There is a saying that "modesty makes people progress, and modesty makes people backward." This sentence can not only be applied to people, but also applies to all countries in the world, our country has been closed to the country, but also to the problem of the heavenly kingdom of the country has been planted too big, the medieval Spain, it seems to have fallen into this misunderstanding.
In the 16th century, Philip II of the Habsburg dynasty became King of Spain, and at the beginning of the French Wars of Religion, Spain defeated France and defeated its own strong enemy, the Ottoman Empire, and won the battle of Malta.
The pace of Spain's external expansion also reached its peak, at this time Europe set off a vigorous global overseas colonization activities, Spain has a huge navy and excellent ports, created a large number of colonies on all continents in the world, their power extended to the Philippines in Southeast Asia, and the entire Kingdom of Spain also began to be proud. Immediately they expanded their colonial attention to the Ming Dynasty at that time. At that time, the tea and porcelain of the Ming Dynasty were especially favored by Europeans, and european nylon fabrics and other specialties were not welcomed by China, and a large amount of silver flowed into China, and Spain wanted to occupy this land even more.
In 1570, a captain named Diego de Artieda wrote to Philip II, hoping that he would be able to send 80 soldiers and 2 warships to himself, Artieda assured Philip II that the Spanish flag would be planted in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, through books such as "The Adventures of Marco Polo", Philip II was also full of interest in this ancient country, seeing Atieda's letter threatening to conquer China, the letter, he also thought in his heart, Atieda is also too absurd, China is so big, at least 4,000 people! To this end, he even held a pre-imperial council at the court to further elaborate detailed plans. Because of the tense relations with the Ottomans at that time, the matter of going to the Ming Dynasty was shelved.
By 1576, Sander, the chief of the Philippine colonies, had written a letter to Philip II describing the wealth of the Ming Dynasty, in which he declared: "If we can occupy China, there is no need to own land like the Philippines." ”
Sander believed that the conquest of the Ming Dynasty would require thousands of people, who would only need to land in The Ports of China, ensure the smoothness of the logistical routes, and occupy the big cities, and the remaining states and counties would fall with the wind, which was also in line with Philip II's vision, so he and his ministers discussed and drew up a specific strategic plan.
The plan argues that in order to "just in case", it is still necessary to send additional manpower, including 12,000 Spanish soldiers, 5,000 Indian soldiers, and 5,000 Japanese ronin from Japanese warlords, so that the attack on the Ming Dynasty can be said to be foolproof. Just when Philip II was rushing to realize this plan, a naval battle broke out with The British, and the Spanish fleet, which was known as invincible, encountered a major storm and suffered heavy losses when it marched to the vicinity of Irish waters, in addition, because of the need to maintain a large army at all times, the people's complaints boiled over, and Philip II's plan to conquer the Ming Dynasty finally failed.
At that time, although the Ming Dynasty had been caught up by the West in terms of technology, it was still the most powerful empire in the world, including cannons, many firearms were still ahead of Europe, and at this time, it was during the Three Great Expeditions of the Wanli Calendar, and the Ming army was strong in combat. If this war really fought, it would have been Philip II who would have regretted it.