Chapter 189: Flag Modification Proposal

Although the existing carbon-filament light bulbs can be used commercially, it is clear that there will not be a large market for them until a power plant is built.

To solve this problem and accelerate Spain's electrification process, Gao Da decided to build a thermal power plant on the outskirts of Madrid to provide a certain amount of electricity for the Wang Gong and parts of the city.

The good news is that, looking at the whole world, the only electrical appliance currently available is the light bulb, and light bulbs do not consume much power. Although the power of the generators currently available for building thermal power plants is not high, they can still manage to provide lighting for light bulbs.

Gramme himself is very knowledgeable about generators. The ring-shaped electric drive he developed can be used not only for hydroelectric power but also for thermal power.

According to Gramme's calculations and estimates, the current set of ring-shaped electric drive engines is expected to reach a power output of 5. kw, which will become one of the largest power stations in Europe.

The two light bulbs of different sizes manufactured by Gramme have a power of about 15 watts for the smaller one, while the power of the larger one has been increased to 35 watts.

This also means that even if this thermal power plant, which can reach 5. kw, enters full working state, it can only light up about 300 small bulbs or about 140 large bulbs at most.

This is without considering the loss during power transmission. Even if the power plant is close to the Wang Gong, power loss is inevitable.

Fortunately, the greatest purpose of this thermal power plant is to provide lighting for the Wang Gong, while taking the opportunity to show the convenience brought by electricity to the nobles and capitalists of Spain.

It is very difficult to rely on the royal family to promote the development of electrification in Spain. But if the nobles and capitalists work together, the process of Spain's electrification will also accelerate significantly.

At the very least, as a first step, these nobles and capitalists can be made interested in light bulbs and electricity, leading them to invest a certain amount of capital into the power industry.

Lighting from light bulbs is still very important. It can not only illuminate the castles and manors of the nobles but also light up the factories of the capitalists.

The nobles want concrete convenience and technology that reflects their status, while the capitalists want ways to make more money by having their factories run in two shifts.

I believe some people will be able to see the business opportunities in electricity and light bulbs. In any case, Gao Da is guaranteed to make a profit through the power laboratory. Having more people participate in the power industry also means that the speed of technological progress in the power industry will be faster.

In addition to having the power laboratory build a thermal power station on the outskirts of Madrid near the Wang Gong, Gao Da also issued new tasks to the power laboratory.

First, continue to invest in the research of light bulbs to improve their lifespan and brightness as much as possible. The small bulbs are fine, but the lifespan of over 100 hours for the large bulbs is really too short.

Considering that large bulbs are generally used in relatively spacious places like factories or streets, the lighting time will also be very long.

Therefore, the lifespan of large bulbs must be increased to at least 300 hours or more; otherwise, the costs and troubles caused by frequent replacement of large bulbs might deter some people who were originally interested.

Second is to continue to vigorously research generators and related power generation ideas. A power output of 5. kw is really too small and can only light up a few hundred bulbs; how can this promote the electrification of Spain?

One cannot build dozens or hundreds of power stations to meet the power demand of a single city; it would not only occupy a large amount of land but also lead to greater pollution.

Gao Da's requirement is that within the next five years, the power of generators should be gradually increased to at least 30kw or more. By building multiple sets of generators in one power plant to increase the power output to hundreds of kw, perhaps it can barely meet the electricity demand of a certain street or a small city.

Only when the power output exceeds 100kw can one attempt to replace the steam engines in factories with electric motors. Relying on current that can only light up light bulbs is better than sticking to old steam engines.

Third is to research more effective methods of power transmission. This era is not like the future, which has a very mature power transmission system.

Even the battle between direct current and alternating current between Tesla and Edison has not yet begun; the power transmission method of this era is simply pulling wires, and that is all.

Although pulling wires is very simple, a large amount of power is lost during the transmission process. The power of the generators in the power plant is already small, and a considerable portion is lost during power transportation, which makes the power available from a power plant even less, and even negligible in distant places.

To promote electricity, there must be a relatively effective way to achieve long-distance power transmission while minimizing power loss as much as possible.

Only in this way can electricity be successfully popularized. However, considering the history of the development of the power industry, Gao Da does not have very high requirements for this.

Currently, the research results of the power laboratory have exceeded Gao Da's expectations. As for Gao Da's subsequent requirements, regardless of whether they can be completed, Gao Da will not reduce the research funding of the power laboratory because of this.

In order to build the thermal power plant, Gao Da also specially asked Butler Luo Lun to establish the Royal Spanish Power Company.

Although the current Royal Power Company is just a shell subsidiary, Gao Da is very optimistic about the future development prospects of the power company.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Royal Power Company will be crucial to the smooth progress of Spain's electrification process and may also become Spain's largest power giant in the future.

In addition to the task of building the thermal power plant, the Royal Power Company also has a task to recruit power-related talent on a large scale within Europe.

The external excuse is that the construction of the thermal power plant requires a large number of power talents for employment. Although it is only a small-scale power plant, there is no upper limit for the recruitment of talent.

