Chapter 184: Carlos's Day

When the first telegram from Andrew, head of the Military Advisory Group stationed in Lanfang, was sent back to Spain, the date had already reached July 28, 1875, which happened to be exactly two months since the birth of Prince Juan Fernando.

Ever since the birth of his first child, Carlos's mood had become incredibly wonderful, and he wished he could be by his child's side at every moment.

But unfortunately, the government affairs Carlos needed to handle were increasing; since Prince Juan Fernando's one-month birthday, the free time Carlos could spare each day did not exceed five hours.

The main reason for this was that Carlos had begun to engage with more government matters, exerting his influence as the King of Spain over the government.

Some important documents from various government departments required Carlos's personal review and approval before they could be authorized, and some major construction projects and large-scale works required Carlos's personal signature.

This was a manifestation of the King's power, and also a concession from Prime Minister Primo to Carlos. Although neither side had explicitly stated it, a tacit understanding had already formed regarding the transition of power.

Prime Minister Primo was allowing Carlos to engage with more government affairs, and Carlos was also meticulously cultivating his own influence, preparing to take over the new government after Prime Minister Primo's second term ended.

Although Prime Minister Primo had limited his power in the early stages, Carlos would not do something like killing the donkey after the grinding is done. For Spain, Prime Minister Primo certainly had merits, and great merits at that.

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

Although a certain amount of royal power was sacrificed in the early stages, the resulting upward development of Spain as a whole was something Carlos was willing to see.

Regarding where Prime Minister Primo would go after his term ended, Carlos already had a draft in mind. Like Grand Duke Serrano, Prime Minister Primo would also be conferred the title of Grand Duke and spend his later years in Madrid.

Gradually engaging in more government affairs was a good thing for Carlos, but it also meant that his previous leisurely life no longer existed.

In the past, Carlos had plenty of time every day to arrange as he pleased; whether it was sightseeing, hunting, or arranging lavish dinners and banquets, it was all up to his mood.

But after starting to engage in more government affairs, Carlos's daily free time did not exceed five hours, and in the most extreme cases, there was not even any entertainment time that could be arranged freely.

After waking up at 8: 0 in the morning, Carlos had an hour and a half for washing up and dining. Every day's breakfast was ordered a day in advance, and Carlos could enjoy delicacies from all over Europe, or even the whole world.

In terms of food, Carlos never shortchanged himself; there were over 20 chefs in the Madrid Royal Palace, coming from various European countries and all over the world.

It is no exaggeration to say that as long as a delicacy existed in the world, it could be enjoyed in the Madrid Royal Palace. Unless it was the kind of ingredient that was difficult to transport, or a seasonal delicacy.

From 10: 0 AM to 11: 0 AM was the time for Carlos to meet with 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: 0 AM to 1: 0 PM was Carlos's lunch time. Generally, Carlos would choose to have lunch with Queen Sophie, and sometimes he would also have lunch with certain officials.

The hour and a half from 1: 0 PM to 2: 0 PM was for a nap, and the four hours from 2: 0 PM to 6: 0 PM would be used to handle government affairs, attend meetings, and various other activities.

After 6: 0 PM, Carlos would finally have his own private time. But if there were not many government affairs that day, or if there were few meetings to attend or government officials to meet, the time to finish work could be moved up to three or four in the afternoon.

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

On the afternoon of July 28, when Carlos received the telegram from Andrew, he was handling the not-so-numerous government affairs.

Calling them government affairs, in reality, they were just some matters reported by various cabinet departments, which already had preliminary solutions after discussion by the cabinet government, waiting only for Carlos's signature and approval.

Carlos finished handling all the government affairs in a short time, and then focused on reading this telegram from Lanfang.

The task Carlos gave Andrew was to form an army of over 20, 00 people in the Lanfang Republic, so that the Lanfang Republic would have 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 form an army of 20, 00, and the formation of the army had already begun.

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

After discussions between Andrew and the interior of the Lanfang Republic, among this army of 20, 00, the proportion of Lanfang people would account for half, which was about 10, 00 plus.

The remaining less than 10, 00 would be filled by local natives. Although these natives were not very 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 composed of about the same. Real Dutch people were actually very few; most of the Dutch colonial troops were mixed together by Dutch people, mixed-race people, and local natives.

The proportion of real Dutch soldiers was definitely not half, and even in some neglected armies, only the middle and high-level officers were Dutch, and all other middle and low-level officers were composed of local natives.

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 were all holding muzzle-loading guns that were already outdated, for a colony like Kalimantan, it could be considered enough.

"Report back to Andrew, the formation of the Lanfang army does not need to be too urgent, but a small-scale army should be drawn up as soon as possible to prepare for the subsequent colonial work in New Guinea. Menotti has some experience in this regard, and the preliminary work of exploring and colonizing New Guinea can be left to him to carry out.

In addition, during the process of forming the Lanfang army, officers who have a good impression of Spain should be cultivated as much as possible to exert more influence on this army.

