Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 513 Issuance of Pensions

Although all the Allied powers, including Russia, were paying close attention to the peace talks with the Ottoman Empire.

But Carlo wasn't paying much attention to the peace talks. After all, Spain already had the land it wanted.

Even if France and Russia were unwilling, they had no choice but to reluctantly acknowledge Spain's occupation of these lands.

After all, they still needed Spain's support in this war, and they couldn't afford to break ties with Spain over these territories.

As for how the remaining small portion of the Ottoman Empire's European territory and most of its Asian territory would be divided among the Allied powers, Carlo did not care.

Carlo was more concerned about the production status of Spain's new tank.

As a weapon of mass destruction that Carlo had prepared for Britain and Germany, Spain has so far equipped itself with a large number of finished aircraft and tanks.

In terms of aircraft, Spain currently has more than 300 aircraft in its air force, and the number is constantly increasing.

According to the Royal Security Intelligence Service, European countries, having learned of the shortcomings of airships on the battlefield, are also developing aircraft-related projects.

However, because their progress was so slow, even if a finished product was produced before the end of the war, its performance would certainly not be comparable to the current Spanish aircraft.

Carlo was quite satisfied with this. Undeniably, European countries, especially Britain and Germany, possess relatively strong capabilities in the research and development of military products.

However, Spain's development in aircraft and tanks has spanned more than a decade or even decades. It would take Britain and Germany more than a few years to surpass Spain's achievements in these fields.

As long as Spain continues to increase its investment in aircraft and tanks, European countries can only struggle to catch up with Spain, but can never truly surpass it.

Spain is equipped with a total of 132 Diablo reconnaissance aircraft and 175 Bull fighter jets, making the Spanish Air Force the undisputed number one air force in the world today.

Of course, apart from a few high-ranking officials in the Spanish Ministry of Defense, even most officials in the Spanish government were unaware of the situation of the Spanish Air Force, let alone those in other European countries.

Compared to its air force, which has just over 300 aircraft, Spain has a much larger number of tanks.

In fact, the cost of building airplanes and tanks is not much different at present; both are quite expensive military products. The only difference is that tank drivers can operate tanks after simple training, while airplane pilots need months or even more than a year of training before they can barely fly an airplane.

The slow pace of pilot training has impacted the number of aircraft Spain possesses. Ultimately, even if the Spanish Air Force has a large fleet, without enough pilots to fly them, these aircraft will simply remain idle in hangars.

On the contrary, tanks, because they are simpler to operate, not only allow for faster training of tank drivers, but also enable them to play a greater role on the battlefield.

Spain's tank forces are independent units, partly for better secrecy. Currently, the tank force is primarily composed of tank battalions, each with three tank companies, and each company has four tank platoons.

As the basic unit of the tank force, each tank platoon is equipped with 4 to 6 tanks, of which about one-third are light reconnaissance tanks and the majority of the remainder are main battle tanks.

Light reconnaissance tanks are smaller in size and generally can only accommodate four crew members. These reconnaissance tanks are faster and more suitable for battlefield reconnaissance missions compared to larger and heavier main battle tanks.

Of course, the reconnaissance tanks are also equipped with decent firepower and can be used as the main tanks when necessary.

After all, it's certain that European countries don't yet possess tanks ready for combat. Other countries may be developing tanks, but their progress is certainly not as advanced as Spain's.

Under normal circumstances, a tank battalion in Spain is equipped with approximately 48 to 72 tanks, which is the mainstream organization of the Spanish tank force.

Spain currently has 12 tank battalions, equipped with a total of 720 tanks, all of which have undergone six months of training.

Both the air force and the tank force have now achieved combat capability and are ready to be deployed to the battlefield at any time.

These air force and tank units, already combat-ready, were the source of Carlo's confidence and strength to join the war.

It is no exaggeration to say that even if the situation in Russia on the Eastern Front collapsed, Spain would still have the ability to help France win the war.

Britain's allegiance to Germany was not a big deal for Spain, since Britain had long been a defeated opponent of Spain, and Spain was confident that it could easily defeat Britain again.

After the invasion of the Ottoman Empire ended, Spain had one urgent task to address: distributing pensions to all soldiers who had died in the war.

Compared to other European countries, Spain has a relatively comprehensive pension system. This system greatly increases public enthusiasm for military service, and Spain has no shortage of manpower, easily mobilizing millions of troops without worrying about public opposition to conscription.

The downside is that whenever war breaks out, the government has to pay a large sum of money in compensation to soldiers who are wounded or killed in the war.

Although Spain's compensation was not high compared to later periods, the casualties of large-scale wars often reached hundreds of thousands, and the accumulated compensation for these hundreds of thousands of people was no small sum.

Spanish soldiers killed in action are entitled to a pension equal to five times the average annual income at the time. Based on the current average annual income of 536.78 pesetas, each family of a fallen soldier would receive a pension of 2683.9 pesetas.

Since Spain entered the war, its soldiers have suffered 16.4 casualties, including 3.7 killed in action. These soldiers should receive a total of 9930.43 pesetas in compensation.

The remaining 12.7 wounded soldiers will receive compensation ranging from 536.78 pesetas to 1610.34 pesetas, depending on the severity of their injuries.

With these two payments combined, the Spanish government will pay a total of over 2 million pesetas in compensation to all wounded and killed soldiers.

Before the war, it would have been easy for the government to come up with 2 million pesetas.

However, after the outbreak of war, the Spanish defense sector's military spending has increased several times or even dozens of times.

