Chapter 1022： Hard-pressed Spain

Madrid, Antonio, who has just ascended to the throne of prime minister, is now looking solemnly at the report.

In the past few years, the days in Spain have been like "Wang Xiaoer celebrating the New Year."

Even if he won the anti-French war that had just ended and regained the Roussillon region, it failed to reverse Spain's downward decline.

There is no way, a Philippine war exposed their weak nature. Even a backward indigenous country can't do it, so embarrassed to be a great power?

Sorry, the three countries of Britain, Russia and Austria said that they are called "superpowers" with such weak chickens, and everyone can't afford to lose this person.

Even if the Philippine Islands were taken back by diplomatic means, it was based on a series of compromises, and it was completely irrelevant to the "victory" withdrawal.

Just take it out and fool the ordinary people. The Navy drew a tie, the Army was defeated, and finally relied on mercenaries to save the field. Isn't this a failure?

Failure is failure. After closing the door, Prime Minister Antonio dared to admit it.

As a loser, you naturally have to bear the sequelae of failure. After the war, Spain gained the title of "Shame of Great Powers".

In order not to be ashamed of following, the media of Britain, Russia and Austria have already kicked Spain out of the powers.

If you just lose face, it's not intolerable. Anyway, in recent years, Spain has been going downhill. There are so many embarrassing places, and everyone's heart tolerance has been greatly improved.

The trouble is that the Japanese were not reconciled to failure. Even if they evacuated, they did not forget to plant a nail for them.

According to intelligence sent by the Expeditionary Force, the number of indigenous rebels currently active in the Philippine Islands has exceeded 200,000.

In terms of strength alone, the number of rebels exceeds that of expeditionary forces. Obviously, the chaos in the Philippines will not end for a while.

"Leaks in the house happen to rain overnight." The chaos in the Philippines has not been cleared up, and the Cuban rebellion has followed one after another, and there is still a premeditated rebellion supported by international forces.

The main force was stuck in the Philippine Islands, and the Spanish government was very weak in the face of the Cuban rebellion.

Fortunately, the Governor of Cuba has a very rich experience in suppressing the rebellion, and immediately after the outbreak of the rebellion, he took decisive action to enlist the Hispanics on the island.

Coupled with the original colonial army, Spain’s total force in Cuba has now reached a staggering 200,000.

The number seems to be quite large, but this "200,000" is obviously the majority of the old and the weak, and there will be no more than one division with real combat effectiveness.

The specific record can refer to the Spanish-American War in the original time and space. An expeditionary force put together by the Americans, together with the cooperation of the Cuban rebels, won the victory after paying the price of the death of three-digit soldiers.

Although there is no American expeditionary force, Cuban rebels have emerged.

Then, the Spanish government forces and the rebels staged a "rookie pecking" in Cuba. The scene was extremely moving.

It's all tears.

In short, in the face of a gang of mobs gathered temporarily, the Spanish government forces simply did not take advantage. On the contrary, he was beaten steadily by others, and he needed to seek help from the country.

If the timing is not right, Antonio will go to the front line to see the truth about the fact that this "200,000" counterinsurgency army is a commodity, and how much "empty noise" is there.

In any case, if the colonial government fails, the Spanish government will have to do it on its own. Anyway, it cannot allow Cuba to become independent.

Prime Minister Antonio: "Count Junior, where is our diplomatic action?"

The performance of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not outstanding, it can only be regarded as quite satisfactory, but everything depends on comparison.

With the help of bureaucrats from other government departments, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which behaves fairly and well, is a clean stream in the officialdom.

The previous Philippine war is proof. If the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not responded quickly enough and acted promptly to win the support of European countries, it would not have been able to recover the Philippine Islands so smoothly.

Regrettably, diplomacy is not a panacea. No matter how hard diplomats work, they cannot withstand the sequelae caused by the decline of national power.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Junol: "Except for the Vienna government's statement that it will help contain the British, only the Russians are willing to support us diplomatically.

Because other countries were unwilling to offend the British, they refused to make a clear statement. We just won the support of public opinion.

