Chapter 184

When the first telegram from Andrew, the commander of the military advisory group stationed in Lanfang, was sent back to Spain, time had already reached July 28, 1875, which happened to be two months after Prince Juan Fernando was born.

Since his first child was born, Gao Da's mood had become incomparably wonderful, and he wished he could accompany his child all the time.

But unfortunately, Gao Da had more and more government affairs to handle. Since Prince Juan Fernando was one month old, the spare time Gao Da could extract every day did not exceed five hours.

The main reason for this was that Gao Da had already begun to come into contact with more government affairs and exert his influence as the King of Spain on the government.

Some important documents from various government departments needed Gao Da's personal review and nod of approval before they could be approved, and some large-scale construction and large-scale projects needed Gao Da's personal signature.

This was the embodiment of the King's power, and it was also Prime Minister Primo's concession to Gao Da. Although neither side said it explicitly, a tacit understanding had been formed regarding the transfer of power.

Prime Minister Primo was letting Gao Da come into contact with more government affairs, and Gao Da was also carefully cultivating his own forces, preparing to take over the new government after the end of Prime Minister Primo's second term.

Although Prime Minister Primo limited his power in the early stage, Gao Da would not do the thing of killing the donkey after the mill. For Spain, Prime Minister Primo naturally had merit, and it was a great merit.

If it were not for Prime Minister Primo pushing Spain's reform at all costs, Spain's development could not have been so rapid.

Although a certain amount of royal power was sacrificed in the early stage, the overall development of Spain in exchange was what Gao Da was willing to see.

Regarding Prime Minister Primo's destination after his term ended, Gao Da already had a draft. Like Grand Duke Serrano, Prime Minister Primo would also be granted the title of Grand Duke and enjoy his old age in Madrid.

Gradually coming into contact with more government affairs was a good thing for Gao Da, but it also meant that the leisurely life of the past no longer existed.

Gao Da in the past had plenty of time to arrange at will every day, whether it was traveling in the mountains and water or going out hunting, or arranging sumptuous dinners and banquets, all were up to his mood.

But after starting to come into contact with more government affairs, Gao Da's spare time every day did not exceed five hours, and in the most extreme cases, there was even no entertainment time that could be arranged freely.

After getting up at 8:30 in the morning, Gao Da had an hour and a half for washing and dining. Every day's breakfast was ordered a day in advance, and Gao Da could enjoy delicacies from all over Europe, or even delicacies from all over the world.

In terms of eating, Gao Da would never treat himself badly. There were more than 20 chefs in the Madrid Wang Gong, coming from various European countries and all over the world.

It was no exaggeration to say that as long as it was a delicacy that existed in the world, it could be enjoyed in the Madrid Wang Gong. Unless it was that kind of ingredient that was not easy to transport, or seasonal delicacies.

From 10:00 am to 11:30 am, it was the time for Gao Da to meet government officials and other personnel. If there was nothing urgent, it could also be used to handle government affairs.

The hour and a half from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm was Gao Da's lunch time. Generally, Gao Da would choose to have lunch with Wang Hou Suofei, and sometimes he would have lunch with some officials.

The hour and a half from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm was lunch break, and the 4 hours from 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm would be used to handle government affairs, attend meetings, and various other activities, etc.

After 6:30 pm, Gao Da would have his own private time. But if there were not many government affairs that day, or if there were not many meetings to attend and government officials to meet, the off-duty time could also be advanced to 3:00 or 4:00 pm.

Although such days were very busy, Gao Da was quite satisfied. After all, this represented the growth of his power, which was a completely different treatment from the leisurely days before.

On the afternoon of July 28, when Gao Da received the telegram from Andrew, he was handling government affairs that were not many.

Saying it was government affairs, in fact, it was some things reported by various departments of the cabinet, which already had preliminary solutions after the discussion of the cabinet government, and were just waiting for Gao Da's signature and approval.

Gao Da handled all government affairs in a short time, and then focused on reading this telegram from Lanfang.

The task Gao Da gave to Andrew was to organize an army of more than 20,000 people in the Lanfang Republic, so that the Lanfang Republic had enough strength to resist the Dutch colonial war.

