Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 137 French Visitors (Two Chapters in One)

Compared with those guys who were removed from the army, the officials who were kicked out of the officialdom are much more pitiful.

The government will not provide them with any jobs, and will even hold some officials who are extremely corrupt accountable.

However, the effect is also visible to the naked eye. The rectification of the officialdom has made all Spanish officials feel insecure. Not only has the phenomenon of corruption been reduced a lot, but the administrative efficiency between the cabinet government and the regional governments has also been significantly improved.

If the decrees issued by the previous cabinet government took several weeks to be implemented in various places, now it only takes a week at most to see the implementation of the decrees in various places.

In fact, the mayors of various regions and cities have no choice but to cooperate. After the performance evaluation bill is promulgated, the promotion of any bill may affect their performance evaluation.

Unless they really don't care about their future in officialdom, they have to pay attention to the various tasks issued by the cabinet government and improve their political achievements as much as possible while complying with regulations.

After all, Spain is a small country, and it is easy to review the performance of regional and city officials.

In other words, if an official wants to falsify his performance appraisal, even if he can hide it from the department that conducts the appraisal, he may not be able to hide it from the cabinet government and parliamentary review.

Prime Minister Primo also made it clear in advance that anyone found to have falsified information or engaged in fraud in performance appraisals would be treated as endangering national security and would not only be removed from office but also have all their property confiscated.

Although Prime Minister Primo only gave a verbal warning, it still attracted the attention of many Spanish officials.

There is no way. Since becoming prime minister, Primo has always been swift and decisive in his approach.

The reform raised the knife to both the nobility and the church. The Spanish officials did not think that they had the status to compete with such big forces as the nobility and parliament, so naturally they did not dare to challenge the authority of Prime Minister Primo.

If he ran into Prime Minister Primo's butcher knife, he would really be courting death. What Prime Minister Primo lacked most at the moment was a chicken to be killed for the monkeys to see, and many officials understood this truth.

Why did the church remain silent when faced with the impact of government reforms on itself? Because the Spanish Catholic Church does not want to be the chicken.

Prime Minister Primo must have great courage to push forward reforms, which also means that the first force to be targeted by Prime Minister Primo will be punished more harshly and cruelly than imagined.

While Prime Minister Primo was making changes to the officialdom, Carlo was also expanding the size of his Royal Knights.

The so-called Royal Knights are actually a special force specifically provided to the children of nobles to improve their personal abilities and resumes.

The members who can join the Royal Knights are basically the sons of Spanish nobles, that is, members of the forces that naturally stand on the side of the king.

Carlo attached great importance to the training of these noble children. If these guys were more capable, they would be able to help him in the future.

Carlo not only invited outstanding professors from the Royal Military Academy of Madrid to work part-time in the Royal Knights, but also carefully prepared training for every knight in the order.

To put it simply, the current Royal Knights is an elite educational institution for the children of nobility, training them to become the outstanding senior officers Carlo needs.

In the Royal Knights, in addition to receiving military and cultural courses of various levels, they also have to learn aristocratic etiquette courses, art courses, riding courses, swordsmanship courses, religious courses and other knowledge.

Currently, the number of knights in the Royal Knights has exceeded one hundred, most of whom are sons of dukes and grand dukes, and only a small number of sons of marquises and earls can squeeze in.

There is no other way. Such elite aristocratic education requires a lot of financial expenditure, and it is naturally impossible to provide it to all aristocratic children at present.

The total number of all the Spanish nobles is at least several thousand, and the number of all the noble children may exceed tens of thousands.

Even if there are not many people under the age of 20 who can receive education, there must be at least several thousand people.

Providing elite aristocratic education to all these thousands of people would require more funds than maintaining a division of the Guards.

At present, Carlo's strategy is of course to limit the number of knights as much as possible and give priority to training the sons of dukes and grand dukes.

However, in the future, the number of Royal Knights will still have to be expanded on a large scale, because the number of new nobles will increase in the future, and the foundation of these new nobles is not that strong.

The old Spanish aristocrats can afford the cost of raising their children because they have sufficient financial resources to cover any expenses for raising their children.

But the wealth of the new nobility is far less than that of the old nobility, and they are also one step behind in the education of their children.

The new nobility is equally important to Carlo. Since the new nobility is unlikely to be able to afford the educational expenses of the elite nobility, Carlo can only expand the size of the Royal Knights as much as possible and include the children of the new nobility in the training system of the elite nobility.

Moreover, compared with the children of old-style nobles, the descendants of new-style nobles will be more loyal to Carlo.

After all, the titles of the old-fashioned nobility have nothing to do with Carlo. It’s just because Carlo is the king of Spain, so they can only choose to be loyal to Carlo.

The new nobles were different. Their titles came from Carlo’s fiefdom. Everything they had was granted by Carlo, so their loyalty to Carlo would naturally be higher.

And they had no choice compared to the old-style nobles. The old-style nobles still had a lot of property to be rich, but if the new-style nobles did not stay by the king's side, they were just small landowners with noble titles, and their property was incomparable to that of the old-style nobles.

