Chapter 372

Gao Da was not very interested in the war between Italy and the Abyssinian Empire. The Ethiopia region was too far from Spain, and Spain basically could not intervene, so naturally, there was no need to pay too much attention.

Starting from the annexation of Morocco, the Spanish government formulated a relatively careful assimilation plan.

Because the vast majority of Moroccan civilians were white, these races were not rejected by the Spaniards. As long as they were willing to accept the Catholic faith and learn Spanish, they were regarded as part of the Spanish people.

In order to make these Moroccans no longer reject joining the large group of Spain, Gao Da planned to start from the cultural aspect and tailor a Moroccan history for the Moroccans.

There is a saying that history is written by the victors.

As the victor, Spain naturally had the right to write the history of Morocco, allowing all Moroccans to understand more correct historical knowledge.

Moroccans were the unique white people in Africa, which was also the entry point for all of Spain's writers and historians.

It was not a big deal for Moroccans to believe in Islam; after all, before the Reconquista, large parts of Spain's territory were also occupied by infidels.

In just a few months, Spain issued several books on the history of the Iberian Peninsula, the most famous of which was called *History of Iberian Ethnic Integration*. This book detailed the history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past thousand years and boldly proposed a suggestion: that all ethnic groups on the Iberian Peninsula, including the white population of Morocco, should all belong to the same ethnic group, namely Spain.

Spain did not refer to a single ethnic group, but a collective name for all ethnic groups on the Iberian Peninsula.

Such a statement seemed bold, but if one thought about it carefully, it actually had a certain logic.

How were different ethnic groups distinguished? Roughly, they could be divided by different languages, writing, and ethnic customs.

For example, the British and the French; their languages and writing were completely different, and their living customs also had large differences. As long as one knew a little about the differences in customs between these two countries, and then came into contact with a British person and a French person of unknown identity, one could very clearly distinguish which country they came from.

But if one replaced the British and French with Spaniards and Portuguese, without a relatively detailed understanding of these two ethnic groups, one would not be able to distinguish them in a short time.

The difference between Portuguese and Spanish was not large, more like the difference in dialects in different regions. The living customs of Spaniards and Portuguese also had great similarities; after all, these two countries were closely connected, and the latitude and longitude were not much different.

Even the histories of Spain and Portugal had astonishing similarities.

Portugal and Spain were both gradually unified and formed their current territories during the Reconquista in Iberia, and after unification, they started the colonial era.

When Spain established the empire on which the sun never sets, Portugal's maritime colonization was also in full swing. When Spain lost its American colonies for various reasons, Portugal's colonies were also constantly being lost.

It was precisely this reason that led to the high similarity between Spain and Portugal; saying that Spaniards and Portuguese were similar ethnic groups was really not nonsense.

As for Moroccans, the difference between Moroccans and Spaniards was definitely greater than the difference between Portuguese and Spaniards.

But the problem was that compared to Portugal, Morocco's education situation was worse. To put it bluntly, most Moroccans did not know the history of their own country at all.

Perhaps through word of mouth among Moroccans, they understood to a certain extent things that happened decades or even hundreds of years ago.

But Moroccans were not very clear about things from longer ago, and naturally, they were not clear about how the Moroccan ethnic group was formed, and why Morocco was the only indigenous country in Africa dominated by white people.

Since Moroccans did not understand, Spain had the responsibility and obligation to let them understand.

Half a month after the Moroccan colony was formed, the People's Government announced that it would implement two-year compulsory education throughout Morocco, allowing all school-age children in Morocco to enter school for free for two years.

As for those adult Moroccans, they could also choose to obtain the opportunity to enter training classes for free through compulsory labor.

Only needing to work for the colonial government for three months, they could obtain the opportunity to enter training classes. In addition to teaching Spanish and some simple theoretical knowledge, the training classes would also teach Moroccans about the history of Morocco and Iberia, allowing them to get rid of their illiterate status.

These Moroccans were after all to be assimilated, so Spain's exploitation of them would not be too harsh.

