Chapter 442: The Military Parade Plan

The first day of peace talks ended with the diplomatic representatives of Spain and the United Kingdom parting on bad terms; the British representatives were clearly unable to accept the overly harsh reparation demands put forward by Spain, and the Spanish side was unwilling to make concessions on the issue of reparations.

Although Germany and France, acting as neutral mediators, were surprised by the magnitude of the reparations Spain was demanding, they would not easily intervene at such an early stage, preferring to wait and see the subsequent progress of the peace talks between Spain and the United Kingdom.

After the first day of peace talks concluded, representatives from each country reported the progress of the negotiations to their home governments. The British government was shocked by the size of Spain's appetite, and the German and French governments were also stunned that Spain had actually proposed such a massive amount of reparations.

Back when the Franco-Prussian War ended, the Germans themselves did not think the French government would agree to reparations of 5 billion francs. At that time, France was in the stage of having just overthrown Napoleon III, and the domestic situation was relatively chaotic, which was the reason the French government agreed to the 5 billion franc indemnity.

Even with various reasons, the 5 billion franc indemnity agreed to by the French government still shocked European countries for a long time.

At this moment, Spain was actually demanding more reparations than those 5 billion francs, and the party required to pay was the British Empire, the world's number one power; this was simply hard for people to believe.

Although Britain's performance in this war was extremely poor, and both its army and navy were crushed by the Spanish military, the current Britain had at least not reached the level of France during the Franco-Prussian War; the British monarch had not been captured, and the domestic political situation was not that chaotic.

Under such circumstances, it was clearly impossible for Spain to achieve its goal by demanding such a huge sum in reparations.

Would the Spanish government not understand such an obvious truth? In reality, both Carlos and Prime Minister Orcajo understood that the British could not possibly accept such a huge sum in reparations.

However, Spain held the initiative at this time, as Spain held over a hundred thousand British prisoners in its hands. The longer these peace talks dragged on, the greater the public opinion pressure the British government would face.

The longer the peace talks lasted, the more benefits Spain could obtain. Carlos did not mind spending a few months wearing the British down; in any case, Spain's Dreadnought-class battleships were still being built in large numbers, and Spain could still maintain its advantage in naval warfare, which also meant that it was impossible for Britain to turn the tables.

Because he knew this peace talk was destined to be a tug-of-war, Carlos did not pay too much attention to the negotiations, instead turning his gaze to the upcoming merit-rewarding ceremony in Spain.

Although the negotiations were still ongoing, Britain and Spain had a tacit understanding regarding the ceasefire. Unless the negotiations collapsed directly, this war would basically end officially after the peace talks.

Spain and the United Kingdom would not break out into any further wars, and the Iberian Peninsula was about to welcome peace.

On Christmas Day, the Spanish government officially passed a resolution to rebuild the port in the Gibraltar region; in the future, the Spanish Pacific Fleet would be stationed directly at the port of Gibraltar, completely controlling the Strait of Gibraltar.

Gibraltar and Ceuta, on the opposite side of the strait, would become the two pillars for Spain to control the Strait of Gibraltar. With these two ports guarding it, Spain could ensure that control of the strait remained in its own hands.

To commemorate Spain reclaiming Gibraltar after nearly two hundred years, Carlos decided to build a monument in the central area of the port of Gibraltar, firstly to commemorate Spain's reclamation of Gibraltar, and secondly to commemorate those soldiers who sacrificed themselves for the recovery of Gibraltar, so that future generations would always remember their contributions to Spain.

In addition to building a monument in Gibraltar, Carlos would also build a large mausoleum park on the outskirts of Madrid, specifically for burying those soldiers who gave their lives for the country.

Beyond these tasks, Carlos also planned to hold a large military parade in the port city of Cadiz in the state of Andalusia to celebrate Spain's victory in this war and the reclamation of Gibraltar.

This war with the United Kingdom had already proven the strength of the Spanish army and navy, and holding a military parade could better demonstrate this strength to the public.

A large-scale military parade could not only increase the Spanish public's support and recognition of the country but also make European nations understand Spain's strength and increase their regard for Spain.

The reason for placing the parade in Cadiz was that this port was quite special, having indirectly triggered this war with the United Kingdom.

For this parade, in addition to deploying the army, Carlos also planned to deploy the navy and the air force.

The navy, naturally, went without saying. The Spanish navy had defeated the British navy in this war, leaving the remaining main force of the British navy afraid to sail out for a decisive battle.

Such achievements no longer needed to be mentioned; European countries all understood that the Spanish navy's strength was already at the forefront of the world, and the number of countries that could rival the Spanish navy could be counted on one hand; currently, the only one at the same level was actually Britain.

As for the so-called air force, it was actually a special unit composed of a small number of airships. Spain also had decent results in the research and development of airplanes, but military products related to airplanes would not be directly displayed to European countries.

On the contrary, regarding these airships, Carlos was even eager to let European countries refer to Spain's airship designs.

The current airships, after certain modifications, could also possess a certain degree of offensive capability. Either by mounting a machine gun on the airship, long-range strafing of the ground could form fire suppression, although the accuracy was a total mess.

But if there were enemy aircraft at close range, this machine gun would still have some effect.

The main means for airships to attack the ground was by dropping bombs; in clear and windless weather, the accuracy could still be guaranteed to some extent.

If the weather was not clear or there were strong winds, this method of throwing shells by hand had no accuracy to speak of. However, Spain did not require the airships to possess actual combat capability; after all, the airships deployed for this grand parade were, to put it bluntly, just to attract the attention of European countries.

The reason airships were not deployed in this war was actually because the current role of airships was too limited. Flying too high, apart from limited reconnaissance, could not guarantee effective accuracy against ground troops.

Flying too low would result in being hit by bullets from ground troops, and if one were unlucky, the airship might even explode or catch fire.

Under these circumstances, once airships were used on the battlefield, all their shortcomings would be exposed. Carlos did not want this product, which was used to replace airplanes to attract the attention of European countries, to blow up so early; at the very least, he had to wait until European countries had invested a large amount of capital into airship R&D and wasted several years.