Chapter 376: The Marriage of Juan Fernando

In January 1896, the Spanish government officially announced that it would implement nine-year compulsory education nationwide in the new year.

The public in Ma Deli and Barcelona were no strangers to the so-called nine-year compulsory education; compared with the previous policy, it just added free education at the junior high school stage.

However, for poor families all over Spain, nine-year compulsory education allowed their children to continue learning junior high school knowledge without too much burden, which was definitely good news.

Because Spain's education implemented a dual-track system, nine-year compulsory education, besides being able to choose free junior high school education, could also choose free basic vocational technical training, which could be graduated in about three years.

The so-called basic vocational technical training was actually the secondary vocational school of later generations. In this era, there was no such thing as child labor or not; if students who graduated from primary school really could not study anymore, learning a skill and then entering society to work early was also a good choice.

What the government could do was to ensure the minimum income of these child laborers and ensure that these children would not be squeezed too hard by factories and enterprises. But if the phenomenon of child labor was completely eliminated, it was not a good thing for Spain in this era.

Depriving children of work opportunities was actually depriving extremely poor families of survival opportunities. Gao Da certainly knew how important work opportunities like child labor were in this era, unless the basic living materials of extremely poor families could be guaranteed in the future, otherwise, Spain could not ban child labor.

The first half of 1896 was the preparation stage for the education department. The education department had to prepare enough junior high schools and basic technical training schools for primary school graduates nationwide.

Since they wanted to engage in nine-year compulsory education, 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, they did not need any expensive instruments and equipment.

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

Everything else could be made do. The playground only needed an open space, and the teachers' offices could be squeezed with the students.

Even the textbooks issued by the school could be shared by several people; anyway, first push the nine-year compulsory education, and then slowly supplement the things that were lacking later.

The education department was indeed doing so. In Ma Deli and Barcelona, doing so indeed achieved very good results.

The current Ma Deli and Barcelona had both become cities with a population of over one million, and the nine-year compulsory education piloted and implemented in these two cities also attracted the attention of the whole of Spain.

In the end, the residents of other cities were still very envious of the residents of these two cities. As the two cities with the largest population and the most prosperous economy in Spain, almost any good policy was first enjoyed by these two cities.

This was actually a matter of no choice. Promoting policies definitely had a sequence, and wanting to promote a certain policy nationwide at the same time, the difficulty was quite large.

Especially major projects like nine-year compulsory education, if they were not piloted in a few cities, it was easy to have some problems like this or that.

What Gao Da could do was to immediately start the promotion of nine-year compulsory education nationwide after confirming that there were no problems with the pilot implementation.

Although the promotion of nine-year compulsory education in Ma Deli and Barcelona was earlier, what Gao Da wanted to ensure was that after promoting nine-year compulsory education nationwide, whether it was Ma Deli, Barcelona, or other cities, the nine-year compulsory education policy enjoyed by people should be consistent, and there would be no special treatment for people in any region.

Gao Da had specifically emphasized this point, and even required the education department to strictly control it when promoting nine-year compulsory education.

Regardless of whether they were residents of big cities, small cities, or rural towns, they were all Gao Da's subjects.

For these people, Gao Da treated them all equally.

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

Only by doing this fairly, justly, and openly could this policy be supported by Spaniards, and Gao Da, who promoted this policy, could be supported by Spaniards.

With Gao Da's repeated instructions, Minister of Education Alan Carlton did not dare to have the slightest slack. Originally, promoting nine-year compulsory education was for his own political achievements, but if he did not do well in some aspects and made Gao Da dissatisfied, wouldn't this be lifting a rock to hit his own feet?

Alan Carlton was not stupid either. He knew that compared with his political achievements, gaining Gao Da's trust and support was a more important thing.

With Gao Da's support, even without enough political achievements, there was a chance to go further in the cabinet position. But if he lost Gao Da's trust and support, even if his political achievements were outstanding, he would eventually have to say goodbye to his political stage.

Gao Da did not pay too much attention to the movements of the education department, but handed this matter to his eldest son, Wang Chu Juan Fernando.

Unknowingly, Wang Chu Juan Fernando had also reached adulthood, and was even 20 years old.

Originally, when he just reached adulthood, Wang Hou Suofei had proposed to find a Crown Princess for Wang Chu Juan Fernando.

However, Gao Da considered that getting married too early was not a good thing, and finally delayed the time until now.

With Wang Chu Juan Fernando reaching the age of 20, Gao Da had no reason to delay anymore. Getting married and starting a career early was also a good thing for these princes and princesses, at least the Spanish royal family could branch out and spread leaves, which was much better than the previous lack of people.