During the period they worked for the colonial government, they could also receive remuneration issued by the colonial government. Although it could not compare to the remuneration for Spaniards' work, compared to those African indigenous people, their income was several times higher.

Distinguishing the treatment of Moroccans from other African indigenous people was also a way to divide the indigenous people in Spain's colonies.

In this way, these white people in Morocco were destined not to get together with other black indigenous people in Africa. Coupled with Spain's assimilation methods, these millions of Moroccans could only obediently join Spain's citizenship in the end.

While the assimilation work was being carried out, the Moroccan colonial government was also gradually transferring the local Moroccan population.

Looking at Morocco's area, accommodating a population of tens of millions was easy. The Morocco of later generations had a population of nearly 40 million, let alone Morocco under Spain's control.

Of course, Gao Da would not excessively squeeze the potential of the Morocco region.

Spain's mainland carried a population of about 50 million, the Portugal region carried 10 million, and the Morocco region carried 40 million, which was enough to support a scale of 100 million people.

As long as they could have a population scale of 100 million, whether now or in later generations, Spain would not be in a disadvantageous position in terms of population.

If one only looked at the upper limit of population capacity, Spain, which localized Morocco and annexed Portugal, could really rank among the top in Europe.

Don't look at the fact that France and Germany had large areas and possessed large plains; if they were really allowed to carry a population of over 100 million, they might not be able to handle it.

The policies launched by the Moroccan colonial government throughout the Morocco region soon had effects; after all, the supplies given by Spain were real, and the current Moroccan public lacked these supplies to maintain their lives.

As long as they were willing to work for the Moroccan colonial government, according to each person's working time and work output, the colonial government would issue supplies or currency of different values.

Various supplies like food could be exchanged, and for Moroccans, this was indeed a good way to maintain their lives.

Of course, these Moroccans had another choice, which was to obey the arrangements of the colonial government and go to other Spanish colonies.

For these Moroccans who voluntarily went to other Spanish colonies, Spain's performance was quite generous.

As long as they were willing to go to other colonies, they could receive a piece of land for free in other colonies for cultivation, and this land did not need to pay any taxes in the first year.

As long as they cultivated for more than three consecutive years, they could directly obtain the ownership of this land. This had no small attraction for these Moroccans; after all, land was the foundation of farmers.

Of course, such a policy was destined to only attract a portion of Moroccans. Most people, unless forced, were unwilling to leave their hometowns.

Furthermore, this was not just leaving their hometowns, but directly leaving the motherland where they had lived for a long time and going to a distant foreign land.

Transferring a portion of Moroccans was very necessary, and the colonial government would not be indecisive on such a policy. After all the Moroccans who were willing to go to other colonies voluntarily were transferred, the colonial government would then take mandatory measures to forcibly reduce the population of the Morocco region by about half.

This matter concerned Spain's assimilation progress of Morocco and also concerned the future stability of the Morocco region, so there would absolutely be no concessions.

While transferring the Moroccans in the Morocco region to other colonies, Spain was also transferring population from the mainland, other European countries, and other colonies to the Morocco region.

Although these immigrants combined could only gather tens of thousands of people each year, over time, it was not difficult to gather hundreds of thousands of people.

The first step of Spain's assimilation of Morocco was to first complete the localization of some large cities in the Morocco region.

The northern port cities of Ceuta and Tangier were among them, as well as Morocco's original capital, Rabat, and the central port city of Casablanca.

After completing the localization of these cities, then use points to drive the surface, affecting a wider Moroccan territory.

By then, Morocco's assimilation work would be almost completed. Then reduce the proportion of Moroccans to less than half, and this region would be successfully incorporated into Spain's pocket.

The assimilated Morocco would be as solid as a rock, and it would be impossible for Moroccans to want to seek independence again.

This also meant that Morocco's assimilation work was very important, and whether the assimilation was smooth or not would directly concern whether Morocco could become Spain's mainland in the future.

Mainland and colony were two completely different meanings. If Morocco was always just Spain's colony, this also meant that on the day the colonial system collapsed in the future, Morocco would break away from Spain's control.

