Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 523 Influenza Response Measures
"Loren, how's our mask production going?" Inside the Royal Palace of Madrid, Carlo looked at the young man in front of him with a smile, his eyes full of concern and trust.

This young man, who shared the same name as Carlo's palace steward, was actually the son of Steward Laurent. Steward Laurent was older than Carlo and was one of Carlo's trusted confidants whom he had brought from Italy to Spain.

Although he was recommended to Carlo by his father, Vittorio Emanuele II, the elder Laurent remained quite dutiful after becoming Carlo's palace steward.

He not only worked diligently and managed all of Carlo's businesses in an orderly manner, but also never harbored any improper thoughts.

In fact, given the Spanish royal family's current annual income, it would be impossible for Butler Loren, as the actual manager of these businesses, to secretly embezzle millions or even tens of millions of pesetas every year without anyone noticing.

But Butler Laurent did not do so. Apart from the property and wealth bestowed upon him by Carlo, Butler Laurent cared for nothing else.

It was precisely because of this that Carlo trusted Butler Laurent so much. The bad news, however, was that Butler Laurent didn't have his first son until he was quite old, which may have been related to his early involvement in the royal business, leaving him little time for his personal life.

After Laurent was born, Carlo not only let him study and grow up alongside Prince Juan Fernando, but also allowed the growing Laurent to take over the management of some of the royal family's assets.

This is a fairly common phenomenon in the European aristocratic system, where the nobles and court stewards are actually passed down together.

Old Laurent was Carlo's court steward, and young Laurent was Carlo's son's court steward. It's highly likely that young Laurent's son will also become Carlo's grandson's steward in the future.

This kind of enduring bond is the most loyal and reliable. The royal family and the steward's family are so closely intertwined that they share both prosperity and adversity, so there's no need to worry about the steward betraying the royal family.

Furthermore, the power of the stewards almost entirely derives from the king. Even in the rare cases where a palace steward becomes disloyal to the king for certain reasons, they pose no threat to the king or the royal family.

After deciding to have his son, Prince Juan Fernando, succeed him, Carlos also gradually trained the palace stewards he was preparing for his son.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, young Laurent will become his son's right-hand man. For such an important role as palace steward, Carlo hopes young Laurent will possess considerable ability to manage the palace's vast assets effectively.

"Your Majesty, as you instructed, the several mask factories we secretly invested in are gradually producing masks, and the annual output of masks is expected to exceed 1000 million this year."

"In addition, the disinfectant factory is under construction and will be operational this year," Young Lauren replied very respectfully.

Since it was almost certain that Laurent Jr. would be the next royal steward of the Spanish royal family, Carlos attached great importance to Laurent Jr.'s upbringing.

She not only personally inquired about young Lauren's studies, but also chose a suitable marriage for him.

Although he was merely a court steward for the Spanish royal family, the Roat family, led by Laurent Sr., still held a very high position in Spain.

Even though Old Laurent was only a baron, in the entire Spanish aristocratic system, no duke or grand duke could ignore Old Laurent's opinion.

Just as no one would question the friendship between Carlo and old Laurent. Although they were master and servant, after more than forty years together, Carlo and old Laurent had developed a deep friendship, and Carlo's trust in his steward, old Laurent, was unparalleled.

Offending the old steward, Lorenzo, was tantamount to offending Carlo, which would be a fatal blow to most of the Spanish nobility.

Hearing Laurent's answer, Carlo nodded in satisfaction, but was still somewhat uneasy. He instructed, "The production of masks and disinfectants needs to be accelerated, not only for this war, but also for the large-scale infectious diseases that may occur after the war."

This matter must be taken seriously. I have a premonition that a disaster no less devastating than the Black Death is about to strike. We must prepare for all Spaniards in advance to prevent the disease from causing immense harm to the people.

If it were just a large-scale infectious disease, it wouldn't sound so bad. But if you mention the Black Death, any European would immediately feel a chill.

The Black Death, a disease that Europeans dreaded, caused immense damage to the entire continent.

The Black Death occurred in late medieval Europe and killed approximately 2500 million people. This number seems slightly higher than that of a world war, but the difference in time must be considered.

The Black Death occurred in the mid-14th century, when the total population of Europe was only about 7000 million. The Black Death wiped out a third of Europe's population, demonstrating its devastating impact.

To put it simply, using the current European population as a benchmark, the Black Death could have killed at least 2 million Europeans.

Sure enough, when he heard Carlo say that the harm caused by this large-scale infectious disease might be no less than that of the Black Death, young Laurent's expression immediately changed.

