Chapter 299: Public Support

The Portuguese government, which had obtained Gao Da's clear attitude, breathed a sigh of relief; at least Portugal would not fall into the worst predicament.

Even if they eventually had to give up the merger of the East and West African colonies due to the pressure of the British government, the British would still have to provide compensation, unless they were willing to see Portugal throw itself into Spain's embrace.

Although they had some confidence because of the support of the Spanish, the Portuguese government also made preparations for the final concession.

After all, the enemy they had to face was the British Empire, which is the undisputed strongest country of this era.

Just when the Portuguese were dreaming, the news that the British Empire had issued an ultimatum to the Portuguese government was leaked.

The newspaper that reported this news was a newspaper with low popularity, and the daily sales volume of the newspaper was only a pitiful 1,000 copies, which could only manage to survive.

No one knew how such a small newspaper learned about such secret news, but the focus of the Portuguese was not on this at all.

The ultimatum of the British Empire was what the Portuguese cared about; this arrogant attitude of being above the Portuguese seriously trampled on the self-esteem of the Portuguese.

As more and more Portuguese learned the news, many people spontaneously took to the streets, demanding that the government not be weak, and that Britain had no right to interfere with 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 can accept that the government fails in colonial actions, and can accept that Portugal is becoming weaker and weaker, but they cannot accept that other countries are above Portugal.

Under the influence of this patriotic emotion, more and more Portuguese took to the streets, which gradually attracted the attention of the Portuguese government.

There is no way; any street protest by the public cannot be ignored.

After all, any revolution starts from protests; once handled improperly, it will cause larger-scale resistance or even uprisings, making the country move towards civil war and chaos.

Regarding the leak of Britain's final ultimatum, the Portuguese government also had its guesses.

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 take the initiative to leak the news; letting the public know about such a situation will only add trouble to themselves.

After all, the Portuguese government had already made preparations for concession, and the Portuguese would not easily choose to concede because of the British pressure.

It is also unlikely that the British government would take the initiative to reveal such news; after all, to put it bluntly, this is oppression of a weak country, and it does not look so glorious.

Although the British Empire is indeed powerful, Britain also has 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 do not mind falling into the well, making the British face greater problems.

Excluding the Portuguese and British governments, the only one who could have leaked the news is the Spanish government.

But there is no way; the strength gap between the two countries is too large, and even if they know that the Spanish government leaked the secret, the Portuguese government has no way to resist.

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

Moreover, the biggest problem at this time is not the leak, but how to deal with the Portuguese who are closely following the colonial incident.

In the situation where the Portuguese do not know the truth, the Portuguese government can decide the direction of this incident by itself. But after a large number of Portuguese paid attention to this matter, public opinion is also something the Portuguese government has to consider.

Will offending the British government lead to failure, and will offending a large number of Portuguese not lead to failure?

For the Portuguese government at this time, they have truly entered a dilemma, and a slight carelessness will fall into the abyss.

While the protests in Portugal were being staged in a grand manner, the media in Spain also reported on the relevant events.

The Spanish Sun newspaper even critically called the behavior of the British government a trampling on national sovereignty, believing that this is not the behavior that a civilized European country should have.

Britain has not done this once or twice; even Gibraltar, which should have belonged to Spain, was forcibly taken away by Britain through war.

This instantly aroused the hatred of the Spanish people towards the British and aroused the empathy of the Spanish people towards the Portuguese.

For a time, the Spanish also took to the streets one after another, expressing various protests against the British government. Some more extreme Spanish people even hoped that the Spanish government could send troops to recover Gibraltar; a Spain that possesses Gibraltar is a complete one.

After the British ultimatum incident attracted the attention of the Spanish, the Spanish government officially issued an announcement to the outside world, stating that Spain does not agree with the robber behavior of the British government and hopes that the British government can proceed from a civilized and friendly perspective and respect the sovereignty of other countries.

Gao Da also appeared publicly in a diplomatic activity. After the media raised relevant questions, Gao Da also expressed his attitude, which is that Spain is willing to stand with the Portuguese, and the Iberians should jointly guard the sovereignty of their own countries and jointly maintain the dignity of the Iberian Peninsula.

As expected, the statements of the Spanish government and Gao Da were forwarded to Portuguese newspapers again and aroused widespread discussion among the Portuguese.

The Portuguese before were just fighting alone; although they were very angry at the behavior of the British, they also knew that the government had no good solution.

Now with the public support of the Spanish government and the Spanish King Gao Da, it can be said that Portugal has no worries, and there is no need to be low-key and humble to the aggressive British.

