Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 185: Valencia National Shipyard

Establishing plantations in the Congo will still take a long time to yield results. Although crops and fruits in tropical regions can achieve two or even three harvests a year, the plantation system must first be established, the land reclaimed, and sowing completed.

Based on the current progress, there will be no results within the next three months. However, Carlo is not in a hurry, as the agricultural development in the Congo and the exchange of Spanish land with the nobles were always expected to take a long time to complete.

After arranging matters in the Congo, Carlo turned his attention back to Spain. The current royal family possesses sufficient assets, and over 200 million in available funds also represents that the royal family still has enough strength to invest in a certain industry.

It is not even just the simple 200 million in available funds. Some diamonds and jewelry from the temple treasure can flow into the market over time, with their value higher than their actual value.

There is also that small portion of gold, which can be exchanged for cash several times over in the hands of the Currency Issuance Committee. Plus the royal industry’s continuous income, let alone investing in a certain industry—even investing in several industries in a year, as long as the steps are not too large, there will be no funding issues.

Because civilian capital in Spain at this time is not strong, royal investment is extremely important for the development of various industries in Spain.

Large investments of funds can promote the rapid development of certain industries, and if they are relatively key industries, they will play a crucial role in helping Spain’s future.

Precisely because of this, the royal family’s money must be invested in relatively key industries to provide more effective help and lay a solid foundation for Spain’s future strength.

There is no need to even think about it—the first industry the royal family needs to invest in is the shipbuilding industry.

Spain is a country surrounded by sea on multiple sides and also possesses colonies spread across various continents, so it must certainly emphasize the development of the navy and maritime power. Although the shipbuilding industry does not represent the ability to build warships, the shipbuilding industry bears the lower limit for military shipyards. If a country’s shipbuilding industry is not very developed, it is difficult to build a world-class excellent military shipyard through its own efforts.

Conversely, if a country’s shipbuilding industry is quite developed, even without help from other countries, it can still remodel an excellent military shipyard through its developed shipbuilding industry.

Although the processes involved are full of difficulties, countries with a more developed shipbuilding industry will also be smoother in the field of military shipbuilding.

Although Spain’s shipbuilding industry is not bad, with large and small state-owned shipyards and civilian shipyards, aside from the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard saved by Carlo’s investment, none of the other current military shipyards have the capability to build ironclad ships.

In addition, most civilian shipyards have relatively backward technology and can only build wooden warships or old-style steamships. These ships are fine for civilian use, but putting them into military use would make them sitting ducks for the enemy.

Spain’s future naval development certainly cannot rely solely on the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard. If the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard is destroyed, does that not mean Spain will completely lose the ability to build the latest ironclad ships?

Considering all this, Carlo decided to vigorously invest in the development of Spain’s shipbuilding industry, helping state-owned and private civilian shipyards gain more advanced experience in building civilian ships, and integrating some civilian shipyards to construct a new medium-to-large military shipyard.

This shipyard does not need to have the capability to build ten-thousand-ton ironclad ships like the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard. As a capital ship builder to replace the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard in emergencies and normally existing as Spain’s second military shipyard, the goal of this new shipyard is to have two docks capable of building warships over 7,500 tons.

The Royal Gualnizo Shipyard is located in the Bay of Santander in the Cantabria region, so the new shipyard must be located on the Mediterranean coast to ensure that the two shipyards will not both suffer enemy bombardment and destruction at the same time.

After much thought, Carlo finally decided to site the new shipyard in Valencia in the Valencian Community, which is also the largest port closest to Madrid in a straight line.

Why not place it in the larger port of Barcelona? The main reason is that Barcelona already has an industrial zone. If there were also a medium-to-large shipyard, it would inevitably suffer enemy bombardment in war, which is unavoidable.

However, that said, the development of the shipbuilding industry does not rely solely on the royal family’s efforts alone—the Spanish Government must certainly contribute as well.

The current Spanish Government is not poor. After consideration, Carlo finally had Butler Loren draft a 《Spanish Shipbuilding Industry Development Plan》 and took this plan to meet Prime Minister Primó in the cabinet.

Seeing Prime Minister Primó after a long time, Carlo’s first impression was that Prime Minister Primó looked even more aged.

Prime Minister Primó was born in 1814 and is currently only 61 years old. Perhaps because the Spanish reforms exhausted too much energy, Prime Minister Primó appears more aged and weakness despite being four years younger than Grand Duke Serrano.

If he did not know Prime Minister Primó’s age, Carlo would even think that the elderly man before him was a high-age senior in his seventies or nearly eighty.

But in reality, 61 years old is not particularly old. Although the average life expectancy in Europe is only thirty or forty years, this is after all statistical data for ordinary people.

High officials and nobles like Prime Minister Primó, aside from those who died young in childhood, have an average lifespan among the remaining dignitaries of over 60 years, and many even regrettably die of various diseases in their seventies or eighties.

The most obvious examples are Garibaldi and Grand Duke Serrano.

