1914, a year of adventure and a bumper harvest.

World-wide war broke out on this planet, with more than 800 million people involved, and about 15 million troops fighting in Europe, Africa and Asia, and thousands of warships made the entire ocean boil.

Germany's established goal before the war - defeating the number one strong enemy France on land and getting rid of the situation of being attacked on both sides has been successfully completed. Nearly half of France is currently under Germany's control. By early February 1915, the French had handed over all aircraft and prescribed amounts of guns, ammunition, locomotives, carriages and trucks in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, and handed over 59 warships of more than 1,000 tons to the German Navy, including 5 armored battleships and 12 light and heavy cruisers. In addition, the French government also paid the German government a one-time payment of 1 billion francs worth of gold as the first phase of war reparations, and the handover of the colonies was coming to an end.

When the German navy unexpectedly defeated Britain at sea, the world's maritime rights changed greatly. The victory of the naval battle brought Germany not only honors, but also huge benefits. First, the British navy's blockade of Germany suddenly collapsed, and the overseas trade that Germany had been forced to stop at the beginning of the war was restored. By early 1915, the maritime transportation volume had reached 120% before the war; secondly, the British navy's protection of overseas colonies was sharply reduced, and the Mediterranean area was no longer controlled by Britain and France, and the German-Turkish coalition was able to successfully invade Africa, and a large area of ​​British-French colonies changed hands. Now three-quarters of the land on the African continent are under the control of the German-Turkish coalition, and the remaining are neutral colonies such as Portugal and the Netherlands.

1915 was still a year of adventure and harvest.

The bourgeoisie and major consortiums had already smelled the huge benefits of colonial investment and development. After measuring risks and benefits, they quickly obtained land development licenses from the government. With the military and political rights in their hands, they also established solid strongholds with the assistance of local garrisons, recruited people and purchased weapons to form a certain scale of private armed forces. The colonial farms and mines became their private kingdoms.

On February 1, the German government issued Announcement No. 10 of the New Year, encouraging domestic investors to go to the newly acquired overseas colonies for development and investment, Egypt (formerly British), Sudan (formerly British and Egyptian governments before the war), South Africa (formerly British), Senegal (formerly French), Morocco (the central and eastern regions were originally French, and the northern and southern regions were protected areas of Spain), Algeria (formerly French), Libya (formerly Italian), Congo (formerly British, Italian and French), Somalia (formerly British, Italian and French), etc. will all become adventurers' paradises.

The last line of the massive announcement suddenly reads: "The Imperial Army will give you the most reliable protection!"

Soon, the government bulletin boards in cities and villages were surrounded by civilians, including merchants, small factory owners, workers and farmers. People were talking about the content of the announcement. Speculators were eager to move, and there were opportunities they had long been looking forward to. However, most people still had a conservative and wait-and-see attitude, after all, those colonies were still barbaric.

For a time, the topic of colonial development began to prevail in Germany.

In any case, after the announcement was released, many people were actively preparing, raising funds, recruiting helpers or conducting field surveys. Just a week later, the first batch of explorers embarked on the road to gold rush to Africa.

Berlin, palace.

"Your Majesty, according to our rough statistics, in the week since the release of Announcement No. 10, more than 12,000 groups and individuals have applied to Africa. More than 50 million marks are expected to be invested in local mining, agriculture and industry." The new colonial minister, General Pascal, the father-in-law of Chen Tian, ​​excitedly reported the latest progress of the colonial plan with a copy of information in his hand, and it is important to know that this does not include the previous investments of the nobles and large consortiums.

"Oh, it's very good!" Chen Tian knew that it was not easy to make conservative Germans go overseas to invest widely. People's concepts take time to change. The 80 million mark of private funds seem to be not much, but you should know that the war has not yet ended, and a considerable amount of private funds are still producing military supplies. By the time the British are defeated, this number will inevitably rise rapidly.

"Just..." Pascal paused, "Ninety percent of people choose to go to South Africa at present, and people are not interested in other colonies. Few people are willing to go to North African colonies such as Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt, and some inland areas are even less concerned! In fact, those places also have rich resources!"

