The Sun Never Sets In Spain - Chapter 139
The day after Alfonso announced that he would fight to the end, Britain sent a high-profile mission to visit.
The leader is the British Foreign Minister, Earl of Granville, and Alfonso’s good friend, Crown Prince Edward, whom he has not seen for a long time.
But they are not the most conspicuous, the fleet to **** is the one.
In order to “protect His Royal Highness the Prince”, the United Kingdom dispatched a formation of 16 warships, of which 6 were ironclad ships completed in recent years.
When they appeared in the port of Oviedo, even the wharf workers who could not read a word felt the threat contained therein.
It stands to reason that you should send your own fleet to **** at this time to show that you are “not weaker than others.”
But the Spanish fleet is in the Mediterranean on the one hand, and there is really no need to compete with the British navy on the other.
It is not a joke that the navy’s military expenditure is equal to 80% of the sum of the four countries.
Therefore, only Foreign Minister Cruz and a group of officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came to greet Edward and the others, and no ships came to accompany him. Even the soldiers only came with a guard of honor.
In addition, the port of Oviedo also set aside an area for the British warships to berth, and delivered the supplies just right.
To do this, if Britain is malicious, they can take this place without any effort.
Such an obvious manifestation of weakness made the British very satisfied. At least it shows that Spain still maintains respect for Britain after easily defeating Italy.
The only person who is not happy about this is Prince Edward. He watched his navy take over part of the pier’s defense, and he looked very embarrassed.
The relationship between Edward and Alfonso has always been very good. Although the correspondence is not frequent, it has never been interrupted, usually once every two to three months.
In his vision, this is what he is bullying the neighbor’s little brother with a group of horses.
He wanted to say something to Cruz to show that he was not malicious, but the Earl of Granville stopped him with his eyes.
Edward could only use small chats to ease the atmosphere.
He couldn’t help it either. Although he was nominally the leader of this visit, Granville was actually in charge.
Just like the United Kingdom, the power of the government is greater than that of the royal family. If it were all done according to the royal family’s will, perhaps Britain and Russia would have merged into one country long ago.
…
Since simple roads have been built between the cities, a day and a half later, at two o’clock in the afternoon on October 11th, Alfonso met Edward, who had been gone for a long time in the Royal Palace of Madrid.
It can be seen that Edward wanted to rush to give Alfonso a warm hug, but under the strong pressure of the Earl of Granville, he could only complete the routine visit etiquette in a proper manner.
Then Edward did not find a chance to be alone with Alfonso.
In terms of identity, the Spanish king is higher than the British prince, so Alfonso did not come to the reception himself, he just met.
According to the principle of reciprocity, it should be received by members of the royal family, but the Spanish Bourbon is either too old or too young. In desperation, the foreign minister Cruz and Prime Minister Adolf can only serve.
Edward was not interested in the following activities such as visiting the manor and enjoying musicals, but was a little curious about Adolf, the leader of the Progressive Guard.
When he first heard about Adolf’s deeds, he had imagined that if he had such a subordinate, wouldn’t he do what he wanted? If anyone dares to interfere with his hobby, just give him a word.
If possible, he would like to communicate with the other party, but the current situation is completely inappropriate for discussing this sensitive topic.
Especially the British crown prince, shouldn’t show any good feelings for this kind of thing and this kind of institution.
So when he was halfway through the musical, Edward found a reason to sneak out. According to his past experience, the guards would not stop him.
After all, they should have thought of this when they brought themselves to visit… If they weren’t fancying their personal relationship with Alfonso, why should he come?
Sure enough, Edward escaped from the British team easily. Under the leadership of the maid, he was finally able to be alone with Alfonso…not alone, because when he came to Alfonso’s office, Prime Minister Campos Right here.
“Edward.”
Alfonso greeted him casually when he heard the door pushing.
“…”
Without hearing a response for a while, Alfonso raised his head with some doubts—Edward was staring at him with piercing eyes.
Alfonso immediately understood what the other party meant. When he was in Paris, he saw Edward’s name as his brother.
But… now and then, now I am the King of Spain, how can I stay in the midst of depression for a long time?
And I have grown up to 2 years old, past the age of a child!
Thinking of this, Alfonso lowered his head to continue reading the document.
Edward didn’t regard himself as an outsider when he saw this, and sat directly on the sofa chair in front of the desk, and looked at him quietly with his chin supported.
The scene fell into a subtle embarrassment for a while.
“Cough cough.” Campos still broke the silence with two coughs.
Seeing that both of them were watching, he quickly said: “Enrique (the Minister of Finance) has something to report to me, I will leave first.”
Alfonso is naturally noncommittal.
…… “Bang” the door closed, the atmosphere in the room loosened.
Alfonso didn’t pretend to read the documents anymore, he said helplessly to Edward: “If you want to tell me something, I’m very busy.”
After being secretly dissed, Edward was not upset. He smiled and said, “I haven’t seen you for two years. Can I just follow the diplomatic corps to see you?”
“You may have this idea, but the British government will definitely not agree. You will definitely have business.” Alfonso said mercilessly.
“Okay, then.” Edward nodded: “Then I’ll just tell you, how is the rainbow octopus?”
“…” Alfonso, who was still waiting to discuss Italian affairs, couldn’t help rolling his eyes, but after thinking about it, he said: “It’s okay, the record has been good.
But after all, it is a 4-year-old middle-aged horse. In the last few games, I have lost more and won less. I’m thinking about…”
“Sell it?”
“Change to a stallion.” Alfonso said.
“Good idea.” Edward said cheerfully: “Otherwise, if you sell it, I will ask for a share.”
“The ones that can’t be sold are worth more than 10,000 pounds now, and they are mine if they are given to me.” Alfonso said indifferently: “It seems that you are short of money. You spent 20,000 pounds to bet on Spain’s victory. , Make a lot of money.”
Now it was Edward’s turn to be a little surprised. This gamble was a gamble in a small circle of their nobles. How did Alfonso know?
He recalled it carefully, but he didn’t remember who had contact with Spain.
“Spy of the Progressive Guard?” Edward tentatively asked.
“Guess.” Alfonso made an unfathomable expression.