Chapter 164: The Status Quo of the Americas

Upon hearing the report from Gao Da, Luo Lun first paused, then looked at Gao Da with a satisfied, slightly joyful smile and said, "Minister Gao Da, has Prime Minister Hu An heard the report on the Education Department's development plan?"

"His Excellency the Prime Minister has already heard it," Gao Da nodded respectfully and replied.

"What was Prime Minister Hu An's attitude?" Luo Lun continued to ask.

Luo Lun believed he finally knew why Gao Da had squeezed out the previous Minister of Education to enter the new cabinet government; this fellow's ideas regarding educational reform were indeed very advanced, and he had likely received strong support from Prime Minister Hu An.

"His Excellency the Prime Minister is quite supportive of the Education Department's plan. Of course, I am also grateful for Your Majesty's support; otherwise, the Education Department could not have obtained such a large budget," Gao Da said with a smile.

Originally, his plan for educational reform had not been this massive, but after receiving such sufficient educational funding, he had temporarily decided to modify some of the directions of the reform.

For instance, he had not originally planned to implement so-called dual-track education. He had thought that strengthening Spain's basic compulsory education while building more technical schools to cultivate technical talent would be sufficient.

But since he had already obtained such a large education budget, he certainly had to add dual-track education to the list of plans.

The benefit of dual-track education was that it intensified the cultivation of technical talent, even making it possible to start from a young age. Only technical talent who had completed both basic technical education and advanced technical education could be considered the truly scarce high-level technical talent that Spain needed.

As for those technical talents cultivated in technical schools for two or three years, at best, they only solved the government's initial demand for talent.

But when it came to the importance of talent, perhaps 10 junior technical talents could not compare to 1 high-level technical talent. In some extremely important fields, 100 junior technical talents were not as important as 1 high-level technical talent.

Only when Spain completely solved the demand for high-level technical talent could it be said that there were no obstacles in the development of various industries.

"Very good." Luo Lun nodded and expressed his support without hesitation: "To be honest, I am very optimistic about the Education Department's reform plan."

"Minister Gao Da, if you encounter any difficulties during the reform in the Education Department, you can also come to me. I look forward to the surprises the Education Department can bring me in the second five-year plan. The royal family never treats Spain's meritorious officials poorly, and I hope you will be one of them."

"As you command, Your Majesty." Gao Da nodded very respectfully, and this impromptu conversation concluded smoothly.

After this conversation, Luo Lun was quite satisfied with the development plan formulated by the Education Department led by Gao Da.

Although such a development plan was destined to consume a large amount of the fiscal budget, then again, how could a country unwilling to invest too much capital in education be qualified to become more powerful?

A country that values education is not necessarily a strong country, but a strong country must be a country that values education. Relying on poaching talent from other countries is destined not to last long; for one, other countries will not allow their talent to be poached, and for another, the loyalty of these poached talents is ultimately a problem.

Talent cultivated by one's own country is the only kind one can use with peace of mind; this was also the reason why Luo Lun had fully agreed to Minister Gao Da's plan for educational reform without much thought.

If Spain wants to grow into a powerful country, it must cultivate its own local talent. Only when Spain can satisfy the domestic shortage of high-level talent through its own education system can Spain truly move toward strength.

The only pity was Gao Da's Ziyou Party affiliation. Had he chosen the Conservative Party, Luo Lun would not have minded pushing him to a higher position.

However, then again, it was not certain that the Conservative Party could produce a talent like Gao Da who had long-term plans for educational reform.

If the Conservative Party were not conservative, then the Conservative Party would have no meaning for its existence. Those talents who supported reform and had more ideas about reform had long ago chosen the Progressive Party or the Ziyou Party among the three major parties.

Those who could remain within the Conservative Party, besides the Royalists who supported the monarchy, were just those relatively conservative diehards who were not very willing to reform.

After Gao Da, the new Minister of Industry, Ma Deli, and the Minister of Agriculture, Yu Kaluo, also requested an audience with Luo Lun to report on the layout of their two departments in the five-year development plan.

If the arrival of Minister of Education Gao Da was more like an accident, then the arrival of the two ministers, Ma Deli and Yu Kaluo, was an expected matter.

However, compared to the reform of the Education Department, what the Industrial Department and the Agricultural Department needed to do was relatively simple.

With a large number of enterprises and production materials from abroad, the Industrial Department only needed to successfully digest these pieces of equipment and data in the next few years, while simultaneously winning over some excellent foreign technical talent for its own use.

Coupled with the construction of the Barcelona industrial base, the increase in Spain's industrial scale in the next few years would be visible to the naked eye, and Ma Deli, as Minister of Industry, only needed to lie back and earn the credit.

And Yu Kaluo, as Minister of Agriculture, was not much different. Although Spain's plains were not large, it was actually a major grain-producing country.

