Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 126: 《land Lease Act》

Carlo was still quite satisfied with Spain’s current development speed.

At the end of 1870, Spain’s total railway mileage was already infinitely close to 6,000 kilometers.

And by the beginning of this year, Spain’s total railway mileage had already broken through 6,440 kilometers.

This also meant that Spain’s railways had increased by over a thousand kilometers in total mileage from late 1868 to early 1872, a period of three and a half years.

Although the average annual railway mileage constructed was only about 300 kilometers, it was already considerable progress for the Spanish Government.

After all, from the birth of railways until late 1868, Spain’s total railway mileage was only around 5,400 kilometers.

Spain’s territory area was in no way inferior to the native lands of other European Powers, and with fewer plains in the domestic terrain, it needed railways even more to strengthen economic exchange between regions.

Currently centered on Madrid, Spain had already built a large-scale railway loop line. The capital cities of the regions, including some important cities, were all included in the planning of the railway loop line.

The next goal of the Spanish Government’s railway construction was to include more cities in the railway construction plans, allowing Spanish people to conveniently travel to other cities via railway, of course including cargo transportation.

Railway construction could strengthen Madrid’s importance in Spain, while also enhancing economic exchange and stability between regions. As the center of the Iberian region, Madrid’s advantages were highlighted. From Madrid, reaching any city in Spain required only a few hundred kilometers.

Even the relatively remote Barcelona in the northeast corner of Spain was only over 600 kilometers from Madrid.

At the current train speed, a train from Madrid to Barcelona would take just over a day to arrive. Excluding station stop times, the current train speed could even reach Barcelona in just over 20 hours.

In such a situation, no matter which region of Spain experienced unrest, the army located in Madrid could arrive within a day, which was also why Spain remained a unified country even into posterity.

Even if the separatists in Catalonia and Basque were ever so arrogant, Spaniards located in the center of the entire country could head to the rebellion areas at any time to suppress rebellion.

Even including the Portugal region, Madrid was still at the center of the entire Iberian Peninsula, which was Madrid’s geographical advantage and the reason Madrid became the capital of Spain.

At the end of April 1872, the first phase of the Spanish Government’s reform was declared successful, and the reform smoothly entered the second phase.

On May 1, a certain Liberal Party member submitted the《 Land Lease Act》 to the Spanish Parliament, demanding that the government promulgate a law stipulating that rent during land leasing must not exceed 40% of the land’s annual income.

The purpose of this legislation was to guarantee the rights of those farmers renting land, ensuring they would not face starvation after being exploited by nobles and landlords.

This legislation was straightforwardly targeting the nobles and Church that possessed land, and Prime Minister Primó naturally understood the risks involved.

Therefore, the proposer of this legislation was a Liberal Party figure, not from Prime Minister Primó’s Progressive Party.

If the introduction of this legislation led to massive dissatisfaction among nobles, Prime Minister Primó would convene an emergency meeting to have Parliament abolish this legislation.

To prevent radical reactions from nobles, Prime Minister Primó changed the rent not exceeding 30% of annual income to 40%, a rent level not much different from the 40%-50% rent that nobles originally demanded farmers pay, precisely to prevent intense reactions from nobles.

Of course, besides introducing this legislation, Prime Minister Primó had also made preparations in advance.

First, as the most powerful representatives among Spanish nobles, he and Grand Duke Serrano persuaded a portion of nobles to agree to this legislation.

Additionally, he requested Carlo to step in and persuade a portion of nobles to agree to this legislation, to divide the entire aristocracy.

In general, there were simply too many nobles in Spain. These nobles held vast amounts of land, exerting extremely serious influence on Spain’s future development.

In the situation where they were already affecting Spain’s development, the government naturally could not ignore it. If these nobles continued to hold such massive land, Spain’s subsequent development would face very serious impacts.

Of course, as the force with the greatest influence in Spain, Prime Minister Primó naturally could not respond too radically to the nobles.

First, Prime Minister Primó had no intention of completely reclaiming these nobles’ land. The government would only persuade a portion of nobles to voluntarily sell their land to the government, and the government would purchase this land at prices higher than market price, as a reward to these nobles.

