As Li Yongzhong said, Spain's purchase of imperial warships and building a modern navy will inevitably trigger a chain reaction in Europe, but the empire has no choice.

At present, the first European navy belongs to the Netherlands, which rose to prominence by defeating France, and countries with modern steam-powered warships include Sweden and Portugal.

Although the latter two are traditional friends of the empire in Europe, these two countries obviously do not have the potential to be a big country.

Before and after the Industrial Revolution, the foundations for creating a great power and a strong power were completely different. Before the Industrial Revolution, Gustav II of Sweden once became a powerful European power and dominated the entire northern Europe by building a strong army and establishing a conscription system.

However, whether it can become a strong country after the Industrial Revolution depends more on the country's population, territory and resources.

A country with a large population, a large territory and a rich resource may not be able to become a big country, but becoming a big country requires these three conditions.

The empire's strategic situation in Europe is pretty good, but the imperial royal family is very crisis-like and foresightful.

Britain and France were opponents of the empire and had already begun the industrial revolution. Their domestic systems also provided a good foundation for industrialization.

Within twenty years, two naval powers will appear in Europe, and the friendly countries of the empire in Europe have neither the will to confront these two countries nor the ability to compete with Britain and France. Will the empire fight against the competitive pressure of these two countries alone in Europe, half a distance from the earth?

Obviously this is not possible. It is better to prepare for the rain than digging a well when you are thirsty. This is what Li Zhaoyu wants to do.

Spain is the best support object, and there are many benefits to help it build a modern navy.

Li Zhaoyu waited for Philip V for two days. It was obvious that the king was very concerned about this matter, but making a decision was still a complicated and difficult thing. Philip V kept sending envoys to greet him and sending gifts in two days, so as not to change his mind.

Philip V had this intention, and he wanted to reform not only the navy, but also the army. Although Philip V had the power of Spain and had firmly taken the position of king, his financial achievements alone were the best king in the past 150 years.

But the problem is that because of the rise of the empire and its involvement in European affairs, for Spain, there have been more changes in the past decade than in the past two centuries, Philip V must catch up with the trend of history.

Philip V wanted to restore his rule in the Italian region and bring Spain back to its strongest position in Europe. Just facing an opponent like the Austrian Empire, it required comprehensive strengthening of the navy and army. The Spanish army was really hard to describe, and both its equipment level and combat philosophy were incompatible with this era.

Spain's finances are now heavily dependent on colonies, and this dependence will only increase in the foreseeable future. The American colonies are Spain's lifeline, and whether Spain's strength or even life and death are closely related to it.

Before Philip V, an empire that expanded globally was Spain's biggest challenge overseas, but with the signing of the Treaty of Madrid, the empire actually demarcated its sphere of influence with Spain and recognized Spain's colonies in the Americas.

After Philip V came to power, he reduced the covetousness of his colonies to other countries by opening up colonies to other countries.

Therefore, the threat to the Spanish colonies now comes from outside. The empire stopped expanding its colonies, and Britain and France do not have this ability for the time being, and they are also fed.

The biggest threat to Spain overseas is the colonial tendency to independence.

The source of this independence tendency is mainly economic reasons. In fact, all colonies rely heavily on foreign trade and can be said to be an outward-oriented economy.

The colonies mainly produce raw materials and primary products, which need to be exported to the outside world, while the industrial products they need to be imported.

The Spanish American colonies produce raw materials that Spain cannot digest. Mexico planted cotton, but Spain did not have a decent textile industry and Cuba produced high-quality tobacco. However, the Spanish still mainly smoked pipes and did not have a serious cigarette factory. As for the ores mined in the colonies, they were even more unusable to Spain.

As a feudal centralized country, not to mention industrial products produced by large industries, even Spain cannot make good handicraft products in the feudal economic system.

This means that the Spanish colonies are heavily dependent on empires, Britain and France and other European countries. The more economic dependence is on foreign countries, the more affected other countries will be. Obviously, any country except Spain is happy to see the Spanish colonies independent.

In addition to the reasons for foreign trade, another reason is the political structure of the colonies. The large plantation economy is common in colonies. This is actually the local princes. Spain relies heavily on local tyrants over the colonies. For a long time, Spain's regular army in the colonies did not exceed 2,000, which is enough to show this.

When facing foreign invasions, such as Li Junwei's rule in America, these local tyrants would fight against the empire in a united hatred and resist the empire's military entry. In order to fight against external threats, these local tyrants would clearly respect the Spanish king, a feudal monarch who could unite all forces. The king would be regarded as a guardian god.

But when they enter a state of peace, these local tyrants will regard their native kings as destroyers, because everything is under the control of the king, and the king becomes a vampire again.

Therefore, Spain needed not only a powerful navy to deal with the Austrian Empire, but also a strong army to suppress the independence tendency of the colonies.

Two days later, Philip V formally proposed cooperation, but Li Zhaoyu and Philip V had a dispute over a small issue, that is, who the Spanish sent to represent the military cooperation.

Li Zhaoyu originally did not want to interfere with Philip V's decision, but this guy was so outrageous that he actually wanted to send a singing to host the work, just because this guy could calm him down with his beautiful singing and satisfy Philip V's vanity with his gorgeous words.

However, Li Zhaoyu was not used to this problem. Li Zhaoyu had already suffered a loss during the Eastern Alliance Conference.

After discovering that Li Zhaoyu was the chairman of the meeting, the countries in Southeast Asia also sent their crown princes and princes to negotiate, essentially to bring their relationship closer to the imperial royal family.

