Chapter 176: Timorous Portugal

In March 1875, after careful deliberation, the Ministry of Defense finally decided to order an ironclad warship from the Royal Guanizo Shipyard, to be named the Revival class.

Yes, it was the latest model of ironclad warship previously designed by the Royal Guanizo Shipyard; judging by its design specifications, it was absolutely a world-class, if not top-tier, ironclad design.

The main problem was that the shipyard had searched throughout the Americas and Asia and truly could not find a client capable of purchasing the warship.

Coupled with the arrival of an economic crisis, there were even fewer suckers to be found.

The cost of this ironclad reached as high as 500, 00 pounds, and a selling price of 550, 00 to 600, 00 pounds was simply not a figure that an ordinary country could afford.

For the sake of the Royal Guanizo Shipyard's development, the only option was to let the Spanish Navy place the first order.

Of course, this was also the result of comprehensive consideration by the Ministry of Defense.

If Spain could not bear the expenses of the warship, or if there was truly no necessity to build a new ironclad, the Ministry of Defense would never have placed this order.

The Royal Guanizo Shipyard naturally also understood the importance of this order.

Only by building a finished Revival-class ironclad and letting other countries see the true power of this warship would it attract orders from abroad.

To prevent the government from suffering too much of a loss, Gao Da personally made the final decision: on the premise of an internal price of 550, 00 pounds, he further reduced the price for the government by 50, 00 pounds, selling the warship entirely at cost.

Considering the current decline in steel prices, although it was said to be at cost, the shipyard still had a certain profit margin.

Further lowering the price was a win-win for both the shipyard and the government. While obtaining the order, the shipyard could increase its experience in building ironclads, and the Spanish government could obtain an advanced ironclad to strengthen its naval power with lower funds; both sides benefited.

500, 00 pounds was equivalent to 13 million pesetas, which was not too heavy a burden for Spain's current fiscal capacity.

Currently, the Spanish Army had finished its expansion, and the army's military spending would enter a relatively stable period. The Ministry of Defense's budget was fully sufficient to squeeze out 13 million to order a warship; for a Spain with vast colonies, this ironclad could play a very important role in the stability of those colonies.

Do not be fooled by the fact that continental hegemons like Germany and France were famous for their armies; in reality, Europeans valued the development of their navies even more.

A country with a powerful army is not necessarily a Great Power, but those with powerful navies are almost always Great Powers.

Even the slightly lagging Russian Empire attached considerable importance to the development of its navy. During World War I, Russia even possessed three fleets, with its own fleet headquarters in the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and the Far East.

Currently, Spain's status as the world's fifth-largest naval power was somewhat unmerited. But if a new ironclad could be added, it would at least ensure that its naval power could rank among the top eight in the world.

A more powerful navy was very useful for both defending the homeland's coast and suppressing colonies in various places; only a country with a powerful navy was qualified to possess vast colonies.

According to the construction time given by the Royal Guanizo Shipyard, this Revival-class ironclad, named the Revival, would not be launched until the summer of next year.

Added to that was the lengthy time for sea trials, so the time for it to be officially commissioned into the navy might not come until two and a half years later, around mid-1877.

Because this was still within the term of the previous cabinet government, the total of two and a half years for construction and testing was acceptable to the Ministry of Defense.

Once the news that Spain was building a new ironclad was released, it could also strengthen the public's confidence in the government.

After all, for Europeans at this time, whether a country's naval strength was powerful or not was largely related to the country's comprehensive strength.

The public was still very happy to see the country's strength; there was even a famous saying regarding this: "When mentioning the vast wealth of the British Empire, even the lowest-level textile worker in Manchester would proudly puff out their chest."

The more powerful a country is, the stronger the public's confidence in the country and government becomes. The stronger the public's confidence in the country and government, the more powerful the country will become.

This was also the effect that building a powerful ironclad would bring to Spain; to a certain extent, the potential effect was even more attractive than the actual effect.

After all, although the total area of Spain's colonies was not large, they were scattered all over the world.

Among all colonial countries in the world today, besides the United Kingdom, the only one that could be counted as an empire on which the sun never sets was Spain.

The so-called "sun never sets" actually meant that the sun would never set on one's own territory.

The British colonies were spread across the globe; besides the European mainland, they had colonial reach in North America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, making them a colonial empire beyond reproach.

Although France also had many colonies, and had even surpassed Spain to become the world's second-largest colonial empire.

But France's colonies were mainly concentrated in Asia and Africa, with only a very small portion in South America.

Looking at Spain, there was Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Americas, South Morocco, Guinea, and the Congo in Africa, the Philippines and Kalimantan in Asia, plus the European mainland and islands and archipelagos scattered throughout the Atlantic and Pacific; calling it a country on which the sun never sets was not a problem at all.

To keep colonies scattered across the globe stable, a powerful navy was very necessary.

The good news was that after merging with the shipyard from the United Kingdom, the Royal Guanizo Shipyard already possessed the ability to produce Revival-class ironclads.

