Chapter 354: Prime Minister Candidates

When the pilot implementation of nine-year compulsory education by the education department officially began, the time had already reached January 1891.

1891 is very important for the Spanish cabinet government. This is the last year of the current cabinet government, and it is also the last opportunity for those officials who want to enter the cabinet government or go further in the cabinet.

Missing this year requires waiting for another five years. Although the Spanish cabinet government is dominated by the "young and strong faction," not everyone can afford a five-year time consumption.

What can be determined at present is that Prime Minister Canovas will not run for the next cabinet prime minister again.

He was born on February 8, 1828, and is about 63 years old this year. For Prime Minister Canovas, he is undoubtedly a winner in life.

As the longest-serving prime minister in the Gao Da era, Prime Minister Canovas's achievements have been recognized by the public. Although he is currently only a count, Gao Da has already revealed the wind to Prime Minister Canovas that after the term of this cabinet government ends, Gao Da will reward all officials in the cabinet, and Prime Minister Canovas will also receive the title of Duke.

Although the status of new nobles is not as good as that of old nobles, a duke among new nobles is also a duke, and there is no difference in status.

Prime Minister Canovas also knows that his body can no longer support another term. More importantly, he also understands that he is not suitable to continue to be re-elected.

Spain does not need a prime minister with too high prestige, and being re-elected for three terms is Gao Da's greatest tolerance for him.

Before, it was mainly because there were no candidates who could compete with Prime Minister Canovas. Those who were qualified were not trusted by Gao Da, and those trusted by Gao Da were not qualified.

And now, the second-in-command of the Conservative Party, Huo Weiliyaer Suolaier, and Defense Minister Evan Bradley are both good successors.

Choosing the former, Huo Weiliyaer Suolaier can well take over Prime Minister Canovas's policies, and a Conservative prime minister will not cause much impact on Spanish politics.

Choosing the latter, Evan Bradley's loyalty to Gao Da is unquestionable. As Defense Minister, after becoming Prime Minister, Gao Da can control more military power, and Spain's expansion and actions in military aspects will also be easier.

These two are considered the most likely candidates for the next prime minister. Besides them, there are actually several other candidates who may be elected as cabinet prime minister.

From the competition for financial budget at the beginning of the year, one can see how much each department attaches importance to this year's political performance. The more financial budget a department has, the easier it will be to complete tasks.

The more tasks completed, the better, and the political performance obtained will naturally be more. These political performances are not only related to whether they can be re-elected, but also related to whether they can go further in the cabinet.

It is precisely because of these reasons that the cabinet entered into unprecedented quarrels and stalemates when discussing the financial budget of each department.

The first to be determined is the national defense budget. In addition to Defense Minister Evan Bradley's prestige, the unique status of the national defense department is also the reason why the budget was approved quickly.

The financial budget approved for the national defense department reached 354 million pesetas, an increase of 19 million pesetas compared to last year, and the growth rate is quite large.

One must know that last year's military expenditure already included 50 million in shipbuilding funds. On this basis, it can still increase military expenditure by nearly 20 million pesetas, which is enough to see Gao Da and the Spanish government's emphasis on national defense development.

Speaking of this, one must mention Spain's financial revenue and financial expenditure for the whole of last year.

Last year, Spain's total financial revenue reached 1.3421 billion pesetas, and total financial expenditure reached 1.2751 billion pesetas. Both revenue and expenditure situations created new records.

Thanks to the constantly increasing financial revenue, the Spanish government also increased the total financial expenditure level for 1891 to a new scale, reaching an astonishing 1.2925 billion pesetas.

The financial budget of the national defense department reached 354 million pesetas, accounting for 27.39% of the total expenditure for the whole of 1891. This proportion decreased slightly compared to last year.

The reason for the decrease is mainly because the funding for education and industrial departments has increased.

Other departments did not have major changes. The industrial department is because of the integration of the shipbuilding industry and subsidies for other industries, and the education department is because of the pilot implementation of nine-year compulsory education.

In 1891, the education department's financial budget successfully broke through 200 million pesetas, reaching a new high of 234 million pesetas. This also caused the education department's financial budget proportion to grow from 15.97% last year to 18.1% this year, which is the department with the largest increase in financial budget among all departments.

