[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-rise-of-the-empire-spain":3,"chapter-rise-of-the-empire-spain-rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-111":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Rise of the Empire: Spain",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2365039,4632,"Chapter 111: Industrial Aid","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-111",111,"\u003Cp>Things were indeed as Gao Da had anticipated. For this group of passionate young men about to enter the military from the military academy, nothing was more exhilarating than the prospect of making their country even greater.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Da’s personal presence had already left these military academy graduates incredibly excited. Under the encouragement of this fervor, the excitement and fanaticism in the young men's eyes could no longer be contained, as if they could sacrifice their own lives for the greatness and rise of Spain at any moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, things had not reached that point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Da’s goal was to ensure these outstanding graduates walking out of the Royal Military Academy would firmly remember their mission, while also remembering to whom they should pledge their loyalty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If one is going to put on a show, one must do it thoroughly; Gao Da would certainly not give up halfway. Before this relatively brief graduation ceremony concluded, Gao Da personally conferred the ranks of the Spanish Royal Army upon the more than 400 military academy graduates and personally presented their graduation certificates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Graduates who performed relatively well in school could receive the rank of Captain, while the remaining graduates all received the rank of Lieutenant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Do not underestimate the rank of Lieutenant; in the Spanish military, they generally serve as military commanders at the platoon level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The starting point of the military careers for these 400-plus graduates was that of a platoon leader or deputy platoon leader, and their future potential was quite high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although it was unlikely that several generals would emerge from these 400-plus people, a considerable portion would still be able to reach the threshold of field-grade officers, that is, the rank of Major.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if one wants to grow from an officer into a general, besides seniority, a certain amount of merit is also very necessary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Da was full of expectations for these officers who had walked out of the Royal Military Academy, and naturally, he would fully support their promotion within the military.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as they did not cause trouble in the military and steadily accumulated their seniority and merit, naturally, no one would block their promotion in rank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the graduation ceremony ended, Gao Da also personally inquired about the future destinations of these 400-plus military academy graduates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Considering the subsequent development of his Royal Guard, Gao Da selected a dozen or so promising candidates from these 400-plus military students and promoted them to grow within the Royal Guard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the current scale of the Royal Guard was only one regiment, as the military force Gao Da could currently control, it would definitely need to be expanded in the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that they were heading to the Royal Guard, they certainly could not serve as platoon-level officers, but it would allow them to accumulate some seniority and experience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the Royal Guard undergoes expansion in the future, that will be the time for these young officers to truly command the troops. The future Royal Guard would certainly need to be expanded to at least the scale of a division; taking a few military academy graduates in advance was also preparation for the officer vacancies after the future expansion of the Royal Guard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those military academy graduates with excellent grades who obtained the opportunity to serve in the Royal Guard were naturally full of excitement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to the ordinary Royal Army, the Royal Guard was clearly the more elite force. Every expansion of the Royal Guard involved careful selection from within the military; it could be said that every soldier in the Royal Guard was the elite of the elite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Furthermore, as the personal troops of King Gao Da, the prospects of going to the Royal Guard were certainly much better than remaining in the Royal Army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the Royal Military Academy would not forcibly brainwash every military student, various subtle ideological influences were constantly occurring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These military academy graduates had long since deepened this impression during their long-term study at the military academy; pledging loyalty to His Majesty the King was naturally a matter of course for these graduates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, Gao Da also offered words of encouragement to the remaining military academy graduates who could not join the Royal Guard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Da stated that no matter which military unit they served in, they were preparing for the greatness of Spain. Whether it was the Royal Guard or the Royal Army, there was essentially no difference; they were all excellent Spanish military forces he could trust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing that this subtle brainwashing was indeed effective, Gao Da even planned to adopt such brainwashing methods throughout Spain’s entire education system, little by little making the next generation of Spain forever believe in the ideology of loyalty to the monarch and patriotism.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So-called loyalty to the monarch and patriotism, of course, means being loyal to the King first, and then loving the country of Spain. Who comes first and who comes second is still very important; after all, Gao Da did not want his layout to eventually make a wedding dress for the government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, such brainwashing could not be implemented in all schools at once. One could first select a few places for a pilot program, and slowly expand it to the entire national education system, achieving a process of infiltrating from points to the whole.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While Gao Da was worrying about the graduation ceremony for the first class of his Royal Military Academy, on the side of the Spanish government, Prime Minister Primo was also constantly paying attention to the subsequent connections with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the royal families of the two countries chose to marry, the governments of the two countries naturally had to gradually draw closer in the subsequent diplomacy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Franz Joseph I still held great prestige in the Austro-Hungarian Empire; by virtue of the marriage between the two royal families, it was also possible for Spain to obtain much support from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without too much thought, Prime Minister Primo instructed the Spanish diplomatic ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to strengthen the connection with the Austro-Hungarian government and, as much as possible, facilitate a preliminary agreement for cooperation between Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to Spain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was naturally a country with stronger industry and a more developed economy. Prime Minister Primo naturally would not let go of this good opportunity; he not only intended to seek a portion of industrial technology aid from the Austro-Hungarian Empire but also intended to borrow a portion of funds from the private capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to help Spain's industrial development.