Chapter 175: Timid Portugal

In March 1875, after careful consideration, the Ministry of Defense finally decided to order an ironclad ship named Renaissance Class from the Royal Guarnizo Shipyard.

Yes, it was the latest ironclad ship designed by the Royal Guarnizo Shipyard. From the design data, it is definitely a world-class or even top ironclad ship design.

The main problem is that the shipyard has searched all over America and Asia, and it really can't find customers who can buy warships.

Coupled with the economic crisis, there are even fewer suckers.

The cost of this ironclad ship is as high as 500,000 pounds, and the price of 550,000-600,000 pounds is not a figure that ordinary countries can afford.

For the development of the Royal Guarnizo Shipyard, the Spanish Navy can only place the first order.

Of course, this is also the result of comprehensive consideration by the Ministry of Defense.

If Spain cannot afford the expenses of warships, or there is really no need to build new ironclad ships, the Ministry of Defense will not place this order.

The Royal Guarnizo Shipyard naturally knows the importance of this order.

Only by building the finished product of the Renaissance-class ironclad ship and letting other countries see the power of this warship can we attract orders from abroad.

In order to prevent the government from suffering too much loss, Carlo personally made the decision to reduce the government by 50,000 pounds on the premise of the internal price of 550,000 pounds, and sell the warship completely at cost price.

Considering the current decline in steel prices, although it is the cost price, the shipyard still has a certain profit margin.

The continued price reduction is a win-win for the shipyard and the government. The shipyard can increase its experience in building ironclad ships while obtaining orders, and the Spanish government can obtain an advanced ironclad ship with lower funds to strengthen its naval power. Both parties are profitable.

500,000 pounds is equivalent to 13 million pesetas, which is not a big burden for Spain's current financial capacity.

At present, the Spanish army has been expanded, and the army's military expenditure will enter a relatively stable period of time. The defense department's fiscal budget is enough to squeeze out 13 million to order a warship. For Spain, which has a large colony, this ironclad ship can play an important role in the stability of the colony.

Although continental hegemons such as Germany and France are famous for their army, in fact, Europeans pay more attention to the development of the navy.

A strong army is not necessarily a great power, but a strong navy is basically a great power.

Even the slightly backward Russian Empire attached great importance to the development of the navy. During World War I, Russia even had three fleets, with its own fleet headquarters in the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Far East.

At present, Spain is somewhat unworthy of its reputation as the world's fifth largest naval power. But if a new ironclad ship can be added, at least the naval power can be ranked in the top eight in the world.

A stronger navy is very useful whether it is to defend the home coast or suppress colonies everywhere. A country with a strong navy is qualified to have a large colony.

According to the ship construction time given by the Royal Guarnizo Shipyard, this Renaissance-class ironclad ship named Renaissance will not be launched until next summer.

In addition to the long naval test, the time for it to be officially incorporated into the navy may have to wait until two and a half years later, that is, around mid-1877.

Because it was still within the term of the previous cabinet government, the total construction and testing time of two and a half years was acceptable to the Ministry of Defense.

Once the news that Spain built a new ironclad ship was released, it could also strengthen the people's confidence in the government.

After all, for Europeans at this time, the strength of a country's navy is largely related to the country's comprehensive strength.

The people are still very happy to see the strength of the country. There is also a famous saying about this: "When mentioning the huge wealth of the British Empire, even the lowest textile workers in Manchester will proudly stand up their chests."

The stronger the country, the stronger the people's confidence in the country and the government. The stronger the people's confidence in the country and the government, the stronger the country will become.

This is also the role that building a powerful ironclad ship brings to Spain. To a certain extent, the potential role is more attractive than the actual role.

After all, although the total area of ​​Spain's colonies is not large, they are scattered all over the world.

Among all the colonial countries in the world, the only one that can be regarded as a country on which the sun never sets, besides Britain, is Spain.

The so-called sun never sets, in fact, means that the sun will never set on its own land.

Britain's colonies are all over the world. In addition to the European mainland, North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania are all British colonies, which is a well-deserved colonial empire.

Although France also has many colonies, it has even surpassed Spain to become the world's second largest colonial empire.

But France's colonies are mainly concentrated in Asia and Africa, with only a small part in South America.

Looking at Spain again, there are Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Americas, South Morocco, Guinea and Congo in Africa, the Philippines and Kalimantan in Asia, plus the European mainland and islands and archipelagos across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, it is no problem to say that it is a country on which the sun never sets.

To keep colonies all over the world stable, a strong navy is very necessary.

The good news is that after merging with a shipyard from the UK, the Royal Guarnizo Shipyard has the ability to produce Renaissance-class ironclads.