The industrial department ranked behind it, with a financial budget of 219 million pesetas, accounting for 16.94% of Spain's annual total financial expenditure.

After these three most important departments discussed the share of the financial budget, the next step is for other departments to obtain their own financial budget.

Because the amount of total financial expenditure increased significantly, this led to the fact that although military, education, and industrial departments increased their funding, it did not affect the budget proportion of other departments.

This can be considered a blessing in misfortune for other departments. As long as the financial budget is not affected, there is no problem in completing the tasks assigned by the government according to the plan.

After each department divided its own financial budget, cabinet ministers also began to enter the final stage of struggle.

It is worth mentioning that from the beginning of 1891, almost every period of time, cabinet ministers reported their work situation to Gao Da.

Their purpose is also very clear: on the one hand, it is to let Gao Da know their ability and political performance through reporting work, and on the other hand, it is also to brush up their presence here at Gao Da.

Don't say, Gao Da's presence here is still very important. If a certain position falls into a relatively stalemate competition stage, once Gao Da is more familiar with one of the officials, it is very likely that he will choose this more familiar official.

After more than twenty years of development, cabinet ministers naturally also understand who is in charge in Spain at present.

Compared to Prime Minister Primo, Prime Minister Canovas did not control military power. This also led to Gao Da obtaining more government power. Although Gao Da does not take the initiative to express his opinions most of the time, no one can ignore Gao Da's own ideas, including Prime Minister Canovas.

The discussion of cabinet meetings, as long as it is what Gao Da wants to refuse, no one can make it pass. The same truth, as long as it is what Gao Da wants to promote, no one can successfully oppose it.

But fortunately, Gao Da basically does not use such power, which also makes the cabinet government's meeting look relatively democratic on the surface.

Most of the time, it is decided by the cabinet ministers' voting, and Gao Da will not interfere with the final result of the ministers' voting.

Of course, if it is really a proposal that Gao Da strongly opposes, no one will let it appear in the scope of discussion of the cabinet meeting.

Everyone is not stupid, and it is impossible to offend Gao Da and the royal power so openly. In February 1891, Gao Da invited many writers and musicians in Spain, asking them to write lyrics for Spain's national anthem "Royal March," and to compose a dedicated song for Spain's Royal Army, Royal Navy, and Royal Guard respectively.

Even in later generations, Spain's national anthem "Royal March" is one of the few national anthems without lyrics.

The reason for this phenomenon is very complicated, and Gao Da does not want his country's national anthem to have no lyrics all the time.

Although the melody of "Royal March" itself is very majestic and atmospheric, if lyrics can be used to add a few colors, it is definitely the icing on the cake.

"Royal March" is a song exclusive to the royal family for Spain, and it will only be used on some relatively solemn occasions.

And the usage scenarios of the army, navy, and guard military songs are not so limited.

The reason why Gao Da wants to produce a dedicated military song for the army, navy, and guard is also to improve the morale of the army. If there is a war in the future, let the soldiers launch a charge accompanied by their respective military songs, the effect will definitely be much better than having no song accompaniment.

A suitable song can not only make soldiers feel excited, but also arouse soldiers' enthusiasm and blood to serve the country.

When Spanish soldiers feel excited as soon as they hear the military song, who can defeat this bloody, brave, and fearless Spanish army?

Speaking of which, the achievements of Spaniards in the field of literature are quite good.

Historically, Spain did not have many Nobel Prize winners in physics and chemistry, but in literature, there were really quite a few winners.

Gao Da almost gathered all famous writers and musicians in Spain. With the joint efforts of these people, it took less than three months to write a satisfactory lyric for Spain's national anthem "Royal March."

In addition to praising Spain, the lyrics also praised Gao Da's wise rule. Although the combination of lyrics and music is not so perfect, it is definitely a masterpiece.

Afterwards, the production of military songs for the Royal Army, Royal Navy, and Royal Guard became even easier.

These three military songs were named "Royal Army March," "Royal Navy March," and "Royal Guard March" respectively, among which the melody of the army and navy military songs is the same, but the lyrics have certain changes.