Garibaldi was born in 1807 and finally died in 1882 from sequelae of traveling between countries and battlefields in his early years, at nearly 75 years old, which is considered advanced age even in posterity.

Grand Duke Serrano is no different. Born in 1810, he died a natural death in 1885, living nearly 75 years, almost experiencing a complete 19th century.

From these examples, it can be seen that even if commoners have an average life expectancy under 40 due to various exploitation and safety issues, the upper-level dignitaries and nobles remain unaffected.

Not to mention these famous dukes and nobles—even ordinary barons and counts, as long as they do not court death themselves, living to fifty or sixty is no problem.

Moreover, many people in this era ultimately die from poisoning by various chemical elements, not true natural death.

Especially among noble ladies, many use substances from the periodic table of chemical elements in their makeup. These are explicitly prohibited in the royal palace, and any strange substances or elements entering the palace must undergo review.

Carlo is unwilling to have his normal food mixed with strange things, which not only affects his own lifespan but also the health of his family and the growth of his children.

“Your Majesty.” Although Carlo took the initiative to meet Prime Minister Primó, Prime Minister Primó still very proactively bowed to Carlo.

“Prime Minister Primó.” Carlo also stepped forward, stopping Prime Minister Primó’s bow, and pulled Prime Minister Primó to sit on the nearby sofa, with a very mild and respectful attitude.

For Carlo, Prime Minister Primó is absolutely his benefactor. Without Prime Minister Primó’s support, he would never have become King of Spain.

After choosing a young foreign noble to become King of Spain, Prime Minister Primó not only did not seize power, but also guaranteed Carlo a certain right to speak.

Although this small right to speak has no effect on government decision-making, it is at least much better than openly sidelining Carlo.

Moreover, over time, Prime Minister Primó has gradually handed more power to Carlo. Just not being greedy for power is enough for Carlo to sincerely admire Prime Minister Primó from the heart.

Not to mention Prime Minister Primó’s contributions to Spain. Achievements such as agricultural reform, land reclamation, literacy education, industrial development, etc., are enough to make Prime Minister Primó one of the greatest prime ministers in Spain in nearly a century, or even without the “one of.”

Especially since the tyrannical King Ferdinand VII and Queen Isabel II ruled Spain, Spain has been rapidly sinking and weakness at an extremely fast speed.

Being able to halt such decline and reverse it, Prime Minister Primó is absolutely indispensable.

Still that sentence: in Carlo’s heart, Prime Minister Primó is absolutely a major meritorious official in Spain’s revival, even the foremost meritorious official.

As long as Prime Minister Primó does not do anything foolish next, he will become the representative official highlighted and praised throughout Carlo’s entire reign. Their ten years of collaborative rule will also be propagandized as intimate cooperation similar to that of Wilhelm I of Germany and Chancellor Bismarck, jointly writing a beautiful tale and epic for posterity to read and admire.

This is truly fame lasting through the ages. Even if the Kingdom of Spain falls in the future, this history will not change. For politicians, such reputation may be more enticing than certain tangible interests.

After all, interests in hand are tempting but only temporary. Such a tale of eternal fame is not something one can have just by wanting it; it requires timing, opportunities, and the king’s trust.

“Prime Minister Primó, this is the shipbuilding industry development plan I formulated based on the current backwardness of Spain’s shipbuilding industry. It requires close cooperation with the government, and related matters still need your attitude, Prime Minister Primó.” Carlo smiled and took out the shipbuilding industry development plan he had long prepared, handed it to Prime Minister Primó, and then smiled and explained.

Prime Minister Primó nodded, took the shipbuilding industry development plan, and read it carefully.

“Integrate some unsalvageable private and state-owned civilian shipyards and remodel them into a medium-to-large military shipyard?

Help other salvageable private and state-owned civilian shipyards develop better and perfect Spain’s shipbuilding industry system?” Prime Minister Primó read while looking, sometimes nodding to himself, clearly treating this development plan very seriously.

Carlo’s development plan was actually only a few pages, but Prime Minister Primó still spent nearly half an hour reading it.

Almost every word on the plan was read aloud by Prime Minister Primó himself, sometimes with serious thought, clearly showing great respect for Carlo’s development plan.

After reading the last word on the plan, Prime Minister Primó first closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them, nodded while looking at Carlo, and smiled: “From this plan alone, I find no problems, Your Majesty.”

Finding no problems meant agreement, but Prime Minister Primó would not speak too fully. The specific development of the shipbuilding industry still requires detailed negotiations and joint funding between the government and the royal family; Prime Minister Primó would not take it all on, as that would only bring a huge financial burden to the government.

“My plan is for the royal family and the government to each invest 15 million pesetas to acquire certain unsalvageable state-owned and private civilian shipyards, fully integrate these shipyards, absorb the shipyard workers, and then build a medium-to-large military shipyard in Valencia to replace the role of the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard in certain emergencies.

The government is responsible for land and shipyard construction issues, holding 55% shares in this newly established military shipyard, with the royal family holding 45%. We cooperate together to build this shipyard.

What do you think, Prime Minister Primó?” Some relatively complex matters naturally cannot be explained in a small plan and require Carlo to provide more detailed explanations.

