Chapter 221: Military Academy Students and University Students

Although satisfied with the state of Spain's agricultural development, Gao Da still decided to find time in the second half of the year to personally inspect the Andalusia and Extremadura regions.

It was not that Gao Da did not trust the data reported by Minister Hu An, but as the King of Spain, Gao Da still needed to personally observe the development of Spain's agriculture and animal husbandry, personally understand the problems faced by local farmers and herdsmen, and then resolve them.

If he only looked at the data reported by various departments in the Wang Gong in Ma Deli, Gao Da would be unable to understand the actual situation of local development in detail.

Doing so would only make Gao Da increasingly unfamiliar with Spain's development, and he would eventually lose control over the country.

To formulate a development plan for Spain, the first thing to do is to personally see how various departments and regions in Spain are actually developing, and only then can he formulate a plan based on the information he has mastered.

If one blindly formulates a plan without a detailed understanding of Spain's basic situation, either the subsequent development will not go very smoothly, or the wrong path will be taken, causing originally minor problems to become even more serious.

After offering some words of encouragement to Minister Hu An, Gao Da ended the conversation with him and began to handle the government affairs that had accumulated during his time in Italy.

In fact, there were no major government affairs; most could be handled by Grand Duke Luo Suo and Count Luo Si. Gao Da mostly reviewed the decrees issued by the Spanish government during this period and the latest status of various departments.

Because of the arms trade treaties signed with the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, Spain's military factories were still working overtime to produce.

Military factories are also factories; the various raw materials needed by military factories, such as gunpowder, steel, and other parts, are provided by a variety of other factories.

While the military factories were working overtime, the factories providing the materials were also working overtime. Although it seemed like only the military factories had received orders, in reality, it affected dozens of factories behind them, as well as the tens of thousands of workers employed by these factories.

This is actually the reason why the United States was able to make a fortune in silence during the two world wars. It appeared that the United States was just earning money from various trades, but in reality, the industrial and economic sectors of the United States were constantly developing and expanding based on these trades.

Meanwhile, because of the war, the factories of European countries were destroyed and their economies were in a mess, making them even more dependent on the United States, the great external factory.

The final result was that the United States sucked the European countries dry, and Europe was ultimately devastated by the two world wars, with the potential of European countries being whittled down again and again.

After reading the latest reports from various departments, Gao Da was quite satisfied with Spain's development. Judging by the current development trend, the second five-year plan would also be successfully completed, which also meant that Spain's industrial and economic scale would reach new heights.

Once the second five-year plan is completely finished, Spain's comprehensive strength will take a big step forward, and surpassing Italy, the weakest of the great powers, will not be a difficult task.

In other words, the current Spain has once again become a great power, qualified to stand at the negotiating table with other great powers, rather than being a pawn in the games of the great powers.

After staying in the Wang Gong for a few days, the idle Gao Da decided to inspect the construction of the capital, Ma Deli, to see if there were any problems in its development.

Regardless of whether one trusts their subordinates, appropriate inspections are very necessary. In addition to understanding the actual situation in various regions, another point is to put sufficient pressure on local officials so they understand that Gao Da is not so easy to fool.

Taking a small number of guards out of the Wang Gong and crossing the Byron Avenue in front of the Wang Gong, he arrived at the most prosperous city center of Ma Deli.

With his back to the Wang Gong, to Gao Da's left was the newly built Upper House building of Spain, and to his right was the Saint Andreas Cathedral. Behind the cathedral was the House of Representatives of Spain, which was also the largest parliament building in Spain.

The city center of Ma Deli was quite prosperous and clean; after all, this was the face of Spain, and Gao Da had specifically requested that the streets be kept clean and hygienic.

Although Europe in this era was the most developed and advanced region, in terms of hygiene, the performance of Europeans was very poor.

Although it was not as exaggerated as the public urination and defecation of the Middle Ages, one could still see a lot of trash and excrement in the corners of the streets.

