Holy Roman Empire

In Madrid, Antonio, who has just ascended to the Prime Minister's throne, is now examining the report in his hands with a heavy look.

In recent years, Spain's life has been like the "New Year of the Little King", which is getting worse every year.

Even after winning the recently concluded war against France and recovering the Russión region, Spain has not been able to reverse its downward slide.

There was no way around it, and a Philippine war exposed their frail nature. Can't even handle a backward indigenous country and still claim to be a great power?

I am sorry to say that the United Kingdom, Russia and Austria are not ashamed to be associated with such a weakling as a "great power".

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

Just take it out and fool the general public. The navy fought a draw, the army was defeated, and the mercenaries saved the day in the end, what is that if not a failure?

Failure is failure, and behind closed doors, Prime Minister Antonio is still brave enough to admit it.

As a loser, he must bear the consequences of his failure. After the war, Spain gained the title of "the shame of the great powers".

In order not to lose face with them, the British, Russian and Austrian media have kicked Spain out of the ranks of the Great Powers.

If it's just a little bit of humiliation, it's not unbearable. Anyway, in recent years, Spain has been on a downward spiral, with plenty of embarrassment, and everyone's heart capacity has increased substantially.

The trouble was that the Japanese weren't willing to fail, and even though they had evacuated themselves, they hadn't forgotten to plant a nail in their way.

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 troop strength alone, the rebels outnumbered the expeditionary force. Clearly, the Philippine chaos would not end for a while.

"Before the Philippine chaos was cleared up, the Cuban rebellion followed, and it was a premeditated rebellion supported by international forces.

The Spanish government was powerless in the face of the Cuban rebellion, as the main forces were trapped in the Philippine archipelago.

Fortunately, the Viceroy of Cuba, with his vast experience in suppressing rebellions, acted decisively to enlist the island's Hispanic population as soon as the rebellion broke out.

Together with the original colonial army, the total Spanish force in Cuba was now a staggering 200,000.

The number seems quite large, but this "200,000" is obviously made up of mostly old and weak men, with no more than one division of real combat power.

Specific performance can refer to the original time and space of the American West War. An expeditionary force put together by the Americans, with the cooperation of the Cuban rebels, won the war after paying the price of triple-digit casualties.

Now, although there was no more of that American expeditionary force, the Cuban rebels had emerged.

Then the Spanish government forces and the rebels played a "pecking order" in Cuba, and it was a very touching scene.

It's a tear-jerker to say the least.

All in all, the Spanish government forces did not take advantage of the temporary rabble that had gathered in front of them. Instead, they were beaten to a standstill and needed to call for help at home.

If the timing wasn't right, Antonio would have gone to the front lines to see if this "200,000" rebel army was really the goods and how much "noise" it made.

In any case, if the colonial government fails the test, the Spanish government will have to take over, and it will not be able to let Cuba become independent.

Prime Minister Antonio: "Count Júnior, how far along are we in our diplomatic campaign?"

The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not a standout, only a moderate performer, but everything is by comparison.

The MFA that performs moderately well against the backdrop of bureaucrats in other government departments is a breath of fresh air in the bureaucracy.

The preceding Philippine war is proof of that. Had the Foreign Ministry not reacted quickly enough and acted in time to win the support of European countries, it would not have been able to recover the Philippine Islands so smoothly.

Unfortunately, diplomacy is not a panacea, and no matter how hard the diplomats try, they cannot withstand the aftermath of the country's decline.

Foreign Minister Júnior: "Only the Russians are willing to support us diplomatically, except for the Vienna government, which says it will help contain the British.

None of the other countries would make a clear statement because they did not want to offend the British, and we were only able to win public support.

Because there are so few European countries willing to support us, and the Vienna government is unwilling to go all out, the chances of our being able to obtain direct support from the League are infinitely nearer to zero."

It's human nature to bully.

If they hadn't been unlucky enough to happen to run into something they couldn't avoid; if the other countries in the alliance had been up against the British, they would have been equally unlikely to take a stand.