Currently, according to Andrew's investigation results on the Lanfang Republic, the Lanfang Republic had enough ability to organize an army of 20,000 people, and the organization of the army had currently begun.

According to Andrew's estimate of the current situation, the organization work of the army had the hope of being completed within three months, and it would have a certain combat capability within half a year.

After the discussion between Andrew and the internal part of the Lanfang Republic, among this army of 20,000 people, the proportion of Lanfang people would account for half, which was about 10,000+ people.

The remaining less than 10,000 people would be filled by local indigenous people. Although these indigenous people were not reliable, with an equal number of Lanfang people suppressing them, there was no need to worry about problems in the army.

Anyway, the Dutch army was almost composed of this. True Dutch people were actually very few, and most of the Dutch colonial army was composed of Dutch people, mixed-race people, and local indigenous people.

The proportion of true Dutch soldiers was definitely not half, and even in some armies that were not valued, only the middle and high-level officers were Dutch, and all other middle and low-level officers were composed of local indigenous people.

Compared to such Dutch colonial troops, the Lanfang Republic's new army had half Lanfang people, and the proportion was already much higher than the Dutch army.

Although these new troops held backward muzzle-loading guns, for the colony of Kalimantan, it could be considered enough.

"Report back to Andrew, the organization of Lanfang's army does not need to be too urgent, but a small-scale army should be drawn as soon as possible to prepare for the subsequent colonial work in New Guinea. Menotti has certain experience in this aspect, and the preliminary work of exploring and colonizing New Guinea can be handed over to him to carry out.

In addition, in the process of organizing the Lanfang army, one should try to cultivate military officers who have a good impression of Spain and exert more influence on this army.

I hope that this organized army is pro-Spain, which is also the key point of their work in organizing the army." After reading the entire telegram sent by Andrew, Gao Da gave his orders to the guards.

"Obey, Your Majesty." The guard nodded respectfully and went to convey Gao Da's orders.

After handling the affairs of the Lanfang Republic, Gao Da's government affairs for the whole day had been solved almost.

After thinking for a while, Gao Da summoned Butler Luo Lun to ask about the current development status of the Royal Family's assets.

Speaking of which, the last time Gao Da understood the scale of the Royal Family's assets was before the economic crisis. After the economic crisis, Gao Da instructed Butler Luo Lun to purchase excellent bankrupt assets abroad at his discretion, and try to develop other industries of the Royal Family as much as possible, and then he did not pay much attention to the Royal Family's assets.

The main problem was because of the huge assets of the Royal Family, simply put, the money owned by the Royal Family was countless, and it had reached the point where Gao Da could not spend it all.

Yes, it was that exaggerated. According to the annual expenses of the Wang Gong, the Royal Family's assets, even without any profit, could maintain at least a hundred years.

The expenses of the Wang Gong were divided into three major parts, namely the maintenance of the Wang Gong buildings, the salaries of the Wang Gong personnel, and the annuities of the Royal Family members.

As one of the three major palaces in Europe, the daily maintenance cost of the entire Madrid Wang Gong was a huge figure. According to the funds currently required for the maintenance of the Madrid Wang Gong every year, on average, Gao Da's expenditure in this aspect reached nearly 1 million pesetas every year.

But this was just a small expenditure. The hundreds of servants and maids, guards, security guards, and other series of positions in the Wang Gong had an annual expenditure of more than 2 million pesetas.

Then there were the annuities of the Royal Family members. Although there were currently only three people in the Royal Family, the annuities of these three people were not small.

When Gao Da was in Italy before, the annuity he could receive on average every year was about 260,000 lira. Gao Da felt at that time that this was already a quite huge figure, and its value was close to 10,000 pounds, which was definitely an astronomical figure in this era.

But after Gao Da became the King of Spain, Gao Da knew that this figure was not enough to spend at all. Coupled with the continuous expansion of the Spanish Royal Family's assets, Gao Da also increased the annuities for Royal Family members many times.

As the King of Spain, the annuity Gao Da could receive every year reached 1 million pesetas, which was also the highest annuity share that could be received among Spanish Royal Family members.

As Gao Da's wife, the annuity Wang Hou Suofei could receive every year reached 800,000 pesetas. These annuities could be spent at Wang Hou Suofei's will, which also confirmed how extravagant the lives of European nobles and Royal Families were in this era.

