Rebirth of the Spanish Empire

"No, I'm definitely not kidding," Pica affirmed: "The British have always used the glorious isolation policy between major powers to deal with the balancing strategy between the European continent, thereby affecting the balance of power in Europe.

The German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are the enemies of our three countries. This is now, but at the beginning, the only target of the German Empire's suppression was the French Republic, and Britain and Russia were accomplices. Later, it was because the German Empire was too powerful. The reason is that the UK will turn to support it to deal with us.

Russia only embraced the French Republic because of disagreements over its own interests with the German Empire. The facilitator is the French Republic. Think about it, as a glorious isolated country in the past but actually an offshore balancer in Europe, will Britain be moved after watching the dominance of the three countries fall to France? ? No, the British have been controlling the development of the situation in Europe since they became the most powerful country in Europe. They naturally do not want that after the fall of the German Empire, the European continent will become a big change where France and Russia join forces to control Europe. This is not good at all for their interests, or even very bad.

Therefore, in this situation, the UK has only two possibilities to prevent such a thing from happening. The first is to suppress the German Empire while not letting the German Empire completely fall. However, in this matter, France and Russia on the European continent naturally have the final say. Halfway through the war, the French army entered After arriving in Berlin, who would care about what Britain said? Just as Britain was worried, France and Russia would join forces and Britain would have to retreat three points.

therefore. Although this was possible, the chance was still relatively small, so they definitely chose the second option. [

"You mean Spain"

"Yes, Leeson. As long as Britain stands with Spain, with Spain's population not much weaker than France's and even stronger than France's weapons, Britain can check and balance France. Of course, that's not all. To Knowing that Spain is now a country with huge influence in Europe, if Britain suddenly pulls Spain and their alliance to threaten us to stop when the German Empire is about to come, I wonder, can we refuse? ?"

"Of course this is impossible," Leeson answered for Armand carefully. Then he asked: "But, will such an alliance appear? After all, the two countries are still maritime countries."

Pica asked back: "But Spain and France are still powerful neighboring countries, and the two countries are not at peace with each other. Don't forget that Britain and Spain have many entangled interests in the Far East and the Near East. As long as the two countries have been in control of Australia for many years, they will be at peace with each other. You know that they already have a tacit understanding, and the Spanish expansion in Dutch Indonesia and the Arabian Peninsula has not been truly stopped this time. Isn't this enough to prove it. Even if they are not quasi-allies, they are very powerful. A tacit strategic partnership?”

Armand frowned, and then said: "Just say what you have! There are no outsiders here." When he mentioned outsiders, he glanced at each other and happened to look at Lisson, who looked away unnaturally.

Pica pretended to say quickly, "I think Mr. President should also visit Spain. After all, this can increase everyone's relationship and personal friendship."

"That's a good idea. Okay, you two, please choose a date for me. A trip to Spain? It's a good idea." After saying that, he laughed and left, leaving Lisson and Pika smiling bitterly.

St. Petersburg Summer Palace, also known as Peterhof Palace.

. ""Pobedonoschaif quietly looked at the still roaring king Nicholas II on the throne, and looked at each other with Stolypin next to him, and also saw the disgust in the other's eyes. , there was a feeling of sympathy in my heart.

Both men are extremely powerful people in Russia. Stolypin is the Prime Minister of Russia, which can be said to be more powerful than one person and more than ten thousand people. Of course, this depends on the mood of the king. Every prime minister is directly appointed by the king. Those who were appointed were also those who directly took off the black hat, but that was in the past. The current Stolypin is not in this category, because Stolypin was under Nicholas II when Nicholas II was not the king. The relationship between the two is very deep, and he is the godfather of Nicholas II. It can also be said that he is his teacher. Therefore, it can be said that he is currently in charge of the Orthodox Church in Itonicola II, while Stolypin is on the contrary, in charge of politics and education. It can be said that the two are destined to be mortal enemies. , but now, the two of them feel much closer.

Perhaps, they all have only one purpose, and that is to be loyal to His Majesty. Therefore, the ultimate goal of both of them is the same.

However, the recognition among their subordinates will not be so similar. Just look at the vindictive and contemptuous eyes between the current Minister of the Interior Vyacheslav Plevi and the Minister of Finance Sergey Witte. two.

Nicholas II was extremely angry now. When had he ever been so angry? If he didn't vent his anger, he might even suspect that he might be burned alive by his inner fire.

"There are four of you, my godfather, who presides over the sacred religious affairs of the Orthodox Church in our empire, a prime minister, who presides over various affairs of many countries in the empire, as well as the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Finance. You are all the most important people in the empire. The most powerful person, don’t you think that Alfonso XIII gave us a few harsh slaps? ?”