Because too few European countries are willing to support us, and the Vienna government is unwilling to go all out, the chance that we can get direct support from the Alliance is infinitely close to zero. "

Bullying and fearing hardship is human nature.

If it weren't for their own bad luck, they just happened to be unable to avoid it; they would also not easily express their opinions when they changed other countries in the league to confront the British.

Enabling countries to provide support in public opinion is enough to prove the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It is a pity that European public opinion has limited influence on the British. If you are scolded, it is not John Bull.

As for the support of Russia and Austria, that is the case. The tsarist government yelled at most for help, but it could not provide any substantial support.

Although the Vienna government promised to contain the British, this “containment” is also full of artistry. It is still unknown which step can be achieved.

The most likely thing is that as long as the British do not end up personally and leave no obvious handles, the Vienna government will pretend to have seen nothing.

Arms aid is what the arms dealers do. There are not a few mad arms dealers in anyone's family, and this little sewage has no effect in the world.

Prime Minister Antonio nodded and said with deep feeling: "Sure enough, no one can rely on it. In the end, we still have to ourselves!"

"The mountain will fall, and everyone will run. Only oneself is the most reliable."

The Spanish naturally knows such a simple truth. It's just that people always have a fluke mentality.

The previous Philippine war was won with the support of allies. Now that Cuba has a problem, the Spanish government naturally wants to replicate it all over again.

After all, this is the easiest, easiest, least expensive, and 100% way to win.

It is a pity that the world is cruel, and the European countries are not doing charity. The Spanish government has not paid back the favors owed before, and it is no longer possible to come back now.

Prime Minister Antonio asked: "Where is the situation on the front line? Is the plan to suppress the rebellion completed?"

Since the allies are unreliable, they can only go on their own. As long as the British do not end and only deal with the rebels, the Spanish government still has a certain degree of certainty.

Secretary of the Army Nicoll: "The situation on the front line is mixed. The situation in the Philippines has improved. The expeditionary forces have controlled all the cities, and the rebels can only linger in the jungle.

We have formulated a complete blockade plan. Without the influx of materials, the rebels will not be able to hold on for long.

The situation in Cuba is very bad. The rebels are developing faster than we expected. Governor Valeriano has sent five telegrams for help.

Although the Department of War has made a sound reinforcement plan, the main force of our army is still suppressing the rebellion in the Philippine Islands, and it is impossible to deploy enough troops in a short time.

In order to suppress the Cuban rebellion as soon as possible and not leave the British with a chance, the Ministry of War recommended recruiting 50,000 mercenaries for the Cuban battlefield. "

There is no doubt that "insufficient forces" is obviously just an excuse. Spain’s troops in the Philippine Islands are also mainly mercenaries, and its own troops are no more than 80,000, and there are still more than 100,000 troops in the country.

Now that France is in decline, the Spaniards have no enemies at all on the European continent, and it is the time when the pressure on national defense was the least.

In theory, there shouldn't be any problems with drawing 50,000 troops from the country to suppress the rebellion.

It's a pity that reality is not a "theory", and my family knows their own affairs. In name, Spain does have a standing army of more than 200,000, but this is only "in name."

Like most decadent empires, it is a chronic disease of the Spanish army.

The only troops with combat effectiveness were all put on the Philippine battlefield, and the remaining old soldiers, Nicole naturally did not dare to send them to the front.

I just used the mercenary before, and it feels better than my own army, so Nicole naturally didn't mind to do it again.

Anyway, the European continent also has a tradition of using mercenaries. It is just that the scale of modern wars has expanded, and the population of Switzerland, the mercenary kingdom, is insufficient and unable to participate in the European War, and mercenaries have gradually faded out of sight.

These are all small problems. There are no Swiss mercenaries and French mercenaries.

Although the young and strong population in France dropped sharply after the war, the terrible domestic economy still forced young French men to work as mercenaries to make a living.

According to incomplete statistics, the Allied forces stationed in France in the past year have helped the Paris government successively suppress 87 worker riots and 14 armed uprisings.

