Chapter 1275 Real Madrid vs Barcelona (Part 1)

Chapter 1275 Real Madrid vs Barcelona (Part 1)

Vienna, Deutsche Bundesbörst.

Since the German Confederation Stock Exchange moved from Frankfurt to Vienna, countries within the German Confederation have never stopped criticizing it.

Especially with regard to the obvious decline in transaction volume, many people say that Vienna is not suitable as a financial center because they are not religious enough about money.

Some people also say that this is because the Austrian Empire manipulates the stock market behind the scenes and does not give others the retribution for their survival.

But in fact, we have just experienced war. All states are busy investing in industry, and civilians are busy hoarding goods. Their consumption habits cannot be changed for a while, so how can they have the energy to invest?

Even though the economy has been recovering, some people have been criticizing and questioning Vienna.

In addition, these brothers of the German Confederation really need someone to help them. Due to the previous turmoil in 1848, many governments have fallen into a crisis of confidence. Their national debts can be said to be empty and no one cares about them.

If Franz doesn't want to be left alone and helpless in the future, then he must consider helping these little brothers.

However, it is better for the funds of the Austrian Empire to be used in the country. After all, the development within the Austrian Empire is also extremely uneven, and the colonies really do not have enough money to support brother countries.

But British money is different. If the British are willing to borrow more, Franz doesn't mind. However, the British are still very cautious. In their opinion, 100 million pounds is still within a safe range.

If they borrow too much and the Austrian Empire refuses to repay it, they will suffer a big loss.

The purpose of the British lending money to the Austrian Empire was not to help the Austrian Empire develop or to support the Austrian Empire's war against Spain.

Their essential purpose is to make money and avoid the risk of the UK's domestic economic downturn.

It would be too unrealistic to expect that Britain's wealth could be wiped out by borrowing money.

Of course, Franz will not lose money by helping the development of the German region.

In fact, the interest rates on bonds issued by most countries at this time were around 10%, and Spain even issued government bonds with annual interest rates as high as 15%.

It's just that whether you can buy it is one thing, but whether you can get the money or even get the money back is another matter.

At that time, except for Britain and France, the national debt creditworthiness of various countries was generally very low. The Austrian Empire owed the British money for decades, and some countries and governments would even directly declare bankruptcy.

It is not difficult for the Austrian Empire to get money from the German Confederation and Italy.

And from a historical perspective, Europe will soon enter a period of rapid development. At least repaying interest should not be difficult for countries.

At the same time, this is also strengthening the control within the Confederacy.

Spain, Catalonia.

As an outstanding graduate of the Real Madrid Military Academy, it is naturally impossible for Gelton to not have real talents and practical knowledge, but his so-called real talents and practical knowledge still remain in books.

The complex terrain on the Iberian Peninsula is enough to drive military scientists crazy. How to build roads across mountains and build bridges over water? Doesn't exist! There is no other way but to take a detour.

Originally, it was thought that the journey from Salt to Barcelona would take at most five days, but Gelton even thought that it would take a week.

However, the reality is that after five days, Gelton's troops are still wandering in the mountains. The 20,000 troops are really troublesome. It feels like these people are either eating or sleeping every day, and they cannot walk much in a day.

Girton also tried a forced march, but the problem was that a large number of soldiers fell behind not long after they had gone. These newly recruited soldiers could not adapt to the high-intensity march at all, and were completely incomparable with the Madrid elites they led before.

The intelligence was even worse. Since leaving Salt, he had been wandering around like a blind man with his army. If it weren't for the guide, let alone a sneak attack on Barcelona, ​​he might not even be able to get out of the mountains and hills.

The scouts sent out often only returned half of them. He knew that they must have deserted.

But Gelton was not afraid, because he knew very well that the Austrians must be facing the same situation as himself.

Coupled with the rebels all over the ground, it didn't matter no matter how slow he walked, he could completely go around the Pyrenees to the rear of the Austrian army and launch a surprise attack.

The Austrians would never have imagined

The Austrian Empire's Barcelona Legion's counterinsurgency efficiency was astonishing. In less than a week, it had completely eliminated the rebels along the southeastern coast of Catalonia.

That's right, a complete cleanup.

After all, no one knows the possible hiding places better than these Catalonian natives. Even before the armed forces of the landlords and nobles were defeated, they were already waiting there.

This made the Austrian officers feel incredible. After all, it was easy for the Austrian Empire to win on the frontal battlefield, but it was extremely difficult to uproot the internal enemies.

There are still hundreds of thousands of troops suppressing bandits in Transylvania. The Austrian Empire has consumed incalculable manpower and material resources for this purpose, but has achieved little results.

And Spain is even more famous as a bad place. When they were selected to come to Spain, most of them had already written suicide notes and prepared to die in Spain.

However, this battle seemed to be much easier than imagined. The Austrian soldiers who held the battle and commanded the battle suffered few casualties.

The Spanish soldiers seemed to have no objection to this kind of work as cannon fodder on the front line. On the contrary, their morale increased with the continuous victory of the battle.

Of course, in addition to victory, the post-war trial is also the highlight.

The main source of soldiers in the Barcelona Legion was vagrants and farmers, most of whom had unresolved blood feuds with local nobles and landlords.

So these soldiers regarded the actions of the Austrian Empire as justice for them. Coupled with the local priests' deception, the Austrians were no longer the invaders promoted by the Spanish government.

In addition, due to the French, the Spanish were quite hostile to so-called democratic countries, and they didn't know what democracy was.

Generally speaking, they would associate democracy with rebellion and war, so it was not surprising that they hated it.

Compared with democracy, the Spanish were more familiar with the imperial system. After all, this thing was simple and easy to understand. Whoever was the emperor had the final say.

And Franz was obviously a good emperor in the eyes of these Spaniards. As for what a good emperor is? He who could let them eat and plant land was a good emperor.

There was another one, that was what the priests said.

The Spanish church's control over the grassroots was very terrible. Now they and Austria were grasshoppers tied to the same rope, so they would naturally spare no effort to say good things about Franz.

As for the Habsburg family, the Spanish are more familiar with it. The Invincible Armada, the American Expedition, and the conquest of the oceans were all glorious times for Spain.

In terms of culture, the nationalists in the 19th century were all inventors. Spanish nationalists even invented a series of languages ​​such as Catalan, Valencian, Aragonese, Asturian, and Basque.

So they did not have much sense of belonging to the Kingdom of Spain. On the contrary, most of the elites thought that being an overseas territory of the Austrian Empire was also good.