Colorful murals, extravagant chandeliers, magnificent gold threads, classical and elegant ornaments, in this grand hall built for giants, every detail sets off the noble royal style. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the warm winter sun shines into the hall, and the hand-woven Persian carpet is sprinkled on the long dining table of the finest mahogany, which brings out the delicious food on the porcelain plate.

This large wooden table, which is more than 40 meters long and nearly 2 meters wide, can accommodate hundreds of people at the same time, but at the moment there are only three people sitting at the table, three young Europeans who look about the same age. They each wore military uniforms and their own medals, and they enjoyed a meal of modest but absolutely exquisite content.

"Your Majesty, I beg your pardon for the presumptuousness of the following: as far as I know, the high-speed torpedo boats sold by the British to the Spanish Navy were not of the top configuration, but they cost 4. The price is 50,000 pounds, and we in Germany can provide torpedo boats with better performance for only 400,000 marks per unit, which is equivalent to 20,000 pounds. An order for 40 torpedo boats could save the Spanish Navy a million pounds. ”

It was not a German arms dealer or a gold medal sales representative who spoke, but Joachim, the sixth prince of the Second German Reich, who is also a classmate of Natsuki that we are very familiar with. A visit to Spain was part of the planned plan for the German Navy training ship Charlotte, but according to the original itinerary, it was supposed to stop at the port of Malaga, not here, hundreds of kilometers away in Barcelona. Due to rough sea conditions, the Charlotte veered off course and took shelter in Barcelona. During a conversation with Spanish officials, Natsuki accidentally learned that Alfonso XIII had left cold Madrid and was here at the Palazzo des Marina, so he volunteered to pay a visit and was given the opportunity to have lunch with him.

Sitting at the table was a thin, thin and quiet man, born in 1886 and the widow of his predecessor, King Alfonso XII. The declining kingdom was regent by his mother, Maria Cristina, until Alfonso XIII came of age, during which time it suffered the heaviest blow of modern times, the Spanish-American War. In this war of considerable historical and military significance, Spain lost the rich West Indies and the Philippines, as well as most of its ships and what little confidence it had left.

Alfonso XIII, with a slender face, raised his head lazily and slowly, glanced at Natsuki, and said tepidly: "If Your Highness sits in my place, will you accept this proposal?" ”

Since the Spanish-American War, the Kingdom of Spain has almost lost its diplomatic influence and political voice, for example, Morocco is its traditional sphere of influence, while France and Germany are clamoring for control of Morocco, which is only a microcosm of "poor people are bullied". Extremely weak militarily, economically, and industrially, in order to maintain the most basic right to exist, the Spanish regime had to rely internationally on the strong, that is, the British Empire, which replaced it in maritime supremacy. Against this backdrop, a discerning ruler would never offend the British for the sake of a million pounds of sterling, and curry favor with Germany, which was not yet strong enough to overthrow the existing order, and Natsuki knew this, and his proposal was merely a temptation.

The young king of Spain did not ask, but continued to eat with his head bowed. He didn't eat much, but his body was thin and small, almost to the point of being weak. Even Christian, who was not very tall, looked sturdy and muscular when standing in front of him.

Judging from the way Alfonso XIII rejected his proposal, Natsuki had reason to judge that he was a man with brains, and at the same time became more curious about his inner thoughts—was there a cowardly and humble soul hidden in this thin and thin body, or was it an extremely suppressed king's heart?

The Kingdom of Spain in its heyday was incomparably dazzling, and it left a resounding unique title and classic legend to human military history, such as the Spanish infantry phalanx, the Spanish Armada, and the Spanish musket team. At the same time, the one-sided situation of the Spanish-American War is just in line with the interest of aerial researchers in counterattacking history. As far as Natsuki knows, in the 100 years that followed, there was no shortage of articles and posts on Chinese and foreign forums with Alfonso XIII as the object of illusion, discussing the methods and routes of Spain's resurgence against the trend and thwarting the ambitions of US imperialism.

