Chapter 121: Agriculture Is Not As Profitable As Finance

Starting in March 1872, a vigorous military reform was officially launched in Spain. To prevent significant disruption to the military, the reform would be implemented in batches throughout the entire Spanish army.

The first to be involved in the reform were, naturally, the garrison troops around Madrid. The good news was that the troops defending the capital were the elite among all Spanish forces. Most of the soldiers and officers in this force possessed a certain level of competence; the number of officers and soldiers slated for discharge was actually small, and the impact on the army itself would not be too great.

Making this force the primary target for reform was, of course, also because it would be less affected by the military reform process.

Once the reform of this force was completed, the push for military reform in other parts of Spain could be carried out with confidence and boldness.

With this force protecting the capital of Madrid, plus the Guards stationed near the Wang Gong, it could be ensured that the Spanish government would not face any danger, and the military reform could proceed steadily.

When Spain officially launched its large-scale military reform, Carlos only then gained a detailed understanding of the current organization and stationing of the Spanish army.

At present, all Spanish forces combined totaled 28 line infantry regiments, 11 light infantry battalions, 12 cavalry regiments, 1 engineer regiment, and 14 colonial garrison regiments.

The total number of soldiers amounted to over 100, 00, with about 70, 00 stationed in mainland Spain and over 30, 00 stationed in various Spanish colonies.

It is worth mentioning that among all Spanish military units, there was no artillery organization formed into separate regiments.

Spain certainly had artillery, but it existed only in the form of artillery batteries within infantry and cavalry regiments.

Moreover, all of Spain's artillery pieces combined totaled just over 200, a figure that showed a significant gap compared to the major powers during the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War.

However, this point is understandable. In terms of artillery technology and the scale of artillery equipment, significant changes had actually only occurred in the last decade.

Especially after Prussia used the new steel-making process to smelt steel and subsequently used steel cannons to deal a fatal blow to the French army, did countries gradually increase their emphasis on artillery.

This was not the First World War of decades later, where countries were equipped with countless machine guns and artillery. In this era, infantry and cavalry were still the mainstream for every country, and machine guns had not even been born.

To improve the combat effectiveness of the Spanish army, besides carrying out military reform and improving the military quality of officers and soldiers, it was also necessary to equip large numbers of artillery, and in the future, to equip large numbers of machine guns.

Only by improving the military quality of officers and soldiers while also upgrading the advancement of weapons and equipment could the combat effectiveness of the Spanish army be effectively enhanced.

However, these were clearly things that Carlos could not push for at the moment. Although Prime Minister Primo did not oppose some of Carlos's opinions, he certainly would not allow Carlos to constantly point fingers at the government and the military.

Fortunately, this military reform could also effectively improve the combat effectiveness of the Spanish army, and it would not be too late to talk about other things later.

As time entered April 1872, the Spanish government also became busy. Prime Minister Primo not only had to focus on military reform but also had to devote a great deal of energy to the reform of the Spanish government and economic development.

At the same time, after the marriage alliance with the Austro-Hungarian Empire royal family, Spain also had to take action on the diplomatic front. Currently, the alliance between Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was already under negotiation, which also took up a portion of Prime Minister Primo's energy.

For Primo, an old man about to turn 60, such busy government affairs indeed brought significant pressure. At present, all aspects of Spain's development had reached a critical period, which made it almost impossible for Prime Minister Primo to get a good night's sleep.

Unlike the busy and stressed Prime Minister Primo, as the King of Spain, Carlos was instead leisurely and carefree during this period, living his own life as a free-spirited king.

After the wedding ended, Carlos and Queen Sophie began their honeymoon.

Carlos took Queen Sophie to live in the Madrid Wang Gong for a period of time, and then traveled to cities such as Toledo, Valladolid, Seville, and Valencia, enjoying the beautiful scenery of Spain while traveling.

However, the regions Carlos passed through were all in the central and southern parts of Spain; these areas were under the control of the government, and their security could be guaranteed.

