[{"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-126":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},2365054,4632,"Chapter 126: Pleasing Economic Data","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-126",126,"\u003Cp>The good news is that the current Spanish government is temporarily not short of money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The economic growth brought about by industry and infrastructure is hard to estimate, and this has allowed Spain's economy to achieve a rapid takeoff.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As of April 1872, Gao Da finally received the Spanish economic forecast data provided by the Spanish finance department, which showed a relatively significant increase compared to last year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing such exaggerated economic data, Gao Da finally understood how great the harm of the Bourbon dynasty's incompetent rule was to Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It can even be said without hesitation that Spain declined precisely in the hands of the Bourbon dynasty. Although Spain during the Habsburg dynasty was also weakening, its overall strength was still at the level of a European hegemon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the Bourbon dynasty came to power through the War of the Spanish Succession, Spain began a long period of decline. Whether it was Queen Isabella or her father Ferdinand VII, both were incompetent kings who were well-known in Spanish history.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There is no need to say much about Queen Isabella. She was dissolute and incompetent, and even her own son Alfonso had bloodline issues.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Queen Isabella's father, Ferdinand VII, was the king with the worst reputation in Spanish history. Napoleon once supported his brother Joseph Bonaparte to take office as King of Spain, but this was met with strong opposition from the Spanish people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eventually, Ferdinand VII was restored to the throne with Napoleon's permission, and the Bourbon dynasty resumed its rule in Spain. Upon regaining the throne, Ferdinand VII carried out extremely brutal suppression of Spanish revolutionaries and called his post-restoration rule the \"Dark Decade.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is even more worth mentioning that the independence of the Spanish American colonies occurred precisely under the rule of Ferdinand VII.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coupled with his forced violation of the Bourbon dynasty's rules by naming his daughter Isabella as the heir to the throne instead of his younger brother Carlos, he created the Carlist Wars that plagued Spain for decades.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It can be said that the decline of the Spanish dynasty cannot be separated from the Bourbon family, and even less so from Ferdinand VII and Queen Isabella.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This father and daughter ruled Spain for as long as 54 years, forcibly turning Spain from a great power into a secondary European power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If not for the accident of Gao Da, the subsequent succession of two mediocre kings, Alfonso XII and XIII, would have caused Spain to completely lose hope of revival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, from this point, one can also see the Spanish people's support and love for the monarchy. The incredibly incompetent Bourbon dynasty's rule in Spain managed to persist until later generations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although there were many times in between when Spain became a republic, the fact that it could eventually be restored already proved the status of the Bourbon dynasty in the hearts of the Spanish people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, the Spaniards of this era still identified quite strongly with the monarchy. It is just that the Bourbon dynasty had been ruling Spain for nearly a hundred years, so the Spaniards' identification with the monarchy was transferred to the Bourbon dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, with the accident of Gao Da, it naturally led to the Spanish people having a different choice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason why King Amadeo failed in history was, firstly, that he lost his greatest supporter of royal power, Prime Minister Primo, before arriving in Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second is that Amadeo did not fully face up to the responsibilities of a King of Spain; his Italian identity meant he did not have much support in Spain, and coupled with the joint opposition of the Republicans and the Carlists, the House of Savoy only lasted for a few years in Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now it is different. With the support of Prime Minister Primo, Gao Da's throne is quite stable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coupled with the fact that the Carlists have been cleared out, the Bourbon dynasty can no longer pose much of a threat to Gao Da. Under Gao Da's public opinion propaganda, even the uneducated Spanish peasants know the pain brought to them by the corrupt and ignorant Bourbon dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And reducing agricultural taxes and abolishing tithes are the gifts Gao Da brought to all Spanish peasants, and also the best way to win favor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the propaganda of a large number of newspapers, the public may not know what Gao Da looks like, but they certainly know that this young king from Italy has promulgated policies to reduce agricultural taxes and abolish tithes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared with the previous rule of Queen Isabella, the conservative Spanish peasants naturally know who they should support.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At least their taxes have actually been reduced, which is also Gao Da's best means of winning over the hearts of the people. Only by letting the peasants taste the actual benefits will they know who they should be loyal to.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as he gains the support of these conservative peasants, Gao Da's rule in Spain will be irreplaceable. The reason why Spain is still a monarchy in later generations is because of the support of so many conservatives for the monarchy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Currently, the peasants, who make up the majority of the population, support Gao Da's rule in Spain, which is actually equivalent to more than half of Spain supporting Gao Da's rule.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the support of these peasants, the remaining opposition from the church and the Republicans can be easily dealt with.