Hearing this, Prime Minister Primó thought and finally gave his answer: “15 million pesetas? This amount of funds is not much. Your Majesty, what about the subsequent encouragement of other state-owned and private shipyards? How should that be carried out?”

Seeing that Prime Minister Primó did not refuse to establish the second military shipyard, Carlo breathed a sigh of relief and began answering Prime Minister Primó’s new question: “The current preliminary plan is to promulgate certain tax reduction policies for the civilian shipbuilding industry and have the government lead the training and cultivation of some shipbuilding industry employees.

There is also solving the order issues for civilian shipyards. Only by addressing multiple aspects can we thoroughly resolve the current situation of our shipbuilding industry’s gradual backwardness and weakness and return Spain’s shipbuilding industry to the world forefront.”

The weakness of civilian shipyards has many causes, with the main ones divided into three aspects: technological backwardness, reduced orders, and insufficient employees.

These three aspects influence each other. Technological backwardness leads to fewer shipyard orders, reduced orders affect shipyard income, ultimately leading to layoffs.

The fewer employees a shipyard has, the less possible technological progress becomes. This stagnates related technologies, eventually forming a vicious cycle.

To solve this problem, external forces must address these three issues simultaneously in an extremely forceful manner.

If the government and royal family cooperate, these three problems are indeed easy to solve. Employee shortages can be quickly trained, technological backwardness can receive technical support. As for civilian shipyards lacking orders, after having sufficient employees and excellent technology, they can compete for orders with foreign shipyards.

Spain still has a certain reputation in the civilian shipbuilding industry. Although it weakened for a period before, with the strong rise of military shipyards, civilian shipyards have also recovered some reputation.

As long as they strike while the iron is hot, accelerate support and construction for civilian shipyards, competing for some international orders is no problem.

The cost of ships from civilian shipyards is not high, after all, their tonnage is not like capital ships at several thousand or nearly ten thousand tons.

They also do not need excellent armor protection capability or large-caliber cannons, already saving much in costs.

Low cost means low selling price. As long as the selling price is low, more ship orders can be found from around the world to meet shipyard needs.

Previously, the Revival-class ironclad could not find buyers worldwide, but for civilian ships now, finding a few buyers is relatively simple.

For example, those former Spanish colonies in America—they may not have enough funds to build ironclad ships but still have enough money to build civilian ships.

Besides these countries in America, some European countries with underdeveloped shipbuilding industries can also be potential customers for Spanish civilian shipyards.

There are also Spain’s colonies, which need some civilian ships to strengthen transport capacity. Sea transport is always extremely advantageous in any era, even in posterity.

Although airplanes are faster, they carry few goods and have quite strict cargo limits.

Trains are also faster than transport ships, but trains must run on land, making cross-country transport troublesome.

Large transport ships are different. From one port to another, they only need to pass through the sea, resupplying materials at coastal ports along the way.

A super-large transport ship in posterity can carry up to ten thousand or even tens of thousands of tons of cargo, which would be overwhelming for airplanes.

Hearing Carlo’s introduction, Prime Minister Primó nodded, secretly estimating in his heart the expenses the government would bear by doing so.

Solely in the shipbuilding industry field, the funds needed are at least over 50 million pesetas. If the royal family or government bore it alone, although not debilitating, it would obviously affect development in other aspects.

If the royal family and government each contribute half, the problem can be easily solved. Half of 50 million pesetas is 25 million pesetas, less than one-third of the royal enterprise’s annual profit, and even less than one-twentieth of the government fiscal annual income.

Taking out this money is no big burden for the royal family or government, and if it can effectively promote development in military and civilian shipbuilding, it is absolutely a good thing.

After thinking for a moment, Prime Minister Primó said: “Your Majesty, I agree with your shipbuilding industry development plan. I will notify the relevant departments to closely cooperate with the royal family’s actions and have the industry department produce specific shipyard construction plans and timelines.

Let the ministers of various departments negotiate specific matters with Butler Loren. This is beneficial without harm for Spain and a good thing that promotes Spain’s development.

Your Majesty, for this medium-to-large military shipyard built after integration, do you have any naming suggestions?”

Shipyard naming? Carlo shook his head; it was best not to participate in naming shipyards with his naming skills.

Seeing Carlo shake his head, Prime Minister Primó continued: “Since it is sited in Valencia, why not call it the Valencia State-owned Military Shipyard.”

For a monarchy country, enterprises controlled by the kingdom government are state-owned, and those controlled by the royal family are also state-owned. Enterprises jointly controlled by the kingdom government and royal family are naturally state-owned among state-owned; calling it a state-owned shipyard is no problem.

Carlo also nodded, having no objection to such a shipyard name.

Military shipyard naming does not need to be overly fancy; simple and clear naming can instead improve the military shipyard’s recognizability.

Just like Spain’s largest military shipyard, the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard, which is actually the royal family’s military shipyard established in Gualnizo, with equally simple naming.

5400-word two-in-one chapter, seeking support!