Chapter 235: Return to Italy

The work of expanding the colonial army and forming colonial divisions was proceeding in an orderly manner, but Carlo's mood at this moment could not be lifted.

This was because news had come from Rome that Carlo's father, Victor Emmanuel II, was terminally ill, and his body could not hold on for much longer.

The Italian royal family's private physician, based on Victor Emmanuel II's physical condition, inferred that the life expectancy of this king who had unified Italy was estimated to be no more than three months.

Upon learning that King Victor Emmanuel II was critically ill, the reaction of the Italian public was one of considerable concern.

Many newspapers and media outlets even listed Victor Emmanuel II as one of the ten most outstanding monarchs of Italy, which also shows how great the unification of Italy was to the Italian people.

Judging by the current attitude of the Italians, they were still reluctant to part with this Father of the Fatherland. This could be considered a blessing in disguise; at least the House of Savoy in Italy could continue to be passed down, and the Italian government remained stable for the time being.

At this time, the House of Savoy was still quite glorious in Europe. The House of Savoy held two crowns, and both Italy and Spain, which possessed the thrones, were bona fide European powers.

Although there was a gap between them and the five traditional European powers, one should not dismiss second-tier powers as not being powers at all.

Apart from the five traditional European powers, if Spain and Italy were taken individually, neither would fear any other country in Europe in the slightest.

It was precisely because of this that Victor Emmanuel II's critical illness attracted the attention of many countries, and monarchs across Europe sent telegrams of condolence to Italy.

According to history, Victor Emmanuel II passed away early, just a few days after the arrival of the new year.

In order to see his father one last time, Carlo decided to head to Italy after spending Christmas of 1877 in Spain to accompany his father on his final journey.

Although Carlo had transmigrated into this world, his father in this body, Victor Emmanuel II, was very fond of him.

Reasonably and emotionally, accompanying his father on his final journey was very necessary. No matter how the relationship between Italy and Spain developed in the future, it could not change the fact that Italy and Spain were cooperating closely at this time.

Seeming to notice Carlo's slightly poor mood, Prince Hu An and Princess Su Lu were no longer so mischievous, quietly accompanying Carlo and spending a somewhat quiet Christmas with him.

Of course, the one who quieted down was mainly Prince Hu An. Princess Su Lu had only just turned one and did not yet have the ability to cause trouble.

It was Prince Hu An, already two and a half years old, who was at the age where he should be mischievous. Lady Su Lu was often troubled by Prince Hu An's mischief, but fortunately, the little guy knew his limits and would obediently apologize if he made his mother angry.

Carlo saw Prince Hu An's mischief in his heart, but he did not really want to manage it.

The main reason was that the elite aristocratic education Carlo had prepared for Prince Hu An was about to begin. Before the aristocratic education began, Carlo still wanted his child to have beautiful memories.

Once all the courses began to be taught, it would be impossible for little Prince Hu An to have enough free time to be mischievous.

Because the various courses would be enough to keep him very busy; it would be impossible to learn all the courses Carlo had prepared for him within the stipulated time without putting in some effort.

Just after Christmas, Carlo received a telegram from Ma Deli.

During this period, the two colonial garrison regiments that Carlo had mobilized from the South Morocco colony and the Guinea colony had arrived in the Congo territory, and Ma Deli had officially started the work of forming the colonial division.

Currently, Ma Deli already had a force of nearly 7, 00 men from the three colonial garrison regiments, which was barely enough to oversee the 70, 00 indigenous laborers harvested from the last operation.

It is worth mentioning that Andrew, the deputy Carlo had found for Ma Deli, was still in the Philippines colony at this time.

Because the Philippines colony also needed to provide more than 5, 00 soldiers to the Congo territory, Andrew needed to recruit 5, 00 soldiers first and then take these soldiers to the Congo territory together.

The same was true for the South Morocco colony. According to the current speed of the two colonies organizing manpower, Ma Deli had hope of obtaining these 10, 00 soldiers within two months and officially completing the formation of the colonial division.

Of course, formation is one thing; it would take a long training period for the 20, 00-man colonial division to form combat effectiveness.

The reason Carlo transferred two colonial garrison regiments to Ma Deli, besides letting him have enough manpower to ensure the stability of the Congo territory, was to let these veterans train the new recruits so that the colonial division could possess combat effectiveness faster.

With the formation of the colonial division, the army would also have many vacancies for basic officers at the company and platoon levels. Officers at the company level and above, of course, would still be filled by Spanish officers.

