Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 421 Assessing the Situation
"Your Excellency, the news has been confirmed..."

As soon as a magnificent carriage came to a stop in front of the governor's mansion, the secretary, Gustavo de López, jumped down and rushed through the gate before the carriage had even come to a complete stop.

After consulting with his servant, he quickly went up to the second floor, walked to the east terrace, and handed a letter from the mainland to Count Lope Díaz de Almanza, the governor of New Spain: "...The Kingdom's navy did indeed suffer a terrible... defeat last October."

Count Almansa was startled. He immediately took the letter, took a deep breath to calm himself, and then opened it.

"Oh God! This is... a defeat?"

After a long pause, he finished reading the letter, a bitter expression on his face: "This is probably not a simple military defeat, but a complete and utter disaster! We have lost almost all of the kingdom's main warships, and more than 6,000 experienced naval officers and men have been killed, and 8,000 soldiers have been wounded."

"After this battle, the Spanish navy will be unable to cope with the Dutch attacks. Without the protection of the navy, the entire Americas and the Caribbean will be like a naked maiden, left to the Dutch to wreak havoc. For a considerable period of time, we will be isolated on one side of the ocean and unable to import gold, silver and other supplies into our homeland."

“Governor, is the situation really that bad?” Gustavo looked at him in surprise.

“Without naval escort, how can our treasure ship safely return to Seville?” Count Almanza sighed. “I have a feeling that our future situation may be worse than we imagine!”

"..." Gustavo was stunned upon hearing this.

Could the Dutch be planning to attack Mexico?
“The Dutch will definitely try to cut off the transportation between the Americas and our homeland, and we will inevitably face various shortages of supplies.” Count Almanza patted the young man and turned to walk into the house. “There are some things we need to prepare for in advance. Tomorrow, go and invite Speaker Garza to the Governor’s Palace. I need to have a good talk with him.”

"Yes, Governor!"
-
Lázaro de la Garza, the vice-president of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, sat quietly by the floor-to-ceiling window in the second-floor reception room, a cup of tea in his right hand, looking out the window.

In the central square, a few vendors were busy packing up their stalls, their shadows stretched long by the setting sun.

This ordinary scene, however, seemed exceptionally fragile to him at this moment.

Just like the current situation of the Spanish Empire, it appears glamorous on the surface, but is already rotten inside.

"Speaker, you must have heard, right?" Lord Don Gaspar de Aguayo of Encomida took a deep breath, breaking the silence in the hall.

"Mr. Aguayo, are you referring to... the fighting that took place a few months ago off the coast of Downs, England?" Garza placed his teacup on the small table beside him, licked his lips, and seemed to be savoring the fragrance of the tea.

I don't know when it started, but he actually started to like drinking this magical oriental beverage, which gives people a feeling of being refreshed and relaxed.

Hmm, the Xinhua News Agency sent him a lot of tea and several exquisite tea sets, which were said to be produced in different parts of the Ming Dynasty. Upon careful tasting, the flavors seemed to vary slightly, which was quite elegant.

“Yes, the Kingdom’s navy suffered a humiliating defeat.” Aguayo sighed and said in a low voice, “We lost more than forty capital ships and thousands of soldiers. It wasn’t until early November that the remaining ships managed to escape the Dutch pursuit and flee back to Dunkirk in a very sorry state. And in this battle, the Dutch…”

He paused for a moment, then gave a wry smile: "It is said that they only lost ten arson ships."

“…” Garza was silent for a moment, then said softly, “This is an indescribable tragedy for our Kingdom of Spain.”

“Yes, it is indeed a tragedy,” Aguayo nodded and said. “The first thing affected will be this year’s treasure ship voyage. Without the escort of naval ships, we probably won’t be able to transport that gold and silver back to our homeland. The Dutch will be like sharks, eyeing these valuable targets.”

