Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 299 Public Platform
The Portuguese government breathed a sigh of relief after receiving Carlo's clear attitude, at least Portugal would not fall into the worst predicament.

Even if they were forced to give up the annexation of the East and West African colonies due to pressure from the British government, the British would still have to make compensation unless they were willing for Portugal to fall into the arms of Spain.

Although the Portuguese government has gained some confidence due to the support of the Spanish, it is also prepared to make ultimate concessions.

After all, the enemy they are facing is the British Empire, which is undoubtedly the strongest country of this era.

Just as the Portuguese were planning to restart negotiations with the British and seek compensation through concessions, news of the British Empire's ultimatum to the Portuguese government was leaked in Portugal.

The news was reported by a less well-known newspaper, whose daily sales were a pitiful 1,000 copies, barely making ends meet.

No one knows how such a tabloid got to know such secret news, but this is not the focus of the Portuguese people.

What the Portuguese were concerned about was the British Empire's ultimatum. This arrogant attitude that superiority over the Portuguese seriously trampled on the Portuguese's self-esteem.

As more and more Portuguese learned the news, many people took to the streets spontaneously, demanding that the government not be weak and that Britain had no right to interfere in Portugal's colonies.

Although Portugal is a small country, as a former colonial empire, the Portuguese still have their own self-esteem.

For the Portuguese, they could accept the government's failure in colonial operations and Portugal's increasing weakness, but they could not accept other countries dominating Portugal.

Under the influence of this patriotic sentiment, more and more Portuguese people participated in the march, which gradually attracted the attention of the Portuguese government.

There is no way, any public demonstration cannot be ignored.

Because most revolutions start with marches, if not handled properly, they will lead to larger-scale resistance or even uprisings, leading the country to civil war and chaos.

There were also speculations within the Portuguese government about the leak of the British ultimatum.

Currently, only three parties know the news, namely the British government, the Portuguese government and the Spanish government.

It is impossible for the Portuguese government to leak information on its own initiative. Letting the public know about this situation will only cause trouble for itself.

After all, the Portuguese government is ready to make concessions, and the Portuguese will not easily choose to give in because of pressure from the British.

The British government is unlikely to reveal such news on its own initiative. After all, to put it bluntly, this is oppression of a weak country, which does not look so glorious.

Although the British Empire was indeed powerful, Britain also had many enemies.

Although these countries are unlikely to directly help Portugal, if Britain is at a disadvantage in international public opinion, these countries hostile to Britain will not mind adding insult to injury, causing the British to face greater problems.

After excluding the Portuguese and British governments, the only government that could have leaked the information is the Spanish government.

But there was no way. The gap in power between the two countries was too big. Even if the Portuguese government knew that it was the Spanish government that leaked the secret, it had no way to resist.

What's more, the Portuguese government does not have enough evidence to prove that it was the Spanish government that leaked the secret.

Moreover, the biggest problem at this time was not the leak, but how to deal with the Portuguese who were paying close attention to colonial events.

Without the knowledge of the Portuguese, the Portuguese government can decide the direction of this incident on its own. However, after a large number of Portuguese people paid attention to this matter, the Portuguese government had to consider public opinion.

If you offend the British government, you will fail. But won’t you also fail if you offend a large number of Portuguese people?

For the Portuguese government at this time, they were truly faced with a dilemma and if they were not careful they would fall into the abyss.

While the demonstrations in Portugal were in full swing, newspaper media in Spain also reported on the related events.

The Spanish Sun newspaper even criticized the British government's actions as a violation of national sovereignty, saying that this was not the behavior of a civilized European country.

This is not the first or second time that the UK has done this. Even Gibraltar, which originally belonged to Spain, was forcibly taken away by the UK through war.

This instantly aroused the Spanish people's hatred towards the British and caused their empathy towards the Portuguese.

For a while, the Spanish also took to the streets to express their protests against the British government. Some more extreme Spaniards even hoped that the Spanish government would send troops to retake Gibraltar, so that Spain would be complete only if it had Gibraltar.

After the British ultimatum attracted the attention of the Spanish, the Spanish government officially issued an announcement stating that Spain did not agree with the British government's banditry and hoped that the British government would respect the sovereignty of other countries from a civilized and friendly perspective.

Carlo also made a public appearance at a diplomatic event. After the media raised relevant questions, Carlo also expressed his attitude, that is, Spain is willing to stand with the Portuguese, and the Iberians should jointly safeguard the sovereignty of their country and jointly maintain the dignity of the Iberian Peninsula.

As expected, the statements of the Spanish government and Carlo were once again forwarded to Portuguese newspapers and caused widespread discussion among the Portuguese.

Before, the Portuguese had been fighting alone. Although they were very angry about the British behavior, they also knew that the government had no good solution.

