Chapter 288: Inspection

Carlo did not let the newspapers promote the news of his order to open the sluice gate to release water in large quantities; after all, sometimes too much promotion is not a good thing.

Just mention it when the various governments notify, and naturally, there will be a steady stream of people who will remember Carlo's kindness.

If it is promoted too much, it will inevitably make some people bored or even disgusted with such promotion of kindness.

True gratitude needs to be stimulated from the heart, not by the influence of one or two news reports. Carlo hopes to achieve that Spaniards love his rule from the heart, so in this regard, it needs decades of subtle influence.

Currently, Carlo's plan is still very successful. Although some of Carlo's behaviors are purposeful, for the Spanish public, they also truly obtained various benefits from it.

After all, to put it bluntly, being able to disguise hypocrisy for a lifetime can also be considered benevolence to a certain extent.

It is nothing more than benevolence with a purpose that is not so pure, but for the Spanish public, a monarch who can increase their income and make their lives better, shouldn't this be considered a wise monarch?

What Carlo didn't expect was that the effect of no promotion was the best. The drought made a large group of growers face a desperate situation, and when they almost lost the hope of survival, the news of Carlo's order to ensure farmers' water use at all costs came.

As the saying goes, icing on the cake is not as good as sending charcoal in the snow; Carlo's behavior is no different from sending charcoal in the snow.

What Carlo didn't expect even more was that he didn't intend to promote his efforts in disaster relief, but those rescued growers stood up one by one and constantly expressed Carlo's achievements.

Under the word-of-mouth spread of these people, Carlo's attitude of completing disaster relief at all costs was sought after by Spaniards, and Carlo was called a benevolent monarch rarely seen in a hundred years, the savior of chaotic Spain.

Such a situation was something Carlo didn't expect, but Carlo would never waste such a good opportunity.

The next day, some major regions that were more seriously affected by the disaster had strictly executed the cabinet government's order to open the sluice gate to release water.

After all, the water conservancy facilities built before played a role; although it would not completely offset the negative impact brought by the drought, it could save part of the growers' income.

Those areas where the drought was not very serious could still rely on surrounding water sources to persist for a period of time, and if the areas where the drought was more serious did not open the sluice gate to release water, after a period of time, there would only be a large piece of wasteland left.

Of course, in those areas where the drought was more serious, the farmers' income being affected is certain.

For this reason, Carlo specially convened a cabinet meeting to discuss various strategies related to dealing with the drought.

First is to reduce taxes for all areas affected by the drought, reducing taxes of different degrees according to the degree of drought, and the highest can be directly tax-exempt for 2 years.

Secondly, increase the rescue of agricultural crops in drought areas, trying to save the losses of farmers in drought areas as much as possible.

Take Antonio as an example. He is a pure grape grower, and the grape harvest is basically during this period.

As long as the water supply for the grape trees can be ensured within a month, Antonio can completely obtain this year's income.

Afterward, the water supply to Antonio's grape trees can be reduced, and water resources can be transferred to other agricultural crops that need water more.

Of course, this is only the allocation of water resources in areas where the drought is particularly serious. In areas where the drought is not very serious, relying on local water sources and some water conservancy facilities can still meet the water demand.

For areas where the drought is particularly serious, after discussion at the cabinet meeting, it was decided to allocate 50 million pesetas as drought relief funds to carry out disaster relief work for the public who were more seriously affected by the disaster.

Besides this, Carlo also intends to build more water conservancy facilities in the drier areas of the Spanish interior to prevent similar drought situations from happening.

As one of the countries with the least rainfall in Europe, Spain's drought situation is very common. Drought will affect farmers' grain harvest and actual income, and preparing for drought is not only to avoid the occurrence of drought, but also to add a line of defense for Spain's grain output and agricultural product output.

Of course, this also triggered more discussions by the cabinet government on Spain's local environment, as well as the urgency of vigorously developing the West African colonies.

Compared to the Spanish interior, the colonies controlled by Spain in the West African region are much better in geographical environment.

Especially the Gambia colony, not only is it close to the sea, which is conducive to transportation, but it is also located in the tropics, where grain can be harvested two or even three times a year.