I hope this formed army is pro-Spain, and this is also the key point of their work in forming the army." After reading the entire telegram sent by Andrew, Carlos gave his orders to the guard.

"As you command, Your Majesty." The guard nodded respectfully and went to convey Carlos's orders.

After handling the matters of the Lanfang Republic, Carlos's government affairs for the whole day were almost resolved.

After thinking for a moment, Carlos called for Steward Luo Lun to ask about the current development status of the royal property.

Speaking of which, the last time Carlos understood the scale of the royal property was before the economic crisis. After the economic crisis, Carlos instructed Steward Luo Lun to purchase excellent bankrupt foreign assets as appropriate, and to develop other royal industries as much as possible, and then he did not pay too much attention to the royal property.

The main problem was the vastness of the royal property; simply put, the amount of money the royal family possessed was countless, to the point where Carlos could not spend it all.

Yes, it was that exaggerated. Calculated by the annual expenses of the palace, even if the royal property had no profit, it could be maintained for at least a hundred years.

The expenses of the palace were divided into three major parts: the maintenance of the palace buildings, the salaries of the palace 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 Royal Palace was a huge figure. Calculated by the funds required for the maintenance of the Madrid Royal Palace each year, the average annual expenditure for Carlos in this regard reached nearly 1 million Pesetas.

But this was just a small expenditure. The hundreds of servants and maids, guards, sentries, and other series of positions in the palace had an annual expenditure of over 2 million Pesetas.

Then there were the annuities of the royal family members. Although there were only three royal family members at present, the annuities of these three were not small.

When Carlos was in Italy before, the average annual annuity he could receive was about 260, 00 Lira. Carlos felt at the time that this was already a quite huge figure, with a value close to 10, 00 Pounds, which was definitely an astronomical figure in this era.

But after Carlos became the King of Spain, Carlos knew that this figure was not enough to spend at all. Coupled with the continuous expansion of the Spanish royal property, Carlos also increased the annuities for royal family members many times.

As the King of Spain, the annuity Carlos could receive each year reached 1 million Pesetas, which was also the highest annuity share that could be received among Spanish royal family members.

As Carlos's wife, the annuity Queen Sophie could receive each year reached 800, 00 Pesetas. These annuities could be spent by Queen Sophie at 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 on annuities for royal family members, he could still receive an annuity income of up to 500, 00 Pesetas each year.

Fortunately, the Spanish royal family had only three people in total, and the annual expenditure on annuities was only 2. million Pesetas, which was not even 100, 00 when converted into Pounds, and could only be considered a drop in the bucket for the royal property.

It was actually 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 the two sides.

Carlos only needed to pay annuities for his own family, while Vittorio Emanuele needed to pay annuities for the huge Italian royal family, and the gap and expenses between the two were worlds apart.

Fortunately, the House of Savoy 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 property of the House of Savoy ushered in expansion again, which also made the property of the Italian royal family and the per capita property of royal family members no longer in the lower-middle class among European royal families.

"Your Majesty." Steward Luo Lun was waiting outside Carlos's office, and hearing Carlos's summons, he hurried in, waiting for Carlos's orders with a respectful face.

"Steward Luo Lun, tell me about the recent development of the royal property. How is our enterprise developing? What is the scale? Currently, what level has the total value of the royal property reached?" Carlos smiled and signaled for Steward Luo Lun to sit down, while asking his questions.

Steward Luo Lun's loyalty was completely sufficient, and Carlos also regarded him as his absolute confidant, feeling very reassured about him.

Steward Luo Lun took out a thick account book and introduced the situation of the Spanish royal property to Carlos in detail: "Your Majesty, after the outbreak of the economic crisis, we used over 120 million Pesetas to purchase excellent foreign enterprises, and currently we have achieved very good results.

Our steel mills have been well expanded, and currently the total amount of steel produced by the steel mills controlled by the royal family adds up to nearly two-fifths of Spain's total steel production.

Under your instructions, we have also increased investment in the experimental area. This year our total expenditure reached 170 million Pesetas, of which over 35 million Pesetas were invested in various researches of the Royal Academy of Sciences and experiments in the experimental area.

Currently, according to the research progress of the Royal Academy of Sciences, some projects have hope of achieving certain progress within this year, or 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 as high as 2. million Pesetas and 1. 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 the engine, thereby promoting the change of the whole automobile.

In terms of power experiments, the power laboratory is currently exploring power storage equipment. The power laboratory already has deeper research on the generation and use of power, and the R&D funds we invested in the power 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 enterprises remains at 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." Steward Luo Lun reported respectfully on the various enterprises and project researches invested by the royal family, as well as the total income and expenditure status of the royal industries.

In fact, it can be seen from the income and expenditure situation of the royal enterprises that the major enterprises of the royal family have become leaders and giants among Spanish enterprises after this long development.

Especially in the military industry and heavy industry, the enterprises controlled by the royal family have already occupied the bulk of the industry in Spain. As long as Carlos stomps his feet slightly, the military industry and heavy industry fields in Spain will all shake.

(End of chapter)