Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 233 Returning to Italy

The work of colonial army expansion and colonial division formation was proceeding in an orderly manner, but Carlo's mood at this time could not improve.

Because news came from Rome that Carlo's father, Vittorio Emanuele II, was terminally ill and his body could not hold on for much longer.

The Italian royal family's personal physician deduced from the physical condition of Victor Emmanuel II that the king who unified Italy would not live more than three months.

When the Italian people learned that King Vittorio Emanuele II was critically ill, their reaction was quite concerned.

There are even many newspapers and media that list Vittorio Emanuele II as one of the ten most outstanding monarchs in Italy. This shows how great the unification of Italy is for the Italians.

Judging from the current attitude of Italians, Italians are still reluctant to part with the father of their country. This is also a blessing in disguise, at least the Savoy royal family in Italy can continue to be passed on, and the Italian government is temporarily stable.

At this time, the House of Savoy was still quite glorious in Europe. The House of Savoy had two kings, and Italy and Spain, which held the throne, were both serious European powers.

Although there is a gap between them and the five traditional European powers, we should not regard second-tier powers as not being powers.

Apart from the five traditional European powers, Spain and Italy, if taken alone, are not afraid of any other country in Europe.

It is also because of this that the critical illness of Vittorio Emanuele II attracted the attention of many countries, and European monarchs also sent telegrams of condolences to Italy.

Historically, Vittorio Emanuele II died just a few days into the new year.

In order to see his father for the last time, Carlo decided to spend Christmas 1877 in Spain and then go to Italy to accompany his father on his final journey.

Although Carlo traveled through time and space to this world, this body's father, Vittorio Emanuele II, was very fond of Carlo.

It is necessary to accompany his father on his last journey. No matter how the relationship between Italy and Spain develops in the future, it cannot change the fact that Italy and Spain are working closely together at this time.

As if they noticed Carlo's slightly bad mood, Prince Juan Fernando and Princess Sofia were no longer so naughty. They stayed quietly by Carlo's side and spent a relatively quiet Christmas with him.

Of course, it was Prince Juan Fernando who calmed down the children. Princess Sofia was only one year old at the time and was not yet capable of causing trouble.

It is the time for Prince Juan Fernando, who is already two and a half years old, to be naughty. Queen Sophie is often annoyed by Prince Juan Fernando's mischief, but fortunately the little guy knows his limits and will apologize obediently when he makes his mother angry.

Carlo noticed Prince Juan Fernando's mischief, but he didn't want to do anything about it.

The main reason is that the elite aristocratic education that Carlo prepared for Prince Juan Fernando is about to begin. Before the aristocratic education begins, Carlo still wants his child to have a good memory.

Once all the courses have started, it will be impossible for little Prince Juan Fernando to have enough free time to play naughty.

Because the various courses were enough to keep him very busy, it would be impossible for him to complete all the courses prepared by Carlo within the specified time without putting in some effort.

Christmas had just ended when Carlo received a telegram from Manuel.

During this period, two colonial garrison regiments mobilized by Carlo from the colonies of southern Morocco and Guinea had arrived in the Congo territory, and Manuel also officially launched the formation of the colonial division.

At present, Manuel has three colonial garrison regiments with nearly 7000 troops, which is barely enough to guard the 7 indigenous laborers harvested in the last operation.

It is worth mentioning that Andrew, the deputy that Carlo found for Manuel, was still in the Philippine colony at that time.

Because the Philippine colony also had to provide more than 5000 soldiers to the Congo territory, Andrew needed to recruit 5000 soldiers first and then take these soldiers to the Congo territory.

The same is true for the South Moroccan colony. Judging from the current speed of the two colonies organizing personnel, Manuel has the hope of obtaining these 10,000 troops within two months and officially completing the formation of the colonial division.

Of course, even if the colony of 20,000 people is to be organized, it will still require a long training period to make it combat-ready.

The reason why Carlo transferred two colonial garrison regiments to Manuel was not only to allow him to have enough manpower to ensure the stability of the Congo territory, but also to allow these veterans to train new recruits so that the colonial division could become combat-ready more quickly.

With the establishment of the colonial division, the army will have many more vacancies for basic officers at the level of company commanders and platoon leaders. Of course, officers of higher ranks, including company commanders, will still be Spanish officers.

It just so happens that the Royal Military Academy trains hundreds of outstanding graduates every year. Selecting some of these graduates to train in the colonial armies can not only solve the problem of vacancies in grassroots officers in the colonial armies, but also allow these graduates to have more room for advancement.