As long as they are power-related talents and experts, they can easily join the Royal Power Company to work after passing a certain background check.

If they are outstanding scientific researchers, they can also be recommended to enter the power laboratory and the Royal Academy of Sciences to enjoy more comprehensive benefits and preferential treatment in status.

Currently, there are no useful results in power research in Europe, so Gao Da does not have to worry that such blatant poaching of talent will cause opposition from other countries.

Before other countries attach importance to the power industry, it is the perfect time for Spain to take in a large number of foreign talents. Although it is possible to rely on self-cultivated talent to fill the vacancies, the training time for universities alone takes four years. For the current Spain, four years is enough to change many things; at least the current Spain cannot afford to wait.

Although the news of the Royal Spanish Power Company recruiting employees is sensational, it is ultimately just one of Spain's efforts to poach talent from abroad.

It is not just the Royal Power Company; including the Royal Guanizo Shipyard, the Valencia United Shipyard, the Royal Steel Plant, and various other factories and enterprises, they are all recruiting employees from within Spain and abroad on a large scale.

Before the reforms in Spain, Spain's attractiveness to other European countries was not high. After all, it was an absolute monarchy and dictatorship, its various systems were too backward, and the oppression of the people was too severe.

But after the reforms in Spain, Spain's attractiveness has been further enhanced. Many domestic and foreign media have established the post-revolutionary Spain as one of the representatives of constitutional monarchy and have widely publicized that only a constitutional monarchy is the most advanced system, which can bring progress and strength to the country.

This has also gained Spain a certain amount of attention, and the number of European immigrants received each year is also growing, especially immigrants from Italy and Portugal.

In fact, relatively speaking, the environment in Italy is not bad either. But Italy's industry and economy are mainly concentrated in the northern region, and the vast land south of Rome is still a backward region dominated by agriculture.

There are two main reasons for this: first, southern Italy has fewer mineral resources and is not very suitable for building industry.

Second, southern Italy once belonged to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and did not belong to the core region of the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Although the population on the Apennine Peninsula has been merged into Italians, because of the huge gap in industry and economy between the north and south of Italy, the recognition of the whole country by southern Italians is not high.

This characteristic can also be seen from the immigration data of various European countries. Before the unification of the two major powers, the German Empire and the Kingdom of Italy, the country with the largest number of emigrants was the United Kingdom.

But since this point in time, immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe have gradually replaced immigrants from Northern Europe and become the mainstream of European emigration.

The current Italy has indeed shown such a trend. As a country with a population of only 18 million, Spain has an annual population growth of more than 200, 00.

Italy's population has long exceeded 28 million, but Italy's net annual population growth is only about 150, 00.

Is Italy's birth rate low? It is not.

It is because a large number of Italian farmers choose to emigrate every year, and the small Apennine Peninsula really cannot bear such a large population.

This is not the future where agriculture is highly mechanized and automated, but the 1875s where agriculture relies entirely on manual production. Coupled with the fact that chemical fertilizer technology is not mature, it is indeed difficult for the Apennine Peninsula to support a population of nearly 30 million.

Don't look at the fact that Italy's population is still growing steadily at a rate of more than 150, 00 per year; the income of millions of farmers in southern Italy is not high, and they are even living a life of hunger.

Currently, the number of Italian immigrants received by Spain each year has exceeded 10, 00, and is even about to exceed the 20, 00 mark.

For Spain, a large number of Italian immigrants is a good thing, but also a bad thing.

The vast majority of these Italian immigrants come from southern Italy, and southern Italy is generally composed of farmers.

These Italian immigrants have low education and only speak the local Italian dialect, making it difficult to communicate with the Spanish.

It is precisely because of their low education that they are willing to accept jobs with lower pay than the Spanish average in exchange for more stable working hours.

For these Italian immigrants, a more stable working environment is more important than income. For this, they can sacrifice a certain amount of salary in exchange for a stable job where they will not be fired.

This is a good thing for Italian immigrants; they can obtain more stable jobs by making concessions in terms of income.

But for the local Spanish, this is not a good thing. The influx of Italian immigrants has led to many jobs that could have been taken by the Spanish being snatched away; after all, capitalists like employees who have lower salary requirements and do not like to make demands.

It is precisely because of the continuous development of Spain's industry and the successive development plans that factories and enterprises everywhere are expanding and recruiting people.

Otherwise, the arrival of these Italian immigrants would definitely break the calm lake of Spain and stir up conflicts between Italian immigrants and local Spanish people.

Judging from the scale of talent introduction by Spanish enterprises and factories, Spain is still very attractive to the outside world.

In the last year alone, the royal enterprises and factories introduced more than 1, 00 foreign talents, including nearly 50 scientists who joined the Royal Academy of Sciences and other research laboratories.

According to this progress, before Spanish universities have the ability to cultivate enough talent for Spain, just by introducing foreign talent, one can obtain tens of thousands or even tens of thousands of talents.

Of course, introducing foreign talent is only one way to solve the talent gap; self-cultivation is the root cause and the fundamental method.

