The Sun Never Sets In Spain

On November 16, after Francesco II published a statement in the newspaper, the throne of Sicily was transferred to Alfonso.

Now no one can question the legitimacy of Sicily.

Spain ruled this place for more than 300 years, and a single Bourbon ruled this place for more than 40 years. The two were unified for nearly 400 years.

National self-determination is not very popular in Europe now. From a legal point of view, even Italy does not have the orthodoxy from Spain.

Alfonso still values ​​these two islands very much. In his plan, Sicily will become an important transit point in the Mediterranean, linking trade with Ottoman and Egypt.

Especially since the Suez Canal was opened to navigation last year, many merchant ships from Asia will also pass through here. As long as they can develop, they will not worry about making money.

As the first step in the development of Sicily, Alfonso has sent people to communicate with Greece and the Ottoman Empire to negotiate tobacco trade with them.

Although tobacco is also produced in Spain, there are only a handful of places on the eastern coast that are suitable for cultivation. The east coast has many uses, and the scale of planting is quite limited.

The local area is not good, and there are foreign countries, Ottoman Anatolia and most of the sites in Greece are good places to grow tobacco.

This year, because the cigarette making machine has not yet been invented and the cigarettes are all handmade, the production cost is relatively high.

Those who can consume cigarettes are middle-class people in various countries, and sailors who are temporarily not short of money.

As the market becomes smaller, the scale of tobacco cultivation is not much larger.

Alfonso wanted to take this opportunity to sign a long-term contract with other potential tobacco producing countries.

By providing funds and guaranteeing the purchase, we can ensure the future supply of cigarette raw materials and the bargaining power of the cigarette market, and by the way, it can also save some costs.

The reason for this confidence is that since the Spanish Tobacco Company was established a year ago, the company has specifically cooperated with the Barcelona Research Institute to jointly develop cigarette machines.

After so long of hard work, finally there is a result.

In the test a month ago, ideally, the cigarette maker could produce 20,000 cigarettes per day!

The process of making cigarettes is not too complicated, and the current European industrial level is completely sufficient, and it's just one step away.

Historically, cigarette machines will be born after 10 years.

The advantage of machines to people is overwhelming. With a daily output of 20,000, the cost of cigarette production can be reduced to 16%.

If the current cigarette prices are maintained, it only takes one year for a machine to make enough money to buy itself.

However, it is impossible to think about it. The price of cigarettes will definitely be greatly reduced in the future.

Calculating this way, the return on investment does not appear to be very high.

So Alfonso told them not to rush to announce, and to leave a year for improvement.

The person in charge is also very interesting and promises to reach at least 80,000 daily cigarettes in one year.

The planting cycle of cigarettes is almost one year.

Now that I have signed a contract with Osman, Greece, I will be able to lie down and collect money in a year.

While the tobacco company sent people to the East to negotiate, Garcia also took people across the Pyrenees into the French mainland.

The siege of Metz Fortress and Paris one after another, even for the mighty Prussia, the force gradually became stretched.

In addition to continuing to advance to other areas in North France, the southern side stayed on the line of the Loire River and did not move.

In fact, they can't move. Even if the time is very short, the French provinces have mobilized more than 200,000 people in a short period of time. If necessary, there can be more.

These soldiers have insufficient military literacy, poor equipment, and lack of command, but if Prussia comes to fight and fill in all the free troops, I don’t know if it will be enough.

… Deterrence is sufficient, but it was not until Garcia came here to realize how chaotic the situation was.

The number of military officers from Paris is not only small, but also has a lot of conflicts with the locals.

The main source of contradiction is the conflict of rank and authority. In addition, the combat thinking of the two sides is also very different.

The Parisians naturally want to go back to liberate Paris as soon as possible. Their wives and children are all waiting inside.

The defending officers, newly appointed officers of the Self-Defense Forces, and the spontaneously formed patriotic militia... these mixed ideas are basically solid defense lines and swiftly trying.

In their view, as long as the two allies of the colony and Theo are retained, even half of France will be used to fight North Germany.

At this time, the most important thing is to keep the remaining turf. In case the active offensive fails and is caught by the opponent, Free France may be born early.

How to put it, it makes sense on both sides.

But this is the most taboo in war.

In short, the small South France launched a series of struggles for power around the control of the army.

The only good news is that both parties want to save France, and no one wants to seek power to usurp the throne. They just want to do what they want.

In the past, disputes of this degree can be settled by just a telegram from Paris.

But the telegraph cables from Paris to the outside world have all been cut off, and the small quarrel seriously hindered the implementation of the military plan.

It has been almost 20 days since Paris was besieged last month. They did nothing except mobilize some people to join the army.

This time Garcia brought a total of 40,000 people over, originally intending to take over the mobilization work in South France.

But when he got here, he discovered that people really welcome him, but want to be a commander? Don't talk about it.

The emperor never ordered them to listen to Spain.

Think about it, too, proud French people don't even worry about their own people, how can they trust the Spanish.

Garcia really didn't have a record that he could come up with. He fought a Spanish Civil War at most, and he has basically never personally commanded it.

On the other hand, several officers from Paris have fought all over the four continents of Asia, Europe, America and Africa.

Unless there is a prestigious and convincing figure standing up, the French will not stop wrangling in a short time, and such a figure is lying quietly in the Invalides in Paris.

When Alfonso received the news from Garcia, he could only shook his head helplessly.

It's useless to give them a chance.

In fact, as long as the action is fast enough, it is no problem to stabilize the northwest of France, and at least it can control Brittany.

You know, Brittany has not been occupied until now.

However, the region’s connection with South France has been severed, and it is only a matter of time before a single region faces the Prussian front.

Forget it...just ridicule, anyway, the work of army mobilization and training is still being followed, but there is no way to conduct large-scale military operations.

Delaying time is good for Spain.

It's just that the poor Bonaparte family are in danger.