Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 71 Preparations for the Division of Africa

Since factories like steel mills are basically in a state of guaranteed profit, what else is there to say? Of course, we should vigorously build steel mills.

The continuous expansion of the steel mills will also help improve Spain's overall industrial level, which is beneficial to both the royal family and the government.

It can also provide more jobs for Spaniards and accelerate Spain's economic development, which is a win-win-win situation.

Without any hesitation, Carlo immediately instructed Butler Loren: "Next, focus on the expansion of the bank and the steel plant. Other industries can be postponed for a while."

There is no other way. If Spain wants to catch up with the Second Industrial Revolution, it must attract a large number of relevant talents from other countries.

If you want to attract enough talents from other countries, money is necessary first.

Money can move people's hearts. No matter how great the achievements of those researchers are, they are ordinary people and have certain material needs.

Even if they don't have much material needs, they still have families and their families will have related needs.

Therefore, the easiest way to win over a talented person is to give him and his family enough money and provide them with the material and life of an upper-class person in a country.

Letting a scientist who was originally poor and even on the verge of losing his family suddenly enjoy the life of a top official in the country, with endless money and endless material enjoyment, will definitely tempt this scientist.

Although throwing money around seems to be a rather crude way, at a time when most European civilians are living in poverty or even hell, throwing money around is indeed the most effective way.

Of course, no matter which era it is, the lives of the lower-class people are destined not to be very good.

It’s nothing more than that more advanced technology has raised the bottom line to a certain extent, but there will always be a bottom level of society in any country.

As long as there are poor people, there will be people who are willing to give in for money. What Carlo needs to do now is to use money to attract these people to join him, and then use these talents as a foundation to cultivate more talents for Spain.

"How much money can be embezzled from the bank at most?" Carlo thought carefully for a while and asked.

"The construction of our branch will require at least 500 million pesetas, and we must also leave sufficient cash in the existing bank. We should be able to embezzle around 2500 million pesetas of funds at present, and there should be no problem using them within a year." Butler Loren thought for a while and gave a relatively pertinent answer.

The current Royal Bank has a big problem, which is that most of the deposits come from the nobility.

But this is also good news, because these nobles made large deposits out of Carlo's face, and it is unlikely that they will unite to run the bank.

This also allows the Royal Bank to have sufficient funds to embezzle, and with the backing of other royal companies, it can calmly deal with small-scale bank runs.

“These 2500 million pesetas will all be invested in steel, chemical industry, machinery, steam turbines and military industry, which is also our main goal in the near future.

We can also invest in these existing factories in Spain. After all, we cannot promote the industrial development of Spain by ourselves. "Carlo ordered. These industries are in short supply in Spain. Considering the needs of Spain's future development, these industries will be profitable for a period of time in the future.

The Royal Bank currently has some capital, so it naturally would not miss the opportunity to invest in these industries.

After all, Spain is still in a state of disrepair in these areas. Once the investment is successful, the future beneficiary may be a Spanish industrial giant.

In addition to wanting to earn income and develop Spain's industry, Carlo wanted to invest in these industries also to win over the working class, which was already a rising class force.

If capitalists can incite workers to march to threaten the government, why can't the royal family?
When Carlo controls tens or even hundreds of thousands of workers through a large number of industries, he only needs to compare the treatment of workers by the royal industries with the treatment of workers by other capitalists. These workers will naturally understand who to follow to live a better life.

With the power of the workers in his hands, Carlo naturally does not have to worry about the threat of the next government. Whoever becomes the next Spanish Prime Minister after Primo must take into account Carlo's influence in the government and the people.

This is also the benefit that the afterglow of the monarchy of this era brought to Carlo. When Carlo first came to Spain, his influence was the lowest and he was most likely to be sidelined.

Once Carlo has overcome this low period and gained stable royal power, no one should underestimate the influence of the royal power.

After giving instructions about domestic industrial construction, Carlo thought for a moment and continued, "Prepare an additional 200 million pesetas in terms of funds. I may need it later."

Hearing Carlo's instructions, Butler Loren nodded quickly without asking any reason.

As a qualified and loyal servant, it is best to follow your master's instructions and not ask too many questions.

If it is something that I should know, the master will definitely tell me. If it is not something that I should know, how can I have a good impression if I ask rashly?
Butler Loren understood this very well, so he refused to ask questions that he shouldn't ask.

Carlo was also quite satisfied with Butler Loren's attitude. The purpose of this fund was no big secret. Carlo smiled and said: "It is still too difficult for Spain to achieve revival by relying on its own land.

At present, Africa has not been completely divided up by the great powers, and we can still find land that belongs to us outside the colonial outposts of the great powers.

The purpose of this fund is to hire foreign explorers to find more land for Spain. Only with enough land can Spain achieve revival by its own strength, rather than by exploiting the domestic people.

While preparing the funds, you can also help me find explorers at home and abroad who can be contacted. At least in the early stages of the operation, I hope that the actions of our expedition team can be kept secret for the time being. "

The powers generally advocated that whoever occupied the colonies first would own them. After all, the relationship between the powers was complicated and confusing, and in some cases it was not possible to directly rely on force to fight for colonies.

As long as Spain can establish strongholds in some important colonies in advance and hoist the Spanish flag, Spain will have the moral upper hand even if there are colonial conflicts in the future.

Moreover, it was only 1870, and Africa had not yet been completely divided up by the great powers. Even countries like Portugal and Belgium could get a piece of the pie in the division of Africa, so why couldn't Spain, which was even more powerful, do so?
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(End of this chapter)