Chapter 376: The Marriage of Hu An Fernando

In January 1896, the Spanish government officially announced that a nine-year compulsory education system would be implemented nationwide starting in the new year.

The public in Madrid and Barcelona were already no strangers to this so-called nine-year compulsory education; compared to previous policies, it merely added free education for the junior high school stage.

However, for impoverished families across Spain, the nine-year compulsory education system, which allowed their children to continue learning junior high school knowledge without too much of a burden, was definitely good news.

Because Spain's education system practiced a dual-track approach, the nine-year compulsory education offered a choice between free junior high school education or free basic vocational and technical training, which could be completed in about three years.

This so-called basic vocational and technical training was essentially the equivalent of the secondary vocational schools of later generations. In this era, there was no such thing as "child labor" concerns; if students who had graduated from primary school truly could not keep up with their studies, learning a trade and entering society early to start working was also a decent choice.

What the government could do was guarantee a minimum income for these child laborers, ensuring these children would not be exploited too harshly by factories and enterprises. But to completely eradicate the phenomenon of child labor would not be a good thing for Spain in this era.

Depriving children of work opportunities was, in reality, depriving extremely impoverished families of their chance at survival. Carlo certainly knew how important such work opportunities were for child laborers in this era; unless the basic living supplies for extremely impoverished families could be guaranteed in the future, it was impossible for Spain to ban child labor.

The first half of 1896 was the preparation stage for the Education Department. The Education Department had to prepare a sufficient number of junior high schools and basic technical training schools for primary school graduates nationwide.

Since they were going to implement a nine-year compulsory education system, the most important thing was to have enough schools to accommodate these students.

Fortunately, in this era, whether it was schools teaching cultural knowledge or technical schools teaching technical knowledge, there was no need for expensive instruments or equipment.

Only a few sturdy and solid buildings were needed—one to serve as a teaching building and one to serve as a dormitory—which basically met the requirements for building a school.

Everything else could be made do with. A playground only needed a piece of open space, and teachers' offices could be squeezed in with the students.

Even the textbooks issued by the school could be shared by several people; in any case, it was better to get the nine-year compulsory education system moving first, and then slowly supplement whatever was lacking later.

The Education Department was indeed doing exactly that. In Madrid and Barcelona, this approach had indeed achieved very good results.

Currently, Madrid and Barcelona had both become cities with populations exceeding one million, and the pilot implementation of the nine-year compulsory education in these two cities had also attracted the attention of all of Spain.

When it came down to it, residents of other cities were still very envious of the residents of these two cities. As the two most populous and economically prosperous cities in Spain, almost any good policy was first enjoyed by these two cities.

This was actually something that couldn't be helped. Implementing policies certainly had an order of priority; the difficulty of wanting to implement a certain policy nationwide simultaneously was quite high.

Especially for a major project like nine-year compulsory education, if it were not piloted in a few cities first, it would be very easy for various problems to arise.

All Carlo could do was to immediately launch the nationwide promotion of the nine-year compulsory education after confirming that there were no problems with the pilot implementation.

Although the implementation of the nine-year compulsory education in Madrid and Barcelona was earlier, Carlo wanted to ensure that after the nine-year compulsory education was promoted nationwide, whether in Madrid, Barcelona, or other cities, the policy enjoyed by the people would be consistent, and no region would be treated specially.

Carlo had specifically emphasized this point, and even demanded that the Education Department strictly control it when promoting the nine-year compulsory education.

Whether they were residents of large cities, small cities, or rural towns, they were all Carlo's subjects.

Carlo treated all of these people equally.

Since they were going to implement the so-called nine-year compulsory education policy, the most important thing was to promote and implement it fairly, justly, and openly nationwide; everything else was secondary.

Only by achieving true fairness, justice, and openness in this regard could this policy gain the support of the Spanish people, and only then could Carlo, who promoted this policy, gain the support of the Spanish people.

With Carlo's repeated instructions, the Minister of Education, Alan Carlton, did not dare to be the slightest bit slack. Originally, promoting the nine-year compulsory education was for his own political achievements, but if he did poorly in some aspect and made Carlo dissatisfied, wouldn't that be like lifting a rock only to drop it on his own feet?

Alan Carlton was not stupid. He knew that compared to his political achievements, gaining Carlo's trust and support was a more important matter.

With Carlo's support, even without sufficient political achievements, there was still a chance to advance further in cabinet positions. But if he lost Carlo's trust and support, even with outstanding political achievements, he would eventually have to bid farewell to his political stage.

Carlo did not pay too much attention to the movements of the Education Department, but instead handed this matter over to his eldest son, Prince Hu An Fernando.

Before one knew it, Prince Hu An Fernando had already come of age, and had even turned 20 years old.

Originally, when he had just come of age, Queen Wang Hou had proposed finding a Crown Princess for Prince Hu An Fernando.

However, Carlo considered that getting married too early was not a good thing, and ultimately delayed the timing until now.

With Prince Hu An Fernando turning 20, Carlo no longer had a reason to delay. Starting a family early was also a good thing for these princes and princesses; at the very least, the Spanish royal family could branch out and spread its leaves, which was much better than the previous scarcity of people.

