Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 126 Land Leases Act

Carlo is quite satisfied with Spain's current development speed.

By the end of 1870, the total mileage of railways in Spain was close to 6000 kilometers.

At the beginning of this year, Spain's total railway mileage exceeded 6440 kilometers.

This also means that the total mileage of Spain's railways increased by thousands of kilometers in the three and a half years from late 1868 to early 1872.

Although the average annual railway mileage built is only about 300 kilometers, it is already a significant improvement for the Spanish government.

After all, from the birth of railways to late 1868, the total railway mileage in Spain was only about 5400 kilometers.

Spain's land area is in no way inferior to that of other European powers (mainland), and because there are fewer plains in the country, it needs railways to strengthen economic exchanges between regions.

Spain has built a large-scale railway ring line with Madrid as the center. The capital cities of each region, including some important cities, are included in the planning of the railway ring line.

The Spanish government’s next railway construction goal is to include more cities in the railway construction plan, so that Spanish people can conveniently travel to other cities by rail, of course, including the transportation of goods.

The construction of railways will strengthen Madrid's importance in Spain, while enhancing economic exchanges and stability between regions.

As the center of the Iberian region, Madrid's benefits are prominent. From Madrid, it only takes a few hundred kilometers to reach any city in Spain.

Even Barcelona, ​​a more remote city in the northeast corner of Spain, is only 600 kilometers away from Madrid.

At the current speed of trains, it only takes a little over a day to travel from Madrid to Barcelona. If you don't count the time spent at the station, it only takes more than 20 hours to reach Barcelona.

Under such circumstances, no matter which region of Spain had unrest, the army in Madrid could arrive within one day. This is also the reason why Spain has remained a unified country until later generations.

No matter how arrogant the Catalan and Basque independence activists are, the Spaniards are located in the center of the country and can go to the rebellious areas at any time to quell the rebellion.

Even if the Portuguese region is included, Madrid is still located in the center of the entire Iberian Peninsula. This is Madrid's geographical advantage and the reason why Madrid can become the capital of Spain.

At the end of April 1872, the Spanish government's first phase of reform was declared a success, and the reform smoothly entered the second phase.

On May 5, a member of the Liberal Party submitted the Land Leasing Bill to the Spanish Parliament, asking the government to enact a law stipulating that the rent for land leasing shall not exceed 1% of the annual income of the land.

The purpose of this bill was to protect the rights of farmers who rented land, so that they would not be exploited by nobles and landlords and face the situation of starvation.

This bill was aimed directly at the land-owning nobles and the church, and Prime Minister Primo naturally understood the risks involved.

Therefore, it was the Liberal Party that proposed this bill, not the Progressive Party to which Prime Minister Primo belongs.

If the proposal of this bill causes dissatisfaction among a large number of nobles, Prime Minister Primo will convene an emergency meeting and ask Parliament to repeal the bill.

In order to prevent radical reactions from the nobles, Prime Minister Primo changed the rent from no more than 30% of annual income to 40%. This rent level was not much different from the 40%-50% rent that the nobles originally required the peasants to pay, in order to prevent radical reactions from the nobles.

Of course, in addition to introducing this bill, Prime Minister Primo also made preparations in advance.

First of all, he and Archduke Serrano, as the most powerful representatives among the Spanish nobility, persuaded some of the nobles to agree to this bill.

Another thing is to ask Carlo to persuade some nobles to agree to this bill in order to divide the entire aristocratic class.

In general, there are too many nobles in Spain. These nobles control a large amount of land, which has a very serious impact on the future development of Spain.

The government naturally cannot ignore this situation when it has already affected the development of Spain. If these nobles continue to be allowed to control such a large amount of land, the development of Spain will be seriously affected.

Of course, as the aristocracy is the most influential force in Spain, Prime Minister Primo naturally cannot respond too radically.

First of all, Prime Minister Primo did not intend to completely reclaim the land of these nobles. The government would only persuade some nobles to actively sell their land to the government, and the government would buy these lands at a price higher than the market price as a reward for these nobles.