Besides finding a Crown Princess for Wang Chu Juan Fernando, Princess Suofeiya, who was only one year younger than Juan Fernando, was also about time to find a husband.

Princess Suofeiya was currently 19 years old, and would reach 20 after this year. Compared with the political marriages of other European royal families, Gao Da hoped more that his daughter could find a spouse who loved her and whom she loved.

This was also the result of Gao Da and Wang Hou Suofei's discussion. Gao Da and Wang Hou Suofei would both find suitable candidates for Princess Suofeiya, but whether she liked them or not was up to Princess Suofeiya herself.

Anyway, the current Spanish royal family did not need political marriage to ensure the stability of its status. Judging from the power Gao Da currently mastered, it was probably European countries that wanted to marry the Spanish royal family to ensure the stability of their political status.

Kings in Europe were common, but as a king of a powerful country who also mastered great power, this phenomenon was not common in the whole of Europe.

It was precisely because of this that there were countless countries that wanted to marry the Spanish royal family. When the Portuguese royal family had not been overthrown, Luis I had proposed the idea of marrying the Spanish royal family.

But the Portuguese royal family and the Spanish royal family were originally relatives, and Gao Da was not used to the relative marriage of European royal families in this era, so he rejected the request of the Portuguese royal family.

If relative marriage was not considered, in fact, the marriage choices available to the Spanish royal family were much less.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, and the Portuguese royal family had already been excluded in advance, and the relationship between the remaining countries, the British and Spain, was relatively poor, which also meant that Wang Chu Juan Fernando's choices were only left with the two major powers of Germany and Russia and the remaining small and medium-sized countries.

If Princess Suofeiya's marriage candidate still had choices, then Wang Chu Juan Fernando's marriage candidate had more restrictions.

First was the most important, which was the equality of status and position. Being well-matched in social and economic status was very important for the marriage of European royal families; those who could be paired with the Crown Wang Chu were actually only princesses of various countries.

If he married a wife with low status, it would not only affect Wang Chu Juan Fernando's own prestige but also affect the inheritance rights of his descendants.

Such events had happened many times in history, and the importance European royal families attached to bloodline and status was unparalleled. As a member of the European royal family, Gao Da also had to abide by such rules.

Of course, for other sons besides the Crown Wang Chu, lowering the requirements for choosing a spouse a little was also possible.

After all, it was highly probable that these princes had no fate with the throne, and Gao Da did not have too many requirements for them, just be a good noble, as long as they did not violate the law, being a little free in marriage was no big deal.

In order to choose a suitable wife for his son, Gao Da and Wang Hou Suofei stayed in the palace and picked and chose from dozens of photos, but finally did not choose a candidate that made people satisfied.

After really not being able to choose, Gao Da looked at his wife quite helplessly: "Suofei, have you asked Juan Fernando for his own opinion?

Does he have any favorite object himself? If it meets the standard of a spouse, then there is no need to be so troublesome to pick one by one." "Already asked, Gao Da. Little Juan said he has no favorite object for the time being, let us choose by ourselves." Wang Hou Suofei smiled and said.

Because he was determined to be the Crown Wang Chu early, Wang Chu Juan Fernando certainly knew that his marriage was not something he could decide for himself.

It was precisely because of this that he did not understand the situation of princesses in various European countries too much, and decided to let his parents stand in the position of political interests and consider more for Spain and the royal family.

As for himself, anyway, the princesses of various European countries were not bad in appearance, and choosing one casually was not impossible.

After all, although European countries were monogamous, the nobles themselves had no shortage of lovers in private. Although Wang Chu Juan Fernando himself did not have any lovers, Gao Da arranged a personal maid to serve him when he reached the age of 20.

This kind of personal maid was still very necessary. Besides teaching the princes knowledge in that regard, there was also leading the princes to the right path one by one.

Gao Da did not want his children to go astray, and appropriate guidance was very necessary.

After picking and picking, he did not find a suitable candidate for Wang Chu Juan Fernando, and Gao Da was also in a dilemma, finally deciding to hand over the choice to Wang Chu Juan Fernando himself.

Staying in the palace and picking photos would not pick out anything, so it was better to let Wang Chu Juan Fernando, who had already reached adulthood, represent the Spanish royal family and visit several monarchical countries in Europe.

In the process of visiting, Wang Chu Juan Fernando would definitely come into contact with the royal families of these countries. In the banquet, he would definitely be able to see those princesses of the royal family of the right age. If he could choose a marriage candidate he was relatively satisfied with at this time, that would naturally be the best.

If he could not find a candidate he liked relatively well after walking around so early, then there was no way. He could only choose the one that was most beneficial to Spain based on political interests.

Hearing Gao Da's suggestion, Wang Hou Suofei nodded, feeling that this was a good method.

