Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 120: Agriculture Can't Compare To Finance

Starting from March 1872, a vigorous military reform officially unfolded in Spain. To avoid a significant impact on the army, the military reform would be implemented in batches across the entire Spanish Army.

The first troops to be involved in the reform were naturally the garrison forces around Madrid. The good news was that the troops defending the capital were the elite among all Spanish troops. Most soldiers and officers in this army had certain abilities, and there were not many officers and soldiers within the scope of reduction, so the impact on the army itself would not be too great.

Selecting this army as the primary target of the reform was naturally also due to its minimal impact during the military reform.

After this army’s reform was completed, promoting military reform to other armies across Spain would also proceed confidently and boldly.

With this army protecting the Madrid capital, plus the Guard stationed near the royal palace, it could ensure that the Spanish Government would not face any danger, and the military reform could proceed stably.

When Spain officially launched large-scale military reform, Carlo only then learned in detail about the various organizations and garrison situations of the current Spanish Army.

Currently, all Spanish armies together consisted of 28 line infantry regiments, 11 light infantry battalions, 12 cavalry regiments, 1 engineer regiment, and 14 colonial defense regiments.

The total number of soldiers exceeded 100,000, with about 70,000 stationed on the Spanish mainland and over 30,000 stationed in various Spanish colonies.

It was worth mentioning that among all Spanish army organizations, there was no independent artillery regiment.

Spain certainly had artillerymen, but they existed as artillery companies within infantry regiments and cavalry regiments. Moreover, all Spanish cannons together numbered just over 200, and this figure had a significant gap compared to the great powers during the Austro-Prussian War and Franco-Prussian War.

However, this could be understood. In terms of artillery technology and the scale of equipping cannons, there had only been major changes in the past decade.

Especially after Prussia used new steel refining methods to smelt steel and then delivered a fatal blow to the French Army with steel cannons, countries gradually increased their emphasis on cannons.

This was not World War I decades later, where countries had countless machine guns and cannons. In this era, infantry and cavalry were still the mainstream of various countries, and machine guns had not yet been born.

To improve the combat effectiveness of the Spanish Army, in addition to conducting military reform and improving the military quality of officers and soldiers, it was also necessary to equip cannons on a large scale, and in the future, machine guns on a large scale.

On the premise of improving the military quality of officers and soldiers, also advancing the level of weapons and equipment was the effective way to enhance the combat effectiveness of the Spanish Army.

However, these were clearly not something that the current Carlo could promote. Although Prime Minister Primó did not oppose some of Carlo’s opinions, he certainly would not allow Carlo to constantly meddle in the government and army.

Fortunately, this military reform would also effectively improve the combat effectiveness of the Spanish Army, and other matters could wait until later.

As time entered April 1872, the Spanish Government also became busy. Prime Minister Primó not only had to focus on the army reform but also invest a lot of energy in the reform of the Spanish Government and economic development.

At the same time, after the marriage alliance with the Austro-Hungarian Royal Family, Spain also needed to take action on the diplomatic front. Currently, the alliance between Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was already under negotiation, which also took up part of Prime Minister Primó’s energy.

For Primó, this nearly 60-year-old man, such busy political affairs indeed brought considerable pressure. Currently, various developments in Spain had entered relatively critical periods, which made it almost impossible for Prime Minister Primó to get a good night’s sleep.

Unlike the busy and immensely pressured Prime Minister Primó, as the King of Spain, Carlo was leisurely and self-satisfied during this time, living his carefree king life.

After the wedding ended, Carlo and Queen Sophie began a honeymoon period.

Carlo took Queen Sophie to first reside in the Madrid Royal Palace for a while, then went to cities such as Toledo, Valladolid, Seville, and Valencia, traveling and appreciating the beautiful scenery of Spain.

However, the regions Carlo passed through were all in central and southern Spain, areas under government control, with guaranteed safety.

Of course, during Carlo’s travels, the Guard dispatched a cavalry battalion and an infantry battalion to follow and protect. Under the protection of these soldiers, Carlo’s safety could basically be guaranteed.

Even facing thousands of rebels, the Guard Cavalry Battalion and Guard Infantry Battalion could hold out until the Spanish Government Army arrived. Unless facing over 10,000 rebels, no situation could threaten Carlo’s safety.

Carlo placed great importance on his own safety. In addition to mobilizing these Guard troops to follow and protect him, the already established Royal Security Intelligence Bureau would also accompany for protection.

The Royal Security Intelligence Bureau was established on May 17, After a year-long test period, Carlo affirmed the abilities of Royal Security Intelligence Bureau Director Cadillac Bruno and formally appointed him as the director, making him one of his confidants.

After nearly two years of development, the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau had long become a massive institution hidden in the shadows.

Up to now, the funds Carlo had invested in the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau had exceeded 4 million pesetas.

Director Cadillac had not wasted Carlo’s investment. These 4 million pesetas brought Carlo over 400 intelligence officers, as well as hundreds of undercover agents cooperating with the intelligence bureau.

These undercover agents were even unaware of the existence of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau. Externally, the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau was called the Royal Military Liaison Group, nominally responsible for communication and cooperation between various Spanish armies during wartime.

But in reality, the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau had evolved into Carlo’s eyes, gathering all sorts of major and minor events domestically and internationally for Carlo, and investigating anyone Carlo wanted investigated.

It was worth mentioning that the reason Carlo affirmed Cadillac’s abilities was precisely that the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau investigated the assassin of Prime Minister Primó’s assassination attempt in less than a year after its establishment.

When Carlo learned that the mastermind behind Prime Minister Primó’s assassination was the prominent Duke of Osuna among the Spanish aristocracy, he was initially unwilling to believe it.