Instead of being in their position, people can express their imagination without responsibility, just like standing on the shore and guiding the ship in the sea. Only when you are really in the position of the helmsman will you deeply understand the difficulty of fighting the wind and waves, and realize the insignificance of manpower in front of nature.

Standing in the tide of history, Natsuki's curiosity about Alfonso XIII is not a long-standing one, nor is it a research topic of human thought and behavior, but an attempt to solve the dilemma of reality. Today, his status and ideal direction are closely linked to the fate of the German Empire. In an environment that directly determines its survival, British policy will never allow the emergence of the only strong man on the European continent, France has always been haunted by the defeat of Franco-Prussian law, Russia has compromised with Britain on the question of West Asia and the Far East, the Balkans have become the only direction of expansion of the "polar bear" at this time, and the contradictions between it and Austria-Hungary are difficult to reconcile, and the weakness of Austria-Hungary, the cunning of the Italians, the backwardness of the Turks, coupled with the stubbornness and incompetence of Kaiser Wilhelm II and his main staff, such a team situation is simply " The enemy is like a tiger, and his teammates are like pigs", even if Natsuki uses the prophetic nature of history to make some changes, it is still difficult to win.

When the hostile camp is difficult to disintegrate, developing potential new allies, or changing the political leanings of neutral countries to facilitate them during the war, and then participate in the war when the war situation is clear, and at the same time play a role in increasing personal political capital and influence, this is the golden calculation that Natsuki has worked hard to calculate along the way.

Letting the previous topic cool down with time, Natsuki took out a rather quaint notepad from his pocket, which was covered with dark brown soft cowhide, and the paper inside was already a little naturally yellowed.

"By a very coincidental chance, I got a notebook, it's an unfinished posthumous work by a whimsical novelist, it's very interesting, the original text is in German, and I was a little bored with Prince Oldenburg on our voyage, so I tried to translate it into Spanish, and you look back at it and that's what we've translated."

With that, Natsuki motioned to the Spanish royal attendants on the side to forward the notebook to the king.

When the notepad arrived, Alfonso XIII was still the same lazy appearance that had not woken up, but unlike the laziness of the Italian midfielder "Sleeping Skin" Pirlo, the Spanish king looked like a lack of energy.

This notebook is certainly not a relic of a novelist, it is Natsuki's "fiction" from beginning to end, except that the Spanish version is written by Christian. It started in 1880, the seventh year of Alfonso XII's reign, when the domestic political situation in Spain was relatively stable and the external environment was relatively relaxed. In order to reverse the decline of Spain's national power, the king raised funds by selling a large number of royal property, **** monastery wealth, etc., and invested it all in industrial construction and scientific and technological research, using the opportunity of the second industrial revolution to let Spain get rid of the fatigue of domestic industry, restore and expand overseas trade markets, and then, relying on a strong industrial economy to rebuild the Spanish army and navy. The army followed the example of German Prussia, attaching importance to artillery and infantry qualities, and the navy developed the "doctrine of naval blockade", massively building armored ships and protective cruisers.

In the second half of this fiction, a Spanish army of very different strength confronts ambitious Americans, who use strong fortresses to thwart a surprise attack by American troops, and then use the superb qualities of a professional army in sports warfare to repair the American Army, which is no better equipped and trained than the Militia, and use the sea guerrilla attack to sabotage the logistics and transportation of the American army, and finally defeat the United States, defending Spain's great power status and colonial interests.

Such a novel, which is neither rich in characterization nor spectacle, is only a few tens of thousands of words, and it basically depicts an alternative fate of the Spanish kingdom in a discursive and hypothetical way. Alfonso XIII spent four or five minutes reading the Spanish content, then flipped over and glanced at the original German text in front of him.

During this time, Natsuki observed quietly. The King of Spain's mind was clearly drawn to the story of this not so new genre, and for a moment his stagnant eyes fluctuated, but then returned to a deep calm.