Secondly, this was a test of the nobles. If successful, it could ensure that landless farmers renting land would have some guaranteed income, at least enough to eat their fill.

But if it provoked strong opposition from nobles, there would still be room for maneuver, avoiding intense conflict between nobles and the government.

When Carlo learned of Prime Minister Primó’s plan, he was also very troubled.

After thinking it over, Carlo felt it was not suitable for him to take a direct stance on this matter. If he sided with Prime Minister Primó, he would undoubtedly offend a large number of Spanish nobles.

But if he sided with the Spanish nobles, he would not only offend Prime Minister Primó but also disrupt Spain’s reform progress.

Carlo naturally understood the harm to Spain from the vast land held by Spanish nobles, and naturally wanted to reclaim the land from nobles’ hands as much as possible.

However, as the greatest noble, the king naturally could not step forward to directly oppose the aristocracy. After receiving Prime Minister Primó’s request, Carlo stated that he would have loyalist noble Duke Jacopo make friendly suggestions to some Spanish nobles, while he himself would not step forward.

Carlo would not offend a large number of Spanish nobles at such a time. Although many of these nobles had become pests to the country, they were indeed Carlo’s greatest supporters at present.

At least he had to wait until Carlo fully controlled the country’s power and minimized nobles’ influence on the army before attempting to strike at some nobles.

For now, it was best to stay as far away as possible from Prime Minister Primó’s reform. The current nobles still had considerable influence, with large numbers serving in the government and army, which was also why Prime Minister Primó, even having mastered military and political power, still had to cautiously test the nobles rather than strike directly.

Although he expressed support for Prime Minister Primó’s reform, Carlo also made his own demand: that after strong opposition from nobles, Carlo would step forward to convene the Spanish Parliament and forcibly abolish this legislation.

This served as Carlo’s backup plan, to declare to the nobles that Carlo had no relation to this incident.

The current king still very much needed the nobles’ support, and Carlo would not destroy the good relationship with the nobles unless forced to choose.

As expected, after this legislation was proposed in Parliament, it immediately drew attention from a large number of nobles.

In Spain, the higher a noble’s title rank, the more land that noble controlled.

As large landowners, nobles naturally did not want to see the government promulgate this legislation reducing farmers’ land rent, because it directly affected their profits.

Although nobles could still maintain 40% land rent after the legislation was promulgated, their income would be reduced by at least two or three tenths compared to before.

To prevent unrest among nobles, Prime Minister Primó even mobilized the original revolutionary army to defend Madrid, and personally sought out Grand Duke Serrano to persuade him.

Compared to power, Grand Duke Serrano was not as concerned about land. Like Prime Minister Primó, he was an ennobled noble rather than one who inherited his nobility title.

Although he had become the pinnacle among Spanish nobles, possessing the Grand Duke title, Grand Duke Serrano’s land property was not much; instead, his shares in the Royal United Bank were his main source of income.

Additionally, there were the new aristocrats ennobled by Carlo previously. Although new aristocrats also possessed some land, compared to old aristocrats, it was not even close.

They did not reject this legislation, as it had little impact on their interests.

Under the influence of Prime Minister Primó and Grand Duke Serrano, although nobles overall expressed dissatisfaction with this legislation, quite a few nobles still supported it.

Although most nobles possessed vast land, this did not mean all nobles were wealthy.

In fact, there were countless noble families in Europe that went bankrupt annually due to poor management, and nobles forced to sell property due to bankruptcy were as numerous as hairs on a cow.

Spain did have many nobles, but Spain’s economy was what it was; only those great nobles could truly become wealthy.

Counts and barons were actually not that rich; their property could go bankrupt at any time due to poor management.

Under the government’s policy of high-price land acquisition, quite a few nobles urgently needing funds due to bankruptcy proactively sold their land to the government.

Prime Minister Primó urgently needed nobles to proactively sell land to show their stance, so he raised the land purchase price to 5 times the market price.

