In Madrid, Antonio, who had just ascended to the prime minister's throne, was looking at the report in his hand with a solemn expression at the moment.

In recent years, Spain's days have been like "Wang Xiaoer's New Year", which is not as good as a year.

Even the victory in the recently concluded war against France and the reconquest of Roussillon could not reverse Spain's downward decline.

There was no way, a Philippine war exposed their weak nature. Even a backward indigenous country can't do it, and it's embarrassing to call itself a great power?

I'm sorry, Britain, Russia and Austria said that they were called "great powers" with such a weak chicken, and everyone couldn't afford to lose this person.

Even if the Philippine Islands were to be regained by diplomatic means, it was based on a series of compromises, and it had nothing to do with "victory".

Just take it out and fool the common people. The Navy fought a tie, the Army was defeated, and in the end it relied on mercenaries to save the field, isn't this a failure?

A failure is a failure, and behind closed doors, Prime Minister Antonio still dared to admit it.

As a loser, it is natural to bear the sequelae of failure. After the war, Spain received the title of "the shame of the great powers".

In order not to be embarrassed with them, the media of Britain, Russia and Austria have kicked Spain out of the ranks of the great powers.

If it's just a little face, it's not unbearable. Anyway, in recent years, Spain has been going downhill, and there are many places to be embarrassed, and everyone's mental tolerance has been greatly improved.

The trouble is that the Japanese were not willing to fail, and even if they evacuated themselves, they did not forget to bury a nail in them.

According to the information 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 rebels outnumbered the expeditionary force. Obviously, the chaos in the Philippines will not end for a while.

The chaos in the Philippines has not yet been cleaned up, and Cuban rebellions have followed one after another, and they are still premeditated rebellions supported by international forces.

The main force was trapped in the Philippine Islands and could not get out, and the Spanish government was very powerless in the face of the Cuban rebellion.

Fortunately, the Governor of Cuba had a lot of experience in suppressing rebellions, and as soon as the rebellion broke out, he took decisive action to recruit Hispanics on the island.

With the addition of the original colonial army, the total number of Spanish troops in Cuba has now reached a staggering 200,000.

The number seems quite large, but this "200,000" is obviously the majority of the old and weak who make up the number, and there will not be more than one division with real combat effectiveness.

The specific battle record can refer to the Spanish-American War in the original time and space. An improvised expeditionary force assembled by the Americans, combined with the cooperation of the Cuban rebels, won the victory at the cost of triple number of soldiers.

Although there is no American expeditionary force now, the Cuban rebels have appeared.

Then, the Spanish government army and the rebels staged a "rookie peck" in Cuba, which was extremely moving.

It's all tears.

In short, in the face of a rabble that had gathered temporarily, the Spanish government forces did not take advantage. On the contrary, he was beaten and retreated, and he needed to ask for help from home.

If the timing is not right, Antonio will go to the front line to see if this "200,000" counterinsurgency army is a good thing, and how many "empty sounds" there are.

In any case, if the colonial government fails to perform, the Spanish government will have to rise to the top, and Cuba will not be allowed to become independent anyway.

Prime Minister Antonio: "Count Júnior, where are we in our diplomatic operation?" ”

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

Under the backdrop of bureaucrats in other government departments, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which behaves in a decent manner, is a clear stream in the officialdom.

The Philippine War that preceded this is proof of this. If the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not reacted quickly enough and acted in a timely manner to win the support of European countries, it would not have been able to recover the Philippine Islands so smoothly.

Unfortunately, diplomacy is not omnipotent, and no matter how hard diplomats try, they will not be able to withstand the sequelae of the decline of national strength.

Foreign Secretary Júnior: "Except for the Vienna government, which has offered to help contain the British, only the Russians are willing to support us diplomatically.

Other countries refused to make a clear statement because they did not want to offend the British, and we only won the support of public opinion.