It just so happened that the Royal Military Academy trained hundreds of excellent graduates every year. Selecting a portion of military academy graduates to go to the various colonial armies to train would not only solve the problem of vacancies for grassroots officers in the colonial army but also allow these military academy graduates to have more room for advancement.

After spending a few years in the colonial army, they would definitely be promoted when transferred back to Spain. For those military academy graduates who had no background and could only rely on their own efforts to be promoted, this was definitely a good opportunity.

Moreover, compared to Spain, Spain's colonies were more likely to face war. Even if it was just a small-scale war at the level of an indigenous rebellion, as long as they could win, they would still get the credit they deserved.

As long as there was merit, whether it was promotion in military rank or the acquisition of land and titles, it was very hopeful, which was why Carlo was not worried at all about the military academy graduates opposing it.

The conditions in the colonies were of course very bitter, but it depends on who you are talking about. For the Spanish, the biggest disadvantage of the colonies was the lack of medical conditions, but this was not much different in Spain itself.

The medical technology of this era was just like this; whenever there was any serious illness, one could basically only leave it to fate.

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

After handling some government affairs and making proper arrangements for matters within Spain, Carlo once again took a warship to Italy.

Unlike last time, Carlo did not bring any family members on this trip. Whether it was Lady Su Lu or the two little ones, they all had to stay in the Madrid Wang Gong.

The reason for not bringing them, besides the fact that they had already been there last time, was that Carlo was considering the itinerary after returning from Italy.

In the few years since becoming the King of Spain, Carlo had made very few foreign diplomatic visits. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Carlo decided to make a European tour to deepen ties with several allies, and at the same time, try his best to reach cooperation with powers like Britain, France, and Germany to gain some benefits from them.

Currently, there were two main competitions and confrontations on the European continent, namely the confrontation between Britain and Russia and the confrontation between Germany and France.

Not to mention Britain and Russia for now; the confrontation between these two major powers was concentrated in the Balkan Peninsula and Central Asia, which had nothing to do with Spain.

The German-French confrontation was mainly reflected in the policy of isolating France formulated by German Chancellor Bismarck. France had four powers around it; except for Spain, the relationship between the other three powers and France was not that good.

The French-German relationship goes without saying; the establishment of Germany was completed by stepping on the heads of the French.

The relationship between France and Italy was also not good. Previously, France firmly controlled Rome, the current capital of Italy, by supporting the Papal States.

If it weren't for the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Italy would have had to wait longer to complete its unification. Even so, for the sake of Italy's unification, Victor Emmanuel II painfully ceded the Savoy region, the ancestral land of the House of Savoy, which also gave the European public a joke about the House of Savoy of the Italian royal family, which was the origin of the name of the House of Savoy—the Savoy region did not belong to Savoy.

It was precisely because of this that the relationship between France and Italy was not good. France wanted to break through the encirclement created by Germany, and Spain, the neighbor to the south, became a very important link.

If Spain also joined in the isolation of France, France would be completely blocked by Germany.

It should be known that although the main contradictions in Europe were reflected in the British-Russian contradiction and the German-French contradiction, the British-French contradiction was not small at all.

Not to mention the long-standing Hundred Years' War, in the Napoleonic era, when the French always showed pride, Britain and France were fierce enemies in conflict.

Even several anti-French alliances were led by the British, and the most intense contradiction during this period was the British-French contradiction.

It was only because France failed in the Franco-Prussian War; otherwise, Britain's greatest enemy would not be Russia, but France.

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

The character and diplomatic policy of the British had always been like this; they advocated suppressing whoever was powerful and wooing whoever was weak.

At present, neither side of the German-French competition had shown an overwhelming advantage, so the British naturally would not act rashly.

The reason why Britain formed an alliance with France to oppose Germany in history was precisely because Germany's rapid development after unification made its comprehensive strength quickly surpass that of France.

But at this time, Germany's comprehensive strength had not yet reached the point of far surpassing France. Germany and France were still super powers of the same level, and even the reason why Bismarck went to great lengths to isolate France was precisely because he feared the revenge of the French.

If France wanted to break Bismarck's diplomatic isolation policy, it could only be done by wooing Spain. As long as Spain did not lean toward Germany, France's southern border would be safe.

The reason why Spain's application for a 500 million franc loan from France was quickly approved was that the French saw the importance of Spain.

Carlo naturally understood this point. Although Carlo did not intend to conclude an alliance with the French, it was still very necessary to maintain the cooperation that should exist.

