Chapter 443

When the Spanish government announced the plan for the grand military parade to be held at the port of Cádiz in Andalusia in a month, relevant news reports immediately attracted the attention of a large number of Spaniards.

Even not just Spaniards, newspaper media in European countries also reprinted relevant news reports one after another, letting the news that Spain was about to hold a grand military parade spread throughout Europe quickly.

In fact, anyone can see the intention of Spain holding a grand military parade at this time. On the one hand, it is to celebrate the victory results brought by this war, and on the other hand, it is to demonstrate Spain's military strength to the UK and European countries, forcing the UK, which refuses to concede a step in the peace talks.

What European countries have to admit is that Spain did indeed demonstrate extremely powerful military strength in this war. Many countries can do it to defeat the British Empire on land, but defeating the British Empire twice in a row in the ocean is not something that ordinary major powers can do.

The French Navy can indeed sneak attack the British sub-fleet twice in a row, but what after the sneak attack is successful? The British powerful Home Fleet is not a flower stand. Once the French and British navies break out in a head-on naval battle, the French Navy is definitely not the opponent of the British Navy.

This actually indirectly explains that the Spanish Navy's comprehensive strength is definitely one of the best, at the same level as the UK, and has already led European countries by a big step.

As news related to this war was constantly reported by media of various countries, European countries had long understood the reason for Spain's victory in the naval battle, which was the battleship named Dreadnought.

After Spain achieved victory in the naval battle twice in a row, European countries sent a large number of intelligence personnel to inquire about news about Spain's latest warships.

Although Spain's confidentiality work is done very well, wanting to completely keep secret all performance data of the Dreadnought battleship is ultimately impossible.

Currently, regarding the naming, tonnage, number of artillery pieces, and power system carried by the Dreadnought battleship, European countries have already understood it roughly.

Except for the specific layout of each structure inside the warship, the specific caliber and deployment of the artillery, and the more confidential data such as warship blueprints, other most data have actually been learned by European countries.

Regarding the Dreadnought battleship, Gao Da also knows that Spain's confidentiality work will not have much effect.

After Christmas, time has come to the end of 1904, and 1905 is about to come.

According to the original historical progress, the UK is also about to start building the Dreadnought battleship; at least the relevant project has been established, and naval design experts have begun to explore a brand-new warship design.

Now with the powerful pressure brought by the Spanish Navy, the UK's investment in the latest warships will definitely be higher, and the time to build the Dreadnought will also be faster.

It is not just the British Navy that feels the pressure; European navies, at least the navies of France and Germany, will also follow up on the construction of Dreadnoughts.

Under these circumstances, it is only a matter of time before European countries possess Dreadnoughts, and it is just a matter of time.

If you increase the confidentiality work for the Dreadnought battleship, you are only delaying the speed at which France and Germany possess Dreadnoughts, and you cannot delay the speed at which the UK possesses Dreadnoughts.

It is precisely because of this that Gao Da decided to gradually open up the confidentiality work for the Dreadnought battleship, letting France and Germany start researching and developing Dreadnoughts at the same time as the UK.

Gao Da did this after careful consideration. First of all, after France and Germany possess Dreadnoughts, the one they fear most is definitely not Spain, but the UK, which wants to maintain naval superiority.

In other words, France and Germany developing Dreadnoughts actually only affects the UK. This is also indirectly finding some trouble for the British. If the British count on researching and developing Dreadnoughts to fight the Spanish Navy, then they are very wrong.

Because while the British possess Dreadnoughts, France and Germany will also possess Dreadnoughts at the same time, which also means that since then, it is basically impossible for the UK to maintain the original two-power standard.

The so-called two-power standard is actually a rule formulated within the British Navy, requiring the British Navy's total scale and strength to be greater than or equal to the total scale and comprehensive strength of the world's second and third largest naval powers.

No matter how fast the British build warships, they cannot compare to the speed at which France and Germany build warships combined. What's more, Spain's shipbuilding industry is also developing rapidly at this time, and in extreme cases, it can build two or more Dreadnoughts a year.

Although Gao Da can accept letting Germany and France possess Dreadnoughts to find some trouble for the British, Gao Da will certainly not unconditionally hand over the Dreadnought blueprints and relevant materials to France and Germany.

If Germany and France want to possess relevant materials for Dreadnoughts, they must pay a price of equal value. If the prices offered by the two countries cannot satisfy Gao Da, Gao Da doesn't mind handing over this blueprint to any one of Germany and France in the form of an auction.

I believe that even if Germany and France are not that interested in Dreadnoughts, they will constantly increase the conditions they offer to prevent the other side from possessing Dreadnoughts.

After Spain announced that it would hold a grand military parade at the port of Cádiz, not only were the Spanish public quite excited, but the soldiers participating in the grand military parade were also quite excited.

Because there is only a little over a month left before the military parade, various infantry divisions, cavalry divisions, and artillery divisions selected the troops participating in the military parade in a very short time, and then started the emergency training mode.

This one-month emergency training, most of the training links are related to the upcoming Cádiz grand military parade. This military parade needs to demonstrate the powerful strength of the Spanish army to the outside world, so whether it is Gao Da or Spanish officials, they do not allow any accidents to occur in the military parade.

The thousands of soldiers participating in the military parade need to walk past the reviewing stand in an orderly manner according to the establishment of each unit. Regarding the pace adopted by the soldiers when walking past the reviewing stand, the Ministry of National Defense also designed it many times, and finally, Gao Da personally made the final decision, choosing a pace similar to the goose step.

In order to make the goose step have a better effect, Gao Da also specifically ordered the leather shoe factory of the royal industry to prepare leather boots for these 8,000+ soldiers who were about to participate in the military parade.

Using leather boots to kick the goose step, under the condition that the soldiers' pace is highly consistent, not only looks quite majestic and domineering, but the neat stepping sound can also make people feel refreshed, and they can't help but sigh that it is truly an elite division.

In order to cooperate with the military parade that the government is about to hold, the port of Cádiz will also undergo temporary transformation in this month, clearing a large area for the military parade, facilitating the holding of the military parade in the future.

In the future, this area will not only be used to review the land army of up to 8,000 people, but also to review the navy and air force, demonstrating the style of the Spanish army to the world.

It is precisely because of this that the government carried out large-scale renovation of this area of the port, striving to show Spain's best side.

In San Fernando, south of the port of Cádiz, 8,000 soldiers are undergoing quite arduous military parade training.