"What did you say?"

Carlo looked at the Foreign Secretary in front of him in surprise.

Seeing the surprised expression of his own monarch, Bacona was also deeply moved. Who would have thought that the Spaniards would make such a request and want to lease three Italian Turin-class battleships.

Yes, the solution that Prime Minister Castillo came up with was to borrow a battleship. It was only three years after the First Sino-Japanese War, and the glorious deeds of the Italian army being borrowed by the Qing people to the Far East War are still mentioned by various media from time to time.

Castillo, as the prime minister of a country, how can he not be clear. So when Admiral Helvela talked about the lack of battleships, he immediately thought of Italy.

No way, it's too impressive to change at all. That's why Spain wanted to test Italy's attitude through diplomatic channels.

"By the way, what exactly is Spain going to do, do you have any other ideas?"

As for the loan in Spain, Carlo does not know the specifics yet, and intends to find out first.

When asked by Carlo, the foreign secretary, who knew that the matter was of great importance, immediately replied. "According to the news sent back by our embassy in Madrid, the Spaniards obviously want to adopt the Qing way, but in terms of price, the Spaniards are much worse than the generous Qing people, they are not financially rich, and they want other ways to get paid."

When Carlo heard this, he couldn't help but ask. "Otherwise?"

"Yes, in other ways, the reason is Spain's own poor financial situation."

Well, Carlo can understand this, who made Spain's financial situation the worst in Europe.

How bad Spain's fiscal situation is can be seen in the government bonds it issues in it. Spanish government bonds are currently the most unpopular in the bond market, and interest rates are the highest among national bonds for many years. The purchase of Spanish government bonds is basically based on a gambler's mentality, and they are all greedy for their high interest rates.

And Spain is also saddled with a huge national debt, eight billion pesos, which is completely overwhelmed by the bad Spanish economy, and the term borrowing to live is very suitable for Spain.

So for the Spanish government, which has no money in its pocket, it is of course best to be able to pay by other means.

However, for Italy, if you want to lease warships and personnel, you can't do it without money, Italy is still financially tight, and the previous drought has consumed 800 million lira of funds, and the Spaniards want to pay in other ways, and they also need Italy's consent.

"We can negotiate with Spain about the lease of warships, but in terms of remuneration, your Ministry of Foreign Affairs must demand a remuneration that can be cashed at any time, and your Ministry of Foreign Affairs must be flexible in this regard."

In the face of Carlo's words, His Excellency the Foreign Secretary also responded positively.

"Yes, yes, yes, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs will pay attention to the actual situation."

"Admiral Yagill, is there nothing wrong with your navy?"

After much the same discussion with the Foreign Secretary, Carlo asked the Admiralty Minister, who had not spoken for a long time. If Spain wanted to lease warships, of course, it needed the consent of the navy, so in addition to the foreign secretary, the navy minister also had to come to negotiate.

"Your Majesty, the entire navy is willing to pay for the kingdom, and of course we have a little bit of a request."

The Navy, represented by Admiral Yagill, also had a little of its own ideas.

Since he wants to use the navy, how could Carlo not satisfy his wishes, I saw Carlo say immediately. "Just say anything, as long as it's not too difficult, I'll think about it."

"Your Majesty, can you directly sell the three Turin-class ships to Spain?"

Admiral Yagill voiced the desire of the Navy. And Carlo and Bacona understood the Navy's plan as soon as they heard it, didn't they just want to trade in the old for the new.

Don't blame the Navy for having this idea, although the three Turin-class have worked hard over the years, and now they are still the most powerful battleships in Italy (the Genoa class has not yet been served), but the Turin-class has been in service for almost ten years after all, and it has also experienced a major war, more than ten small battles, and the battleship has long had all kinds of unsolvable dark injuries. And if Spain uses it again, it will be after two big battles, and the damage will inevitably be more.

This, of course, is quite uneconomical for the Italian Navy. Although the warships and officers and soldiers sent have also made money, considering the current situation of the government, there is a high probability that the money will be used by the government for other purposes. Moreover, it is necessary to take into account the next financial situation of the government, so if you want to upgrade the warships, the navy needs to think of more ways.

Therefore, after some careful consideration, the Navy plans to take advantage of the fact that the Turin class is still valuable, and take this opportunity to sell it for money, and the Navy is trying to raise a little money to prepare for a new warship.

"I don't know if this can be done, but I need the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

Although the Navy thought very well, it still needed the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this matter, so it could only be pushed to Bacona.

Seeing that this question was pushed in front of him by His Majesty, looking at the Admiralty Chancellor in anticipation, Bacona could only answer. "I'll talk to the Spanish side about this, and given the urgency of Spain, it shouldn't be a big problem. But that's not for sure, because you know how bad Spain's finances are, and you don't know if you can negotiate a good price. ”

"It doesn't matter, as long as it's not too bad, we can accept it, and besides, we still have to provide officers and men on board, and Spain can't give too low a price."