Now with the public support of the Spanish government and King Carlo of Spain, it can be said that Portugal no longer has any worries and no longer has to be humble to the aggressive Britain.

On the British government side, Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone naturally also noticed the public opinion situation in the two countries on the Iberian Peninsula.

Upon learning the news, Prime Minister Gladstone angrily smashed several treasured collections. He did not expect that Portugal would be able to obtain the support of Spain, and he did not expect that this matter would be leaked to the Portuguese, causing widespread public indignation among the Portuguese.

If it's just Portugal, it doesn't really matter even if you offend all the Portuguese.

But if Spain is included, it will form a very strong opposition force. Although this force is still not as strong as the British Empire, it will be a big trouble for the British who have already made many enemies.

However, despite the trouble, Prime Minister Gladstone could not make any concessions for the sake of Britain's colonial plan.

Portugal's concession would arouse the indignation of the Portuguese people. Wouldn't Prime Minister Gladstone's concession also arouse the indignation of the British people?

As the most powerful country in the world today, if the British Empire chose to give in when facing Portugal and Spain, it would be a lot of fun.

The British will not consider the diplomatic impact. They will only care that their prime minister chose to retreat when he had the upper hand, and then they will madly denounce this weak prime minister.

The angry Prime Minister Gladstone called the Portuguese ambassador again. His face was livid and he stared at the Portuguese ambassador fiercely, trying to see the panic in his eyes: "Mr. Ambassador, please tell me what your country's choice is?
If Portugal wants to give up Britain's friendship, we don't mind having one more hostile country. The glory of the British Empire cannot be trampled upon. If your country is determined to oppose us, then please be prepared for war! "

The Portuguese ambassador sighed and said helplessly: "Excuse me, Prime Minister. Our government has no intention of opposing your country, but because of the leak of information, this matter has attracted the attention of many people.

If the news of abandoning the colony is made public at this time, it will cause great changes. So please wait for a while. Portugal is willing to make corresponding efforts to maintain the friendship between our two sides. "

"The news was leaked?" Prime Minister Gladstone snorted coldly and said sarcastically, "Only our two governments know about this matter. It is impossible for us to leak the news. If there is a possibility of leaking the news, isn't it only your government that can do it?"

"No, Prime Minister." The Portuguese ambassador shook his head with a bitter smile and helplessness on his face, and explained: "When we received your request, we did not intend to give up the colony, so we asked Spain for help.

This also led to the Spanish side getting the news, and they were the ones who leaked the news. The development of the matter has exceeded our expectations, but Portugal has no intention of giving up its friendship with your country. Give us some more time, and when public opinion has calmed down, we are willing to restart negotiations with your country. "

For Portugal, regardless of whether the news was leaked by Spain, it must have been leaked by the Spanish government at this time.

This is the only way to shirk one's responsibilities and at the same time buy more time to calm domestic public opinion.

The Portuguese ambassador also complained to the Spanish government for possibly leaking the news. If the Spanish government had not leaked the news, the Portuguese government would not have been caught in such a dilemma.

As long as they could keep the Portuguese secret, even if they eventually gave up the colony, they could still obtain some compensation to appease the people.

But now, with many Portuguese people focusing on whether the government will choose to give in under British pressure, the Portuguese government is unable to proceed according to its original plan.

In today's public opinion environment, if there were any news that the Portuguese government chose to give in and Britain took over the southern Congo colony, I am afraid that all kinds of rebellions and uprisings would break out in Portugal the next day, and the Kingdom of Portugal would not be far from its demise.

"Spain?" Prime Minister Gladstone thought of the reaction of the Spanish government and King Carlo of Spain after the news was exposed, and then snorted coldly, looking at the Portuguese ambassador, and said: "Whether Spain is the leaker or not, the leak of the matter is related to your government.

If you do not want to destroy the friendship between you and the United Kingdom, I hope to see more practical actions. During this period, your country must completely stop the colonization of the land in southern Congo, and the colonization of Barotseland and Mwatakazembe Kingdom must also be prepared for the handover.

When public opinion subsides, I hope to transfer the colony as soon as possible. If there is any accident again, I don't mind using force to obtain this land. "

The Portuguese ambassador nodded repeatedly. Being able to gain some time to calm down domestic public opinion was already a very good result.

He was afraid that the British were not willing to give Portugal time to calm public opinion. Under the dual pressure of the British government and domestic public opinion, any step taken by the Portuguese government could be wrong, and the consequences would be a devastating blow.

"Also, are the trade relations between your country and Spain too close? If there are too close economic exchanges with Spain, your economy will be easily affected by Spain.

I suggest cutting off the railway connection with Spain. Only by using railways with different track spacing can the security of Portugal be ensured.

Of course, the British Empire will also protect all its allies. If Portugal really faces war, we will use our army to protect Portugal, which is also our best return for your friendship. Seeing that the Portuguese ambassador agreed to his request, Prime Minister Gladstone's face became better, and then he put forward his additional request.

