Chapter 85 The Spanish Campaign (4)
The two Spanish envoys did not dare to have the slightest delay, that night on the ship to Italy, one of them went to Rome to seek an audience with Mussolini, the other on the train to Austria, after a few days of transfer, finally came to the German capital Berlin.
"Hail to you, Your Royal Highness, the Honorable Crown Prince. I hope you will help free Spain from the Red Terror! The Spanish people will be grateful for your greatness and generosity."
A playful smile appeared at the corner of Wilhelm's mouth. "Mr. Envoy, for the sake of your General Franco's situation, it's better to save all this nutrient-less nonsense. Countries have only interests with countries, and all that gratitude and whatnot isn't worth a penny. Tell us, what do you need and what can you give us?"
"... " Seeing that this Crown Prince was even more dry and straight to the point than he was, the Spanish envoy froze. However, what he said was also reasonable, the Spanish envoy organized his thoughts, threw the prepared polite words aside, and said the purpose of this visit. "We need your country's military support."
"I think so." Wilhelm nodded. "And what can you give?"
The Spanish envoy thought about it and asked carefully. "What does His Royal Highness the Crown Prince need?" He was worried that he would lose out if he opened high. If the other party opened a price first, there would be a bottom, and it would be good to bargain.
"Huh." Wilhelm suddenly let out a laugh that baffled the Spanish envoy and waved his hand towards Anne next to him.
Annie pulled out a document from the folder and swung it in front of the Spanish envoy.
"Since Mr. Envoy is so polite, then I won't be polite either. Above this is our price, and we don't accept counteroffers, so if your country can accept it, then accept it, and if you can't, then pull it."
Hearing Wilhelm's non-negotiable tone, the envoy's heart surged with a trace of bad premonition, and somewhat trembling, he picked up the document.
"Article one. The Spanish side needs to provide Germany with three ports, two in the Atlantic direction and one in the Mediterranean. The infrastructure needs to be borne by the Spanish side, leased to Germany for 99 years at the price of one mark."
The corner of the Spanish envoy's mouth twitched slightly, this first clause was not acceptable to him. He knew that Germany had always wanted a naval base on the Mediterranean side, and his side's price was 1 port. Now Germany was actually asking for 3 ports?
Can't agree to that!
The second one is about the economic aspect.
"Article II. Spain allows the Germans to invest in any aspect of Spanish territory and depresses the tariff on German goods by twenty percent."
Again, this made it very difficult for Spain; it wasn't as if Germany was the only commodity entering Spain, so if the tariff was reduced by 20% for Germany, how would that be accounted for to the other countries, especially England and France? Is it possible to reduce tariffs for all countries? That would be a loss!
It cannot be promised!
The third one is even more outrageous.
"Article Three. Germany establishes a military security company within Spain, and the Spanish government shall not interfere with the number of employees and armaments of this military security company."
"..." What's the difference between this and deploying German troops directly on Spanish territory? It's just a "military security company" in disguise! If the Spanish people knew that Franco had signed such a treaty, they would lose their hearts and minds immediately!
Watching the Spanish envoy's face twitching uncontrollably, Yannick kindly explained. "Of course, these are secret clauses that will not be publicized. General Franco need not worry about being informed by his people."
"I think your country's demands are too much." The Spanish envoy's tone was thick with the flavor of dissatisfaction, although it was a secret treaty, but there was no impermeable wall in the world, really signing this clause, within a few years the population would also learn about it.
"Maybe." Wilhelm nodded in disbelief. "Mr. Envoy has had a long journey, rest first. There is a radio in the room, Mr. Envoy can discuss it with General Franco."
"..." It would have to do, he couldn't sign a treaty like this sellout anyway.
After arriving at his residence the envoy contacted General Franco first, only to learn that the battle situation in Cordoba was quite unfavorable.
Although alley warfare could pull all the war machines onto the same platform where heavy weapons could not be deployed, alley warfare also required a constant stream of reinforcements. Because of the lack of reinforcements, the whole of Cordoba was already under siege and it was only a matter of time before it fell.
Franco, of course, also felt that the conditions offered by Germany were a bit excessive, simply taking advantage of the fire, but could only bite the bullet and agree, ordering the envoy to sign the treaty immediately, so that Germany could send reinforcements as soon as possible.
The Spanish envoy had no choice but to seek an audience with Wilhelm again.
Wilhelm did not make it difficult for him, immediately summoned the envoy Mr. anxious. The envoy signed that document without saying a word and asked impatiently. "Your Highness, when will your country be able to send reinforcements?"
Wilhelm said very dryly. "Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow, tomorrow?" The Spanish envoy was flabbergasted, it was already evening, dispatching tomorrow, didn't even need to prepare? "You mean dispatch tomorrow?"
Wilhelm shook his head. "No, I'm saying that the first batch of reinforcements will arrive in your country tomorrow to join the battlefield."
The Spanish envoy was even more surprised and blurted out. "How can that be?!" Even if Germany had expected Spain to turn to them and prepared properly, how could they join the battlefield tomorrow? Where were their troops?
Wilhelm smiled, he had discussed this with Italy's and Portugal's long before. Italy's Mussolini was to implement his Fasces system that had little future; while Portugal was worried that their neighbor was turning red and threatening them, the three countries could be said to be on the same page.
With the Italian and German naval transportation ships, a large number of weapons and equipment, as well as personnel, were secretly transported to Portugal like ants moving.
At this time on the border of Portugal has been assembled Italian and German troops, tomorrow at dawn they will cross the border line, burst into Spain, launched an attack on the government forces.
"This is only the first batch of reinforcements, to be followed by a corps of 500 officers to train his army for Mr. Franco."
The Spanish envoy could not help but marvel at the foresight of the young Crown Prince in presenting Spain's needs. "We need a large number of guns, ammunition, and most of all machine guns, a large number of light machine guns ... Of course, aircraft artillery we are also very short of."
Wilhelm nodded. "No problem, we can provide a large number of weapons, especially submachine guns, as many as we want. But these aren't freebies, the price is separate. As for tanks and airplanes, we're not exactly rich either."
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"Line up! Quickly! All men stand at attention!" Hundreds of German soldiers in the uniforms of Franco's army assembled in a German expeditionary camp near the Portuguese borderline.
A major began to lecture.
"In an hour we are going to cross the border ahead and enter Spanish territory for a real baptism of fire. I won't say anything more, you only need to keep three things in mind."
He held out a finger as he spoke.
"Number one! Lie low yourselves! Whoever lies low, lives! Don't risk standing up straight on the battlefield, that's for idiots!"
Then he held out a second finger: "Second, try not to exaggerate your battle records! Because I will believe those battle records and leave the harder missions to these troops with excellent battle records next time!"
Then he looked at the nervous soldiers and held out a third finger, "Third! Remember to give way to bullets as well as shells! Unless you're in more of a hurry than they are."
All of the soldiers stared, then burst out into gales of laughter, the nervousness that had obviously been swept away before the trip.