Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 215: Vittorio Emanuele Ii Critically Ill

As time moved to June 1877, a piece of news from the Kingdom of Italy caused Carlo to change his plans for the second half of the year.

Carlo’s father Vittorio Emanuele II had seen his health take a sharp turn for the worse since unifying Italy, and the poor situation in Italy left Emanuele II busy and overwhelmed every day.

Starting from January this year, Vittorio Emanuele II had handed most of his political affairs to his eldest son Crown Prince Umberto to handle, while he himself resided in a manor outside Rome to recuperate.

But the medical technology of this era was ultimately unreliable, and after half a year of recuperation, Vittorio Emanuele II’s condition not only failed to improve but grew increasingly worse, leaving him bedridden and seemingly with little time left.

Although Carlo was a transmigrator, he still held a very favorable view of his father. Upon learning that Vittorio Emanuele II was bedridden and in life-threatening danger, Carlo immediately decided to take the royal family and Giuseppe to Italy to visit his father.

As one of the earliest confidants to follow Carlo to Spain, Giuseppe had now become the Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Royal Guard, the true manager of the Guard.

Although the Guard currently only commanded one division, it was a reinforced division that included cavalry and artillery, with a total of up to 15,000 men.

The reason for bringing Stino on this trip to Italy was to let him go to Italy to see his father Garibaldi.

In terms of age, Garibaldi, born in 1807, was 13 years older than Vittorio Emanuele II, born in

In terms of their physical conditions, Garibaldi’s health was somewhat better than Vittorio Emanuele II’s, with no life-threatening danger at present, at least. Of course, Garibaldi was after all a 70-year-old man. Medino had been with Carlo in Spain for several years now, and it was time for him to go home to see his father and catch up with his family.

Of course, on this trip to Italy, besides visiting his father Vittorio Emanuele II, Carlo also wanted to take the opportunity to finalize the next step of cooperation with the Italian Government and draw closer to his brother Crown Prince Umberto.

Vittorio Emanuele II had only three sons with rights to inherit the throne: Crown Prince Umberto, Prince Amadeo, and Carlo.

As the first heir to the Italian throne, Crown Prince Umberto had no competitors. The second heir was Crown Prince Umberto’s son Little Vittorio Emanuele, and the third was his brother Prince Amadeo.

Carlo’s place in the line of succession to the Italian throne came after his two brothers and their sons, making him the seventh heir to the Italian throne.

Since there was no conflict of interest with Crown Prince Umberto, it was natural to build a good relationship with him and use that relationship to draw closer ties between Spain and Italy.

Although Spain and Italy currently had good cooperation, it was established under Vittorio Emanuele II’s support for Carlo.

If Crown Prince Umberto did not want to continue such cooperation, the cooperation between the two countries would have to end forcibly.

The good news was that there was currently no conflict of interest between Spain and Italy. For both countries, mutual cooperation was very necessary.

Although Italy was also a great power, it ranked at the end among the great powers, with relatively poor population and industrial economy scale.

Spain was the same. Although Spain’s territory was vast, its land-to-population ratio was far behind all great power countries.

Only by uniting Spain and Italy could they resist the coveting of other great power countries. Currently, on the stance of African colonies, Spain and Italy shared the common enemy France.

Carlo had his eye on Italy’s population and naturally did not want to abandon cooperation with Italy now.

Because this trip to Italy involved bringing the whole family, stability on the Spanish Mainland became very important.

Carlo did not want to lose his main base after a trip to Italy, so before going to Italy, Carlo made quite meticulous deployments to ensure no problems would arise in Spain during this period.

Previously, it was because he wanted to fish that he gave the rebel nobles and Bourbon remnants a chance to create chaos. Now Carlo only wanted stability and would not give anyone else any opportunity.

Before leaving Madrid, Carlo summoned the Director of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau Cadillac and gave him a quite arduous task.

Carlo required that during his time in Italy, the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau would focus its main intelligence work on Madrid and surrounding cities, ensuring no accidents occurred around Madrid.

Once any forces planning parades or rebellions were discovered, the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau could take the lead in suppression and interrogate the instigators behind the scenes.

In addition to the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau responsible for stability around Madrid, the 15,000 Guard would also be garrisoned around Madrid to ensure no problems in Spain’s political heart.

Of course, on this trip to Italy, Carlo would also bring some guards. However, considering that Spain and Italy were separated only by the Mediterranean Sea, the number of guards accompanying for protection this time was not large, totaling just over

In the end, Carlo’s return to Italy now was like going home, with basically no need to worry about his personal safety.

