Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 122: Inspecting The Industrial Base

At the Seville Industrial Base, Carlo met the person in charge of the industrial base, as well as the person in charge of the royal industry in the Andalusian region.

Because the royal industry’s scale is enormous, in addition to Butler Loren managing the overall situation from Madrid, each region in Spain is equipped with a main person in charge.

They regularly report to Butler Loren on the expansion of the royal industry in various regions, with corresponding income and expenditure compiled into reports, submitted once a month.

The person in charge of the Andalusian region is José Isis Goras, a tall and thin middle-aged man.

José Isis Goras is a pure Spaniard, with not only a university education but also experience as a manager of a certain bank.

However, after the establishment of the Royal United Bank, the bank where José Isis Goras worked quickly went bankrupt, the entire bank was acquired by the royal family, and it was renovated into one of the branches of the Royal United Bank.

This is also why the Royal United Bank has expanded so quickly; as large banks expand, many small banks often go bankrupt due to loss of customers.

The Royal United Bank acquires these bankrupt banks and, after renovation, turns them into new Royal United Bank branches.

As the manager of the previously bankrupt bank, José Isis Goras’s abilities were recognized by Butler Loren, and he was eventually promoted step by step to become the person in charge of the Andalusian region.

Of course, what José Isis Goras mainly manages are the factories inside the industrial base and the two Royal United Bank branches in the Andalusian region. Other businesses are managed by other people in charge, and Butler Loren does not concentrate too much power on any one person, as that is the easiest way to breed corruption.

Unlike the tall, thin, intellectual-looking José Isis Goras, the person in charge of the construction of the Seville Industrial Base looks more like someone with a military background.

But this is also normal. The Seville Industrial Base is not only the first industrial base ordered to be built since Carlo became king, but also the first industrial base ordered to start construction since Primó became Prime Minister.

The success or failure of the Seville Industrial Base is extremely important; it is not only the first step in Spain’s large-scale industrial construction, but also the first step in Prime Minister Primó’s promotion of reform and Carlo’s beginning of his rule.

To supervise the construction of the entire industrial base, the person in charge of the industrial base, Leonardo Aleso, was drawn from the army, and the industrial base also has a small-scale army for protection and supervision of the construction.

Managing the construction of the entire industrial base is also a huge merit for Leonardo Aleso. Although Leonardo Aleso is Prime Minister Primó’s man, Carlo still encouraged him and stated that the country and the royal family will not forget his contribution to the industrial base.

A word of encouragement from the king naturally thrilled Leonardo Aleso. Although Carlo is only a young king, so far, no one can ignore Carlo’s influence in Spain.

As the person in charge of the industrial base, Leonardo Aleso naturally knows how grateful the workers in the royal factories within the industrial base are to the king.

But this is also normal. If anyone could provide jobs like those provided by the king, with fewer working hours yet higher salaries, these workers would surely be grateful to him as well.

To put it bluntly, the reason these workers feel grateful is not because of Carlo’s identity as king, but because of the welfare benefits Carlo provides to these workers.

The overall scale of the Seville Industrial Base is not large, and Carlo spent just over an hour to basically tour the entire industrial base.

Of course, during the tour of the industrial base, a team of soldiers accompanied to protect Carlo, and workers and other employees of the industrial base were not allowed to approach within 100 meters of Carlo.

But this did not dampen the workers’ enthusiasm. Especially when arriving near the royal factories, the workers had already gathered together, shouting words of gratitude to Carlo, occasionally mixed with cheers of “Long live His Majesty the King!”

Carlo naturally smiled and waved in response while touring the entire industrial base under the guidance of José Isis Goras and Leonardo Aleso.

Although he appeared calm on the surface, in reality, Carlo was quite satisfied and proud of the workers’ cheers.

At the very least, this proves that Carlo’s layout so far has not been in vain, and already a considerable portion of Spaniards recognize him as their king.

What Carlo needs to do now is to turn the group that supports him from a minority into the majority, ideally the vast majority.

As long as he can achieve this grand goal, Carlo’s layout in Spain can be considered thoroughly complete, and in the future, he can relatively easily lead the Spanish Government and the Spanish people forward together.

