Chapter 22: Four Elements of Reform

Gao Da knew that Spain was quite backward at this time, but he had not expected that its development in all aspects could be lagging so far behind.

As of the beginning of this year, Spain's estimated population was 16. million. Why such a round number? Because the Spanish government at this time was simply incapable of conducting a detailed census; this was merely a rough estimate based on local birth and death registrations.

What was fatal was that Spain's illiteracy rate was as high as over seventy percent. This also meant that out of the 16. million people, at least 11. million were illiterate.

The poor level of education, coupled with the chaotic situation in recent years, resulted in Spain's average annual income being at the lowest level in Western Europe, at only 87 pesetas, which was just a little over 3 pounds.

Although the lower classes in all European countries during this era did not have it easy, exploitation by factory owners and oppression by capitalists were common occurrences.

But an annual income of just over 3 pounds was clearly an extremely unhealthy level; the average annual income in the UK exceeded 9 pounds, and other European countries also maintained levels above 6 to 7 pounds.

Spaniards could only earn half or even a third of the income of citizens in other countries on average, which was also the reason why the people wanted to revolt against Queen Isabella, because Spaniards truly could no longer survive.

Looking at such data, Gao Da could not help but have a massive headache.

Gao Da had originally thought that the situation in Italy was already quite poor, but he had not expected that it would not even be worth mentioning in front of Spain.

Except for the illiteracy rate where Italy and Spain were on par, Italy was able to crush Spain in all other aspects.

Gao Da now had only one thought, and that was to quickly push for Primo's reforms and improve Spain's dire situation first.

As for the current Spain, let alone achieving a revival, whether the kingdom could even continue to exist was a question. Although Queen Isabella had been driven away, she had left Gao Da with an extremely terrible Spain.

Facing a Spain that was almost rotten to the core, this was no longer something that could be saved by just burying one's head in development.

At the cabinet meeting a few days later, Gao Da sat at the head of the table, quietly waiting for Primo's proposal regarding the reforms.

Regarding this reform, Primo could be said to be fully prepared. The cabinet government nominated by Primo was basically composed of reformists, and the only two who were not, Serrano and Gao Da, had also successively expressed their support for the reforms.

Secondly, Primo had been preparing for the reforms ever since he became Prime Minister. He combined Spain's current situation, referred to a large number of successful reform experiences from abroad, and finally formulated a comprehensive Spanish reform plan.

He handed this plan to Gao Da and said to him very solemnly and seriously: "Your Majesty, this is the Spanish reform plan that I and dozens of officials have written after a long period of investigation and research.

The following is the initial plan for the reforms, please take a look."

The initial plan for the reforms was actually very simple, consisting of only four categories: agricultural, educational, industrial, and military reforms.

"Prime Minister Primo, please explain your reform plan in detail." Although he supported the reforms in his heart, this did not prevent Gao Da from wanting to hear Primo's complete plan.

Primo nodded, stood up, and introduced to all the cabinet officials: "Our initial reforms consist of only four aspects: agricultural, industrial, educational, and military reforms.

In terms of agriculture, I plan to promote the reduction and exemption of agricultural taxes to increase the income of the agricultural population. At the same time, I will promote the export of grain so that the agricultural population has sufficient sales channels for their grain.

In terms of industry, I believe we should restore Spain's industrial construction in a short period of time, invest in new factories, and build our own industrial zones.

Building factories can provide more job positions, which will also help us further increase the per capita income.

In terms of educational reform, I plan to build more literacy classes to reduce our illiterate population, but this requires huge capital investment, so it is the third priority of the reforms.

Finally, there is the military reform. I hope to expand our army to about 100, 00 and equip our troops with more cannons.

A sufficient number of artillery pieces have already proven their effect on the battlefield; whether it is to defend against foreign enemies or to stabilize order in Spain, it is necessary to improve the combat effectiveness of the army."

Hearing Primo's reform plan, before Gao Da could express any opinion, the Minister of the Army, Serrano, who was sitting on the side, could no longer hold back.

Serrano stood up, looked at Primo with an expression of disbelief, and asked in surprise: "Prime Minister Primo, don't you know how many pesetas are left in the Spanish treasury?

Every one of your reforms requires tens of millions of pesetas, and our government has no money at all. Forgive me for being blunt, but if we cannot prepare enough pesetas before the reforms are implemented, this reform is destined to end in failure."

"Don't we still have a lot of farmland?" Primo looked at Serrano, who had raised the objection, with a calm smile on his face.

For a monarchy, the largest landowner in the country is certainly the monarch himself. Queen Isabella was herself a licentious and greedy monarch, so it was not strange that the Bourbon dynasty owned the most arable land in Spain.

After driving away Queen Isabella, the arable land that originally belonged to the Bourbon dynasty was all confiscated by the Spanish provisional government, and these lands were the reliance for Primo to implement the reforms.

Although these lands once belonged to the king, they would certainly not accompany the Wang Weijicheng to Gao Da.

Gao Da naturally understood this point, and he had no intention of being a landlord, nor could he possibly ruin his reputation for the sake of this bit of land.

On the contrary, if Gao Da supported using these lands to exchange for sufficient funds for the government, this could instead become one of the topics to promote Gao Da.

Seeing that Gao Da had no designs on those lands, Primo finally breathed a sigh of relief and explained to Gao Da and Serrano: "The Bourbon family owns vast lands, and these lands are enough to provide sufficient funds for our reforms.

I plan to divide these lands into three parts, one of which will be distributed to Spanish farmers for free, allowing farmers to have enough arable land to grow grain.

Another part will be sold to capitalists and farm owners to accumulate sufficient funds for our reforms.

The remaining part will be nationalized and can be rented to farmers for cultivation at a low price."

"I support your idea, Prime Minister Primo." Gao Da nodded, having no objections to the proposal of dividing the land into three parts:

"And I have another proposal that can raise funds for the reforms; why don't we try issuing government bonds?"

First update, seeking support!

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(End of chapter)