Because of the lack of large public toilets, many citizens would relieve themselves in the corners of the streets, making those already dark and damp corners even more foul-smelling.

This is not an exaggeration at all; on the contrary, it was a common phenomenon in cities across European countries. Regarding this point, London, the most developed city at the time, even had the joke about "fragrant carriages, fine wine, and stinking London."

Of course, besides the trash and excrement on the streets, the stench of London also included the foul-smelling pollutants in the smog.

Compared to London, the environment in Spain was not that bad. Gao Da had also emphasized street hygiene, and at least in the streets of the Ma Deli city center, one could not see the phenomenon of public urination or littering.

Ma Deli is the capital of Spain, and the main streets in the city center are the facade of Spain. The Spanish government placed a large number of trash cans here and cleaned them on time every day to ensure there would be no odors.

On the most prosperous streets of Ma Deli, the government even built a large number of public restrooms to ensure that citizens had a place to go to the bathroom instead of secretly relieving themselves in the corners of the streets.

To ensure that citizens would not pollute the street hygiene, the Ma Deli municipal government also introduced relevant penalties; once caught, they would be fined, and serious offenders would even face imprisonment.

To make the citizens of Ma Deli willing to use public toilets, Gao Da even required that public toilets in Ma Deli be free of charge. Whether they were citizens of Ma Deli or foreign tourists, they could use the public toilets in Ma Deli for free.

Although this increased the expenses of the Ma Deli municipal government, it did indeed make citizens more willing to use public toilets.

If public toilets charged a fee, citizens would certainly not be willing to use them, and they would naturally violate the decrees issued by the Ma Deli municipal government and secretly relieve themselves in the corners of the streets.

The place Gao Da was going to was not the most prosperous Gran Avenue in Ma Deli, but the newly developed area in the north of the city.

Compared to the city center of Ma Deli, this was a new urban area that had just been expanded, and it was also more likely to face many problems.

Heading north from Saint Bernardo Street and passing the Saint Cristobal Church, one arrived at the new urban area of Ma Deli.

Compared to the older city area further south, it looked significantly more desolate. This was the area where the Ma Deli municipal government focused on resettling immigrants, and it was also a region that Spain focused on developing.

On the west side of the church, there was a highway leading directly to the northwest of Ma Deli. On this newly developed land, there were not only important research institutions like the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences but also important universities such as the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, the Ma Deli Medical School, and the Ma Deli Royal Military Academy.

Gao Da's future plan was to build a large-scale university town in this area, while simultaneously developing the surrounding land.

One advantage here is that it is close to the Ma Deli train station and is at a distance from the most prosperous streets in the city center, making transportation relatively convenient.

Of course, it is not too far from the city center, which is also the reason why the Ma Deli municipal government treated this as a new urban area.

Gao Da's destination was the university town in the northwest of Ma Deli; after all, it was already nearing July, and the graduation time for this year's university students was approaching.

Gao Da participated in the graduation ceremony of the Royal Military Academy graduates every year. After all, Gao Da was the honorary president of the military academy, and these graduates would be the backbone of the Spanish military in the future, so it was very necessary to value them.

As long as Gao Da could win the favor of these military academy graduates, his title as honorary president of the military academy could play a huge role, and he could even use this to influence the military.

But if he could not win the favor of these military academy graduates, let alone being just an honorary president, what would it matter even if he were the president of the military academy?

Therefore, Gao Da participated in the graduation ceremony of every class of the Royal Military Academy, not only giving speeches to encourage these newly graduated military students but also personally conferring ranks on some of the more outstanding graduates.

For Gao Da, this only took one day, but the actual effect was very obvious. The Royal Military Academy had cultivated a large number of graduates so far, and some graduates had already received promotions in rank.

And these graduates were still very respectful and loving toward Gao Da, and many of them even had a quite fanatical worship of him.

The main reason for this was that the ideological education courses Gao Da set up in the military academy had achieved good results, but it was also indeed related to Gao Da's usual actions.

