Rebirth of the Spanish Empire

On November 1, 1908, Prince Vassideddin of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy Giovanni Giolitti, Prime Minister of Spain Eugene and Prime Minister of Portugal Barroso officially announced in Rome that the four countries would conquer the Portuguese territory of Mozambique. , Italian territories in Eritrea and Somalia, Ottoman Turkish territories in the Persian Gulf from Qatar to Kuwait far away from the mainland. In these four places, in addition to the jurisdiction of the four countries, the nationals of the four countries will enjoy equal rights to free trade in the above-mentioned areas, and their assets are absolutely protected by the four countries. And it will serve as a test area for free trade among the four countries. If the last four countries are satisfied, the scope of the free trade zone will be expanded to the mainland.

"This is the final result after the consultations between the four countries." As the Prime Minister of the host country, Italian Prime Minister Giolitti announced in public.

"Hello, I am Kirk, a reporter from the New York Times. I would like to ask Prime Minister Giolitti, since the four countries have reached such an agreement, why have we not received any news that the four countries are negotiating this agreement before? According to the news, the negotiations that just started recently were approved immediately. If so, then our opinion now is that the four countries were a little hasty in terms of time?"

Giolitti enjoyed being questioned by reporters, because at this time he felt that he was the focus of everyone. In addition, this term, it was already the third time for him to be the prime minister. Being the prime minister for the third time was originally He felt a little bored, but now the reporter asked. Especially when the leaders of Spain, the Ottoman Empire and other governments were sitting next to him, he had the desire to continue participating in the election. Perhaps, he should do it for the fourth time. I was thinking so much in my heart, but I didn't neglect the other party in my mouth.

"Your question has obviously got to the point. In fact, it is easy to answer. That is, as early as early April, when the kings of several countries gathered in the UK, they had already agreed on this plan. However, due to the reasons of various countries, For some reasons, this agreement was only passed and announced to the public not long ago.”

Kirk glanced at Portuguese Prime Minister Barroso, and then asked: "Prime Minister Giolitti, when you talk about negotiations, do you mean all the kings of the four countries? It seems that there were reports at the time that King Manuel II of Portugal Civil events are being held in Lisbon”

"Ahem, cough, cough." Giolitti didn't know how to answer, because indeed, as the reporter named Kirk said, Manuel II was in Portugal and did not participate in this negotiation. However, now Portugal is The colonies were brought into the agreement, but Spain never showed up in their possessions. Not only did others see this, but even he, as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy, was puzzled. After all, this could easily cause problems. dissatisfaction among Portuguese citizens. However, it was not convenient for him to get involved in the internal affairs of the two major allies, so until now he was still puzzled, so he realized that he could not answer the question now.

"As for your question, I think it would be better for me to answer it. What do you think, Prime Minister Giolitti?" Barroso spoke up at this time, but throughout, he still had a cheerful look on his face. His smile makes people naturally like him. Seeing the performance of those people, Eugene felt like he couldn't laugh or cry in his heart. It seemed that he would have to learn to change his facial movements when he went back. But Giolitti next to him flashed a look of jealousy. He was always a pushy person, but now Barroso gave him the feeling that the other party was challenging his status as the darling of the media. Thus, Barroso has unknowingly entered the ranks of his unpopularity.

"Of course" Giolitti replied with a gentlemanly smile.

"As we all know, Portugal and Spain are the closest allies. To use a metaphor, we can say that our relationship is like a couple. Don't laugh, it is true. They are very similar." The people below were even more excited after hearing this. Laughed loudly. Giolitti's face remained a gentleman, but his eyes were extremely sharp. It was precisely this scene that Eugene saw, so he began to pay attention. Sure enough, every time Barroso elicited a response from the reporters below, he almost every time noticed that Giolitti looked at Barroso with a look in his eyes. It will be deeper, especially the dissatisfaction in his eyes is expanding. I looked again and saw Prince Vasidedin. This guy looked at Barroso with some confusion, not knowing what he was thinking.

“Therefore, since we and Spain began as a community of interests, the destinies of our two countries have been sworn to be tied together before the goddess of destiny, and we will prosper together. As for what this reporter said about our King Manuel II not being in London, Haha, His Majesty Alfonso XIII called our king before the negotiations. At that time, our king even joked that His Majesty Alfonso XIII has now become an errand boy. The results of His Majesty's negotiations are ok. Therefore, although your question is a bit tricky, it is also enlightening. I am optimistic about your journalist career. If one day the New York Times does not want you or you leave, please Remember to come to Portugal and I will introduce you to Lisbon Daily News."

