Rebirth of the Spanish Empire

() Ever since Alfonso made a territorial claim to Armand Farier directly in front of so many kings and heads of state, and the last statement that he would demand war if he refused, the whole world was in a state of shock. .

After feeling stunned, the Spaniards shouted out to France in unison demanding the return of the land. Students, children, adults, and the elderly, regardless of whether they were men or women, all adopted a unified voice, asking the French to return these lands. Territory that Spain got back in exchange for huge gold coins.

In their opinion, regardless of whether the statement put forward by Alfonso XIII is true or not (of course it is best if it exists), there is absolutely no harm to Spain. If there is any, it is The long-term harmonious relationship with neighboring France may have a temperature difference effect due to this "reasonable" request and damage the relationship between the two countries. ..

The idea of ​​​​young people is that after many years of civil war in Spain, the era when Spain was extremely weak for many years should be over. In the happy and peaceful days they have lived these years, they are now in the best life in the world. One of the top countries has even surpassed the French. Now their needs in life are satisfied, but in the soul, there is still a passion, that is, Spain is still a bystander in the battle between the European powers.

Although to a certain extent, Spain has developed due to its independence from the two major European groups, but at the same time, this has made these young people find themselves in an awkward position, that is, Spain's position in Europe is How was it. And how should they face other powerful countries? When facing the British or the Germans, they should directly say 'Hey! How are you, my friends?' greetings like this, or saying 'you bunch of bastards' to them in a bad way. ..

When facing powerful countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, should Spain be more proud, or should Britain and Ireland be more arrogant? Has Spain already reached the level of those powerful countries and no longer needs to be afraid of them? We should continue to please them with Xu and Snake to avoid affecting the country.

This is how young people in Spain think now.

As for middle-aged people, when doing business, especially cross-border business, should they put forward more conditions to foreigners, especially when facing competition from powerful countries? Is it possible to use equal means to counterattack the other party? Even when you are flipping over and pinging the opponent, etc., these are also very important measurements. The old man's heart is even simpler, that is, the humiliation of Spain by Napoleon I has always been the regret of these old people or their parents, grandparents, and grandparents. They also watched how Spain declined from the world's top power. They also want to see in their lifetime whether Spain has returned to being a world power. As for Alfonso's strong statement, in their opinion, no matter what the final result is, they have already given him a perfect 100 points and a positive evaluation of 80 points for excellence. leftover. Just look at Spain's current enemy and France, a former enemy, to test the final result and finally add a plus or minus of 20 points.

It is precisely based on this that Spain can now be said to have reached the level of universal support. Whether it is the forces working underground or the white forces working legitimately on the ground, they all agree with Alfonso's approach.

And what about France? After Armand Falier returned to Paris pretending to be calm, when the news spread throughout France, all French people were shocked. Spain wanted a colony from the French? The news came as a shock to them all. Spain actually let the great French islands of Gabon, Madagascar and the surrounding islands be transferred back to Spain, and the reason was that Spain had purchased it from Portugal decades ago, just because the Portuguese royal family at that time was driven away by Napoleon and fled to South America, Brazil. Just give the relevant agreements to Spain? These are the conditions for Spain to stand up and take back its territory now? It's just ridiculous.

Who is Napoleon? In the hearts of many French people, they were proud of being able to shock and tremble throughout Europe. Alfonso XIII made Napoleon, the de facto hero in their hearts, a criminal, and then demanded his so-called Proceeds of crime, for them, it is difficult to gain their approval. Especially those who were former ministers of the Napoleonic dynasty who immigrated or were profiteers.

"Damn Spain, you actually gave me such a problem." Armand Farier looked fiercely towards the south, as if there was his father-killing enemy there, which made him hate him.

It's no wonder that he is so angry, because Alfonso's territorial demands have made the current French government situation under the leadership of his Radical Party very embarrassing.

There are many unstable factors within the Radical Party. It is composed of the Conservative Party and the Royalist Party. It represents a force in France that will not compromise with other countries, but its focus is mainly on the inside. Although the Progressive Republicans were a relatively left-wing party, no one knew at the time that they were a party focused on elections and external expansion.

Originally, the Radical Party was composed of the Royalist Party and the Conservative Party. They were formed to protect national interests. In the past, the Royalist Party even supported the nephew of Napoleon I to come back and form the Napoleonic Dynasty again. If he had not taken the lead and strongly opposed it, then now Maybe it really is a different France.