The Royal Knights generally recruit noble children over the age of 12. They will receive a four-year elite aristocratic education in the Royal Knights and undergo more than two years of training.

After completing all education and training, they will be assigned to serve in the Guards or the Royal Army, or engage in other occupations.

But no matter where they work, their future potential will not be low. The nobles also know this, so not only do they not reject the establishment of the Royal Knights, but they also try their best to get their sons into the Royal Knights.

Of course, those who were crammed in were usually the second sons and the sons who were later in the order. The eldest son would definitely inherit the title in the future, and the second son would have less property, so it would be better for him to join the Royal Knights to find more opportunities.

Although the Royal Knights focus more on military training, they will not neglect the cultural education of aristocratic children.

If there are noble children who are not suitable for military work but more suitable for civil service work, Carlo does not mind training them to become officials.

Anyway, after these noble children enter the army or officialdom, they will also strengthen the royal family's influence on these places.

This is the advantage of the European aristocracy system. No matter how high the status of the nobles is, they still have to be loyal to the king.

Because without the king, the aristocratic system will also disappear. The king and the aristocracy are highly bound together, and the king is the biggest aristocrat in the aristocratic system.

After this military reform, the Spanish army will be even larger. The local army and colonial army alone will be close to 15 people, and if the guards are included, it will be close to 17 people.

The military expenditure for such a huge army can be maintained, but the pressure on the logistics department will also be doubled.

Carlo also wants to strengthen the training of various troops. In the future, the consumption of bullets and shells will increase. Under various factors, it is also necessary to make certain changes to the logistics system of the troops.

If we follow the traditional logistics system, it is highly likely that we will not be able to meet the current combat needs of the troops.

The transportation of artillery shells alone is enough to cause logistical headaches, not to mention that breech-loading rifles have a faster rate of fire, and the consumption of bullets will also increase several times.

There is not much that can be done at the moment. We can only strengthen the local logistics management systems as much as possible and do a good job in transportation to meet the needs of local troops for weapons and equipment.

Fortunately, the expansion of the troops takes a long time, plus the time required to produce weapons, there is still a long time to change the logistics.

In addition to expanding the size of the Royal Knights, Carlo also established the Royal Pharmaceutical Company, which specializes in biotechnology research and drug development.

In order to promote the establishment of this company, Carlo spent a lot of money to hire many top experts in biology and medicine from all over Europe and invited them to come to Spain to work.

The invitation was full of sincerity. In addition to a higher salary than the original salary, there was also a house in Madrid, a certain amount of shares in a pharmaceutical company, etc.

Although the shares given to them are not many, Royal Pharmaceuticals will definitely be a large enterprise in the future, so the value of even a small amount of shares will not be low in the future.

It is precisely because of such generous rewards that it has attracted several top biological and medical experts in Europe.

In addition to letting them work in the Royal Medical Company, Carlo also let them serve as honorary professors in Spanish medical schools to train more talents in biology and medicine for Spain.

The current medical technology is still too backward, which leads to a low survival rate of newborns and affects the growth of the Spanish population. A considerable number of newborns born each year will die from various diseases. These are the future population of Spain, so it is better to save them if possible.

Carlo's requirement for pharmaceutical companies is to engage in as much medical research and development as possible, no matter what type of drug it is, what can be researched should be researched first, and what can be manufactured should be manufactured first.

Carlo did not consider making the pharmaceutical company profitable in the short term. Even in the long term, Carlo did not think about how much revenue the pharmaceutical company could generate.

The main purpose of establishing a pharmaceutical company is strategic, allowing Spain to maintain its world leading position in the field of medical technology by planning the research and development of certain important drugs in advance.

What Carlo did not expect was that at the end of September 1872, the Spanish government welcomed an unexpected guest.

Yes, this guest is the famous Adolphe Thiers, the first president of the French Third Republic and the current supreme ruler of France.

Of course, the reason why Thiers became famous in Europe was not only because he suppressed a certain movement, but also because he personally signed a diplomatic letter to pay 50 billion francs in compensation to Prussia.

Perhaps the citizens of Paris did not expect that the actions they launched in opposition to the government's weakness towards Prussia would eventually make the government even weaker towards Prussia.

Of course, the French government also has an extremely tough side. It's just that the toughness of the Third Republic was shown to the movement of the Parisian citizens. Through cruel and bloody suppression, Thiers successfully became famous throughout Europe.

How brutal was the suppression at that time? French newspapers once reported the scene of the massacre: "A blood channel flowed from a barracks into the Seine River. Hundreds of meters of river water were polluted, forming a long and narrow river of blood."

Yes, it is the famous Seine River.

This suppression of the citizens of Paris lasted for a whole month, with more than 3 people massacred and more than 10 people exiled or imprisoned.

However, although the movement of the Parisian citizens was suppressed, the French government was still in considerable chaos.

Governments and media in many countries are not optimistic about the French Third Republic because the republican system in France does not last long.

The power of the French royalists was extremely strong, so strong that they could easily destroy the power of the republic.

However, the royalist party was divided into several factions, namely the Legitimists who supported the Bourbon dynasty, the Orleans who supported the Louis Philippe dynasty, and the Bonapartists who supported the Bonaparte family.

