The British, of course, knew about what was happening in Catalonia, they had a bunch of spies lurking in Spain, and even after the war was over, these independent intelligence-gathering detachments did not stop their activities.

Spain was an important window to Europe's foreign trade, and although the French seemed reluctant to admit it, without Spain as a springboard for trade, it would have been difficult for them to survive the difficult period before the defeat.

Germany almost cut off France's Atlantic shipping routes, and the Renault government had to use Spanish ports to load and unload military supplies purchased from the Americas, which allowed Franco to earn a lot of price difference and dividends, but fortunately this situation only lasted for a short time, and when the German-French armistice agreement was signed, this entrepot trade also stopped.

France's distrust of the Spanish dictator is probably one of the reasons for this.

The British Cabinet was happy to see the Spanish government in disarray, which would have been good for the British Empire's Mediterranean strategy, and it would have been a-stirring stick for centuries, the British were able to play geopolitics to the fullest, and their best trick was to maintain a balance of regional power.

Spain's military strength at this time is not enough to pose a threat to the surrounding countries, but the premise is that the situation in Europe does not change significantly, and when some special circumstances occur, such as when the main military power in Europe shifts in the direction of Eastern Europe, Spain, which is located in the rear of Europe and the throat of the Mediterranean, its position will be very important.

The British were not worried at first that Franco would fall to the side of Soviet Russia, because theoretically the two had formed a blood feud in the Spanish Civil War, and there was no possibility of reconciliation at all, but as the British themselves liked to say, there were only eternal interests in the world, and there were no eternal allies or enemies.

Xu Jun also did not believe in Franco's promises, a cunning and cruel pragmatist, and much more cunning than most European politicians of the time.

Franco's control over the country was far greater than that of Mussolini and Hitler, and perhaps he was a true dictator, and under his repressive rule, Spanish society became more closed and conservative, and some of the policies he promulgated could not even be looked down upon by people like Himmler, accusing him of abusing his power and exerting unnecessary political oppression on the people.

Franco's "Traditionalist Spanish National Syndicalist Offensive Committee Front", also known as the "Spanish Falangist", is a political alliance formed by the merger of a bunch of fascist and right-wing parties. The Palangists' political philosophy seemed to be skewed towards National Socialism, but it was fundamentally different from the German Nazis, and the Spanish Falangists were mostly devout Catholics, who believed in a pan-nationalism and promoted the role of religion in the political sphere, the so-called "Spanish Catholic authoritarianism", which eventually became the political program of the party along with populism. With a fanatic devotion to religion, the Falangists were ruthless in the face of their opponents and were extremely fond of physically destroying their political enemies.

Franco's relentless and heavy-handed policy at home, and the Kingdom of Spain, which was formed by the merger of a large number of loose city-states and aristocratic lords, had a historical tradition of local self-government, but Franco simply did not allow such a situation to arise that was not under the control of the government or himself.

He wanted to bring all of Spain under Madrid, so the germ of banning any localism arose under his rule.

It should be said that the role of Catalonia and other local forces seeking independence, such as the Basque National Party, in the Spanish Civil War deepened Franco's determination to reclaim the power of local self-government.

Interestingly, the Basque National Party is politically inclined to the extreme right and populism, and is also a devout Catholic, so they do not get along with the religiously religiously opposed left-wing parties, and they will side with the republicans against Franco in the civil war, simply because the republicans agreed to their request for autonomy.

In fact, these people had even greater ambitions to take advantage of the civil strife in Spain to permanently separate the Basque Country from the Spanish map. When the civil war ended, the Basque National Party was undoubtedly liquidated by Franco, and their plans for statehood came to naught.

When it comes to maintaining the country's unity and sovereignty, Spain's dictator is a completely competent leader, but when it comes to people's livelihood and economic development, Franco looks like a layman. However, Xu Dafeng has no interest in playing the role of Uncle Sam in history, piling up a "Spanish miracle" with billions of dollars, and he might as well arm a few more tank divisions with that spare money.

Xu Jun's indifferent attitude towards Spain should be said to have affected the policy decisions of the British and French governments, otherwise they would not have acted so decisively to pit Spain.

In the strategic vision of British and French politicians, the country should continue to be so marginalized, lest he suddenly jump out and brush up his presence when the war on the Eastern Front is in full swing.

The geographical location of the Strait of Gibraltar is very important, a large number of important resources needed by Europe, oil and minerals from the Far East, manpower and raw materials from China, all need to enter the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal, some can go ashore from the countries bordering the Mediterranean, but some must be transferred to the Atlantic route through the Strait of Gibraltar.

And Spain's naval power, although weak, was enough to cause some trouble for shipping in the Mediterranean.

When it comes to the Spanish Navy, everyone will think of the Invincible Armada that crisscrossed the seven seas in the past, but now the Spanish Navy can only handle a heavy cruiser.

The Canary Islands-class heavy cruiser [Canary Islands], this heavy cruiser designed by Britain and built in Spain, was built in 1931 and officially commissioned in 1936, with a length of 193 meters, a width of 20 meters, a full load displacement of 13,000 tons, and a maximum speed of 33 knots. The flagship of the Royal Spanish Fleet was equipped with four twin eight-inch (203mm) guns, four four-point-seven (119mm) single-barreled secondary guns, and four 100-mm single-barreled secondary guns, and its firepower was moderate to high for a cruiser of its class.

The Spanish Navy, which had managed to re-emerge from the shadow of the total destruction of the Spanish-American War, suffered heavy losses in the brutal fratricidal warfare of the Civil War.

The Navy of the Spanish Republic, which once had two battleships, eight cruisers of various types, and seventeen destroyers, ranked seventh in the world, is now left with only the [Canary Islands], a warship of more than 10,000 tons.

In addition, the five light cruisers and twelve destroyers that survived have also been stationed in the military port for a long time due to a shortage of spare parts and fuel, and they are about to become a rust fleet.

In fact, the most serious loss in the civil war was the morale of the Spanish Navy, which was no longer the invincible armada that hoisted the red pennant for honor (meaning fighting to the end), and now that the Falangists held most of the key positions, how much combat power this fleet could retain has become a question worth scrutinizing. But no matter how bad a warship is, it is still a warship, and if Spain really wants to jump out and find a sense of existence, these warships are enough to add a lot of chaos to Germany.

After seizing control of the Italian naval fleet, Xu Jun no longer cared about the balance of power in the Mediterranean Sea, and the British Royal Navy seemed to have a great interest in the huge number of Italian cruisers in recent times, and Xu Jun also considered that there were still many places where the Royal Navy needed to cooperate in the later operations, so he was ready to negotiate with the British side, and was willing to divide a part of the Italian cruisers and destroyers to supplement the British Far East Fleet, which urgently needed to strengthen its strength.

This time, the mission of the British special mission has a relevant agenda.

PS: Thank you for your support, the author is working hard to recover and return to one day as soon as possible.