“If the gold and silver ‘collected’ from the Americas cannot be transported back to the mainland, the Madrid court will be very anxious.” Garza frowned. “It has to be said that the Dutch have hit us where it hurts, severing the economic ties between the Americas and the mainland.”

"So, what will the Dutch do next?"

"Besides intensifying their raids on our merchant ships, they will certainly attack many of our colonial outposts in the Caribbean." "Will they attack Mexico?"

“Probably not.” Garza thought for a moment, then replied confidently, “The Dutch don’t have that capability. Even though the colonial armies in Mexico were generally not very strong, the Dutch couldn’t easily take over the land.”

“Hehe, I think so too.” Aguayo smiled slightly and nodded in agreement: “The Dutch can only conquer some small islands with no defenses at most.”

“However…” Garza added, “the Portuguese might be in big trouble.”

"You mean Brazil..."

"Yes, without the support of our Spanish navy, the Dutch could have blockaded the Brazilian coast with impunity and mobilized a large amount of manpower and resources to continuously put pressure on the Portuguese."

“No matter how tense the situation is in Brazil, it’s not really relevant to us,” Aguayo said slowly after carefully considering his words. “But we are also in a lot of trouble in Mexico. Not only can the treasure ships not set sail, but even ordinary merchant ships are being severely affected.”

“Mr. Speaker, are you aware that for the past two months, not a single merchant ship from the mainland has arrived in Veracruz, and there has been a shortage of goods of varying degrees throughout the region.”

“Yes, everything is terrible,” Garza agreed insincerely. “The local merchants have all retreated to the port of Seville to avoid becoming targets of the Dutch.”

“Mr. Garza…” Aguayo felt that if they continued beating around the bush, they might not get to the point until evening, so he simply stated it directly: “Trade between Mexico and the mainland is cut off by the Dutch, but we still have the option of the new Chinese, right?”

"..." Upon hearing this, Garza immediately showed a serious expression. "Mr. Aguayo, there is an unverified rumor in Mexico City that the new Chinese, together with the Ming people in the Philippines, launched an armed riot, captured Manila, and killed almost all the Spaniards, as well as the tribal natives who followed them."

"In addition, the Governor's Office has expressed deep concern about the increasingly blatant colonization of the San Francisco Bay area by the new Chinese and is prepared to take strong measures against them. Under these circumstances, the colonial authorities will probably crack down on and ban the smuggling of goods by the new Chinese."

"Therefore, at this time, Xinhua people may not be a good option for us."

“…” Upon hearing this, Aguayo rolled his eyes and looked at him with a dissatisfied expression. “Mr. Garza, we have been partners for many years and staunch political allies. You shouldn’t try to fob me off with these pointless words.”

Throughout Mexico, everyone knows that your Garza family is the biggest smuggler of Xinhua goods. Why are you still pretending in front of me?
“Mr. Aguayo, I think the Mexican market is still relatively calm, and the panic has not reached its peak.” Garza said with a smile, “So what we need to do now is not to sell Xinhua products everywhere in a big way, but to keep a certain silence.”

“You mean…” Aguayo looked at him thoughtfully.

“We should stockpile as much goods as possible before the new Chinese react. That way, we can make more money. What do you say, Mr. Aguayo?”

"You won't abandon me, will you?" Aguayo asked, somewhat worried.

“As you said, we have been partners for many years and staunch political allies. How could I abandon you?” Garza looked at him sincerely. “Besides, we are not from the peninsula, which gives us a natural affinity. We should stand closely together when facing any issue. Isn’t that right?”

Aguayo stared at him for a moment, then nodded slightly, picked up the teacup on the table, and gulped it down.

Night had completely fallen.

In Garza’s study, he stood alone by the window, gazing at the cathedral spire under the moonlight.

A complete collection of Machiavelli's works was open on the table, and it was turned to that particular page:
"When the goddess of fortune desires to accomplish great things, she will choose someone who can see the times and is not bound by convention."
-
(End of this chapter)