Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 71: Preparations For Carving Up Africa

Since factories like steel mills are basically in a steady profit-making state, there’s nothing more to say—of course, we should vigorously build steel mills.

Continuously expanding the scale of steel mills will also help improve Spain’s overall industrial level, which is beneficial for both the royal family and the government.

Moreover, it can provide more jobs for Spaniards, accelerate the speed of Spain’s economic development—it’s simply a win-win-win.

Without any hesitation, Carlo immediately instructed Butler Loren: “Next, focus on the expansion of the bank and steel mills; other industries can be postponed for a while.”

There’s no other way—if we want Spain to catch up with the train of the Second Industrial Revolution, we must attract a large number of relevant talents from other countries.

To attract enough talent from other countries, money is essential first.

Money can move hearts. No matter how great the achievements those researchers have made, they are ordinary people with certain needs for material things.

Even if they don’t have much demand for material things themselves, they have families, and their family members will have related needs.

So, the simplest way to attract a talent is to let him and his family have enough money, providing them with upper-level material and living standards in the country.

Letting a scientist who was originally destitute, even nearly facing family ruin, instantly enjoy the life of the national upper class, with endless money and endless luxuries to enjoy, will surely move that scientist. Although throwing money seems like a crude method, at a time when most European commoners are living in destitution or even hellish conditions, throwing money is really the most effective way.

Of course, in fact, no matter which era, the lives of grassroots people are destined not to be too good.

It’s just that more advanced technology raises the bottom line to some extent, but any country will definitely have the lowest level of society.

As long as there are destitute groups, there will certainly be people who bend for money. What Carlo needs to do now is use money to attract these people to defect, and then cultivate more talents for Spain based on these talents.

“How much funds can the bank side allocate at most?” Carlo thought carefully for a while and asked aloud.

“The construction of our branches requires at least 5 million pesetas, and we need to leave sufficient cash for the existing banks. Currently, we should be able to allocate around 25 million pesetas, and there shouldn’t be any problems within a one-year usage period.” Butler Loren thought for a moment and gave a relatively objective answer.

The Royal Bank currently has a big problem: most of the deposits come from nobles.

But this is also good news, because these nobles made large deposits only because of Carlo’s face, and they are unlikely to band together to run on the bank.

This also gives the Royal Bank sufficient funds to allocate, plus the backing of the royal family’s other enterprises, allowing it to calmly handle small-scale bank run waves.

“Put all these 25 million pesetas into steel, chemical industry, machinery, steam turbines, and military industry—these are also our main goals in the near term.

We can also invest in Spain’s existing factories in these areas; after all, it’s impossible to promote Spain’s industrial development relying solely on us.” Carlo instructed.

These industries are what Spain lacks relatively, and considering Spain’s future development needs, these industries will be in a steady profit-making state for a period of time in the future.

The Royal Bank now has some capital, so it naturally won’t miss the opportunity to invest in these industries.

After all, Spain is in a state of devastation in these areas; once the investment succeeds, the future harvest could be industrial giants in Spain.

In addition to wanting to earn income and develop Spain’s industry, Carlo wants to invest in these industries to also win over the working class, this rising class force.

Capitalists can incite workers to parade to threaten the government, so why can’t the royal family?

Once Carlo controls tens of thousands or even tens of thousands of workers through a large number of industries, he only needs to compare the treatment of workers in the royal industries with that of other capitalists; these workers will naturally understand who to follow for a better life.

With the power of workers in hand, Carlo naturally won’t have to worry about threats from the next government. No matter who the next Spanish prime minister after Primó is, they must consider Carlo’s influence in the government and among the public.

This is also the benefit that the lingering light of monarchy in this era brings to Carlo. The stage when Carlo just arrived in Spain was when his influence was the lowest and when he was most likely to be sidelined.

Once Carlo passes this low period and grasps stable royal power, no one can underestimate the influence of royal power.

After instructing on domestic industrial construction, Carlo thought for a moment and continued: “Prepare an additional 2 million pesetas in funds; I might use it in a while.”

Hearing Carlo’s instruction, Butler Loren quickly nodded without asking any reasons.

As a qualified and loyal servant, it’s best to follow one’s master’s instructions without asking too many questions.

If it’s something one should know, the master will definitely tell. If it’s not something one should know, asking rashly won’t leave a good impression.

Butler Loren understands this point exactly, so he firmly doesn’t ask what he shouldn’t.

Carlo was also quite satisfied with Butler Loren’s attitude. The role of this fund isn’t any big secret, so Carlo smiled and said: “For Spain to achieve revival, relying on the homeland is still too difficult.

Africa hasn’t been fully partitioned by the great powers yet, so we can still find our own land outside the great powers’ colonial outposts.

The purpose of this fund is to hire foreign explorers to find more land for Spain. Only with sufficient land can Spain achieve revival through its own strength, rather than through exploitation of domestic public.

While preparing the funds, you can also help me check which explorers at home and abroad can be contacted. At least in the early stage of the action, I hope our expedition team’s actions can be kept confidential for the time being.”

The great powers generally hold that sovereignty over colonies belongs to whoever occupies first. After all, the relationships between great powers are chaotic and complex, and in some cases, it’s impossible to directly seize colonies by force.

As long as Spain can establish outposts in advance on some important colonial lands and plant the Spanish flag, even if there are colonial conflicts in the future, Spain will hold the moral high ground.

Moreover, it’s only 1870 now, and Africa hasn’t been fully partitioned by great power countries. Even countries like Portugal and Belgium can get a piece of the cake in partitioning Africa—why can’t a stronger Spain?

Second update, seeking support!