In 1580, the War of the Portuguese Succession broke out, after which Philip II of Spain successfully asserted his rule over neighboring Portugal, beginning the period of the so-called “Iberian Union” which would last until 1640. For the first time, Portuguese colonies and interests across the East Indies were now brought under the rule of Madrid, and Spanish power encompassed both halves of the world, as determined by the partitions of Tordesillas. As part of this process, the Jesuit missionary Alonzo Sánchez visited the Portuguese outpost of Macau, where he reportedly had some unpleasant encounters with Chinese officials who were confused by the sudden amalagmation of the two distant European powers. He returned to Manila furious, and with a newfound determination that Christianity could only be advanced by conquest. He soon found opportunity to advance this cause; in 1586 he was sent to Madrid and Rome as a representative of the Spanish Philippines and the Society of Jesus, bringing with him a lengthy report compiled by himself and his colleagues entitled De la Entrada de China en Particular, advocating for an invasion. Unlike earlier proponents, Sánchez had extensive knowledge of Spanish and Portuguese possessions in the Far East, had visited China, and had spoken with his Jesuit brothers in Japan, and his plans were far more comprehensive than any that had come before.
The Jesuits proposed an invasion force to be spearheaded by 10,000 Spanish and Portuguese troops, augmented by 6,000 Filipino auxiliaries and between 5,000-7,000 Japanese Christian mercenaries, leading a two-pronged invasion through Guangdong and Fujian. An army of 20,000 soldiers was vastly larger than anything Spain had assembled for its New World conquests, but it was notably smaller than the forces that Philip II had then committed to his futile attempt to reconquer the rebellious Dutch Republic—-at the time, approximately 80,000 men under the legendary Duke of Alba. But the Italian and Iberian missionaries who led this initiative hoped and assumed that their numbers could swelled by local recruitment; proposing that Chinese governors and generals be bribed to switch sides, and that Catholic proselytizing could bring about a change in allegiances. In Mexico, Tlaxcaltec allies had provided 100,000 soldiers to fight with Cortés against their Aztec overlords. If a similar such rebellion could be triggered in China, it could make all the difference. Likewise, in both Peru and Mexico, the conquistadors had attempted to decapitate the enemy regimes, seizing the Emperor and forcing an immediate surrender—with some success in Peru, and with much less in Mexico. Sánchez and his allies believed that a rapid march on Beijing could end the war swiftly, establishing a vast new Catholic dominion in the East.
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