The Sun Never Sets In Spain

In St. Peter's Basilica, Alfonso saw Pius IX, who hadn't seen him in a year. The old man was 78 years old this year, but his health was not bad, but the recent international pressure made his spirit a little sluggish.

"Your Majesty Alfonso, you are here." When Pius IX saw him, his expression was slightly relieved.

After a few brief conversations, King Pius IX backed away and took Alfonso into the inner room with an eager attitude.

"This is..." Alfonso looked at the envelope handed over by the other party. There was a white cross on a red background. It was the coat of arms of the Savoy family.

"The letter from King Vittorio two days ago." The pope confirmed his guess.

Now that the Pope had handed this letter to himself, Alfonso was no longer polite, and he opened it and read it.

The letter contained the opinion of the King of Italy on Rome's handling of Rome. The tone was quite polite, and he proposed that the Italian army should be peacefully stationed in Rome in the name of "protecting the pope." The pope is still the nominal ruler of Rome, probably similar to the honorary mayor. Position.

This approach is considered to take care of the Pope’s face, but since Alfonso can read this letter, the Pope’s choice is self-evident.

Sure enough, seeing Alfonso finished reading, Pius IX said: "Italy is coveting land that does not belong to them, and God now needs Spain's help."

"Then the terms we discussed before...?"

"Spain can register and manage the local priests as much as possible, and Rome will not interfere." Pius IX happily betrayed his colleagues across the sea. At this point, there is no need to hide it.

Pius IX originally thought that there was a French deterrent and Italy did not dare to do it, but he did not expect the French to sell their teammates so quickly. When the front line lost a little, he decisively gave up the Papal State.

The Pope was so uphearted, and Alfonso was unambiguous, and immediately said: "Spain's church property will be transferred to the education and medical industries, and it will never damage the glory of God."

Alfonso’s attitude is very satisfying to the Pope. Before, Spain thought it was a robber who took advantage of the danger. Now, when compared with France, he is simply the steadfast guardian of God.

Pope Pius IX continued: "I have written a letter of rejection and will send it out in three days. It is best for Spanish soldiers to be in place during this time. The more the better, the Papal State will pay for their military expenses."

If the Pope’s wealth was generous and willing to pay, the matter was easy to handle. Alfonso then returned to Spain and had more than 30,000 soldiers shipped to Rome immediately, while more soldiers were waiting in Valencia and Barcelona.

The Spanish garrison drew strong protests from Italy. Even the ambassador, who had not been expelled in the previous prisoner-of-war incident, was finally expelled this time.

Without the Pope’s reply, Vittorio already knew his attitude, and in response, the Italian army continued to gather in Rome.

The Spanish soldiers also boarded the walls of Rome to stand in battle.

It seems that the two countries have come to the edge of the war...

Spain and Italy are the ones who are the first to be soft, but France can't sit still at first.

Spain has promised to join the war in three months, and Italy is also a possible future ally. If they fight, what will France do?

Out of this consideration, France contacted the three countries, saying that everyone could sit down and talk, and the venue of the meeting would be Rome.

Countries quickly responded positively. Spain and Italy are unwilling to fight a full-scale war for this. A diplomatic solution is naturally the best diplomatic solution.

The meeting was scheduled to be held on September 15th. Perhaps it was anticipated that the intervention of other countries might harm their own interests. During this period, King Vittorio frantically sent letters to the Pope, almost reaching the level of two letters a day.

The conditions offered are becoming more and more generous. The best one even proposed to use the Tiber River as the boundary, reserve the western half of Rome within the "Leo Wall" in the west of the river to the Pope, and promised that the Holy See could be established in this city. A completely independent sovereign country.

It can be said that Italy did its best to try to resolve this matter before the meeting.

But this proposal was rejected by Pius IX, and he repeated the letter and told Alfonso. The implication was obvious. The conditions fought at the Rome Conference could not be worse than this.

Since the plan of dividing and conquering the east and the west was rejected, King Vittorio no longer had so much scruples in his frustration. Although he was still sending a letter, the letter was full of threats.

At the same time, as newspapers reported on the actions of Spain and the Papal States, not only did Spain's reputation in Italy become unsavory, but the Holy See also lost its sacred brilliance.

Fortunately, Spain is far away anyway, and it won't matter if you get scolded twice.

The church is miserable, and there are not many church robberies, but it is not uncommon for priests and deacons to be beaten in sacks when they are out.

However, the Pope never commented on this-even if people around him saw that Pius IX mentioned Italy with disgust and hatred.

Everyone is waiting for the arrival of September 15.

For this meeting, Britain, Bavaria (Prussian puppets), Austria-Hungary and other countries have all asked to participate.

Fortunately, the French big brother blocked them all, affirming that this is a matter of the Western Mediterranean countries and has nothing to do with other people.

Big brother has not had a good life these days. Although several major defeats in history have not occurred due to the backwaters of South Germany, the tentative offensive of Prussia alone has cost France a lot of money.

After France switched to strategic defense, taking three, the Rhine Army was reorganized into the Sharon Army and the Metz Army.

In order to defend the border, both legions were ordered not to take a step back-this is really not a wise move.

The position on the French border was set up for offensive purposes and was not suitable for defense at all. Defending here would also result in separation between the legions, and Prussia would be calmly attacked by the masses.

Several exploratory attacks, the worst in Prussia, reached three times that of France.

No matter how French can fight, it is impossible to fight three of them one at a time.

If it was Alfonso, he would withdraw later. Not only could he unite his troops, but he could also put some pressure on the country to relax restrictions on recruitment.

However, the emperor did not do this because he believed that this would cause France to lose its glory and make the people lose confidence in the Bonaparte royal family.

... His worries are not unreasonable, because Paris has created another political whirlpool.

Many people believe that the failure of the offensive is the responsibility of the current government. The anti-war and the opposition have united to attack the government, demanding that Prime Minister Olivier resign and reorganize the cabinet.

In view of the great momentum of the other party, the regent queen Eugenie may agree to their terms today.

At this time, the only thing that the queen and the emperor can do is not to take a step back, otherwise it will not be the prime minister but the royal family that will fall next time.