The shipyard's docks had also been expanded long ago under Gao Da's orders, and building ironclads of less than ten thousand tons was easy.

If it weren't for the fact that the government's finances could not support the simultaneous construction of several ironclads, perhaps one could see the grand scene of several ironclads being built at the shipyard at the same time.

However, judging by Spain's current speed of industrial and economic development, such a scene might not be far off.

Once Spain's second five-year development plan was successfully completed, perhaps that would be the time for Spain to expand its navy on a large scale, declare its return to the throne of the Great Powers, and compete for international discourse power.

Although the current Spain was not enough to become a top-tier Great Power, stabilizing its colonial reach and fulfilling its colonial needs was no problem.

Spain might not be powerful, but countries like Britain and France could not afford to ignore Spain's opinions.

The commencement ceremony for the ironclad Revival was set for March 14, 1875. Gao Da attached great importance to this and even attended the ceremony in person under the attention of the media.

Attending with Gao Da were Spanish Prime Minister Primo, Minister of Defense Serrano, and others. Although not invited, the Lanfang Republic's ambassador to Spain, Wu Yongxiang, was also on the sidelines witnessing the entire ceremony, filled with infinite emotion.

Do not be fooled by the fact that the Lanfang Republic had a population of 4 million; 500, 00 pounds was a massive sum that the Lanfang Republic could never scrape together.

After all, it was only an agriculture-based country, and coupled with the fact that it was frequently harassed by the Dutch, the Lanfang Republic's economy was not that good.

If the Lanfang Republic could have a few advanced ironclads, even the Dutch would definitely not dare to blatantly annex the territory of the Lanfang Republic.

Of course, this was just wishful thinking. The cost of a single ironclad was as high as hundreds of thousands of pounds, which converted to 2 million taels of silver; this was not a small number.

Added to that were the maintenance and daily training costs of the warship, as well as the expenses for naval soldiers; on top of the 500, 00-pound purchase price, one would need to pay tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of pounds in maintenance and other fees every year, making it a money-guzzling beast that would make any country pale at the mention of it.

The news that Spain was rebuilding ironclads after many years spread to other countries and regions outside of Spain along with reports from domestic and foreign newspapers.

If one were to ask who was most worried about this, it might be Spain's neighbor, Portugal.

There was no help for it; on the small Iberian Peninsula, there were indeed only these two neighbors. The Principality of Andorra was more like a vassal state under the joint rule of France and Spain, having neither an army nor diplomatic sovereignty, and could not be counted as an independent country.

Even a weakened Spain made Portugal very wary, let alone the Kingdom of Spain, which had already begun its initial revival.

Regarding his brother-in-law Gao Da becoming the King of Spain, the King of Portugal, Luis, had originally been very expectant.

It was not because of the kinship between the two; after all, blood relations existed generally among European royal families, and some were even close relatives.

It was mainly because of Gao Da's identity as an outsider from Italy, coupled with the chaotic situation in Spain at the time, which made King Luis feel that Spain could not possibly stand back up in a short time; such a Spain naturally could not pose too much of a threat to Portugal.

But unexpectedly, through the concerted efforts of Gao Da and Prime Minister Primo, Spain's revival happened right before their eyes.

The current Spain was certainly not very powerful, but it had indeed pulled back from the brink, transitioning from a stage of decline to a stage of revival.

And Spain's resumption of ironclad construction once again increased the anxiety within Portugal regarding Spain. A Spain with a powerful army was enough to keep the Portuguese from sleeping well; if Spain also built such a powerful navy, would there still be room for the Portuguese to survive on the Iberian Peninsula?

King Luis of Portugal thought about it in every possible way and finally followed the advice of the Portuguese government, deciding to take the initiative to have deeper contact with the Spanish royal family, mainly Gao Da, and through the blood ties between the two royal families, to bring the relationship between the Portuguese and Spanish royal families, and even the two governments, closer.

There was no expectation that Portugal could obtain anything from Spain. As long as it could be ensured that a reviving Spain would not have designs on Portugal, that would be the greatest fortune in misfortune for Portugal.

Originally, before the economic crisis broke out, there had been such thoughts within Portugal, thinking of concluding some treaty with Spain to ensure its own safety.

But because of the economic crisis, Portugal could only delay it for a period of time.

Unexpectedly, it was precisely during this period of delay that the Portuguese government saw an even greater crisis. Spain had not been affected much by the economic crisis; instead, it had grandly introduced a large amount of talent and enterprise equipment from various European countries.

What could this talent and enterprise equipment provide for Spain? Naturally, it was the industrial experience that Spain lacked most. With this industrial experience, Spain's industry would gain tremendous growth and would completely pull away from small European countries like Portugal and the Netherlands.

Although Portugal had a good relationship with the United Kingdom, Spain was not without allies until now. Italy went without saying; the relationship between Spain and Italy had improved a lot since Gao Da took the throne, and the two sides had already signed a relevant defensive alliance treaty on the basis of a cooperation treaty.