Instead of watching these photos back and forth in the palace, it was better to let Wang Chu Juan Fernando go and see for himself.

Whether he liked it or not, he had to see it with his own eyes to be clear; only by contacting in person could he understand whether the other party's personality was the kind he liked.

Looking at photos could only see the other party's appearance, and it was still the appearance excessively influenced by the current black-and-white camera. The object chosen by relying on photos was highly likely to be unsatisfied in the end, so it was better to skip this step in advance.

Since Gao Da and Wang Hou Suofei had already decided, then naturally there was nothing to say.

Gao Da immediately called Wang Chu Juan Fernando, told him his thoughts, and let him represent himself and the Spanish royal family to conduct diplomatic visits to many European countries.

Since it was a diplomatic visit, some important countries in Europe were definitely in the ranks. It was just that Gao Da had instructions in advance that the British royal family was not included.

Gao Da did not want Wang Hou Victoria's hemophilia to be spread to the Spanish royal family, thereby affecting the lifespan of the descendants of the Spanish royal family.

This kind of thing that was very likely to lead to the extinction of the royal family was best kept as far away from the Spanish royal family as possible.

What's more, the relationship between Spain and the British was not very good in the first place. The marriage of the royal families of the two countries would only make the situation of the royal family more awkward; after all, most of the time, they had to focus on national interests.

Except for the British royal family, the royal families of other European countries could be considered.

Even the current Wang Hou of the Netherlands, Wilhelmina, was within Gao Da's consideration. Although she was 5 years younger than Wang Chu Juan Fernando, this age gap did not have much impact.

If he could marry Wang Hou Wilhelmina, Spain and the Netherlands would be natural allies. Their descendants would also obtain the thrones of Spain and the Netherlands at the same time, with the hope of establishing joint rule.

Of course, if Wang Chu Juan Fernando felt that Wang Hou Wilhelmina was too young, his younger brothers were not impossible.

Wang Chu Martin was born in 1879, only one year older than Wang Hou Wilhelmina. Wang Chu Alexander was born in 1884, although he was nearly 4 years younger than Wang Hou Wilhelmina, he was also within the optional range.

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 shipbuilding, the Netherlands could also rank in the top ten in Europe, and such strength was still quite good.

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

And the Netherlands also possessed the vast East Indies colony, and this area was an extremely important rubber producing area. Although Spain and the Netherlands had some friction in the East Indies region before, this was after all a thing of the past.

Since Spain started the great colonization of Africa, in the Southeast Asia region, Spain had not expanded much.

If he married the Netherlands, Gao Da could also use a part of the colonies in Southeast Asia as a dowry to improve the relationship between Spain and the Netherlands.

Of course, all this was just Gao Da's assumption.

Whether the Netherlands was willing to marry Spain was the first question. The second question was whether Wang Chu Juan Fernando and his two younger brothers could look up to the Netherlands and Wang Hou Wilhelmina; after all, marriage was a two-way choice, not a one-sided choice.

Carrying the expectations of Gao Da and Wang Hou Suofei, Wang Chu Juan Fernando, with a part of government officials, started his journey of visiting European countries with great momentum.

As the Crown Wang Chu of Spain, conducting diplomatic visits was a matter of course. This time, besides letting Wang Chu Juan Fernando choose his marriage candidate himself, there was also a purpose to exercise his ability, and by the way, let him get to know the royal families and government officials of various European countries.

No matter what it was like now, the future Wang Chu Juan Fernando would definitely become the King of Spain.

The ability in diplomacy still needed to be exercised; showing his face earlier could cultivate his prestige and influence earlier.

In order to prevent this diplomatic visit from having trouble, Gao Da specifically let the three-term Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karel, accompany him. Since serving as the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1882, Karel had served in the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs for more than 15 consecutive years.

Letting such an experienced diplomat accompany Wang Chu Juan Fernando could also be considered Gao Da's care and love for his son.

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

In order to protect the safety of this diplomatic visiting team, Gao Da specifically sent a guard team with a scale of one hundred people.

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

The entire Royal Guard controlled by Gao Da added up to less than one thousand people, and being able to directly send a guard team of over one hundred people to protect Wang Chu Juan Fernando could already show Gao Da's importance to the Crown Wang Chu.

Although Gao Da could send more guard teams, it was obviously no longer necessary.

This trip was after all a formal diplomatic visit, and after arriving in various countries, the governments of various countries would definitely send tight guards for protection.

If the diplomatic visiting team had problems in a certain country, this would rise to the level of national conflict or even war.

No matter 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 have any problems on their territory.

5,000 words, 1st update, there will be another update later.

The fourth day of daily ten thousand, still need to do ten thousand for one day, beg for support!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 377 =====