Admiral Yagill is very confident in the selling price, after all, it is still up to the Italian naval officers and men to fight, do the Spaniards dare to give a low price?

Since the navy is so confident, then what is there to say, let's follow the navy's method.

Later, Carlo and the three of them continued to discuss other issues, but after the general direction was decided, everything else was easy to discuss.

When they were almost finished, they heard a knock at the door.

Before Carlo could ask, the voice of the guard came directly from outside the door. "Your Majesty, the British ambassador Mandison asked to see you, and he said that he had made an appointment with you."

The guard's words made Foreign Minister Bakona a little embarrassed. Ambassador Mandison, relying on the influence of the British Empire, went directly to King Carlo on many matters, completely ignoring him as the foreign secretary.

"Then let's talk about it today!"

Carlo felt that the conversation was almost over, and it was fitting to end at this time.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Since the king said so, what else could the two of them say, they just cleaned up and left.

After the two of them left, the Mandison ambassador came with a grim face.

"Your Majesty, I remember that Your Majesty did not promise that your country would not act on the Sudan issue? Then I would like to ask, why does your country's subsidiary country occupy part of the territory of Sudan? ”

As soon as the Mandison ambassador spoke, he counted Carlo down, as if he had come to ask the teacher for a crime.

For Ambassador Mandison's performance, even the calm Carlo flashed a trace of anger. This ambassador doesn't take him Carlo seriously anymore, after all, he is the monarch of a country, is this confused and dares to speak like this.

No, there is something wrong with the attitude of this Ambassador Mandison, he is not usually like this, is this trying to provoke himself?

Although the true attitude of the ambassador is not yet known, it does not prevent Carlo from answering next. I saw him smile. "What else should I do, that's what happened. Ambassador Mandison, you are right, I did say at that time that my country will not stand in your way on the Sudan issue. But I can't restrain the Sultan from provoking the Kingdom of Abyssinia.

At that time, it was the Sultan who took the initiative to launch an attack on the Kingdom of Abyssinia, and the Abyssinian army then counterattacked all the way to Khartoum. Moreover, the attack of the Kingdom of Abyssinia on the Sultan is also helping your country, otherwise your country would not have captured Khartoum in May, although Abdullah ran away, but the fighting power of the Sudan has basically been wiped out, so your country should give the Kingdom of Abyssinia gratitude. ”

That's right, Carlo is also reasonable, and directly said that the Abyssinians took advantage of the fire to rob the Sultan, and directly said that it was a helpful spirit. Of course, in this day and age, it is reasonable to get a little reward.

Carlo's shamelessness made Ambassador Mandison more and more angry. "Your Majesty, I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the land of Sudan is a colony of the British Empire, and although it has fallen into the hands of the rebels before, this does not mean that we will recognize the treaty signed by the rebels."

"I'm sorry, Ambassador Mandison, I would like to correct that Sudan is not a colony of your country, it can only be counted as Egyptian land, and this land has been away from Egypt for more than ten years, so we have reason to believe that this has constituted a new government. Even if Your Excellency is dissatisfied, the most I can do is talk to Egyptian officials about Sudan. ”

That's right, Carlo dared to promise King Menelik II of Abyssinia to keep the occupied territory for him, and that's why. The Sultan was previously pioneered by order of the Egyptian monarch Ismail Pasha. Although it recruited mainly adventurers from various countries, nominally this is Egyptian territory, so what does it have to do with the British?

Carlo's words made Ambassador Mandison stuck, this matter was indeed his negligence, "But although Sudan is Egyptian territory, but your vassal country occupies Sudanese territory, then Egypt may send mercenaries to retake the area." ”

In the face of Ambassador Mandison's somewhat embarrassed excuses and threats, Carlo immediately stood up. "If so, then the Kingdom of Abyssinia may also send mercenaries to retake the region for it. If there are any catastrophic consequences, do you think it is justified? ”

Kalou's sudden toughness caught Ambassador Mandison off guard.

It's more because the attitude in Carlo's words makes it impossible for him to take it, and he can't afford to take this responsibility. "Perhaps Your Majesty is right, this kind of thing is best negotiated between Egypt and the Kingdom of Abyssinia."

Ambassador Mandison's words convinced Carlo that the British were not particularly concerned about the occupation of part of the Sultanate by the Kingdom of Abyssinia.

Of course, regarding the dispute over the occupation of part of the territory of the Sudan by the Kingdom of Abyssinia, Carlo may press it down, but there is nothing he can do about the dispute between the United States and the West.