After Garcia left, the naval blockade of the western Mediterranean soon stopped.

Two acts of goodwill were made in quick succession, and the signs of peace in Spain and Italy were already quite obvious.

This result was generally in the interests of all parties, including Austria-Hungary, which was not dissatisfied, after all, Spain had already made a lot of assists and fulfilled its obligations as a quasi-ally.

Coupled with the fact that they had regained Venicia in a short period of time, victory was a foregone conclusion.

Austria-Hungary was more worried about the post-war distribution, and Spain's early withdrawal was quite in line with their wishes.

While further expansion into northern Italy may not be permitted, it is possible to change the bias of the postwar Italian government.

The only claim made by Austria-Hungary to Spain was to borrow the seaports of Sardinia and Sicily in order to take over the blockade of Italy.

Clearly, this tool has been found to be very effective in resource-poor countries.

France is said to be increasing the size of its blockade fleet so that Prussia does not go to sea.

Alfonso, however, is not optimistic about the final outcome of this plan, and even if the French blockade is stronger than before, it is unlikely to have any impact on the huge North Germany in the short term.

Moreover, the German region was not barren, and after occupying part of the northern part of France, there was no shortage of coal and iron.

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Austria-Hungary leased the port because its navy had to start from the Adriatic Sea, and the blockade of the west coast was extremely inefficient.

Italy's main shipping routes and important ports were on the west coast, with only a handful of Egyptian and Ottoman ships on the right.

Since the sinking of the Ottoman merchant ship by Italy, the few ships have been dwindling.

Alfonso could not find a reason to refuse the request.

He was not averse to the expansion of Austria-Hungary, which had no shortage of population and territory, and the main problems were ethnic promiscuity, as well as internal corruption.

The annexation of millions of Italians would not only not strengthen the empire, but would weaken it.

Moreover, if you set a target for the Italian nationalists, the work on the Spanish side will be carried out better.

Spain happily agreed to Austria-Hungary's request to lease four ports to Austria-Hungary at market prices.

Counting the existing ports of Austria-Hungary, it just forms an impenetrable giant net that envelops Italy.

However, Theo had not yet signed the contract, and somehow the news leaked, and Italy immediately sent a diplomatic protest, accusing Spain of leasing the port as a continuation of the war.

and solemnly declared that Italy would never sign a peace agreement unless Spain stopped leasing ports to Austria-Hungary.

In general, Italy took possession of the matter, and the leasing of ports by neutral countries to other countries for military purposes was in itself an act of deemed declaration of war.

Not to mention that Spain's current job is only to blockade the Western Mediterranean, or to selectively blockade.

If signing a peace treaty would bring a more brutal Austro-Hungarian Empire, it would be better not to sign it.

The final solution was to take a step back, and Spain only leased the port of Messina on the island of Sicily, far from the core of northern Italy, which Italy could barely accept.

Once these existential issues were resolved, nothing could stop the progress of peace between Spain and Italy, and finally, on November 12, a peace treaty was signed between Spain and Italy in Rome.

In addition to ceding Sardinia and Sicily to Spain, Italy also returned part of the Papal States, presumably eight kilometers from the city of Rome as the center.

Territorially, the Papal States suffered a small loss, and they still did not recover to their pre-Italian territory in 1859 before the Second Italian War of Independence.

In exchange, Italy renounced its claims to the city of Rome, recognizing Rome as the seat of the Church and the Pope as the undisputed temporal lord of Rome.

Italy's capital was also moved directly back to Turin from Rome, much to the surprise of many observers who believed that Italy would be its capital, Florence.

Turin's economy was no weaker than that of Florence, but it was too remote for the capital of a united Italian kingdom.

It can only be said that Italian ambitions suffered a terrible blow in this war.

In addition to the territorial change, Alfonso graciously gave up this demand, considering that Italy could no longer afford to repay the war reparations.

Instead, Italy was not allowed to restrict Spanish activities in the private sector and had pledged to grant Spain most-favoured-nation status.

In the future, Italy's tariffs on Spain will also need to be negotiated between the two sides.

To put it simply, not only will Spain be able to get tax breaks and incentives for doing business in the future, but all businessmen will also be able to move freely in Italy.

Including but not limited to recruitment, newspapers, and the establishment of companies...... Italy is not allowed to interfere, and even if the Italians want to immigrate to Spain, only Spain can refuse, not Italy.

This clause is equivalent to turning Italy into a reserve manpower pool for oneself, and if there is a shortage of labor, it is better to recruit directly in Italy.

If there is a shortage of people to join the army, you can also ask the other party to transfer in the name of recruitment, and then join the army.

Not a political puppet state, but an economic puppet state, and it is difficult to find such harsh terms in the war throughout Europe.

But it can't be helped, who makes them too many enemies.

The war between Spain and Italy ended in a complete victory for Spain.

After this battle, Spain added nearly 50,000 square kilometers of land, bringing the total area of the mainland to a full 550,000 square kilometers, the same as France. (European territory is home by default)

The population also soared from 16.4 million to 19.9 million, an increase of 21%.

However, the drawbacks of rapid expansion are also obvious, and the first thing to do is naturally how to deal with this extra Italian.

Sardinia, fortunately, is not very densely populated, with only 700,000 people living on 24,000 square kilometers.

Sicily, on the other hand, is a big problem, with a population of 2.8 million that ranks among the top four in Spain.

That's just too much in an autonomous region far from home.

With the unanimous approval of the top echelons of the Progressive Party, Sicily was divided into two administrative divisions, the Autonomous Community of Messina and the Autonomous Community of Palermo, with a population of 1.3 million and 1.5 million respectively, so as not to make the Autonomous Region too strong.

In fact, Alfonso is already considering abolishing the model of the autonomous region, which is too loose to reduce administrative costs, but it is too easy to breed corruption and is not conducive to the stability of the country.

This is a major event, which will be carried out along with the religious reform after the end of the war with Prussia.

However, in Sicily and Sardinia, Alfonso has no plans to reform them for the time being, and this matter must be done slowly so as not to provoke public anger.