Any European who has studied history is familiar with the Black Death. If this potentially large-scale infectious disease were to cause damage equivalent to the Black Death, wouldn't that mean hundreds of millions of people in Europe would die as a result?
Even focusing solely on Spain, given its current population of over 5000 million, this massive infectious disease will kill at least tens of millions of Spaniards.

Just thinking about it for a moment was enough to conjure up a hellish scene. Young Laurent felt only seriousness and solemnity. He nodded decisively and said earnestly, "I understand, Your Majesty."

I will urge mask and disinfectant factories to increase production and stockpile a large quantity of masks and disinfectants in advance. In addition, I will establish mask and disinfectant warehouses across the country so that if a large-scale infectious disease outbreak does occur, we can distribute masks and disinfectants nationwide as quickly as possible.

Hearing Laurent's almost reassuring answer, Carlo nodded in satisfaction, but added, "So far, it's all just speculation about this potential large-scale infectious disease outbreak."

Before anything is concluded, I hope such speculation will remain unknown to others, to avoid causing too serious an impact on the domestic situation.

Laurent nodded again; he was, of course, aware of the importance of secrecy.

If a large-scale plague, no less severe than the Black Death, were to occur, simply spreading the news would be enough to cause panic throughout Spain and even the whole of Europe.

Given that a world war is currently raging in Europe, the panic affecting the whole of Europe will cause unpredictable and enormous changes to this world war.

At least for now, this large-scale epidemic has not occurred, and the Spanish government is taking preventative measures. There's not much else to do but secretly pray that the so-called epidemic won't happen, or at least won't have too serious an impact on Spain.

Carlo's serious approach to potential infectious diseases was in preparation for the Spanish flu pandemic that might occur a few years later.

Although this large-scale infectious disease is known as the Spanish flu, its destructive power cannot be simply summarized as that of a simple flu.

In terms of sheer number of deaths, the Spanish flu, which killed at least 5000 million people, was far more devastating than the Black Death.

Of course, the actual figures cannot be calculated this way, since the populations during the Black Death and the Spanish flu were completely different.

However, it is undeniable that, in terms of sheer lethality, the Spanish flu was in no way inferior to the Black Death in the eyes of the world today.

In this Spanish flu pandemic, Carlo's first priority was to prevent the impact of the flu on Spain and to minimize the casualties caused by the flu.

Secondly, we must guard against Spain becoming a scapegoat as it has in history. Although the pandemic is called the Spanish flu, it did not originate in Spain, and the first patient to show symptoms, Patient Zero, did not appear in Spain.

There are two reasons why it is commonly referred to as the Spanish flu. First, when the Spanish flu broke out, European countries were engaged in a world war, and the control over domestic public opinion was quite strict.

As a neutral country, Spain naturally had less strict control over public opinion. This resulted in no related flu reports in other European countries, but Spain, as a neutral country, reported related infection and death figures daily, leading to the association of the flu pandemic with Spain.

Secondly, there was the impact of the influenza pandemic on Spain. More than a third of Spain's population was infected, including even King Alfonso XIII, which further solidified the association between Spain and influenza. Although Spain historically tried to distance itself from the influenza pandemic, and even attempted to refer to it as the French flu, this did not change the fact that it was linked to the virus.

However, due to the two reasons mentioned above, the connection between Spain and the flu could not be eliminated, and the flu was eventually officially named the Spanish flu.

Now that Carlos is King of Spain, he naturally doesn't want this flu to be named the Spanish flu. After all, the impact of this flu is extremely severe, which would inevitably diminish Spain's international influence and prestige.

Carlo wasn't particularly concerned about what the flu was ultimately called. According to subsequent investigations into the Spanish flu, the earliest recorded wave of influenza occurred on March 4, 1918, at a military camp in Kansas, USA.

Historically, Spain did not experience the flu until May, which was far behind the United States and France.

Whether you call it the American flu or the French flu, for Carlo, the flu absolutely cannot be associated with Spain.

Carlo's decision to produce large quantities of masks and disinfectant in advance was naturally aimed at reducing the damage caused by the flu to Spain.

Having finally grown Spain's population to over 5000 million, Carlos certainly doesn't want it to drop back below 4000 million.

For Carlo, anything that could reduce the casualties caused by the flu in Spain, even at a huge financial cost, was worth trying.

These masks and disinfectant supplies prepared for the flu pandemic will be distributed free of charge to all Spaniards during the flu season.

Carlo not only did not intend to profit from this, but even planned to distribute all products produced by the royal mask and disinfectant factory to the public free of charge during the flu pandemic.