It is enough to prove the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that it was able to get countries to provide support in public opinion.

It was a pity that European public opinion, unfortunately, had limited influence over the British. If they were scolded, it wouldn't be John Bull.

As for the support of Russia and Austria, that's all it is. The Czarist government at most helped to roar a couple of times, and offered no substantial support at all.

Although the Vienna government promised to restrain the British, but this "restraint" is also full of artistry, specific to be able to do which step, is still an unknown quantity.

The most likely is that as long as the British do not personally come down and leave no obvious leverage, the Vienna government will pretend not to see anything.

Arms aid, that's what arms dealers do. Who didn't have a few deranged arms dealers, and a little bit of sewage wouldn't help in the slightest internationally.

Prime Minister Antonio nodded and said with deep feeling, "It really is no one to rely on, it's us in the end!"

"By the mountains will fall, by everyone will run, and only you are most reliable."

Such a simple truth, the Spaniards know. It's just that people always have a fluke.

The previous war in the Philippines was won by relying on the support of allies, and now that Cuba was in trouble, the Spanish government naturally wanted to replicate it all over again.

After all, this is the simplest, easiest, least costly and 100% victorious way to do it.

Unfortunately, the world is a cruel place, and the European countries are not in the business of charity. The Spanish government hadn't even paid back all the favors it owed from the front, and it was no longer possible to do so now.

Prime Minister Antonio asked, "How far has the situation at the front developed, and is the plan to suppress the rebellion ready?"

Since the allies could not be relied upon, they would have to go on their own. As long as the British don't go down and just deal with the rebels, the Spanish government still has a few points to play.

Minister of War Nicole: "The situation at the front is a mixed blessing. He said, "The situation in the Philippines has improved, the expeditionary force has taken control of all the cities, and the rebels can only cower in the jungle for a while.

We have a well-planned blockade, and without an influx of supplies, the rebels won't be able to hold out much longer.

The situation in Cuba is much worse. The rebels are gaining momentum faster than we expected, and Governor Valeriano has sent five telegrams requesting help.

Although the War Department has made sound plans for reinforcements, our main Army force is still in the Philippine Islands to suppress the rebellion, and we simply cannot spare enough troops in a short time.

In order to suppress the Cuban rebellion as soon as possible and not leave any opportunity for the British to take advantage of the situation, the War Department proposes to recruit 50,000 mercenaries for the Cuban battlefield."

Undoubtedly, the "lack of troops" was obviously just an excuse. The troops Spain committed to the Philippine Islands were also mainly mercenaries, committing no more than 80,000 of their own troops, and there were still more than 100,000 troops at home.

Now that France was in decline again, the Spanish had no enemies at all on the European continent, at a time when the pressure on national defense was minimal.

Theoretically, there shouldn't be any problem in withdrawing 50,000 troops from the country to suppress the rebellion.

Unfortunately, reality isn't "theory" and one's own family knows one's own business. Spain does nominally have a standing army of over 200,000 troops, but only "nominally".

Like most decadent empires, the Spanish army had been plagued by the same problem: that of being empty and substandard.

The only troops that had any combat power were committed to the Philippine battlefield, and the remaining vintage soldiers, Nicole naturally didn't dare to send them to the front.

It just so happens that the front had already used mercenaries once, and felt better than their own army, Nicole naturally didn't mind having another go.

Anyway, there was a tradition of using mercenaries in the European continent, but it was only after the scale of war expanded in the modern era, and Switzerland, the mercenary kingdom, was short of population and unable to participate in the European wars, that mercenaries gradually faded from people's attention.

This is a small problem, there are no Swiss mercenaries, there are French mercenaries.

Even though France's young adult population declined greatly after the war, its poor domestic economy forced young Frenchmen out to earn a living as mercenaries.

According to incomplete statistics, the recent year in France stationed in the allied forces, has helped the Paris government, suppressing 87 workers riots and 14 armed uprisings.

