Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 144: Encouraging Childbirth And Three Major Studies

Actually, ever since getting married, Carlo has faced a new problem, which is the issue of bloodline inheritance.

In other words, Carlo’s biggest task after marriage is actually to have children.

Not only in the royal family, but for the vast majority of noble families, the primary task of nobility title inheritance is to have children, followed by finding ways to expand their own industries.

If there is no qualified heir to inherit one’s industries, what good is having an empty kingdom or empire?

The country will not perish, but if a family has no offspring to inherit, it will face a succession crisis.

There are countless examples in European history where succession crises led to the throne passing to branches or even other families, which is why European nobles place great emphasis on bloodline inheritance.

It’s fine before marriage, but if there are still no offspring after more than three years of marriage, arrangements will be made to find the cause of the problem.

Finding the problem is also simple: assign many mistresses to the noble. If a mistress gets pregnant, it proves the problem lies with the noble’s wife.

If the mistresses also cannot get pregnant, then it is most likely the noble himself who has the problem.

If it is the noble himself who has the problem, then it is necessary to select a qualified heir from among one’s relatives in advance to inherit the nobility title, such as the children of one’s brothers or sisters. Carlo currently has no such worries. After all, it has been less than a year since his marriage, and given that both Carlo and Queen Sophie are still young, there are no immediate plans to have offspring.

In the end, it is mainly because the medical technology of this era is too poor. To ensure Queen Sophie’s future health, Carlo plans to discuss having children only after she is fully grown and prepared.

Actually, it is not far off. Queen Sophie was born in March 1855, just three months away from adulthood.

However, considering the preparations before childbirth, the time of pregnancy, and so on, Carlo’s first child will be born at least two years from now.

For the sake of the royal family branching out, the more children Carlo has, the better. Anyway, the royal family has no worries about child-rearing expenses, so naturally, the more the better.

This can also set an example for the Spanish people. If His Majesty the King is working hard to have children, what reason do the people have not to contribute to the growth of the Spanish population?

Of course, to make the Spanish people more enthusiastic about having children, their worries after the children are born must be addressed, namely various expenses.

In addition to popularizing at least primary compulsory education, Carlo also plans to establish subsidies and rewards in Spain for having more children.

However, such subsidy and reward policies will definitely need to be discussed with the government. After all, it is the government that will spend the money, and without government approval, there will inevitably be some conflicts in future policies on this matter.

Since population is currently one of Spain’s major shortcomings, proposals to encourage childbearing should naturally be implemented as early as possible.

Just after Christmas ended, Carlo had Jovellar Soler propose a bill on encouraging childbearing in the House of Representatives to test Prime Minister Primó’s attitude.

The current parliament is controlled by Prime Minister Primó, and whether the proposal passes depends entirely on Prime Minister Primó’s attitude toward it.

This is also why Carlo had Jovellar Soler submit the proposal directly to the House of Representatives. If Prime Minister Primó supports it, the proposal will naturally pass easily.

But if Prime Minister Primó does not support it, even uniting with other parties would not secure a majority in parliament.

The proposal submitted to parliament was quickly known to Prime Minister Primó. Since Prime Minister Primó had long known that Jovellar Soler was loyal to Carlo, he naturally regarded this proposal as one put forward by Carlo.

First of all, in terms of content, Prime Minister Primó had little reason to refuse the proposal. The only point worth discussing is the rewards and subsidies for families with more children, but this can be fully discussed within the cabinet government.

After all, it is parliament that submits and revises laws, but it is the cabinet government that enforces them.

Even if the proposal passes parliament, how the legislation is implemented is still up to the cabinet government.

Jovellar Soler being able to submit this proposal in the House of Representatives must mean he has Carlo’s support.

Since that is the case, Prime Minister Primó naturally would not refuse. He holds Carlo in considerable respect, just as Carlo respects his power in the cabinet government.

Carlo knows that Spain’s reforms cannot succeed without Prime Minister Primó’s strong promotion, and Prime Minister Primó knows that the success of the reforms cannot be without Carlo’s strong support.

Royal power still has significant influence in Spain. As a prime minister who supports monarchy, Primó naturally hopes to gain Carlo’s support rather than stand in opposition to the king he himself helped elevate.

