Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 158 The Achievements of the Five-Year Plan

Spain's equipment purchase and talent introduction actions are vigorous and have attracted the attention of many European countries.

However, this does not matter to the Spanish government. The talents and equipment to be introduced can contribute to the development of Spain, so there is no need to worry about the reactions of these countries.

More importantly, countries with relatively strong industries and economies such as Britain, France and Germany are still stuck in the quagmire of the economic crisis.

However, countries with relatively weak industries and economies such as Portugal and the Netherlands could not pose much of a threat to Spain.

It is also because of this that Spain’s talent introduction efforts have not only not been restrained after receiving protests from some countries, but have been intensified.

The Spanish government also publicly stated that Spain's talent introduction actions are in compliance with the laws and regulations of various countries. Spain offers these technical talents and scientists salaries within the normal range, and welcomes these countries to offer the same salary to compete with Spain.

In fact, to put it bluntly, Prime Minister Primo is convinced that European countries cannot spend too much to retain domestic talent during the economic crisis.

For a country suffering from the economic crisis, the most important thing at present is to rectify the domestic economy and save those large companies and enterprises on the verge of bankruptcy, rather than focusing on the few talents that have been wooed.

For all the major countries, the talents that have been poached are still a minority. Do we have to fight to the death with Spain for these poached talents? Of course not.

As for small countries, their actions are really just protests. Especially for Portugal, which has suffered the most in terms of talent loss, they even have to consider the attitude of the Spanish government when protesting, because Spain is their neighbor.

How exaggerated is Spain's talent introduction? Only three months have passed since the outbreak of the economic crisis, and the royal family has already spent more than 300 million pesetas on talent introduction.

It should be noted that this is only the cost of introducing talents, and it is only the expenditure of the royal family. If the total number of talents introduced by the government is added, the total number of talents introduced by Spain has exceeded 2000.

Unfortunately, more than half of these 2000 people are ordinary engineers and technicians, and there are less than 500 of the scientific research talents that Carlo most expects.

Among these less than 500 scientific research talents, only less than 200 people have been awarded the title and treatment of second-level academicians. Although some people are new to the university and are not given high-level titles and treatment, they are only a minority after all.

According to information from the Royal Intelligence Agency, it is already very good if 500 of the less than 20 scientific research talents can eventually obtain the title of third-level academician.

However, as a scientific research talent after all, Carlo is quite welcome even if his ability is not as good as imagined.

After almost all these talents arrived in Spain, Carlo personally attended the welcome banquet held for them to express his warm welcome to their arrival.

After all, the cost of introducing talents is a minority, while the cost of purchasing equipment and enterprises is the majority.

Over the past three months, the Spanish industrial sector has purchased more than 30 companies and spent more than 8000 million pesetas.

The plan to purchase companies is still ongoing. In the coming months, the industrial sector's purchases will continue and the scale will only increase.

Amid the dark cloud of the economic crisis, some major events happening in Europe are also worth noting.

First, before the outbreak of the economic crisis, German Emperor Wilhelm I, Prime Minister Bismarck and Marshal Moltke visited the Russian capital, St. Petersburg, and signed a secret military agreement with the Russian government.

Although Carlo was not clear about the specific content of the military agreement signed by the two countries, based on the historical direction of the Three Emperors' Alliance, the agreement signed by Germany and Russia at this time should be a mutual defense treaty or something like that.

As mentioned before, Austria, which had become the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was moving closer to Germany in terms of foreign policy.

There was nothing that could be done about it. After Prussia won the battle for German supremacy, the newly-formed German Empire had become an unstoppable behemoth.

Instead of competing with the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire should focus on Southeast Europe and expand its sphere of influence in the Balkan Peninsula.

The country most anxious about the military alliance between Germany and Russia was not Britain or France, but Austria-Hungary.

Although Austria-Hungary also had Spain as an ally, distant water could not quench immediate thirst. Spain was not too powerful and could not help Austria-Hungary in its struggle for hegemony in the Balkans.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire needed a strong ally like Germany, at least to prevent Germany and Russia from getting closer. Maintaining the current situation in the Balkans could meet the needs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

At this time, the conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia was not so intense. After all, the places targeted by both sides belonged to another country, the Ottoman Empire.

In dealing with the issues in the Balkans, Russia and Austria-Hungary maintained the same attitude, which was to resolve them collaboratively.

Shortly after the economic crisis broke out, Russian Emperor Alexander II made a public visit to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Taking this opportunity, the two emperors formally signed the "Hingbolon Agreement", which was also a reaffirmation of the two countries' attitude towards collaborative problem-solving.

Because the entire agreement has only one theme, that is, when a third country invades and threatens peace in Europe, the two parties to the treaty (Russia and Austria) should immediately discuss a common course of action.

To put it bluntly, it is about mutual compromise between the two countries in order to deal with other countries' interference in the situation in the Balkan Peninsula.

Russia's main concern in this agreement was the British, while the main purpose of Austria-Hungary was to ease the situation and prevent Austria-Hungary from being diplomatically isolated.