Although France failed in the Franco-Prussian War, who could deny that France was an extremely powerful super power?

Compared to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was somewhat of a laggard among the five traditional powers, France's ranking among the five traditional powers was undoubtedly in the top three.

Whether in terms of industry or economy, France's foundation far exceeded that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The fact that France could lend 500 million francs to Spain while paying 5 billion francs in reparations to Germany already showed how exaggerated France's economic scale was.

Let alone the former Spain, even for the current Spain, it would be absolutely impossible for Carlo to come up with 5 billion francs in a short period of time.

It would take at least ten years for Spain to scrape together 5 billion francs, and it would also require a substantial reduction in the fiscal budgets of various departments.

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

Looking at France, after repaying Germany's reparations, France's economy was still booming, which was quite exaggerated.

Shaking off the complex thoughts in his mind and waiting for the warship to gradually dock, Carlo saw Crown Prince Umberto and Prince Amedeo waiting at the port at a glance.

Carlo smiled, walked up quickly, and began to exchange pleasantries with his two older brothers.

Returning to the suburban manor where Victor Emmanuel II lived, it was still the same as when he arrived a few months ago.

It was just that Victor Emmanuel II, lying on the bed, looked even weaker, and was even in a coma most of the time.

The old king was emaciated, his originally thick arms were now just skin and bones, which was enough to show the torture of the illness on him.

Sigh!

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

The medical environment of this era was too terrible; unless one could transmigrate to the future now, it was impossible to save someone with symptoms like Victor Emmanuel II.

Even current medical means could not find out what disease the old king was suffering from; one could only helplessly watch him being tortured by the illness and then leave the world at a time point that was either near or far.

God is fair to people. No matter what status one has, one will eventually face death at the end of life.

How high-spirited Victor Emmanuel II was when he unified Italy, but at this moment, he had to face the end of death.

What was worse was that this was a death of being constantly tortured by illness and eventually dying in pain. Such a death ending was the worst for anyone, and Carlo did not want his final ending to be like this.

"Is there no way to alleviate Father's pain?" Carlo asked aloud.

Crown Prince Umberto shook his head, also sighed, and said: "The doctor has tried every method that could be tried, but none of them had any effect.

Perhaps this is God's test for Father; after the pain, Father will eventually be led to heaven by God."

I don't know how long it had been, but Victor Emmanuel II's turbid eyes opened a tiny bit, and he said in a very hoarse and trembling tone: "Has Carlo come?"

"I am here, Father." Carlo walked up quickly and sat by Victor Emmanuel II's bed.

"I originally thought that death was still far away from me, but I didn't expect it to be at such a close distance. But this is something everyone will eventually experience, and I am not afraid of it.

Oddone (Carlo's brother who died young) has already experienced this before me, and maybe he is waiting for me in heaven," Victor Emmanuel II said with difficulty.

"Father, your body will get better. If there are no experts in Europe who can cure you, I will search the whole world; there will always be undiscovered expert doctors who can cure your illness," Carlo comforted.

Victor Emmanuel II shook his head. Europe at this time was the most civilized and developed region in the world; if Europe's medical technology could not cure his illness, he did not think that medical technology in other parts of the world could treat his disease.

Victor Emmanuel II managed to sit up, looked at the three sons in front of him, and a look of satisfaction appeared in his eyes.

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

But as he unified Italy and his son Carlo was chosen as the King of Spain, all this changed.

The House of Savoy suddenly became a huge dynasty possessing the thrones of two powers, and the House of Savoy also became a relatively strong existence among European royal families.

Being able to achieve this step, Victor Emmanuel II was quite satisfied. He only hoped that after his death, the glory of the House of Savoy could continue to be passed down.

As long as the thrones of the two power countries of Italy and Spain could be maintained, the House of Savoy would always be in the top ten of European royal families.

The reason it was the top ten was mainly because the foundations of some long-standing European royal families were too terrifying. Noble families such as the Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns, Romanovs, and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha were still prominent, and Savoy could only rank lower in front of these families.

Especially the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family, which would usher in true glory after Queen Victoria passed away.

According to the rule among European nobles that children follow their father's surname, although Queen Victoria belonged to the House of Hanover, her son Edward would have to start a new dynasty after inheriting the throne in the future, which was the surname from his father, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

The reason why it was said that it would usher in glory after Queen Victoria passed away was because the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family, in addition to ruling the British Empire, the most powerful power in the future, also ruled Belgium, Portugal, Bulgaria, and the origin of the family name—the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

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(End of chapter)