With Prime Minister Primó’s tacit approval, the proposal quickly passed in parliament. Although the Progressive Party holds the majority of seats in parliament, the Conservative Party remains Spain’s second largest party.

Currently in Spain’s parliament, the Progressive Party is the absolute dominant party and the current ruling party. The leader of the Progressive Party is Prime Minister Primó, and the vast majority of members are also reformists.

The second largest party is the Conservative Party. The current representative figure of the Conservative Party is the incumbent Minister of Agriculture Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, holding about twenty percent of the total parliamentary seats.

The third largest party is the Liberal Party, also Spain’s last relatively large-scale legal political party. The ideology of Liberal Party members lies between conservative and reformist; they maintain a relatively neutral attitude toward the monarchical government, the so-called neither firmly opposing nor firmly supporting.

Further down are some small parties, either with only one or two parliamentary seats or none at all, completely minor parties.

The reason for calling the Liberal Party Spain’s last relatively large-scale legal political party is that there is still one illegal large-scale party within Spain, namely the party that supported establishing a republican Spain during the revolution.

After Carlo was chosen as King of Spain, the Republican Party’s position became rather awkward. They support republicanism and stand in opposition to the new Kingdom of Spain government.

However, at that time, for the stability of the Spanish government and considering that Carlo had just arrived in Spain, Prime Minister Primó did not target the Republican Party, and it remained one of Spain’s top three parties.

But during the Carlist faction rebellion, many Republican Party members supported the rebellions in Catalonia and the Basque Country, causing considerable damage to Spain’s stability.

Prime Minister Primó acted decisively, declaring the Republican Party, which ranked third in Spain, illegal and abolishing it within Spain.

This also propelled the Liberal Party to become Spain’s third largest party, while the Republican Party became a party with many supporters but completely illegal.

The good news, however, is that since Spain’s reforms and development have progressed smoothly, support for the Republican Party has been steadily declining.

There are not many who firmly support republicanism; most are those disappointed with the original monarchical government. They hope for a completely new system of government to change Spain’s situation, with the real purpose being to change Spain’s current situation rather than the government itself.

Since Carlo became King of Spain, Spain has indeed been developing in a positive direction. The actual income of the Spanish people has seen considerable improvement, which has allowed these people who desire change in Spain’s situation to see the benefits brought by the monarchy.

They have also realized that it is not the monarchy that has major defects, but the previous King of Spain who had serious shortcomings.

This portion of people has gradually turned into reformists; they support the Kingdom of Spain government under constitutional monarchy and desire reforms in Spain’s more backward and conservative areas, making Spain more powerful and advanced.

Under such evolution, Prime Minister Primó’s Progressive Party has surged to become Spain’s largest party, completely overwhelming the Conservative Party in parliamentary seats despite its larger popular support.

Yes, although the Conservative Party does not hold an advantage in parliamentary seats, in terms of supporter numbers, it remains Spain’s largest party.

This is because the Conservative Party has a large number of farmers as its base, and most Spanish farmers support more conservative parties. They do not want too much change in the country; best if nothing happens and they can live peacefully.

That is, the reforms have produced real benefits for farmers, and even these mostly conservatively minded farmers do not oppose Spain’s reforms, with some farmers even desiring to see more reforms in Spain.

After all, the reforms have substantially reduced and abolished taxes, lightening the burden on farmers and naturally reducing their living pressures considerably.

The most evident sign of the lightened burden on Spanish farmers is in the growth of the Spanish population. In the previous Kingdom of Spain era, annual population growth was very low, sometimes less than 100,

This is extremely exaggerated and proves that during Queen Isabella’s rule, the Spanish people did not live well, leaving them with no surplus energy to have children.

But during Carlo’s rule, with the people’s burdens lightened, they naturally have more mind to consider continuing the family line.

Current contraceptive measures are not so advanced; condom technology is immature and not as thin as in posterity.

The commonly used contraceptive measures among the people are made from sheep intestine and linen, which are neither comfortable nor practical, and the sheep intestine has a fishy smell, making it extremely unpleasant to use.

