[{"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-137":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},2365065,4632,"Chapter 137: Implementing the Bill","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-137",137,"\u003Cp>Although there were clearly some in the parliament with differing attitudes toward this Official Performance Assessment Act, it was evidently impossible to hinder the implementation of the bill at this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Over fifty percent of the seats in the Spanish parliament were held by the Progressive Party, to which Prime Minister Primo belonged, and the Liberal Party, which supported reform, held nearly twenty percent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Together, these two accounted for over seventy percent of the parliamentary seats; according to the Spanish constitution, once approval exceeds seventy percent, a bill can be established and implementation can begin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, Prime Minister Primo did not intend to completely alienate those conservative factions. Although a corresponding performance assessment system was established for the existing bureaucratic system, the department responsible for the assessment was composed of both the parliament and the cabinet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, the parliament also held oversight powers over the cabinet. Cabinet members were also required to complete these so-called performance assessments; in the event of consecutive poor assessments, the parliament had the power to impeach any cabinet member, including the Prime Minister, and would decide the fate of said cabinet member based on the final results of the cabinet meeting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Doing this clearly strengthened the power of the parliament, which was also the reason the bill was ultimately passed in the parliament.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, for Prime Minister Primo, whether it was strengthening the power of the cabinet government or the power of the parliament, there was actually not much of a difference.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prime Minister Primo firmly controlled the Spanish cabinet government and parliament; rather than saying it was an increase in parliamentary power, it was better to say it was an increase in Prime Minister Primo's power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This bill did not have much of an impact on the Spanish public; the people even cheered for it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But for the Spanish officialdom, the promulgation of this bill was no less than a small-scale earthquake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet neither Luo Lun nor Prime Minister Primo intended to carry out a large-scale purge of the Spanish officialdom at this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This bill was actually aimed at those officials who had both corrupt habits and not a shred of political ability. These people staying in office would only cause harm to the country, without even the slightest benefit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for those who were honest but lacked ability, or those who had some ability but were corrupt, they would not actually be on Prime Minister Primo's liquidation list.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, to put it plainly, these officials all had their own value for existence. Officials who were honest but lacked ability could be placed in other positions that were not as demanding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And those officials who had some ability but were corrupt could also be used to do things temporarily. To a certain extent, these people could even become livestock raised by the Spanish government; once fattened, they could be slaughtered to fill the national treasury.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One does not fear officials being corrupt; one fears officials having no ability and only knowing how to be corrupt. As long as they could do some practical work for the various cities and regions and promote the development of local industry or the economy, Luo Lun and Prime Minister Primo would not pay too much attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, every individual has their own little schemes, and Luo Lun could not demand that all Spanish officials be upright and clean.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as the corruption was not too outrageous—for example, embezzling a few tens of thousands out of 1 million in funds—it was harmless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if one could embezzle hundreds of thousands out of 1 million in funds, no matter how capable they were, they would definitely enter Prime Minister Primo's liquidation list.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, corruption also requires methods and means. Embezzling directly from Spanish government appropriations must naturally be resolutely prevented, but if they were trying every possible way to squeeze those old-style nobles and the church, more tolerance was not out of the question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before announcing this bill, Prime Minister Primo also specifically used the word-of-mouth dissemination of Progressive Party members to signal to the vast majority of Spanish officials that past corrupt behavior would be forgiven.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as the previous corrupt behavior was not that exaggerated and the funds were under one million pesetas, the Spanish government would let bygones be bygones and would not pursue past faults.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the embezzled funds exceeded one million pesetas, it was also simple: as long as the majority of the illicit money was paid to the government in a timely manner, it was possible to have a name removed from the list.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, this was Prime Minister Primo's attitude, or rather, this was the shared attitude of Luo Lun and Prime Minister Primo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as one has some ability, even a few minor flaws are acceptable. If one has no ability and only flaws, then it is better to make room for others early.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, those rebels and traitors are excluded. No matter how capable rebels and traitors are, once an act of rebellion or betrayal of the country is discovered, it will be handled strictly in every case to ensure the stability of the Spanish government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The one-million-peseta limit was the result of Prime Minister Primo's careful consideration. Doing this could allow most people to escape unscathed while catching a few typical cases of more serious corruption.