After spending a few years in the colonial army, they will definitely be promoted when they are transferred back to Spain. This is definitely a good opportunity for those military academy graduates who have no background and can only rely on their own efforts to get promoted.

Moreover, compared with the Spanish mainland, the Spanish colonies are more likely to face war. Even if it is only a small-scale war against indigenous rebellion, as long as it can be won, the credit will still be due.

As long as one has made contributions, there is hope for promotion in military rank or acquisition of land and titles. This is why Carlo is not worried about opposition from military academy graduates.

The conditions in the colonies were certainly difficult, but it also depended on the people. For the Spaniards, the biggest disadvantage of the colonies was the lack of medical conditions, but this was not much different in mainland Spain.

The state of medical technology in this era is such that if there are any serious illnesses, one can basically just leave it to fate.

Apart from the major problem of poor medical conditions, the only shortcoming of the colonies was the lack of supplies. However, the government would still guarantee the supply of supplies for the army. Apart from these problems, the Spanish received quite generous treatment in the colonies.

After handling some government affairs and making proper arrangements for domestic affairs in Spain, Carlo once again boarded a warship to Italy.

Unlike last time, Carlo did not bring any family members with him this time. Queen Sophie and the two little ones had to stay in the Royal Palace in Madrid.

The reason for not taking them with him was not only because they had been there last time, but also because Carlo was considering his itinerary after returning from Italy.

In the past few years since he became the King of Spain, Carlo has made very few foreign diplomatic visits. Taking this opportunity, Carlo decided to take a trip to Europe to deepen the relationship with several allies, and at the same time, try to reach cooperation with powerful countries such as Britain, France and Germany to gain some benefits from them.

Currently, there are two major rivalries on the European continent: the rivalry between Britain and Russia and the rivalry between Germany and France.

Not to mention Britain and Russia, the confrontation between these two great powers was concentrated in the Balkans and Central Asia and had nothing to do with Spain.

The confrontation between Germany and France was mainly reflected in the policy of isolating France formulated by German Prime Minister Bismarck. There were four great powers around France, and except for Spain, the relations between the other three powers and France were not so good.

There is no need to say much about the relationship between France and Germany. The establishment of Germany was achieved by stepping on the heads of the French.

The relationship between France and Italy is not good either. Previously, France firmly controlled Italy's current capital, Rome, by supporting the Papal States.

If it weren't for the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Italy would have to wait longer to complete its unification. Even so, Victor Emmanuel II reluctantly ceded the Savoy region, the ancestral home of the Savoy family, for the sake of Italy's unification. This also made European people laugh about the Italian royal family, the Savoy family, which is the origin of the name of the Savoy family - the Savoy region does not belong to Savoy.

Because of this, the relationship between France and Italy is not good. If France wants to break out of the encirclement created by Germany, its southern neighbor Spain becomes a very important link.

If Spain also joins in isolating France, France will be completely blockaded by Germany.

You know, although the main contradictions in Europe are between Britain and Russia and between Germany and France, there are many contradictions between Britain and France. Let's not talk about the Hundred Years' War, which happened a long time ago. In the Napoleonic era, when the French talked about it with pride, Britain and France were fierce enemies.

On several occasions, the anti-French alliance was even formed under the leadership of the British, and the most intense conflict during this period was the Anglo-French conflict.

That is to say, France failed in the Franco-Prussian War, otherwise Britain’s biggest enemy would not be Russia, but France.

At this time, Germany had not yet posed enough threat to Britain, which also led to Germany, France and Russia being on the British defense list.

The British character and foreign policy have always been like this. They advocate suppressing whoever is strong and winning over whoever is weak.

At present, neither Germany nor France has demonstrated an overwhelming advantage in the competition, so the British will naturally not act rashly.

Historically, the reason why Britain formed an alliance with France to fight against Germany was because Germany's rapid development after unification allowed its comprehensive strength to quickly surpass that of France.

At this time, Germany's comprehensive strength had not yet reached the point where it was far superior to that of France. Germany and France were still superpowers of the same level, and even the reason why Bismarck went to great lengths to isolate France was precisely because he was afraid of French retaliation.

If France wanted to break Bismarck's policy of diplomatic isolation, it could only do so by winning over Spain. As long as Spain did not turn to Germany, France's southern border would be safe.

The reason why Spain’s application for a 5 million franc loan from France was quickly approved was because the French saw the importance of Spain.

Carlo certainly understood this. Although Carlo did not intend to conclude an alliance with the French, it was still necessary to continue to maintain the necessary cooperation.

Although France failed in the Franco-Prussian War, who can deny that France is an extremely powerful superpower?
Compared to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was somewhat at the bottom of the five traditional powers, France was undoubtedly ranked in the top three among the five traditional powers.