For Britain, the proximity of Portugal and Spain is absolutely unacceptable. If the two countries on the Iberian Peninsula have too good a relationship, they will share a common hatred for Britain that invades the Iberian Peninsula.

If Britain did not want to lose Gibraltar, it could only try every means to undermine the relationship between Portugal and Spain.

Regardless of whether the Portuguese government is willing or not, as long as Portugal is an ally of the British Empire, Britain will never allow Portugal and Spain to have too close a relationship.

"The Spanish government originally asked us to build synchronous railway tracks. If Spain is willing not to pursue our breach of the treaty, we are certainly willing to rebuild railways with different track spacings.

Thank you for your concern, Prime Minister. Portugal will be the eternal ally of the British Empire. May the friendship between Portugal and the British Empire last forever. "Although the Portuguese ambassador was quite dissatisfied with the tone of Prime Minister Gladstone's forced command, he also knew that he had no ability to resist at all.

However, he also said in advance that the synchronous orbit was an agreement reached between the Portuguese and Spanish governments. If Portugal wants to break the agreement, it has to consider the attitude of the Spanish government.

This level of breach of contract is tantamount to a public slap in the face. If the UK cannot resolve possible accountability from Spain, the Portuguese government will not offend Spain for no reason.

Of course, the Portuguese ambassador's words were clear: As long as the British government could resolve the issues that Spain might hold accountable, Portugal was willing to modify the spacing of the railway tracks at any time and cut off the railway connection with Spain.

Speaking of which, after Portugal and Spain were connected by railway, Portugal also benefited from Spain's rapid economic development and developed faster.

Especially several border cities bordering Spain, because of the frequent trade with Spain, these cities are developing rapidly.

Although Portugal has a larger area of ​​plains than Spain, its grain production is only a fraction of that of Spain.

Portugal imports a large amount of agricultural products from Spain every year, the most important of which are olives, fruits and some vegetables.

The amount of food imported is not much. After all, Portugal itself has a small population and its own food production can fully support domestic food consumption.

In addition to agricultural products, Portugal's largest import from Spain is industrial products.

Needless to say, cars are very popular among the Portuguese aristocracy. Basically all Portuguese aristocrats own at least one car.

In addition to automobiles, a wide variety of industrial manufactured goods and machined products are targets of Portugal's imports.

Because Spain's industrial scale is larger, its industrial products are cheaper.

In addition, Portugal only has Spain as its neighbor, so Spain is basically the only option for Portugal to import industrial products.

Although it is also possible to import from other European countries by sea, sea transportation is slower and has higher transportation costs than trains.

If the train line with Spain is cut off rashly, the impact on import and export trade alone will be enough to cause Portugal's economy to slump for a period of time.

This is also the reason why the Portuguese ambassador did not directly agree to Prime Minister Gladstone's proposal. After all, Portugal is not a dog of the British, and of course it cannot listen to the British in everything.

While the British Prime Minister urgently summoned the Portuguese ambassador, Carlo in Spain also made further preparations.

Judging from the historical trend, the Portuguese government will most likely choose to back down, which is of course within Carlo's plan.

But what is different from history is that Carlo wanted to make the Portuguese government's concessions public and transparent so that all Portuguese people could see and understand them clearly.

Carlo will only have an opportunity if all Portuguese people are disappointed with the current government and king.

In addition, Carlo also wanted to use this incident to seriously damage the relationship between Portugal and the British.

If the UK continues to be aggressive, it will surely be attacked by all European countries. Such a UK can also force the Portuguese government to make concessions, and the Portuguese will be more disappointed with the government.

In order to increase his influence, Carlo contacted the Italian royal family and the Austro-Hungarian royal family in the name of the royal family, seeking help from the two royal families.

Of course, Carlo did not expect them to help him militarily. As long as Austria-Hungary and Italy could stand on Spain's side at the diplomatic level, at least in terms of momentum, they would be more powerful than Britain.

Spain, Austria-Hungary and Italy, together they are three great powers. The remaining three European powers, France, Germany and Russia, have more or less conflicts with the British and are basically unlikely to stand on the British side.

This also meant that Britain was destined to be an isolated party in this incident. Even if it could not destroy the British plans, it would still be beneficial to ruin the British international reputation.

At this time, Spain openly stood on the side of Portugal in terms of colonies. When Spain launched a war to recover Gibraltar in the future, the Portuguese would remember Spain's previous help and would be more likely to choose to stand on the side of Spain.

Carlo's goal would be achieved as long as he could undermine the Portuguese people's trust in the government and the royal family and at the same time damage the relationship between Portugal and Britain.

As for the rest, it was no longer that important to Carlo.

(End of this chapter)