The two countries have their own goals, and this agreement is more like a certain compromise between the two countries based on their respective interests rather than a true alliance treaty.

But no matter what, the easing of relations between Russia and Austria-Hungary at this time was a good thing for both sides.

But the signing of this agreement made Germany somewhat uneasy. At this time, Germany's diplomatic system was established by Prime Minister Bismarck, and his main diplomatic system was to isolate France and establish a conservative alliance treaty among the three monarchies of Germany, Austria and Russia.

The rapprochement between Russia and Austria-Hungary actually caused Germany to worry, because Germany was also afraid that Russia and Austria-Hungary would leave itself aside, which would directly cause the bankruptcy of Germany's anti-French alliance system and Germany would also suffer a new diplomatic crisis.

You know, the relationship between Prussia, the predecessor of Germany, and Austria was hostile. As Germany became stronger, the Russians would certainly worry about the threat from Germany.

It would be a huge joke if the alliance that was originally intended to isolate France turned into an alliance that was intended to isolate Germany.

It is also for this reason that after the signing of the agreement between Russia and Austria-Hungary, the German diplomatic department immediately took action, expressing that Germany was also willing to join the agreement and that the three countries would jointly maintain peace in Europe.

Because Germany and Russia signed a secret military agreement just last month, the two sides are currently in a honeymoon period.

Russia did not object to Germany joining the agreement, and Austria-Hungary did not express clear opposition.

It is also because of this that, after certain consultations, Germany also openly joined this agreement, and the First Triple Alliance was formally established.

However, because the essence of this agreement was a certain compromise between Russia and Austria-Hungary regarding their own interests, the validity period of the agreement was very short, only two years.

Although the Alliance of Three Emperors was successfully formed, it was not stable and the alliance was likely to break down due to an unexpected incident.

Although Russia and Austria-Hungary each had their own concerns, the German government was very satisfied at the time. In the eyes of the Germans, if the relationship between Russia and Austria-Hungary was too stable, what was the point of Germany's role as a middleman?
Isn't the reason why Germany joined this agreement to seek the role of mediator of the agreement and to control the relationship between Russia and Austria-Hungary to maintain a delicate balance?
Anyway, no matter what other countries thought, the Alliance of Three Emperors was established so quickly.

The Russians breathed a sigh of relief, and they could concentrate on dealing with the conflict with the British. The Austrians also breathed a sigh of relief, as the diplomatic crisis of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was successfully resolved, and the interests of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Balkan Peninsula were guaranteed.

The Germans also breathed a sigh of relief. After the establishment of the Three Emperors' Alliance, France was successfully isolated and naturally became the country that the Three Emperors' Alliance mainly targeted.

Carlo followed the entire process of the establishment of the Triple Alliance. However, for Spain at that time, the Triple Alliance was not suitable for Spain to participate in, and Carlo had no intention of participating in it. The three participants of the Triple Alliance each had their own ideas, and such an alliance was not stable. History has indeed proved that the first Triple Alliance lasted only two years, and the second Triple Alliance signed in 1881 only lasted for 6 years.

Ultimately, as the Ottoman Empire weakened, both Austria-Hungary and Russia set their sights on the Balkans. This was a contradiction that could not be eased at all, and would only become more intense as the Ottoman Empire weakened.

In addition, neither Britain nor France would allow such an alliance to exist, so the collapse of the Triple Alliance was inevitable, it was only a matter of time.

When the Treaty of the Three Emperors' Alliance was officially signed, it was already the end of October 1873.

In the following two months, Spain continued its decision to buy, buy and dig, purchasing a large number of various factories and enterprises from various European countries and recruiting thousands of talents.

Although a lot of money was spent, it did allow Spain to make great progress in talent reserves. At present, Spain may not catch up with other European powers in terms of talent reserves, but it has far surpassed small and medium-sized countries such as Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Even if compared with the inferior powers like Italy, Spain is in the leading position in terms of talent reserves.

It was the end of December 1873. As a new cabinet government election would be held the following year, the ministers of various departments attached great importance to the annual report meeting of this year.

If Prime Minister Primo chooses to continue to run for election, they can only focus on the seat of cabinet minister. But if Prime Minister Primo gives up the election, they will have the hope of relying on their political achievements and reports to fight for the position of Spanish Prime Minister, which is second only to the Prime Minister.

Even in the current Spain, the position of Prime Minister actually has much more power than the King. As long as the Prime Minister is willing, he can easily override the King and control the entire parliament.

At the annual summary report meeting, each department prepared detailed report materials, and even the smallest political achievements were summarized in the report.

Carlo would not miss such an important meeting. The annual summary report meeting was held in the parliament. Carlo sat calmly in the main seat of the parliament amid the different attitudes of the parliamentarians.

A few minutes later, the entire report meeting officially began.

It is still Prime Minister Primo who sets the broad tone first.

"Your Majesty, Members of Parliament. 1873 is a very important year for us. Thanks to the efforts of the government, the industrial environment in Spain has grown significantly.

