. Because England has no shortage of sailors. As long as there are ships, you can grab the Portuguese overseas interests as much as you want.

...

However, those preparations come later. Right now, Marin plans to take revenge on Rui Silva first. He is not someone who has been violated and swallowed his anger.

Sending the fleet directly to the Azores to beat Rui Silva would definitely not work, that would be equivalent to declaring war on Portugal. So, I have to think of another way...

So Marin called Kohler and asked:

"Where is the fief of the Silva family?"

After Kohler went back to check the information, Hui reported:

"In a mountainous area near the city of Bragança in northeastern Portugal..."

"Braganza?" Marin thought of the Braganza dynasty that ruled Portugal after 1640. But now, apparently, the Duke of Braganza has nothing to do with the throne. Moreover, the Silva family is just an inconspicuous noble family in the Dukedom of Braganza.

After recovering, Marin asked:

"In addition to the cork production industry, what other industries does the Silva family have in the outer territories?"

Kohler flipped through the information and said:

"Yes, there's grape growing and wine making, logging and timber processing. Also, there's cattle farming..."

Marin thought for a while and ordered:

"Okay, you order the spies of the North Sea State stationed in Portugal—from now on, do everything possible to attack all industries in Baron Silva. We need cork products and buy them normally. As for the wood processing industry...send someone Go and burn down the timber processing plant in Baron Silva, there must be a lot of timber there..."

"Wine industry...sent people to sneak into the winemaking workshop in the middle of the night, smashed those wine barrels, and let the wine flow all over the ground..."

"Raising cattle...well...let's send someone to poison those cattle..."

After finishing the order, Marin sneered:

"Hmph, you want to take advantage of me? In your next life!"

He estimated that after these things were done, the Silva family would lose at least tens of thousands of gold coins. Although it can't offset Marin's loss, Marin doesn't care. He just wanted to give Rui Silva a warning, and disgust him by the way. As for the loss or something, he has a lot of money and can afford to lose...