The Italian Government and Royal Family would take care of Carlo, and the situation in Italy was not that complex currently, with not many anti-government extremists.

Before leaving, Carlo specifically instructed Grand Duke Serrano and Deputy Prime Minister Cánovas to oversee the stable operation of the Spanish Government.

Currently, Spain only needed to steadily provide weapons and equipment to Russia and the Ottoman Empire, earning sufficient gold and other assets from these two warring countries.

Then use the earned money to vigorously develop Spain’s industry and economy, keeping Spain’s industry and economy growing at a relatively fast pace.

As for other matters, the Spanish Government did not need to consider them for now. Development was the most important issue for Spain; everything else was minor.

After arranging all matters, Carlo took Queen Sophie and his son and daughter aboard a warship to Rome, Italy.

The escort fleet for this trip consisted of three ironclad ships, one of which was the newly launched Revival.

Such a luxurious configuration was not only more than enough for escorting and protecting Carlo’s safety but could fully handle a small-scale naval battle with other countries.

The fleet departed from Spain’s Port of Valencia, passed through the Balearic region, made a brief stop at Italy’s Sardinia, and then headed directly northeast toward Rome.

In Italy’s capital Rome, the Italian Government had already prepared a welcoming ceremony for the Spanish Royal Family.

Although Carlo’s main purpose in coming to Italy this time was to visit Vittorio Emanuele II, he was after all the ruler of a European power and part of the Italian Royal Family, so the necessary welcoming ceremonies could not be omitted.

Italy’s current Prime Minister was Agostino Depretis, a figure worth mentioning.

This term was Prime Minister Agostino Depretis’s first term, and he had completely different political ideology from his three predecessors.

Prime Minister Agostino Depretis was the 12th Prime Minister since the establishment of Italy and Italy’s third left-wing Prime Minister.

What did left-wing and right-wing mean?

This was a division of political ideology originating from the French Revolution. In the assemblies during the French Revolution, moderate conservative Royalist Party members generally sat on the right side of the parliament, while radical revolutionaries pushing for democratic republican reforms sat on the left side.

Sitting on two sides became a tradition in the French parliament, and left-wing and right-wing became terms referring to officials’ political ideology.

Simply put, the left-wing represented liberal democratic republican ideas, while the right-wing represented conservatism and nationalism.

Prime Minister Agostino Depretis was not a simple left-wing politician. In his early years, he had joined the Young Italy party and supported Republican Mazzini’s republicanism.

Although he later gradually shifted to constitutional monarchy while serving as a member of parliament in the Kingdom of Sardinia, some of his political ideology had not changed much.

Prime Minister Agostino Depretis had also participated in Garibaldi’s Redshirts and held the high position of Dictator of Sicily for Restoration.

However, after the Redshirts recaptured the Kingdom of Sicily, Prime Minister Agostino disagreed with democratist Crispi at the time over the ownership of the Kingdom of Sicily and was ultimately dismissed by Garibaldi.

It was precisely because Prime Minister Agostino chose to support the Kingdom of Sardinia on the issue of the Kingdom of Sicily’s ownership that Vittorio Emanuele II let down his guard toward this former Republican.

After Italian unification, Prime Minister Agostino served multiple times as a Cabinet Minister in Spain and became the acknowledged leader of Italy’s left-wing group a few years after unification.

After right-wing officials performed poorly last year, Prime Minister Agostino was ordered to lead the new cabinet, beginning his first cabinet formation in his prime ministerial career.

Although Prime Minister Agostino and the previous Prime Minister Giovanni had different political ideologies, their attitude toward the Spanish Government was consistent: valuing it.

Spain’s overall strength was relatively strong; at least Italy had no qualification to ignore Spain’s existence.

For Italy, Spain was also an ally that could be drawn in. Agostino himself hoped for Italy to actively advance in Africa and open up colonies, so he naturally had to seize Spain, one of the few allies that could provide help to Italy in Africa.

For Italy to expand in Africa, the nearest and most convenient regions were Tunisia and Libya.

Especially the Tunisia region, less than 150 kilometers from Italy’s Sicily, practically at Italy’s doorstep.

However, for Italy, taking Tunisia was very difficult. Tunisia was within the Ottoman Empire’s sphere of influence, and previously Italy had no strength to contend with the Ottoman Empire.

With British support, the Ottoman Empire, though weakened, still possessed considerable military strength.

Especially its navy; to contain Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the Ottoman Empire’s navy was not weak and even held an advantage over Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

As a newly unified country, Italy lagged behind the Ottoman Empire in both army numbers and navy scale.