It can be said that France is now an extra-large powder barrel, and sparks will explode just a bit. Had it not been for the Allied forces to put out the fire in time, an explosion would have occurred.

It can be said that as long as you have money, there are as many mercenaries as you want. The French government is eager to pack these unstable factors away so that they can sleep peacefully.

Prime Minister Antonio nodded. He is not perfectionism. In his opinion, as long as the problem can be solved, it makes no difference whether it is sending out his own regular army or recruiting mercenaries.

"Then act as soon as possible. Suppress the rebellion earlier, so that we can concentrate on the system... to develop the economy."

Before the word "change" was spoken, Antonio swallowed back. Although Spain desperately needs institutional reforms, it is obviously not the time to talk about reforms.

The most urgent task is to suppress the colonial rebellion as soon as possible and dispel the prying heart of the enemy. At this time, it is obviously inappropriate to talk about the sensitive topic of reform.

The most important thing is that the Spanish monarch is young, and the regent queen mother “neither opposes nor supports reform”.

Without the support of the royal family, the pressure is still too great for the government to promote top-down reforms.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Siegfried said solemnly: "Your Excellency, the government has run out of money. We have been in war since 1891, and Spain is exhausted."

For the declining Spanish kingdom like an old man, three consecutive years of war have exhausted the heritage of this old-school empire.

Fortunately, the war did not happen on the mainland, and there were allies to help, otherwise the "aged" Spanish kingdom would have long collapsed.

The country has not collapsed, but government finances have collapsed. Without blood transfusions from the colonies, this veteran empire with high debts could hardly stand it now.

Antonio was taken aback, then his face became ugly. Money is not everything, but no money is absolutely impossible.

After thinking about it a little, Antonio slowly said: "Keep on borrowing foreign debt! Presumably the Austrians are ready, just waiting for us to come."

International loans these years are usually accompanied by a series of political additional conditions. In many cases, the additional price that needs to be paid far exceeds the apparent capital interest.

From this perspective, borrowing foreign debt is obviously not a good choice, but it is the only viable option for the Spanish government at the moment.

Antonio is a wise man. He knows exactly how fragile Spain's economy is now. Any tax increase may push this country into the abyss.

In contrast, the sequelae of borrowing foreign debt are much smaller. As the overlord of the European continent, the Shenluo Empire has long since washed its hands.

Even if it wants to take advantage of the fire, the Vienna government will pay attention to the situation. It can't do too much, at least it will not push Spain on the road.

Colonial Secretary Taboyada added: "The problems we are facing now are not limited to finances and military affairs.

According to the intelligence collected by the Colonial Ministry, besides the British, other international forces were involved behind the Cuban rebellion.

There are a total of four international forces capable of providing support to the rebels. In addition to the well-known British, there are the United States of America, the Allied Powers, and the Holy Roman Empire.

Whether one of the three is supporting the rebels, two is supporting, or all three are supporting the rebels in secret, we still don't know.

Of course, it's also possible that the British are pretending to be suspicious and want to take our eyes away and find someone to help them. But now they have been exposed, it seems that there is no such need to do so.

The Colonial Ministry has sent people to investigate, but the people we bought do not have enough status in the rebels. I am afraid it is impossible to figure out who is behind the scenes in a short time.

Not only Cuba, but even Morocco has not been very stable recently. I am worried that if the enemy fails to achieve results in Cuba, he will turn to support the Moroccans. "

If there is strength, there are suspicions. There are too many things to stabbing each other in international politics. Even for allies, digging holes in each other is nothing new.

The most important thing is: whether it is the United States of America, the Confederate States, or the Holy Roman Empire, they all have motives to attack Spain.

The declining kingdom of Spain still holds a few rich colonies. It is now a "children man holding gold bricks". It is hard not to provoke prying eyes.

Foreign Secretary Junior warned solemnly: "Marquis, please stop your meaningless pursuit. It is the British who plan the Cuban rebellion, and only the British!"

There is no way, Spain has no ability to add another enemy to itself.

Even if they find out who is behind the scenes, they can only pretend to be deaf and dumb, and even in order to be out of line, they have to help the enemy cover up.