But if Morocco successfully became Spain's mainland, all this would not happen. Mainland was mainland, which no country could take away. At that time, if other countries still wanted to support Morocco's independence, that would be interfering in Spain's internal affairs, and even the powerful Britain would have to weigh the consequences of offending Spain.

Since Spain established the Moroccan colony, Colonial Affairs Minister Count Menotti had become the busiest cabinet minister.

This could not be blamed on him; after all, the assimilation work of the Moroccan colony was carried out by the Colonial Affairs Department, and whether it was successful or not also concerned Count Menotti's personal political career.

Incorporating Morocco into Spain's mainland was a heavy stroke in history, which was naturally a quite rich political achievement.

If Menotti could successfully complete it during his tenure, his future potential would not be weaker than his brother Qiao Di, even if Qiao Di held the more important position of Defense Minister.

In just two months, Count Menotti had already come to the royal palace four times. In addition to reporting the assimilation progress of the Moroccan colony to Gao Da, he was also requesting more financial budgets from Gao Da.

If nothing else, the educational activities carried out in Morocco were a huge expense. Free education involving all Moroccans was fine; after all, the premise of participating in such free education was to work for the Moroccan colonial government for three months.

Although work also had remuneration, the colonial government would only earn more during this period. This money was just used to promote education, popularize the history of the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco, and Spain's ethnic concepts.

What was really expensive was the two-year compulsory education implemented in Morocco. Compulsory education was free, and the scope was still all school-age children in Morocco.

Although it was only two years, considering that the Moroccan government's finances would definitely be in the red in the short term, it was definitely impossible to let the Moroccan colonial government pay for this education fund.

Although it was related to education, because it was in a colony, the Ministry of Education would definitely not intervene.

After all, this was a thankless task. Even if the Ministry of Education spent money to help the Moroccan colony popularize two years of compulsory education, the credit in the future would only belong to the Colonial Affairs Department.

No way, in the short term, this education fund could only be covered by the Colonial Affairs Department. This was not a small expenditure, so Count Menotti could only seek an audience with Gao Da to ask for more financial budgets.

Although the current Spanish cabinet Prime Minister was Evan Bradley, the cabinet ministers all knew that this Prime Minister from the military was obedient to the King.

Even if several cabinet ministers agreed on something, this Prime Minister might not necessarily agree. But if His Majesty the King personally nodded and agreed, even if it was a proposal that the Prime Minister had once rejected, the Prime Minister could immediately abolish it and change to support the King's point of view.

Precisely because Prime Minister Evan Bradley's high loyalty to the King, all the cabinet ministers did not dare to look down on this Prime Minister from the military.

With the King's support and the military background, even Deputy Prime Minister Hovillar Soler did not dare to violate the Prime Minister's opinion.

The Spanish government was quite efficient under such circumstances. Generally, it was discussed by the ministers of the cabinet government, but if they encountered something relatively important, they generally listened to the Prime Minister's opinion.

Where did Prime Minister Evan Bradley's opinion come from? Naturally, it came from Gao Da.

This could also be considered Gao Da's little trick. Although Gao Da did not express his views in cabinet meetings, through Prime Minister Evan Bradley, Gao Da could still ensure that the cabinet operated within the range Gao Da wanted.

The benefit of the King not showing his face personally was that any disadvantages in the future had nothing to do with the King. If there was any credit, by virtue of the cabinet government obeying the King, the King would not lack credit.

Gao Da naturally understood the importance of Morocco's localization. Regarding Count Menotti's repeated requests to increase the financial budget, Gao Da finally agreed.

Not only would this year's financial budget increase by 20 million pesetas, but in the next five years, the financial budget of the Colonial Affairs Department would increase by 20 million pesetas.

If it was not enough, this financial budget could be increased again. Gao Da's requirement was only one, which was to complete the localization work of the Morocco region as soon as possible and incorporate the local Moroccans into Spain's rule.