Even if a large number of talents can be attracted every year, Spain will never give up the means of building universities to cultivate its own talents.

It is worth mentioning that according to the cooperation agreement reached between Spain and the Lanfang Republic, the Lanfang Republic will send at least 50 students to study in various universities in Spain this September.

Their tuition fees are provided by the Lanfang Republic itself, and their food, clothing, housing, and transportation are also the responsibility of the Lanfang Republic. Spain only sends transport ships to pick them up and drop them off, and assigns them to universities according to the majors they are interested in.

These university students are just the first step; in the future, there will be students cultivated from a young age.

The first is to help the Lanfang Republic better grasp some industrial knowledge and technology, and the second is to brainwash a group of intellectuals who have a very good impression of Spain, or even blindly worship Spain as an advanced country, through the way of cultivating students.

Use these intellectuals to influence the decision-making of the Lanfang Republic, or even rely on them to control the Lanfang Republic.

In the next ten or even decades, these students may climb to high positions in the Lanfang Republic and become high-ranking officials of the country or high-level military personnel.

Their influence on the Lanfang Republic government will also be strengthened. As long as their worship and good feelings for Spain are ensured to exist, it can prompt the entire Lanfang Republic to naturally stand on Spain's side.

Thanks to the continuous flow of immigrants and population influx, Spain's capital, Madrid, has hope of becoming the first city in Spain with a population of over 500, 00 within this year.

And Spain's second-largest city, Barcelona, had already exceeded a population of 400, 00 at the beginning of this year, becoming the second city in Spain with a population of over 400, 00.

The rapid population growth of Madrid and Barcelona also reflects the rapid development of Spain in recent years. The combined population of these two cities has exceeded 900, 00, accounting for more than one-twentieth of Spain's total population.

This is not an immigrant country like the United States. The characteristic of an immigrant country is that the population of large cities is far greater than that of small cities, and the population of a few large cities even exceeds the sum of all other small cities.

As a traditional European country with a long history, it is naturally impossible for Spain's population to be concentrated in large cities like Madrid and Barcelona.

Being able to account for one-twentieth of the country's total population with just two cities also proves the prosperity of Barcelona and Madrid, as well as the problem that other cities in Spain are indeed small in scale.

Except for Madrid and Barcelona, which are cities that can be shown off, the populations of other cities like Seville, Valencia, and Zaragoza are only 100, 00 or even less than 100, 00.

Gao Da, who returned from the power laboratory, was in a very good mood; after all, the development of various industries in Spain has been very smooth so far.

Under the vigorous investment of the royal family and the government, Spain's heavy industry will also usher in vigorous development. And the power industry has made significant progress; perhaps the process of Spain's electrification will make great progress one day in the future.

With a relaxed mood, Gao Da also has the energy to pay attention to the development of other industries, such as culture and entertainment.

Since Gao Da was crowned King of Spain, the Spanish flag has continued the flag since the establishment of the kingdom, which is a two-color striped flag with red on the top and bottom and a widened yellow horizontal bar in the middle.

On the left side of the widened horizontal bar in the middle is a vertical oval emblem wearing a crown. The emblem is divided into left and right parts; the castle on the left represents the Kingdom of Castile, and the lion on the right represents the Kingdom of Leon.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with such a flag; after all, Castile and Leon are important parts of the Kingdom of Spain.

But for Gao Da, using the same flag as in the Bourbon dynasty period will inevitably lead to confusion.

The reason why the Spanish flag was not changed during the reign of Amadeo in history is, first, the chaotic political situation in Spain, and second, Amadeo only ruled for three years.

But for the current Gao Da, it is very necessary to design a new flag. A new flag must reflect the ruling status of the House of Savoy over Spain, strengthen the connection between various regions of Spain, and try not to make too many modifications to the original flag to avoid making the Spanish people too uncomfortable.

Under various considerations, the Spanish flag of later generations actually meets the requirements. It is still the familiar two-color striped flag, and the color scheme has not changed.

The only difference is that the royal emblem of Spain represented by the yellow horizontal bar in the middle has been changed from a vertical oval shape to a shield shape and divided into six parts.

The middle area can place the family emblem of the House of Savoy to reflect the ruling status of the House of Savoy over Spain. Using the center point as the dividing line, the entire shield is divided into four parts, which can respectively place the emblems of the four long-standing kingdoms in Spanish history: Castile, Leon, Aragon, and Navarre. These four kingdoms are also the four most important parts that make up Spain.

The sharp corner under the shield can place the flag of Granada, which is the last Muslim region annexed by Spain and is also the region with the largest population in Spain at present.

Even the two Pillars of Hercules on both sides of the shield have reference value; after all, this represents the two shores separated by the Strait of Gibraltar.

Currently, Spain has territories on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, and such a flag design is also completely consistent with the current Spain.

Considering this, Gao Da decided to gather people to make certain modifications to the Spanish flag to create a flag that can reflect the characteristics of modern Spain and distinguish it from the original Kingdom of Spain.

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(End of chapter)