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If these people were sensible, they could also clear their names by turning over the illicit money to the government in a timely manner, allowing themselves to avoid being liquidated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, it was also explaining to other officials that the government truly had no intention of liquidating the past and held an attitude of letting bygones be bygones for everyone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if these people were ungrateful, Prime Minister Primo would not mind letting them understand the severity and cruelty of Spanish law and letting them understand the final end for the corrupt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, if one were to talk about impact, the forces affected by this bill were still primarily the old-style nobles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no help for it; the former Spain was too decadent, and the government and military were almost controlled by the nobles. How did these nobles get their massive estates? Was it not during the period when the noble class controlled all of Spain, by using every possible means to annex them from the hands of Spanish farmers?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the nobles could accumulate massive amounts of land during this period, they could naturally also engage in corruption through various means.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The former American colonies provided Spain with massive amounts of gold and silver treasures; only a portion of these materials entered the pockets of the royal family and the government, while a massive amount of materials became the private property of the nobles and the church.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was certainly property among this that the nobles and the church obtained through legal operations, but to say it was all earned through legal means, I am afraid that is not necessarily the case.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regardless, this bill did indeed affect a massive number of old-style nobles; after all, they were the candidates most likely to have embezzled over a million pesetas from the government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although a million pesetas did not count for much to the Spanish government, it was still a massive sum of nearly 40,000 pounds, which was still quite valuable in this era.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If converted into gold, it would be a full 290 kilograms, the weight of nearly half a ton of gold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the greatest noble, Luo Lun naturally also noticed the impact of this bill on the old-style nobles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, Luo Lun could not avoid stepping in; after all, these nobles were ostensibly still loyal to the royal family, and Luo Lun could not just ignore them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taking the opportunity of the Royal United Bank holding a shareholders' meeting, Luo Lun held talks with many great Spanish nobles and discussed the recently announced \"Spanish Official Performance Assessment Act\" and the handling of past corruption phenomena.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Lun secretly expressed his true attitude toward this bill, but also provided protection to the old-style nobles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Lun stated that for nobles whose past embezzled amounts exceeded one million pesetas, as long as they made an unconditional donation of 1 million pesetas to the Royal United Bank, Luo Lun could let bygones be bygones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason it was an unconditional donation to the Royal United Bank was that the Royal United Bank was a bank jointly founded by the royal family and the nobles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These corrupt nobles donating to the Royal United Bank meant the royal family and the nobles were still the ones obtaining the actual benefits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This decision by Luo Lun received the support of other nobles; after all, for most nobles, they could obtain actual benefits without doing anything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as one noble donated to the bank, the nobles could divide 250,000 pesetas based on their shares. This was true for one person, and if more nobles donated to the bank, the remaining nobles who were not implicated would receive even more funds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the meeting, it was already clearly visible that several nobles had ideas, but they would not express their willingness to donate to Luo Lun in a public setting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, this was indeed the case; after this meeting ended, several nobles privately found Luo Lun and expressed their willingness to use the form of a donation to wash away their previous sins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But most nobles remained indifferent. After all, the wealth of the nobles was accumulated over a hundred or even hundreds of years; it was not something that could be created by one generation of nobles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The individual embezzled funds of most nobles would not reach 1 million pesetas, and Luo Lun could not liquidate the previous generation of nobles who had already passed away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But regardless, the final result still met Luo Lun's expectations. This incident could also be considered a warning to these old-style nobles, letting them understand that the current Kingdom of Spain was not the previous kingdom government, and the royal family could not allow these old-style nobles to wantonly exploit the bottom-level people of Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regarding the implementation of the Official Performance Assessment Act, Prime Minister Primo was clearly much more serious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since the Spanish parliament passed this bill, Prime Minister Primo required the various regional governments to formulate performance assessments for all officials in the entire region within one month and submit them to the official assessment department established by the parliament and the government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Assigning reasonable tasks to all officials in the entire region became the primary task of each regional governor. If they completed them well, this would be their performance; if they did not complete them well, it would naturally also deduct points from them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Counting from the day the bill was promulgated, the Spanish government's assessment of all officials had already begun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prime Minister Primo would not have the slightest patience for those officials who were both incompetent and immoral. Quickly weeding out these officials who had no ability and engaged in massive corruption from the government in the shortest possible time was what Prime Minister Primo wanted to do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In order to mobilize the enthusiasm of officials, Prime Minister Primo also had the official performance assessment department set up specific reward and punishment systems.