And "Royal Guard March" has a big difference from the other two, and the lyrics mainly tell about the greatness of the Spanish royal family and the blood, bravery, and loyalty of the guard soldiers to serve the royal family.

After these three marches were freshly released, Gao Da immediately ordered people to hand them over to the army, navy, and guard, and officially used these three songs as the military songs of the three armies.

When the military song was played in the troops for the first time, the soldiers still liked such military songs quite a bit.

Most of those who joined the army were young men in their 20s. They were quite passionate about their motherland, and naturally, they were quite passionate about this song that praised the motherland and loved the motherland.

After the dedicated military songs of the three troops were established, without the officers deploying them, the soldiers themselves began the task of learning military songs.

Under such active learning, the soldiers only spent a few days to initially learn the military song dedicated to their own troops.

Gao Da is quite satisfied with such a result. Military songs are quite effective for the improvement of morale, and Spain's army, navy, and guard should also have their own dedicated military songs.

When the soldiers learned that such military songs were produced by Gao Da inviting famous writers and musicians in Spain, they could only be full of love and loyalty to Gao Da.

The three military songs were one of the few episodes in 1891. Under the efforts of cabinet ministers, the Spanish government in 1891 achieved quite good results, and the time soon came to 1892.

There was a very important major event at the beginning of 1892, which was the election of the Spanish cabinet government.

Up to now, Spain has completely experienced five cabinet governments. These five cabinet governments have had huge improvements for Spain, and Spain has also gone from a country that was not a major power at the beginning to a middle-to-upper country among major powers, which can be said to be second only to the four major powers, and its comprehensive strength is not much worse than that of Austria-Hungary.

Such an improvement only took 25 years of 5 cabinet governments, which is undoubtedly a quite good achievement. Every cabinet government election also attracts the attention of all Spanish people. They are all curious about who will take over the important position of cabinet prime minister after Prime Minister Canovas.

At present, according to some public opinion surveys of Spanish folk by newspapers, the more popular cabinet prime minister candidates are Industrial Minister Huo Weiliyaer Suolaier, Defense Minister Evan Bradley, Foreign Minister Karel, Livelihood Minister Alton Yarvis, and Royal Affairs Minister Menotti.

Among them, the most popular are the first two: one is Huo Weiliyaer Suolaier, who is fully capable of inheriting Prime Minister Canovas's policies, and one is Evan Bradley, a hardliner in the military.

Gao Da is also quite hesitant about these two candidates. In fact, logically speaking, the current Spanish government should have certain changes.

Continuing to continue Prime Minister Canovas's policies can indeed allow the country to continue to develop, but the current European situation is quite chaotic and complex, and Gao Da cannot guarantee whether the First World War will happen as it did in history.

If there are any special changes in the European situation, Spain is very likely to join this war for its own interests. If it is to face a war in a short period of time, then Spain's prime minister should be served by Evan Bradley.

As for the second-in-command of the Conservative Party, Huo Weiliyaer Suolaier, if he is allowed to serve as prime minister, he is also absolutely qualified.

But there is no difference between Huo Weiliyaer Suolaier serving as prime minister and Canovas serving as prime minister. Their political attitudes are about the same, and policies will basically continue to be continued according to those policies when Prime Minister Canovas was in office.

This is a bit unnecessary for Gao Da. After all, if another prime minister is changed, these policies will likely continue to be continued.

As long as Gao Da is there, Spain's policies will not have major changes, and it will not affect the country's development.

If Evan Bradley serves as Spain's prime minister, Spain is destined to have greater actions in military aspects in the future.

If Huo Weiliyaer Suolaier is allowed to assist Evan Bradley, perhaps it is a relatively suitable choice at present.

On the one hand, as Deputy Prime Minister, Huo Weiliyaer Suolaier can continue to continue Prime Minister Canovas's policies, ensuring that Spain's economic and industrial development will not be affected.

On the other hand, the Prime Minister is a hardliner, which can also promote the growth of Spain's military power faster. If a major war breaks out in the next few years, Spain will have stronger military power, and it will also have more hole cards and confidence.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 355 =====