The first thing the Colonial Affairs Department did after having money was to increase the propaganda for the history of the Iberian Peninsula and Spain's ethnic history.

After a few months, more than a dozen related books and hundreds of related newspapers had been issued, and these related histories had also been hotly discussed by the Spaniards.

Regarding these views that Spaniards, Portuguese, and Moroccans should belong to the same ethnic group, there were supporting voices and some opposing voices within Spain.

However, on the whole, there were still more people who supported it. Those who opposed it were more skeptical about Moroccans, and there was no great doubt about the view that Spaniards and Portuguese originally belonged to the same ethnic group.

Those who really understood Spain and Portugal knew that these two ethnic groups really did not have any great differences. Portugal's establishment was originally independent from Spain's predecessor, and later merged with Spain again, so the two ethnic groups were naturally relatively similar.

The similarity between Spaniards and Portuguese was not only reflected in appearance; in language, living customs, and dietary differences, the differences between Portuguese and Spaniards were not large, even smaller than the differences between people from two different provinces of a certain country in later generations.

After all, to put it bluntly, the total area of the entire Iberian Peninsula was only equivalent to one or two provinces of a certain country in later generations.

The gap between Spaniards and Portuguese was really not large; to put it broadly, it could be classified into the differences between two ethnic groups, and to put it narrowly,

it could also be classified into different differentiations of one ethnic group.

With the popularity of such views, a thought gained more enthusiastic support within the Iberian range.

What thought?

Naturally, it was Pan-Iberianism, which had almost swept the entire Iberian Peninsula before.

As early as when Portugal was still a kingdom, there were already many people in Portugal who supported Pan-Iberianism.

Especially after Portugal's Pink Map plan was personally shattered by Britain, while Portuguese people hated Britain, they also longed for their own country to be a more powerful country, so that they could avoid bullying by other powerful countries.

Pan-Iberianism was a beautiful wish, fantasizing about the merger of the two countries on the Iberian Peninsula to create a more powerful great power that would make other great powers tremble with fear.

If the reason why Spaniards supported Pan-Iberianism was to annex Portugal, then the reason why Portuguese supported Pan-Iberianism was because the performance of the Portuguese government when facing great powers like Britain made them feel cold.

Against the background of the law of the jungle, a weak country would definitely attract the covetousness of a powerful country.

How to avoid this way? Either make your own country more powerful, or find a powerful ally to protect your country. The Portuguese originally chose Britain, but because the Pink Map plan was personally destroyed by Britain, many Portuguese people's good ally choice changed from Britain to Spain.

After the revolution in Portugal, Pan-Iberianism was suppressed to a certain extent.

The Portuguese Republic promoted by the Republican Party won the support of many Portuguese, and they also believed that such a republican country might be a better choice.

But since the establishment of the Portuguese Republic, the Portuguese people did not seem to see any hope.

Portugal's current situation was still so bad, the Portuguese people's taxes did not decrease at all, and the Portuguese people's political rights did not obtain much improvement.

Don't look at the fact that the Republican Party claimed to establish a republic where the Portuguese people had the final say during the revolution, but after the Portuguese Republic was established, the Portuguese people found that this so-called republic had almost nothing to do with them.

Who would be the president of this republic was decided by the Republican Party, and it had nothing to do with the Portuguese people.

The high-level government of the Portuguese Republic was appointed by the president, and the Portuguese people also did not have the final say. Thinking about it this way, what was the difference between the current Portuguese Republic and the original kingdom?

The big mountain of feudal nobles was removed from the heads of the Portuguese people, but there was an extra big mountain of so-called bureaucracy. The living standards of the Portuguese people did not improve at all, but instead, because of the political infighting between the Republican Party and other parties, it affected the political stability within Portugal and caused more serious economic turmoil within Portugal.

At such a moment, the Portuguese people realized how important a peaceful, stable, and prosperous environment was.

If there was none, the Portuguese people would not have much resentment. But the problem was that next door to Portugal, there was such a country, and even most Portuguese people knew what the political environment in Spain was like.