The shipyard's dock was also expanded under Carlo's order, and it was easy to build an ironclad ship of less than 10,000 tons.

If the government's finances were not enough to support the construction of several ironclads at the same time, perhaps we could see the grand scene of several ironclads being built at the same time in the shipyard.

However, judging from Spain's current industrial and economic development speed, such a scene may not be far away.

When Spain's second five-year development plan is successfully completed, it may be time for Spain to expand its navy on a large scale, declare itself to return to the throne of a great power, and compete for international discourse power.

Although Spain is not enough to become a top power at present, it is still no problem to stabilize its colonial scope and meet its colonial needs.

Spain may not be strong, but countries like Britain and France can't ignore Spain's opinions.

The groundbreaking ceremony of the Fuxing Ironclad Ship was scheduled for March 14, 1875. Carlo attached great importance to it and even attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the warship in person under the attention of the media.

Carlo was also present with Spanish Prime Minister Primo, Defense Minister Serrano and others. Although he was not invited, Wu Yongxiang, the ambassador of the Lan Fang Republic to Spain, also witnessed the entire groundbreaking ceremony and was full of emotion.

Although the Lan Fang Republic has a population of 4 million, 500,000 pounds is a huge sum of money that the Lan Fang Republic can never raise.

After all, it is just an agricultural country, and because it is often harassed by the Dutch, the economy of the Lan Fang Republic is not so good.

If the Lan Fang Republic can have a few advanced ironclad ships, even the Dutch will never dare to blatantly annex the territory of the Lan Fang Republic.

Of course, this is just a thought. The cost of an ironclad ship is as high as hundreds of thousands of pounds, which is 2 million taels of silver, which is not a small amount.

In addition to the maintenance and daily training costs of the warships, as well as the expenses of the navy soldiers, on top of the warship price of 500,000 pounds, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of pounds of maintenance costs are required every year. It is definitely a money-making beast that every country is afraid of.

The news that Spain has rebuilt the ironclad warship after many years has been spread to other countries and regions outside Spain with reports from domestic and foreign newspapers.

Perhaps the country most worried about this is Spain's neighbor Portugal.

There is no way. There are really only these two neighbors on the small Iberian Peninsula. The Principality of Andorra is more like a vassal state under the joint rule of France and Spain. It has neither an army nor diplomatic sovereignty, and cannot be regarded as an independent country.

Spain in its weakened period made Portugal very wary, not to mention the Kingdom of Spain, which has begun to revive.

King Louis of Portugal originally looked forward to his brother-in-law Carlo becoming the King of Spain.

It's not that the two are related. After all, there is a common blood relationship between European royal families, and some are even close relatives.

Mainly because of Carlo's identity as an Italian outsider, coupled with the chaotic situation in Spain at that time, King Louis felt that Spain would not be able to stand up again in a short period of time, and such a Spain would naturally not pose too much threat to Portugal.

But unexpectedly, with the full cooperation of Carlo and Prime Minister Primo, the revival of Spain happened so visibly.

Although Spain is not very strong now, it has indeed stopped at the brink and transitioned from the stage of decline to the stage of revival.

And Spain's resumption of the construction of ironclad ships has once again increased Portugal's domestic concerns about Spain. A Spain with a strong army is enough to make the Portuguese sleep badly. If Spain builds a strong navy, is there still room for the Portuguese to survive in the Iberian Peninsula?

King Louis of Portugal thought about it in every possible way, and finally listened to the opinions of the Portuguese government and decided to take the initiative to have deeper contact with the Spanish royal family, mainly Carlo, through the blood relationship between the two royal families, to bring the Portuguese and Spanish royal families, and even the relationship between the two governments closer.

Don't expect Portugal to get anything from Spain. As long as it can be ensured that the revived Spain will not have any ideas about Portugal, it will be a blessing in disguise for Portugal.

Before the outbreak of the economic crisis, Portugal had such an idea in its home country, thinking about concluding a treaty with Spain to ensure its own safety.

But because of the economic crisis, Portugal can only postpone it for a while.

Unexpectedly, it was during this period of postponement that the Portuguese government saw a greater crisis. Spain was not affected too much by the economic crisis, but instead introduced a large number of talents and corporate equipment from various European countries with great fanfare.

What can these talents and corporate equipment provide for Spain? Of course, it is the industrial experience that Spain lacks the most. With these industrial experiences, Spain's industry will achieve great growth, and will completely widen the gap with small European countries such as Portugal and the Netherlands.

Although Portugal and Britain have a good relationship, Spain is not without allies so far. Needless to say, Italy has improved a lot since Carlo came to power. The two sides have signed a defensive alliance treaty on the basis of the cooperation treaty.

