Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On August 28, 1862, the First Fleet Squadron blocked the seaside of Porto, the central city in northern Portugal. Then there was a burst of shelling. Although it did not fall on the land, the coastal residents fled, causing the citizens of northern Portugal to The moments are rare.

Some fled towards Lisbon in the south, while others ran west into Spain. Others crossed the northern border and crossed Spain before taking refuge in the French Empire.

However, the Portuguese fleet in the port of Porto chose to avoid it and wandered to the port of Aveiro in the south, without facing a head-on confrontation with the British fleet.

Because Lisbon in the south is the capital, it is facing the Mediterranean Fleet head-on. However, you are firing one shot at a time, and the shooting direction is sideways. It is as gorgeous as fireworks, but no one wants to continue to admire them.

Although it looks fun, Portugal's local fleet is blocked at the door and cannot escape.

The Portuguese naval strength is actually quite good. Among the global naval strength, it even ranks among the top ten in the world, above the newly established Italy.

However, because some of the warships were sent to Angola and Mozambique, another part was in Porto.

Almost only 50,000 tons of battleships are left.

Even so, its size is actually not weaker than the First Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet of the five British fleets alone.

It is obviously not weaker than the opponent, and even because of its local advantages, it is not impossible to beat the opponent, but many people are not optimistic about Portugal.

Can Portugal survive such a north-south attack?

In fact, it has only been less than a year since Louis I inherited the throne of Portugal from his brother Perode V who died at the age of 24 on November 1 last year. Think about it, William IV is even later than him. He became the King of the Netherlands within a month, but his performance amazed the whole of Europe.

Therefore, he has always had a comparison mentality. Especially when the Netherlands reported the European Royal Marriage Meeting last time, he wanted to participate even though he was single. He even showed up at the end to show his status. It could end before it even started.

He has been dissatisfied for a long time.

This time we competed with various countries in Africa, especially among the four countries. The other three kings of Prussia, William I and William IV, all inherited the throne in 1861. He and William I were the former kings and their elder brothers in each country. The reason why there are no descendants is that they inherit the throne.

With Prussia's size and physique, Portugal did not dare to challenge it. On the contrary, William IV, who was two years younger than him and was now in the limelight, might be his whetstone and stepping stone.

He felt that his heart was about to move, but a little nervousness ignited in his heart.

"Prime Minister Barreto, tell me, what should we do now?"

This is Nuno Barreto's second term as Portuguese Prime Minister. He founded the Historical Party in the 1850s. As the leader of the Party from 1856 to 1859, he represented the Party in the election for the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Portugal, which is surprising. Shockingly, he succeeded and became the party's first prime minister.

But I don’t know if his charm was too great, and others were relatively ordinary, so after him, no one could rise in the History Party. So it was not until July 1860 that he ran for the second time on behalf of the History Party. Unexpectedly, it was successful again.

Therefore, Barreto is an assistant with familiar management experience for Luis I and someone he can currently rely on.

"Your Majesty, I think that at present, the most important thing we need to do is to stabilize the British. The second thing is to find out the truth about the shelling incident in Mozambique. If it is really our army there that deliberately fired the shelling, then, Bernardi The governor of Nogueira Figueiredo is coming to an end."

Barreto has long been dissatisfied with Figueiredo, especially during the last election, he maliciously attacked his family, so he has long hated him. Given this rare opportunity, he naturally doesn't mind adding insult to injury. .

Louis I said hesitantly: "Will this cause dissatisfaction with the Reconstruction Liberal Party? After all, Figueiredo is also an ally of the party. If I touch him directly, I am afraid it will cause a storm in the Portuguese political arena. By then If you start fighting, the situation in Portugal will become even more dangerous."

Louis I looked at Barreto with concern and said: "You know, your History Party is still too young, and the Reconstruction Liberal Party has many supporters, and even independent people support them. When the time comes, it will be your History Party that will suffer. Party, don’t forget that you are in charge of the lower house now, but the upper house is in the hands of the conservatives of the Reconstruction Liberal Party and the nobility. Be careful if you encounter difficulties from them in the future."

"Your Majesty, I think it will be difficult for the UK to calm down its anger if it does not make some statements at this time."

Barreto said indifferently:

"After all, South Africa was a place where the British were holding back their anger and had nowhere to vent their anger, but now Portugal is on the edge of a knife. Isn't this asking for trouble?

It was precisely because I understood the weight of the Mozambique shelling incident and that Figueiredo was a talented person that I removed him from his post to protect him and avoid the British directly demanding a shooting in retaliation. This way the result would be better. "

"This" Louis I hesitated, and Prime Minister Barreto was right. When the British became angry, few countries in the world could withstand it.

There are countries that can withstand it, but Portugal is not among them.

