My British Empire

  Chapter 195 Alliance Formation

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   Seeing Princess Mary nodding in agreement, Edward felt relieved.

   "Catherine, talk slowly, I won't bother you!" Edward looked around, he was the only man, a little embarrassed, then nodded and said.

   Immediately, Edward glanced sideways and saw Queen Mary's disgusted expression dissipate slightly, and the corners of his mouth twitched.

   It seems that this woman is still dissatisfied with taking her captive.

   "Congratulations to Your Majesty—" A clear or gentle or pleasant voice sounded, and Edward walked out of the room.

  After walking out of the room, he could still faintly hear the voices talking about Prince Philip.

  Afterwards, Edward went to meet Kyle Lance, Minister of the Privy Council.

   "Your Excellency, how much did the French pay to redeem Francisco?"

  Edward sat on a chair covered with wolf fur, half lying down, eyes closed, and asked lazily.

   "This—" Kyle felt a little speechless. He knew that the king would not be satisfied with this answer, so he moved his lips and hesitated.

  He looked at His Majesty the King seriously, and when he realized that the King's eyelids blinked a little after hearing these words, he blurted out: "Your Majesty, the French are only willing to pay six thousand pounds to redeem Franceco!"

   "Besides, I also heard that the King of France began to borrow heavily. I guess he is not sincere in our negotiations!"

   "I'm afraid, they are planning to take it back with the army!"

   Looking up a little at His Majesty the King, who was dozing off, Kyle made a guess, trying to recover his lost points in front of the King. Although it was useless, how would you know if you didn’t try.

   Regarding this matter, Edward also had a guess in his heart. The sincerity of the French is there. According to Henry II's character, it is impossible to succumb to England.

  Besides, he lost the previous naval battle. In order to re-establish the authority of the king, he must use a victory to win.

   After all, there are still a large number of nobles in France. Although they cannot compete with the king individually, they can overthrow the king together.

   What is more funny is that the War of the Roses led to the centralization of monarchy in England, and France, a hundred years later, also began to centralize power in the late sixteenth century after a religious civil war. War is really a good thing.

  Edward thought for a while, and felt that it was impossible for Francisco to hold on, so he could only give up.

   It's not that he underestimated himself, England really couldn't beat France.

  At this time, France's annual tax revenue reached one million pounds, four times that of England.

  A lot of money can not only hire a large number of powerful Swiss mercenaries, but he can also call a large number of knights. If the cost is not considered, the French king can call more than 100,000 troops to fight at one time.

  The huge army can crush England in terms of numbers alone.

   Therefore, the best policy is to give up Francisco, otherwise the loss outweighs the gain.

  Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in Edward's head, and he thought of a provocative plan.

   "You continue to talk to the French, hold them steady, go down first!" Edward waved at Kyle.

   Kyle also looked at Edward with doubts, and then slowly backed away.

   Half an hour later, Sir John walked in with sweat on his forehead, his face was full of excitement, and he bent down to greet him: "Good day, Your Majesty!"

   "Oh!" Looking at the hurried Sir John, Edward asked suspiciously: "Is the result out?"

   He couldn't help but wonder, how could the negotiation be so fast, it was just a meal, it was too easy!

   "Hey! Hey!" Hearing this, Sir John had a smirk on his face, his eyes narrowed, and his beard trembled.

   "Your Majesty, the Spaniards seem to want a quick victory, and they quickly gave in to some interests!"

   Next, Sir John cheerfully explained to Edward.

  First of all, this time the two countries formally established an alliance (only limited to France), agreeing that when the other side is under attack, both sides need to send troops to support and harass.

  At the request of England when necessary, Spain is willing to block the French army from going out of the Mediterranean.

  And if the two countries reached an alliance before, the Venetian navy hired by the French would be stopped in Gibraltar and unable to get out of the Mediterranean.

   That is to say, from now on, even if the French hire or build a navy, if the Spaniards block it, the French will not be able to directly hit the British Island.

  Of course, to be honest, Princess Mary’s marriage is a political marriage, which was doomed after she was born and cannot be changed.

  The rest are some commercial interests, that is, the small profits in the mouth of the Spaniards.

  For example, allowing English woolen textiles to enter Spain and its affiliated territories, such as the Netherlands, Austria, and South American colonies, etc. This is a large market.

   And also banned French textiles from entering Spain. This was to curb the development of the French textile industry.

   Appropriate tax reductions or exemptions for some British goods.

  For the Spaniards, these are indeed small profits. After all, hundreds of treasure ships are transported from South America every year. It doesn’t matter whether the money is bought by the French or the English, as long as it can satisfy the enjoyment of the nobles.

  The money that the Spanish and Portuguese worked so hard to transport from South America was not used to promote commercial development, but to enjoy it, and instead promoted the development of England and France.

   Of course, the treaty also stipulates that England shall not invade Spain's interests in South America, that is to say, England is not allowed to establish colonies in South America.

  Edward didn't care about this. England didn't have the energy to colonize it yet, and after defeating Spain, it was enough to just accept the ready-made ones without having to work hard to develop.

  The most important thing is to establish the alliance between Spain and England, and Spain has given up some commercial interests.

  For England, this treaty can protect England from French harassment for a few years, and it will also squeeze out the French and enjoy most of the Spanish market. These are enough to allow England's business to take off and capitalism to set sail.

  Yes, that's right, in Edward's eyes, the duration of this treaty is a few years. If Spain is too strong at any time, then the other side of the alliance is France.

  Some people say that this is not good for Princess Mary's marriage.

  In fact, this does not affect marriage at all, because the country is the country, the royal family is the royal family, the country is fighting lively in front, but the royal family communicates constantly. This is Europe at this time, marriage and war are the themes.

   Besides, don’t forget that Princess Mary’s mother is Charles V’s aunt, and Princess Mary is Charles V’s cousin. She is actually one of the heirs of Spain, but the order is relatively low.

  (end of this chapter)