Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 459 Ripples (Part 5)

In the summer of 1639, a powerful French army invaded Catalonia, capturing and controlling the most important fortress in the border region, Salcez.

In order to repel the invading French army, the Spanish Flemish Legion marched to Catalonia and spent the winter there.

During their stay, these brutal, violent, and lawless troops looted the property of local residents, forcibly detained women, and even killed innocent civilians, causing immense suffering to the people of Catalonia.

By the end of April 1640, after enduring months of mistreatment by the army, the local residents' discontent gradually turned into violence.

Subsequently, the situation gradually deteriorated to its worst point.

In June, a large-scale armed uprising broke out in Catalonia. They attacked lone Kingdom soldiers and burned some heinous officials alive.

All forces in the region associated with royal authority were purged by the insurgents, and anyone accused of betraying them or siding with the royal family was in danger of losing their life.

The Viceroy of Spain, Count Santa Coloma, also perished in the riot.

After driving out the Spanish army, in order to secure their safety, the Catalan nobles inevitably yielded to reality and accepted the protection of the French king.

They allowed French armed ships to use their ports and agreed to pay for an army of three thousand French soldiers to defend a duchy that they themselves could not defend.

After nearly two centuries of rule over Catalonia, the Kingdom of Spain lost control of this rich territory for the first time, demonstrating its incompetence and weakness to countless Europeans.

In order to suppress the Catalan uprising and expel the invading French army, the Kingdom of Spain forcibly conscripted tens of thousands of young men into the army in Portugal and demanded that local nobles provide the army with the necessary supplies.

For many years, the Spanish royal family has treated Portugal as a hen that keeps laying eggs, levying heavy taxes on its territory and constantly encroaching on the trade interests of Portugal's overseas colonies, resulting in significant losses for many Portuguese nobles and merchants, which has long aroused dissatisfaction among all classes of Portuguese people.

Not to mention, in order to quell the rebellion in the Netherlands, Spain forcibly requisitioned dozens of warships that Portugal had prepared to use to defend the Brazilian colonies, preparing for a major offensive against the Netherlands.

As a result, in the Battle of the Downs, the combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet was completely destroyed by fire, leaving the Portuguese authorities in Brazil with almost no usable ships. Faced with the aggressive offensive of the Dutch West India Company, they could only adopt a defensive and evasive strategy.

As our motherland, you not only fail to protect our security, but you also cripple our weapons for self-defense. Following you brings no benefits, only misfortune.

This further exacerbated the Portuguese separatist tendencies, and an armed uprising aimed at breaking away from Spanish rule began to brew within the country.

The kingdom's chief minister, Count Olivares, had to admit that, faced with this situation of internal and external troubles, he had virtually no resources at his disposal to deal with the situation, except for devising one unrealistic strategy after another.

As he succumbed to anxiety and paranoia, more and more voices of opposition began to emerge among the domestic nobility. His political enemies sharpened their quills into thorns and relentlessly stabbed him.

In the south, the grandson of the Armada Marshal, the ninth Duke of Medina Sidonia, is plotting a rebellion and intends to declare himself King of Andalusia.

He did this perhaps not to divide the Kingdom of Spain, but to force Philip IV to remove the Count of Olivares from his position as chief minister.

In order to make a difference and to prove to Philip IV that he could still handle the current predicament of the Kingdom of Spain, Count Olivares requested His Majesty the King to send a chief inspector to the Americas in order to fully explore the economic "potential" within the colonies and raise a large sum of money in the coming year to support the various military operations on the mainland.

Upon arriving in Mexico, Inspector General Quevedo summoned wave after wave of colonial officials and large landowners, urging them to contribute to the kingdom, whether through increased taxes or voluntary donations. He hoped that the Viceroyalty of New Spain, with its larger population and better economic conditions, would set an example by raising one million pesos.

Then, he went to the Viceroyalty of Peru to try and get six or seven hundred thousand pesos, so he could go back and report.

In his view, the entire American colony had about 600,000 white people, almost the same as the combined population of Catalonia, Aragon, and Valencia.

If everyone contributes two pesos to His Majesty the King, this enormous sum can be raised.

Besides, the Americas also have a population of 1.2 million Africans and mixed-race people, which is about the same as the population of Portugal. If you squeeze them hard, you can easily get hundreds of thousands of pesos out of them.

Oh, right, there are also a larger number of Native Americans. Although they have already been squeezed dry, if we squeeze them a little more, we might still be able to get a few scraps.

However, to the inspector's surprise, the entire Viceroyalty of New Spain, from the governor and judges to ordinary plantation owners, vehemently opposed this temporary apportionment, unanimously telling him that they were "short of money" and that apart from land and livestock, they had very little "hard currency" such as gold and silver.

The Inspector General and the Treasurer General also complained that the Governor General's finances had always been in a deficit, unable to even cover the most basic military defense expenses, let alone contribute a "donation" of up to one million pesos to the mainland.

As for additional taxes, that's even more impossible.

Imposing special taxes on plantation owners and ordinary residents in colonial territories could very likely incite popular uprisings and trigger civilian riots.

In the days that followed, Quevedo encountered unprecedented resistance.

Officials suddenly became inefficient—of course, they weren't much more efficient before, with documents frequently "losing" and trade and tax accounts becoming "chaotic."