This was certainly partly to boost the royal family's prestige, but it was also a genuine desire to reduce Spanish casualties.

If Spain can effectively reduce its casualties during the influenza pandemic, the situation in Europe after the end of World War II will become much clearer for Spain.

Many countries currently engaged in world wars are unlikely to be prepared for this yet-to-be-happened pandemic of influenza. This also means that the casualties caused by the pandemic will be extremely severe.

Even with Europe's relatively advanced medical standards, it was impossible to effectively reduce the lethality of the influenza pandemic. Meanwhile, in regions outside Europe with less developed medical resources, the only recourse against such a deadly strain was for the body to tough it out.

Carlos couldn't possibly cater to people all over the world; he was already doing quite well to take care of the people of Spain.

As for the people in other regions, Carlo could only pray for them silently in his heart, and then focus all his attention and energy back on Spain.

There is absolutely no need to worry about whether Spain's rapid provision of large quantities of masks and disinfectant after the flu outbreak will arouse suspicion in other European countries.

Because in the current European battlefield, masks and disinfectants are actually strategic necessities.

There's no need to elaborate on face masks. One reason is that Germany was the first to launch a chemical warfare campaign, which led to face masks becoming an essential item for frontline troops.

On the other hand, there was the possibility of an outbreak of plague due to the large number of casualties on the front lines. Especially when the weather was hot, if the fighting on the front lines was intense, there was a high possibility that a large number of corpses could not be disposed of in time.

At this time, there is a possibility of an epidemic, which is why masks are essential for frontline troops.

As for the disinfectant, it was solely for dealing with the appalling conditions in the front-line trenches. The trenches were infested with soldiers, followed by rats that burrowed everywhere.

Because of the open environment, the soldiers had no way to prevent rats from scurrying around in the trenches. Especially at night, when these hungry rats crawled out of their holes in search of food, even sleeping soldiers could be targeted by them.

European media outlets have also compiled statistics on this point.

Since the outbreak of the war, thousands of soldiers have been killed or injured by rats. This is a significant number, demonstrating just how dire the conditions are on the front lines.

Disinfectant is not used to disinfect rats in their environment, but rather to be applied to wounds caused by rat bites to prevent them from festering.

Disinfectant also has another name: high-concentration spirits. This name explains why it's an essential item on the front lines. Besides disinfection, high-concentration spirits can also be used for emergency cold protection or distributed to soldiers as a snack.

Europeans generally enjoy drinking wine, but in the context of war, no country could transport large quantities of wine to the front lines.

What could be transported to the front lines in large quantities was usually strong liquor in wooden barrels. This liquor was actually a type of disinfectant, although its disinfecting effect might not be as good as high-concentration alcohol, but it could still play a certain role.

Because masks and alcohol-based hand sanitizers are essential items on the front lines, Spain did not need to worry about arousing suspicion from other European countries even if it produced large quantities of these items during the flu pandemic.

After all, Spain's role on the battlefield is essentially that of a factory for the Allied powers. Every year, a large amount of various supplies are continuously exported from Spain to other Allied countries, so it is only natural that Spain has a certain number of masks and alcohol disinfectant within its borders.

Let's return to the Spanish flu, which Carlo took seriously. Historically, the Spanish flu outbreak didn't occur until the spring of 1918.

It was only 1915, and the war couldn't possibly have lasted another three years. This also meant that if the influenza pandemic had broken out in 1918, the war would have ended long ago, and its impact on European countries wouldn't have been so severe.

Even so, Carlo still dared not gamble.

After all, if world wars can be brought forward, why can't the flu pandemic be brought forward? If the flu breaks out a few years earlier, it actually means that Spain doesn't have much time left.

Early preparation is essential; at the very least, Carlo doesn't want Spain to be unprepared and unprepared when the flu arrives.

More importantly, if the Spanish government responds promptly to the flu and the Spanish royal family performs well during the flu outbreak, this could very well become a good publicity opportunity.

This will not only increase the Spanish people's trust in the government and their love for the monarchy, but also enhance Spain's international reputation.

The effect will be maximized, especially after the Spanish royal family makes large-scale and free donations to the public.

No one wants their government to be uncaring, and no one wants their king to be unloving.

If Spain performs well during the flu pandemic, it may even increase its attractiveness to immigrants, thereby attracting more people to Spain.

This also means that Spain will still experience a golden period of development for the next ten or twenty years after the end of the World War.

When World War II breaks out, Spain will have more cards to play and a greater chance of rising to prominence and becoming a world policeman like the United States after World War II.

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(End of this chapter)