Chen Tian was not surprised by this situation. After all, South Africa's mineral deposits have long been well-known, and there is convenient sea transportation from South Africa to Germany. As for North Africa, although under the control of the German-Turkish coalition, the sea transportation conditions are not ideal. German ships sailing from North African ports must detour through the Suez Canal and return to Europe through the Suez Canal, or cross the Mediterranean to the ports of the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Turkey, and then transport the goods back to Germany by railway. In this way, the distance between the transportation sites has increased greatly, and the costs and risks have increased as a result.

"Print the geography, history, customs and resources of our colonies into brochures to distribute them to the people. Once they have a deeper understanding of these places, they will naturally go there to invest and develop!" In Chen Tian's view, the victory of the war will bring a lot of materials and benefits to Germany, and the production level of the military industry will soon return to the pre-war level. This is the best time to invest overseas, otherwise there will be a situation of oversupply of resources in the country after the war. In addition to letting the people know more about the situation in the colonies, Chen Tian knew that he also had to untie a lock to open the door to the Mediterranean. No matter how strong the defense there was, he would not hesitate, and nothing could hinder his large colonial plan.

"It won't take long, all problems will be properly solved!" Chen Tian's eyes stayed at the small dot on the map. For the world map, it was too small, but its geographical location was very important. It was for this small place that Chen Tian prepared the current best commander of the German Army, Navy and Air Force.

At this time, not many people turned their attention to the calm southern Europe.

Madrid, the capital of Spain, is located in a mountain basin at an altitude of 670 meters. It is one of the highest terrain capitals in Europe. The scenery here is beautiful, the sun is shining and the air is fresh. It ranks first among major European capitals every year. Although Madrid is cold in February, everything has shown signs of recovery. After the cold winter, people began to look forward to the arrival of spring.

The most famous building in Madrid is naturally the pure white palace of the East. The grandeur of this palace is more than that of Buckingham Palace in England and is comparable to that of Versailles in France. The marble columns, exquisitely sculpted roofs, brocade tapestries, luxurious crystal chandeliers and foreign watches in the palace are all famous treasures. Many of the tapestries were artificially woven with gold and silver threads in the 15th century, and they are very precious. A skilled worker worked 8 hours a day to weave it into 1 square meter, a tapestries about 2 meters long and 15 meters wide. One worker needs to weave it for 20 years in a row. If the tapestries collected in the palace are spread on the ground, it is 200 kilometers long, which can be said to be priceless.

The Palace of the East was built at the heyday of the Spanish Kingdom, and later witnessed the gradual decline of the kingdom. At the beginning of the 19th century, Napoleon's army invaded Spain; at the end of the 19th century, the Spanish-American War broke out, and the war finally ended with Spain's defeat. Cuba gained independence, Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States and sold the Philippines (20 million US dollars) at the same time, and also lost its last overseas colony. From then on, the status of an international power no longer existed.

The landlord of this gorgeous underground palace is now Alfonso XIII. A Spanish king who ascended the throne at birth and is currently only 29 years old. Like Emperor Ao, Alfonso took over an empire that was declining, and he was mediocre and failed to bring any turning point to Spain. It was just that in the war that broke out before, his neutral policy successfully saved the weak Spain from the fire.

After the Vienna peace treaty was signed, Alfonso, like most European monarchs, began to be glad that the war had been quelled, but just two days later, his prime minister brought him bad news.

As soon as he walked into the king's study, Prime Minister Josie couldn't wait to speak: "Your Majesty, something is wrong! The Germans are probably going to start a war at our doorstep!"

Alfonso almost jumped out of the chair in surprise.

"The Germans declared war on us?"

"No...no!" Qiao Xi was breathing heavily. It seemed that he was walking quickly from the entrance of the palace to the study.

"That's it?"

"Your Majesty, this morning, Germany... The German Foreign Minister gave a note to our Ambassador to Berlin, the German government... They asked us to lend the Port of Malaga to them in the south. Allow their troops to land in Malaga and cross our territory to attack Gibraltar occupied by the British! In addition, they also had to rent our land in northern Morocco to complete the north-south attack of Gibraltar!" The Prime Minister finally conveyed the Germans' meaning clearly, and then Alfonso sat back on his chair.

