Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 66: The Kidnapped Mercedes-benz Trio Founders

Cadillac and Bruno’s two telegrams arrived less than a week and a half apart, yet they left Carlo in vastly different moods.

The first telegram briefly explained that Gramme was willing to accept Carlo’s invitation, and several technical employees from the French electric company would come along.

Carlo was overjoyed by this. Such poaching of talent was far more effective than Spain cultivating its own electrical talent.

It was even possible to rely on Gramme and the other accompanying technical employees to build Spain’s electric company from scratch, putting Spain at the forefront of electric energy utilization.

But the second telegram, arriving a week and a half later, left Carlo with quite complex feelings.

Because the telegram stated that after Cadillac and Bruno arrived in Germany, they successfully found the Benz Carlo had mentioned, and also discovered several excellent talents in mechanical specialty and the engine field.

But not everyone was as destitute as Benz and Gramme. Some had already married and had children, and received invitations from larger mechanical factories.

To smoothly complete Carlo’s order, Cadillac and Bruno had no choice but to resort to the most helpless method: forcibly tying these people and bringing them to Spain.

When Carlo saw the list of the few people kidnapped by Cadillac and Bruno, he was shocked.

Along with Karl Benz, Cadillac and Bruno had coincidentally gathered the three founders of the future Mercedes-Benz Company? Yes, those two pitiful kidnapped wretches were two of the Mercedes-Benz Company’s three founders: Daimler and Maybach.

Although kidnapping would indeed bring some trouble, if the ones being kidnapped were the three founders of the Mercedes-Benz Company, then this bit of trouble was acceptable.

The achievements of these three were not just founding the Mercedes-Benz Company. In the automotive engine field, these three could be called pioneers, and they were also the most excellent talents in the engine field of this era.

Spain, having collected these three talents at once, now possessed considerable advantage in the automotive field, at least for the moment.

And assembly line production, which could quickly expand the automotive market and reduce costs, was no difficulty for Carlo.

Fortunately, Daimler and Maybach had not yet done anything sensational in Germany. Even if they disappeared in Germany, it would not attract the German Government’s attention.

With current technology, as long as Cadillac and Bruno did the cleanup work meticulously, the local government would not be able to trace how these few people disappeared.

As long as Carlo could make them willing to stay in Spain after they arrived, this matter could be considered a perfect conclusion.

Of course, whether they were willing or not, they could not return to Germany anyway.

After all, kidnapping was not glorious, and it was certainly impossible to let them spread it around.

In Carlo’s somewhat expectant wait, a batch of talents slowly arrived in Madrid.

The first to arrive in Madrid were Gramme’s family and a few of Gramme’s friends.

Carlo had clearly underestimated the attractiveness of the conditions he offered to these electricity researchers and practitioners.

After agreeing to the invitation, Gramme did not hesitate at all. After resigning from his original company, he boarded the train to Spain with these few friends who also wanted to come to Spain.

And after hearing Gramme personally state the conditions Carlo proposed, more than a dozen electricity researchers and practitioners immediately chose to come to Spain.

There was no way around it; the conditions Carlo offered were simply too tempting. Spain was not far from France to begin with, and with such generous conditions, it was not surprising that they could sway some people.

On the day Gramme arrived in Madrid, Carlo received Gramme in the royal palace and reaffirmed the conditions that Cadillac and Bruno had proposed to Gramme.

Gramme was appointed as the head manager of the Spanish Royal Electric Research Institute and chief consultant of the Royal Electric Company, needing only to specialize in electricity research.

Carlo was also quite generous with Gramme’s salary. After learning that Gramme’s original annual salary was less than 100 pounds sterling, Carlo immediately boldly stated to double it 5 times, raising the annual salary to 13,000 pesetas.

At the same time, regarding the research and development funds for the electric research institute, Carlo also stated that they could be used freely up to 300,000 pesetas per year.

Gramme had never seen such a bold boss and immediately stated that he would devote himself fully to the research at the electric research institute, even saying he could start work the next day.

For those electricity industry researchers and practitioners who came with Gramme, Carlo also showed a generous attitude.

Compared to their wages in France, their current wages were all doubled, and free residences in Madrid were provided for them.

As long as they could establish certain merit at the electric research institute, they could obtain more rewards, and could also increase their income based on merit, or receive nobility title rewards.

Carlo even specifically stated that he was very happy to see people establish merit and become nobles through various means.

Whether farmers, workers, scientists, or soldiers, as long as they established sufficient merit, they could obtain nobility title rewards based on merit.

This statement was quite inspiring to those electricity researchers who had come from far away in France. After all, they had not received such importance in France before, and the channels for advancement were not so broad.

In France, they could only barely eat their fill, not even touching the middle class. But in Spain, as long as they worked well, there would be more income, and even opportunities to become middle class or even national upper class. Wasn’t this more promising than staying in Paris?

Under the attraction of money power, Gramme’s friends all stated that joining Spain was the wisest decision of their lives, their words filled with gratitude to Carlo.

Of course, Carlo would not believe their flattery. But the fact that these guys quickly submitted under money power also proved one thing: in this era, a large number of scientists and researchers were still living in destitution, and their inventions and research might change the world in the future.

If these scientists could be attracted to defect through money, it would be a good thing for both those scientists and Spain—a win-win.

However, care must be taken not to attract the attention of other countries by pulling in scientists on a large scale. Before other countries valued scientists, the conditions Carlo could offer were unique, naturally possessing high attractiveness.

But if all countries recklessly competed to pull in scientists regardless of cost, Spain’s modest resources would not be enough to compete with other countries.

Therefore, pulling in scientists and technical personnel must still be done secretly, best not arousing suspicion from other countries.

Once Spain secretly accumulated a portion of scientists and technical talent reserves, there would be no need to worry about the talent reserve plan being sabotaged.

First update, seeking support!