Chapter 104: Labor Policy

As time entered 1871, one matter drew the attention of the Spanish and many European royal houses: the marriage of King Carlos of Spain.

Now that Carlos had firmly secured the throne of Spain and was about to turn 20, he had reached the age for European nobility to discuss marriage.

As the King of Spain and a member of the House of Savoy, there were no shortage of European royal houses wanting to forge a marriage alliance with the Spanish royal family, including several from the Great Powers.

Firstly, Spain's geographical location was truly important, and secondly, Spain's comprehensive national strength was not bad, placing it in the first tier just below the Great Powers.

Furthermore, Carlos was the son of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy; a marriage alliance with the Spanish royal family was, in effect, also a marriage alliance with the Italian royal family.

Because Carlos's mother, Adelaide, had already passed away, European royal houses took the initiative to reach out to Carlos and his father, Victor Emmanuel II.

Seeing letter after letter from different European royal houses, along with the few photographs tucked inside, Carlos felt his head was about to burst.

It would be one thing if these were just princesses of appropriate age, but why were there even little girls who had just turned ten? Looking again at the letter his sister, Princess Maria Pia, had sent him, it was actually recommending a Portuguese princess.

Carlos rubbed his temples and wrote a reply to his sister, stating in the letter that he had no plans for a marriage alliance with Portugal for the time being.

Putting other things aside, a marriage alliance between Portugal and Spain was currently impossible. The British would absolutely not want to see the Portuguese and Spanish unite; a unified Iberian Peninsula would be a powerful enemy for the British in the western Mediterranean.

As the saying goes, two tigers cannot share one mountain; the relationship between the Portuguese and the Spanish had never been that friendly. During the 60 years from 1580 to 1640, Portugal was briefly under the joint rule of Spain, and the two sides established the Iberian Union.

But this union was clearly not as smooth as the union of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon over 100 years prior. The union of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon created the powerful Kingdom of Spain, while the union of Spain and Portugal instead caused the people of both countries to begin to hate one another.

Besides, marrying a Portuguese princess was not in Carlos's own interest. Even if an alliance with Portugal could be formed, the disadvantages brought to Spain would far outweigh the benefits.

The British would absolutely nail down an alliance between Portugal and Spain; this would not only cause the Spanish government to waste a golden opportunity for development, but the Portuguese and Spanish would also become increasingly conflicted under the constant provocations of the British.

Because of Queen Victoria's hemophilia, Carlos had excluded the British royal family from his list of potential marriage candidates from the very beginning.

And among all the European Great Powers, the only royal houses currently available for Carlos to marry into were those of Germany, Austria, and Russia.

If Carlos had to make a choice, he would prefer to choose Germany for a marriage alliance. Germany itself did not have major issues, and its performance in the future First World War would be quite powerful.

On the contrary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia were riddled with internal contradictions, and they were basically beyond saving.

However, after the end of the First World War, the three countries of Germany, Austria, and Russia all abolished their monarchies, so the shortcomings of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia were not as significant.

Among these three countries, Carlos would definitely prioritize Germany, with the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a backup, and Russia last.

Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire would be stronger in terms of industry, and their military technology could also help Spain achieve practical and effective improvements.

As for Russia, apart from having a larger population and richer resources, it was far inferior to Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in terms of industry and economy.

In fact, before the outbreak of World War I, the initial alliance was the League of the Three Emperors between Germany, Russia, and Austria. But why did it eventually evolve into the Franco-Russian Alliance? Because the French, through constant financial aid, firmly grasped the economic lifeline of the Russians.

But there was a problem at the moment, which was that the House of Hohenzollern and the House of Habsburg did not seem to have many age-appropriate princesses for Carlos to marry.

Fortunately, Carlos was not in a hurry at this time; he could select candidates he was more interested in while waiting for news from the royal houses of other countries.

As time entered February 1871, the Spanish government approved another major project: the construction of a railway through the entire South Morocco colony.

Because there were no railways within Morocco, this railway needed to be fully invested in and built by the Spanish government, with a total length exceeding 300 kilometers.

The starting point of the railway was Agadir, the capital of the South Morocco colony, and the endpoint was the southernmost city of Tan-Tan, passing through small cities like Tiznit and Guelmim.