A long time later, the Spanish king murmured: "This is how the French invaded our country back then!"

Prime Minister Josie remained silent. It was a history that was unforgettable to the Spanish. More than 100 years ago, Napoleon used the excuse of using the road to attack Portugal, and then sent troops to occupy Spain and sent his brothers to the throne of Spain. The Spanish people rose up to resist and dealt a heavy blow to the French. However, this also cost Spain a very painful price. Latin American colonies took the opportunity to be independent, and Spain lost most of its overseas colonies during this period.

"The Germans are stronger now than the French in Napoleon's era!" Alfonso closed his eyes in pain. He did not want to be another Fernando VII (the Spanish king, who was deprived of the throne just ascended the throne in 1808, and then Napoleon's brother Joseph ascended the throne in the name of Jose I).

"Your Majesty, with the current situation, we can only try to persuade the Germans to take back this request!" After calming down, Josie seemed to have thought of a new solution.

"The French surrendered, and the British were unable to protect themselves. What should we use to persuade the Germans to change their minds? Austrians? Russians?" Alfonso shook his head in pain. Now the Germans have become the dominant people of Europe, just like Napoleon back then.

Josie took a step forward, "No, your majesty! Gibraltar!"

"Gibraltar?" Alfonso suddenly opened his eyes, looking at his Prime Minister with confusion and expectation.

"As long as the Germans get Gibraltar, they have no reason to borrow our country!" Old Josie obviously saw the root of this problem. With Gibraltar, the Germans also controlled the key to the Mediterranean. Otherwise, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean, German surface ships could only detour the Suez Canal.

"Your Majesty, the British are hard to protect their homeland now. This is also the best time for us to take back Gibraltar!"

Since the British used the Spanish War to seize Gibraltar with the Spanish Succession War, Spain has never given up on the requirement to recapture Gibraltar. Unfortunately, the British Empire became increasingly powerful. After entering the 20th century, it dominated the world with steel warships, and the Spanish could only endure it silently.

"Gibraltar has been in the hands of the British since 1704. Now there are strong defense facilities, fortresses, barracks, military ports and airports. In addition to the fortress garrison troops of tens of thousands of people, the main ships of the British Mediterranean Fleet are all gathered there! The British cannot give up such an important place easily. If there is not enough troops and heavy artillery, it is not easy to occupy the place for forcibly!" Thinking of the current Spanish Army and Navy, Alfonso seemed quite helpless, and it was no longer comparable to the Spanish army at its heyday.

"Your Majesty, the UK is no longer the same as before! Your Majesty can send someone to invite the Army and Navy ministers. They will tell us the current military strength of the British in Gibraltar. I think the strength of the British army is not as strong as I imagined! The Chinese army will capture it, and then cooperate with the Germans or sign a covenant. This will not only prevent the German invasion, but also recover Gibraltar, killing two birds with one stone!" The Prime Minister's proposal is very tempting, and the young king seems to be looking forward to a bright future.

Half an hour later, the Spanish Minister of the Army, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Marshal Paul Navarro, and Marshal Jogkabilas, Commander of the Navy Fleet, came to meet Alfonso XIII. They told their king that the British currently have about 7,000 infantry regiments in Gibraltar, with less than 10 aircraft on military airports, and 2 armored cruisers, 5 destroyers and more than 10 small ships parked in the military port. The Gibraltar Fortress has hundreds of cannons, including large-caliber mortars and heavy howitzers deployed on the top of a mountain with a range of ranges covering the strait. About 2/3 of these cannons face the sea, while the rest are alert to the inland direction.

"The Navy cannot attack from the front!" Marshal Kabilas concluded that the warship in his hand was not the opponent of the solid fortress and heavy fortress guns.

"The army lacks heavy artillery and ammunition, and the casualties will probably be very serious when they take Mount Gibraltar. But if your Majesty decides to attack, my soldiers will never hesitate!" Marshal Navarro affirmed the possibility of attacking from land, but the Spanish Army lacks advanced aircraft cannons.
Chapter completed!