Because there are so few European countries willing to support us, and the Vienna government is not willing to give it all severity, the chances of us being able to get direct support from the coalition are infinitely close to zero. ”

It is human nature to bully the weak and fear the hard.

If it weren't for his bad luck, he happened to encounter something that he couldn't dodge; If the other countries in the alliance face up to the British, they will not take a position lightly.

The fact that countries can provide support in public opinion is enough to prove the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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

As for the support of Russia and Austria, that's it. The tsarist government helped to shout at most two voices, and the actual support could not be provided at all.

Although the Vienna government promised to contain the British, this "containment" was also full of art, and it is still unknown how far it could go.

The biggest possibility is that as long as the British do not end up in person, leaving no obvious tricks, the Viennese government will pretend that they have seen nothing.

Arms aid, that's what arms traffickers do. If there are not a few frantic arms dealers, this little sewage will not be of any use in the international community.

Prime Minister Antonio nodded and said with deep feelings: "Sure enough, no one can be trusted, and in the end, we still have to be ourselves!" ”

"The backers will fall, everyone will run, only you are the most reliable."

The Spaniards know such a simple truth. It's just that people always have a fluke mentality.

The previous Philippine war was won with the support of its allies, and now that Cuba is in trouble, the Spanish government naturally wants to replicate it again.

After all, it's the easiest, easiest, least costly, and 100% way to win.

It's a pity that the world is cruel, and the countries of the European continent are not charitable. The Spanish government has not yet repaid the favors owed before, and it is no longer possible to come again.

Prime Minister Antonio asked: "Where has the situation at the front developed and has the plan been made to suppress the rebellion?" ”

Since the allies are unreliable, they can only go on their own. As long as the British did not end up and only dealt with the rebels, the Spanish government was still somewhat sure.

Secretary of War Nikol: "The situation at the front is mixed. The situation in the Philippines has improved, the expeditionary force has taken control of all the cities, and the rebels have to huddle in the jungle to survive.

We have a well-developed blockade plan, and without the influx of supplies, the rebels will not be able to hold out for long.

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

Although the War Department has made a perfect reinforcement plan, the main force of our army is still suppressing the rebellion in the Philippine Islands, and there is simply not enough troops to be mobilized in a short period of time.

In order to suppress the Cuban rebellion as soon as possible and leave no opportunity for the British, the War Office proposed to recruit 50,000 mercenaries for the Cuban battlefield. ”

There is no doubt that the "lack of troops" is clearly just an excuse. Spain's troops in the Philippine Islands are also mainly mercenaries, and its own troops are only more than 80,000 people, and there are still more than 100,000 troops in the country.

Now that France is in decline again, the Spaniards on the European continent have no enemies at all, and it is precisely when the pressure on defense is minimal.

Theoretically, there should not be any problem with sending 50,000 troops from the country to suppress the rebellion.

It's a pity that reality is not a "theory", and my family knows my own affairs. Nominally, Spain did have more than 200,000 standing troops, but this was only "nominal".

Like the vast majority of decaying empires, the Spanish army was also plagued by empty and indiscriminate refills.

The only troops with combat effectiveness were all put into the Philippine battlefield, and the rest of the old soldiers, Nicol naturally did not dare to send them to the front line.

It just so happened that the mercenary had already been used once before, and it felt better than his own army, so Nichol naturally didn't mind doing it again.

Anyway, there is a tradition of using mercenaries on the European continent, but it is only in modern times that the scale of warfare has expanded, and the population of Switzerland, a mercenary kingdom, is insufficient to participate in the European war, and mercenaries have gradually faded out of people's sight.

It's all a minor problem, there are no Swiss mercenaries, and there are French mercenaries.

Although France's young population was greatly reduced after the war, the country's poor economy still forced French young people to come out and work as mercenaries to earn a living.

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

It can be said that France is now a king-sized powder keg, and it is just a little bit close to an explosion of Mars. Had it not been for the timely extinguishing of the fire by the Allies, an explosion would have occurred long ago.

