Wild North America 1846

Chapter 533 The Void Spanish Throne
Li Cha walked down the Longevity Hill with unfulfilled enthusiasm. From a distance, he saw the new Prime Minister Earl Dong Jie and Director Zheng Yuan, who had won the election for the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, and a group of people standing there respectfully. They must have something important to do. report?

come near
All the ministers saluted one after another, and Emperor Li Cha raised his hand and said, "All my dear ones are free from courtesy, please wait for a while."

"I thank Your Majesty Long En."

"Well, don't be cautious."

Li Cha took the hot towel from the court maid, cleaned his face, applied the secret Jiuzhen facial cream, and changed into a light robe.Only then did he move to the palace pavilion at the foot of Longevity Hill, and he took the lead in sitting on the Nine Dragon Jade Couch, beckoning everyone to sit down and report back.

The exquisitely carved Nine Dragons Jade Couch is carved from a single piece of beautiful jade, weighing 13.6 tons. It took more than 30 skilled jade cutters two and a half years to complete it. It is a peerless treasure.

Only the cloisonné enamel technique around the base of the Kowloon imperial couch, and the barefoot gold wire inlaid entirely, used 64 kilograms of gold, and the inlaid diamonds and other precious stones weighed 21.5 kilograms.

That's right, diamonds and other precious stones are all measured in kilograms, it's just that extravagant, it's that much money invested.

There are three huge snow-white lion skins laid on the Jiulong Yu (note; the same as "jade") couch, without any variegated color, which is extremely precious.

Li Cha was sitting safely on the imperial couch, drinking tea with a dragon and phoenix jade cup in his hand.

The furnishings in this place called "Wanshou Hall" are all rare treasures. The huge red sandalwood ancient shelf behind the throne is heavy and thick, 24 meters high, and the circle is about [-] meters long. Curiosity.

After Li Cha drank two sips of water, he put down the dragon and phoenix jade cup and said, "Tell me, why did Dong Aiqing enter the palace urgently?"

"Revelation, the latest news from Europe shows that Queen Isabella II of Spain in exile in France has officially announced her abdication. This amazing news has aroused strong repercussions from the European community. Countries such as Britain, France, Russia and Russia are all paying close attention to this matter In particular, the possible succession of Prince Leopold to the Spanish throne has aroused the great anger of the French Empire..." Prime Minister Dong Jie reported respectfully.

Queen Isabella II of Spain, the whore?

Li Cha frowned slightly;
Over the years, the Spanish royal power has been in chaos and turmoil. From 1843 to 1868, Isabella II was in charge. When the waves of the French Revolution came one after another, the Kingdom of Spain was greatly affected.

The liberal opposition in Spain is growing day by day. This period of internal affairs is characterized by court intrigues, coups and revolutions. The change of the royal government like a flowing water medium has caused frequent domestic social turmoil in Spain and accumulated a lot of problems.

Queen Isabella II relied on frequent changes of government to cope with the crisis. In 25 years, Spain changed 34 governments, promulgated 7 constitutions, launched 15 riots, and all kinds of courtiers came to power one after another.

Isabella II lived a dissolute and decadent life, and sometimes intervened in domestic politics in a willful and irrational way, which caused even greater chaos.

The queen paid special attention to the reactionaries in the army and the church, which made her even more hateful in the hearts of the Spaniards. She was jumping back and forth on the verge of crazy death, and finally lost her throne.

She narrowly escaped assassination twice.

Until 1868, Queen Isabella II of Spain was overthrown because of her private life and political chaos.

Isabella II is a close relative of the French Bourbon dynasty and is related to Napoleon III, so the French have a great say in the succession of the Spanish throne.

From 1868 to 1870

For more than two years, the vacant Spanish throne has attracted great attention from European countries, and it has become a fat meat that royal families of all countries want to fight for.It is also the biggest destabilizing factor affecting the situation in Europe. European powers such as Britain, France and Prussia are all involved without exception.

Among the possible candidates for the Spanish throne;

Prince Leopold of the Hohenzollern family of King William I of Prussia seemed to be a promising candidate. Unfortunately, the news leaked in early February 1870, which greatly angered Emperor Napoleon III of France and the Duke of Gramont, the foreign minister, and sparked sharp criticism from France and Prussia. contradiction.

The Duke of Gramont, the French dynasty, threatened William I; he asked him to guarantee that he would never get involved in the Spanish throne.

After explaining the current international situation in general, Prime Minister Dong Jie finally said;

"...

As an influential and powerful empire in the world today, various European powers have consulted Datang for my opinions and preferences. The French foreign minister, Duke Drummond, personally wrote a letter, hoping to coordinate the positions of the two countries.

The opinion of the empire is undoubtedly a heavyweight statement, which will affect the situation in Europe to a considerable extent, and is valued by European countries.

Prime Minister Cavour of the Kingdom of Italy specially wrote a personal letter for this purpose, hoping that the empire could support the Italian prince Amadeo de Savoy as the monarch of Spain.