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although obtaining poor results in the assessment would lead to government punishment or even dismissal from office, if the assessment results were good, one could also increase their salary, accumulate certain merits, and get promoted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Accumulating military merit can earn a title, and accumulating political performance can naturally also earn a title. Because he knew that relying purely on promotion and salary increases could not attract all Spanish officials, Prime Minister Primo specifically asked Luo Lun for instructions and clarified that accumulating political performance could also earn the opportunity to be awarded a title.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if one was of commoner origin, if one established significant political performance in their official position and their administrative assessment was consistently excellent, they would have the opportunity to be awarded a title.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as one works diligently for a lifetime and does not commit any relatively serious mistakes, it is relatively easy to obtain the title of Baron.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now is not like before; nobles are indeed very common in Spain, and a Baron is not a rare thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even for Spain, a Count is like an honorary title; it has already become a dime-a-dozen existence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the number of Dukes is not small, which is also the reason Luo Lun has always had a headache regarding the old-style nobles, because these old-style nobles in Spain are simply too numerous; the quantity is simply frighteningly large.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Conferring titles does not have that much attraction for those great nobles; after all, they are already at the top among Spanish nobles, and it is also very difficult for their titles to move upward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only those at the highest levels of the Spanish political scene and military, such as Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano, could go a step further and obtain room for improvement in terms of titles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For most Dukes, it is already quite good if they can hold onto their family's existing property and go a step further on that basis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the Grand Duke title above a Duke, one must establish considerable merit to obtain it, which is not so easy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In order to mobilize the enthusiasm of a large number of officials of commoner origin, Prime Minister Primo also assigned a large number of relatively simple tasks, such as lowering the illiteracy rate in various places, promoting the use of Spanish on a larger scale, etc., all of which could be achieved with a little effort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is not to say it is a free merit, but it is definitely something that could be completed very easily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just like lowering the illiteracy rate, this is something the government is vigorously promoting. As long as the local officials are not stupid and actively cooperate with the government's policies, the lowering of the illiteracy rate is inevitable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for promoting Spanish, it is mainly aimed at officials in Catalonia and the Basque region.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If officials want political performance, they must promote the use of Spanish in these regions and reduce the application scenarios of local languages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Previously, it was the Spanish government that confronted these nationalists; next, let the regional governors of Catalonia and the Basque region do these things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nationalists promoting the use of local languages will harm the political performance of local officials; even if they are unwilling, they must reduce the use of local languages in the area as much as possible for the sake of their own future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the officials in these regions are basically local ethnic groups; through this method, it can also form an opposition between local nationalists and officials, reducing the threat of local independence movements through division.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The officialdom reform caused a relatively large sensation, but in reality, only a small portion of officials were affected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the two months from July to August 1872, the assessment department strictly handled at least two hundred officials, among whom there was no lack of mayors and heads of secondary government departments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, after Prime Minister Primo took office, he carried out a major reshuffle of the cabinet; currently, all cabinet ministers are from the Progressive Party or Liberal Party that support reform. These people may not be that loyal to Luo Lun, but their own abilities are still quite good, at least unrelated to incompetence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two-in-one chapter, one thousand words owed to be made up tomorrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",2624,"2026-06-25T09:27:12.995Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","8fce67197d368f69e07deb81218b0dbf2681d52886344473ecfb3d2602bfced9","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-138","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-136",493,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frise-of-the-empire-spain-cover.jpg"]