Chapter 445

The slightly poor performance of the Portuguese army was just an episode of the Cádiz grand military parade, and the performance of the Portuguese would not affect Spain, which held the military parade, at all.

After the Portuguese army walked past the reviewing stand, the land army's military parade formally ended, and next it was the turn of Spain's air force and navy to appear in turn.

Compared with the land army square that had already ended, European countries, especially the European super powers led by Germany and France, were actually more interested in the air force and navy squares that Spain was about to appear.

Spain's air force unit did not disappoint them. A few minutes after the land army square left the reviewing stand, several airships drove from the distance towards the reviewing stand.

The two leading airships each hung a flag. The flag was hung on a steel cable, and there was enough weight under the steel cable to ensure that the flag could be completely unfolded in the air.

One of these two flags was the Spanish national flag, and the other was the Spanish royal flag.

Following the two leading airships, there were more than a dozen airships of inconsistent sizes. These airships flew majestically over the reviewing stand from a high altitude, and the people around looked at these flying objects in the sky with curiosity.

Considering that most people are still very unfamiliar with these things flying in the sky, Spain also carefully added a commentary link in this grand military parade.

In addition to introducing to the people what the airships flying in the sky are, the main purpose of the commentary link is actually to attract dignitaries of various countries to put all their attention on the airships.

Sure enough, when the commentary at the scene began to introduce the airships flying in the sky to the people, many high-level government officials and royal members of European countries also began to listen one after another.

There is no way; things like airships that can fly to high altitudes will have extremely significant changes for humans at present.

Let alone the changes in the civilian field, just the changes in the military field are enough to make dignitaries of European countries put their attention on airships.

Whether it is the Anglo-Spanish War that is in peace talks or the more distant Franco-Prussian War and Austro-Prussian War, the artillery fire of the enemy on the ground in the distance is what the army considers when digging trenches, and they never consider the danger from the sky.

Imagine these airships flying over the heads of their own army, easily dropping one bomb after another beside the soldiers; this will not only cause huge casualties to the army, but also affect the morale of the army.

No army can fight with the enemy in front without fear under the situation of constant bombing overhead. Even if the German army, known as the number one land army in Europe, comes, the first thought when facing such a scene must be to find cover to avoid bombing.

This is the huge role demonstrated by airships. For European countries, they can accept that their own country does not have airship equipment, but they absolutely cannot accept that other European countries possess airships.

Although many European countries including Germany, France, and the UK are researching and developing, Spain is definitely at the forefront of European countries in the research and development of airships.

The purpose of many European countries coming to Spain is also very simple, which is to see to what extent Spain's airships have been researched and developed, and whether Spain can sell existing airship technology to itself, using this way to make its own country's airship technology reach the European forefront.

Regardless of the inner thoughts of the dignitaries of European countries present, at this time, seeing the airships flying overhead one by one, the inner heart of the Spanish people is still quite proud and satisfied.

Before Gao Da became the King of Spain, the Spanish people had never felt the feeling of being the center of attention. This grand military parade not only demonstrated the strength of the Spanish land army to all of Europe, but also demonstrated Spain's strength in airships and the navy to all of Europe.

This grand military parade is also the first grand military parade in human history covering the navy, land, and air forces. Such a grand occasion happened in Spain, so how can it not make all the Spanish people present feel proud and excited?

A large number of Spanish people looked at the two flags hanging under the airship with fanatical eyes. The royal flag next to the national flag is so dazzling, and the two flags symbolize everything to the Spanish people.

Compared with the military parade link of the land army, the military parade link of the air force appeared much simpler. As more than a dozen airships flew by slowly, the military parade of the air force had already ended.

The military parade for the navy cannot continue on the reviewing stand, but needs to be changed to a place closer to the sea area.

In the navy's military parade, the Dreadnought battleship only showed its face simply, and then the entire military parade link ended.

Although the Dreadnought battleship only showed its face simply, for dignitaries of European countries, they can still easily see the difference between the Dreadnought battleship and other Spanish battleships.

Because the tonnage gap is too large, the Dreadnought battleship is a full circle larger than other battleships, and the effect looks completely different.

Surrounding newspaper media are also constantly shooting the air force and navy of Spain. They can't wait to display Spain's achievements in the air force and navy to the outside world in the way of news.

Whether it is the airship that is still very fresh to the European public or the battleship that looks quite huge in Spain, as long as you can shoot clear photos and publish relevant news, it will definitely become the hottest news explosion point in Europe.

The newspaper reporters at the scene also clearly realized this point. They constantly urged the photographers beside them to shoot clearer photos, so that they could write corresponding manuscripts based on these photos.

Dignitaries of European countries who watched the entire military parade returned to the hotels prepared for them by Spain with different moods, and Gao Da also let the Spanish government prepare for the next move, trying to sell the military technology currently displayed by Spain to European countries.

Especially airships, for Spain, which is researching and developing airplanes, airships are actually of no great use.

Besides being able to carry passengers and goods in the civilian field, the role in the military field is completely inferior to airplanes. Don't look at airships also being able to equip weapons; in fact, when facing airplanes, airships have no power to fight back at all.

Although Spain is also researching and developing airships, it is more to cover up the airplane research and development being carried out at the same time. As for the part of the technology related to airships that Spain has mastered, it is best to sell it to European countries at a higher price under the premise that European countries have not fully mastered airships.

If you can exchange technology related to airships for a large sum of income, it can not only alleviate Spain's fiscal tension caused by the war, but also let Spain's military technology research and development have more funds.

Of course, letting the attention of European countries be all on airships is also one of the important purposes.

Imagine, when most European countries are working hard to develop airships, Spain suddenly takes out airplanes, how should European countries respond?

Don't say, there is more than one country interested in Spain's air force and navy technology.

On the second day after the end of Spain's grand military parade, which is February 1, 1905, the Italian diplomatic representative put forward a request to the Spanish government, inquiring whether Spain could sell technology related to battleships and airships to Italy, or build a few battleships and airships for Italy.

Spain is naturally willing to sell technology related to airships, and even Dreadnought-class battleships can be built for Italy.

But in order to sell these two products at a higher price, Spain certainly cannot show a posture of being eager to sell.

After the Italian diplomatic representative put forward relevant requests, the Spanish government did not directly agree to Italy's request, but stated that it needed long-term discussion to reach a conclusion.

The Spanish government did indeed conduct long-term discussions, waiting until a few days later when the Italian diplomatic team was about to leave Spain, before the Spanish government stated that it could sell technology related to airships to Italy.

Of course, it can also build airships for Italy, and how to do it specifically depends on the choice of the Italian government.

As for the Dreadnought-class battleship, the trump card that Spain used to defeat the British Navy, it can also be sold to the Italian government. But the sale of Dreadnought-class battleships can only be carried out in the form of a whole ship, and Spain will not sell blueprints and design materials related to it to the outside world.

Moreover, such a super giant ship with a displacement of nearly 20,000 tons is also quite expensive to build. The Spanish government also specifically reminded the Italian diplomatic representative that Italy's finances may not be able to bear too many battleships.

The Italian diplomatic representative originally didn't care, but when they learned that the selling price of the Dreadnought-class battleship to the outside world was as high as 45 million Pesetas, and also needed a large sum of extra expenses including personnel training fees, technology transfer fees, etc., they were still shocked and dumbfounded.