Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 492 The Russian Salvation Plan
The current Franco-German front is undoubtedly the most intense battlefield in all of Europe, but Carlo's current concern is not France, but rather Russia, which is on the defensive.

In fact, the Russian government did not suffer high casualties in this world war; the battle with the most casualties was only the Battle of Tannenberg.

In contrast, the German and French sides suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties in major battles such as the Battle of the Marne, the Battle of the Aisne, and the Battle of Alsace. The casualties in any one of these battles were comparable to or even exceeded those in the Battle of Tannenberg.

Based on Russia's population, Russia should still be at full strength. The loss of troops is negligible for a country with a population of over 100 million, and it can be fully replenished in just a few weeks.

Is this really the case?

According to intelligence gathered by the Spanish Royal Security Intelligence Service, while Russia is not currently at risk of collapse, internal conflicts are escalating.

The defeat at the Battle of Tannenberg was a blow to the Russian leadership and made Tsar Nicholas II realize that defeating Germany would not be so easy.

Although the current Tsarist government is still ruled by Tsar Nicholas II, a large portion of the Russian population outside the Tsarist government is not so optimistic about this war.

Russia's decay had lasted for far too long, and even the famous Alexander the Great reforms only made Russia appear slightly more glamorous on the surface.

However, Russia's corrupt nature remained unchanged. Even though Nicholas II, under pressure from public opinion, implemented some reforms to the government system, these did not address the root cause.

Compared to European countries, Russia has had far too many wars in recent decades, and almost every war has been large-scale.

The two Russo-Turkish wars, the war between Russia and Germany and Austria-Hungary, the Russo-Japanese War, and the current super war are all wars in which Russia has participated in recent decades.

Of these wars, apart from the Russo-Turkish War and the war with the Ottoman Empire, which were fought on equal footing, Russia was the loser in all the other wars.

With the Russian army suffering repeated defeats, it would be a miracle if the public were satisfied with its performance. The Tsarist government's prestige has also declined significantly recently, and public discontent with the government and the Tsar has intensified, to the point where the conflict seems irreconcilable.

Carlo was quite aware of the situation in Russia. Regardless of whether the world war was brought forward, Russian rule had actually reached its end.

Even if Russia had a reformist monarch with strong reformist policies at that time, it would most likely be unable to save Russia from its impending doom.

Not to mention that the current Tsar Nicholas II of Russia has little desire for reform. Although on the surface the Tsarist dictatorship has disappeared, everyone knows in private that the current Tsarist government is still a government ruled by the Tsar, and the so-called Russian Prime Minister is just a puppet who can be replaced at will in front of the Tsar.

The good news is that while Russia cannot be saved at present, it is possible to extend its life by a few years.

Carlos specifically ordered the Spanish Royal Security Intelligence Service to secretly protect Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin, who was later hailed as one of the greatest politicians in Russian history and the second greatest Russian, as Russia's only savior at the time.

Under the protection of the Spanish Royal Security Intelligence Service, Peter Arkadyevich Storepin successfully escaped a manhunt by Socialist revolutionaries, thus indirectly changing history.

As time moved into 1913, Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin, who was still alive, continued to serve as Prime Minister of Russia, a point entirely different from history.

The reason why Carlo attached so much importance to this Russian prime minister was quite simple: he was extremely wary of the new Russian government established after Tsarist Russia.

This new Russian government is a rebirth for Russia, and will fully leverage the advantages of Russia's vast territory and population to recreate Russia as a superpower.

Even if things develop as they have historically, this superpower's lifespan is still nearly a century. Carlo certainly doesn't want such a powerful country to exist in Europe, where Spain is located. At its peak, Russia could rival the United States, the world's post-World War II policeman.

Since Carlo wanted to prevent the United States from rising again in the two world wars as it had in history, he also needed to guard against Russia, which, like in history, could establish a superpower capable of overthrowing the world through revolution.

Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin was the perfect choice for Carlo.

On the one hand, Stolypin was quite averse to the revolutionary parties within Russia. With such a figure in charge of the Russian government, internal unrest in Russia could be delayed, and there was even hope that it could be quickly suppressed if it did occur.

On the other hand, Stolypin's land reform could reduce peasant tensions with the Tsarist government. As long as the Tsarist government could maintain peasant support, the threat from the revolutionaries would not be fatal.

In a better-case scenario, Tsarist Russia would continue to exist, lingering on for several more decades amidst turmoil and uncertainty.

In the worst-case scenario, even if the revolutionary parties eventually gain power in Russia, the Tsarist government, supported by Stolypin, could continue to hold sway in Eastern and Northern Europe, with St. Petersburg as its core, thanks to the support of the vast peasantry, thus resulting in a situation where Russia is divided in two.

If the vast Russia could be divided in two, then regardless of whether Russia was a revolutionary regime or a Tsarist regime, it would no longer pose such a great threat to Spain and all other European countries.

This is the situation Carlo wanted to achieve, and the current situation in Russia is indeed moving in that direction, which is good news for Carlo.

In order to help Tsarist Russia prolong its existence for a longer period of time, in addition to secretly protecting Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin, Carlo also specifically ordered the Russian branch of the Royal Security Intelligence Service to assassinate some important members of the Russian Revolution who posed a great threat, in order to ensure the stability of the current situation in Russia.

While this may not be good news for the Russian people, it is the best option for Russia's allies, France and Spain.

If Russia could not hold out, France would face a full-scale attack from the Central Powers. Even if Spain joined the war, it would have to suffer heavy casualties to defeat the combined forces of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Carlos would not underestimate Germany today, a superpower that almost won a two-front war.

The two World Wars in history have fully demonstrated the fighting power of the Germans. It is no exaggeration to say that if Germany had chosen the right allies, it would not have lost both wars.