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Simply put, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would provide money and technology to help the Spanish government develop its industry and economy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Would the Austro-Hungarian Empire agree to do this? In fact, there was a high probability they would agree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, the aid of industrial technology and the support of funds were not given for free; Spain also had to pay something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First was the interest on the loan, which was indispensable; it was basically impossible for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to provide Spain with interest-free loans, as they also had to consider the attitude of the domestic capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The current Austro-Hungarian Empire was facing competition with Russia in the Balkan Peninsula and naturally wanted to win over more allies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Spain was not that powerful, it was at least of some use, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire naturally would not reject an alliance with Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the consultation of the two governments, the Austro-Hungarian government and the Spanish government soon reached a cooperation agreement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prime Minister Primo also reported this reached cooperation agreement to Gao Da, which drew Gao Da’s repeated praise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One had to lament that the economy and industry of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were far too much stronger than those of Italy. Just in terms of funds, the Spanish government borrowed over 120 million crowns from the private capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crown was the official currency of the Austrian Empire, and the exchange rate with the Spanish peseta was approximately 1:1.08. This loan obtained from the Austro-Hungarian Empire converted to as much as 129.6 million Spanish pesetas, equivalent to one-third of Spain's total fiscal revenue last year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, this fund was not so easy to borrow. The annual interest rate of the loan was about 3.1%, and the repayment period was 15 years. If it were paid off exactly at the 15-year limit, the cumulative interest of this loan would reach about 60 million pesetas.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the interest was a bit high, the good news was that there were no additional conditions. The Spanish government only needed to pay off this loan and all interest within the specified time, which was basically a win-win for everyone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, if the Spanish government could not pay off the principal and all interest within 15 years, the annual interest would rise to 5.5% after 15 years, and an additional penalty of 5.5 million pesetas would need to be paid for every year of delay.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This requirement was also normal; after all, those capitalists in Austria were also unwilling to see their money end up as a bamboo basket drawing water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although there was the Austro-Hungarian royal family coming forward, it was their own money after all, so it was very necessary to take precautions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Da had never worried about this point. 129.6 million pesetas was indeed a large sum of capital. If one added the interest of up to 60 million pesetas, the Spanish government would need to repay a cumulative total of 189.6 million pesetas after 15 years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if one considered inflation and Spain’s economic development within 15 years, such interest was nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With 129.6 million pesetas invested, the harvest brought to the Spanish government would definitely be far greater than this sum of capital.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Da had never thought that the Spanish government could not repay this capital, and it might even be paid off within the next few years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, the development brought to the national economy by large-scale infrastructure construction is extremely rapid. Spain’s total fiscal revenue last year was only over 300 million pesetas; this year it would definitely increase, and reaching over 400 million pesetas would not be a big problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the economic growth rate maintaining a good state, the Spanish government would not be short of money in a few years, at least domestic development would not need the help of foreign capital.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In addition to this 129.6 million peseta financial aid, the Spanish government also signed an aid treaty regarding industrial technology with the Austro-Hungarian government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Austro-Hungarian Empire would provide steel smelting technology, chemical technology, and partial military industrial technology to the Spanish government within the next five years to help the development of Spanish industry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In return, Spain’s progress in these three technologies over the next ten years would also need to be reported back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with both countries conducting research together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, the Spanish government also signed a trade agreement with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, using the method of lowering tariffs to encourage import and export trade between the two countries and strengthen economic connections.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Spain’s total grain output was naturally not as good as that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it had the advantage of a small domestic population, and the per capita resources were not less than those of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coupled with a long coastline, it possessed a large amount of aquatic resources. It could export a portion of grain to the Austro-Hungarian Empire every year in exchange for foreign exchange income to purchase other technologies from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which could also strengthen economic exchanges between the two countries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three thousand words for the first update, please support!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1978,"2026-06-25T09:27:12.995Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","734c762acb6aa49a200676f69ae6facaff2c5966ca6daacd34a0287eec07d390","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-112","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-110",493,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frise-of-the-empire-spain-cover.jpg"]