Spain's bright future

Carlos IV stared intently at Joseph, and asked excitedly, "Are you just saying this casually, or...?"

Joseph said earnestly, "It was Her Majesty the Queen who sent me to Madrid. ✌👣 💛🍭"

Carlos became even more excited, his chest heaving, and patted Joseph's shoulders forcefully. "France will always be Spain's closest brother!"

Joseph then envisioned a bright future for France and Spain to jointly control the entire Iberian Peninsula, which made Carlos IV's blood boil. He was eager to lead his army right now, drive out the English Army in Gibraltar, and then march on Lisbon!

Joseph glanced at his expression and said casually, "After you take back Gibraltar, Ceuta will be of little use to you. Perhaps France could use it as a supply port."

Ceuta is a port on the opposite shore of Gibraltar, serving as the southern gateway to the Strait of Gibraltar. Located in Morocco, Ceuta Port was occupied by Portugal in the 15th century. Over a hundred years ago, Spain seized it from Portugal.

Carlos IV nodded in agreement almost without hesitation. "Of course, no problem! Please allow me to present Ceuta to my France brothers on the day I ascend Gibraltar."

Although Ceuta's location was important, its location outside of the European Continent made resupply extremely difficult, limiting its effectiveness for the Spanish Navy.

However, this is not a problem for France. North Africa is a core area of development for France, and Morocco will inevitably fall into France's sphere of influence in the future.

In other words, France was essentially resupplying Ceuta from its own territory.

By helping Spain drive out the United Kingdom and reclaim the northern gateway to the Strait of Gibraltar, France would also gain the southern gateway to the strait for free—a truly worthwhile deal.

Seeing Carlos IV's eager expression, Joseph quickly poured cold water on his enthusiasm. "Of course, the United Kingdom still possess an unshakeable naval power, making Portugal difficult to conquer as well."

"We must first focus on developing our national strength and then build a large number of Warship once our Finance are abundant. Only when our two navies can overpower the United Kingdom will it be time to retake Gibraltar!"

"As for the army, we have nothing to worry about. As long as the English Fleet doesn't interfere, the Franco-Spanish Allied Forces can conquer Portugal within two months."

Napoleon's army merely lingered on Portugal's doorstep before the latter surrendered at lightning speed. However, the British Navy was still in existence at that time, and occupying Portugal would hardly guarantee stable rule. Therefore, Napoleon took Portugal's overseas Colony and ordered the withdrawal of his troops.

Carlos IV nodded silently, his mind calming down.

Given Spain's current national strength, it wouldn't dare provoke the United Kingdom. And France, having barely escaped a devastating Financial Crisis, would likely find it difficult to spare much resources to help Spain.

Therefore, focusing on development and accumulating Warship is the best course of action right now.

Joseph then shared some suggestions on reform and development with him. In fact, Carlos III left Spain with a very good team.

Both Campos and Count of Aranda were highly capable ministers.

Although the Count of Floridablanca was very wary of France, he could be considered a wise and capable minister.

Even Bernard Tanucci, the Chief Minister of King Carlos III when he was King Naples, could be summoned to Spain to assist in government affairs.

As long as Spain can closely follow France and keep its Colony from causing unrest, it shouldn't have any problem maintaining its position as a European Continent power, if not a significant increase in national strength.

Moreover, the Spanish Navy has always been quite well-developed; after all, it's a country that produced the Spanish Armada, so its heritage remains.

For a period of time afterward, Joseph and Carlos IV discussed everything from the management of the Colony to the control of the Nobility, as well as Franco-Spanish trade cooperation. Although it was unknown how much the latter could understand, he had done his best. The rest was up to the fate of Spain.

Of course, there are also daily Spain meals and various dances.

Three days later, Joseph left Madrid with a reluctant farewell from Carlos IV, heading east to the Port of Valencia where he boarded a Spanish Navy Warship. He then sailed north, disembarked at the Toulon, and transferred to Carriage to travel to Austria.

Strasbourg.

Joseph looked at the gifts that Talleyrand had brought, which filled several Carriage, and couldn't help but shake his head and sigh inwardly. His mother was really an honest woman; she was not stingy at all when it came to the gifts for his brother.

Oh well, it's her private stash anyway, let her spend it however she wants...

He gestured for the Minister of Foreign Affairs to get in the car, first praising his successful trip to the United Kingdom to retrieve Jeanne, and then carefully explaining the diplomatic mission to Vienna.

This will determine France's policy direction for a considerable period of time to come.

Poland.

Warsaw.

United States. Ambassador to Poland, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Jones, sized up the two men before him. Had France Intelligence Agency not repeatedly assured him there was no mistake, he would have found it hard to believe they were the men who could supposedly "change the course of Poland's destiny."

The taller man wore a coarse cloth coat and gray-black trousers. His hands and face had very rough skin, like a fisherman who spent most of his time at sea.

The other, slightly fatter one, had a bald priest's head and wore a tattered gray priest's robe, clearly from a remote rural church.

The two men bowed to Jones with their hands on their chests and greeted him in French. Their manners and speech were remarkably refined, completely at odds with their appearances.

Jones politely returned the greeting, carefully went to the window to make sure no one was watching, then turned back and took two Pamphlets from his pocket, handing them to the two men and adding, "Please keep them safe. Due to confidentiality requirements, no copies have been kept."

The "fisherman" carefully took the Pamphlets, and saw that the title of the top one was "The Glorious Polish Nation".

A thought struck him, and he looked at the next book, "Although I Speak Russian, I Will Always Be a Poles."

He quickly flipped through the Pamphlets, his expression immediately becoming excited. Looking at Jones, he exclaimed, "Great! This is wonderful! Who wrote this great thinker? We need it!"

Jones shrugged and mumbled, "I heard he's Germany."

In fact, this was commissioned by Joseph more than three years earlier by John Gottlieb Fichte, the Germany Enlightenment master.

Although Fichte's research on Poland was not particularly in-depth, the key to unifying national consciousness lies in incitement, and he was adept at this.

With the client being very generous with the money, he poured tremendous enthusiasm into his work and completed these two works expounding on the concept of the Poland nation in the shortest possible time.

"Please print it as soon as possible and distribute it throughout Poland," Jones instructed. "Don't worry about funding; the sponsors will contact you soon."

Joseph was driven to desperation by the slow and inefficient Polish Parliament, leaving him no choice but to resort to the powerful weapon of national consciousness.