Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 59 Five-Year Plan
The celebratory banquet that Carlo prepared for Serrano and others was equally grand, but the specific specifications were not as luxurious.

Although there is a large amount of food, most of it comes from Spain, with only a small amount of Italian food mixed in.

The drinks are from Carlo's private winery, which focuses on self-production and self-sales.

Many nobles also attended the banquet. In order to express his respect for Serrano and other heroes, Carlo specially invited several Spanish dukes and princes, including Duke Jacobo, to attend the banquet.

After a joyful celebration banquet, the next highlight became the conferring ceremony in July.

Because it was the first time that Carlo had conferred titles since his reign, the Spanish government attached great importance to it. Especially since the prime minister and the minister of war were also conferred titles, the government officials did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

Compared with the officials' hasty preparations, Carlo and the two protagonists of the ceremony were in a very relaxed mood at this time.

After learning that Prime Minister Primo had been assassinated, Serrano was shocked at first, but then he felt relieved when he saw that Prime Minister Primo was safe and sound.

Serrano also understood that Primo was very important to Spain at the moment. Only Primo was capable of promoting this reform, and his importance was far greater than his own.

"Has the murderer behind this been found?" asked Duke Serrano.

The murderer behind the scenes is not trying to assassinate Prime Minister Primo, but wants to destroy the future of Spain. As countries around the world become increasingly powerful, if Spain does not keep up with the trend to promote revolution and accelerate industrial and economic development, the gap between it and the great powers will become larger and larger.

"Not yet, but I believe there will be results soon." Primo said helplessly.

Although a large amount of land and nearly 800 million pesetas were extorted from the church, the feeling of being plotted against was not pleasant.

Prime Minister Primo wouldn't mind sending him to see God if he found out who was behind the assassination.

"So what are your next plans? Continue to push for reforms?" Serrano asked curiously.

"Of course." Primo nodded and replied: "Spain is too bad in all aspects, we must hurry up and carry out reforms.

At the same time, a lot of investment is also needed in industry, agriculture, medical care, education, etc., including the construction of railways and roads.

My God, I don’t know how long the government can sustain this financially, it’s such a huge hole.”

If only one industry is built, the burden on Spain is not that great. But in Primo's plan, he wants to build industry, agriculture, education, medical care and transportation at the same time, and the financial pressure required is unimaginable.

"Prime Minister, I think we need to make a detailed plan." Carlo interrupted at this time: "If we lay out so many industries at the same time, it will be a huge burden on our finances, or even impossible to bear.

Although we can also obtain funds through foreign loans, this method not only has high interest rates, but also has some additional conditions.

If possible, I hope we can divide the reform and construction tasks into stages and complete them one by one."

"Your Majesty, can you tell me in detail?" Primo became interested at this time and stared at Carlo with curious eyes.

"It's just my personal idea." Carlo said with a smile: "For example, we can set a five-year deadline and formulate a five-year development plan. During these five years, we can set a small goal for each industry and then use five years to complete it.

Perhaps a single small goal is not enough for Spain to achieve huge results, but if they accumulate over time, they can have a huge impact on Spain.

Perhaps one five-year plan cannot enable Spain to complete its reforms, but two or even three five-year plans will definitely bring about some new changes in Spain.

As long as we devote time and energy to complete the five-year plan, perhaps after two or three five-year plans, Spain will return to the ranks of the great powers. Isn’t this the goal of our reform? "

Whether in the development of other European countries or in Primo's reform plans, there is no concept of multi-year plans.

The reason is very simple. The terms of office of the cabinets in European countries are different, and there are also great differences in the choice of governing strategies.

Prime ministers like Bismarck served for decades, but prime ministers of Britain and Italy served for much shorter periods of time, sometimes less than a year.

Under such circumstances, it is too difficult to formulate a five-year development plan, because the cabinet ministers may have been replaced one after another before the development plan is completed.

With the constant replacement of senior government officials, which government will abide by the development plan formulated at the beginning?

But this situation can be avoided in Spain. Given the popularity of Primo and Serrano, it is still easy to control the majority of seats in the Spanish Parliament.

Not even Carlo could influence them, and they could stay on top as long as they wanted.

In this case, a five-year development plan will have no effect on Primo, because the Prime Minister of Spain in five years will still be Primo, unless something unexpected happens during this period, such as assassination.

This also eliminates another reason that affects the birth of the five-year plan, that is, the current government is worried that the next government will reap the benefits.

Because it is difficult to ensure that one will stay in the position of prime minister for a full five years, European politicians rarely make long-term development plans.

Otherwise, the development plans that you have worked so hard to promote may very likely become a wedding dress for others, and the results will be enjoyed by the next government.

"Great, Your Majesty, this is a perfect proposal." Primo was in high spirits and said to Carlo with a smile, "I still need to discuss the specific five-year plan with the government, but the general idea is indeed suitable for Spain now.

Once the details of the first five-year plan are finalized, I will submit it to you, Your Majesty."

Carlo was relieved that Primo was not obsessed with developing all industries at the same time.

If Primo was too radical and wanted to complete all reforms in a short period of time, Carlo really didn't know how to stop Primo.

The outcome of radical reforms is usually not good, and reforms that are too hasty and without any preparation often do not have very good results.

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(End of this chapter)