Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 90 Big Harvest (Please subscribe!)

The entire peace talks lasted for several days, and finally, under the witness of the British, the Spanish government and the Moroccan government jointly signed a new peace agreement, the Treaty of Ceuta.

In addition to this peace agreement, the two governments also agreed not to provoke disputes between the two sides for any reason in the next 10 years, and all conflicts should be resolved by the neutral country and witness country Britain.

Naturally, the Spanish government has no objection to this request.

First of all, the British government is not a fool. If Spain uses Morocco to blackmail them every once in a while, it is impossible for the British to give in every time.

Secondly, the Spanish government has already obtained almost everything it wanted in this peace agreement. The British would never agree to Spain obtaining the land near Tetouan and Tangier in the north, and this situation will basically not change in the next ten years.

Spain's next expansion target should be other parts of Africa, such as Guinea and Congo, rather than Morocco, which the British have already set their sights on.

On October 1870, 10, Prime Minister Primo found Carlo with a smile on his face and reported on the progress of the peace talks.

"Your Majesty, our goal has been achieved." Prime Minister Primo had a very relaxed smile on his face and seemed very satisfied with the results of the peace talks.

"What's the situation? Did the British finally give in?" Carlo asked with interest.

It is said that the Spanish government and Morocco are negotiating for peace, but in fact it was the British government that made the real decision.

Without the intervention of the British government, the war would definitely end with the complete defeat and unconditional surrender of the Moroccan government.

"The British are willing to make concessions on land in exchange for our concessions on compensation." Prime Minister Primo said with a smile: "It's a pity that the demilitarized zone we proposed was not passed, otherwise we could have influenced northern Morocco through economic means."

Carlo nodded, in a very good mood: "Tell me, what did the Moroccans pay in this war?"

“The British agreed to our territorial claims west of the line from Agadir to Tata, and to our colonial privileges in Western Sahara.

We will establish the South Morocco Colony in southern Morocco and bring all of this land under our colonial rule." Prime Minister Primo replied.

Carlo nodded, quite satisfied with the result. More importantly, the colonial governor of Spain was also appointed by the king, and adding a new colony was equivalent to strengthening the king's power.

"Does the government have any suggestions for the governor of the new colony?" Carlo suddenly asked.

Prime Minister Primo was stunned, not quite sure what his king meant.

"I have only been in Spain for a short time and have not had long-term contact with the Spanish nobles. Prime Minister Primo, as a native of Spain, do you have any good candidates for governor to recommend to me?" Carlo changed his words and said to Prime Minister Primo with a smile.

Carlo had no interest in the new colonial governor for the time being, for no other reason than that he did not have anyone he trusted.

The colonial governor had considerable power. In addition to being responsible to the king, he also had the military command and administrative supervision of the colony.

The new colony must be stationed with troops. Controlling the selection of the colonial governor is equivalent to controlling the colonial army. It is precisely because Carlo did not have a good candidate at the time that Carlo decided to exchange the position of the colonial governor with Prime Minister Primo for benefits.

At least Carlo still trusts Prime Minister Primo. What Prime Minister Primo needs is immediate power, while Carlo pursues future power. There is not much conflict between the two sides.

Prime Minister Primo was of course well aware that the colonial governor was appointed directly by the king. The fact that Carlo could ask him so directly either meant that he trusted him to the utmost or that he wanted to reach a certain exchange of interests with him.

For Prime Minister Primo, he believed more in the second point, that is, Carlo wanted to use the position of colonial governor in exchange for some other benefits.

But what kind of benefits would Carlo want in return? Primo was a little skeptical.

"Let's continue to talk about our achievements in this operation. How much compensation can we get?" Carlo asked with a smile.

Hearing that Carlo had changed the subject, Prime Minister Primo quickly replied: “A total of 7500 million pesetas in compensation, Your Majesty.

Our diplomatic representatives have worn out their lips, but the British only agreed to 7500 million pesetas, not even a little more."

"That's not bad, Mr. Prime Minister." Carlo was quite satisfied with his share of the compensation. 7500 million pesetas is worth about 288 million pounds, which is a boost to Spain's current reform and development.

If low-interest loans from Italy are added, Spain will have no shortage of funds for its development in the next few years.

What's more, these 7500 million pesetas were obtained for free. Spain spent less than one million pesetas in the war against Morocco.

"With this funding, can we put our industrial construction on the agenda?" Carlo asked, remembering the new industrial zone that had been temporarily suspended due to lack of funds.

"Of course, Your Majesty." A smile appeared on Prime Minister Primo's face again. He had high hopes for the success of Spain's reforms and the smooth development of its industry.

"That's great news." Carlo smiled and nodded. He also had high expectations for Spain's strength. "But we must not lag behind in education either. I hope that while we successfully complete our five-year industrial development plan, we can also reduce the domestic illiteracy rate to below 55%."

从文盲率70%以上降低到55%以下虽然看起来只少了15%，但对于总人口高达1600多万的西班牙来说，就至少要让250万以上的文盲拥有小学以上的文化水平。

Although a large-scale literacy campaign has begun, the task of reducing the illiterate population by more than 200 million in less than five years is still arduous.

After all, most of the Spanish government's energy is focused on reform and industrial development. Although education is also given attention, the overall funding is not much.

"I will try my best, Your Majesty." Prime Minister Primo nodded. He certainly knew the importance of education to national development, but the problem was that education in Spain was not so easy to carry out.

The literacy campaign must be carried out under the condition of increasing national income, so that more Spaniards will be willing to receive education. If ordinary Spaniards can't even get enough food, who will be in the mood to receive education?
This also means that if we want to significantly reduce the illiteracy rate, we must effectively increase the average annual income per capita, which cannot be solved by simply investing money in education.

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(End of this chapter)