But the problem is that most of the guys are ignorant people, and asking them to take responsibility during negotiations will only have a counterproductive effect.

Li Zhaoyu learned two experiences at the Eastern Alliance Conference, and these two experiences sounded exactly the opposite.

First, it is best for professionals to do professional things.

Second, it is best for unprofessional people to decide on professional matters.

The former experience can ensure efficiency and success rate of negotiations, while the latter experience is conducive to negotiations more in line with the interests of the empire.

For example, in this military cooperation with Spain, Li Zhaoyu asked Spain to select naval and army generals to join the negotiation committee, but the charming favorite must become the chairman of this committee.

At critical moments, a kickback can make the favorite minister show his voice for the empire. If the person in this position is too professional and has a position, it will be difficult to deal with.

In order not to affect the convening of the League of Nations Conference, Li Zhaoyu required that the early intention negotiations be kept confidential.

But this was simply torture for Spain, especially for Philip V. In fact, when the negotiators on both sides were not completely sure, this matter was already known to everyone in Seville.

The unexpected gain of Li Zhaoyu was that the military cooperation between the two countries promoted the smooth convening of the League of Nations Conference.

Philip V reciprocated his favor and invited some imperial diplomatic officials to set up the venue.

The national flags at the venue were temporarily cancelled, and countries took out the national flags of each country, unified the standard national flags and the standard flags and flagpoles of the same qualifying were produced by an embroidery workshop in Ceuta.

Li Zhaoyu sent someone to supervise the production of the national flag. All the flags are of the same size, thickness and even weight.

These national flags will be used when the League of Nations Conference ends.

During the League of Nations meeting, no national flag was hung. The tables of representatives of each country were assembled in a circle, and each country hung the national flag on the table to indicate its identity.

The order of speeches and entry orders generally adopt the method of drawing lots, which is fair and just, but problems also arise. The envoys of the Ukrainian Federation and the Russian envoys draw lots together, and almost fought in the first negotiation.

Some rules are passed forcibly and do not give any country any chance to discuss, but they also caused protests, but these protests are invalid.

One of the rules is that the drinks on the conference table only have warm water, coffee and tea, and no wine. Many countries expressed their dissatisfaction. Even if the results were destined, the impact of alcohol on the conference could not be eliminated. For example, the Tsar's plenipotentiary, Myschkov, was drunk most of the time during the League of Nations meeting.

The League of Nations Conference was finally officially held on July 27, the 45th year of the empire. The first topic was to determine the ownership of the five powerful countries.

The League of Nations defines a strong country as a great country with world influence.

What is world influence? That is, its influence exceeds the continent where it is located.

The empire is undoubtedly a world power, and no representative of any country expressed its unfairness. The Ottoman Empire spans three continents, Spain has half of the Americas, France and Britain have colonies in the Americas and Africa, and have a long history of East-West trade and colonization.

Other countries obviously do not meet the conditions. Both the Netherlands and Portugal have colonies, but they are not considered major powers. Although Russia and the Austrian Empire are major powers, they do not have world influence.

Of course, this so-called standard is more about excluding some small countries without self-knowledge. At least at this time of the empire forty-five years, the empire generally did not recognize any major powers in Europe.

There are only two types of countries in Europe, one is a small country, and the other is a small country that does not know that it is a small country. This is the general consensus within the empire.

The ownership of the quota of the five major countries was already established before the League of Nations Conference. The standard for setting is very simple, that is, there are not many major countries that oppose it becoming the five major countries.

The qualifications of the empire are indisputable. Even though many countries have conflicts with the empire, no major powers oppose it because the great powers are very clear that without the participation of the empire, the League of Nations does not exist.

The same is true for Britain and France. The Empire made the League of Nations a platform for quarrels, so it was necessary to bring out all those who could quarrel. Without Britain and France, the League of Nations would be meaningless.

Both Britain and France had no irreconcilable conflicts with the Ottoman Empire, so it was acceptable that the Ottomans could become the five major powers. Spain was the only country that could barely be neutral among the remaining countries that could be called major powers, so it could also be among them.

Among the remaining countries, Austria and Russia have clear national opposition. The empire did not allow Russia to be among the five major powers, while Spain and the Ottomans opposed Austria.

The determination of the five major countries does not require the consent of all countries, and all countries have done their work in advance. Britain and France convinced the Netherlands, Denmark and many countries within the Shinra system, and even Russia chose to remain silent after ensuring that their power will not be hurt.

The empire came forward to persuade Prussia, Sweden, Ukraine and Portugal. In the remaining countries, Austria had no representatives to attend. As for Poland, it was just a disruptor. It opposed nothing and could not come up with a corresponding solution.

In the first talks, Poland demanded the abolition of the five major countries and no permanent members. This was to exempt everyone from the achievements that they had finally achieved. Therefore, all countries saw "no Poland" and magnificently ignored this clown.

The first talks were too chaotic, and Li Zhaoyu chose to take the lead in the crucial issue of headquarters site selection.

In the second talks, Prussia got the first voice in the draw.

However, Crown William did not abuse it, but chose to issue a joint initiative with the Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Ukraine, Portugal and Spain, which advocated the selection of Corsica as the headquarters of the League of Nations.

Three of the five major countries agreed, and as the parties involved, the Republic of Genoa, the sovereign ruler of Corsica, did not object, and the rest of the countries knew that Genoa had already been angry with the empire.

"Corsica has unique conditions, its transportation is convenient and its products are abundant, and it is not directly controlled by any major power. It has an incomparable advantage in neutrality.
Chapter completed!