Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 215 The troubled Spaniards

Return to Ganquan Palace

The depression caused by the tedious government affairs of King Zheng Guohui of Chu was swept away. The inspection of the army was like a soothing medicine, and his mood became extremely good.

In the harem
Seeing that he was in a good mood, the queen smiled and said, "Your Majesty, today, Third Aunt came to the palace and talked with the Queen Mother for a while. The Queen Mother's mood improved immediately, and she ate half an extra bowl of rice at noon."

Upon hearing this, King Zheng Guohui of Chu said with emotion, "Third Aunt is so thoughtful. My mother has just recovered from her illness. Unfortunately, I am busy with official duties and cannot fulfill my filial duty by her side. In the future, please come to the palace more often and talk with my mother."

"Of course. Every three to five days, I will send someone to invite you."

"That's certainly good. I hope Your Majesty will take care of it. My mother is old and likes to chat with people of the same age about family matters. Third Aunt is just the right person for this."

"When we were on the boat, my mother was suffering from vomiting and diarrhea, and it was Third Aunt who helped take care of her."

"Well, after the celebration, the Queen and I will come to the mansion to express our gratitude. I also have two paintings by Tang Jieyuan that Brother Xianqu loves so much, so I will give them to him."

When the queen heard King Zheng Guohui of Chu call Li Hezhang "immortal brother", she was speechless, because he was her third uncle!

After a brief silence

The Queen then changed the subject and casually asked, "Your Majesty, our army has occupied such a good piece of land from the Franks and killed so many people. Will this really not provoke revenge from the Indians?"

In today's era

In the provincial capitals along the coast of China, the British, Dutch and Spanish are often referred to as "red-haired barbarians" because these white people often have red hair, which is very conspicuous.

Zheng Guohui smiled complacently upon hearing this, picked up the tea and took a leisurely sip, his face showing an unconcealed pride as he said;
"Madam, you don't know, this is a long story. It has to start with the historical origins of the Frankish country and its situation in Europe. Otherwise, it will be difficult to explain in detail.

This king diligently reads history books daily, including European history written in English. By reading them, I gain insights and broaden my horizons."

"If Your Majesty does not mind being a burden, I am willing to listen attentively." The queen was also good at joining in the fun. Seeing that King Chu Zheng Guohui was beaming with joy, like a child showing off his treasure, how could she let her words fall on the floor?
"Hahaha... Then today I will tell the queen about the past and present life of this Portuguese..." Zheng Guohui opened his mouth and began to narrate incessantly.

Starting from the time when the Spanish and Portuguese divided the world under the auspices of the Pope, it briefly talked about the glory of the Spanish during the Age of Exploration.

The queen's beautiful eyes, dark and bright, were fascinated by the history that she had never heard of before.

While King Zheng Guohui of Chu was drinking tea, he kept urging her to speak faster, and she became very interested.

"No flower lasts forever. After experiencing over a hundred years of glorious global colonization during the early days of the Age of Discovery, the Spanish royal family of the Habsburg family inevitably fell into decline..."

Zheng Guohui's narration had a lot of storytelling flavor. He quoted from classics and spoke at will, which made the concubines standing behind him and serving him listen attentively.

The biggest drawback of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty was that in order to maintain the dignity of the royal bloodline, for more than 20 generations, most people followed the tradition of marrying close relatives.

The consequence was that the royal family gradually declined, and most of them died young.

During the reign of Charles II, the royal family gave birth to 11 children, but only two grew up and the other died young.

In the case of Charles II, the aftereffects of inbreeding broke out completely.

Carlos II suffers from many genetic diseases, including severe mental retardation, epilepsy, slurred speech, difficulty eating, etc., and has lost his fertility.

When he tenaciously lived to be in his thirties, all his hair fell out, his ears became deaf, his eyes became blind, he could not even walk, and was paralyzed in bed for a long time, earning the nickname "The Possessed One".

When Charles II died in 1700, all the members of the Spanish royal family had died out. He himself was born infertile, and the Habsburg Spanish royal family was extinct from then on.

After several decades of the "War of the Succession", the Bourbon Spanish royal family gained a firm foothold, but this also led to the complete decline of this great empire that once colonized the world.

During the reign of Ferdinand VII, the Spanish royal family suffered another major setback.

At that time, Napoleon, the French Emperor who was invincible in Europe, deposed Ferdinand VII and made his brother the King of Spain.

By the time the Seventh Coalition defeated French Emperor Napoleon and Ferdinand VII of Spain was successfully restored in 7, the royal family had been severely damaged.

This is not enough, and the dispute between conservatives and liberals broke out again in Spain.

King Ferdinand VII temporarily secured his throne, but his conservative, anti-liberal policies led to him losing the support of his native countrymen and overseas colonists.

Fernando's nightmare began to unfold in the South American colonies.

In 1816, the famous liberal Simon Bolivar returned to South America and attacked New Grenada from Venezuela, marking the beginning of the independence movement of South American countries.