Because of this, internally, I have not managed the internal frictions well, and externally, I have the current Progressive Republican Party, my old opponent in the presidential election four years ago, and Paul Dume, the current Speaker of the House of Representatives from the Radical Party, who is watching covetously. , and there are many other parties such as left-wing republicanism and social republicanism.

If it weren't for the fact that he single-handedly brokered the alliance between Britain, France, and Russia, he wouldn't have gained such a big advantage. That guy from England, Germany, and Paul Dume, you can see how popular he is just by looking at his two terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives. The election in the second half of the year was coming again, and now that he was making such a move, he even wondered whether Alfonso XIII was deliberately cooperating with someone's behavior.

He had to doubt it, because of the fact. During the few years he was in power, abroad, especially in the colonies, many times he would choose colonial leaders who would be involved in some insider operations. For example, people who were not pro-French would naturally not be elected or He won't live long enough to be elected.

He also said that Spain had already put its hand in this, but is this possible? Maybe? He thought of it uncertainly, but what he never expected was that it was really happening.

Paris. Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Dume continued to work as usual and went home late. This kind of work attitude makes many members of the House of Representatives highly appreciate him, and other ordinary workers also admire him.

And what about Du Mei, the object of their admiration? Now it is exactly what they thought. Working seriously now. Of course. Like him, there is also his close friend Gaston Doumergue, Pierre Paul Henri Gaston Doumergue has another identity. That is the current finance minister.

"I don't know if this is your chance, or if that guy Armand Farier continues to occupy that position. Hey, that time you went up four years ago, it can be said that you hit a brick wall, but Thinking about it, Falier's morale was strong at that time, especially the agreement between Britain and France, which quickly gained him the popularity of the people who were attracted by the momentum of the German Empire. At that time, Britain and Russia had to sign a contract. At that time, another president who facilitated the signing of the agreement between Britain, France and Russia was naturally welcomed by many people, but the situation is different now. Maybe this year will really be your chance."

"Although what you said makes some sense, there are still irregularities in everything, and some things will still change. For example, the territorial move suddenly proposed by Spain this time is that none of us have "Think of it, so I don't have really high hopes." Paul Dume does not have high hopes. The party's primary elections will be held in July, and then the national presidential election will begin in October. Although the Radical Party is now the largest party in France and is basically expected to win the presidential election as long as it wins the party, there are still huge changes. And, would Armand Farier be the underdog? Of course, this is not the answer to this question. And in fact, he still didn't quite believe in Gaston Doumergue's position, so he didn't want to talk about it, so he led to the issue of this territorial dispute.

Of course, Gaston Doumergue was no fool, and he himself also woke up to the problem of his current position, and for a while he covered up the embarrassment on both sides with laughter. Following the topic of Paul Dume.

"Now many of our citizens have been angered by Spain. Hey, maybe what Alfonso XIII doesn't know is how much trouble his actions will bring to him and his country." Gaston Doumergue Some frowned with pretense of worry.

"But what I'm more worried about is the Republic." After thinking about it again and again, Paul Dume said worriedly. Seeing Gaston's eyes looking over with some doubts, he said seriously: "Have you forgotten? When I talked to you last time, did I evaluate the young king of Spain? And you What was the evaluation at the time? Could it be that when things happened to us, you forgot all about your wonderful comments? You said that Alfonso was a man who made plans before he thought and was a man who did things. A stable person who won’t take action until something is too certain.”

Gaston Doumergue's expression changed from relaxed at first to extremely serious. He asked worriedly: "Do you think that since Alfonso said this, he is absolutely sure to deal with us?"

"Based on what he has done in the past, what do you think?"

Gaston Doumergue: "I"

He was about to speak, but he didn't expect that the phone rang after he said just one word. Paul Dumei looked at him apologetically, then picked up the phone and listened.

In the end, when Gaston Doumergue still didn't understand what was going on, he was startled by the phone he dropped with hatred, which made him look at Paul Doumer with some surprise.

After taking a few deep breaths, Du Mei said with some hesitation: "President Armand Farier just called and asked to convene a meeting of the Senate and the House of Representatives immediately, because our southern partner Spain has stationed a large number of troops in Equatorial Guinea next to Gabon. The army has all appeared near Gabon and is ready to go. It seems that we still underestimated the speed of action of our southern neighbors." At the end of the sentence, a shocked look appeared. (To be continued.)