Moreover, the existing agricultural situation in Spain did not need much tossing about; it only needed to reclaim more land as much as possible while maintaining the current grain output and increase Spain's fertilizer usage rate, and the grain output would naturally climb step by step.

Furthermore, Yu Kaluo's situation as Minister of Agriculture was already much better than it had been during Ma Deli's time. The government had already obtained large tracts of land from the nobles and the church; after these lands were rented or sold to the public, Spain's per capita arable land area had also increased.

Although the credit of the Agricultural Department would certainly not be as massive as that of the Industrial Department, it was, after all, one of the cabinet departments, and the credit Yu Kaluo would obtain in the future would not be small.

Plus, neither of them was too old; after accumulating enough seniority in the Industrial and Agricultural Departments, they would still have the opportunity to go further with Luo Lun's support.

As the two most important representatives of the Conservative Party, Ma Deli and Yu Kaluo also deeply understood who they should be loyal to.

After confirming that there were no problems with their development plans, Luo Lun also exhorted them and encouraged them individually.

Before the European powers partitioned Africa, Spain had always been considered the third-largest colonial empire in the world.

And the most fundamental reason for this was precisely because Spain had once colonized nearly half of the Americas. Yes, the Americas, including both North America and South America.

Spain once had four major viceroyalties in the Americas: the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the Viceroyalty of New Granada, the Viceroyalty of Peru, and the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.

The territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain was the most vast, containing not only Mexico and Central America but also large areas of the American Midwest and the southern coast.

The remaining three viceroyalties were all located in South America, and their combined area occupied most of the total area of South America. It could even be said without exaggeration that the entire South America was once under the control of the two Iberian powers, Portugal and Spain.

Except for Brazil and the Guyana region, the entire South America was once a Spanish colony, which was the reason why Spain was called the third-largest colonial empire.

Although the current Spain had already lost these colonies, and besides a Cuba in the Americas that could still prove the afterglow of the Spanish colonial empire, other regions had no relationship with Spain anymore.

But the influence caused by hundreds of years of colonial rule was not so easily erased. Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and other American countries still spoke Spanish, and there were still a large number of Spaniards and Spanish-descended mixed-race people among their populations.

This point alone made it impossible for them to completely shake off Spain's influence. Although because of Spain's cruel colonial rule, many Americans did not have much affection for Spain.

But those orthodox Spaniards who immigrated from Spain to foreign countries still had deep feelings for their motherland.

Especially since these countries and regions had already become independent from Spanish colonial rule, the contradictions between the locals and Spain were no longer so intense.

Instead, Spaniards began to miss their motherland and wanted to try their best to facilitate an alliance between the American countries and Spain.

As for what role the Spanish government played in this, it was unknown, but the current public opinion trend in South American countries was indeed favorable to Spain.

Among the many countries in South America, Chile and Argentina were definitely relatively famous countries. Although Spain's colonies had split into many countries, not many eventually became regional powers; counting them all, there were only two: Chile and Argentina.

It just so happened that these two countries were neighbors, and both were located in the southernmost part of South America, which could be considered a bitter fate.

Precisely because these two countries were adjacent to each other, and because they had both once belonged to Spanish colonies, the relationship between the two countries was not as good as one might imagine.

And all of this stemmed from the division of territory after they became independent from Spain.

At that time, Chile and Argentina, both as Spanish colonies, had a relatively good relationship with each other. And after the two countries became independent, the division of territory between them was not that detailed; it only generally determined the main body that still followed the original colonial border division.

But could the borders between countries be defined by vague division? When the strength of the two countries was not that powerful, such vague border division actually did not have much of a problem.

But when the strength of the two countries gradually became powerful, and there was even a faint trend of confrontation between them, the border division between the two countries became particularly important.

Because some land in disputed areas was very likely to be buffer strongholds with strategic significance, or strategic strongholds possessing precious resources.

Although the direct conflict between Chile and Argentina in history would have to wait more than ten years, the relationship between Chile and Argentina had already gradually broken down at this time.

Although the good relationship with Argentina was gradually breaking down, Chile was clearly not panicked at all. Because of the discovery of Chilean nitrate mines, a large amount of foreign capital flooded into South America to invest in the mining of nitrate.

It was precisely during the period when foreign capital flooded in that Chile reached a relatively close cooperation with the British and obtained a large amount of funds through mining nitrate.

Chile had the British as a backer, so it naturally did not need to worry about the problems existing between it and Argentina. But the Argentines did not have such a good mood.

Looking closely at Spain's colonial scope in South America, Chile had already made contact with the British and was making a fortune by mining nitrate.

Bolivia and Peru to the north of Chile had also formed an alliance, and the two countries combined to deal with Chile, so the strength was not much different.

Instead, Argentina, which had tasted the sweetness in the Paraguayan War, did not have a reliable ally at this time, and its development speed was far inferior to Chile, which had nitrate mines.

Coupled with the fact that there was a more powerful neighbor, Brazil, to the north of Argentina, the pressure on the Argentine government doubled.