It can be said that as long as there is money, there are as many mercenaries as you want. The French government is eager to pack up these instability and send them away so that they can sleep soundly.

Prime Minister Antonio nodded, he was not a perfectionist. In his opinion, as long as the problem can be solved, whether it is sending his own regular army or recruiting mercenaries, there is no difference.

"Then let's act as soon as possible, and put down the rebellion as soon as possible, so that we can concentrate on the system...... Develop the economy. ”

Before the word "change" could be spoken, Antonio swallowed it back. Although Spain is in dire need of institutional reform, it is clear that this is not the time to talk about reform.

It was imperative to suppress the colonial rebellion as soon as possible and dispel the enemy's prying eyes. At this time, it is obviously out of place to talk about such a sensitive topic as reform.

The most important thing was that the Spanish monarch was young, and the regent Queen Mother "neither opposed nor supported the reforms".

Without the support of the royal family, the pressure to push for top-down reform by the government alone is too great.

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

For the declining kingdom of Spain, which resembles an old man, three years of war have exhausted the foundations of this old-school empire.

Fortunately, the war did not take place on home soil, and there were allies to help, otherwise the "aging" Spanish kingdom would have collapsed long ago.

The state has not collapsed, but government finances have collapsed. Without the blood transfusion of the colonies, this old empire with high debts could not hold on to it now.

Antonio was stunned for a moment, and then his face turned ugly. Money is not everything, but no money is everything.

After a little thought, Antonio said slowly: "Continue to borrow foreign debts!" Presumably, the Austrians are ready and waiting for us to come to the door. ”

International loans in these years were often accompanied by a series of political strings attached. In many cases, the additional price that needs to be paid is far more than the interest on the funds.

In this respect, borrowing foreign debt is clearly not a good option, but it is the only viable option for the Spanish government at the moment.

Antonio is a smart man and knows very well how fragile Spain's economy is right now, and any tax hike could push the country into the abyss.

In contrast, the after-effects of borrowing foreign debt are much smaller. The HRE Empire, as the overlord of the European continent, has long washed its hands and gone ashore.

Even if it wants to take advantage of the fire to rob, the Vienna government will pay attention to the appearance, and it is impossible to go too far, at least not to push Spain to a dead end.

Colonial Chancellor Taboada added: "The problems we face now are not limited to financial and military problems.

According to information gathered by the Colonial Office, in addition to the British, other international forces were involved behind the rebellion in Cuba.

There were four international powers that could support the rebels: the United States of America, the Confederate States, and the Holy Roman Empire, in addition to the British, who were already on the cards.

It is not yet known whether one of the three is supporting the rebels, two of them, or all three are covertly.

Of course, it is also possible that the British are suspicious and want to divert our attention and find someone to take the blame for them. It's just that now that they've been exposed, there doesn't seem to be the need to do so.

The Colonial Department has already sent someone to investigate, but the people we have bribed are not well placed in the rebels, and I am afraid that we will not be able to figure out who is behind it in the short term.

Not only Cuba, but also Morocco has not been very stable lately. I fear that if the enemy does not achieve results in Cuba, they will turn to the Moroccans. ”

Where there is strength, there is suspicion, and there are many things in international politics that stab each other. Even if it's allies, digging holes with each other is nothing new.

The most important thing is this: whether it is the United States of America, the Confederate States, or the Holy Roman Empire, there are motives to commit crimes against Spain.

The declining Kingdom of Spain, still holding a few rich colonies, is now a "little man holding gold bricks", and it is difficult not to provoke people to peep.

Foreign Secretary Júnior solemnly warned: "Marquis, please stop your pointless pursuit. Now it is the British who are planning the rebellion in Cuba, and it can only be the British! ”

There is no way, Spain is now incapable of adding 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 help the enemy cover up in order not to cause trouble.