Nowadays, the European political arena is turbulent, especially the contradiction between France and Prussia has become increasingly acute.

Our Prussian allies have recently stepped up their imports of imperial materials, especially high explosives, shells and full-charge rifle bullets, and a large number of war preparations. The situation is very similar on the eve of the Prussian-Austrian War.

For the field ration beef jerky alone, the Kingdom of Prussia sent an order for 2600 tons, and the request was urgent.

In a secret letter, Prime Minister Bismarck admitted frankly that the Kingdom of Prussia was basically ready to go to war against France.

When this moment of change
I implore Your Majesty to formulate a policy towards Europe, so that the imperial government cabinet ministers will not look forward and backward, unify their positions, and use a consistent caliber to speak out. "

After hearing this, Emperor Li Cha didn't express his opinion immediately. He held a delicate jade toy and rubbed it lightly, thought for a moment and asked, "Dong Aiqing, what's your opinion?"

"Revelation to the Holy Majesty, I tend to agree with Italian Prime Minister Cavour, and support His Royal Highness Prince Amadeo de Savoy of the Kingdom of Italy as the new Spanish monarch. This should be a relatively safe solution at present."

"What's the reason?"

"My lord, the background of Prince Leopold supported by the Germans is too complicated. He is a cousin of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. If he ascends the throne of Spain, the impact will be too great, and there will be a big trend. This is not in the interests of the French Empire, nor It's not in my Datang's interests."

"There are so many bad things going on in Europe!" Emperor Richard sighed softly, then waved his hand and said; "Then stand with Britain and Prussia, and support Prince Leopold's succession to the Spanish throne with a clear-cut banner. "

The prime minister, Earl Dong Jie, was obviously taken aback when he heard this, hesitated for a moment and then saluted; "Please forgive my ignorance, Your Majesty, you are..."

"Compared to the gratitude from the Kingdom of Italy, Britain and Prussia are more important." Emperor Richard smiled wisely, and comforted him gently; "Don't worry...Dong Aiqing, under the strong opposition of the French Empire, Leopold It is impossible for the prince to inherit the Spanish throne, otherwise Europe will face a war. It’s just a gift of favors, and if you want to give a favor, you must choose a heavy one. I believe Bismarck will thank the empire for its help and send more orders for military supplies.”

"Your Majesty is wise, I understand." Prime Minister Dong Jie suddenly realized, and bowed to the ground with admiration.

His Majesty the Emperor is old in accidents. He looked at the continental disputes from a higher vantage point in the international situation. He could not be confused by the brilliance on the surface, and he could go straight to the essence of the problem at a glance.

No matter how the European issue evolves, it has always been in a non-mainstream position in the interests of the Datang Empire.

I didn't choose the Kingdom of Italy because he didn't have enough weight!
Earl Dong Jie led the "National Power Party" to victory in the general election held at the end of November last year, and was officially sworn in as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet in January 11 for a five-year term. This was originally a planned political change.

Since then, the Datang Empire has formed a situation in which two major parties took turns sitting on the throne. One is the die-hard conservative "Royal Party" rooted in Chinese voters, also known as the "Yellow Party", that is, the "National Power Party."

The other advocates the "Blue Party" that represents the interests of all voters, that is, the "Justice and Democratic Liberal Party" led by the former cabinet prime minister, Duke Ryu Hyun-jun, referred to as the "Public Self-Party".

Before Chinese New Year

The handover of the two parties was successfully completed, and the "National Power Party" once again boarded the core of the political stage of the Tang Empire, which will determine the political landscape in the next five years.

Earl Dong Jie can be said to be a daughter-in-law who has become a mother-in-law for many years. He has finally reached the pinnacle of his political career and started to write his own legend. This is a gratifying and great event.

In domestic affairs, Earl Dong Jie can be said to be a doer step by step, with extremely rich resume and experience.

However, in international affairs, it is still inexperienced.

The current chaos in Europe has emerged, and the French Empire, which has finally broken free from the shackles of the Three Emperors Alliance, has discovered it after more than ten years of joyful bliss;

On the European continent, an evenly matched opponent appeared, that is, the rapidly rising Kingdom of Prussia.

Britain blatantly stood on the side of the Kingdom of Prussia, trying to forcefully check and balance the European hegemony of the French dynasty. This almost made Napoleon III jump in anger and cursed "the British are too bad."

Over the years, France followed the United Kingdom with no credit or hard work. In the Crimean War alone, the French army paid a price of 10,000+ casualties, and it was the main force against the Tsarist Russian army on the frontal battlefield.

If you say turn your back on it, you turn your back on it, without showing any affection.

Regardless of the aggressiveness of the French on the surface, they made excessive demands on William I of the Kingdom of Prussia to merge parts of Bavaria on the west bank of the Rhine and parts of Hesse-Darmstadt with France, until they panicked.

The British have quietly woven a large anti-French net, even including the Tang Dynasty on the other side of the Atlantic and the North and South of the United States. This made Napoleon III unable to sit still and smelled danger.

(End of this chapter)