Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 100 High Education, High Income

In order to reduce the illiteracy rate in Spain as soon as possible, Carlo tried every possible means.

On the first day of 1871, Carlo asked several newspapers under the royal industry to publish articles about the fact that academic qualifications determine income, and he vigorously promoted the concept that higher education leads to higher income.

The example is also very simple. The average income of college graduates far exceeds the average income in Spain. In particular, some specially hired college students earn several times more than ordinary people.

In addition to the examples of college students, the newspaper also cited several examples of ordinary people with primary and secondary education who earned higher incomes after entering factories than ordinary people without education.

Entering the factory requires operating equipment. People with education tend to understand the operating procedures of the equipment better, get started faster, and have a lower probability of making mistakes.

Carlo's purpose in doing this was naturally to use income to stimulate people's voluntary willingness to improve their academic qualifications, thereby popularizing literacy education in Spain.

Although literacy education in Spain is in full swing, it cannot be forced on all Spaniards to participate.

Although it is free, under the policy of voluntary participation, the results of literacy education are not as good as expected.

Most of those who participate in literacy education are children or young people of appropriate age, and there are very few young and middle-aged men over 25 years old participating.

This is actually easy to understand. Although literacy education is free, it will delay their time to enter the factory to earn money.

As one gains, the other loses, and it is no different from them losing money. Although the Spanish also understand the importance of education, each family often chooses to let younger children participate in literacy education, while adults work in exchange for income to support the entire family.

Only when all Spaniards understand that the time they spend on literacy education will not be a waste, but will be rewarded with higher wages in the future.

This will attract more people to participate in literacy education, thereby significantly and effectively reducing the illiteracy rate in Spain.

Fortunately, the royal family now owns dozens of newspapers, distributed in more than a dozen regions and colonies in Spain.

Especially in the capital Madrid, in addition to the Spanish Sun, other newspapers with different target groups such as the Madrid Workers' Daily and the Agricultural Daily were also specially created to expand the number of people that the newspapers can influence.

There are at least two newspapers in the top five cities in Spain. With such large-scale newspaper publicity, I believe that many people will accept the concept of high education and high income, and will actively improve the education level of themselves and their families.

In order to hide the dozens or even hundreds of newspapers under his control, Butler Loren has taken great pains. Except for the Spanish Sun, which is openly owned by the royal family, the other newspapers are basically disguised to look like private properties.

It's not that Carlo is too defensive. It's just that some newspapers, in order to maintain their market size and sell their newspapers, often publish some gossip or even sexy pictures.

These news and pictures will be warmly welcomed by the Spaniards, and the lower classes will also be willing to feast their eyes on the sexy girls in the newspapers.

But if the royal industry publishes these news, it will inevitably give the public a bad impression that the royal family and the king love gossip and sexy girls.

Although most people are happy to read such newspapers, if the newspaper belongs to the royal family, it is inevitable that some upright people will come out to condemn the royal family.

Carlo had been fully prepared for this. Enterprises like steel mills that can create a large number of jobs for Spain and will not exploit workers will be made public to tell the public that they are royal enterprises.

In order to speed up the popularization of literacy education, Carlo came up with a solution, and after calculations he believed it was feasible.

After making sure that the calculations were accurate, Carlo called Prime Minister Primo and put forward his proposal, that is, the government would provide free dinner for all people participating in literacy education on the day of the literacy education.

Literacy education is completely different from primary education. Primary education takes six years, while literacy education can be completed in as little as three months.

Generally speaking, most of the work of literacy education is completed by only teaching those who receive literacy education some commonly used Spanish words and some simple cultural knowledge, scientific principles, etc.

If classes are held twice a week and each class lasts more than three hours, literacy education can generally be completed within five months.

If children and teenagers who do not need to work receive literacy education every day, most of the literacy education tasks can be completed within a month.

But no matter what, Carlo's proposal is quite bold.

Considering that more than one million people received literacy education last year, providing them with a dinner when they receive literacy education would be equivalent to providing at least 50 meals for one million people, for a total of 5000 million dinners.

Such a large-scale dinner would certainly not be too luxurious. But even if it was just relatively cheap whole grain bread and vegetables, and a small amount of meat, it would cost at least 500 million pesetas.

Prime Minister Primo was stunned at first when he heard Carlo's proposal, but after careful thinking and calculation, he suddenly felt that this method was feasible.

For the government, the cost of 500 million pesetas is not unacceptable. By providing a free dinner to attract more people to participate in literacy education, the Spanish government will also benefit in the end.

Even if the population doubles, it will not be a big burden for the government. The current world environment is tending towards peace, and it is entirely possible to purchase grain from major grain-producing countries, and then make it into relatively cheap food to provide to the people.

Nowadays, people are not so particular about food safety. As long as the food provided looks acceptable and can fill people's stomachs, they will naturally be satisfied.

Although it is just a simple dinner, there will definitely be many Spaniards who want to save money and receive literacy education in order to save the money for a dinner.

After all, literacy education is free, and I believe most people would be willing to accept two hours of learning in exchange for a free dinner.

Providing free dinner is also a good reputation. Whether for the government or Carlo, it can increase his influence in the hearts of the people.

As for the additional cost of at least 500 million pesetas, it was not so important at this time. After all, Spain's fiscal deficit last year was as high as 6000 million pesetas. Compared with this amount of money, the additional cost of 500 million pesetas was nothing. After careful consideration in his mind, Prime Minister Primo finally agreed to Carlo's proposal, that is, the government would provide a free dinner to all people participating in literacy education.