The cooperation between Austria-Hungary and Spain was something King Louis had never thought of. Originally, King Louis was thinking of choosing a suitable princess from the Portuguese royal family to marry Carlo, so as to ensure that Spain would not be hostile to Portugal through the marriage relationship.

But Carlo obviously had a better choice. An Austrian-Hungarian ally was much stronger than Portugal as an ally.

With the help of Austria-Hungary, could Spain defeat Portugal with the help of the British? There is no need to think about this question. The answer is of course that it can be easily defeated.

Unless the British are willing to personally help Portugal, Portugal will have no capital to resist a more powerful country like Spain.

Why do you say that? For a country, the most important thing is strategic depth. The territory of Portugal looks more like a rectangle, or an upright rectangle.

If a war breaks out between the two countries, the Spanish army only needs to go west from Badajoz to reach Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

This will also divide the territory of Portugal in two, and then easily erode the territory of Portugal.

Faced with this problem, unless Portugal has a strong army, there is no solution.

All of Portugal's territory is either close to the sea or borders Spain. To a certain extent, Portugal has no room to retreat.

After losing its Brazilian colony, Portugal no longer has the hope of evacuating to its colonies. The colonies in Africa are not large in scale and cannot support a country. The other colonies are too small and even self-sufficient.

From this aspect, it can be seen that Portugal has no choice at all. Either it has to maintain good relations with its neighbor Spain, or it has to cling to the British thigh and pray that Spain will not risk offending the British to take action against Portugal.

Between these two lines, what will the Portuguese government choose?

For most small countries, they do not have the courage to make a firm choice, and the Portuguese government is naturally the same.

The choice of the Portuguese government is to strive to improve relations with Spain and ensure the security of its own territory on the basis of insisting on the alliance with the British as a strategic goal.

In short, it is to have both, and bet on both Britain and Spain in exchange for its own safety.

Regardless of whether this behavior will offend one or both parties, at least for Portugal at present, this is indeed the most likely way to preserve its territory.

March 22, 1875, in the Royal Palace of Madrid, Spain.

The sudden arrival of King Louis and Queen Maria of Portugal surprised Carlo.

Queen Maria was Carlo's sister, but when Carlo came into this world, Queen Maria had already married King Louis.

This also led to Carlo never seeing his sister, even though she was very happy and close.

"Carlo, long time no see!" When she saw Carlo, Queen Maria walked forward very happily, looking at her brother with joy in her eyes.

"Sister Maria, long time no see. Your Majesty Louis." Carlo nodded, first greeted his sister Maria, and then nodded to King Louis of Portugal.

Queen Sophie, who was sitting on the side, also smiled and greeted Queen Maria and King Louis, and then sat down again.

Since she became pregnant at the end of October last year, Queen Sophie's safety has become the top priority of the royal family. Carlo not only let the royal family's private doctor live in the room on the side of the palace, but also sent Queen Sophie's entourage.

This also made Queen Sophie have hundreds of people accompanying her every time she went out, which looked very grand.

Queen Sophie did not complain that these people ruined her interest in traveling. But there was no way, after all, it was Carlo's first child who had not yet been born, and the first prince or princess of the Spanish royal family, so he should be valued.

Even before the child was born, Carlo had already selected teachers for his son or daughter and prepared an extremely sophisticated elite aristocratic education for him.

If it was a princess, the education would not be so strict. After all, for Carlo, his daughter should be spoiled. Anyway, the Spanish royal family has countless properties, and giving a few companies and enterprises is enough for his children to spend the rest of their lives in extreme wealth.

But if it was a prince, he would be the first heir to the throne. Including subsequent princes, as long as it is his son, he must receive an extremely strict elite aristocratic education.

Even if he is not the king of Spain, he will definitely become a great nobleman in Spain. It is even possible to become the king of other countries by taking advantage of certain opportunities, just like Carlo was elected as the king by other countries.

No matter which way, Carlo must ensure that his children are extremely outstanding elite nobles, not wasteful and extravagant.

Although Carlo also recognizes the stability brought by the primogeniture system to the country, if his eldest son does not have any outstanding abilities, Carlo will also consider passing the throne to his other sons.

After all, this is not the era of absolute monarchy, even if he has experienced several incompetent kings, he can still keep his throne. In the era of freedom and democracy, the king himself is in danger.

If he has no ability, it is very likely that the throne will be abolished because of a mistake.

Carlo has no ambition to realize absolute monarchy, but he does not want the throne he has worked hard to stabilize to be wasted by his descendants.

If you wear a crown, you must bear its weight. If you don't have any ability, Carlo still advises his descendants to enjoy the noble life peacefully and not to seek the crown that looks luxurious and noble, but in fact it can destroy your family if you are not careful.

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