If in the future he leads the Spaniards to recapture Gibraltar, there is no need to say more. Carlo will directly become one of the greatest monarchs in Spanish history, with merits to Spain comparable to the union of Castile and Aragon.

If he can complete this step of the plan, it is estimated that the Spanish people’s recognition of the royal family will also shift to recognition of the House of Savoy.

Only at that level can Carlo completely eliminate the influence of the Bourbon family’s more than 100 years of rule in Spain, making all Spaniards embrace the new royal family from the inside out—that is, the rule of the House of Savoy.

After touring the Seville Industrial Base, Carlo also personally inspected the transportation situation at the Seville Industrial Base.

Because the industrial base is not by the sea and has no rivers available for sea transport, this means that a relatively complete railway environment must be built around the Seville Industrial Base to help transport needed mineral resources in and ship out the manufactured industrial manufactured goods for sale.

The good news is that Andalusia, as Spain’s southernmost region, has its capital Seville relatively close to the ocean.

This makes the transportation environment of the Seville Industrial Base not so difficult. Raw industrial materials and industrial manufactured goods only need to be transported by railway to ports by the sea, from where they can be conveniently shipped by sea transport to various places in Spain or even abroad.

Moreover, Spain’s current railway construction situation is not as bad as imagined. Although it does not compare to the thousands of kilometers of railway mileage in other countries, the current over 5,000 kilometers of railway mileage is already sufficient for Spain.

As the capital city of the Andalusian region, Seville is naturally included in the planning of the Spanish Railway loop line. As long as the railway line is connected to the surroundings of the industrial base, various materials can be transported on the railway loop line to various cities or ports.

There is actually not much to inspect; the Seville Industrial Base is unlikely to have problems. If even this industrial base, which has only been under construction for a few years, has issues, then the Spanish Government need not talk about industrial construction.

Even before the construction of the industrial base began, the Spanish Government invited a relatively professional team to plan the entire industrial base’s construction.

Anyway, the scale of the industrial base is not particularly large, so there is no need to worry about attracting the attention of other great power countries. Such a medium-small-scale industrial base is already quite common in other great power countries, and they have relatively complete construction experience, which the Spanish Government can naturally utilize.

In fact, Europe does have such construction teams with considerable rich construction experience. The transportation of materials is one of the main considerations in industrial base construction, so it was naturally taken into account during the industrial base planning.

This includes the currently main construction of the Barcelona Industrial Base, which also considered various conditions before construction.

However, the Barcelona Industrial Base is close to the sea, so material transportation is more convenient compared to the Seville Industrial Base.

Moreover, the city scale of Barcelona is larger than Seville and closer to other European countries. Apart from being too close to France and vulnerable to attacks from sea fleets due to proximity to the sea, it has no defects in other aspects.

Of course, Madrid is actually also suitable for building an industrial base. Madrid is located in central Spain, making material transportation relatively close to every region in Spain.

But Carlo, considering the current industry’s destruction of the natural environment, still chose to site the industrial base in Barcelona.

Madrid, as the capital, is also part of strategic planning for Spain and cannot be changed in the short term.

If Madrid’s natural environment is destroyed too severely, even creating a Foggy City, then Carlo, who will need to live around Madrid in the future, will suffer.

Moreover, Madrid’s main advantage is in land transportation. Barcelona, as a port city, also has sea transport as one of its advantages.

Carlo was quite satisfied with the inspection process of the Seville base. This is not only the new starting point of Spanish industry but also the first step in Spain’s rise under Carlo’s rule.

So far, the construction of the industrial base is going very smoothly. The various factories inside the industrial base have entered production status, and the several steel mills and other factories invested and constructed by the royal family are already fully staffed and working overtime to produce.

Before the Barcelona Industrial Base is completed, the Seville Industrial Base will serve as one of the few “large” bases in Spain’s heavy industry aspect, providing the steel and other important materials needed for Spain’s industrial development.

Finally, after giving some encouragement to the person in charge of the industrial base, Leonardo Aleso, and the person in charge of the royal industry in the Andalusian region, José Isis Goras, Carlo set off on the journey back to the capital Madrid with Queen Sophie and many servants and soldiers.

Third update of 3,000 words, seeking support!