Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 22 Four Elements of Reform

Carlo knew that Spain was quite backward at that time, but he did not expect that Spain's development in all aspects would lag so far behind.

As of the beginning of this year, the estimated population of Spain was 1660 million. Why is it such a round number? Because the Spanish government at that time was unable to conduct a detailed population census. This was just a rough estimate made by the Spanish government based on the birth registration and death of the population in various places.

Worse still, the illiteracy rate in Spain is as high as over 1660%, which means that out of a population of 1160 million, at least million are illiterate.

The poor level of education and the chaotic situation in recent years have resulted in Spain's per capita annual income being the lowest in Western Europe, at only 87 pesetas, or a little over £3.

Although the lower classes in all European countries had a hard time during this era, exploitation by factory owners and oppression by capitalists were common occurrences.

But an annual income of just over £3 is obviously an extremely unhealthy level. The per capita annual income in the UK is over £9, and other European countries also remain above £6 to £7.

The average Spaniard can only earn half or even one-third of what citizens of other countries earn. This is why the people rebelled against Queen Isabella, because the Spaniards really can't survive.

Looking at such data, Carlo couldn't help but feel a headache.

Carlo originally thought that Italy's situation was already quite bad, but he didn't expect it to be nothing compared to Spain.

Except for the illiteracy rate, where Italy and Spain are evenly matched, Italy is able to crush Spain in other aspects.

Carlo now has only one idea, which is to quickly push forward Primo's reforms and improve the bad situation in Spain first.

Now Spain cannot achieve revival, and it is even questionable whether the kingdom can continue to exist. Although Queen Isabel was driven away, she left Carlo with an extremely bad Spain.

Faced with a Spain that is rotten to the core, it is no longer possible to save it by focusing on development.

At the cabinet meeting a few days later, Carlo sat at the top seat, quietly waiting for Primo's proposal for reform.

Primo was well prepared for this reform. The cabinet government nominated by Primo was basically all reformists, and the only two who were not reformists, Serrano and Carlo, also expressed their support for the reform.

Secondly, Primo has been preparing for reform since he became prime minister. He combined Spain's current situation with a lot of successful foreign reform experiences and finally formulated a comprehensive reform plan for Spain.

He handed the plan to Carlo and said to him solemnly and seriously: "Your Majesty, this is the Spanish reform plan that I and dozens of officials wrote after a long period of investigation and research.

The following is the initial reform plan, please take a look. "

The initial reform plan was actually very simple, with only four categories in total, namely agriculture, education, industry and military reforms.

"Prime Minister Primo, please tell me about your reform plan in detail." Although he supported the reform in his heart, this did not prevent Carlo from wanting to hear Primo's complete reform plan.

Primo nodded, stood up and introduced to all the cabinet officials: "Our initial reforms only have four aspects, namely agriculture, industry, education and military reforms.

In terms of agriculture, I plan to promote agricultural tax reduction to increase the income of the agricultural population. At the same time, we will promote the export of food so that the agricultural population has sufficient food to sell. In terms of industry, I think we should restore Spain's industrial construction in a short period of time, invest in new factories, and build our own industrial zones.

Building factories can provide more jobs, which will also help us further increase per capita income.

In terms of education reform, I plan to build more literacy classes to reduce our illiterate population, but this requires huge financial investment, so it is the third option for reform.

Finally, there is the military reform. I hope to expand our army to about 10 men and equip our army with more artillery.

A sufficient number of artillery has proven its effectiveness on the battlefield. Whether it is to defend against foreign enemies or to stabilize the order in Spain, it is necessary to enhance the combat effectiveness of the army. "

After hearing Primo's reform plan, Carlo had no time to express any opinion before the Army Minister Serrano, who was sitting next to him, could not help but speak.

Serrano stood up, looked at Primo in disbelief, and asked in surprise: "Prime Minister Primo, don't you know how many pesetas are left in the Spanish treasury?
Each of your reforms will cost tens of millions of pesetas, and our government simply does not have the money. With all due respect, if we do not prepare enough pesetas before the reforms are implemented, this reform is doomed to fail.”

"Don't we still have a lot of fields?" Primo looked at Serrano who raised the objection with a faint smile on his face.

For a monarchy, the largest landowner in the country is definitely the monarch himself. Queen Isabel herself was a licentious and greedy monarch, so it is not surprising that the Bourbon dynasty owned the most arable land in Spain.

After driving out Queen Isabella, all the farmland originally belonging to the Bourbon dynasty was confiscated by the Spanish Provisional Government. These lands were the basis for Primo to implement reforms.

Although these lands once belonged to the king, they certainly would not pass to Carlo along with the throne.

Carlo naturally understood this, and he had no intention of becoming a local landlord, let alone ruining his reputation for a little land.

On the contrary, if Carlo supports using these lands to exchange for sufficient funds for the government, this can become one of the topics to promote Carlo.

Seeing that Carlo had no intention of taking advantage of the land, Primo finally breathed a sigh of relief and explained to Carlo and Serrano: “The Bourbon family owns a vast amount of land, which is enough to provide sufficient funds for our reforms.

I plan to divide these lands into three parts, one of which will be distributed free of charge to Spanish farmers so that they will have enough arable land to grow food.

The other part will be sold to capitalists and farmers to accumulate enough funds for our reforms.

The remaining part will be nationalized and can be rented out to farmers at low prices for cultivation.”

"I support your idea, Prime Minister Primo." Carlo nodded and had no objection to the proposal to divide the land into three parts:

And I have another suggestion to raise funds for reform. Why don't we try issuing government bonds? "

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(End of this chapter)