The Sun Never Sets In Spain

The nascent kingdom of Naples is facing a mess. In the continuous war, the population of Naples has dropped from 5.6 million before the war to 3.5 million.

Even Venice and Lombardy, which faced the blade of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were not so severely damaged.

Losing Abruzzo is nothing compared to such a horrific depopulation.

The newly born kingdom of Naples, in terms of strength, is not as good as the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

Of course, the territory of Naples is much larger than that of Tuscany after all.

To achieve this, the first thing is to find a good thigh to hug.

Lest the Kingdom of Piedmont or the Papal State suddenly have the idea of ​​​​hegemony in the world, and they will go south and unite them.

Counting the surrounding powerful countries, only Spain is the best choice for the thigh, whether it is royal kinship, national strength, or geographical location.

However, Francesco himself has already completed the enthronement and coronation ceremonies, and now he has lost a crown, which is really not something to celebrate.

In addition, the domestic people's livelihood was in decline, so there was no big deal, but the people and ambassadors in the city of Naples were invited to watch the ceremony, even if it was an announcement of the birth of the Kingdom of Naples.

As for Spain, King Francesco personally took gifts to Madrid to show his loyalty.

At the end of March, Alfonso met his cheap cousin.

Unfortunately, because there have been no big bourbon gatherings in the past few years, he has never been able to meet each other, and even the crown transaction in Sicily was completed through his subordinates.

I saw it a few times when I was a child, but it was only the memory of the original owner.

Now it is the first meeting in a certain sense, but there is no inexplicable intimacy, but I feel that the other party is older than the information shows.

People in their 30s look like they are in their 40s.

Because of their pampering, most nobles do not show much age, and Francesco is undoubtedly a special case.

Speaking of which, Frances is also very miserable. He lost his mother at birth, his stepmother treated him badly, and lost his father when he was in his 20s. Until now, he has no children and can only support each other with his stepbrothers.

He was restrained by the left in his political career, not only lost 1/2 of his crown, but also owed a lot of debt.

Not to mention a king, even an ordinary noble, at the age of 36 should not be like this.

Francesco didn't know that Alfonso had some sympathy for him, but after a simple greeting, he thanked them for their recent help.

"If it weren't for your generosity, Naples would definitely still be in the midst of war. Whether it's for my kingdom or the people of Naples, I would like to thank you..."

Frances's words were sincere, but Alfonso looked a little embarrassed, but just glanced at Isabella who was smiling.

Francesco was able to unify Naples so quickly, and Isabella II was the first to pay him nearly 400,000 pounds.

Even though she is famously rich, this time has been a little tight.

Francesco promised to repay part of it, but not all of it, after all, a considerable part of the money was nominally a gift to Sister Alfonso.

In any case, this favor is truly owed.

Therefore, when Alfonso mentioned adding Naples to the Spanish currency circle, the other party responded immediately without thinking about it, and he did not bargain at all like those in Tuscany.

Alfonso couldn't help feeling a little satisfied.

But there was one thing he had to say, the brothers still had to settle accounts, let alone two independent countries.

"Cousin, there is one more thing, when Italy promised that Spain would enjoy tariff negotiations, population mobility, business preferential treatment...

These privileges were set when the peace agreement was signed, and the small Italian states were inherited as they were, and even the kingdoms of Renwy and Romagna, which were annexed by Austria-Hungary, recognized this matter.

Bourbon is like a family, I have the intention to forgive this debt for you, but the international influence has to be considered..."

Alfonso euphemistically.

Of course, he still values ​​this money very much in his heart. Although the Kingdom of Naples has everything to be done, at most it is an IOU of millions of pounds, which is not a lot of money for Spain.

But you need to know that you can't go a thousand miles without accumulating a few steps...

Francesco's expression did not change when he heard the words. He said: "Your Majesty Alfonso, I have thought about it, Naples will not be exempt from these privileges."

…

…

There was silence.

That is to say, Alfonso reacts quickly, otherwise the sentence "What!" may have blurted out.

The treaty signed by Italy and Spain was quite harsh, and once accepted, it was no different from a semi-colonial.

If Italy is unified, it can still maintain considerable autonomy by relying on its own size advantage, but Naples is only a small state, and Spain can completely deepen it step by step and gradually turn it into its own puppet country.

Seeing this, Francesco explained: "One is that I can't get the money, and now everything in the country is going downhill, how can I bear to make them bear another heavy debt.

The second is because of those **** Liberals. "

Speaking of this, his face showed anger, and he did not hide it, saying:

"The Liberal Party confines all my power to the small courtyard of the palace, and these tariff-setting powers and commercial privileges have nothing to do with me.

Rather than handing it over to those guys to form a party for personal gain, we might as well divide him up from our own family. "

"I see."

Seeing Francesco's sincere expression and not seeming to be fake, Alfonso smiled "haha" and immediately promised:

"As long as Naples cooperates with Spain's policy, I will help you deal with them in the future!"

Afterwards, several people discussed some detailed rules for cooperation. In addition to switching to the peseta currency, it also included the diplomatic alignment with Spain and the allocation of industrial production capacity under Spain's arrangements.

Francesco all agreed, anyway, a large part of the power is in the control of the Liberal Party, there is no hesitation in generosity.

To be honest, Alfonso never thought that the other party would cooperate so much before the meeting. He did not send troops to participate in the Naples civil war.

I didn't expect to be more obedient than the Papal State, and I have to say it was a pleasant surprise.

Judging from this situation, Spain will soon be able to control the whole of Naples and pocket most of its profits without needing to give them poverty alleviation as if it were annexed on the ground.

So far, Spain easily won Naples.

After all, there are more than 15 million Italians in the radiation range of the Spanish economic circle.

In this action to carve up Italy, on the surface, the Austro-Hungarian Empire took the lead, but in fact Spain was the biggest beneficiary.