The Spaniards had been fighting those Mexican rebels in Mexico for several years, spending a lot of money and going into debt. Recently, other colonies in the Americas have begun to show all kinds of instability. In order to stabilize the colonies in the Americas, in order to pay off the various debts that are due. The Spaniards had to start negotiations with the rebels.

After referring to France's successful experience in dealing with the Santo Domingo colony, Spain proposed that it hoped to solve Mexico's problems on the model of Santo Domingo. Representatives of both sides negotiated in France for a month, and finally the Mexicans gained their independence through a ransom. Of course, they also owe the French a lot of money because of this. On the other hand, the Spaniards relied on the money they got to not only pay off the loans, but even have a lot of balances. Considering that this is more than the interest of the ransom, plus the reduction of the garrison, the various institutions and so on to save money. The Spaniards did the math, and the Spanish government didn't seem to get much less money than it did when it controlled Mexico.

The main reason for this is that the Spanish looting in Mexico is too inefficient. The amount of money Spain actually gets from Mexico every year is actually quite limited. But on the other hand, Spain's expropriation in Mexico has caused the people to complain, and it can be said that it is a heinous crime. In the end, the Spanish government did not get much money for two main reasons: first, too much money was lost by the people who handled it; Second, one of the consequences of the expropriation is that the cost of maintaining stability is too high, and a large part of the money obtained by the expropriation is consumed.

Of these two, the second is fine, but the first, well, people who can play drifting are very powerful and influential people. Their interests have been really affected. So for such a treaty, although the treaty brought back a lot of money, although the treaty still stipulates that Mexico is still a member of the Spanish Confederation, and still recognizes the King of Spain as the head of Mexico. But these guys, who have suffered financially, still vigorously attack the Spanish government for losing power and humiliating the country.

In response to these accusations, the Spanish government also needs to do something in its national interest. So taking back Gibraltar is naturally the best option.

First of all, this place is right under the nose of Spain, and once it is recovered, it will be visible to all Spaniards. Unlike those places in South America, which are far away, even if the area is not known to be many times the size of Gibraltar, the Spanish people generally do not see it. Even if it can't be recovered, the Spanish government's patriotic shelf is at least put on the table, isn't it?

Secondly, now the Roman Empire has put the "Carthage" hat on the heads of the British, and then the French also jumped out and slapped the British on the grounds of "telling you not to wear a hat". Obviously, the British are already a little bit about to fall down the wall and everyone pushes it, at this time they jump out and shout that they want to take back Gibraltar, and the British can't do anything to them, so it can be said that there is basically no risk, in this case, why not shout?

And the Spaniards suddenly jumped up on this matter at this time, which was also very much in the interests of France. So much so that Napoleon uttered the words: "King Carlos IV, though generally unconscious, was shrewd in this matter." ”

Of course, to attract the attention of the British, it is not enough to babble and scream. The Spanish Navy was once very powerful, and once upon a time, in the Age of Sail, Spanish battleships were the largest and most powerful in the entire world. With four gun decks and 140 cannons, the battleship "Holy Trinity" was even listed separately as a "super-first ship".

However, since entering the age of steam, Spain's navy has rapidly fallen behind, because of the lack of industrial capacity, Spain's new warships have to be purchased completely. And as we all know, real defense modernization cannot be bought.

The Spanish Navy could only import warships to France. Arms and especially warships representing the highest level of military technology have surprisingly high profit margins when it comes to trading. This is especially true if this trade also carries with it the perception of protection money. Just like the big dogs of later generations, the total price of the four fast frigates (littoral combat ships) you saw was as high as 6 billion US dollars, with an average of 1.5 billion US dollars each. It is much more expensive than the 10,000-ton drive of a large eastern country.

The situation is similar in Spain today, where they bought five so-called armored cruisers from France, which cost enough for the French to build four super-A cruisers. Of course, this is not because the French are asking for too dark. In fact, for the old allies, the original asking price of the French was really not black. It's just that after the Spaniards, who were in charge of procurement, had difficult negotiations with the French, the price of French warships suddenly became a lot higher. As for why this happened, after a difficult bargain, the price of the French warship rose a lot in the final agreement. I really don't know about this. Not enough in later generations, as is often the case in the arms sales of some countries.

Of course, if the British could be forced to hand over Gibraltar, it would be fine, and if Spain was really to fight, Spain would not do it. Because Gibraltar is a hellish place, it is too easy to defend and difficult to attack. It was a steep rock hill that the British had dug up for years to make rat holes. In those rat holes, there are hidden gun emplacements everywhere, hiding a large number of cannons. These cannons have tested firing meters, and their firing ranges are able to cover each other. So if you storm such a fortress, it's simply going to give people a head.

But when the Spaniards again raised the question of Gibraltar's ownership and turned to the French for help, the French proposed another viable means of attack.

The package was to blockade the Gibraltar Fortress.

The land blockade of the Gibraltar fortress is, of course, no problem. Because the land route was all under the control of the Spaniards. But the supply of the Gibraltar fortress was never overland. The fortress of Gibraltar was an important military port in its own right, and its supplies came almost entirely by sea.

With Spain's naval power, it was not enough to blockade the fortress of Gibraltar. This is especially true after the technological revolution in the Navy.

But the advent of a weapon made this blockade possible. This weapon is a mine. Spain could have relied entirely on mines to blockade Gibraltar by using the night offensive to lay mines.

Of course, to do so would be an act of war. But Talleyrand said that as long as Spain did not recognize it, then France would believe that Spain was not the first to attack. As for who laid the mines, maybe the Americans, who knows?