Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 53 Wanting to impose a crime
The assassination of Prime Minister Primo also alerted Carlo that he must have an intelligence organization loyal to him to gather information for him.

Whether it is to monitor Spain, infiltrate the Republicans and the opposition, or find out the trends and news of foreign countries, it is very necessary.

In order to ensure the loyalty of the intelligence department, Carlo decided to start training intelligence personnel from an early age.

In an era when life expectancy was not long, there were still a large number of orphans, and Carlo's target was these orphans in Spain.

Orphans generally have a miserable childhood, and Carlo only needs to provide them with an ordinary person's living standard to make them grateful.

When these orphans grow up to be qualified intelligence agents, their loyalty to Carlo will be higher than that of ordinary people.

However, the disadvantage is that it takes a long time to cultivate, and the time cost is at least more than ten years, and even more than ten or twenty years.

Fortunately, Carlo was not very old at this time, and he had plenty of time to wait for these orphans to grow up to be excellent intelligence agents.

However, considering that some intelligence personnel are needed at present, while waiting for these orphans to grow up, we can also give priority to training a group of more ordinary intelligence personnel to use as a makeshift.

On Prime Minister Primo's side, a large-scale screening for assassinations has begun.

However, it is very difficult to find clues in the huge city of Madrid, at least it cannot be done in a short period of time.

But are clues really that important?
The assassination was actually an opportunity that gave Carlo and Primo ample reason to liquidate the government's opponents.

Assassinating the Prime Minister was definitely a very serious crime. No matter who was accused of this crime, it would be easy to launch a massive purge against them.

Now that the Carlists have been defeated, who else can resist the Spanish government which is tending towards stability?

The day after the assassination, Primo asked to see Carlo and proposed a plan to use this assassination as an opportunity to liquidate the church in one fell swoop.

It doesn't matter who the mastermind behind the incident is. What's important now is to take this opportunity to liquidate the church and take over the large tracts of land owned by the church.

You should know that many of the church’s lands are tax-free. The church will collect taxes on these lands, and the collected taxes will go into the church’s own pocket.

If these lands could be taken over, not only would the government be able to increase agricultural tax revenue, but it would also be able to rent the land to civilians at low prices, thereby increasing the per capita arable land area.

The reason for the low income of Spanish farmers is not only the high agricultural taxes in the past and the heavy tax burden including the tithe, but also the continuous reduction in the per capita arable land area.

Although Spain's land area is not inferior to that of the great powers, a considerable portion of it is in the hands of the nobility and the church.

Spain has a population of only 1600 million. Logically speaking, its per capita arable land area should be ahead of other powerful countries with less land and more people.

But in fact, Spain's per capita arable land area is only at a medium level compared to European powers. Farmers do not have enough arable land for planting, so naturally there will not be too high agricultural income.

Carlo naturally would not have any objection. Solving the problem of the church opposing reform would be a good thing for both the Spanish government and Carlo.

The next day, the Spanish government publicly reported the assassination of Prime Minister Primo and announced that martial law had been restored in Madrid, with no one allowed to enter or leave until the assassination was fully investigated. Soon, the streets and alleys of Madrid were filled with police. The police's initial actions were to collect clues about the assassination, but within a few days, they turned into arresting church forces.

Although the arrests were not limited to churches, the largest number of people were arrested from churches.

This also attracted the attention of the Spanish Church, and negotiations were immediately initiated with the Spanish government.

For Spanish Archbishop Pedro, the government's behavior is too disrespectful to the church.

Although the government also produced some evidence, it was obviously not enough to send some members of the church to jail.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the government was taking this opportunity to liquidate the church, which also caused dissatisfaction and anger among many bishops within the Spanish Church.

"Archbishop Pedro, we can't just sit there and wait for death. If we continue to wait, perhaps we will be the ones to be arrested tomorrow," said a bishop of the church.

"Oh my God, is Primo crazy? He is arresting church members so crazily. Isn't he afraid of our revenge?" Archbishop Pedro was also dumbfounded at this time.

He originally thought that relying on the church's high reputation and status in Spain, he could ensure that it would remain standing during Spain's reforms.

But unexpectedly, just an assassination incident led Primo to turn his knife against the church, and many members of the church were arrested without any preparation.

"Bishop, are we just going to let the government arrest us? This assassination has nothing to do with us. Why would the government arrest us without any evidence?"

The bishops in the church were also furious. It was no exaggeration to say that everyone present was at risk of being arrested.

Before, they were bishops of distinguished status, but now they have become wanted targets by the government. Isn’t this trampling on the authority of the church?

Archbishop Pedro looked calm, but he was not at peace at the moment. To be honest, Archbishop Pedro had no confidence in relying solely on the power of the church to go against the government.

The fate of the Carlists is still fresh in our memory. The current church is clearly unable to compete with the government. After all, this is not the previous era when everyone fanatically believed in the church and God.

The tithe alone made the peasants very dissatisfied with the church. Even if the church instigated rebellion at this time, it would probably only attract those fanatical believers in God.

"Don't act rashly for now. I will go to see His Majesty and explain the situation." After thinking carefully for a moment, Archbishop Pedro decided not to take the risk.

It would be fine if the rebellion against the government could succeed, but if it fails, the fate of these bishops might not be good.

The worst that could happen is that he would lose some of his own interests. As long as he could keep his position as archbishop, he could still obtain donations from those fanatical believers through various means.

"You should also check whether your people have any connection with this assassination. If so, resolve it as soon as possible and do not drag down the church." After looking at the bishops with different expressions, Archbishop Pedro gave his final order.

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(End of this chapter)