Chapter 427: Using the Enemy's Own Strategy Against Them

The British government's reaction was fast; after learning that the news of the Mediterranean Fleet's heavy losses was not a rumor, the British government immediately formulated a series of response measures to prevent itself from retreating steadily in this war.

The first to be completely vetoed was the plan originally formulated by the British government to have a head-on confrontation with the Spanish Navy.

At the moment, the Mediterranean Fleet had already suffered heavy losses, and Britain, relying on the remaining main warships of the Home Fleet and the Channel Fleet, was not enough to maintain an advantage in the naval decisive battle with Spain.

This naval battle in Malta had already proven one thing: Spain possessed a new type of warship whose performance in all aspects exceeded the *Duncan*-class battleship.

If a key naval battle that decided the outcome of this war erupted with the Spanish Navy at this time, the number of British fleets was not enough to ensure that they could win.

Besides, even if they won, what could they do? Spain was not a country founded on the navy; Spain's army was the true threat.

As long as Britain could not attack the Spanish mainland and could not help the Portuguese Republican Party win this civil war, it would never be possible to end this war.

If Portugal was occupied by the Spanish, even if Britain gained an advantage in naval battles later, what could it do? Wasn't this war erupted because of the Portuguese civil war?

Thinking of this, the British government's focus also shifted from naval decisive battle to the situation of the Portuguese civil war.

To a certain extent, the outcome of the Portuguese civil war would also affect the result of the war between Spain and Britain.

Sure enough, without taking a few days, Britain sent a volunteer army to Portugal to assist the Portuguese republican government in suppressing the rebellion within the country.

Although such behavior was already real interference in Portugal's internal affairs, the British government still hypocritically disguised it with a protective shell.

Under the disguise of the British government, this volunteer army, which was entirely composed of British Army soldiers, became a volunteer team spontaneously organized by the British people instead.

In the reports of British official news, this volunteer army was mostly composed of British farmers and workers, and only a few commanders were retired soldiers who had served in the British Army.

In order to make such a volunteer army look like it had no support from the British government behind it, the way this volunteer army went to Portugal to fight was also quite low-key, which was to scatter and take cruise ships to go.

Not only would the soldiers not arm any weapons before arriving in Portugal, but they also didn't have unified standard military uniforms.

The British government did this also to make this army look like a real army spontaneously organized by the people, rather than an elite army drawn by the British government from the Army.

The first batch of so-called volunteer armies totaled more than 5,000 people, all of whom were elites selected from the British Army. The British hoped to quickly control the situation of the Portuguese civil war through their elite troops, help the Portuguese Republican Party win this civil war, and thereby prevent the situation of Portugal being controlled by Spain.

Such "covering one's ears to steal a bell" (a Chinese idiom meaning to deceive oneself) behavior of Britain might be able to deceive ordinary people, but it was certainly unable to deceive the governments of European countries.

Spain naturally also learned the news of Britain sending so-called civilian volunteer armies. Regarding the British's conspiracies and tricks, the Spanish government was naturally also clear.

Since the British decided to personally interfere in the Portuguese civil war, Spain naturally would not have any retreat. Spain had more advantages compared to Britain; on one hand, Spain and Portugal were directly connected, and on the other hand, there were many immigrants from Portugal within Spain.

It was not reasonable for Spanish people to enter Portugal to fight, but for these Portuguese people to return to their motherland to join the more "just" side, did it seem relatively reasonable?

As for whether these soldiers returning to Portugal to fight were truly Portuguese, don't worry about it; Spain says they are, so they are.

Spanish and Portuguese people were still relatively similar in appearance, plus the difference in the languages of the two countries was not big; using Spanish people to disguise as Portuguese people, the only ones who could distinguish them were those authentic Portuguese people.

But at this time, the Portuguese people were "unable to take care of themselves" (a Chinese idiom meaning to be in a difficult situation) because of the civil war, so how could they have the leisure to distinguish the true nationality of some soldiers returning to fight in Portugal?

Could their language not be influenced by Spain because of long-term residence in Spain? Learning Spanish after joining Spanish nationality, wasn't this very normal?