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

Prime Minister Gladstone, who learned the news, threw several precious collections angrily; he did not expect that Portugal could obtain Spain's support, and did not expect that this matter was leaked to the Portuguese, causing widespread public anger among the Portuguese.

If it were just a Portugal, even if they offended all the Portuguese, it would actually be nothing.

But if you count Spain, it will form a very strong opposition force. Although this force is still not as powerful as the British Empire, for the British who have already made many enemies, this will also be no small trouble.

However, trouble is trouble; for the sake of Britain's colonial plan, Prime Minister Gladstone cannot make any concession.

The Portuguese concession will cause public anger among the Portuguese; will Prime Minister Gladstone's concession not cause public anger among the British?

As the most powerful country in the world today, if the British Empire chose to retreat when facing Portugal and Spain, then the joke would be big.

The British will not consider the diplomatic impact of this; they will only angrily scold this soft-hearted Prime Minister for choosing to retreat when they have the advantage.

The angry Prime Minister Gladstone called the Portuguese ambassador again. His face was iron-blue, and he stared at the Portuguese ambassador with fierce eyes, wanting to see the panic in the other side's eyes: "Ambassador, please tell me what your country's choice is?

If Portugal wants to give up the friendship of Britain, 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 go against us, then please be prepared for war!"

The Portuguese ambassador sighed and said quite helplessly: "Please forgive me, Prime Minister. Our country has no intention of going against your country, but because of the leak of the news, this matter has attracted the attention of many people.

If the news of giving up the colony is announced at this time, it will cause a great change. So please wait for a period of time; 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 mockingly: "This matter is only known to our two governments; it is impossible for us to leak the news. If you want to talk about leaking the news, isn't it only your government that is possible?"

"No, Prime Minister." The Portuguese ambassador shook his head, with a bitter smile and helplessness on his face, and explained: "At the time of receiving your country's request, we did not intend to give up the colony, so we requested help from Spain.

This also led to the fact that the Spanish side obtained the news, and it was also they who leaked the news.

The development of the matter exceeded our estimation, but Portugal has absolutely no intention of giving up the friendship with your country. Give us another period of time; after the public opinion calms down, we are willing to restart negotiations with your country."

For Portugal, no matter whether the news was leaked by the Spanish government or not, it must be the Spanish government that leaked it at this time.

Only in this way can they shake off their own responsibility and at the same time strive for more time to calm down the domestic public opinion.

The Portuguese ambassador also complained quite a bit about the Spanish government that might have leaked the news. If it were not for the Spanish government leaking the news, the Portuguese government would not have fallen into such a dilemma.

As long as they could hide it from the Portuguese, even if they finally gave up the colony, they could strive for some compensation to appease the people. 【2

But now, as the attention of a large number of Portuguese had shifted to whether the government would choose to concede under British pressure, the Portuguese government was fundamentally unable to proceed according to its original plan.

In the current climate of public opinion, if news were to break that the Portuguese government had chosen to concede and that Britain was taking over the colonies in southern Congo, it was feared that various rebellions and uprisings would break out in Portugal the very next day, and the Kingdom of Portugal would not be far from collapse.

"Spain?" Prime Minister Gladstone thought of the reaction of the Spanish government and King Gao Da of Spain after the news was exposed, then snorted coldly, looked at the Portuguese ambassador, and said: "Regardless of whether Spain is the leaker, the leak itself is related to your government."

"If your country does not wish to damage the friendship with Britain, I hope to see more practical actions. During this period, your country must completely stop the colonization of the lands in southern Congo, and preparations must also be made for the handover of the colonies of Barotseland and the Kingdom of Mwaata Kazembe."

"Once public opinion subsides, I hope to carry out the handover of the colonies at the earliest opportunity. If there are any more accidents, I would not mind using military means to obtain this land."

The Portuguese ambassador nodded repeatedly; being able to gain a period of time to calm domestic public opinion was already a fairly good result.

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

"In addition, is the trade relationship between your country and Spain a bit too close? If there are overly intimate economic dealings with Spain, your country's economy is prone to being influenced by Spain."

"I suggest cutting off the railway connection with Spain. Only by using railways with different track gauges can the security of the Portuguese mainland be ensured."

"Of course, the British Empire will also protect all its allies. If Portugal truly faces war, we will use our military to protect Portugal; this is also the best return for our friendship with your country." Seeing the Portuguese ambassador agree to his demands, Prime Minister Gladstone's expression finally improved, and he then put forward his additional requirements.

