Chapter 451: The Forty Million Born

While European nations began a new round of the land arms race, Spain remained calm and tranquil.

Aside from the ongoing construction of battleships, Spain had no intention of expanding its army, nor did it plan to continue expanding its navy.

Even the tens of millions of pounds in war reparations obtained after the end of this war would basically not be used for military spending.

As the helmsman of the Spanish government, Carlo did not pay too much attention to the military expansion of European countries. Despite the grand scale of the European arms race, in reality, this war would not break out for some time.

With the two major European military blocs confronting each other now, both Germany and France understood what the outbreak of war would mean.

The two major military blocs either had no major conflicts, or once a conflict started, it could potentially become a super war engulfing all of Europe.

To achieve final victory in a super war of such scale, one must defeat the enemy at all costs. Such a war would mean hundreds of thousands or even millions of casualties, which is why the two major military blocs remained relatively restrained for now.

It would be necessary to wait until the major countries of the two military blocs were prepared for war, or until a reason to be forced into the war emerged, to drive the outbreak of the entire great war.

Carlo understood that the time was not yet ripe; since the European great war could not break out, there was naturally no need to focus too much on the arms race of European countries.

Taking advantage of the last grand military parade in Spain, all members of the Spanish royal family were able to reunite.

Princess Sofia, who had already married, returned to Spain; along with her came her husband, Count Albert, and their two children, Leopold and Charlie.

These two little ones were born in September 1901 and August 1903 respectively; the eldest was only a little over three years old, and the younger one was not even two, still in their most adorable stage.

According to the current situation of the Belgian royal family, Carlo's son-in-law, Count Albert, had hopes of inheriting his uncle's throne and becoming the King of Belgium in the future.

This actually meant that Carlo's eldest grandson, Leopold, also had the possibility of becoming the next King of Belgium. Although little Charlie likely had no connection to the Belgian throne, being a duke content with pleasure was perfectly fine.

Carlo's two sons, Prince Juan Fernando and Prince Martin, could be said to have both sons and daughters.

Prince Juan Fernando and his wife, Princess Louise, gave birth to Princess Anna in April 1901, and subsequently to Prince Christian in February 1903.

As the eldest son and grandson of the Spanish royal family, Prince Christian was well-loved by Carlo. However, the little one was only two years old now, so naturally, he could not yet feel the exclusive heir training curriculum Carlo had specially customized for him.

As for Prince Martin, Prince William and Princess Maria were born in July 1903 and December 1904, respectively.

Counting the two sons born to Carlo's daughter, Princess Sofia, Carlo already had six grandsons and granddaughters; his happiest times with Queen Sophie were playing with the little ones.

Among Carlo's children, the only ones who had not yet married were his youngest son, Alexander, and his youngest daughter, Christina.

These two were born on January 2, 1884, and July 6, 1885, respectively, making them the youngest among Carlo's children.

Because they were not heirs to the throne, Carlo was not so urgent about the marriages of Alexander and Christina, only instructing them to find royal marriages of equal status if possible.

If they truly liked commoners, Carlo was not unable to accept it. After all, according to the current order of succession for the Spanish throne, although Prince Alexander was Carlo's third son, the order of succession was still behind Carlo's two grandsons, Prince Christian and Prince William, making him the fifth in line to the Spanish throne.

This situation meant he was basically disconnected from the throne; since it was destined that he could not inherit the Spanish throne, there was naturally no need to be too harsh in choosing love.

As for Princess Christina, there was even less need to mention it. As Carlo's youngest daughter, Carlo would never force Princess Christina regarding her marriage.

The current Spanish royal family did not need marriage alliances to help stabilize the throne at all. For Carlo, he would rather see his two daughters find partners they liked to marry, rather than choosing political marriages for the sake of royal interests.

Princess Sofia was relatively lucky. Her husband, Count Albert, was someone she liked, and he was also a member of the European royal family, and would even inherit the Belgian throne in the future; it was an example of having one's cake and eating it too.

Because the nobles currently enfeoffed in Spain were all new-style nobles, Carlo was also quite generous to his grandchildren.

Whether they were grandsons or granddaughters, they were all uniformly granted the title of Duke and gifted a large amount of land and property, ensuring that regardless of whether they had any connection to the throne, they could become nobles with considerable wealth.

Even the two grandsons, Leopold and Charlie, were granted the title of Count of Spain. Although they did not receive grants of land, the property they received was not insignificant.

The assets Carlo prepared for these little ones were various enterprises and companies; the value of any single enterprise or company was as high as several million pesetas or more, which was no small asset.

If he prepared so much for his grandchildren, it went without saying for his sons and daughters who had long since reached adulthood.

Facts proved that Carlo's education for these sons and daughters was quite good. To exercise their abilities, the assets Carlo gave them were only a few million pesetas; if they wanted to obtain more, they had to rely on their own efforts to accumulate wealth.

Currently, the assets of the three sons and two daughters had grown to a great extent, and even the youngest, Prince Alexander and Princess Christina, had seen their assets grow by more than half.

The most exaggerated were Prince Juan Fernando and Prince Martin; the assets of both had exceeded ten million pesetas, and this was achieved without the two paying too much attention to business.

As the Crown Prince of Spain, Prince Juan Fernando spent most of his day helping Carlo handle Spanish government affairs, as well as personally visiting various state governments across Spain to inspect their work.

Martin and Alexander served in the military, and they could be considered the right-hand men Carlo left for Prince Juan Fernando.

If there were no accidents in the future, Martin and Alexander would continue to help Prince Juan Fernando and subsequent Kings of Spain handle domestic affairs as Spanish Dukes, stabilizing the status of the Spanish royal family in the country.

But if something like the previous Spanish king-selection occurred, as long as they were willing, Carlo would not mind giving them a hand to let them become kings of some country in Europe.

How to proceed would depend on their choices; all Carlo could do was provide them with assistance, allowing them to continue to delve deeper in the directions they desired.

Speaking of Carlo's three sons, whether it was Prince Juan Fernando working in the government or Prince Martin and Prince Alexander serving in the military, they had all achieved some results.

As the eldest son, Prince Juan Fernando naturally went without saying; in his capacity as Crown Prince and Royal Senator, he helped Carlo handle various government affairs in an orderly manner, and his performance won praise from many cabinet members, being hailed by the public as the most perfect heir to the Spanish throne.

The performance of Prince Martin and Prince Alexander, who served in the military, was also quite excellent. As mentioned before, they participated in the Battle of Lisbon, and their performance in the battle was quite outstanding.

The fact that Prince Martin and Prince Alexander personally participated in the war also completely shut the mouths of the very few people who were still dissatisfied with the royal family, while simultaneously increasing the enthusiasm of most of the public to sign up for the army.

If even noble members of the royal family could fight for the country, and even participated in the extremely dangerous Battle of Lisbon, then what qualifications did ordinary people have to refuse to fight for the country? Was this not the most glorious thing for a Spaniard?

As the commander of the 3rd Artillery Division, Martin was successfully promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General of the Royal Army, and his position was also elevated to Deputy Commander of the Spanish Royal Army, which was already a very high military post.

As for Alexander, the deputy captain of the battleship *Dreadnought*, he was not only promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral of the Royal Navy but also successfully became the captain of Spain's second dreadnought-class battleship, the *Courage*.

If they did not have sufficient ability, Carlo would absolutely not allow them to ascend to such high positions. Because they would soon face a world war, Carlo attached great importance to the military.