Of course, during Carlos's travels, the Guards dispatched a cavalry battalion and an infantry battalion to follow and protect him. Under the protection of these soldiers, Carlos's safety could basically be guaranteed.

Even when facing thousands of rebels, the Guard cavalry battalion and Guard infantry battalion could hold out until the arrival of the Spanish government troops. Unless facing tens of thousands of rebels, there was no situation that could threaten Carlos's safety.

Carlos still attached great importance to his own safety. In addition to using these Guards to follow and protect him, the already established Royal Security Intelligence Agency would also accompany him for protection.

The Royal Security Intelligence Agency was established on May 17, 1870. After a year-long trial period, Carlos affirmed the ability of the Director of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, Kadier Bruno, and officially appointed him as the Director of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, making him his confidant.

After nearly two years of development, the Royal Security Intelligence Agency had long since become a massive organization hidden in the shadows.

As of now, the funds Carlos had invested in the Royal Security Intelligence Agency had exceeded 2. million pesetas.

Director Kadier did not waste Carlos's investment. These 2. million pesetas bought Carlos over 400 intelligence personnel, as well as hundreds of secret agents who cooperated with the intelligence agency.

These secret agents did not even know of the existence of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency. The Royal Security Intelligence Agency was externally called the Royal Military Liaison Group, nominally responsible for communication and cooperation between various Spanish armies during wartime.

But in reality, the Royal Security Intelligence Agency had evolved into Carlos's eyes, scouting for Carlos all kinds of major and minor events happening at home and abroad, and investigating any candidate Carlos wanted to investigate.

It is worth mentioning that the reason Carlos affirmed Kadier's ability was precisely because the Royal Security Intelligence Agency had investigated the murderer who assassinated Prime Minister Primo at the time within less than a year of its establishment.

When Carlos learned that the mastermind behind the assassination of Prime Minister Primo was the Duke of Osuna, who held a prominent status among the Spanish nobility, he was initially unwilling to believe it.

But when Director Kadier provided relatively complete evidence, Carlos had to believe that the Duke of Osuna was the mastermind behind the assassination.

Since the mastermind behind the assassination case at the time had been found, the subsequent matters were much easier to handle.

Considering the stability of Spain and the potential impact on the noble class, it was naturally better to handle this matter in a low-key manner.

After all, it did not cause too much impact on Prime Minister Primo; the assassination attempt ended in complete failure, and Prime Minister Primo was not even injured.

When the personnel of the intelligence agency delivered the complete chain of evidence into the hands of the Duke of Osuna, this Duke, who had been full of confidence when launching the assassination, finally panicked.

However, he also understood that Carlos being able to have someone deliver the chain of evidence into his hands, rather than handing it to Prime Minister Primo to arrest him, proved that there was still room for maneuver in this matter.

Carlos had no good feelings for people like the Duke of Osuna. However, considering that the Duke of Osuna was a person with relatively high status and influence among the Spanish noble class, treating him too cruelly would likely cause some nobles who were already wavering to become even more alienated.

After final consideration, Carlos offered the Duke of Osuna two choices.

Either these chains of evidence would be kept by the Duke of Osuna himself, at the cost of at least 60% of the Duke of Osuna's land and property being sold to the royal family at market price, with the funds from the sale donated to the government.

Or, these pieces of evidence would be submitted to Prime Minister Primo, and the government would arrest and try the Duke of Osuna, and ultimately decide the fate of the property under the Duke of Osuna's name.

The first choice at least left the Duke of Osuna with less than 40% of his property, and being a wealthy noble from now on would be no problem.

If the second option were chosen, even if the Duke of Osuna's title could be retained, it might not necessarily be on the head of the current Duke of Osuna.

More importantly, the government would not be too polite to the nobles. Especially for a traitor like the Duke of Osuna who plotted to assassinate the Prime Minister, most of his property would likely be confiscated by the government.

Without too much thought, the Duke of Osuna chose the first method and willingly sold more than 60% of the property in his hands to the royal family.