Based on such thoughts, the Spanish government also planned the plan for Portuguese immigrants to return to Portugal to fight.

Compared to Britain's behavior that was completely similar to "covering one's ears to steal a bell," the Spanish government's approach was not that shameless.

Among the first batch of soldiers returning to Portugal to fight, one-fifth of the soldiers were true Portuguese immigrants. In order to make these Portuguese immigrants willing to join the Spanish army, the Spanish side also spent a lot of money.

Every Portuguese immigrant willing to join the army would immediately receive a "settlement fee." Their treatment was also all on par with the Spanish; any policy that the Spanish could enjoy, they would enjoy without missing a bit.

Such generous policies indeed attracted a portion of Portuguese immigrants; after all, the salary income and various subsidies of the Spanish army were not small.

The Spanish army also had clear pension standards; even if they unfortunately died in the war, their families could also obtain a large pension to ensure that they would not lose their source of income because of one less laborer in the family.

The British side sent 5,000 volunteer soldiers, and Spain also followed closely by sending 5,000 people. Although the numbers of both sides were equal, Gao Da believed that the combat effectiveness of the Spanish army was one level higher than that of Britain.

Not to mention anything else, just the improvement of national consciousness brought by the bullfighting activities nationwide ensured that the Spanish army would likely not have those soldiers who fled before the battle.

In order to improve the combat will and morale of the Spanish army at various levels, Gao Da also imitated some strategies of later generations' armies and carried out various variations.

The military uniforms of the Spanish Royal Army and the Imperial Guards were specially designed; the Royal Army's military uniforms appeared gray-green, while the Imperial Guards' military uniforms were overall gray, looking very majestic and domineering.

Just these two sets of military uniforms invisibly increased the enthusiasm of the Spanish to sign up for the army. After all, who didn't want to wear a handsome military uniform to fully show their majesty and dominance?

The Royal Army and the Imperial Guards also had their own exclusive marches, which were used to encourage and inspire the military heart.

Whether it was the Royal Army March or the Imperial Guard March, in the last paragraph of the march, there was such a heart-stirring remark:

Great warriors who defend their home and country, please offer everything you have for the motherland and for His Majesty the King!

This remark was actually the role of the charge bugle; in the final stage of the Gibraltar siege, Kaman Esposito ordered people to play the last paragraph of the Royal Army March, which was also the exclusive charge bugle of the Royal Army.

When the soldiers heard the march, they didn't even need the officers at all levels to carry out any mobilization; this was already the most inspiring mobilization preparation.

Besides sending volunteer armies to the Portuguese region, Gao Da also decided to find something for the British to do, so as not to let them know only to stare at Spain's doorstep all day.

How to find something for Spain? Naturally, it was to start from the British "Portugal," which was the Ireland region.

In fact, speaking of which, the history of Britain and Spain was still quite similar.

Although Britain was called Britain or the British Empire, its official name was the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Great Britain was composed of England, Scotland, and Wales; in this point, it was similar to Spain being composed of Castile, Aragon, and other countries.

What was relatively different was that Castile and Aragon, which composed Spain, had a good merger, and most of the Spanish people also recognized that they were Spanish.

Except for a small amount of accidents like Catalans and Basques, the population on most of the Spanish territory recognized this unified country.

And Britain was not as good as Spain in this regard. Not to mention the hatred between the Irish and the British, even the Scots who jointly composed Great Britain, many people did not recognize Britain.

Even in the 21st century of later generations, Scotland still held an independence referendum, but those who voted against it accounted for 55%, which was also the reason why Scotland remained in Britain.

But then again, since those who supported remaining in Britain accounted for 55%, it also meant that those who supported Scottish independence also had about 45%.

This was already a quite dangerous proportion, proving that nearly half of the Scots did not recognize Britain's policies; they believed that they had not enjoyed sufficient rights under Britain's policies, and their own interests had not been sufficiently protected.

These events also represented that Britain itself was not stable either. Spain at least had already solved its domestic problems, while Britain, even in later generations, still had not solved the problems of Scotland and Ireland. ===== CHAPTER 428 =====