The Sun Never Sets In Spain - Chapter 199
It was another conference on the theme of legal indemnity. Although the participants did not show any signs of impatience, most of them had lost interest in speaking.
The stubbornness of France is beyond imagination, and because of their delay, the South German issue has not yet been discussed.
The whole venue was silent, only the representatives of the French Popularization would quarrel from time to time.
Gorchakov, the Russian representative, looked at the dead chamber with no expression on his face.
The tsar’s order was to maintain the balance of Europe as much as possible while prioritizing the interests of Russia.
As long as the general direction is good, it is beneficial to drag it for a while.
After all, it is not Russia that has been continuously bled, and it is rare to see good things that weaken several neighboring countries at the same time.
Russia can sit still, and some people can’t.
At the end of Prussia’s speech, the British representative, Granville, took a deep breath and knocked on the document in his hand.
At this time, there were not many people sitting in the conference hall, and they were very close to each other.
The principle of the meeting is to speak freely, as long as you do not interrupt others.
Therefore, Granville’s slight change immediately attracted the attention of the entire venue.
The UK has spoken a lot in the previous week, and generally played the role of a peacemaker.
After failing to urge the Prussian and Prussian for an unconditional peace, the British turned to support the Prussian demands, but their attitude was not tough enough that the French did not pay much attention to them.
This time, however, Granville looked serious and clearly expressed their position:
“France has already failed, and should pay Prussia compensation, 400 million francs is not excessive.
If the Franco-Prussian War continued for a long time, in order to avoid casualties of innocent civilians, the United Kingdom might send troops to ensure that the war was conducted within a manageable range. ”
After saying this, Granville looked around, but no one dared to refute.
Clearly, Britain has lost patience.
The continuation of the war has only two results, one is the birth of a continental hegemon among the belligerents, and the other is that all sides are severely weakened and thus lose the ability to prevent Russia from advancing westward.
Neither is what the UK wants to see.
There are more than 200,000 troops in the British mainland, and once they land, it is enough to break the balance of power between the French and the Prussian.
And if Britain wanted to, lifting the French blockade of Prussia would be a no-brainer.
The French representative opened his mouth several times, but there was no sound.
If the words are too light, they appear weak; if the words are too heavy, what if the United Kingdom really makes a move?
Gorchakov saw that the venue fell into silence, knowing that it was time for him to speak, he paused, and decided to push the boat and kick France again.
“Russia supports the Prussian plan, 400 million francs is not much.”
Gorchakov made no threats, but this is the first time Russia has expressed such a clearly biased view.
No way, Russia has no ill will towards France, but they are mediating the war by joining the Prussian side, and they can’t backstab their potential allies.
With the two major powers of Britain and Russia standing in line, France was once again forced to the edge of the cliff…
…
At this time, Robert and others had already arrived in Seville by train under the arrangement of the government.
It was their first train ride, and everyone seemed a little excited.
Upon arriving at the location, Robert learns that the 2000 colonists will not be sitting on one ship, but will depart via seven transport ships three days apart.
They themselves are the fourth batch.
Here, the colonists finally received their long-cherished loans and settlement allowances.
After some discussion, the vast majority of the 2,000 colonists did not choose to send the money home. After all, this is life-saving money, and one more bullet will give you a better chance of survival.
The same goes for Robert, who was separated from his family long ago during the civil war in Naples and could not send it if he wanted to.
Although Kazapa and others were interested in sending some money back, but seeing that none of their teammates did so, they were worried that they would drag the team down, and they simply replaced them all with a bite of their teeth.
All the money was handed over to Robert for unified use, and a huge sum of 3,800 pesetas was scraped together.
However, the military supplies were quite expensive, and the money was only exchanged for 250 rounds of ammunition and 8 machetes.
In addition, on the recommendation of the salesperson, he bought a shot of morphine analgesics, a military watch, and a compass.
“It’s too dark, I was planning to buy some canned food…” Ricardo complained after walking out of the exchange.
“It’s already very cheap…” Robert sighed. He inquired about it beforehand. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the price is half sale and half free.
However, dry food is indeed indispensable. He also resisted changing 10 less bullets, saving 90 pesetas.
“I still have some money on me. I can’t eat canned food, but I can still buy some noodles.”
While waiting to board the ship, Robert discovered that it wasn’t just the colonists who left the port this time.
There was a group of brightly dressed young people who looked like noblemen boarding the ship from the berth next to them, followed by a large number of followers.
“At this point in time…” Robert thought thoughtfully.
After inquiring, the information he got confirmed his idea. Those people are officials of the Colonial Ministry. This time, they will go to Saint Isabel with them!
Robert felt that a big stone had fallen in his heart. Since so many dignitaries would go there, it would definitely not be a dragon pool and a tiger’s den.
…
On the other hand, Alfonso was in a pretty good mood.
Judging from the performance of this period, the Spanish people still maintained their enthusiasm for colonization.
In less than five days, more than 2,200 people were recruited.
More than 1,500 of them were men and more than 700 were women.
There is no force in central Africa that can stand up to them as long as they have a rifle in hand.
At present, the only thing left in front of the colonizers is the disease of the African interior.
To this end, in addition to sending 50 medical staff, Alfonso also sent 80 bottles of tonic water, 30 injections of morphine, some ether and sterile gauze on the ship… At the same time, the use of bloodletting therapy was strictly prohibited.
There is only so much he can do. There are too many plagues and mosquitoes in Africa, and it is impossible to prevent them all. He can only do his best.
As for the negotiations in St. Petersburg, the information that Alfonso received was four days ago.
The stalemate between the French and the French was as he expected, and Spain also said a few words for France, but it was a pity that the slightest words had no effect.
Apart from the St. Petersburg negotiation, if there is anything worthy of international attention, the Japanese delegation has ended its visit to Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, and is currently stationed in Switzerland.
According to this route, they should then proceed in the order of Opdan Rui (Code) Russia, possibly with a Piedmont kingdom in the middle.
However, Iwakura Yu sent a letter to deliver a letter recently, saying that their next trip would not go to Piedmont or Austria-Hungary, but to Rome, and at the same time invited Alfonso to send someone to meet them.