Finally, Alfonso XIII closed the notebook and commented nonchalantly that it was "seems to be interesting" while pushing it back to Natsuki. Because he didn't use enough strength, the book didn't slide along the table to a place where Natsuki could reach, but stopped between the two.

Faced with such a situation, the Spanish royal attendants on the side chose not to act.

Xia Shu chuckled: "Yes, of course, it is easy for future generations to comment on the behavior of their predecessors, if you really want him to make decisions in that era instead of his predecessors, it is okay at the beginning, as the situation changes, unexpected things will follow, without the help of established cognition, he may not be as good as his predecessors, this is the mystery of history." ”

Leaving aside the tender lamb liver on the plate, Alfonso XIII put down his knife and fork, wiped his mouth with a napkin, then picked up the glass of golden wine, took a sip, and said slowly: "I once talked to a hermit about the laws of everything in the world, and the hermit said that no one can control the world, but those who can truly understand the laws of things can determine the direction of human history. ”

Natsuki blinked, waiting for the young king's words, but he put down his glass and prepared to leave the table. Due to the constraints of etiquette, Natsuki and Christian had to end the meal immediately.

"How about going to my salon and smoking a cigarette?" Alfonso XIII proposed.

Although the German princes were not in the habit of smoking, they did not want to miss the opportunity to get in touch with them, and they soon moved to the salons where various modern crafts were used.

Alfonso XIII smoked Mexican cigarillos, a hundred years ago, when Mexico was still the domain of the Spanish crown, and fine cigars and gold and silver were a natural tribute, but now they have become a commodity that needs to be purchased out of pocket, and the difference can be imagined.

After a few puffs of his cigar, Alfonso XIII's gloomy eyes shone a little newer, and he sat down in a large and comfortable chair, put away his previous carelessness, and said in an inquiring tone: "In the process of translating that note, His Royal Highness the Prince must have some thoughts, right?" ”

Natsuki was not in a hurry to answer, but looked at Christian, who put on an indifferent expression with a very knowledgeable expression.

"Actually...... We feel that everything that happened in the past has become history, and instead of thinking about what to do in the past and what not to do, we should think about how to go on the road now. Natsuki said slowly.

Alfonso XIII smoked without saying a word, and soon hid his elongated eggplant-like face in the white smoke.

After a while, Xia Shu said: "Having said that, although the ideas in that notebook are absurd, they also reflect some philosophies of governing the world. If you want to turn the tide, you have to be more bold than ordinary people think, and choosing the right direction is especially important for ultimate success. ”

The young king of Spain turned his head to look at the window, which was embedded with the stained glass common in churches, and the light that penetrated through the window was equally colorful and brilliant whether the light outside the window was strong or dark.

About a year and a half ago, Alfonso XIII married Victoria, Lord of Batenberg, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England. Eugenie, two months ago, their first son was born, and the cry of a newborn baby brought new hope to the ancient and silent Bourbon dynasty. Now, nearly a decade has passed since the unbearable Spanish-American War, time has diluted the sadness and disappointment in the hearts of the Spanish royal family and the people, and the huge disparity in national strength has made them dare not hope to regain the lost colonies from the Americans, but the reconstruction of the navy is still proceeding cautiously. After the first Moroccan crisis, the Spanish parliament approved a new shipbuilding budget, which was sufficient to build three 10,000-ton battleships with superior performance, and although most of Spain's domestic shipyards were old, the government still decided to build new warships by its own shipyards, and the technical shortcomings would be made up by purchasing warship designs and some materials and equipment from abroad.

Until his departure, Natsuki did not propose military cooperation between Germany and Spain, because he saw in the depth and caution shown by Alfonso XIII the depression of the Spanish ruling class, which preferred to bow their once proud heads and cling to the thighs of the British, rather than try to change their fate through risky military speculation. However, no country's attitude and position will be static, and sometimes, it needs the stimulus of a volcanic eruption; Sometimes, it needs subtle influence.

(End of chapter)