There was no other way; facing the Spanish government and royal family at this time, he did not have many means to resist.

Moreover, the royal family already held sufficient evidence, and resistance at this time would not have any effect, but would instead cause the Duke of Osuna and his family to face a greater crisis.

This matter was more like an exchange of interests. The Duke of Osuna used more than 60% of his land to exchange for a chance to survive, and the funds from selling these lands were handed over to the government in exchange for Prime Minister Primo's forgiveness.

And Carlos could also make the royal family's land holdings once again the largest among European nobles by purchasing land; from now on, the Spanish royal family would no longer be a representative of having lots of money but little land.

Although Spain's land was not as fertile as other countries, and the income from farming was not as high as imagined.

But for those more traditional nobles, the amount of land owned by nobles could, to a certain extent, also determine the influence of the nobles.

Just like these nobles and dukes with relatively large influence in Spain, they must hold the most land and property in their hands.

Those marquesses and counts with less influence must have less property and land in their hands than the dukes.

This matter was also discussed with Prime Minister Primo. Compared to the Duke of Osuna, Prime Minister Primo was certainly more important to Carlos.

Prime Minister Primo also agreed with Carlos's idea of cold handling; after all, the government could also harvest a certain amount of funds from this incident, and the only one who lost was the Duke of Osuna.

In addition to losing more than 60% of his property, the armed forces he had trained had to be completely abolished, and he would need to be under the long-term supervision of the government.

If it were not for the stability of the country, Prime Minister Primo even intended to execute the Duke of Osuna directly.

However, handling it this way could be considered a good thing. First, it could stabilize the noble class, which was helpful for the stability of Spain.

Secondly, it could also make some people from major Spanish factions think carefully about the consequences of standing up against the government. The Duke of Osuna had a large amount of property to compensate, but other nobles might not necessarily have it.

The Duke of Osuna was one of the most influential nobles in Spain; after losing more than 60% of his property, the blow to the entire ducal family was huge.

After all, the biggest income for this type of more traditional noble was engaging in agriculture. They would rent their land to farmers, and the farmers would not only pay them rent but also pay them taxes.

Of course, this might also be the reason why the Duke of Osuna would assassinate Prime Minister Primo. Although these dukes' lands were not relatively autonomous territories, such nobles had the right to tax their own land.

The government's reduction of agricultural taxes actually affected their income. Especially for these great nobles with a lot of land, the actual reduction in agricultural taxes was an extremely huge figure for them.

This also makes one have to admire the sensibility of the church. If reducing agricultural taxes affected some great nobles, then abolishing the tithe was a major blow to the church.

One of the major sources of income for the Spanish church was the tithe paid by farmers, and the other major giant was the agricultural tax brought by church land.

One of these two major sources of income was directly abolished by the government, and the other was also reduced by a large portion under the government's tax reduction policy.

It was fortunate that Archbishop Pedro was sensible; otherwise, whether the Spanish church would rebel was really a matter of debate.

In fact, from this point, one could also see how many factions were affected by Prime Minister Primo's reforms. Even the nobles who ostensibly supported the royal family were affected, but many people could still see the situation clearly.

The reason why Carlos established the Royal United Bank was naturally to pull the nobles together to make money, allowing them to find new income in industries other than land.

If they only focused on land taxes and other income, then the nobles would never forget the impact of the government's tax cuts on them.

But if they focused on the financial industry and real industry, the nobles would also discover that in Spain, engaging in finance and real industry was what really made money.

Spain's land was originally very barren, and being a landlord could not make much money. A very simple example could show this. In the case of German nobles and Spanish nobles owning the same scale of land, the income of German nobles was often several times that of Spanish nobles.

The gap in land fertility had already destined that Spain could not become a strong country in agriculture; being able to meet the needs of the domestic population was already good news, and wanting to rely on agriculture to make big money was simply wishful thinking.

Today, I will update once for now; CK3 has updated, and I'm itching to play the big update. Also, Honor of Kings has a new season, so I'll play some games today.

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(End of this chapter)