Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 80: Chapter 78: Cooperation Agreement

Carlo, in a good mood after successfully winning over Menotti, enjoyed a lunch that was not opulent but very authentic Italian, hosted by Garibaldi.

Though Capri is not a big island, it’s still an island and thus doesn’t lack seafood.

In fact, Garibaldi’s life on Capri mainly consisted of hunting and fishing, supplemented by reading.

Because of his special status, Garibaldi rarely received guests, making him seem quite lonely.

The good news is that after Garibaldi published articles in the Sun Newspaper and earned some royalties, at least he didn’t have to worry about his daily expenses.

In his daily life, he tilled the land, caught fish, and hunted, having enough grains and meat to eat. It was a carefree existence.

Carlo also felt relieved. After all, he had recruited two of Garibaldi’s sons to serve him. If Garibaldi wasn’t living well, Carlo would truly feel guilty.

Fortunately, Garibaldi had his wife’s company, and his daughter and son-in-law visited him from time to time. So, he wasn’t lonely.

Happy times are always short-lived, and Carlo couldn’t stay on Capri for too long.

That afternoon, Carlo boarded the ship to leave, taking along Garibaldi’s eldest son, Menotti.

Carlo actually had other plans for Menotti.

Previously, the matter of the African expedition was mentioned. Carlo wanted to form a formal African expedition team, which must have an armed force, at least to protect the team while traversing dangerous Africa.

At this time, only some coastal and peripheral regions of Africa had been explored, with vast territories untouched by the European Powers.

There were surely many indigenous African tribes on these unknown lands. Inevitably, some may be rather xenophobic and might even aggressively attack the expedition.

However, the African expedition was still very dangerous. Although the African natives weren’t a huge threat, the unfamiliar geographic environment and some bacteria and viruses Europe had never encountered were the real dangers of Africa.

Thus, Carlo wouldn’t force it. If Menotti was willing, he would become the captain of the African expedition. If not, there were positions available for him in the Guard Corps.

Returning to Rome from Capri was already at night.

Carlo intended to go to bed early, but government officials quickly found him and reported the status of negotiations with the Spanish Government.

Negotiations were quite rapid, which exceeded Carlo’s expectations.

He initially thought the discussion might take ten days, but surprisingly, after two days of negotiations, a preliminary result was reached, and it just needed some minor details settled to sign the agreement.

Currently, the Spanish Government was in dire need of funds and some industrial technologies.

On this point, the Italian Government was willing to cooperate with the Spanish Government. After all, Spain wasn’t a major power, posing no immediate threat to Italy.

Cooperation between Spain and Italy could also help Italy ease the threat from France, as Italy’s unification involved seizing Venice and Rome from Austria-Hungary and France.

It couldn’t be called seizing, more like picking up leftovers.

But these two areas were once within Austria-Hungary and France’s sphere of influence, and Italy’s unification would inevitably affect these two nations.

As Carlo anticipated, the Italian Government agreed not to impose stringent lending conditions but wouldn’t provide interest-free loans, only low-interest ones.

The exact loan amount hadn’t been determined, but it’s likely not much since Italy’s economy wasn’t in great shape.

Carlo estimated that Italy could offer Spain loans ranging from 50 million Lira to 100 million Lira, equivalent to roughly 2 million to 4 million Pounds.

For Italian capitalists, this sum could be easily raised, wouldn’t affect Italy’s development, and could genuinely aid Spain, making it a win-win situation.

As for Italian industrial technology, it could be provided to Spain but required payment in hard currency.

Carlo had no objections on this point because no country’s industrial technology was free; either self-developed or acquired at a high price from other countries.

Latest steelmaking techniques, steam turbine technology, and chemical production materials were what Spain lacked.

Compared to countries like the UK, France, or Germany, Italy wasn’t an industrial powerhouse, but Italy had ample experience in industrialization that Spain could learn from.

Also, Italy’s military technology, such as the newly introduced rifles and ironclad ship production technology.

Italy’s shipbuilding technology was quite advanced, considered first-class in Europe.

In the 1880s, Italy already had the technical capability to build 10,000-ton ironclads, top-notch for the era.

However, due to Italy’s limited power among the European powers, and its Mediterranean location restricting naval development, the Italian Navy was never large.

This was Italy’s greatest geographical defect. All its coastlines were in the Mediterranean. Even with a large navy, after being blocked by the British at the Gibraltar Strait and Suez Canal, the Italian Navy couldn’t leave the Mediterranean.

The good news was that ironclad ships had only existed for just over ten years, and Italy’s ironclad technology wasn’t that advanced yet.

The Italian Government had little opposition to Spain’s desire to import these industrial technologies, but also wouldn’t give them to the Spanish Government for free.

Carlo wasn’t solely relying on Italy’s technologies. Carlo hoped that Spain could import advanced technologies from the European Powers and fully understand them, further researching them for even more advanced technology.

At this stage, it’s mainly about importing technology, and Carlo was open to all comers. Since Italian technology differed from that of other nations, learning various technologies would aid future development of newer technologies.

After quickly reviewing the cooperation agreement with Italy, Carlo believed there were no issues and instructed the reporting officials to continue advancing cooperation with Italy.

The objectives of this diplomatic visit had been largely achieved; it was quite a successful visit. If they could attract some talent from Italy back to Spain, it would be even more perfect.