Even without British help, it would be extremely difficult for Italy to defeat the Ottoman Empire; at least the Ottoman Empire could knock out a few of Italy’s teeth.

It was precisely because of this situation that Italy drooled over Tunisia but dared not take any action.

Now with the Ottoman Empire and Russia erupting into war again, Prime Minister Agostino believed this was a good opportunity for Italy to expand its sphere of influence to Tunisia.

Even if it could not directly turn Tunisia into a colony, at least it could secure some interests in Tunisia to prepare for future annexation.

But even with the Ottoman Empire tied up in war, Italy had another competitor in Tunisia: France.

As a Mediterranean coastal country, France’s colonial efforts in North Africa exceeded those of Spain and Italy. France had long established the Algeria colony, located right between Morocco and Tunisia.

As one of Europe’s most powerful great power countries, France’s ambitions were clearly larger than those of Spain and Italy.

Spain’s goal was only Morocco, Italy’s only Tunisia, but the French goal was Morocco, Tunisia, and the Algeria in between.

From a historical perspective, the French ultimately gained the most benefits. The French took Tunisia, fully controlled Algeria, and because of helping Spain control Morocco, gained massive interests in Morocco.

Spain fared a bit better; though weakened, it at least got Morocco. Italy was more miserable; unable to get Tunisia, it could only turn its gaze to farther Somalia and Abyssinia, and showed the poor level of the Italian Army to those African indigenous people.

It was precisely because of facing the strong enemy France that Prime Minister Agostino considered Spain an invaluable natural ally for Italy, with both sharing the common enemy France in African colonization.

Carlo was very willing to accept the goodwill released by Italian Prime Minister Agostino.

Just as Italy needed Spain as an ally, Spain similarly needed Italy as an ally.

No matter how weak, Italy was still a great power, providing diplomatic influence and interests that non-great power countries could not match.

Before World War I broke out, Spain and Italy had no conflicts of interest, which was also the foundation for the two countries to form an alliance and conduct even closer cooperation.

In Vittorio Emanuele II’s manor, Carlo met his father.

Although Vittorio Emanuele II was only 57 years old, he looked like a decrepit elderly man in his seventies.

When Carlo and his family arrived at the manor, it was already afternoon that day.

Originally, Vittorio Emanuele II was weakly bedridden, but upon hearing that Carlo had arrived at the manor with the whole family, he still forced himself to sit up and greeted Carlo with a kind smile, beckoning him to bring the two little ones forward.

“Fernando, Sophia.” Vittorio Emanuele II called out the names of his grandson and granddaughter, a gleam in his eyes and a very benevolent smile on his face.

At this moment, Vittorio Emanuele II was not the monarch of the Kingdom of Italy but a kindly elderly man seeing his grandchildren for the first time.

“Grandfather, Grandfather.” Under Carlo’s guidance, Little Juan Fernando called out the title he had long practiced many times.

“Grandfather is here.” Vittorio Emanuele II immediately nodded happily, gently stroking Little Juan Fernando’s head, then smiling as he said: “He really looks like you when you were little, Carlo.”

Carlo nodded with a smile, his gaze carefully turning to his father.

“The doctors told me my time is short.” After looking over his grandchildren, Vittorio Emanuele II turned his gaze to his youngest son and said calmly.

Carlo nodded; he had anticipated this in his heart, but still felt a bit sad for some reason.

As if seeing the reluctance in Carlo’s heart, Vittorio Emanuele II shook his head with a smile and said with a smiling face: “Life is like this, always facing death, isn’t it?

After you went to Spain, I was most worried about you, child. Fortunately, you turned out more excellent than I imagined; Spain’s problems couldn’t stump you.

I’ve already instructed Umberto: the alliance between Italy and Spain is the most important diplomatic strategy and can guarantee the stability of both your thrones.

Italy and Spain can not only jointly resist external enemies but also jointly eliminate domestic enemies. You will do better than me, and Amadeo will help you too.”

Carlo nodded. Italy and Spain were natural allies, and Carlo did indeed have ideas of cooperating with his brother Crown Prince Umberto to mutually guarantee each other’s throne stability in the future.

No matter which country faced problems in the future, at least it could ensure the safety of royal members was not threatened. Worst case, voluntarily abandon the throne and flee to the other country for refuge; after all, both royal families were one family, and ensuring the other lived out their remaining years in wealth was no problem.

Even if Carlo himself would not face such danger, he had to consider his children and descendants. Italy was clearly a good fallback, and history’s experience with Amadeo also proved that having a fallback could indeed guarantee personal safety.

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