Chapter 117: Military Chaos

Of course, Carlo could not see the scheming of the various foreign diplomatic representatives at the banquet. As the protagonist of this wedding, Carlo had already hurried away halfway through the evening banquet, leaving Duke Primo and Grand Duke Serrano responsible for entertaining the foreign guests together.

As for Carlo, he naturally went to enjoy a night of spring bliss. Grand Duchess Sophie, having been meticulously dressed, looked even more beautiful and moving; since she had already become his wife, Carlo naturally would not be reserved.

For a qualified king, the most important thing is to expand the royal family's branches and leaves. Other matters, including national development, can be ranked second; only the propagation of offspring is the most important.

Why? Because the royal family needs people to inherit it. If the throne falls to others due to a lack of heirs, even if one builds a massive foundation, it will ultimately be for nothing.

As the King of Spain, Carlo naturally would not use any contraceptive measures. For one, things like sheep intestines are not comfortable to use, and for another, the royal family is currently in need of adding new members.

After a long night passed, Carlo only woke up early the next morning. After washing and dressing with the help of the maids, Carlo instructed them to take care of Grand Duchess Sophie before walking out of the room himself.

Of course, Grand Duchess Sophie now had another official identity, which was the mistress of the Madrid Royal Palace and Carlo's Queen.

Bathing in the warm sunlight outside the room, Carlo's mood also became extremely comfortable. There is nothing more comfortable than sleeping in, especially when there is a very cooperative and beautiful princess by one's side.

"What is the schedule for today?" Carlo looked toward the butler, Luo Lun, and asked with a smile.

"Prime Minister Primo needs to report to you regarding the government's diplomatic issues; the time is set for two o'clock after lunch. In the afternoon, there is also a banquet to bid farewell to foreign guests and nobles. So far, these are the only two things." Hearing Carlo's inquiry, Butler Luo Lun blurted out immediately.

As the butler of the Royal Palace, Butler Luo Lun is quite busy. In addition to being responsible for some of the royal family's assets, he also needs to act on behalf of Carlo to interact with government officials in order to plan Carlo's schedule.

However, generally speaking, there are relatively few things Carlo can do in a day; most of the time is spent on banquets and meetings of that sort. Besides that, there are only occasional leisure activities like going out hunting or looking at the scenery.

This cannot be blamed on Carlo for being idle all day. It is just that most of the government's affairs are handled by Prime Minister Primo; whether it is reform or national development, there is no need for Carlo to worry too much.

Currently, the progress of reform and national development is very smooth, and Carlo naturally would not go around pointing fingers.

For Carlo, the most important thing at present is to infiltrate his influence into the Spanish military. Only by gradually controlling Spain's military power can he constantly consolidate his own power and exert influence on the government.

Regarding the diplomatic matters that Prime Minister Primo wants to report, it is actually about discussing an alliance with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The royal families of the two countries have already intermarried, which has already created the prerequisite for an alliance between the two countries. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is currently in urgent need of a few allies to bluff; besides the Germans they have been in contact with, the most promising candidate to ally with the Austro-Hungarian Empire should be Spain.

"How are the graduates of the Royal Military Academy doing at the moment?" Carlo seemed to have remembered something and asked hurriedly.

The first batch of graduates from the Royal Military Academy had already successfully graduated for more than half a year; logically speaking, they should have all successfully headed to the military and started their true military careers.

However, except for the few military academy graduates who went to the Imperial Guard, Carlo did not know much about the current status of the others.

After all, he had been busy preparing for the wedding for the past half year, and coupled with some government meetings, he had long forgotten about this matter while busy.

"It is relatively smooth at the moment, Your Majesty," Butler Luo Lun replied. "Among the more than 400 graduates of the Royal Military Academy, except for a small number who went to the Imperial Guard, the rest have all joined the Royal Army and have been dispersed to various units."

"But because the current Royal Army does not have that many officer positions, it has resulted in many people currently serving in deputy positions like deputy platoon leader. It is estimated that it will take a long time for them to be promoted to full positions."

Hearing Butler Luo Lun's answer, Carlo was stunned for a moment, then thought of the current state of the Spanish military and nodded.

The scale of the Spanish military was not large to begin with, and the number of personnel has always been maintained at around 100, 00. If one only counts the troops stationed in the homeland, the number is only 70, 00 to 80, 00.

And the military ranks of these military academy graduates are basically around lieutenant; theoretically, they can serve as low-level officers from platoon leader to deputy company commander level.

But where would the existing Spanish military have so many officer vacancies for them to take office? Being able to create some nominal deputy platoon leader positions is already a quite good result.

One must know that the term of service for soldiers in this era is far different from later generations. Conscripts in later generations basically only need to serve for two years, but the service time for soldiers in this era is generally as high as ten years or more.