Although Spain was a monarchy, the political environment within Spain was quite stable, and there was basically no phenomenon of fighting for power and profit.

Under a stable political environment, Spain's industry and economy also developed rapidly, and the per capita income was rising steadily.

Originally, the per capita income of the two Iberian Peninsula countries, Spain and Portugal, was about the same, and the civilians of both countries were not living well.

Since Gao Da became the King of Spain, the per capita income of Spaniards had been constantly growing, and it had now far exceeded the per capita income of the Portuguese.

This naturally attracted the envy of the Portuguese. Why couldn't they have such a wise monarch to make Portugal more powerful and let the Portuguese live a better life?

Under such circumstances, Pan-Iberianism gained more intense support from more Portuguese.

After careful comparison, the Portuguese suddenly discovered that the difference between Portugal and Spain seemed to be really not large.

According to what was said in the books sent over from Spain, Spain and Portugal were originally one family, and both sides also fought together to win the Reconquista.

Since there was such an intimate relationship between the two ethnic groups, how did it eventually evolve into two hostile ethnic groups and countries?

Thinking about it, the Portuguese public put their resentment on the original royal family. Perhaps it was because the original royal family was unwilling to give up their throne, which eventually led to the Portuguese and Spaniards getting further and further apart.

Two ethnic groups that were originally one eventually evolved into two countries with certain competition and contradictions; wasn't this mutual slaughter in disguise?

If Spaniards and Portuguese were originally one ethnic group, how powerful would the country formed by this ethnic group be?

If Spain and Portugal joined forces, where would this country occupying the entire Iberian Peninsula rank in the world?

This was the question in the hearts of most Portuguese after Pan-Iberianism became prevalent.

If nothing else, just from some data disclosed by the Spanish and Portuguese governments, one could see that if these two countries were unified, the potential would really be infinite.

The current Spain already had a population of over 30 million, and Portugal also had a population of over 5 million.

Even without counting Morocco, the union of the two countries also had a population of over 35 million. Such a population scale was no longer a disadvantage compared to other European great powers, which also meant that this country formed by the merger of two countries had the potential to become a super great power.

Or rather, this two-in-one country was definitely a super great power from the moment of its birth.

After the idea of a super great power was born in the minds of some Portuguese, it could no longer be waved away.

Thinking that their country could become a super great power, many Portuguese were moved. Especially those Portuguese parties that originally supported Pan-Iberianism, they were even more promoting Pan-Iberianism in the current Portuguese Republic, seeking support from more Portuguese people.

Compared to the original monarchy, the republican system had one advantage, which was that these parties did not have to be so timid when promoting their theories, worrying about the government's arrest.

The original Portuguese government managed these parties in the country quite strictly. Especially the opposition parties led by the Republican Party, let alone promoting their political ideas, as long as they were suspected of being Republican Party members, they could not avoid a round of arrests and interrogations.

It was precisely the Portuguese Kingdom's massive suppression and arrest of these party members that caused so many opposition parties to rise up.

Today, although the Republican Party had become the ruling party of Portugal, they did not dare to completely prohibit these parties from operating within Portugal.

After all, when the Republican Party launched the revolution, many parties also contributed. Before the Republican Party completely controlled the political situation in Portugal, falling out with these other parties was not cost-effective.

Gao Da naturally knew about the Pan-Iberianism prevalent in Spain and Portugal; after all, this idea was originally spread by people sent by Gao Da in Spain and Portugal.

If annexing Morocco could still use war to force it, then annexing Portugal had to try to use more gentle means.

Pan-Iberianism was a very good stepping stone, which could attract a large number of Portuguese to support this doctrine and support joining the big family of Spain.

With the support of this part of the people, Spain could well split the Portuguese, preventing the Portuguese from twisting into a rope to resist Spain's annexation of Portugal.

At this time, it was the initial stage of the formation of nationalism, and there was no such clear understanding of statism and nationalism.

If Spain could annex Portugal at this time, as long as ideological propaganda work was done well in the future, it could ensure that the Portuguese integrated into the big family of Spain.