If these royalists united, they would occupy the majority of seats in the French National Assembly and could easily restore the French monarchy through the National Assembly and re-establish an empire.

But unfortunately, the three royalist factions supported different families, and there was destined to be only one emperor of France, which also meant that there would be no compromise between the three royalist factions.

It is worth mentioning that Thiers also called himself a royalist. On the one hand, he wanted to restore the French monarchy, but on the other hand, he was afraid that giving the French people the position of emperor would lead to renewed opposition from the French.

It is precisely because of the fierce conflicts between supporters of the republic and the monarchy, coupled with the dissatisfaction of many French people with the government's cowardice towards the former Prussia, now Germany, and the cruelty of suppressing the revolution, that France is now in great chaos.

In order to suppress the French revolution, Thiers was willing to go all out. He issued a law requiring all those who promoted a certain ideology to be sentenced to 2 to 5 years in prison, and also closed down all trade unions and abolished freedom of publication and association.

In order to repay the 50 billion francs indemnity promised to Prussia, the Thiers government issued a large amount of national debt, and each time it issued in excess.

Together with the massive loans to capitalism, more than half of the 50 billion francs has been repaid by the French government so far.

This is quite exaggerated. 50 billion francs is not a small number, it is an astronomical figure for the Spanish government.

According to the Spanish government's fiscal revenue, it would take at least 20 years to repay such an indemnity. Even if the government continued to issue government bonds and borrow from private capital, it would not be possible to repay it within 15 years.

But the French government did it, which also proves one thing: the development of French capital and the scale of its industry and economy are still very large, which is also the reason why France has become a superpower.

However, although the French government was able to raise 50 billion francs in a short period of time, it does not mean that 50 billion francs are not important to them.

The French government has to bear a large amount of national debt as a result, and the heavy economic burden has also fallen on the French people.

At the same time, capital has also gained a lot of power by lending to the government. France has gradually transitioned to capitalism, and the impact on France's future development is extremely far-reaching.

Let’s go back to Thiers’ visit to Spain.

This incident happened rather suddenly, and even Prime Minister Primo only learned about it the day before Thiers arrived in Spain.

When Carlo learned the news, Thiers was about to arrive in Madrid.

Fortunately, Carlo did not have to show up in person. With his identity and status as Prime Minister Primo, he could come forward to welcome President Thiers.

Although Carlo was somewhat caught off guard by the arrival of the French President, he knew why he came after careful consideration.

There is no way. The current development of the situation is somewhat beyond the French government's expectations.

A closer look at the current development of the European situation is undoubtedly fatal to France. First of all, France has completely failed in the competition with Prussia, and the position of European land hegemony has fallen into the hands of the Germans.

The second is the policy of isolating France proposed by German Chancellor Bismarck, which seems to be taking shape at present.

Austria-Hungary and Russia were discussing something, which made the French a little anxious. If Austria-Hungary and Russia reached a certain compromise, the biggest contradiction on the European continent would become the contradiction between Germany and France.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was constantly showing goodwill to Germany. Does this also mean that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would get closer to Germany?
Of course, the Germans would not reject the goodwill of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire could also be of great help in isolating France.

At the same time, Italy was an ally of Prussia before Germany was established, and the Germans did not abandon Italy as an ally.

The royal families of Spain and Italy are the same family, and they also have an alliance with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so the two sides have a marriage relationship.

Considering the worst-case scenario, the Germans are very likely to form a four-party alliance including Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain, completely isolating the French in Western Europe.

If the Germans really achieve this, then there is no need for the French to talk about development. To the north of France are the three Low Countries, where Britain, France, and Germany also have influence. It is impossible for France to dominate alone.

The only neutral neighboring country left is Switzerland, and the route to colonize Africa to the south might be cut off by the joint efforts of Spain and Italy.

The French must do everything they can to avoid the Quadruple Alliance, otherwise France's future development will suffer a devastating blow.

Among the Quadruple Alliance, Spain is currently the easiest to contact.

Why do I say that? The Austro-Hungarian Empire was actively moving closer to Germany, and it was impossible for France to win over the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Italy was an ally of the Germans, and by regaining South Tyrol in the south, it eased the conflict with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Instead, the French are standing on the Savoy region ceded by Italy. Look at the name of the Italian royal family, isn’t it Savoy!

Under such circumstances, it was extremely difficult to win over Italy, and Italy's colonial direction in Africa happened to conflict with France.

Although the remaining Spain was an ally of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and a family member of the Italian royal family, fortunately it did not have much relationship with Germany.

For the time being, as long as an alliance between Spain and Germany can be avoided, France can at least ensure that it will not be completely blocked through Spain.

The good news is that the British will also prevent Spain from colonizing Morocco. Spain needs a strong ally to help it.

The Germans may not be willing to offend Britain for Spain, but the French don't care.

France was already in a difficult situation, so it naturally had to try every means to win over Spain in order to break the blockade route set by the Germans against France.

A two-in-one chapter of 5,500 words, please support!



(End of this chapter)