Chapter 447

In addition to forcing the British to concede as early as possible, Gao Da was also laying out his plans for the Portuguese.

The military parade held in Cadiz had a very good effect; even though several days had passed since the parade ended, news related to it remained the hottest topic on the Iberian Peninsula.

A large number of Spanish and Portuguese citizens were discussing the shocking performance of the Spanish military during the parade, and they were also curious about the air and naval forces Spain had displayed.

Judging by the record of the Spanish Navy defeating the British Navy, the Spanish Navy could fully be considered one of the most powerful navies in Europe.

The concept of an air force was also first proposed by Spain, which also meant that Spain was already a well-deserved world leader in both naval and air power.

Regarding the army, although the Spanish Army did not have enough combat records to establish the status of a top-tier army, one could see from the performance of the various Spanish army units in the parade that the combat effectiveness of the Spanish Army was absolutely reliable, and it was definitely on the same level as the armies of the two major European land powers, Germany and France.

Viewed this way, Spain was simultaneously at the top level in the navy, army, and air force. Aside from Spain, no other country currently could achieve this kind of accomplishment.

Of course, Spain was being a bit opportunistic. Currently, only Spain essentially possessed an air force; while other European countries were also developing airships, they had not yet reached the point of arming their militaries with airships to form an air force.

But even ignoring the air force, which was still just a concept, there were actually only three countries—France, Germany, and Russia—that could simultaneously rank at the top in both the army and navy.

Although the British Army was not bad, compared to the three major land powers of France, Germany, and Russia, the British Army could absolutely not be considered top-tier.

There was even less need to mention great powers like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, and the United States. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy were both countries with serious imbalances, and the United States' military strength was even more of a mess, with the total scale of its army and navy being at the very bottom among the great powers.

Although a large factor in this was that the United States had no external threats, it was no wonder that European countries could take the United States seriously when a great power possessed such a pathetic scale of military forces.

Gao Da did not know how the citizens of other countries reacted, but he was very clear about the reaction of the Portuguese citizens. Currently, a wave of envy toward the Spanish had emerged within Portugal.

The Portuguese citizens were very envious of the Spanish because Spain possessed an extremely powerful navy, army, and air force, and could even defeat the once-unbeatable British Empire.

And what about Portugal? If not for Spain's help, the Portuguese Republican Party would still be ruling Portugal, and the Portuguese citizens would only be forced to submit to the Republican Party's dictatorial rule.

If Spain only possessed military power, that would be one thing, but today's Spain, while possessing powerful military strength, also had huge achievements in industry and the economy.

Spain's current industrial scale was second only to the three great powers of Britain, Germany, and the United States among the great powers, and it was roughly on the same level as the industrial scale of France and Russia.

Spain's economy was also growing at a high speed; Spain, which had once been a brother in adversity with Portugal, now had an annual per capita income that had increased several times over.

This also led to the income of the Spanish, who were also on the Iberian Peninsula, being more than half higher than that of the Portuguese; the Spanish could live a full and wealthy life, while many Portuguese could not even get a full meal.

The huge gap between Portugal and Spain not only made the Portuguese envious of the Spanish, but also made Pan-Iberianism more prevalent.

Quite a few Portuguese were thinking, if Portugal and Spain became a unified country again, could they also enjoy everything the Spanish could enjoy?

Developed industry, a prosperous economy, a powerful military, and a peaceful and stable political environment—for the Portuguese, this was a golden age they had never experienced.

Of course, most of the time these people were just thinking about it. After all, if they really did this, Portugal would be annexed by Spain again, which was unacceptable to many Portuguese.

But at least the public opinion effect Gao Da wanted had been achieved; if Portugal were annexed by relatively peaceful means now, even if a portion of the people opposed it, there would definitely be another portion supporting the merger of the two countries.

The opposition of some Portuguese meant nothing to Gao Da. Portugal's population was not large to begin with; if only a portion of the people opposed the merger, he could easily disperse this portion of people to other regions, reducing the number of Portuguese in the Portuguese region.

As long as the number of Portuguese in the Portuguese region was less than half, even if a considerable portion of the Portuguese there opposed the merger of the two countries, they would not be able to stir up any trouble at all.

Regarding the merger of the two countries of Spain and Portugal, the Spanish government was already consulting with the Portuguese government.

Gao Da preferred to annex Portugal by peaceful means; if it could be done, he did not mind letting the existing Portuguese government continue to possess a portion of power, allowing Portugal and Spain to exist in a manner similar to the Austro-Hungarian Empire for a short time.

To put it bluntly, this meant establishing a dual monarchy, with Spain and Portugal each having their own government, while Gao Da served as the common monarch of both countries, achieving the unification and separate governance of the two countries.

Whether the Portuguese government continued to exist was not an important matter to Gao Da. As long as he could bring Portugal under his rule, completely controlling Portugal was only a matter of time.

The consultation with the Portuguese government was actually a negotiation; the Portuguese government understood that being annexed by Spain was the general trend, and even the founding philosophy of the Iberian Party was based on the Pan-Iberianism that promoted the merger of Spain and Portugal.

The current Portuguese Iberian Party had already been infiltrated by a large number of high-level Spanish officials; under these circumstances, the existing Portuguese government was unable to prevent Portugal from merging into Spain.

Spain had also defeated the British on the front lines, which could be said to have cleared away all external obstacles to annexing Portugal.

Germany and France could not possibly offend Spain for the sake of a small Portugal; after all, Spain at this time required 100% respect and attention from every European great power.

On February 11, 1905, Spain and Portugal officially signed the "Iberian Alliance Treaty," agreeing that the two countries should work together to deal with enemies outside the Iberian Peninsula and protect the peace and stability within the Iberian Peninsula.

According to the provisions of this alliance treaty, the Spanish Navy would enjoy docking and stationing rights in all Portuguese ports, and the Portuguese Navy would also have the right to dock and station in all Spanish ports.

Spain generously promised that all Portuguese warships and merchant ships could pass through the Strait of Gibraltar just like Spanish ships, without any obstacles.

In return, the Portuguese government should also permit the Spanish military to use the highways and railways within Portugal for rapid transfer under specific circumstances.

It could be said that under the provisions of this alliance treaty, Spain's army and navy almost undertook all the defense tasks of the Iberian Peninsula, and Portugal no longer had to worry about threats from the outside world.

But for Portugal, this also meant that Portugal was leaning completely toward Spain; Spain had become the only threat to the current Portuguese government, and the kind that could not be resisted.

In addition to reaching various kinds of cooperation in the military aspect, the Spanish and Portuguese governments also agreed that both governments would reach further cooperation in the fields of economy and industry.