More importantly, this is a vast plain, and it is rainy, so there is no need to worry about the occurrence of drought.

If Spain plants grain here in large quantities, there is no need to worry about natural and man-made disasters affecting the grain harvest.

Of course, earthquakes and tsunamis are also unavoidable. But the West African colony is not located on any large earthquake belt, and what needs to be worried about is just the tsunami with a very small probability.

Compared to the situation of low rainfall in the Spanish mainland, the Gambia colony can be said to be a piece of fertile land.

In addition to discussing the plan to relieve the drought areas, the cabinet is also exploring the development of colonies such as Gambia.

If the arable land in the Gambia colony can be reclaimed and planted as soon as possible, Spain can reduce the proportion of arable land on the mainland and not rely on the relatively fragile agricultural environment on the mainland.

Carlo naturally will not veto the government's proposal to accelerate the development of West African colonies. The Gambia colony controlled by Spain is larger than the Gambia of later generations, and the land available for reclamation is naturally more.

After annexing Portugal's Guinea and Bissau colonies in the future, the total area of the colony will reach more than 70,000 square kilometers, almost catching up with the total area of Portugal.

Portugal has a large number of plains, and the Gambia colony is not inferior at all. The Gambia River in the colony flows through most of the land, which not only makes this land suitable for agricultural development, but also suitable for river navigation.

The grain planted in various parts of the colony can be transported to the capital of the colony, Banjul, by rail or shipping, and then transported to the Spanish mainland by large transport ships.

The straight-line distance between here and the Spanish mainland is only more than 2,700 kilometers, and coupled with the reason for passing through Spain's Canary Islands and South Morocco colony, the safety of grain transportation can be guaranteed.

Developing West African colonies is certainly a good thing, but it also requires a large amount of capital investment.

50 million pesetas of funds have already been allocated for drought relief, and for the Spanish government, how much capital to use to develop West African colonies is a question worth considering.

The good news is that this drought made many nobles see the insufficiency of land on the Spanish mainland. When the cabinet government discussed developing West African colonies, the nobles were also planning to work together to develop Spain's colonies for agriculture and establish new grain companies in Spain's colonies.

For the behavior of Spanish nobles loving to farm, Carlo naturally welcomes it. If Spain wants to become a strong country, it must ensure the grain self-sufficiency rate in the country.

Grain cannot rely on exports from other countries; after all, the relationship of import and export will be destroyed by war.

Only by having enough grain output in one's own country can it be ensured that on the day war comes, the country will not have economic chaos due to lack of grain, thereby erupting more intense contradictions.

Lack of grain is no joke. As the saying goes, the people regard food as heaven; for ordinary people, anything can be lacking, but grain cannot be lacking.

Since the Gambia colony is so suitable as a large agricultural production area for Spain, Carlo naturally will not let go of this good opportunity.

At the end of August, the Spanish government first announced a drought relief plan of 50 million pesetas, and then announced that it would increase the import of grain and agricultural products to deal with this drought crisis.

Drought will definitely lead to a decrease in Spain's grain and agricultural product output, and in order not to let grain prices rise too much, it is very necessary to import more grain in time.

Fortunately, currently only the Iberian Peninsula has a relatively serious drought, and it is mainly concentrated in the interior areas occupied by Spain.

Although some areas in Portugal also appeared to have drought, on the whole, it is not serious.

After all, Portugal's annual rainfall is still quite abundant, and coupled with the fact that the territory is in a long strip shape and most of the territory is along the coast, there is naturally no need to worry about the problem of drought.

Only Spain encountered a drought situation, which can be considered a blessing in misfortune.

Spain can buy enough grain from other European countries to alleviate the grain crisis in the country caused by the drought.

Of course, the current drought has not evolved to the level of a grain crisis. There are still many major grain-producing countries in Europe, and it is still very easy to buy grain.

After the government announced a detailed relief plan, the public in the disaster area was completely relieved.

In order to appease the emotions of the public in the disaster area, on the day the cabinet government announced the corresponding relief measures, it issued orders to the major regional governments affected by the disaster.

Prime Minister Cánovas issued an order personally, requiring the major regional governments to convey the disaster relief decision made by the cabinet government in time, trying to appease the public's emotions, and avoid the outbreak of emotions due to heavy losses.