After thinking about it, the Argentine government finally felt that Argentina could not sit and wait for death. The national strength of Brazil and Chile was becoming more and more powerful; if Argentina did not have any significant improvement, the one who would fall behind in the competition in the future would definitely be Argentina.

But who should Argentina cooperate with? The British were definitely impossible because the British valued Chile's nitrate mines more.

Nitrate mines could not only be used as munitions but could also be made into fertilizer. In this era, nitrate mines were extremely important strategic resources; the British clearly could not give up Chile's nitrate mines, and thus could not give up Chile.

After surveying the European powers, the Argentine government disappointedly discovered that no country could reach a close cooperation with Argentina. After all, Argentina did not have any strategic-level resources that could attract these powers; except for the vast black soil, Argentina did not seem to have anything attractive.

Finally, the Argentine government turned its gaze back to the former colonizer, Spain. If nothing else, Spain's comprehensive national strength was clearly stronger than any country in the Americas. (Excluding the United States)

If Spain were willing to support Argentina, Argentina would not fall behind in the competition among South American countries.

More importantly, Argentina was originally a purely immigrant country; the domestic population was either Spanish or Spanish-descended mixed-race, clearly more close to Spain.

In recent years, the voice in Argentina close to Spain had become louder and louder, and it was almost about to form a scale.

Although this might have been instigated and guided by someone, to a certain extent, it also represented the public opinion of Argentina.

The Argentine government finally decided to go with the flow, strengthen the connection with Spain, and at the same time, try its best to use Spain to improve Argentina's strength to cope with the potentially more intense South American competition in the future.

When the Spanish government received the request from the Argentine government, Prime Minister Hu An was inspecting the progress of various departments.

Since the second five-year development plan was officially determined, various departments had begun to act enthusiastically. Prime Minister Hu An was very satisfied with the progress of the various departments he inspected, and he also had a premonition that Spain's development this year might be more rapid than last year.

Before the inspection was over, the diplomatic request from the Argentine government came, and the smile on Prime Minister Hu An's face became even thicker.

Regarding the idea of some people in South American countries requesting to strengthen the connection with Spain, it was, of course, Prime Minister Hu An who had people spread it.

What Spain could currently utilize were these former colonies; these colonies still had a considerable population, and absorbing a little every year could also contribute to Spain's population growth.

Of course, more importantly, these American countries united were also a force. If Spain could regain control of these American countries, or strengthen the connection with them, it would also be beneficial to itself.

Actually, to be honest, even for the United States, whose economy and industry had developed rapidly, Prime Minister Hu An did not take it seriously.

In Prime Minister Hu An's view, there were not many countries that could pose a threat to Spain; counting them all, there were only the five traditional European powers: Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Austria.

Prime Minister Hu An did not even take the Mediterranean neighbor Italy seriously, let alone the United States, a country that was once just a colony.

Speaking of which, the independence of the United States was less than a hundred years old. The United States Independence Day was July 4, 1776, and until now, it had only been 98 years since independence.

Spain's colonial rule in the Americas far exceeded this time, which was also the reason why many European countries, including Prime Minister Hu An, looked down on the United States.

Even if the United States had developed its population, industry, and economy to the level of a power in these nearly hundred years of development, the Europeans' look-down on the United States would not disappear.

In the eyes of Europeans, the United States was at best just an upstart. The Americans' culture was inherited from Europe; to put it bluntly, they were just sons raised by the British.

It was just that this son was rebellious too early and deviated from the British rule. But if one were to say that the United States could one day threaten the rule of the British Empire, the European countries absolutely dared not believe it.

Today's Britain was the sun-never-setting empire in its prime, while the United States was even ranked before Italy in the ranking of powers by European media.

One must know that Italy's unification had been less than ten years. And Italy's predecessor, the Kingdom of Sardinia, could not even rank in the top ten in Europe.

This was also the reason why the Americans had coveted Cuba for a long time, but they waited until Spain had completely weakened before launching the Spanish-American War.

Even before launching the Spanish-American War, the Americans had kindly advised the Spanish government to sell the Cuba colony to them for 150 million US dollars.

But the discrimination against the United States by European countries had a long history, and the proud Spanish government naturally could not agree to the Americans' offer.

In fact, at that time, Cuba was already a chicken rib to Spain. Although Cuba could also bring a large amount of revenue to the Spanish government, the Cuban independence elements also made Spain pay a huge price to maintain its rule.

The 150 million US dollars at that time was close to 800 million pesetas; as long as the Spanish government agreed to the Americans' transaction, it would definitely be a steady profit without loss.

Taking 800 million pesetas to develop African colonies, even if it was just to strengthen Spain's military power, would definitely be much better than guarding Cuba.

It was just a pity that the discrimination against the United States by European countries was from the heart, which also led to Spain ignoring the Americans' request even in its weakest stage.

5200-word two-in-one chapter, asking for support!

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(End of this chapter)