Therefore, since there is no way to withstand the situation, then the only choice is to find a scapegoat.

In fact, Louis I was the secret channel to comfort himself. This is not a scapegoat. After all, as the governor of Mozambique, you, Figueiredo, mismanaged the country. You actually knew that the Kingdom of Portugal could not afford to offend a giant like the United Kingdom, but you still provoked it.

Southern Rhodesia is rare among other countries, but will the Kingdom of Portugal lack this colony?

Not to mention, even though Brazil separated from Portugal and became independent, everyone in the world knows that it is managed by a branch of the Portuguese royal family, and the relationship between the two countries is definitely closer than allies.

As for Angola, Mozambique and other important islands and peninsulas, Portugal can be said to be rich in property.

It's not enough to provoke Britain or even Prussia for a piece of barren land in Africa.

As for the Netherlands, Louis I was not afraid of the opponent, and even had the idea of ​​​​competing. Perhaps after this difficulty, he could fight with the Netherlands led by William IV in southern Africa. After all, the deserts and wastelands there were But you can flex your muscles.

I just don’t know if William IV’s Netherlands can withstand the attack of our heroic soldiers from the Kingdom of Portugal.

Figueiredo didn't know what he was thinking. Why didn't Tanzania and other borderlands in the north take action earlier? Why did he regret it after waiting for the Dutch to take action? He was really a guy who failed to succeed but failed.

I don't want to provoke the weak, but I provoke the strong. It seems that Prime Minister Barreto is really right. He is really not suitable to be the governor of Mozambique. When he returns to Lisbon, he should continue to practice and practice.

Now that the situation has developed to this extent, if you don't bear the primary responsibility, how can you ask the Kingdom of Portugal to bear it?

Thinking this way, he felt that Barreto was really thinking about the country, so in the end, he affirmed Barreto's view and agreed to remove Figueiredo.

Barreto was happy in his heart, but there was no expression on his face. He pretended to hesitate for a while, and then said: "Your Majesty, in order to solve the oppression of the British, I have a method, but I don't know whether I should talk about it or not."

"Come on, tell me, at this time, is there anything else that shouldn't be said?" After all, Louis I was young, 24 years old, and had just taken over Portugal. Many of the things he needed to master in his royal duties were still far from being perfect.

However, this is exactly what Barreto needs, and what the historical party that has just entered a period of development needs.

In order to break Portugal's political structure and deepen the relationship between the History Party and the royal family, he even planned to introduce foreign aid outside of Portugal's internal forces, and this foreign aid was the Kingdom of Italy.

When he single-handedly presided over the marriage to an Italian princess and became the queen of the Kingdom of Portugal, the pillow style of the History Party could be successfully established.

“Your Majesty, the late former Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy, Cavour, was once a good friend of mine. During my last term as Prime Minister, under his many introductions, I met the King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II. I met them and had a great conversation with them.

At that time, in order to help Italy under the leadership of Vittorio Emanuele II to be recognized by other countries, Cavour proposed the idea of ​​a marriage between Italy and Portugal. However, at that time, His Majesty the former King Pedro V, he She rejected the marriage plan and chose another former queen, causing the marriage between the two countries to fail.

With the death of Prime Minister Cavour last year, I originally thought that King Emanuele II of the Kingdom of Italy had given up, but he sent a letter a few days ago conveying that the idea of ​​​​marriage is still there."

Barreto said: "Although the Kingdom of Italy is newly built, they have almost unified the Apennine Peninsula and are already one of the most powerful countries in Europe. If Portugal receives such strong foreign aid at this time, then Portugal's crisis this time will be ok."

"But would Vittorio Emanuele II dare to stand up when Portugal was facing British oppression?"

"You won't know until you try it, right?"

"That's true"

At this time, Louis I also agreed. At the same time, this attitude also showed Barreto that Louis I was not opposed to the marriage between the royal families of Italy and Portugal.

August 30, 1862.

The Kingdom of Italy announced that it would marry the Kingdom of Portugal. Princess Maria Pia of Savoy of Vittorio Emanuele II would marry King Louis I of the Kingdom of Portugal on October 6, 1862. marry.

One wave after another, and when huge conflicts arose between Britain and Portugal, the Portuguese kingdom was obviously looking for foreign aid.

Italy also stood up energetically, calling on the United Kingdom and Portugal to suspend threatening each other and resolve disputes peacefully. Italy is willing to serve as a coordinating country to help the two countries restore relations.

After that, France and the Netherlands also stood up and issued the same appeal, asking the United Kingdom to calm down. Spain has always had close relations with Portugal. It is not an ally that is better than an ally. It even shouted to the United Kingdom that the two countries hold a meeting in Madrid. Have peace talks.