Although the government will help the public in the disaster area as much as possible, there will also be some unlucky people who have suffered heavy losses before waiting for relief.

The government is helpless about this, and cannot break the rules to give them more compensation, right?

Such an exception will only make future relief work more difficult to do, and in the future, when people are broken and dead due to natural and man-made disasters, they will also make more demands on the government.

In order to prevent these unlucky people from hating society or even retaliating to create chaos, it is very necessary to strengthen the public security forces in the disaster-stricken areas during the drought.

The major regional governments attach great importance to the entrustment of the cabinet government, and as soon as they received the order, they issued specific documents to the municipal governments.

Because of Spain's official political performance assessment system, no matter which level of government officials, they attach great importance to the orders issued by the higher-level government.

The cabinet government only needs to supervise the major regional governments, and then the major regional governments supervise the municipal governments under them.

The municipal governments supervise the town governments and villages within their territory, and they can complete the political supervision from the cabinet government from top to bottom.

No matter which level of government has a problem, it can directly hold the higher-level government accountable.

For example, if a municipal government has a relatively serious problem, the Spanish cabinet government will not directly hold this municipal government accountable, but will question the major regional government to which the municipal government belongs.

If the major regional governments do not want to take responsibility for the municipal governments under them, they must supervise the municipal governments under them more strictly.

In this way, the cabinet government does not need too much energy to penetrate its influence into the most grassroots town and village departments.

Besides this, the parliaments of major regions and cities also played a role in supervision and regulation.

Parliaments also have a direct relationship. Spain's Lower House leads the parliaments of major regions, and the parliaments of major regions lead the parliaments of cities.

This can ensure that governments at all levels will not have problems, and each level has corresponding supervisory agencies, ensuring that the cabinet government and the Lower House at the center of power can quickly exercise their power.

In order to express his attitude of caring for the public, after the government promulgated corresponding relief measures, Carlo also took some guards and officials by train to the mountains north of Ma Deli to see the disaster situation of the farmers personally.

As mentioned before, Ma Deli is located in the mountain gullies of the two major mountains in the north and south, and this is a relatively flat and open area.

Although it is in the center of the Iberian Peninsula interior, as the capital of Spain, the water conservancy facilities matched by the Ma Deli municipal government are the most in all regions of Spain.

This also led to Ma Deli, as the interior of Spain, not suffering from the trouble of too serious drought.

Instead, the mountainous area north of Ma Deli after passing through the mountains, because the water conservancy facilities are not sufficient, the drought situation is relatively serious.

Carlo's destination for inspection is the Castile and León region north of the Ma Deli region, and the capital city of the region is Valladolid, a small city with a population of less than 100,000.

Why did Carlo choose this small city as the location for inspection? The reason is also very simple, that is, it is located in the center of the drought, and Valladolid and the southern mountains are almost the driest places, and it hasn't rained for several months.

Carlo's personal arrival attracted the high attention of the Valladolid municipal government, and even the officials of the regional government had long been looking forward to it.

However, Carlo did not talk too much with these officials, and after arriving in Valladolid, he moved toward Palencia further north.

This time Carlo went out also carrying several specially modified cars, besides making the trip more convenient, there was also the purpose of testing the stability of cars driving in mountainous areas.

Palencia is a small town on the Meseta Plateau in Spain, and also one of the towns with the most serious drought in Spain.

According to the report of the Valladolid municipal government, it has been close to six months since it rained here, and the nearby rivers and water sources have almost dried up.

If it weren't for a large water conservancy facility north of Valladolid playing a role, I'm afraid the people in this town could already consider moving.

Let alone whether agricultural crops can survive without water, the people in this small town definitely cannot survive without water.

Although this large water conservancy facility played a key role, the water conservancy facility belongs to Valladolid, and it must also maintain the normal water use of the citizens of Valladolid.

Under such circumstances, the water conservancy facility that was originally considered large was instantly not enough. The purpose of Carlo coming here for inspection, besides seeing the drought situation with his own eyes, was also to solve the trouble of severe water shortage in Palencia.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 289 =====