However, Carlo also put forward his own request, that is, when the government provides this free dinner, it should not forget the contribution of the royal family.

Carlo does not intend to let the government take all the credit. For Carlo, anything that can improve the Spanish people's favorability towards him is not to be missed.

This is not only related to the stability of his throne, but also to his influence on the government in the future. If he wants to ensure that he can infiltrate the government as he wishes after Prime Minister Primo retires, he must ensure that the attitude of most Spaniards is supportive of him.

If even the Spanish do not support him, after Prime Minister Primo retires, Carlo should consider whether he can keep his throne instead of interfering in government issues.

Hearing Carlo's request, Prime Minister Primo certainly understood what Carlo's purpose was. However, Carlo's request would not affect him, so Prime Minister Primo would naturally not oppose Carlo, as he could still gain a favor.

"Of course, Your Majesty. It was you who proposed the free dinner, and the Spanish people will certainly not forget your care for the Spanish people." Prime Minister Primo nodded and said with a smile.

Whether it was Carlo's previous proposal to exchange the colonial governor for the Minister of Agriculture, or his current proposal to share the public's favor, it was actually related to the public's support.

Prime Minister Primo certainly understood what Carlo wanted to do, but he had no intention of stopping Carlo.

As a politician and reformer, Prime Minister Primo clearly understands his purpose. Rather than fighting for power and enjoying the dictatorial experience brought by the monopoly of power, it is better to say that he wants to quickly promote reforms in Spain by monopolizing power.

For Prime Minister Primo, he never thought about how long he would stay in the position of Spanish Prime Minister. As long as he could complete the reform of Spain, he would be satisfied, and he did not expect the fame and influence that the reform would bring to him.

Carlo also understood this, so he was very confident in Prime Minister Primo when exchanging political interests.

This is also the biggest difference between Western monarchy and Eastern monarchy.

Europeans pay the most attention to bloodline. It is too difficult for ordinary people to become kings through a coup. Even in the long history of Europe, there have only been a few such cases.

Napoleon was powerful enough, wasn't he? But after he became emperor, he conquered European countries and made other countries recognize the noble bloodline of Napoleon's family.

This also includes the Napoleon family's multiple marriages with other European royal families, which made the family one of the orthodox royal families in Europe.

But after the fall of the Napoleonic Empire, the influence of the Napoleonic family has rapidly weakened. If it weren't for the arrival of Napoleon III and the fact that France was indeed very powerful during the Napoleonic era, the Napoleonic family would have long been lost in history.

This means that most of the European prime ministers who hold absolute power cannot ascend to the throne through a coup. Even if they are ambitious, most people want to sideline the king and enjoy the dictatorship of being prime minister.

For politicians like Primo who do not actually have such great ambitions for power, monopolizing power is not what they pursue, but realizing their political ideals and ambitions.

The reason why he did not oppose Carlo's opinions too much and even cooperated with Carlo in political interests was because Prime Minister Primo deeply understood that reformers had never had a good ending since ancient times.

His friendship with Carlo was not only to pave the way for his own departure from politics, but also to let Carlo know that he himself did not have much ambition for power, and he also hoped that Carlo would not interfere too much in his reforms.

Although the two did not say it explicitly, they had reached some tacit understanding. They both understood that after Prime Minister Primo completed the reform, he was destined to unload the burden of the prime minister.

The reform government has offended a large number of vested interests. If Primo remains in the prime minister's seat after the reform is completed, it will inevitably have an impact on the country's stability.

And Carlo did not want such a person who had successfully promoted reforms and had great influence in both political and military circles to continue to stay in the position of prime minister. The saying "a man who is too successful will become a threat to his ruler" is not said in vain.

Although political differences were partly the reason why William II dismissed Prime Minister Bismarck, it is also possible that Bismarck's achievements were too great to be true.

As the initiator of the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War, two wars that were planned for Prussia to unify Germany, Prime Minister Bismarck had unprecedented prestige in the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire.

It is no exaggeration to say that Bismarck's influence on Germany even exceeded that of William I, who founded the German Empire.

Although Bismarck and William I had a good friendship, they also trusted each other very much.

But the problem is that there was no friendship between Bismarck and William II. As the newly appointed emperor, William II naturally could not accept that there was another person threatening his power.

The situation in Spain in the future is the same. Carlo naturally cannot accept a prime minister who threatens his royal power. Regardless of whether Prime Minister Primo's reforms are successful or not, he must bid farewell to the prime minister's throne and be his own nobleman peacefully.

Because both of them understood this, Carlo was generous in rewarding Prime Minister Primo.

Prime Minister Primo is already a Duke of Spain, and his title has reached the pinnacle of Spain. The highest title among the nobility, the Grand Duke, is prepared for Prime Minister Primo after he completes his reforms.

When he fully implemented the reforms in Spain and revitalized Spain's industry and economy, he became the top noble and grand duke in Spain.

As long as Prime Minister Primo retired, Carlo would not be able to settle accounts with him. By then, the two Archdukes Primo and Serrano would become a good story in Spanish history, and along with Carlo's name, they would be sung by the Spanish people as Spain became stronger.

After Prime Minister Primo agreed to his proposal, Carlo achieved his purpose of summoning Prime Minister Primo.

After having a sumptuous lunch with Prime Minister Primo, Carlo began his lazy life in the new year, while Prime Minister Primo began to be busy with Carlo's recent opinions.

The third update of 4,000 words, please support!
It’s the sixth day of daily 10200 views, and 10000/ views have been updated. Please support!



(End of this chapter)