Although little Juan Fernando was only a two-month-old child, according to the regulations of the annuities for Royal Family members, he could still receive an annuity income of up to 500,000 pesetas every year.

Fortunately, the Spanish Royal Family had only three people in total, and the annual expenditure on annuities was only 2.3 million pesetas, which was less than 100,000 when converted into pounds, which could only be considered a drop in the bucket for the Royal Family's assets.

It was not strange that the annuities of Spanish Royal Family members were higher than those of Italian Royal Family members.

After all, the Italian Royal Family was a huge family, while the Spanish Royal Family was just a small branch of the Italian Royal Family, and the number of people determined the gap between the annuities of both sides.

Gao Da only needed to pay annuities for his family, while Vittorio Emanuele needed to pay annuities for the huge Italian Royal Family. The gap and expenses between the two were completely different.

Fortunately, the Savoy family had also operated the Kingdom of Sardinia for a long time, and the family's wealth could be considered huge. Especially after the unification of Italy, the Savoy family's assets ushered in expansion again, which also made the Italian Royal Family's assets and the per capita assets of Royal Family members no longer in the middle and lower ranks among European Royal Families.

"Your Majesty." Butler Luo Lun waited outside Gao Da's office. Hearing Gao Da's summons, he hurriedly walked in, waiting respectfully for Gao Da's orders.

"Butler Luo Lun, tell me about the recent development of the Royal Family's assets. How are our enterprises developing? What is the scale? Currently, what level has the total value of the Royal Family's assets reached?" Gao Da smiled and signaled Butler Luo Lun to sit down, while asking his own questions.

Butler Luo Lun's loyalty was completely sufficient, and Gao Da also regarded him as his absolute confidant and was very reassured about him.

Butler Luo Lun took out a thick account book and introduced the situation of the Spanish Royal Family's assets to Gao Da in detail: "Your Majesty, after the outbreak of the economic crisis, we used more than 120 million pesetas to purchase excellent enterprises abroad, and currently achieved very good results.

Our steel plants have been well expanded, and the total amount of steel produced by the steel plants controlled by the Royal Family currently accounts for nearly two-fifths of Spain's total steel production.

Under your instructions, we also increased investment in the experimental area. Our total expenditure this year reached 170 million pesetas, of which more than 35 million pesetas were invested in various research and experiments in the experimental area of the Royal Academy of Sciences.

Currently, according to the research progress of the Royal Academy of Sciences, some projects have the hope of achieving certain progress within this year, and even obtaining certain research results.

In terms of automobiles, the value of the automobile companies and engine companies we invested in reached 5 million pesetas and 3 million pesetas respectively, and the R&D funds invested in automobiles and engines this year reached 2.2 million pesetas and 1.7 million pesetas respectively.

Mr. Benz reported that the automobile you saw last time currently already has a second-generation experimental model, and it is expected that a finished product can be manufactured within this year.

The stability and speed of the finished product will be improved to a certain extent, and the appearance will also have certain changes. This is also based on the progress made in engines, thereby promoting the change of the entire automobile.

In terms of electricity experiments, currently the electricity laboratory is exploring electricity storage equipment. The electricity laboratory already has deeper research on the generation and use of electricity. The R&D funds we invested in the electricity laboratory this year exceeded 3 million pesetas, which is also the project with the highest R&D funds in the entire experimental area.

Compared to the expenditure of 170 million pesetas, the total income of all Royal Family enterprises still maintains a relatively stable level. Last year our income was about 230 million pesetas, with a net profit of 60 million pesetas. In the first half of this year, our income already reached 133 million pesetas, and there is hope to achieve a new record in terms of income." Butler Luo Lun respectfully reported on the various enterprises and project research invested by the Royal Family, as well as the total income and expenditure status of the Royal Family's industries.

In fact, from the income and expenditure situation of the Royal Family's enterprises, it could be seen that after this long development, the Royal Family's major enterprises had already become the leaders and giants among Spanish enterprises.

Especially in terms of military industry and heavy industry, the enterprises controlled by the Royal Family had already occupied the bulk of the industry in Spain. As long as Gao Da stomped his feet slightly, the military industry and heavy industry fields in Spain would shake.

(End of chapter)