According to the Cabinet Government's estimates, as of today, our country's total population has officially exceeded 1775 million, an increase of at least 30 people compared to last year.

Our GDP for the whole year was approximately 78.61 billion pesetas, an increase of more than 9% compared to last year.

Although the economic crisis broke out in May throughout Europe, Spain was not severely affected. In order to cope with the possible reduction in imports and exports caused by the economic crisis, we have formulated various plans and achieved relatively good results.

The government's plan is very successful, as can be seen from the economic growth rate. We are the only country in the world that has achieved positive economic growth during the economic crisis, and the growth rate is even higher than before the economic crisis."

Speaking of the positive economic growth, Prime Minister Primo's report received applause from all members of Parliament.

Carlo was the one who took the initiative to applaud. After Carlo took the initiative to applaud, other members of the parliament had to take action to cooperate even if they did not intend to applaud.

After waiting for more than a minute, when the applause died down, Prime Minister Primo continued his summary report: "

Thanks to our positive economic growth, our government’s total fiscal revenue has also increased significantly throughout this year.

According to the totals of the Ministry of Finance, the country's total fiscal revenue for the whole year of 1873 was 5.451 million pesetas, an increase of 1920 million pesetas over the previous year.

However, in order to cope with the impact of the financial crisis on Spain, the government has also significantly increased the proportion of fiscal expenditure for various construction projects.

Our total fiscal expenditure for the whole year of 1873 amounted to 7.433 million pesetas, of which 6.127 million pesetas were regular fiscal expenditures and 1.306 million pesetas were external operations.

Although the fiscal loss for the whole year was close to 2 million pesetas, the foreign factories and enterprises purchased by the government through external actions can greatly help our industrial growth.

It is expected that in the next few years, Spain's industry and economy will ignore the impact of the economic crisis and achieve significant development at a very fast pace.

The government will then formulate a detailed new five-year development plan, dedicated to the comprehensive development and industrial construction of Spain in the next five years.

At present, the first five-year construction that we started in 1869 has achieved great success. In these nearly five years, our industry, agriculture, railways, education and economic construction have all achieved complete success.

Since the launch of the Five-Year Plan, our total population has increased by approximately 115 million, total steel production has increased by more than 40 tons, and the total economic output has increased by more than 20 billion pesetas.

我们的财政收入从1868年的不足3亿比塞塔已经提升到了1873年的接近5.5亿比塞塔，差值超过2.5亿比塞塔，接近1868年的财政总收入。

We have increased our investment in railways. As of now, the total railway mileage in Spain has exceeded 7400 kilometers, less than 7500 kilometers away from our original goal of 100 kilometers.

Before the Five-Year Plan began, our total railway mileage was less than 5400 kilometers. In five years, we have built a total of more than 2000 kilometers of railway mileage, and will continue to increase investment in railways in the future.

In the next five-year plan, Spain will have a total railway scale of more than 10,000 kilometers. Perhaps after the completion of the next five-year plan, we can proudly declare that Spain has built a strong industry and economy, and we are a strong country! "

Because Spain's cabinet election will be held in February, this means that there are less than two months left until the cabinet change.

也正因为如此，今年的年度总结报告会议并不只是1873年一年的报告会议，还包含了1869年2月到1874年2月这五年时间里西班牙内阁政府做出的贡献。

It is worth mentioning that Prime Minister Primo mentioned the government’s next five-year plan many times at the five-year plan report meeting. This actually represents one thing, that is, Prime Minister Primo decided to continue to run for prime minister of the cabinet.

If he decides not to run for the election, Prime Minister Primo will not talk about the next five-year plan at all. After all, the five-year plan is formulated by the cabinet government. If he does not run for the prime ministership, whether the second five-year plan is implemented and the specific content of the second five-year plan have nothing to do with Prime Minister Primo.

Upon learning that Prime Minister Primo would continue to run for election, many MPs showed disappointed expressions, but they quickly hid them.

It is normal for Prime Minister Primo to continue to run for election. After all, Spain has been on the right track under Prime Minister Primo's reforms, and the second five-year plan will only be simpler than the first five-year plan.

The strangest thing is that Prime Minister Primo, who is the biggest contributor to the reform, suddenly gave up his position as prime minister.

It is expected that it will be easy for Prime Minister Primo to win the majority of votes and serve as prime minister of the next cabinet government, thanks to his huge reputation for successful reforms and the rapid expansion of the Progressive Party in the past five years.

But there is a question that is also worth thinking about, and that is Carlo's growth in the past five years.

In 1869, Carlo had just arrived in Spain, and as he was still a teenager, it was normal that he could not take power.

But five years have passed, and Carlo has turned 22 this year. Does a young king in his 20s really have no desire for power?

Prime Minister Primo, who still holds power, and Carlo, who has firmly established himself on the throne of Spain and may make more demands for his own power. This has made the expressions in the eyes of many congressmen more complicated. They kept hovering between Prime Minister Primo, who was passionately speaking about his plans, and Carlo, who was sitting firmly in the main seat of the meeting with a smile on his face and no other expression.

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