Secondly, this is a test for the nobles. If successful, it can ensure that the landless peasants can also have a certain amount of guaranteed income when renting land, at least they will have no problem eating enough.

However, if it causes strong opposition from the nobles, there will be room for detours so as not to cause a strong conflict between the nobles and the government.

Carlo was also very troubled when he learned about Prime Minister Primo's plan.

After much thought, Carlo decided that it was not appropriate for him to express his views directly on this matter. If he stood on the side of Prime Minister Primo, he would undoubtedly offend a large number of Spanish nobles.

But if he stood on the side of the Spanish nobles, he would not only offend Prime Minister Primo, but also disrupt Spain's reform progress.

Carlo naturally understood the harm that the large amount of land controlled by the Spanish nobles posed to Spain, and naturally wanted to take back as much land from the nobles as possible.

However, as the largest noble, the king naturally could not stand up and directly oppose the noble class. After receiving Prime Minister Primo's request, Carlo said that he would let the loyal noble Duke Jacobo give friendly advice to some Spanish nobles, and he himself would not come forward.

Carlo would not offend a large number of Spanish nobles at this time. Although many of these nobles have become pests of the country, they are indeed Carlo's biggest supporters at present.

At least we have to wait until Carlo has complete control of the country's power and minimizes the influence of the nobles on the army before trying to take action against some of the nobles.

Now, it is better to stay away from Prime Minister Primo's reforms as much as possible. The nobles are still quite influential, and there are a large number of nobles in the government and the army. This is why Prime Minister Primo, who holds the military and political power, has to be careful to test the nobles instead of taking direct action.

Although he expressed his support for Prime Minister Primo's reforms, Carlo also put forward his own demands, that is, after strong opposition from the nobles, Carlo should convene the Spanish Parliament and forcibly repeal the bill.

This was Carlo's backup plan, used to declare to the nobles that Carlo had nothing to do with this incident.

The current king still needs the support of the nobles, and Carlo will not destroy the good relationship with the nobles unless it comes to the point where he has to make a choice.

As expected, after the bill was proposed in the parliament, it immediately attracted the attention of a large number of nobles. In Spain, the higher the rank of a noble's title, the more land the noble controls.

As large landowners, the nobles naturally did not want to see the government enact a bill to reduce farmers' land rents, because this would clearly affect their own income.

Although the nobles could still maintain 40% of the land rent after the bill was enacted, their income was reduced by at least % to % compared to before.

In order to prevent unrest among the nobles, Prime Minister Primo mobilized the original revolutionary army to garrison Madrid, and personally found Archduke Serrano to persuade him.

Compared to power, Archduke Serrano does not value land that much. Like Prime Minister Primo, he is a nobleman who was granted a fiefdom rather than an inherited title.

Although he has become the pinnacle of the Spanish nobility and holds the title of Grand Duke, Grand Duke Serrano does not have much land property. Instead, his shares in the Royal United Bank are the bulk of his income.

There were also the new nobles that Carlo had granted fiefs to. Although the new nobles also owned some land, these lands were far inferior to those of the old nobles.

They are not opposed to this bill. After all, it does not have much impact on their interests.

Under the influence of Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano, although the nobles as a whole expressed dissatisfaction with the bill, there were still many nobles who agreed with it.

Although most nobles own a large amount of land, this does not mean that all nobles are wealthy.

In fact, there are countless aristocratic families in Europe that fail to run their businesses well every year, and even more aristocrats who have to sell their property due to bankruptcy.

There are indeed many nobles in Spain, but that's just the state of Spain's economy. The only nobles who can truly become wealthy are the great nobles.

The earls and barons were not actually very rich, and their property could go bankrupt at any time due to poor management.

As the government introduced a policy of purchasing land at high prices, many nobles who were in urgent need of funds due to bankruptcy took the initiative to sell their land to the government.

Prime Minister Primo also urgently needed the nobles to voluntarily sell their land to make a statement, so he raised the price of the land to 1.5 times the market price.

