Chapter 100: High Education, High Income

In order to lower Spain's illiteracy rate sooner, Carlos could be said to have stopped at nothing.

On the first day of 1871, Carlos had several newspapers under the royal industry publish articles about how educational background determines income, and he promoted the concept of high education leading to high income on a massive scale.

The examples given were also very simple. The average income of university graduates far exceeded Spain's per capita income. In particular, some university graduates who were specially hired earned several times more than the average person.

In addition to the examples of university students, the newspapers also cited several examples of ordinary people with primary or secondary school education who, after entering factories, earned more than those without any education.

Entering a factory requires operating equipment; people with an education are often better able to understand the operating procedures of the equipment, pick it up faster, and have a lower probability of making mistakes.

The purpose of Carlos doing this was naturally to use income to stimulate the public's willingness to improve their educational background, thereby popularizing literacy education in Spain.

Although literacy education in Spain was in full swing, it could not force all Spaniards to participate.

Although it was free, under the policy of voluntary participation, the results achieved by literacy education were not as good as imagined.

Most of those who participated in literacy education were children or young people of appropriate age; very few young and middle-aged men over 25 participated.

In fact, this is also easy to understand. Although literacy education is free, participating in it would delay the time they could spend in factories earning money.

With one gain and one loss, it was no different from them losing money. Although Spaniards also understood the importance of education, every family would often choose to let younger children participate in literacy education, while adults would labor to earn income to support the entire family.

Only by letting all Spaniards understand that the time they spend participating in literacy education will not be a loss, and that it will be rewarded with higher wages in the future, can this be achieved.

Only in this way can more people be attracted to participate in literacy education, thereby effectively and significantly reducing Spain's illiteracy rate.

Fortunately, there are now as many as dozens of newspapers under the royal family, distributed across more than a dozen major regions and colonies of Spain.

Especially in the capital, Madrid, in addition to the *Spain Sun*, newspapers with different target audiences, such as the *Madrid Worker* and the *Agriculture News*, were specifically created to expand the number of people the newspapers could influence.

At least two newspapers are owned in each of the top five largest cities in Spain. Under such a wide range of newspaper propaganda, it is believed that many people will accept the concept of high education leading to high income, thereby actively improving their own and their families' educational levels.

In order to hide the dozens or hundreds of newspapers under his control, Butler Luo Lun had also gone to great pains. Except for the *Spain Sun*, which is a public royal industry, the other newspapers are basically disguised to look like private businesses.

It is not that Carlos is too defensive. It is just that some newspapers, in order to maintain their market scale and sell their papers, often publish some gossip or even relatively sexy pictures.

These news stories and pictures are warmly welcomed by Spaniards, and the lower-class public is also willing to feast their eyes on the sexy girls in the newspapers.

But if it were a royal industry publishing this news, it would inevitably leave the public with a bad impression that the royal family and the King love gossip and sexy girls.

Although most of the public is happy to see such newspapers, if the newspaper belongs to the royal family, some upright gentlemen would inevitably jump out to condemn the royal family.

Carlos had long been well-prepared for this. Enterprises like steel mills that can create a large number of jobs for Spain and do not exploit workers are all made public, telling the public that these are royal enterprises.

In order to accelerate the popularization of literacy education, Carlos thought of a method, and after calculation, he considered it feasible.

After confirming that the calculation was accurate, Carlos summoned Prime Minister Primo and put forward his proposal: the government would provide a free dinner to everyone participating in literacy education on the day they attend.

Literacy education is completely different from primary school education. Primary school education requires a fixed period of 6 years, while literacy education can be completed in as little as three months.

Generally speaking, most of the work of literacy education is completed by teaching those receiving it a portion of commonly used Spanish words and some simple cultural knowledge, scientific principles, and so on.

If classes are held twice a week, with each class lasting more than three hours, literacy education can generally be completed within five months.

If it is those children and teenagers who do not need to work, and they receive literacy education every day, they can even complete most of the tasks of literacy education within a month.

But in any case, Carlos's proposal was quite bold.

According to the situation last year where over one million people received literacy education, providing a dinner for everyone when they attend literacy education is equivalent to needing to provide for one million people at least 50 times, totaling 50 million dinners.

Such a large-scale dinner would certainly not be too luxurious. But even if it were just relatively cheap coarse-grain bread and vegetables, as well as a small amount of meat, it would cost at least 5 million Pesetas.

Prime Minister Primo was stunned after hearing Carlos's proposal, but after careful thought and calculation, he suddenly felt that this method was feasible.

For the government, the cost of 5 million Pesetas is not unacceptable. Attracting more people to participate in literacy education by providing a free dinner will ultimately benefit the Spanish government as well.

Even if the number of people doubles, it would not be too much of a burden for the government. The current world environment is tending toward peace, and it is entirely possible to purchase grain from those major grain-producing countries and then process it into relatively cheap food to provide to those people.

There is not much concern about food safety now; as long as the food provided looks passable and can make the public full, the public will naturally be satisfied.

Although it is just a relatively simple dinner, there will certainly be many Spaniards who want to save money and will accept literacy education just to save the cost of a dinner.

After all, literacy education costs no money, and I believe most people are willing to accept a free dinner in exchange for two hours of study.

Providing free dinner is also a good reputation; whether for the government or for Carlos, it can increase their influence in the hearts of the people.

As for the additional cost of at least 5 million Pesetas, it does not seem so important at this time. After all, Spain's fiscal deficit last year was as high as 60 million Pesetas; compared with this sum of money, what is an additional cost of 5 million Pesetas?

After careful consideration in his mind, Prime Minister Primo finally agreed to Carlos's proposal, which is for the government to provide a free dinner to all people participating in literacy education.