Whether in industry or economy, the French had a much stronger foundation than the Austro-Hungarian Empire. France was able to borrow 50 million francs from Spain while paying 5 billion francs in reparations to Germany, which shows how exaggerated the scale of France's economy was.

Not to mention the Spain of the past, even in the Spain of today, it is absolutely impossible for Carlo to come up with 50 billion francs in a short period of time.

It will take Spain at least ten years to raise 50 billion francs in funds, and it will also have to significantly cut the financial budgets of various departments.

This will definitely have a huge impact on the country's development and may even cause Spain to never recover.

In contrast, after France repaid the reparations to Germany, its economy continued to thrive, which is quite exaggerated.

Shaking off the complicated thoughts in his mind and waiting for the warship to gradually dock, Carlo saw Crown Prince Umberto and Prince Amadeo waiting at the port.

Carlo walked up quickly with a smile on his face and started to greet his two brothers.

Returning to the suburban estate where Vittorio Emanuele II lived, it was still the same as when I arrived a few months ago.

However, Vittorio Emanuele II, lying in bed, looked even weaker and was even in a coma most of the time.

The old king was emaciated, and his once strong arms were now just skin and bones, which was enough to show the torture the illness had taken on him.

Ugh!
Carlo sighed slightly, but there was nothing he could do about it.

The medical environment of this era is really too bad. Unless one can travel through time to the future, symptoms like Vittorio Emanuele II's cannot be cured at all.

Even current medical methods are unable to find out what disease the old king suffers from. We can only watch helplessly as he suffers from the disease and then passes away at a time that may be near or far.

God is fair to people. No matter who you are, you will eventually face death at the end of your life.

Vittorio Emanuele II was so proud when he unified Italy, but now he had to face death.

What's worse is that this is a death caused by constant torture of illness and eventually death. Such a death is the worst outcome for anyone, and Carlo doesn't want his final outcome to be like this.

"Is there no way to relieve father's pain?" Carlo asked.

Crown Prince Umberto shook his head and also sighed, saying: "The doctor tried everything he could, but nothing worked.

Perhaps this is God's test for my father. After the illness, my father will eventually be led to heaven by God."

After an unknown amount of time, Vittorio Emanuele II's cloudy eyes opened a little, and he said in a hoarse and trembling voice: "Is Carlo here?"

"I'm here, father." Carlo walked quickly forward and sat down beside Vittorio Emanuele II's bed.

“I thought death was far away from me, but I didn’t expect it to be so close. But this is something everyone will experience eventually, and I am not afraid of it.

Odone (Carlo's brother who died young) has gone through all this before me, maybe he is waiting for me in heaven." Vittorio Emanuele II said with difficulty.

"Father, you will get better. If there is no expert in Europe who can cure you, I will look for him all over the world. There will always be an undiscovered expert doctor who can cure you." Carlo comforted him.

Vittorio Emanuele II shook his head. At that time, Europe was the most civilized and developed region in the world. If European medical technology could not cure his disease, he did not think that medical technology in other parts of the world could cure his disease.

Vittorio Emanuele II sat up with difficulty and looked at his three sons in front of him with a look of satisfaction in his eyes.

Before he inherited the throne of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the House of Savoy was just an ordinary royal family in northern Italy, lacking both foundation and status among European royal families.

But all that changed when he unified Italy and his son Carlo was chosen King of Spain.

The House of Savoy suddenly became a huge dynasty that owned the thrones of two powerful countries, and the House of Savoy also became a relatively powerful existence among European royal families.

Vittorio Emanuele II was quite satisfied with this. He only hoped that after his death, the glory of the House of Savoy would continue to be passed on.

As long as it can retain the thrones of the two powerful countries of Italy and Spain, the House of Savoy will always be among the top ten royal families in Europe.

The reason why it is in the top ten is mainly because some of the royal families with a long history in Europe are too terrifying. The noble families such as Habsburg, Hohenzollern, Romanov, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha are still prominent, and Savoy can only be inferior to these families.

The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in particular, will experience true glory after the death of Queen Victoria.

According to the rule that sons take their father's surname among European aristocrats, although Queen Victoria belonged to the Hanoverian dynasty, her son Edward would create a new dynasty after inheriting the throne in the future, which would be derived from his father's surname, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

The reason why it is said that the family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha will usher in glory after the death of Queen Victoria is that in addition to ruling the most powerful power, the British Empire, in the future, the family will also rule Belgium, Portugal, Bulgaria and the origin of the family name - the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

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(End of this chapter)