It can be said that the current France is an oversized powder keg, just a little spark will explode. Had the Allies not put out the fire in time, the explosion would have occurred.

It could be said that as long as there was money, there were now as many mercenaries as one wanted. The French government would love to send these unstable elements packing so that they could sleep soundly.

Prime Minister Antonio nodded his head, he was no perfectionist. As far as he was concerned, as long as he could solve the problem, it made no difference whether he sent in his own regular army or recruited mercenaries.

"Then let's act as soon as possible, suppress the rebellion sooner so we can concentrate on the system ...... to develop the economy."

The word "reform" hadn't even left his mouth and Antonio swallowed back. Although Spain was in dire need of institutional reform, now was clearly not the time to talk about reform.

The priority was to suppress the colonial rebellion as soon as possible and dispel the prying eyes of the enemy. At this time, it was clearly untimely to talk about such a sensitive topic as reform.

The most important thing was that the Spanish monarch was young, and the regent queen "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.

Siegfried, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was serious: "Your Excellency, the government is out of money. We've been at war since 1891, and Spain is tired."

For the Kingdom of Spain, which was declining like an old man, three consecutive years of war had drained the old-school empire of its reserves.

Fortunately, the war did not take place on the mainland, and with the help of allies, otherwise the "old" Spanish kingdom would have collapsed.

The country did not collapse, but the government finances had collapsed. Without the blood transfusion from the colonies, this old empire, which was heavily indebted, couldn't hold on any longer.

Antonio was stunned, and then his face turned ugly. Money wasn't everything, but having no money was everything.

After some thought, Antonio slowly said, "Keep borrowing foreign debt! I'm sure the Austrians are ready and waiting for us to come to their door."

International loans these days are usually accompanied by a series of political strings attached. In many cases, the extra cost required is far beyond the obvious interest on the funds.

Borrowing foreign debt was obviously not a good option in that regard, but it was the only viable option for the Spanish government at the moment.

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

By contrast, the consequences of borrowing foreign debt are much smaller. The Shinra empire, the hegemon of Europe, has long since washed its hands of it.

Even if it has to take advantage of the fire, the Vienna government will be careful about what it eats and is unlikely to do too much, at least not to push Spain into a desperate situation.

Colonial Minister Thaboada added, "The problems we face now are not limited to financial, and military matters.

According to information gathered by the Colonial Ministry, there are other international forces behind the Cuban rebellion besides the British.

There are a total of four international powers that have the power to provide support to the rebellion, including the United States of America, the Alliance, and the Holy Roman Empire, in addition to the British, who have already made it clear that they are supporting the rebellion.

Whether one of the three is supporting the rebels, or two are supporting them, or all three are secretly supporting them, we don't know yet.

Of course, it's also possible that the British were staging a staged attack, trying to lead us astray and find someone to take the blame for them. Only now that they've been exposed, there seems to be no such need.

The Colonial Ministry has already sent people to investigate, but the people we bribed don't have enough standing among the rebels to figure out who else is behind it in a short time, I'm afraid.

Not only Cuba, but also the Moroccan region has been unstable lately. I'm worried that the enemy will turn to the Moroccans if they don't achieve results in Cuba."

With power comes suspicion, and there are plenty of things to stab each other in international politics. Even as allies, digging at each other is nothing new.

Here's the kicker: whether it's the United States of America, the Allied Nations, or the Holy Roman Empire, all have motives for pulling a stab at Spain.

The fallen kingdom of Spain, still holding a few rich colonies, is now a "little man holding a gold brick", it is hard not to attract prying eyes.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Júnior, warned seriously: "Marquis, please stop your pointless pursuit. It is the British and only the British who are now planning the Cuban rebellion!"

There is no way, Spain is now incapable of, adding another enemy to their own.

Even if they find out who is behind it, they will have to play deaf and dumb, and they will even have to help their enemies cover up in order to avoid complications.