That same year, Argentina declared independence.

The following year, José de San Martín crossed the Andes Mountains and invaded Chile, which immediately declared independence. At this time, the Spanish royal family still held colonies in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Central America, and still occupied one-third of North America and all of Central America.

But Fernando VII was unwilling to lose the vast land in southern South America, so in 1820, Fernando VII announced the mobilization of troops in Cadiz, preparing to lead the Spanish army to recover the lost land in South America.

However, the country was unstable. Generals such as Rafael de Rego took advantage of the king's military review in Cadiz to launch a rebellion and led the government to restore the 1812 Constitution. This resulted in an uprising in Galicia and eventually a nationwide civil war.

Faced with internal and external troubles, Ferdinand VII was stabbed in the back again. Now that he can hardly keep his throne, how can he have the mind to care about the vast colonies in South America?
After talking for a while
Zheng Guohui picked up the teacup and took a sip, and found that the tea was a little cold.

He looked back in astonishment, only to see more than a dozen pairs of bright black eyes staring at him, their eyes full of gossip and thirst for knowledge.

At this moment

The queen also noticed something was wrong and glared at the palace maids behind her. Only then did the palace maids react and hurriedly went to change the tea.

The Queen then asked, "Your Majesty, why is the King of Spain so unlucky? It seems that everyone is against him."

"Yes, Europe is now full of powerful forces. If we are not careful, our strongholds will be raided by others. There are serious checks and balances between each other, so we can only keep most of our strength in Europe." Zheng Guohui enjoyed this kind of preaching. After taking a sip of freshly brewed tea, he continued calmly.

In South America, the liberal San Martín invaded Peru in 1820 and was welcomed into the Peruvian capital of Lima the following year by local citizens, where he established an independent government.

The Spanish governor of Peru was forced to flee inland, but later successfully organized a counterattack by contacting conservative forces and overthrew the liberal Peruvian government.

It was not until 1823 that Bolivar and Antonio José Sucre led their troops into Peru and successfully joined forces with San Martín's troops who persisted in fighting. The coalition forces finally defeated the Spanish royalists, captured the Spanish governor alive, and ended Spain's colonial rule in the Americas.

The largest Spanish colony in North America was Mexico. At its peak, this colony was 18 times the size of the Great Chu Kingdom.

During the time of Mexico in 1821, the Spanish royal family in Europe was so overwhelmed that it had no time to care about the North American colonies.

The local white conservative gentry asked the Spanish government to establish another monarch, and it was a coincidence that the liberal government that advocated reform allowed Mexico to become independent.

From then on, the Spanish royal family lost most of its colonies in North America, Central America and South America, leaving only Cuba and Puerto Rico.

If you add Luzon, that leaves three."

Speaking of here
Zheng Guohui smiled complacently and explained to the queen, "Don't worry now. The Spanish royal family is too busy to take care of themselves and it's impossible for them to send a single soldier to Southeast Asia.

Ferdinand VII was succeeded by his eldest daughter Isabella, known as Isabella II.

At the beginning of his reign
The Spanish Civil War broke out again because of the issue of succession to the throne. The civil war lasted for 7 years.
It was not until 1839 that the main force of the Carlist Party was crushed and Uncle Carlos was forced to flee to France.

In July of the following year, all the Carlist Party members were eliminated, and Isabella II's throne was consolidated.

The Spanish originally thought that peaceful days would come, but who knew that this was just the beginning of the disaster...

In 1843, Isabella II took power, ushering in the darkest and most chaotic period in Spanish history to date, and has become a laughing stock throughout Europe.

This incompetent woman's accession to the throne led to endless palace conspiracies and coups.

In the past 23 years, Spain has replaced 31 governments. There are countless treacherous ministers of all kinds. Corruption is rampant in the country and public resentment is boiling.

The Spanish royal family today is like a volcano about to erupt. Sitting atop the volcano, Isabella II is still stirring up trouble. The entire royal family is in such a state of disarray, how could they possibly care about the gains and losses of the Luzon Islands?

Hearing this, everyone from the queen to the maid breathed a sigh of relief.

They were not interested in European history, nor were they keen on listening to these power struggles. What they cared about most was the last words of King Zheng Guohui of Chu;

The Chu Kingdom is safe and sound, you can rest assured.

This is what concerns everyone's vital interests, how can we not care about it?

Zheng Guohui was also speechless after seeing this. He smiled and clapped his hands and said, "Okay, after talking for a while, I'm getting hungry. Let's serve the food!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, this is my negligence." The queen said with a smile.

She now looked relieved and in an extremely cheerful mood. She asked the palace maids to instruct the kitchen to prepare some delicious dishes today and to drink a few glasses of wine with His Majesty.

Since the Spanish royal family had no time to care about other things, her throne as queen was secure, and she no longer had to worry secretly, fearing that the Red Army would come again one day.

To get rid of this worry in my mind, of course I have to drink a few more glasses.

(End of this chapter)