Besides finding a Crown Princess for Prince Hu An Fernando, Princess Sofia, who was only one year younger than Hu An Fernando, was also about at the age to find a husband.

Princess Sofia was currently 19 years old and would turn 20 by the end of this year. Compared to the political marriages of other European royal families, Carlo hoped more that his daughter could find a spouse who loved her and whom she loved.

This was also the result of discussions between Carlo and Queen Wang Hou. Both Carlo and Queen Wang Hou would look for suitable candidates for Princess Sofia, but whether she liked them or not was ultimately up to Princess Sofia herself.

In any case, the current Spanish royal family did not need political marriages to ensure the stability of its status. Judging by the power Carlo currently held, it was perhaps the other European countries that wanted to marry into the Spanish royal family to ensure the stability of their own political status.

Kings were common in Europe, but for a king of a Great Power to also hold such immense power in his hands—this phenomenon was not common throughout Europe.

Precisely because of this, the number of countries wanting to marry into the Spanish royal family was countless. When the Portuguese royal family had not yet been overthrown, Luis I had proposed the idea of marrying into the Spanish royal family.

But the Portuguese royal family and the Spanish royal family were already relatives, and Carlo was not accustomed to the intermarriage of relatives in the European royal families of this era, so he rejected the Portuguese royal family's request.

If one did not consider intermarriage between relatives, the available choices for the Spanish royal family were actually much fewer.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, and the Portuguese royal family had already been excluded in advance; among the remaining countries, the relationship between the United Kingdom and Spain was relatively poor, which meant that Prince Hu An Fernando's choices were limited to the two major powers of Germany and Russia, as well as the remaining small and medium-sized countries.

If there was still room to pick for Princess Sofia's marriage candidate, then there were more restrictions for Prince Hu An Fernando's marriage candidate.

First was the most important thing: the equality of status and position. "Matching doors and windows" (social parity) was very important for European royal marriages; those who could be matched with a Crown Prince were, in fact, only the princesses of various countries.

If he were to marry a wife of low status, it would not only affect Prince Hu An Fernando's own reputation but also affect the succession rights of his descendants.

Such events had occurred many times in history; the European royal families' regard for lineage and status was unparalleled. As a member of a European royal family, Carlo also had to abide by such rules.

Of course, for sons other than the Crown Prince, lowering the requirements for choosing a spouse was acceptable.

After all, in all likelihood, these princes would have no connection to the throne, and Carlo did not have high requirements for them. As long as they acted as proper nobles, as long as they did not break the law, it was no big deal to be slightly freer in terms of marriage.

In order to pick a suitable wife for his son, Carlo and Queen Wang Hou stayed in the palace, picking and choosing from dozens of photos, but in the end, they still did not pick a satisfactory candidate.

After truly being unable to pick one out, Carlo looked at his wife with some helplessness: "Sofia, have you asked Hu An Fernando for his own opinion?"

"Does he have any object of his affection? If it meets the criteria for a spouse, then there would be no need to pick one by one like this." "I have already asked, Carlo. Little Hu An said he has no object of his affection for the time being, and that we should just pick one ourselves," Queen Wang Hou smiled and said.

Because he had been determined as the Crown Prince early on, Prince Hu An Fernando certainly understood that his own marriage was something he could not decide for himself.

Precisely because of this, he did not spend too much time understanding the situations of the princesses of various European countries, deciding to let his parents stand from the perspective of political interests and consider more for Spain and the royal family.

As for himself, in any case, the princesses of various European countries were not bad-looking, so picking any one of them was not impossible.

After all, although European countries were monogamous, the nobles themselves had no shortage of mistresses in private. Although Prince Hu An Fernando himself did not have any mistresses, Carlo had arranged for a personal maid to serve him when he turned 20.

This kind of personal maid was still very necessary. Besides teaching the princes knowledge about that aspect, it was also to lead the princes onto the right path.

Carlo did not want his children to go astray; appropriate guidance was very necessary.

After picking and choosing and still not finding a suitable candidate for Prince Hu An Fernando, Carlo was also troubled, and finally decided to hand the choice over to Prince Hu An Fernando himself.

Staying in the palace and picking photos would not yield anything; it would be better to let Prince Hu An Fernando, who had already come of age, represent the Spanish royal family and visit several monarchical countries in Europe.

In the process of visiting, Prince Hu An Fernando would certainly come into contact with the royal families of these countries. In the banquets, he would certainly be able to see those royal princesses of marriageable age; if he could pick a marriage candidate he was relatively satisfied with at this time, that would naturally be the best.

If he couldn't find a candidate he liked after going around so early, then there was no help for it. He would only be able to choose the one most beneficial to Spain for a political marriage based on political interests.

Hearing Carlo's suggestion, Queen Wang Hou nodded, feeling that this was a good method.

Rather than looking at these photos over and over again in the palace, it would be better to let Prince Hu An Fernando go and see for himself.

Whether one likes someone or not is only clear after seeing them with one's own eyes; only by personally coming into contact can one understand whether the other party's personality is the kind one likes.