But when Director Cadillac provided relatively complete evidence and information, Carlo had no choice but to believe that the Duke of Osuna was the real mastermind behind the assassination.

Since the mastermind of the assassination incident at that time had been found, the subsequent matters became much easier to handle.

Considering Spain’s stability and the possible impact on the aristocracy, it was naturally better to handle this matter discreetly.

After all, it had not caused too much impact on Prime Minister Primó; the assassination incident had ended in complete failure, and even Primó’s pistol was not damaged, let alone him being wounded.

When the intelligence bureau personnel delivered the complete chain of evidence to the Duke of Osuna, this duke, who had been full of confidence when launching the assassination, finally panicked.

However, he also understood that Carlo having someone deliver the chain of evidence to him instead of handing it to Prime Minister Primó for his arrest proved there was still room for maneuver in this matter.

Carlo had no fondness for someone like the Duke of Osuna. However, considering that the Duke of Osuna was a figure of relatively high status and influence among the Spanish aristocracy, treating him too harshly might make some already wavering nobles even more disloyal.

After final consideration, Carlo offered the Duke of Osuna two choices.

Either, the Duke of Osuna would keep these chains of evidence himself, at the cost of selling at least 60% of his land and property at market price to the royal family, with the proceeds donated to the government.

Or, the evidence would be submitted to Prime Minister Primó, and the government would arrest and try the Duke of Osuna, ultimately deciding the fate of his properties.

The first choice at least left the Duke of Osuna with less than 40% of his property, allowing him to live as a wealthy noble from then on without issue.

If he chose the second option, even if the duke title could be retained, it might not be on the current Duke of Osuna’s head.

More importantly, the government would not be polite to nobles. Especially for a traitor like the Duke of Osuna who plotted to assassinate the prime minister, most of his property would likely be confiscated by the government.

Without much thought, the Duke of Osuna chose the first method and willingly sold over 60% of his property in his hands to the royal family.

There was no way around it; facing the current Spanish Government and royal family, he had few means to resist.

Moreover, the royal family already held sufficient evidence, so resistance at this point would have no effect and would instead put the Duke of Osuna and his family in greater crisis.

This matter was more like an interest exchange. The Duke of Osuna used over 60% of his land to exchange for a chance to survive, handing the proceeds from selling these lands to the government in exchange for Prime Minister Primó’s forgiveness.

And Carlo could also, through purchasing land, make the royal family’s fields once again among the most abundant among European nobles; the Spanish Royal Family would no longer be representative of having much money but little land.

Although Spain’s land was not as fertile as other countries, and income from farming was not as high as imagined.

But for those more traditional nobles, the amount of land owned among nobles could, to a certain extent, determine a noble’s influence.

For example, those Spanish nobles and grand dukes with relatively great influence certainly held the most land and property.

Those marquises and counts with smaller influence certainly had less property and land than dukes.

This matter had also been discussed with Prime Minister Primó. Compared to the Duke of Osuna, Prime Minister Primó was undoubtedly more important to Carlo.

Prime Minister Primó also agreed with Carlo’s approach of handling it coldly, as the government could gain certain funds from this incident, with the only loss being the Duke of Osuna.

In addition to losing over 60% of his property, the armed forces he had trained also had to be completely abolished, and he would need to remain under long-term government supervision thereafter.

If not for the sake of national stability, Prime Minister Primó would even have planned to execute the Duke of Osuna directly.

However, handling it this way could also be considered a good thing. First, it could stabilize the aristocracy, which was helpful for Spain’s stability.

Second, it could also make some people in various major Spanish forces carefully consider the consequences of standing up against the government. The Duke of Osuna had a large amount of property for compensation, but other nobles might not.

The Duke of Osuna was one of the most influential nobles in Spain, and losing over 60% of his property was a huge blow to the entire duke family.

After all, for this type of more traditional noble, their largest source of income was agriculture-related. They would rent their land to farmers, who not only paid them rent but also handed over taxes to them.

Of course, this might also be a reason why the Duke of Osuna wanted to assassinate Prime Minister Primó. Although these dukes’ lands were not relatively autonomous territories, such nobles had the right to collect taxes on their own land.

The government’s reduction of agricultural taxes would actually affect their income. Especially for these large nobles with vast lands, the actual reduction in agricultural taxes was an extremely huge sum for them.

This also had to make one sigh at the church’s perceptiveness. If reducing agricultural taxes affected a portion of large nobles, then abolishing the tithe was a major blow to the church.

One of the church’s major sources of income was the tithe paid by farmers, and the other major giant was the agricultural taxes from church land.

These two major sources of income—one directly abolished by the government, the other greatly reduced under the government’s tax reduction policy.

It was also because Archbishop Pedro understood matters clearly; otherwise, whether the Spanish Church would rebel was really up in the air.

Actually, from this point, it could be seen how many forces were affected by Prime Minister Primó’s reforms. Even nobles who openly supported the royal family were affected, though many could still see the situation clearly.

The reason Carlo established the Royal United Bank was naturally also to pull the nobles along to make money, letting them find new income in industries beyond land.

If they only focused on land taxes and other income, the nobles would always remember the impact of the government’s tax reductions on them.

But if they turned their gaze to the finance industry and industry sector, the nobles would also discover that in Spain, doing finance and industry was truly where the real money was made.

Spain’s land was inherently barren, and being a landlord did not earn much money. A very simple example could illustrate this. When German nobles and Spanish nobles owned land of the same scale, German nobles’ income was often several times that of Spanish nobles.

The gap in land fertility had already doomed Spain to never become a great power in agriculture; being able to meet domestic population needs was already good news, and expecting to make big money from agriculture was simply wishful thinking.

One update for today; CK3 has updated with a big patch, hands are itching. Also, a new season of King of Glory started, playing games today.