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What's more, the current church is by no means a monolith. The church is definitely one of the major forces in Spain, and its status and influence are no less than that of the Spanish nobility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the problem is that the current Spanish church does not have military power in the true sense; all they have are countless lands and wealth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is like a plump and sturdy fat sheep in front of a butcher holding a cleaver; besides fleeing in panic, perhaps it can only close its eyes and wait for the arrival of the cleaver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Pope cannot give them support either. Within Spain, although the church's power is great, it is the existence least likely to cause influence and threats to the government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, if the church dared to incite rebellion, that would be a good thing. Gao Da and Prime Minister Primo are just looking for a suitable excuse to take action against the church.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Da's idea of establishing a Spanish Archbishop is not just a thought; it is something he truly wants to do. The title of Spanish Archbishop is precisely the means Gao Da uses to win over the loyalists in the church and divide the church.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the Archbishop of Toledo, Pedro, is unwilling to be loyal to Gao Da for the title of Spanish Archbishop, there will naturally be other bishops willing to be loyal to Gao Da for this title.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, this is a Spanish Archbishop in the true sense, possessing the power to manage all Catholic churches and bishops within Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for whether the Pope is willing to see Spain establish an Archbishop to manage the Catholic Church in Spain, that is not something the Pope himself can decide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, the Pope is still in the Vatican, and the Catholic Church is a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, let alone just the church in Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the current Spain has not reached Gao Da's ideal state, it has made too much progress compared to the rule of Queen Isabella.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The public trusts the government; after all, all kinds of policies were promulgated by the current government, and the current government is a new government formed after the revolution, so the public's hatred for the kingdom's government during the Bourbon dynasty will naturally not be transferred to the current government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is also thanks to the fact that Gao Da is a king elected by the new government that the public's hatred for the original king will not be transferred to Gao Da.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is also the benefit of electing a king. The disadvantage is that an elected king is difficult to grasp power, but Gao Da's influence is already getting higher and higher in his own layout, and it is very hopeful to gain more power in the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the public trusting the government, the government's construction and reforms have also gone much more smoothly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the full year of 1871, Spain's Gross Domestic Product reached 6.678 billion pesetas, an increase of over 8% compared to 1870.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such a growth rate is relatively normal. After all, Spain still had war in 1870, but Spain in 1871 spent its time in peaceful development.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In 1871, Spain also received aid from Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the government also obtained a large number of low-interest loans, which is also the reason why economic development is so strong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fiscal revenue also rarely broke through 400 million pesetas, which is more than last year's fiscal expenditure, reaching a new high for the Spanish government's fiscal revenue, totaling 475.3 million pesetas.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, because of more industrial construction and the construction of railways and highways, Spain's total fiscal expenditure in 1871 also hit a new high, reaching 512.5 million pesetas.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The good news is that the fiscal deficit in 1871 was only 37.2 million pesetas, a decrease of over 22 million compared to 1870.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The increase in fiscal revenue is mainly because order in Cuba has stabilized again, providing Spain with a large amount of income.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There is also the increase in the actual income of the public, as well as the increase in jobs brought about by a large number of infrastructure and industrial bases, which makes government tax revenue continue to increase.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the fiscal revenue of the Spanish government a few years ago, agricultural tax accounted for the bulk. But now, taxes in industry and finance have also reached a considerable scale, which also means that Spain is transforming from an agricultural country to an industrial country.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, such a transformation is certainly not something that can be completed in a few years. According to Spain's current progress, it can be built into an agricultural-industrial country within the next ten years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps after more than 20 years of struggle, Spain has hope of completely getting rid of the status of an agricultural country and becoming a powerful industrial country.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The increase of over 100 million pesetas in fiscal expenditure in 1871 compared to 1870 was mostly invested in the construction of railways and highways and the development of industry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such an investment is clearly not a loss; this fund will be fed back into the economy and revenue of the future Spanish government through various ways.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And according to the current development of the Spanish government's economy, both the total fiscal expenditure and fiscal revenue in 1872 will increase significantly, thereby further reducing the gap with the great powers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, the biggest gap is still population and colonies. A significant factor in why Spain's fiscal revenue is so low is that Spain has a population of less than 17 million.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such a population is less than half of that of Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and France, nearly half of the UK, and more than half of Italy, so the government's total fiscal revenue naturally cannot catch up with these great powers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first update of three thousand words, please support!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of this chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1911,"2026-06-25T09:27:12.995Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","4fc11c0550125343b4a3ca54df10788b393e784fa4b5e71d03445ec84fb23669","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-127","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-125",493,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frise-of-the-empire-spain-cover.jpg"]