But not using them is not an option either; an accidental pregnancy means childbirth is a life-threatening issue. Even if the baby is born, infant survival rates are not high.

Even if the infant survives and is healthy, raising a child is no small expense.

Future Spain will definitely comprehensively prohibit abortion, not for other reasons, but solely because current abortion technology is too backward and carries too high a risk.

Considering the subsidy and reward policies for families with more children that the Spanish government is about to promulgate, even a comprehensive ban on abortion technology in Spain will not impose too great a burden on the Spanish people.

It might even be possible to consider the royal family and government jointly establishing nurseries and orphanages to help children from poor families receive better education.

Of course, nurseries and orphanages will definitely not be free. Children raised in these two institutions will have two choices in the future.

Either directly serve the country, which exempts all expenses from the orphanage or nursery. Or work independently to earn money and repay the debts they once owed.

Returning to the subsidies and rewards for having more children, after passing parliament, it was quickly submitted to the cabinet government for implementation.

Following the promulgation of the previous assessment system, administrative efficiency in all levels of Spanish government has improved considerably. If it did not improve, there would be no choice; poor assessments lead to demotion without any favoritism.

Already, several city mayors have been dismissed by their regional councils. Concerning their own positions and future prospects, these officials cannot afford not to take it seriously.

What parliament passed was only a draft; how exactly it is implemented still needs to be decided based on the Spanish government’s financial situation.

When parliament passed this draft, Prime Minister Primó convened a cabinet meeting and assigned the task to the welfare and finance departments.

After a certain period of discussion, the welfare and finance departments finally produced a relatively detailed bill on 《subsidies and rewards for families with more children》

The bill stipulates in detail that families with 2 or fewer children are ordinary families. On this basis, for each additional child, one government subsidy can be enjoyed.

The government subsidy is 25% of the local average annual income; based on the current national average annual income, it is about 26 pesetas. The government subsidy can be claimed once a year or directly credited to the family’s linked official bank account.

In addition to government subsidies, there are certain rewards for families with more children. For example, families with more than 5 children will be given priority consideration when Spanish state-owned enterprises or royal enterprises recruit employees.

Families with more than 8 children will be featured in the local newspaper and awarded the title of “heroic parents” by the local government.

Families with more than 10 children can receive a personal audience with Carlo and be awarded the Spanish “heroic parents” title, and will be invited to every official event organized by the Spanish government.

Although the corresponding subsidies and rewards are not very generous, for some families that already have more than 2 children, it does provide an extra income.

The local 25% average annual income subsidy is not much, but adding up several children can yield nearly one adult’s annual income level.

With average annual income continuously rising, having more children can indeed become one of the choices for Spaniards; after all, procreation is one of the few entertainment activities for commoners in this era.

Considering that Spain’s population and economic scale are constantly changing, this bill is only temporarily implemented for now and may undergo changes in the future.

This bill does not represent a large expense for the Spanish government. If one newborn receives 26 pesetas in government subsidy, based on Spain’s population growth, it is estimated there will be about 200,000 newborns next year.

This means the government only needs to bear about 2 million pesetas in subsidy expenses to stimulate broader population growth in Spain.

Even among them, some newborns do not fall into the category of two or more, so the subsidy expenses the government needs to bear will be even lower.

This is almost like achieving great things with small money. The Spanish government’s fiscal revenue is continuously increasing, and 5 million pesetas is no longer a large expenditure for the current Spanish government.

When the Ministry of Finance approved this budget, they did not even blink. If not for considering that too high a subsidy is not a good thing, the Finance Minister even contemplated increasing the subsidy somewhat beyond what the bill stipulates, to stimulate Spain’s population growth rate to a greater extent.

After the bill was promulgated, Carlo paid little further attention to it.

After all, implementing the bill is the government’s business; if Carlo paid too much attention, it would damage his current good relationship with Prime Minister Primó.

Carlo is quite reassured about Prime Minister Primó. Since the bill could pass parliament, it proves that Prime Minister Primó maintains a supportive attitude toward it.

The only possible change is the level of subsidies for families with more children in the bill, which Carlo can adjust to some extent after he grasps power in the future; anyway, it is not urgent.