But the problem arises again: the foundation of the current Spanish military is still that revolutionary army, and the military level of the officers is actually not that high.

If the current status of the military is not changed, not only will Carlo's deployment at the Royal Military Academy be rendered ineffective, but the comprehensive combat effectiveness of the Spanish military will not have any changes either.

In the end, the Spanish military also needs a reform. This reform must weed out those soldiers and officers whose comprehensive levels do not meet the standards, streamline a portion of the military, and hand over the vacated officer quotas to these outstanding students who graduated from the regular military academy.

Thinking of this, Carlo nodded and instructed Butler Luo Lun: "It seems this matter still needs to be discussed with Prime Minister Primo."

"Move lunch time earlier; tell Prime Minister Primo that I am waiting for his arrival at the Royal Palace."

Time passed quickly, and Prime Minister Primo also arrived at the Royal Palace on time, respectfully waiting in the small dining room where lunch had already been prepared.

While enjoying a delicious lunch, Carlo casually brought up the current status of the military academy graduates and asked for Prime Minister Primo's attitude.

How could Prime Minister Primo not know the current status of these military academy graduates? In fact, letting these military academy graduates serve in temporary positions like deputy platoon leader was also proposed by Prime Minister Primo.

There was no other way; one could not let these military academy graduates be ordinary soldiers. But if they were to be officers, there were not that many officer vacancies, so this was the only inferior strategy.

"Your Majesty, what do you mean?" Prime Minister Primo raised his own question, waiting for Carlo to express his thoughts.

In fact, Prime Minister Primo also had the idea of reforming the military. But reforming the military is a matter of great importance and could even affect the stability of the government.

After all, most of the people in this military participated in the last revolution, and it was precisely because of the support of these people in the military that Primo and Serrano could become the two pillars of the current Spanish government.

If one were to rashly take action against the military, it would be very likely to lose the support of these soldiers, thereby causing the greatest reliance that Prime Minister Primo has to push for reform to vanish into thin air.

But the problem is that the problems of the military are already laid out here; if he lets them be, it would not be in line with Prime Minister Primo's style.

First is the problem of the low level of officers in the military, which will greatly affect the combat effectiveness of the Spanish military. Such an army composed of the revolutionary army and the kingdom's government army that surrendered to the revolution, whether in terms of organization or internal factions, is somewhat too chaotic.

"Prime Minister Primo, I think it is necessary for us to push for a reform to improve the combat effectiveness of the Spanish military." The combat effectiveness of the military is incomparably important, and the strength of Spain also relies on the strength of the military.

Therefore, for Carlo, military reform must happen, and the sooner the better.

Hearing Carlo's words, Prime Minister Primo did not rush to express his stance, and a contemplative expression appeared on his face.

Although reform is indeed very important, one must also consider the pros and cons. If military reform is pushed, the biggest beneficiary will definitely be Carlo.

Who let Carlo hold the Madrid Military Academy and the Zaragoza Military Academy in his hands? Just the more than 400 military academy graduates each year already ensure that Carlo can control most of the low-level officers in the Spanish military.

If these low-level officers are allowed to climb up step by step, perhaps ten years later, the middle and lower levels of the military will all be decided by Carlo.

And for an army, the most important thing is actually these middle and lower-level officers. The orders of high-level officers also need to be passed down to middle-level units to be executed, and the combat effectiveness of the army is precisely determined by these lower-level units.

This is also a point that Prime Minister Primo is considering. If reform is pushed, it will inevitably accelerate Carlo's seizure of power.

Although Prime Minister Primo does not mind this too much, whether doing so will affect Spain's reform, as well as some problems that may occur after pushing for military reform, all made Prime Minister Primo fall into contemplation.

Carlo naturally understands what Prime Minister Primo is hesitating about. At this moment, reforming the military for Prime Minister Primo is like performing a surgery on himself.

If the surgery is successful, that is fine; recuperating will not affect anything. But if the surgery fails, it could be as light as an infection or as heavy as being fatal.

"Prime Minister Primo, the combat effectiveness of our military is already lagging too far behind the three first-class European countries of Germany, France, and Austria. If our goal is to compete with these countries, I think this military reform is very necessary."

"Only by carrying out comprehensive reforms to the country does Spain have hope of reproducing the glory of the Empire on which the sun never sets. And you, as the promoter of the reform, are also destined to be remembered in Spanish history and become a hero for all Spaniards." Carlo reiterated his attitude of supporting the reform and hinted that he would shape Prime Minister Primo into a hero who promoted Spain's reform, attempting to make Prime Minister Primo support this reform of the military.

3, 00 words, first update, please support! There is another update after two o'clock.

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(End of chapter)