Could the people not love and respect a king who cares about the income of the lower classes and sympathizes with their hardships?

Regardless of the country, the demands of the lower classes are actually very simple: to be well-fed, well-clothed, and to have a good life.

In current Spain, being well-fed and well-clothed had basically been achieved. Although there were still problems like food safety, it was at least much better than the Spain of the past.

Under such circumstances, the people only had love and respect for the current Spanish government and King Gao Da, which is also the reason why these military academy graduates were quite loyal to Gao Da.

Since its establishment, the Ma Deli Royal Military Academy has cultivated more than 400 outstanding military academy graduates for Spain every year.

This year was already the seventh year, but the number of military academy graduates this year still reached more than 400.

If one counts the graduates who were about to graduate this year, the Royal Military Academy had already cultivated more than 3, 00 potential officers for Spain.

Currently, most military academy graduates could obtain the position of platoon leader after entering the military, and only a small number of graduates could only temporarily serve as deputy platoon leaders because there were not enough positions.

However, this was also good news; when Spain needed to expand its military in the future, these officers serving in deputy positions could quickly transition to full positions, and they would not need too much time to adapt before entering their work.

Under the premise of the Royal Military Academy continuously cultivating officers, the Spanish military had already replaced more than half of its grassroots officers, such as company commanders and platoon leaders.

Currently, most of Spain's officers have received military academy education. Although it cannot be guaranteed that all these platoon leaders and company commanders are outstanding military talents, it can at least ensure that their military literacy is qualified.

The previous Spanish military had a large number of lower-level officers who had not received qualified military education at all, which also affected the combat effectiveness of the Spanish military.

There are many factors that affect the combat effectiveness of the military, but one of the important factors that can actually determine the combat effectiveness of the military is the military literacy of these lower-level officers.

No matter how outstanding the general leading the military is, if the military literacy of the lower-level officers is unqualified, it is very difficult for the general's orders to be fully executed.

If these lower-level officers all possess good military literacy, even if the commander as a leader does not have great ability, at least the stability of the military can be guaranteed.

Although the officer establishment of the Spanish military is limited, the Spanish defense department also has important departments such as the General Staff and the Logistics Department, so finding a position for these military academy graduates to work was not a problem.

As in previous years, after Gao Da participated in the graduation ceremony of these military students, he selected a small number of extremely outstanding graduates to join the Imperial Guard.

Although the Imperial Guard only had the establishment of one division of 15, 00 people, the current officer reserve of the Imperial Guard was extremely rich.

It is no exaggeration to say that as long as Gao Da is willing, the Spanish Imperial Guard could expand by 2 to 3 divisions at any time, and there would be no need to worry about the reserve of lower-level officers at all.

It is just that the current Spain does not need to worry about the problem of war, and coupled with the fact that Spain is already stable internally, this made Gao Da give up on expanding the Imperial Guard.

Although the Imperial Guard only had the scale of one division, as long as the Imperial Guard was stationed in Ma Deli, it could ensure the safety of the capital, Ma Deli.

Judging by the firepower scale possessed by the Imperial Guard, unless facing the siege of a large-scale military from an enemy country, or a large-scale mutiny of the domestic military, Ma Deli would not be in any danger.

Even the Carlist rebellion from a few years ago could not threaten the safety of Ma Deli. This is the sense of security that firepower brought to Gao Da, which is something that nothing else can replace.

After participating in the graduation ceremony of the Royal Military Academy, Gao Da had to prepare to participate in the ceremony for the graduates of the Royal Academy of Sciences.

If the Royal Military Academy was the military academy Gao Da valued the most, then the Royal Academy of Sciences was the science university Gao Da valued the most.

The Royal Academy of Sciences was a university built by Gao Da according to the needs of the Royal Academy of Sciences, with the purpose of providing additional work opportunities for scientists and R&D personnel of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and also to cultivate intermediate talents in scientific research for Spain.