It is also worth mentioning that Italy was an ally of Germany before the outbreak of both World Wars.

In the settlement of both World Wars, Italy became an enemy of Germany and sided with the victors in both.

This also shows that Italy has a knack for choosing sides. However, it also reveals the unreliability of the Italian government, which is why, despite the close relationship between the Spanish and Italian royal families, Carlos never relied on Italy.

Having confirmed that both France and Russia could hold out for a considerable time, Carlo was finally at ease and focused on the various research and development projects he had previously instructed him to undertake. Besides the tank and aircraft research mentioned earlier, the Royal Academy of Sciences of Spain was also involved in a wide range of research projects.

Carlo was very interested in all of these studies, but after the outbreak of the World War, the only research he was currently focused on was the penicillin research conducted jointly by the Royal Academy of Sciences and the Royal Medical Group established by the Royal Family.

To be precise, this research project was not named penicillin; it was only given a simple code name.

Carlo couldn't openly discuss anything related to penicillin, so he only asked the Royal Medical Group and the Royal Academy of Sciences to jointly develop and explore a drug that could have antibacterial and immune-boosting effects and prevent wound infection.

Although the Royal Medical Group and the Royal Academy of Sciences were somewhat puzzled by this, since it was a task personally assigned by Carlo, they could only do their utmost to complete it.

To further energize scientists and pharmaceutical companies, Carlo announced that the project team would receive a 1000 million peseta bonus if they could develop a drug related to anti-inflammatory and anti-infective purposes. Those who made significant contributions would receive an additional bonus of at least 500 million pesetas and a title.

These awards alone demonstrate Carlo's emphasis on this drug. Both pharmaceutical companies and numerous biological and medical scientists are well aware of how valuable anti-inflammatory and anti-infective drugs are.

As world wars broke out, casualties in the participating countries continued to accumulate.

The Western Front, being the most intense battlefield, saw particularly devastating casualties. According to reports from the Western Front, Germany and France had over 400 million troops facing off at the border, with daily casualties starting in the five figures, and the death toll rising steadily with the increasing casualties.

Despite the increasing number of casualties, most of the soldiers who died were due to severe wound infections and inflammation; relatively few were killed directly by bullets or artillery shells.

Ultimately, it was because the medical technology of that era was too backward. Bullets caused huge wounds, and due to the lack of hygiene on the battlefield, the chance of infection was also very high.

In such circumstances, if a soldier is seriously wounded on the battlefield, death is the only possible outcome.

Only a very few lucky soldiers survived, but their massive wounds caused intractable long-term consequences.

Faced with such a serious problem, European countries were at a loss. While the whole world needs anti-inflammatory and anti-infective drugs, how could such drugs be developed so easily?

Many private companies and medical and pharmaceutical scientists have been working in this field for several years or even more than a decade.

Whether it's due to insufficient research funding or bad luck, no country has been able to develop anti-inflammatory and anti-infective drugs so far, and soldiers often have no choice but to pray for God's blessing when faced with fatal injuries.

Because they understood the immense importance of anti-inflammatory and anti-infective drugs to humans, and because the reward offered by Carlo was indeed quite attractive.

Putting everything else aside, if the 1000 million pesetas bonus is distributed evenly, even an ordinary R&D staff member would receive at least tens of thousands of pesetas in bonus.

If you have even a little bit of luck in the research and development and are able to be the first to discover anti-inflammatory and anti-infective drugs, the reward will be very generous, enough to ensure that your family will have no worries about food and drink for the rest of your life.

More importantly, in addition to the material rewards, Carlo also specifically promised a title.

Although not explicitly stated, given the importance of anti-inflammatory and anti-infective drugs to humans, as long as one can obtain a title, it would at least be a hereditary title of baron or higher.

Although a baron is not much in the context of Spain's vast aristocratic system, there is still a difference between hereditary and non-hereditary nobles.

After Carlos became King of Spain, he made certain modifications to the Spanish aristocratic system.

The current Spanish aristocratic system is mainly composed of Grand Dukes, Dukes, Marquises, Counts, and Barons, which are common hereditary nobles within the aristocratic system.

The title of Prince, which is above the Grand Duke, is only granted to the heir to the Spanish throne, and there is only one Prince in all of Spain.

Below the baron, there exists a non-hereditary noble title of lord.

Although counts and barons in the Spanish aristocratic system can be considered honorary titles, they are at least hereditary and can be inherited by one's descendants.

The title of "Lord" is the true honorary title in Spain. Although it can be considered a noble title, it cannot be inherited by one's children and is only a kind of honorary award given to the recipient.

In addition, due to the large number of nobles in Spain, not to mention lords, even barons and counts at the higher ranks had little presence.

The truly influential nobles in Spain started with the marquises.

Only those at the level of duke or grand duke could be considered top-tier nobles in Spain, and thus possess significant influence and prestige.

For the old-fashioned nobility, the titles of count, baron, and lord that Carlo frequently bestowed upon them held no appeal.

This new type of noble did not receive their own land; the fiefdoms granted by the king still required them to pay taxes to the government. Apart from having the title of noble, they were not like members of the noble system at all.

However, for ordinary people who did not have a title, they still looked forward to receiving a title as a reward, so as to join the ranks of the Spanish upper class.

In the decades since Carlos became King of Spain, he has granted out numerous counts and barons, and even several dukes.

Many of these people were originally ordinary citizens, and their inspirational stories were widely publicized by the Spanish media, thereby attracting more Spanish people to serve the country and strive for that sliver of hope of obtaining a title.

For many scientists at the Royal Medical Group and the Royal Society, they were naturally among the latter.

If they have a chance to be rewarded with a title in their area of ​​expertise, they are naturally willing to take a gamble and pursue even the slightest hope.

(End of this chapter)