For Britain, the closeness between Portugal and Spain was absolutely not allowed. If the relationship between the two countries on the Iberian Peninsula was too good, they would unite against the British who had invaded the Iberian Peninsula.

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

Regardless of whether the Portuguese government was willing or not, as long as Portugal was an ally of the British Empire, Britain would never allow Portugal to have an overly intimate relationship with Spain.

"The synchronized railway track was something the Spanish government requested us to do at the time. If Spain is willing not to hold us accountable for tearing up the treaty, we are of course willing to re-establish railways with different track gauges."

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

However, he also had a caveat: the synchronized track was an agreement reached between the Portuguese government and the Spanish government at the time, and if Portugal wanted to break the contract, it still had to consider the attitude of the Spanish government.

This level of breach of contract was equivalent to a public slap in the face. If Britain could not resolve the potential accountability from Spain, the Portuguese government would not offend Spain for no reason.

Of course, the Portuguese ambassador's words were also very clear. As long as the British government could resolve the matter of Spain's potential accountability, Portugal was willing to change the railway track gauge at any time and interrupt the railway connection with Spain.

Come to think of it, after Portugal and Spain connected their railways, Portugal had also enjoyed the dividends of Spain's rapid economic development, and its own development had accelerated somewhat.

Especially in the several border cities adjacent to Spain, because of the frequent trade with Spain, the development speed of these cities was changing with each passing day.

Although the area of plains owned by Portugal was larger than that owned by Spain, in terms of grain production, Portugal was only a fraction of Spain's.

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

Not much grain was imported; after all, Portugal's own population was not large, and its own grain production could fully support domestic consumption.

In addition to agricultural products, what Portugal imported most from Spain were industrial products.

Automobiles, naturally, went without saying. Currently, the Portuguese aristocratic group was very fond of automobiles, and basically all Portuguese nobles owned at least one car.

Besides automobiles, various types of industrial finished goods and mechanical processed goods were targets for Portuguese imports.

Because Spain's industrial scale was larger, Spain's industrial products were sold at lower prices.

Coupled with the fact that Portugal only had Spain as a neighbor, Portugal's choices for importing industrial products were basically limited to Spain alone.

Although it was possible to import from other European countries via sea transport, sea transport was slower and had higher transportation costs compared to trains.

If the railway line with Spain were rashly cut off, the impact caused by import and export trade alone would be enough to cause Portugal's economy to wither for a period of time.

This was also the reason why the Portuguese ambassador did not directly agree to Prime Minister Gladstone's proposal; after all, Portugal was not the British people's dog, and of course, it could not listen to the British in everything.

While the British Prime Minister was urgently summoning the Portuguese ambassador, on the Spanish side, Gao Da also had further preparations.

According to the historical trend, the Portuguese government would most likely still choose to concede, which was of course also within Gao Da's plan.

But unlike in history, Gao Da wanted to make the Portuguese government's concession public and transparent, so that all Portuguese could see it clearly and understand it.

Only by making all Portuguese disappointed with the current government and the King could Gao Da have an opportunity to exploit.

In addition, Gao Da also wanted to use this incident to severely damage the relationship between Portugal and the British.

If Britain continued to be aggressive, it would certainly be attacked by European countries in unison. If such a Britain could still make the Portuguese government concede, the Portuguese people's disappointment with their government would be even deeper.

In order to strengthen his momentum, Gao Da contacted the Italian royal family and the Austro-Hungarian imperial family in the name of the royal family, seeking help from the two royal families.

Of course, Gao Da did not expect them to help him militarily. As long as the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy could stand on Spain's side at the diplomatic level, at least in terms of momentum, they would be stronger than Britain.

Spain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy—this added up to three great powers. The remaining three major European powers—France, Germany, and Russia—all had certain conflicts with the British to varying degrees, and it was basically impossible for them to stand on the British side.

This also resulted in Britain being destined to be isolated in this incident; even if it could not destroy the British plan, there would be gains in tarnishing the British people's international reputation.

At this time, Spain publicly stood on Portugal's side regarding the colonies. When Spain launched the war to recover Gibraltar in the future, the Portuguese would also remember Spain's past help and would be more likely to choose to stand on Spain's side.

As long as the Portuguese people's trust in their government and royal family could be destroyed, while simultaneously destroying the relationship between Portugal and Britain, Gao Da's goal would have been achieved.

As for the rest of the matters, they were no longer that important to Gao Da.

(End of this chapter)