The cooperation between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Spain was something King Luis had not thought of at all. Originally, King Luis had wanted to select a suitable princess from the Portuguese royal family to marry Gao Da, hoping to ensure through marital relations that Spain would not be hostile to Portugal.

But Gao Da clearly had better choices; an Austro-Hungarian Empire as an ally was much stronger than Portugal as an ally.

With the help of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, could Spain defeat Portugal, which had the help of the British? This question actually did not need thinking; the answer was, of course, that it could easily defeat them.

Unless the British were willing to personally step in to help Portugal, Portugal had no capital to resist a more powerful country like Spain.

Why say this? For a country, the most important thing is strategic depth. Portugal's territory looked more like a rectangle, and a vertical rectangle at that.

If a war broke out between the two countries, the Spanish army would only need to go all the way west from Badajoz to reach Portugal's capital, Lisbon.

This would also split Portugal's territory in two and then easily devour it.

Facing this kind of problem, unless Portugal possessed a powerful army, there was no solution.

All its territory was either by the sea or bordered by Spanish territory; to a certain extent, Portugal no longer had room to retreat.

After losing the Brazil colony, Portugal also lost the hope of withdrawing to its colonies. The colonies in Africa were not large in scale and could not support a country. Other colonies were too small in scale, and even self-sufficiency was difficult.

From this aspect, one could see that Portugal had no choice at all. Either get along well with its neighbor Spain, or hold tight to the thigh of the British and pray that Spain would not risk offending the British to take action against Portugal.

On these two lines, how would the Portuguese government choose?

For most small countries, they did not have the courage to make a firm choice, and the Portuguese government was naturally the same.

The Portuguese government's choice was, on the basis of adhering to the alliance with the British as a strategic goal, to strive to improve its relationship with Spain to ensure the safety of its own territory.

Simply put, it was to have both; placing bets on both the United Kingdom and Spain to exchange for its own safety.

Regardless of whether this behavior would offend one or even both sides, at least for the current Portugal, this was indeed the way to preserve its territory with the greatest possibility.

March 22, 1875, inside the Royal Palace of Madrid, Spain.

The sudden arrival of King Luis of Portugal and Queen Maria made Gao Da somewhat surprised.

Queen Maria was Gao Da's older sister, but by the time Gao Da arrived in this world, Queen Maria had already married King Luis.

This also resulted in Gao Da never having met his sister, even though she appeared very happy and close.

"Gao Da, long time no see!" Upon seeing Gao Da, Queen Maria walked up very happily, her gaze scanning her younger brother, joy revealed in her eyes.

"Sister Maria, long time no see. Your Majesty Luis." Gao Da nodded, first greeting his sister Maria, and then nodding to King Luis of Portugal in mutual acknowledgment.

Queen Sophie, who was sitting on the side, also smiled and greeted Queen Maria and King Luis, then sat back down.

Since becoming pregnant at the end of October last year, Queen Sophie's safety had become the top priority of the royal family. Gao Da not only had the royal family's private doctor move into the room on the side of the palace but also increased Queen Sophie's entourage.

This also meant that Queen Sophie had hundreds of people accompanying her whenever she went out, looking quite grand.

It was not that Queen Sophie had not complained that these people ruined her mood for going out. But there was no help for it; after all, it was Gao Da's first child yet to be born, and also the first prince or princess of the Spanish royal family, so naturally, it had to be taken seriously.

Even before the child was born, Gao Da was already selecting teachers for his son or daughter, preparing an extremely meticulous elite aristocratic education for him.

If it were a princess, the education would not be so harsh. After all, for Gao Da, his daughter should be spoiled. Anyway, the Spanish royal family's assets were already countless; just giving a few companies and enterprises would be enough for his child to spend the rest of her life extremely wealthily.

But if it were a prince, that would be the first heir to the throne. Including subsequent princes, as long as it was his son, he had to receive an extremely harsh elite aristocratic education.

Even if he were not the King of Spain, he would definitely become a great noble of Spain. It was even possible to borrow certain opportunities to become the king of other countries, just like Gao Da was elected as king by other countries.

No matter which way, Gao Da had to ensure that his child was an extremely outstanding elite noble, not a good-for-nothing who only knew how to squander and waste.

Although Gao Da also recognized the stability that primogeniture brought to the country, if his eldest son did not have any outstanding abilities, Gao Da would also consider passing the throne to his other sons.

After all, this was not the period of absolute monarchy, where one could keep the throne even after experiencing several muddled kings. In the era of freedom and democracy, the king himself was already in a precarious position.

If they lack ability, it is highly likely that a single mistake will lead to the loss of the Wang Weijicheng.

Yu Kaluo has no ambition to implement an absolute monarchy, but he also does not want the Wang Weijicheng he worked so hard to stabilize to be squandered by his descendants.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown. If they lack ability, Yu Kaluo still advises his descendants to contentedly enjoy a life of nobility and not seek that crown, which looks luxurious and noble but in reality can lead to the ruin of one's family if one is not careful.

5000-word two-in-one chapter, please support!

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(End of this chapter)