Everyone could see that Nicholas II was already dizzy with anger. If he tried to persuade him at this time, it would be bad luck. Therefore, for the first time, the four of them had a tacit understanding and did not do that.

Sergey Witte glanced left and right at this time, rolled his eyes a few times, and then said: "Your Majesty, I think that since Spain does not give us face like this, it can even be said that it has broken even the previous two countries. There is no need to hide at all, since such public attacks are against us, we will never let them go easily."

"What do you think?" After hearing this, Nicholas II asked with some urgency. In this tone, he would not give up until he got it back.

The people nearby knew that the other party was definitely going to add fuel to the fire after hearing Werther's words. Among the few people, he is the best at following His Majesty's wishes.

"Your Majesty, since Spain is already like this, and the two countries were at loggerheads over the Svalbard Islands incident before, this time it is even closer. This is all caused by Spain. It can be seen that the other side has not made us great. The Russian Empire was in the eyes of the Tsarist Empire. Otherwise, why did Britain obviously participate in opposing their sovereignty over Antarctica? However, when they retorted, they only pointed out His Majesty's name, instead of all together, either Edward VII or Armand of France. -The name of President Falier"[

Stolypin now completely gave up trying to dissuade him. Did Werther mean to remind His Majesty that Spain was targeting Russia all these times intentionally? If he had intervened, he would probably have fallen back. Doubts about having a favorable impression of Spain. Such a thankless thing. After living in an officialdom like Russia for many years, he naturally wouldn't think that he needed to do it.

And Pobedonoschiev will not do it even more by "rebirth of the Spanish Empire", because in his understanding of the world, everything is the Orthodox Church and His Majesty's first and his own interests, and everything else is a virtual existence that can be given up. .

Interior Minister Plevi opened his mouth to say something, but after thinking about it, he shut up. Especially Stolypin's shaking head and unquestionable look at him made him eliminate that feeling. kind of idea.

Werther enjoyed this treatment very much, but he also understood that he was just happy in his heart. He said to Nicholas II with a look of loyalty to his death: "Excuse me, Your Majesty, what is the biggest difference between us and Spain?"

"Huh?" He didn't expect that Werther would ask him this question. He was stunned for a moment and didn't know how to answer.

"A maritime country and a land power?" Nicholas II looked at Werther uncertainly.

"That's good, but at the beginning, we have more obvious characteristics." Even Stoly and others looked over, and Witte felt a little proud, saying: "We are an industrial country and an agricultural country, which is different from Spain and other countries. We are The empire has countless fertile lands, so we have countless farmers farming the land, so as long as we have them, our empire will never decline."

The smile on Nicholas II's face was obviously more serious about these words, and although the other people felt something was wrong, after thinking about it, there was nothing to object to this statement, because to be honest, Tsarist Russia The empire has really developed and prospered like this for hundreds of thousands of years.

Witte then added: "Spain is different. According to what was announced in the Swiss newspaper "International Connection" not long ago, the world's industrial powers today are the United States, the German Empire, Spain, the United Kingdom, and France. This is The top five in the world.

But the United States also has a lot of fertile soil and "entertainment show" land, and a lot of food is produced every year. They were one of the reasons for America's prosperity, of which Britain's colonies were a large part, and even more so of the Junkers of the German Empire. I found that only in Spain, the current industry accounts for a large proportion of the population. It is said that the current urban population in the UK is only 25%, and it is predicted that it may become 40% around 1914. The United States is only 20% now, and will only be 30% by then. However, Spain has already surpassed the UK to reach 30%. It is said that if the current level of development is followed, it may even reach the level of 50% of the general population in the near future."

"Are you thinking about industrial products?" Stolypin was greatly moved and couldn't help but look at Witte in surprise. He used to envy Spain's industrial development, but he also knew that Russia could not develop industry like that. ,Why? It was determined by the climate and the characteristics of the Russian people. Therefore, he thought at that time that the future dealings with Spain should be related to the industrial peace, just like they had a big dispute with the German Empire over agricultural products. Unexpectedly, Werther actually said it now, so he felt incredible.

Werther did not expect that the other party would guess it all at once, but he was not angry. Instead, he looked at Nicholas II and said: "Your Majesty, since Spain is so rude to me, then let's not be rude for a while. Spain will follow us. The trade between us has always been based on their surplus, and we have become a big sales market for their industrial products. Do you think, if we ban their industrial products, will they be so angry that they vomit blood?"

Second update, thanks to 62592299 for supporting the two monthly passes.