Looking at photos only allows one to see the other party's appearance, and it is an appearance overly influenced by the current black-and-white cameras. The candidates picked out based on photos are in all likelihood unsatisfactory in the end; it is better to skip this step in advance.

Since Carlo and Queen Wang Hou had already decided, there was naturally nothing more to say.

Carlo immediately called for Prince Hu An Fernando, told him his thoughts, and had him represent himself and the Spanish royal family to conduct diplomatic visits to many European countries.

Since it was a diplomatic visit, some important European countries were certainly in the lineup. It was just that Carlo had given instructions in advance that the British royal family was not to be included.

Carlo did not want Queen Victoria's hemophilia to be spread to the Spanish royal family, thereby affecting the lifespan of the descendants of the Spanish royal family.

Things that could very likely lead to the extinction of the royal line were best kept as far away from the Spanish royal family as possible.

Moreover, the relationship between Spain and the United Kingdom was not very good to begin with. A marriage between the two countries' royal families would only make the royal family's situation more awkward; after all, most of the time, national interests had to come first.

Besides the British royal family, the royal families of other European countries were all open for consideration.

Even the current Queen of the Netherlands, Wilhelmina, was within Carlo's scope of consideration. Although she was 5 years younger than Prince Hu An Fernando, this age gap did not have much of an impact.

If he could marry Queen Wilhelmina, Spain and the Netherlands would be natural allies. Their descendants would also simultaneously obtain the thrones of Spain and the Netherlands, with the hope of establishing a joint rule.

Of course, if Prince Hu An Fernando felt that Queen Wilhelmina was too young, his younger brothers were not out of the question.

Prince Ma Ding was born in 1879, only one year older than Queen Wilhelmina. Prince Alexander was born in 1884; although he was nearly 4 years younger than Queen Wilhelmina, he was also within the range of options.

Although the Netherlands was only a small and medium-sized country on the European continent, the foundation of the Netherlands still existed. In terms of the shipbuilding industry, the Netherlands could also rank in the top ten in Europe; such strength was still quite good.

The shortcomings of the Netherlands were mainly concentrated in its small land area and small population, but its industry and economy still possessed a certain level.

Moreover, the Netherlands also possessed vast East Indian colonies, and this region was an extremely important rubber-producing area. Although there had been some friction between Spain and the Netherlands in the East Indies region before, that was, after all, a matter of the past.

Ever since Spain began its great colonization of Africa, Spain had not expanded much in the Southeast Asia region.

If they were to marry into the Netherlands, Carlo could also use a portion of the colonies in Southeast Asia as a dowry to improve the relationship between Spain and the Netherlands.

Of course, all of this was just Carlo's hypothesis.

Whether the Netherlands was willing to marry into the Spanish royal family was the first question. The second question was whether Prince Hu An Fernando and his two younger brothers could take a liking to the Netherlands and Queen Wilhelmina; after all, marriage was a two-way choice, not a one-sided one.

Carrying the expectations of Carlo and Queen Wang Hou, Prince Hu An Fernando, along with a number of government officials, grandly began his journey to visit various European countries.

As the Crown Prince of Spain, conducting diplomatic visits was a matter of course. Besides letting Prince Hu An Fernando pick a marriage candidate himself, another purpose was to exercise his abilities, and incidentally, let him get to know the royal families and government officials of various European countries.

Regardless of how things were now, Prince Hu An Fernando would certainly have to become the King of Spain in the future.

Abilities in diplomacy still needed to be exercised; showing his face earlier would allow him to cultivate his reputation and influence earlier.

To prevent any trouble during this diplomatic visit, Carlo specifically had the three-term Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ceng Bei, accompany him. Since serving as the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1882, Ceng Bei had served in the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs for over 15 years consecutively.

Letting such an experienced diplomat accompany Prince Hu An Fernando could be considered Carlo's care and love for his son.

Various departments had also sent some officials to accompany them; if they could reach certain cooperation with the governments of various countries during the diplomatic visit, that would naturally be the best.

To protect the safety of this diplomatic visiting team, Carlo specifically sent out a guard detachment reaching a scale of one hundred people.

Compared to the main duty of the Imperial Guard, which was to defend the capital and the palace, the main duty of the guard detachment was to accompany and protect members of the royal family.

The entire Royal Guard detachment controlled by Carlo added up to less than one thousand people; being able to directly send out a guard detachment of over one hundred people to protect Prince Hu An Fernando already showed how much Carlo valued the Crown Prince.

Although Carlo could send out more guard detachments, it was clearly no longer necessary.

This trip was, after all, an official diplomatic visit; upon arriving in various countries, the governments of those countries would certainly send strict escorts to provide protection.

If the diplomatic visiting team encountered problems in a certain country, this would escalate to a national-level conflict or even war.

Regardless of whether the relationship between Spain and these visited countries was good or not, they had to ensure that the Spanish diplomatic visiting team would not encounter any problems on their territory.

Fourth day of 10, 00 words a day, still need one more day of 10, 00 words, please support!

(End of chapter)