To strengthen control over the interior regions of the South Morocco colony, this railway also had a branch line, extending east from Agadir, passing through Taroudant and Tata, basically connecting all the larger cities and towns in the colony.

Because it was a colonial railway, the Spanish government did not intend to put this project out for tender, but rather to invest in and build it themselves.

The good news was that the South Morocco colony had over a million Moroccans, all of whom could serve as laborers for the construction of the railway.

And a portion of the Moroccan reparations could also be invested into the construction of the railway; a 300-kilometer-long railway would not consume too much capital, and this railway was, on the whole, a guaranteed profit.

After the railway was completed, all the resources in the South Morocco region could be easily transported to Agadir via the railway, and then shipped to Spain through the port.

Morocco's mineral resources were relatively rich, after all, most of this area was mountainous. And the South Morocco region also had quite a few mineral resources, including phosphate, which could be used to make chemical fertilizer.

Speaking of phosphate, a remote and uninhabited area in the south of South Morocco, which would later become Western Sahara, also possessed quite rich phosphate reserves.

According to the agreement reached between the Spanish government and the British government in the last contract, the British government would not stop Spain from colonizing the Western Sahara region, which also meant that the entire Western Sahara region was basically within Spain's grasp.

It was easy to understand why the British agreed to Spain colonizing Western Sahara. After all, Western Sahara was an area composed mostly of desert; not only was it sparsely populated, but its overall economic value was also very low.

If this area could be used to attract the attention of the Spanish government and temporarily prevent Spain from expanding into northern Morocco, it was also acceptable to the British.

What the British really cared about were areas rich in mineral resources and fertile land; they could naturally abandon an area like Western Sahara.

And for Spain, both South Morocco and Western Sahara had considerable utility.

The rich phosphate mines in these two regions could allow Spain to vigorously develop the chemical fertilizer industry and rapidly popularize the use of chemical fertilizers.

Although Spain's land inherently possessed many shortcomings, after the large-scale use of chemical fertilizers, it could still increase Spain's overall crop yield.

Being able to increase crop yield meant being able to support a larger population, which was a good thing for the Spanish government.

In Carlos's future plans, Spain's population had to exceed 20 million at the very least to have the confidence to return to the ranks of the Great Powers.

If one wanted to master one's own destiny and avoid becoming a pawn on the world chessboard, Spain would need a population of at least 30 million and possess the world's top five industry and economy.

This was still a huge challenge for the current Spain; to achieve this goal, it might take decades of time.

At least in the first decade, it was basically invisible. It would be good enough if Primo's reforms could be completed within ten years; if Spain wanted to be strong, it might still have to rely on the opportunities of the future Boer War and World War I.

Regarding the colonial policy for the South Morocco colony, the Spanish government did not intend to adopt a soft attitude.

Although Moroccans were white, they were not orthodox Europeans and were destined not to enter the main ethnic group of Spain.

Except for a small number of Moroccans who could be assimilated or were willing to accept Spanish rule, the remaining Moroccans were all treated as ordinary African natives.

Apart from creating a continuous stream of economic benefits for the Spanish government, they had no other value.

However, compared to the small number of black natives, the treatment of white Moroccans was slightly better.

Although white Moroccan laborers also had to engage in that more strenuous work, their working hours could be limited to 12 hours, and they could receive two meals of food every day.

As for those black laborers, their daily working hours exceeded 14 hours, and their daily food was only one meal of black bread that barely satisfied their hunger.

The so-called black bread was made of flour mixed with sawdust and bran; the production cost was extremely low, and it was the food provided to natives by most European countries.

Of course, many capitalists would also provide it to workers in factories; after all, for capitalists, how to reduce factory expenses was the most important thing. As for whether people would die from eating such black bread, what did that have to do with the factory?

Prime Minister Primo could also understand Carlos's hateful attitude toward black people. In this era, such an attitude was not strange, and Prime Minister Primo himself did not have a good impression of black people.

Precisely because the two people with the highest power and status in the Spanish government were both very hateful toward black people, the colonial policy in South Morocco was like hellish torture for black people.

From the time the railway officially started construction in February 1871, an average of at least double-digit black laborers died at their posts every day, and the number of black laborers dying every day was still increasing.

Perhaps it would not take long for the South Morocco colony to become a pure land with only white people, and black people would completely disappear from this region.

The first update of three thousand words, please support!

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(End of chapter)