In order to prevent nobles from temporarily purchasing farmers' land and then selling it to the government to make a profit, the Spanish government also promulgated the Land Purchase and Sale Law, which stipulates that farmers' land can only be sold to the government. The government will provide a price above the market price to ensure that farmers will not lose money when selling the land.

Of course, most farmers are unwilling to sell their land unless they have no other options. Farmers rely on the land for their livelihood. If they lose their livelihood, how can they survive?
The people who actually sell their land, apart from the landlords who own a lot of land, are the farmers who can no longer make a living by farming.

With these nobles who took the initiative to sell their land standing up, the aristocratic class, which was originally angry about this bill, was divided into two.

Moreover, this bill was not that harsh on the nobles. Their income was indeed reduced, but not too much.

At least the reduction in income will not cause the nobles to unite against the government. After all, the current government is not the same as it was a few years ago. Prime Minister Primo's reforms have greatly increased the peasants' support for the government. The nobles and peasants still have frequent contact, and they naturally know how popular the current government is.

In addition, Marshal Serrano and Prime Minister Primo, as members of the nobility themselves, did not oppose the bill, which made some nobles see something more profound in it.

Perhaps such a bill was submitted to the parliament with the support of Prime Minister Primo? If Prime Minister Primo and Archduke Serrano both supported the bill, what could they do?

Duke Jacopo also persuaded some nobles at Carlo's suggestion, which resulted in the bill being voted on in parliament for several days. During this period, the nobles did not react too strongly.

After learning that the nobles did not react violently, Prime Minister Primo finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although the nobles were certainly still dissatisfied, at least it had not developed to the point of causing unrest.

As long as the nobles do not take any drastic action next, they will have no choice but to accept the bill after it is passed by Parliament.

Moreover, this bill was not only aimed at the nobles, but also at the church, which also owned a large amount of land.

If Prime Minister Primo still had some concern and care for the nobles, he was not so kind to the church.

The large amount of land held by the church also endangered the development of Spain, and these lands were also the targets that the Spanish government wanted to recover.

First there was the abolition of the tithe, and then there was a bill to limit land rents, and the church's income had been greatly restricted.

Prime Minister Primo also mobilized the army to guard against the church. If the church could not bear such a loss and finally chose to launch a rebellion against the government, then things would develop in the direction that Prime Minister Primo would like to see the most.

A large number of troops would resolve the church's rebellion in a short period of time, and the government would have a legitimate excuse to take back the church's land.

Of course, because the interests of both the nobility and the church were affected at the same time, Prime Minister Primo also knew that there was a small possibility that the church and the nobility would unite to resist the government.

However, after being divided, it is difficult for the nobles to unite as one to resist the government. After all, the nobles also have their own interests to consider.

During the reign of Queen Isabel, the nobility almost completely controlled the army. The vast majority of middle and high-level officers in the Spanish army were nobles, and the Royal Army was a private army led by nobles.

But after the revolution, the number of nobles in the army had decreased significantly. Many noble officers in the army had joined the Carlos rebellion and were also eliminated by the government.

The suppression of the rebellion gave rise to a large number of new nobles. These nobles were different from the old nobles in that they supported the government's policies.

Coupled with the large number of officers trained by the Royal Military Academy, this has greatly reduced the influence of the nobility on the army.

Unless the interests of the nobles are truly endangered to a great extent, such as the government forcibly reclaiming the nobles' land, etc., the nobles are unwilling to openly resist the government.

After all, rebellion against the government is not without cost. If the army formed cannot defeat the government army with overwhelming advantage, the result may be disastrous for these Spanish nobles who launched the rebellion.

There are still many smart people among the nobles. Although they admit that this bill will lose some interests, at least the final result is good and most of the income can be retained.

If you take the risk of launching a rebellion against the government and the rebellion fails, you might not even be able to keep your noble title.

With the aristocracy remaining silent, the church became a lamb to be slaughtered. Faced with the situation of either selling the land or reducing the land income, the bishops of the church, led by Archbishop Pedro, also knew that they had to make a choice.

The second update of 4,300 words, please support!


(End of this chapter)