"Bah, bang, bang..." Everyone, including Eugene, applauded Barroso who had just sat down, because his answer was so surprising. The reporter's question just now clearly provoked Spain and Many people were prepared to see a good show about Portugal's relationship, but they didn't expect it to turn out like this. Barroso cracked it so easily, giving people the impression that it could be broken easily.

Although Giolitti was a little dissatisfied that the other party had stolen the limelight, yes, he still admired the other party in his heart.

"Hello everyone, I am a reporter from the British "Times". I would like to ask Prime Minister Eugene. You must know that in recent years, Britain, Russia and the Ottoman Turkish Empire have had various disputes on the Middle East issue. Now you By establishing such a free trade zone, and allowing your respective warships to freely enter and exit the ports in these designated areas, does this mean that your four countries have closer military ties?"

"As for the closer military ties you mentioned, I don't quite understand what you are referring to, but what I want to say is, haha, that is, what our four countries have reached an agreement is very clear, that is Our four countries are within these four free trade zones, and all our interests will be jointly protected by the four countries. In diplomatic terms, that is, the four countries will jointly protect the security of these four free trade zones. Because they exist The interests of our respective national countries are within it, and we need to protect its security. For everything else, we still have to continue to explore other potentials. But we have not reached the step you want to say yet."

"Does that mean that the relationship between your countries is limited to these four places? Sorry, I am a reporter for "Voice of Tsarist Russia"

Vasidedin's face changed as soon as he heard this, "Voice of Tsarist Russia"? As the most famous and influential newspaper in Russia, of course he knew about it. He glanced at the reporter coldly, and then turned to Eugene, because he also wanted to hear what the Spanish director Zheng Fu said. idea.

"You can say that, but you can't say that. And I feel that you are a bit unprofessional in asking this question." Seeing everyone's confused eyes, Eugene had the urge to become a disciple of Alfonso directly, because he was right in front of him. Soon, when all the government and important military personnel gathered for a meeting, when Les complained that reporters were difficult to answer questions, His Majesty Alfonso unexpectedly became interested and actually told them how to deal with reporters. stand up. In this way, His Majesty gave them an unexpected lesson in how to deal with reporters.

And now, he is using the method taught by His Majesty Alfonso. Make things chaotic first, and then make a big subversion, then straighten things out and let the initiative fall into your own hands.

Sure enough, now everyone is attracted to him by the reporter's question rather than the original question itself. Eugene now really feels that this trick is very practical.

"Have you forgotten, quoting Prime Minister Barroso just now, that Spain and Portugal are close allies like husband and wife, and with the Kingdom of Italy, our Princess of Asturias is now the Princess of the Kingdom of Sicily, and our two countries Needless to say, we have a marriage relationship with each other. Although we do not have a strategic partnership, we have a complicated relationship that is better than a strategic partnership; and with the Ottoman Empire, we have always treated it as sincere friends, so therefore, in this way, we have It’s a different relationship. Therefore, I would say that this reporter’s question is somewhat contradictory, right?”

"this"

"Hello, Prime Minister Eugene, I am a reporter for Deutsche Welle of the German Empire. I have been observing Spain during this period. Of course, Spain is really beautiful. There is nothing to say about it. Just like ours. Hamburg is the same as Berlin, but what I also discovered is that Spain seems to have been committed to developing free trade with various countries over the years. I think many governments will ask, how can Spain increase the number of countries one after another so quickly, and so actively. So what I ask for them is, has Spain turned its attention to the economy?"

Eugene: "..."

****

"The Middle East has always been what Europeans are most concerned about besides the European mainland. Russia, Austria-Hungary, the United Kingdom, Italy, and the Ottoman Turkish Empire are surrounded by the spheres of influence of these countries. The United Kingdom has a large number of military officers stationed in the Suez Canal. , there are also a large number of regular troops and servant troops in the Arabian Peninsula, and there are also servant troops in the neighboring colonial India.

Russia has hundreds of thousands of troops in the Caucasus, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is even more so because after Russia defeated the Ottoman Empire not long ago, Russia asked it to act as trustee for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it directly annexed it. Now, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire is trying to cope with Russia's anger, it has also begun to prepare for the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, there are also a large number of troops silently confronting the two sides at the junction of the two countries.

Because of Crete, Greece's current relationship with Turkey is estranged. So under such circumstances, what kind of strategy was based on the actions of Italy and Spain, which faced the Ottoman Turkish Empire across the Mediterranean? Is it worth it? To this end, this newspaper specially invited Mr. Edward George, Dean of the School of International Politics at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, to express his views on this matter. "

Please give me a strong recommendation! There were nearly 1,000 collections yesterday, which was very surprising. Here, readers please click to bookmark it after reading this book. This will make it easier for you to read next time. There will be another chapter around 18:00 in the evening. \u003cdd\u003e