However, Carlos also put forward his own requirements, which is that the government must not forget the contribution of the royal family when providing this free dinner.

Carlos does not intend to let the government take all the credit. For Carlos, anything that can improve the favorability of Spaniards toward him cannot be missed.

This is not only related to the stability of his throne, but also to his future influence on the government. If he wants to ensure that he can infiltrate his influence into the government as he wishes after Prime Minister Primo retires, he must ensure that the attitude of the majority of Spaniards is to support him.

If even the Spaniards do not support him, I am afraid that after Prime Minister Primo retires, what Carlos should consider is whether his throne can be stabilized, rather than the issue of interfering in the government.

Hearing Carlos's request, Prime Minister Primo naturally understood what Carlos's purpose was. However, Carlos's request would not affect him, so Prime Minister Primo naturally would not oppose Carlos; besides, there were favors to be gained.

"This is of course, Your Majesty. The proposal to provide free dinner was put forward by you, and the Spaniards will certainly not forget your care for them." Prime Minister Primo nodded and said with a smile.

Whether it was Carlos's previous proposal to exchange the colonial Viceroy for the Minister of Agriculture, or the current proposal to share the public's favor, it is actually related to the public's support.

Prime Minister Primo naturally understood what Carlos wanted to do, but he did not intend to stop Carlos.

As a politician and reformer, Prime Minister Primo deeply understood what his purpose was. Rather than saying it is about fighting for power and enjoying the dictatorial experience brought by holding all power, it is better to say that he wants to use the monopoly of power to rapidly promote Spain's reforms.

For Prime Minister Primo, he never thought about how long he would stay in the position of Prime Minister of Spain. As long as he can complete Spain's reforms, he will be satisfied, and he does not covet the fame and influence brought to him after the reforms are completed.

Carlos also understood this point, so he was very at ease with Prime Minister Primo when conducting political interest exchanges.

This is also the biggest difference between Western monarchy and Eastern monarchy.

Europeans pay the most attention to bloodline; it is too difficult for ordinary people to become kings through coups, and in the long history of Europe, there have only been a few.

Was Napoleon not powerful enough? But after Napoleon proclaimed himself Emperor, he had to rely on conquering European countries before other countries would recognize the noble bloodline of the Napoleon family.

This also included the Napoleon family's multiple marriages with other European royal families, which allowed the family to rank among the legitimate royal families of Europe.

But after the fall of the Napoleonic Empire, the influence of the Napoleon family declined rapidly. If it were not for the later arrival of Napoleon III, plus the fact that France was indeed very powerful during the Napoleonic period, I am afraid the Napoleon family would have long since vanished into history.

This has led to the fact that the vast majority of European prime ministers who hold all power cannot ascend to the throne through a coup. Even if they are ambitious, most people think about hollowing out the king and enjoying the dictatorial politics as prime minister.

And for a politician like Primo who does not actually have such great ambition for power, holding all power is not his pursuit; realizing his political ideals and aspirations is.

The reason why he did not overly oppose Carlos's opinions, and even cooperated with Carlos in political interests, is because Prime Minister Primo deeply understands that reformers have not had a good end since ancient times.

He befriended Carlos not only to pave the way for his departure from the political arena, but also to let Carlos understand that he himself has no great ambition for power, and he hopes that Carlos will not interfere too much when he is reforming.

Although the two did not say it explicitly, they have reached a tacit understanding in some aspects. Both understand that after Prime Minister Primo completes the reforms, he is destined to lay down the heavy burden of the Prime Minister.

Reforming the government has offended a large number of vested interest groups. If Primo stays on the Prime Minister's throne after the reforms are completed, it will inevitably affect the stability of the country.

And Carlos does not want someone who has successfully promoted reforms and has huge influence in the political and military circles to continue to stay in the position of Prime Minister; the saying "merit so great it shakes the master" is not said for nothing.

The reason why Wilhelm II dismissed Prime Minister Bismarck, although political disagreement was part of the reason, it is hard to guarantee that there was no reason of Prime Minister Bismarck's merit shaking the master.

As the initiator of the two wars that determined Prussia's unification of Germany—the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War—Prime Minister Bismarck's prestige in the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire was unprecedented.

It is no exaggeration to say that Bismarck's influence on Germany even exceeded that of Wilhelm I, who founded the German Empire.

Although Bismarck and Wilhelm I had a good friendship and trusted each other very much.

But the problem is that there was no friendship between Bismarck and Wilhelm II. As the newly appointed Emperor, Wilhelm II naturally could not accept another person threatening his power.

It is the same as the future situation in Spain. Carlos naturally cannot accept a Prime Minister who threatens his royal power. Regardless of whether Prime Minister Primo's reforms are successful or not, he must bid farewell to the Prime Minister's throne and be a nobleman with peace of mind.

Precisely because both understand this, Carlos is not stingy with his rewards for Prime Minister Primo.

Prime Minister Primo is already a Duke of Spain, and his title has reached the very top of Spain. And the highest noble title, Grand Duke, is prepared for Prime Minister Primo after the reforms are completed.

When he fully realizes Spain's reforms and lets Spain's industry and economy regain vitality, that is when he will leap to become the top nobleman in Spain, a Grand Duke.

As long as Prime Minister Primo retires at the peak of his success, Carlos naturally cannot liquidate him. At that time, the two Grand Dukes, Primo and Serrano, can also become a good story in Spanish history, accompanying the strength of Spain and being sung by Spaniards together with Carlos's name.

After Prime Minister Primo agreed to his proposal, Carlos had completed the purpose of summoning Prime Minister Primo.

After having a sumptuous lunch with Prime Minister Primo, Carlos began his salted-fish life for the new year, while Prime Minister Primo began his busy work for Carlos's recent opinion.

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(End of this chapter)