If it were a few decades later, even if Spain could become more powerful, wanting to annex Portugal would not be such an easy thing.

After all, the statism and nationalism of decades later had long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and by then the Portuguese had long known the difference between Portugal and Spain.

Unless they could obtain the support of all the Portuguese, forced annexation would only cause both Spain and Portugal to suffer.

In later generations, Spain's Catalonia and Basque regions were both seeking independence, and these two regions had been annexed by Spain for hundreds of years.

From this aspect, one could also see the importance of assimilation work. If ethnic assimilation was not done well, even if they could incorporate Moroccans and Portuguese into their rule, in the future, when Spain showed weakness, they would sooner or later seek independence.

Internal contradictions caused deeper damage to the country than external contradictions. Rather than waiting for these ethnic groups to seek independence within Spain in the future, it was better to completely assimilate them into Spain's big family now.

As long as the concepts of Moroccans and Portuguese no longer existed, and as long as these people identified with the ethnic concept of Spain, they could well prevent the prevalence of independence movements in the future.

In order to promote the *History of Iberia* and *History of Iberian Ethnic Groups* compiled by the cultural department, Gao Da spent a lot of propaganda expenses and even used various types of newspapers under the royal family to report.

Not only was Spain a key propaganda region, but Portugal and Morocco were also within the scope of propaganda.

Gao Da had secretly established several newspapers in Portugal, and two of them had already reached the top five of Portuguese newspapers.

Under Gao Da's indication, these two newspapers were also reprinting the content reported by Spanish newspapers. After a few years, perhaps most Portuguese would understand the views of Pan-Iberianism.

Although they could not obtain the support of most Portuguese, as long as a portion of Portuguese were willing to support this view, it meant that Spain still had the hope of annexing Portugal.

Compared to the cultural influence on Portugal like boiling a frog in warm water, Spain's cultural influence on Morocco seemed a bit mandatory.

In the third month of the establishment of the Moroccan colony, two-year compulsory education was officially fully launched in the Moroccan colony.

As long as they were school-age Moroccan children, they needed to go to official schools stipulated by the Moroccan colonial government to learn Spanish, Iberian history, Iberian ethnic history, and other knowledge, and come into contact with and understand Catholicism.

As the saying goes, education should start from childhood. As long as Moroccan children started by learning Spanish, what they were familiar with in the future would definitely be Spanish.

Catholicism was the same principle. This generation of Moroccans believed in Islam, which did not mean that the next generation of Moroccans would still believe in Islam.

One must know that the Iberian Peninsula once had large territories occupied by Muslims.

Why could Spain quickly popularize Catholicism after recovering these regions? It relied on a system like the Inquisition.

Of course, it definitely wouldn't be used now, such a cruel system. However, this speed of religious popularization also proved one point, which was that the Muslim faith was not impossible to change.

The previous generation could not be changed, but their next generation could be completely changed. Not everyone was a loyal religious believer; for the sake of their own survival and the future of their descendants, I believe there would still be many people who would choose to convert to Catholicism.

The Moroccans in the South Morocco colony were a good example.

The initial South Morocco colony had a population of nearly one million, and Spain eventually assimilated about 400,000 Moroccans.

These 400,000 people all converted to Catholicism and learned Spanish. About half of these Moroccans obtained Spanish citizenship, and they eventually went to various states on the Spanish mainland, becoming truly glorious Spaniards.

The remaining Moroccans were also dispersed to various Spanish colonies. Although they could not go to the Spanish mainland, they were also noble immigrants in the colonies, no different from those foreign European immigrants, and were all upper-class people in the Spanish colonies.

As for the lower-class people, they were naturally the indigenous people of the African colonies.

It must be admitted that there were really many indigenous people in the African colonies. Currently, the African indigenous people in all of Spain's colonies combined were at least tens of millions.

Don't look at the fact that Spain had consumed millions of African indigenous people through various ways over the years; in fact, each colony still had a large number of indigenous people that could not be counted.

Among all of Spain's African colonies, the ones that did relatively well were the Moroccan colony and the West African colony.