To prevent nobles from temporarily buying land from farmers and then selling it to the government for profit, the Spanish Government also promulgated the《 Land Sales Law》, stipulating that land held by farmers could only be sold to the government, which would provide prices above market price to ensure farmers would not suffer losses from selling land.

Of course, unless desperate, most farmers were unwilling to sell their land. Farmers relied on land for their livelihood; without even the tool for eating, how could they survive?

Those truly selling land, besides landlords with lots of land, were those farmers who could no longer survive from farming.

With these nobles proactively selling land stepping forward, the originally furious aristocracy was split in two, forming a division.

Moreover, this legislation was not so harsh on nobles; income did decrease, but not by too much.

At least the reduced income would not lead nobles to unite against the government; after all, the current government was not like a few years ago—Prime Minister Primó’s reforms had greatly increased farmers’ support for the government, and nobles often interacted with farmers, so they naturally knew how much popular support the current government had.

Added to that, Marshal Serrano and Prime Minister Primó himself as part of the nobles did not oppose this legislation, allowing some nobles to see deeper implications.

Perhaps such legislation was submitted to Parliament only with Prime Minister Primó’s support? If Prime Minister Primó and Grand Duke Serrano both supported this legislation, what could they do?

Including Duke Jacopo, who under Carlo’s indication persuaded some nobles, leading to the legislation undergoing several days of voting in Parliament, during which nobles did not react too intensely.

After learning that nobles had no intense reaction, Prime Minister Primó finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although nobles surely still had dissatisfaction, at least it had not developed to the point of inciting unrest.

As long as the nobles did not make too big a move next, once the legislation passed Parliament, nobles could only hold their noses and accept it.

Moreover, this legislation targeted not only nobles but also the Church, which similarly possessed vast land.

If Prime Minister Primó still had some regard and worry toward nobles, he had no such good temper toward the Church.

The vast land held by the Church similarly harmed Spain’s development, and this land was also a target the Spanish Government wanted to reclaim.

First the abolition of the tithe, then legislation restricting land rent—the Church’s income had already been greatly limited.

Prime Minister Primó’s mobilization of the army also considered defense against the Church. If the Church could not bear such losses and ultimately chose to launch rebellion against the government, things would develop in the direction Prime Minister Primó most wanted to see.

Large numbers of troops would quell the Church’s rebellion in a short time, giving the government a legitimate excuse to reclaim the Church’s land.

Of course, because it simultaneously affected the interests of nobles and the Church, Prime Minister Primó also knew there was a small possibility of prompting the Church and nobles to unite against the government.

However, after division, nobles would find it hard to form a united front against the government, as nobles also had their own interests to consider.

During Queen Isabella’s reign, nobles almost completely controlled the army. The majority of mid-to-high-level officers in the Spanish Army were nobles, and the Royal Army was essentially a private army led by nobles.

But after the revolution, noble high-level officers in the army had already decreased greatly. Many noble officers in the army before had joined the Carlist faction rebellion and were annihilated by the government.

Meanwhile, quelling the rebellion produced large numbers of new aristocrats; unlike old aristocrats, these new aristocrats supported the government’s policies.

Added to the large number of officers cultivated by the Royal Military Academy, this had already greatly reduced nobles’ influence on the army.

Unless it truly reached the point of greatly harming nobles’ interests, such as the government forcibly reclaiming nobles’ land, nobles were unwilling to openly rebel against the government.

After all, rebelling against the government came at a cost. If the assembled army could not defeat the government army with overwhelming advantage, for these Spanish nobles launching rebellion, the result might be catastrophic.

There were quite a few smart people among the nobles. Although accepting this legislation meant losing some interests, at least the final outcome was good, with most income still retainable.

If they took risks to launch rebellion against the government and the rebellion failed, perhaps even their noble titles could not be preserved.

With the aristocracy maintaining silence, the Church became the lamb to the slaughter. Faced with either selling land or reduced land income, the church bishops led by Archbishop Pedro knew they had to make a choice.

Four thousand three hundred words, second update, seeking support!