When he tried to tax merchants directly, he found that the market had suddenly become extremely depressed.

When he turned to the large landowners, he was told that this year's harvest was "unexpectedly poor." More than a month later, Inspector General Quevedo had only raised less than 100,000 pesos.

Enraged, he ordered the governor's district to arrest several businessmen who were clearly "in violation of regulations," accusing them of smuggling and tax evasion.

Clearly, his move triggered a greater backlash from the entire Governor's District, with protests erupting continuously.

“Count Pacheco…” Quevedo looked at Governor Pacheco with a serious expression, then suddenly changed the subject, “Could you tell me about the corruption and smuggling among the officials in the governorate?”

Count Pacheco's expression immediately changed, and he looked at him warily. "Your Excellency, Chief Inspector, you mean to..."

You're not planning to use this opportunity to launch a large-scale political purge, are you?

"It goes without saying that corruption has seeped into the very marrow of the entire colony, my esteemed Governor." Quevedo smiled, a meaningful expression on his face. "There's no need for any in-depth investigation; we know that from the customs officials in the port of Veracruz to the auditors in Mexico City, and even the judges in the tribunal, they are all involved in smuggling. Am I right, Count Pacheco?"

“…” Count Pacheco remained silent, his expression shifting between light and shadow.

Although he has only been in office for a little over eight months and has not yet been involved in large-scale smuggling activities, he has received more than 60,000 pesos in "tribute" from numerous smugglers, as well as a large amount of precious jewelry, porcelain and silk.

If this chief inspector intends to raise funds by cracking down on smuggling and tax evasion by businessmen, it could very well affect him personally.

“During this month, I made a rough estimate of the scale of smuggling in the entire governorate,” Kvedo continued. “It was roughly between two million and two and a half million pesos. The smuggled goods ranged from silk and porcelain from the Ming Dynasty to furs, woolens, wines, hardware, iron materials, and even a considerable amount of fish products from Xinhua. The variety was extensive and the quantity was enormous, covering all aspects of the local residents’ production and life.”

"And do you know how much tariffs we lost during that time? I think... at least 300,000 pesos!"

Quevedo's eyebrows almost reached his hairline, and his eyes blazed with murderous fire: "Three hundred thousand pesos! That's equivalent to the royal family's annual revenue in Andalusia!"

"And this is probably just the tip of the iceberg of the Governorate's losses, isn't it?"

"Your Excellency the Inspector General, what do you intend to do?" Count Pacheco took a deep breath. "If you want to purge the entire bureaucracy in one fell swoop, the Viceroyalty of New Spain will be paralyzed."

His words carried a subtle warning.

A mocking smile appeared on Kvedo's lips.

"Count Pacheco, is it because of a lack of sufficient military funding that the Governorate is unable to expand its military strength and launch a large-scale counterattack against the new Chinese?"

“Hmm?…” Count Pacheco was somewhat bewildered by the other party’s abrupt change of thought. “Your Excellency, Chief Inspector, please speak plainly about what you want to say. There’s no need to beat around the bush.”

“Alright, then I’ll be frank.” Kvidor’s voice became calm and calculating. “First, I need a list, a list of people involved in smuggling and tax evasion. Then, I will levy a ‘special tax’ on them in the name of His Majesty the King and the Chief Minister to raise the corresponding war funds and protect the territory of the Governorate.”

"They either pay money or go to trial; it's up to them to make a wise choice. In addition, I will ask the church to contribute some funds, after all, reclaiming lost territory and protecting the believers is also God's will, which cannot be shirked."

“Third…” he revealed a sly smile, “We can issue a temporary decree to temporarily relax the crackdown on smuggling and charge a special fee to the merchants involved in smuggling. Uh, as for how much to charge, your governorate needs to carefully discuss and calculate it, so as not to let those shameless merchants take advantage of it.”

“To allow smuggling... this is against the royal decree?” Count Pacheco exclaimed.

"Hmph, if we don't let it go, can we stop this smuggling?" Kvedo sneered.

Count Pacheco remained silent.

“By the way, how many resources would we need to form an expeditionary force?” Kvido asked abruptly.

"Are you really going to consider attacking the new Chinese?" Pacheco looked at him in surprise.

“The King needs gold, Count Pacheco,” Quevedo’s voice was icy. “And you need to prove to His Majesty that New Spain is still the most dazzling jewel in the crown, not a rotten apple.”

“At least three thousand soldiers, twenty ships, five of which must be warships equipped with at least thirty cannons. And cannons, gunpowder, food, supplies…” Pacheco said, picking up a quill and quickly calculating on a piece of paper, “At least four hundred thousand pesos.”

"So much?" Kvedo frowned.

“Moreover, I haven’t even calculated the costs of prolonging the war,” Pacheco added. “If we hadn’t defeated the Chinese in the first place and the war had become a stalemate, the subsequent costs could have been even greater.”

Quevedo paced back and forth in the room, the candlelight casting a long shadow of him, like a beast poised to pounce.

“We need to give it a try, no matter what.” He stopped, as if he had made up his mind. “If we succeed, the Madrid court will be overjoyed.”

Count Pacheco stared intently, a very bad feeling instantly washing over him.

What if we fail?
(End of this chapter)