Chapter 441

"Your Majesty, according to our statistics, a total of 16,532 soldiers died in this war. According to the rules for one-time pension issuance, we need to issue 33.064 million Pesetas in pensions to these soldiers who died in battle.

A total of 35,142 soldiers were injured, including 4,521 disabled soldiers, 12,768 seriously injured soldiers, and 17,853 slightly injured soldiers. According to the rules for one-time pension issuance, we need to issue 7.233 million Pesetas in pensions to all disabled soldiers, 15.321 million Pesetas in pensions to all seriously injured soldiers, and 7.141 million Pesetas in pensions to all slightly injured soldiers.

After calculation, the total amount of pensions that the government needs to issue within this year is 62.759 million Pesetas.

In addition, in terms of year-by-year relief fund issuance, according to our country's current per capita annual income estimate, next year we need to issue 4.959 million Pesetas in relief funds to all soldiers who died in battle, 1.356 million Pesetas in relief funds to all disabled soldiers, 2.554 million Pesetas in relief funds to all seriously injured soldiers, and 1.428 million Pesetas in relief funds to all slightly injured soldiers.

The total amount of the above relief fund issuance is 10.307 million Pesetas, which basically will not cause too much impact on our country's finances."

At the cabinet meeting convened by the Spanish government, Finance Minister Ole Acosta reported to Gao Da respectfully.

Regarding the issuance of post-war pensions and relief funds, the Spanish government attaches great importance to it. Gao Da specifically requested that the issuance of pensions must be accurate to every injured or dead soldier, and no phenomenon of under-issuance or omission is allowed.

Even if there is only a fraction of a copper coin, it must be issued to every soldier or their families without missing a cent.

And precisely because of Gao Da's strict requirements, whether it is the cabinet government or state governments at all levels, or the statistics of soldiers who died in battle and were injured by the national defense department, they are all attached great importance to and are quite detailed.

The relief fund issued every year is not too much of a burden for the Spanish government. In the case of casualties exceeding 50,000, the relief fund that the Spanish government needs to issue every year is only 10 million Pesetas.

Compared with the pension of tens of millions, this relief fund can only be said to be a fraction.

The total amount of pension issuance is as high as 62.759 million Pesetas, which is also a relatively large expenditure for the government.

Although this war did not cause too much impact on the Spanish mainland, because of the outbreak of the war, Spain's military spending still inevitably increased a lot.

According to government statistics, throughout 1904, Spain's total fiscal revenue remained at about 1.6 billion Pesetas, and total fiscal expenditure surged from less than 1.6 billion Pesetas to nearly 1.8 billion Pesetas, a net increase of more than 200 million Pesetas.

Among these increased expenditures, the vast majority were used in this war with the UK, which also made the government's fiscal deficit this year reach a new high of 175.5 million Pesetas.

This does not count the 62.759 million Pesetas in pensions about to be issued; adding these, the Spanish government's fiscal deficit this year will reach nearly 250 million Pesetas.

The good news is that the peace talks between Spain and the UK are about to begin; because they still hold more than 100,000 British captives, they can somehow squeeze some money from the hands of the British government to make up for Spain's fiscal deficit for the whole year.

And precisely because of this, Gao Da did not have the slightest stinginess regarding this pension and relief fund. After listening to the report of Finance Minister Ole Acosta, he nodded without any hesitation and instructed: "Since all pensions and relief funds have been counted, then work hard for another period of time, and try to issue all pensions to soldiers and their families before Christmas.

The annual relief fund should also be issued at the beginning of the year, so as to ensure that the living standards of injured and dead soldiers and their families are improved throughout the year.

These soldiers all fought for Spain; they stepped forward to defend the motherland, and we naturally cannot let these heroes feel cold-hearted.

Prime Minister Orcajo, regarding the issue of pension and relief fund issuance, I hope you and Acosta will focus on checking it, and clearly eliminate any phenomenon of under-issuance or omission.

I will also let the Performance Assessment Bureau of the Upper House and the Anti-Corruption Department supervise it; the issuance of pensions and relief funds concerns Spain's stability, and I absolutely do not allow any problems to appear."

Hearing Gao Da's order, Prime Minister Angelo Orcajo and Finance Minister Ole Acosta nodded and responded immediately, indicating that they understood.

"Minister William, has the British side agreed to our request?" Gao Da turned his gaze to Foreign Minister William again and asked.

After the UK proposed a request for peace talks to Spain, Spain also put forward its own requirements, which is to place the location of the peace talks in Lisbon or Ma Deli, and requested that either France or Russia act as a neutral mediator and join the peace talks.

Although the relationship between France or Russia and Spain is not that friendly, their relationship with the UK is very bad.

Just to cause some trouble for the British, these two countries are also willing to stand behind Spain in the peace talks. After all, peace talks will not endanger the UK's mainland; under these circumstances, they also don't have to worry that peace talks will let the UK fall from the altar.

"The British government stated that it still needs to consider for a period of time; they do not have any reply for the time being," Foreign Minister William replied.

"It seems these British are not in a hurry, then let's add some more pressure on them," Gao Da said with a smile: "

Minister Qiao Di, how is the navy's repair work going? Have those damaged battleships of ours recovered their combat capability now?"

"The repair work of the battleships has been basically completed and can be invested in fighting at any time," Defense Minister Qiao Di replied respectfully.

"Very good," Gao Da nodded with a smile and instructed: "Since the British are not in a hurry for peace talks, that also means this war has not ended yet.

Since this is the case, we should plan the next step of offensive preparations. If the British government does not have any reply within three days, the land and sea armies will move out immediately, and occupy the UK's Malta first."

The strategic value of Malta naturally goes without saying. Because it is located in the middle of the Mediterranean, it is the UK's most important Mediterranean naval base.

If the British think that Spain can no longer threaten them after the end of the Portuguese Civil War, they are very wrong. Although attacking the British mainland is unrealistic, it is still possible to continue moving east within the Mediterranean range and cause some trouble for the British in Malta and Egypt.

Unless the British are willing to completely abandon control of the Mediterranean, the one who should be in a hurry is the UK.

What's more, the captives in Spain's hands are not vegetarians. Every day the time is delayed, the families of these captives are more anxious, and the British government will naturally be more anxious.

After all, these captives will not urge the Spanish government; they will only continuously force the British government to concede in various ways to save their families.

Spain only needs to treat these British captives with good food and drink, and then let the British government pay several times or even dozens of times the funds during negotiations.

After all, Spain's food is not blown by the wind; using enough food to provide for the British captives, it is naturally not excessive for Spain to ask for some hard work fees.

Actually, the British government does want to make a fuss about the location of the peace talks. If the peace talks were really held in Lisbon or Ma Deli, the UK would completely fall into a disadvantage, or become fish on the chopping block, left to be slaughtered by Spain.

If the peace talks were held in London or other areas that the UK can control, the UK would at least have some confidence; this is completely different for peace talks.

But it is a pity that Spain will not concede on the location of the peace talks. Either Lisbon or Ma Deli; there is no other choice.

After the Spanish fleet went to Malta for two laps, the British government finally became honest and agreed to hold peace talks in Lisbon on the day before Christmas, which is Christmas Eve, and invited Germany and France as neutral countries to ensure the smooth progress of the peace talks.

The British government also specifically requested that during the peace talks, Spain should stop any hostile acts against the British mainland and colonies.

Gao Da also agreed to the British government's request; after all, it is close to Christmas, and it is still necessary to let these soldiers who participated in the war return to their respective families to celebrate and relax properly.