"Tony, haven't the members decided yet on the city to move the capital to?"
King Francisco I of Aragon asked his Prime Minister Tony if the members of Parliament had unified opinions on moving the capital?
The current capital of Aragon is naturally the historical capital Zaragoza.
However, after the restoration of the Kingdom of Aragon, there was a lot of criticism about the old capital, with Valencia and Catalonia being the most opposed.
Valencia and Catalonia were economically wealthy regions in the Kingdom of Spain. However, Old Aragon, where the old capital Zaragoza is located, is inland, has inconvenient transportation, arid and poor land, and a small population. It is rare, so it has always been an underdeveloped province.
Now is the era of sea power. The economy of the hinterland of Zaragoza is in bad shape, and so is the agricultural industry. Catalonia and Valencia believe that this old capital is no longer useful and a new capital needs to be established.
In terms of choosing a new city, the Valencia region recommended Valencia, and the Catalonia region recommended Barcelona. The parliamentarians of the two regions were fiercely fighting for the capital city.
When two wealthy regions were at odds in parliament, old Aragon, where Zaragoza is located, tried to protect the capital.
Even though it is weak and the city is no longer suitable to be the capital, it still shouts in the parliament that the Kingdom of Aragon must follow tradition and that the new capital is a heresy, destroying tradition and causing division.
It is a pity that despite the efforts of the old Aragonese region, Zaragoza was not able to retain its status as the capital.
As the king of Aragon, Francisco I naturally had great power. He could have kept Zaragoza as the capital with one word.
But he didn't feel much about Zaragoza. He felt it was remote and backward, and he thought it was better for the capital to be on the coast.
Therefore, Francisco I ordered a national referendum to decide whether to retain Zaragoza's capital status, believing that the capital issue needed to be decided by all citizens.
The natural result was that after a national referendum, Zaragoza did not retain its status as the capital, and the people agreed that the parliament should choose a new capital.
Since the people are dissatisfied with the old capital, the parliamentarians of Catalonia and Valencia will naturally fight for the new capital.
“Your Majesty the King, MPs are still fighting over the new capital.
The Catalonia region promotes Barcelona, and the Valencia region promotes Valencia. "
Tony introduced the current struggle in Parliament to Francisco I.
"Catalonia has four districts with 40 seats, and Valencia has three districts with 30 seats. However, Valencia has won over 10 seats from the neighboring Balearic Islands. The two parties are currently evenly matched.
In order to maintain the status of the capital, the 30 seats in the three districts of old Aragon have been sabotaged, so the new capital has never been decided. "
Tony also didn't expect the Aragonese to be so infighting. They were obviously united when they got rid of Spanish rule, but after the country was restored, they have been tearing each other apart in the parliament over various issues. This situation is very rare in Portugal.
In fact, Tony was also limited by the structure. Unlike the large structure of the Portuguese Empire, the Kingdom of Aragon was a small structure.
Portugal is under the leadership of His Majesty the Emperor, and the country has just ended its five-year military regime and has just begun its five-year training regime. The two parties in the parliament are only in trial operation, and national affairs are very unified.
As for the Kingdom of Aragon, in order to win over the people below and establish legitimacy, as soon as the kingdom was re-established, intensive preparations for the meeting were quickly started. There was no military government or training at all, and it went directly to constitutional government.
As the saying goes, a small shop has a strong influence, and the Kingdom of Aragon is like a small bastard with a very small structure and strong local struggles.
In order to avoid the division of the country due to regional infighting, Francisco listened to the suggestion of his son Downing Pedro from the beginning and divided the four large regions into eleven small provinces and regions, and the national parliament was also divided into eleven regions and 110 seats. .
However, this currently has little effect. Because of the strength of Barcelona and Valencia and their long-standing influence on surrounding areas, regional alliances are currently popular in parliament.
There are currently six parties, the Socialist Unity Party (an ally of the Portuguese Socialist Party of Unification); the National Democratic Party (an ally of the Portuguese National Democratic Party); the Traditional Party of Aragon (based on the old Aragon region); the Common Party of Catalonia (based on The Catalonia region is the base); the Valencian Community Party (the Valencia region is the base); the Balearic Progressive Party (the Balearic Islands region is the base).
Six parties, two national parties and four local parties.
The Socialist Unity Party and the National Democratic Party have influence in various regions. They have members in 110 seats in the 11 regions of the National Parliament. The Socialist Unity Party has 34 seats and the National Democratic Party has 32 seats. The current cabinet is composed of two parties.
The other four local parties are mainly entrenched in the original four large regions. Although they do not have many parliamentary seats, under certain circumstances, they can explode with considerable power.
As for the capital issue dispute, it was brought about by the Common Party of Catalonia, the Common Party of Valencia, the Socialist Unity Party and the National Democratic Party. Their members come from various regions. Of course, they must stand for the interests of their respective regions, so their affiliations MPs from the two major parties in the region also cooperated with the two parties.
"What's the point of all this quarrel? The new capital must decide." Francisco I frowned, disgusted with the quarrels in the parliament.
The national parliament is simply a vegetable market. Every time there is an issue involving major local interests, there is always an uproar in the parliament.
Last time, there was a proposal to allocate funds for the construction of comprehensive water conservancy facilities on the Cambro River and the construction of industrial bases in the three regions of Zaragoza Capital Province, Huesca Province and Teruel Province in the old Aragon region. The Common Party of Catalonia and the Common Party of Valencia have been desperately trying to stir up trouble, and the Traditional Party of Aragon is also tit for tat with them.
During that meeting, some members of the National Democratic Party and the United Socialist Party in the three places were also led by them to follow the rhythm and fight with each other.
In the end, if Francisco I hadn't supported Tony's coalition cabinet, I don't know how long the debate would have lasted.
"Tony, since there are endless disputes between Valencia, Barcelona, and Zaragoza regarding the capital issue, let's choose a middle place as the capital."
Francisco I looked at the map, and then after thinking for a while, he pointed out a city - Tortosa.
"I think this city called Tortosa is a good one. It is located on the lower reaches of the Cambro River and is close to the sea.
Tortosa is located almost in the middle of Valencia, Barcelona, and Zaragoza. It is even opposite to the Balearic Islands. It is simply the center of the four corners. "
Francisco I said to Prime Minister Tony with a firm tone: "My dear Prime Minister, the capital is set in Tortosa, there is no need to choose another place.
The province of Tarragora, where this city is located, will be the capital province from now on. As for the name of the capital province, will it be changed to the province of Tortosa? Let the provincial parliament decide. "
"His Majesty has a very good vision, and I think this city is very suitable. It is located in the country and is almost equidistant from the three important cities in our country.
Although this city is a small city, it is precisely because it is small that it is better designed as a capital.
The renovation design of Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Portugal, was a big city and it took a lot of money and time to modify it at that time. "
"Hahaha, Tony, your point of view is good. It can be used as another powerful evidence when convincing the parliament!" Francisco I laughed.
