Chapter 446: The Troubles of the British Government

The French were indeed as wealthy and free-spending as Gao Da had anticipated; regarding the prices for airships and battleships, the French agreed to the prices proposed by Spain for airship technology and battleships with almost no hesitation.

Of course, the French government was not without demands. The French government hoped that Spain would refuse to sell airship technology to Germany and would prioritize the construction of Dreadnought-class battleships for France.

The Spanish side had not originally intended to agree, but after the French diplomatic representative offered to increase the price, Spain still decisively nodded in agreement.

It was precisely because of this that the total value of the trade orders for airships and battleships reached the staggering scale of nearly 300 million pesetas, and this order also allowed Spain's military industrial enterprises to make a fortune.

While called military industrial enterprises, the ultimate beneficiary was actually the royal family. The Dreadnought-class battleships were developed with funding from Gao Da, and the Royal Guanizo Shipyard, which held the relevant design data, also belonged to the royal family.

The airship technology also came from the airship research and development project of the Royal Academy of Sciences, which was established with funding from the royal family; although the government held a portion of the shares, the lion's share still belonged to the royal family.

The total of the two orders from Italy and France exceeded 550 million pesetas, of which the 300 million pesetas from selling airship technology was almost pure profit, as the royal family had only invested a little over 10 million pesetas into airship-related research and development.

As for the remaining battleships, each one could also generate nearly 10 million pesetas in profit.

The taxes that had to be paid to the government from these two orders alone amounted to tens of millions of pesetas; for both the government and the royal family, this was simply a win-win deal. Of course, the one winning was Spain.

The Spanish Navy had a total of ten Dreadnought-class battleships under construction, though currently, only two, the Dreadnought and the Courage, were truly in service.

The Wrath battleship had already been launched in April of last year and was expected to officially enter service in the Spanish Navy by the middle of this year. The Revenge battleship had only begun construction at the beginning of last year and would need at least another two to three months before entering the launch testing phase.

The Giant battleship was currently the slowest in progress among all battleships under construction; it had only just begun construction in the middle of last year and would need at least another half year before it could be launched for testing, with service being even further off.

After the Giant, five more battleships needed to be built, and when combined with the orders placed by the Italian and French governments, Spain's major shipyards could be said to be fully booked for the next five to six years.

This was a good thing for the development of the Spanish Navy. The shipyards could accumulate experience through the uninterrupted construction of battleships while collecting information on the shortcomings of warship construction and design, thereby improving their own products.

The shipyards, which were constantly expanding production due to being fully booked, would also be able to meet the Spanish Navy's larger-scale expansion needs in the future.

Previously, Spain, by exhausting its national strength, could only build three battleships every two years. But for the current Spain, under normal circumstances, it could build two battleships a year, and in extreme cases, even three, which was almost enough to catch up with the warship construction speeds of super-powers like Britain, France, and Germany.

According to the requirements in the orders reached between Spain, France, and Italy, the French requested the delivery of the first battleship before the end of 1907 and a total of four battleships before the end of 1910.

The Italian side requested that Spain deliver the first battleship before the end of 1907 and a total of three battleships before the end of 1909.

This actually meant that in the five years leading up to the beginning of 1910, Spain had to build at least two battleships per year to meet domestic naval expansion needs while completing these orders on time.

The good news was that, judging by the current construction speed of Spanish naval shipyards, building two battleships per year was easy for Spain.

Both the Royal Guanizo Shipyard and the Valencia United Shipyard possessed the capability to build Dreadnought-class battleships.

The docks of these two shipyards could build warships of up to nearly 25, 00 tons; they were the two largest shipyards in Spain at present and were also the representatives of the military industrial enterprises in the hands of the royal family.

Currently, both the Royal Guanizo Shipyard and the Valencia United Shipyard were expanding their second docks, with hopes of realizing the concept of building two battleships simultaneously within a few years.

If the expansion of the second docks at these two shipyards went smoothly, the future Spain might have the capability to build four or even more battleships at the same time.

Of course, if a shipyard built two or more battleships simultaneously, the construction speed of each battleship would be affected.

Currently, when the two major shipyards only built one battleship, the average construction time per battleship was around 13 to 14 months, and at the latest, it would not exceed 15 months.

But if each shipyard started two battleships at the same time, the average construction time for each battleship might be delayed to nearly 20 months.

However, doing so was still cost-effective. If they were built one by one, the time required for one shipyard to build two battleships could be as long as two and a half or even three years.

But if two battleships were started simultaneously, it would only take about two to two and a half years to complete the construction of both.

Not long after the military parade ended, the Spanish government carried out another major move: the ennoblement and rewarding of the heroes of the war.

According to statistics, the number of people who received noble titles through this campaign reached 46, and another 6 nobles had their noble ranks elevated.

Among these 46 new nobles, only 2 counts were created, with the rest being barons. As for the 6 nobles who elevated their ranks, 4 were promoted from baron to count, and only 2 were promoted from count to duke.

In addition to the mass ennoblement, the Spanish government also bestowed a large area of land in one go. However, these lands were all located in Morocco, across the Strait of Gibraltar; enfeoffing these new nobles to go to Morocco could also allow these nobles to accelerate the development and assimilation of Morocco.

Apart from these few new nobles who had made greater contributions, all the remaining soldiers received rewards including money and land according to their contributions in the war.

Even those soldiers who truly had no particular merit received an extra half-year's salary, which also reflected the generosity of the royal family.

It should be known that the current average annual income of a Spanish soldier had already reached about 450 pesetas. Even if only half a year's salary was rewarded, it was an expenditure amounting to tens of millions of pesetas.

After the soldiers received their rewards, their loyalty to the royal family and the government invisibly increased by a few points.

Especially those officers and soldiers who had made certain contributions in the war but not enough to earn a title, what they were thinking about at this time was to have another war, to strive for a noble title with their merits, so that they and their descendants could benefit.

Those soldiers who were injured or even killed in the war, along with their families, also received a large pension. Although these pensions were not enough to completely change their lives, they could ensure that even with the loss of a laborer in the family, they could still continue to live a life where they were well-fed.

On the issue of the pension system, Spain's relevant regulations were already unprecedented in Europe. Even the wealthy British Empire could not guarantee the distribution of full pensions to all injured and fallen soldiers after the war.

Don't look at the fact that the pension each soldier received was not much; when accumulated, the pensions were also a large fiscal expenditure for the government.

The mass ennoblement and the distribution of pensions within Spain greatly washed away the pain caused by the war. It could be said that Spain was filled with joy, and many soldiers were already looking forward to the next war.

It is worth mentioning that the two confidants Gao Da brought from Italy, Minister Qiaodi and Kaman, also received promotions in their noble titles because of this war.

Kaman Esposito, who had successively commanded the Siege of Gibraltar and the Lisbon Landing campaign, had been promoted to General of the Army due to his outstanding merits and was personally nominated by Gao Da as the successor to the position of Chief of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense, officially stepping into the top tier of the Spanish military.

As the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Qiaodi naturally also had outstanding merits, but his rank was already General of the Army, so naturally, he could not be promoted further in rank.

Both were promoted to dukes due to their outstanding contributions, which also proved that military merit was indeed an effective channel for rapidly elevating military rank and noble title.

Prime Minister Baron Oerkaho was also promoted to count; this war could be considered a fruitful harvest for the government and military within Spain. Spain had recovered Gibraltar at a relatively low cost and regained control of Portugal, thoroughly establishing Spain's ruling position in the Strait of Gibraltar.

And what about Britain? The situation of the British government at this time was not very good.