Christmas of 1872 has passed, and what Carlo is currently more focused on is the impending economic crisis of

Fortunately, the upcoming economic crisis seems to have little impact on Spain.

But thinking about it makes sense; Spain’s industrial and economic volume is not huge compared to great power nations, so a lower impact is only natural.

Moreover, the reforms carried out by the Spanish government domestically have kept Spain’s economy in steady growth, without excessive exaggerated surges.

Even many industries’ production is insufficient to meet domestic demand in Spain, so naturally, there is no possibility of an economic crisis erupting.

Carlo has long paid attention to Spain’s stock market and industrial market, and after confirming that Spain will not suffer severe economic crisis impacts, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the economic crisis that erupted in 1873 was not large in scale, it did last quite a long time, with considerable influence.

If the newly started Spain suffered a relatively fierce economic crisis impact, it would be a devastating blow to Spain’s industry and economic development.

It would also affect the timeline of Spain’s rise. Without the economic crisis impact, Spain has hope of completely completing reforms and achieving revival before 1880 arrives.

But with the economic crisis impact, the time to complete reforms and achieve revival might be delayed by more than a decade.

If so, Spain would definitely miss the best time to partition Africa. Even if it can wait until Spain completes its reforms and economic revival in the future, Africa will have been basically partitioned by the great powers, with no places left for Spain to rule.

Since the economic crisis impact on Spain will not be too severe, Carlo naturally does not need to worry too much, but instead turns his gaze to the development of royal enterprises, including the research by the talents previously drawn from Europe.

Currently, the royal enterprises, besides the more traditional steel and heavy industry, food industry, and finance industry, also include military industry, agriculture, mining, and mechanical manufacturing.

Carlo is paying attention to three research projects: the machine gun and smokeless powder research and development by the Maxim Brothers, the engine research and development by Benz, Daimler, and Maybach, and Gramme’s electricity research.

The success of any one of these three research projects would have a profound impact on Spain. If all three could be completed, Spain could significantly enhance its comprehensive national strength through them and achieve great progress in civilian and military fields.

But the difficulty of these three research projects is very high, and achieving relatively good results is even harder.

For example, with the popularization of electricity, generators are just the foundation; research is also needed on electricity transmission and equipment for using electricity.

Currently, Gramme is attempting to build a large thermal power plant to provide lighting for Madrid’s most prosperous streets.

If it is confirmed that such electricity use has no problems, wiring will first be laid in the royal palace and government buildings to ensure electricity lighting for the royal palace and government buildings.

However, popularizing electricity will take a long time; at least in the next decade, it will be very difficult for ordinary people to use electricity.

The current power plants have limited electricity generation and cannot achieve long-distance transmission. This also means that to popularize electricity use across all of Spain, corresponding power plants must be built in every city.

Especially for large cities like Madrid, several power plants might not be enough. Before issues with generator power and electricity transmission are resolved, electricity basically cannot be popularized on a large scale.

The same goes for the engine developed by Benz. It is easy enough to invent the engine, but popularizing machinery using engines will be very difficult in the next few years.

Mounting an engine on a carriage can make a simple car, but such a car’s stability, speed, and safety cannot be guaranteed, so naturally, it cannot be mass-produced for commercial use.

Moreover, the current engine power is also very small; it is better to use several horses to pull instead.

Carlo is not in a hurry with the research on electricity and engines. As long as they achieve some results within the next 10 years and considerable achievements within the next 20 years, Carlo will be quite satisfied.

What truly has Carlo paying close attention and maintaining expectations is the machine gun and smokeless powder technology being developed by the Maxim Brothers.

Smokeless powder was developed in 1884, which is 12 years from now. Considering Carlo’s substantial investment in the Maxim Brothers, this timeline should be shortened considerably.

After the invention of smokeless powder, it would be a huge boost to the development of rifles and machine guns. The Maxim machine gun might also emerge earlier and become one of the heavy firepower weapons equipped by the Spanish Army units.

If machine guns can be equipped earlier than other countries, perhaps in future wars, other countries can be made to suffer a big loss.

Especially since Spain will definitely need to recapture Gibraltar in the future, it is also very necessary to focus on army equipment.

Six thousand word two-in-one chapter, seeking support!