Of course, if Spain could produce top-tier scientific research talents through cultivation, Gao Da would also be quite willing to see it.

Historically, Spain did not have many top-tier talents in physics and chemistry, and a large part of the reason for this was Spain's abandonment of scientific research from the 18th to the 19th century.

Gao Da had valued scientific research for many years and believed that this could bring some changes to Spain. After all, Spain was also a medium-to-large country with a population of more than 10 million, and Gao Da did not believe that Spain would not produce any top-tier talents in physics and chemistry.

Compared to the more than 400 graduates of the Royal Military Academy each year, the Royal Academy of Sciences had very few graduates, averaging only 200 graduates per year.

But do not underestimate these 200 graduates; these graduates were carefully cultivated by the scientists and R&D personnel of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and their abilities were naturally beyond doubt.

Because they were cultivated by scientists from the Royal Academy of Sciences, these graduates were directly divided up by the Royal Academy of Sciences after graduation, entering the research projects of those scientists and researchers to act as assistants, while learning more knowledge along the way.

The graduates this year were the fourth class of graduates from the Royal Academy of Sciences, and in total, the Royal Academy of Sciences had cultivated no more than 1, 00 talents over four classes.

But the good news is that the success rate of these graduates is high. Currently, many graduates have been valued by academicians of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and they have even spared no effort to impart knowledge to them, personally taking them to do some experiments and research.

Teaching students at the Royal Academy of Sciences was a win-win situation for these academicians of the Academy of Sciences.

They could receive part-time fees for serving as professors and other positions at the school, and the salaries for these positions were not low.

The students they taught could also serve as assistants for their own research projects, and they knew the abilities of the students they cultivated, so they would be more comfortable using them.

It is precisely because of this that none of the scientists Gao Da recruited from abroad rejected the idea of working part-time at the Royal Academy of Sciences or other universities; when they received their part-time income, they were all beaming with joy.

Originally, the income of academicians of the Royal Academy of Sciences was not low, and they could receive additional rewards for completing R&D projects. Their part-time jobs were another large sum of income, which made their income even higher than it was abroad, and this was also the way Spain attracted foreign talents to join the Royal Academy of Sciences.

When the economic crisis first broke out, the Royal Academy of Sciences of Spain had fewer than 500 scientific research talents, and there were fewer than 200 scientists who had obtained the title and treatment of second-level academicians.

Now, the scientific research talents of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences have exceeded 1, 00, and there are more than 700 people with the title of academician, including 322 first-level academicians, 362 second-level academicians, and 46 third-level academicians.

If one counts the graduates of the Royal Academy of Sciences, the R&D personnel of the Royal Academy of Sciences are close to 2, 00. It is precisely because the number of R&D personnel is constantly increasing that the various research projects of the Royal Academy of Sciences can be carried out smoothly and have made various kinds of progress.

Along with the increase in Spain's per capita income, Gao Da also increased the base salary for third-level academicians.

The base annual salary for first-level academicians was raised to 2, 00 Pesetas, and the base salary for second-level academicians was as high as 5, 00 Pesetas. As the highest level and title among the researchers of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, the base salary for third-level academicians reached an exaggerated 8, 00 Pesetas.

Just by paying the base annual salary to all R&D personnel of the Royal Academy of Sciences, the funds Gao Da paid out every year reached more than 5 million Pesetas.

Not to mention the various R&D funding investments of the Royal Academy of Sciences; currently, the Royal Academy of Sciences has become one of the industries with the largest investment among all of Gao Da's industries, with annual expenses reaching 35 million Pesetas.

Although he had to pay a large amount of funds to the Royal Academy of Sciences every year, Gao Da was still willing to spend this money.

As long as any R&D project of the Royal Academy of Sciences could make progress, the benefits obtained would be several times or even dozens of times the 35 million Pesetas in R&D funding.

If those important R&D projects made progress, the profits obtained would be immeasurable, and Gao Da could still calculate the ratio of investment to return.

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(End of this chapter)