In this situation, even the 2 million pesetas in compensation would require the Spanish government to scrape together the funds from various sources. Carlos took the war very seriously. Since the outbreak of the war, the Spanish royal family has provided the Spanish government with interest-free loans totaling 5 million pesetas.

This loan was widely reported by major Spanish newspapers and media outlets, and was hailed as a model of royal support for the national war effort.

Although the royal family will not receive any interest from this loan, the implicit benefits they gain will definitely outweigh the interest earned on the loan.

It was precisely because of this loan that the Spanish government had enough funds to pay pensions to the families of the fallen and wounded soldiers, which made the families of these wounded and fallen soldiers extremely grateful to the royal family.

Although Carlo did not deliberately publicize this, the Spanish royal family's every move has attracted a lot of attention from the public because of his extremely high reputation in Spain.

Furthermore, the fact that the royal family made no attempt to conceal its interest-free loan to the government meant that major newspapers and media outlets quickly learned of it and reported on it promptly.

There are certain restrictions on the publication of news about the royal family. Major newspapers and media outlets in Spain are not allowed to publish newspapers with negative news about the royal family without permission.

However, interest-free loans are not negative news, which is why major newspapers and media outlets quickly reported on the news.

After all, news related to the Spanish royal family generally receives widespread public attention.

As long as the news contains the words "Spanish Royal Family," the newspaper will sell well.

Since these news reports did not harm the royal family, Carlo naturally would not prohibit the dissemination of such news.

The public's increased trust in the Spanish monarchy is clearly good news for Carlos. After all, the Spanish throne is passed down through generations, and the more trust the monarchy gains, the less likely there will be problems with the succession.

After negotiating a 5 million peseta interest-free loan with the government, Carlo focused his main attention on distributing the pensions.

For Carlo, the distribution of the pension was of paramount importance, and he absolutely could not tolerate any corruption or embezzlement.

The good news is that Spain had already distributed pensions during the Anglo-Spanish War, so they had a lot of experience in this area.

Carlos had already established a relatively comprehensive oversight mechanism for pensions in Spain when he last distributed them.

In addition to the government and the House of Commons overseeing the various departments distributing pensions, all soldiers who are eligible for pensions and their families can also report to the government.

This process ensures that all injured or killed soldiers and their families can receive compensation to a greater extent.

If a fallen soldier has no family, the compensation will be donated to a local orphanage or nursing home, and the fallen soldier's name will be permanently engraved on a monument to heroes in Spain.

This process is quite comprehensive and can take great care of all wounded and injured soldiers and their families.

Carlos took the distribution of the pensions very seriously. He not only appointed his eldest son, Prince Juan Fernando, to be in charge of and supervise the distribution of the pensions, but also made a special trip to inspect the distribution of pensions in various places and to offer condolences to the families of some wounded and fallen soldiers.

Given Carlo's serious attitude, Spanish government officials naturally had to put in their utmost effort to meet his expectations.

State governments even started a race to see who could distribute pensions faster and more efficiently, a trend that Carlo tacitly approved of.

Although all states and municipalities belong to Spain, there is certainly competition between them. Government policy preferences, the level of support, and financial assistance are all related to the relationship between the state governments and the cabinet government.

The governors who gain Carlo's support and trust will naturally have larger budgets. Whether it's to complete their own tasks or to gain Carlo's trust and support, it's enough to motivate the governors of Spain's states and mayors of special municipalities to put in their best efforts to accomplish the tasks assigned by Carlo.

Among the various states and special municipalities in Spain, Madrid and Barcelona are the two special municipalities where pensions are distributed the fastest and most smoothly.

Although these two special cities have larger populations, due to their relatively small size, the distribution of pensions is mainly concentrated in the urban areas, which is faster and less likely to result in omissions.

On the contrary, in larger states, although there are fewer soldiers' families who need to receive compensation, it takes longer to locate these families and then distribute the compensation to them because they are scattered throughout the state.

Because the two special municipalities of Madrid and Barcelona distributed pensions very quickly, Carlo specifically praised the two municipalities and personally visited the municipalities of Madrid and Barcelona to inspect the distribution of pensions in the two special municipalities.

Reassuringly, the distribution of compensation payments was quite comprehensive in both Madrid and Barcelona. Carlo also had the Royal Security Intelligence Service investigate the compensation payments for some soldiers, and it was confirmed that all families of wounded and injured soldiers received their compensation.

Carlo did not urge the distribution of pensions in various states too much, but emphasized that the pensions must reach the families of every wounded and injured soldier, and no one should be missed.

According to Spain's pension system, as long as all wounded and killed soldiers receive their pensions within 12 months, there will be no missed or delayed payments.

As long as the state governments can complete the task within 12 months, it will be acceptable to Carlo.

Because Portugal and Spain formed a united kingdom, Portugal's pension system is the same as Spain's.

The families of all Portuguese soldiers who participated in the war also received the same amount of compensation as the Spanish soldiers. These compensations were provided by the regional governments of Portugal and distributed to the four state-level administrative regions of Portugal, which then distributed them to the families of all Portuguese soldiers who were wounded or killed.

Compared to the distribution of pensions in various Spanish states, the distribution of pensions in four Portuguese states is much slower.

Carlos also specifically instructed Prince Juan Fernando to pay close attention to the distribution of pensions in Portugal to ensure that no problems arise in the country.

Although Spain was the core territory under Carlo's rule, and the Spanish were the dominant ethnic group under Carlo's rule, since Portugal had already come under Spanish rule, the Portuguese should naturally be treated equally.

(End of this chapter)