Because the original Morocco was a white country, the Moroccan colony had not had many black people until now.

And the West African colony reduced the proportion of black people by expelling them. Except for the large number of black slaves needed for the early reclamation of colonial farmland, most of the rest of the time the West African colony was transporting African immigrants out.

These African indigenous people either went to Spain's other colonies, such as the Guinea colony and Congo territory, which had broader land and more black population, or went to other countries arranged by Spain, such as the United States.

No way, who let the United States admit that black people were American citizens?

Gao Da did not care what the treatment of black people in the United States was; just relying on the fact that the United States, a great power, admitted that black people were American citizens could attract a large number of African black people to go to the heaven of their dreams.

In the many years that Spain had colonized Africa, just transporting black people to the United States had transported at least hundreds of thousands of people.

If it were not for the fear that the massive transport of black people would be discovered by the United States, I am afraid the number of black people transported by Spain to the United States could increase several times.

Don't say, transporting black people to the United States really solved the Spanish government's troubles.

The proportion of black people in the West African colony had already dropped by more than half, and these were all the credit of the United States.

As for whether the United States would become more chaotic because of these black people arriving one after another, this was not a problem that Spain could consider.

Since the United States had the ability to fight a Civil War, Gao Da believed they had the ability to fight another Civil War. Let the white people and black people fight the second war; whoever won would be the master of the United States, and Spain would just watch the show.

With the passage of time, the propaganda of Pan-Iberianism achieved good results.

Just within Spain, there were already many people who supported Pan-Iberianism. Some members of parliament were even openly proposing proposals for the merger of Spain and Portugal, and the Spaniards' covetousness for the Portuguese had been put on the table.

Don't say, as long as such a proposal was put forward, it could get the support of many members of parliament and the Spanish public.

Expanding territory was something Spaniards were willing to see, let alone Portugal, this piece of land right before their eyes.

Portugal's geographical environment was much better than Spain's, which was also the reason why Spain had always been drooling over Portugal's land.

This large piece of plain was a natural treasure for agricultural reclamation and also the granary that Spaniards dreamed of.

Unfortunately, because of population limitations, the Portuguese had never made good use of the plains in their country.

In the eyes of Spanish farmers, this was simply a waste of natural resources. If the land of Portugal were handed over to Spaniards for cultivation, Spaniards were confident that they could expand Portugal's agricultural output several times.

Unfortunately, such a phenomenon could not be realized through peaceful means. If Spaniards wanted to cultivate Portugal's land, perhaps they could only annex Portugal through war.

The good news was that the opposition to Pan-Iberianism in Portugal was not great.

The so-called Pan-Iberianism mainly harmed two groups: one was Portugal's landlords and feudal nobles, and the other was the power holders of the Portuguese government.

The former naturally did not need to be said. After the Portuguese Kingdom was overthrown, these nobles naturally lost their titles and land.

The biggest power holder of the current Portuguese government was the Republican Party. However, the Republican Party's revolution succeeded by relying on Spain's support; this point was not public, but the high-level Republican Party was clear in their hearts.

If the Republican Party openly opposed or even suppressed the crowd supporting Pan-Iberianism, would this annoy Spain?

The relationship between Portugal and Britain was not very good now; if they offended Spain again, didn't it mean that Spain's muzzle would soon turn towards Portugal?

The performance of the Spanish army in Morocco was vivid in their eyes; even if it could not be called the top army in Europe, it was definitely at a first-class level.

Furthermore, Spain did not dispatch many main troops at all. Looking at the army's performance, among the three great powers of Spain, Britain, and Italy that were fighting at the same time, Spain's performance was far better than the other two.

For Portugal ruled by the Republican Party, at this time there was really no confidence to fall out with Spain.

Unless they could obtain Britain's support again, but considering that Portugal's exiled royal family had currently arrived in London, the difficulty for the Portuguese Republic to obtain Britain's support could be imagined.

The second day of 10,000-word updates, two more days to go, please support!

(End of this chapter)