Chapter 475: Grain Reserves

The struggle for allies between the Allied Powers and the Entente Powers continued until the beginning of 1910, and the members of the two major military blocs expanded from the original five great powers to nearly ten European countries.

As the number of member states in the two major military blocs continued to increase, the European public increasingly believed that once a war broke out between the two, it would evolve into a super war affecting all of Europe.

Considering that the European powers basically all possessed their own colonies, this European war could even evolve into a world war.

Many people looked forward to a world war; they hoped to wash away national humiliation in such a unique super war, or at least that was what a portion of the French thought.

The Eguozheng Prefecture was also impatient to use a war to re-declare the existence of Russia; in the nearly ten years prior, the influence of the Eguozheng Prefecture across Europe could be described as terrible, falling to its lowest point in nearly a century.

The reason was also simple: the dual chaos in Russian domestic politics and military affairs caused the major European powers to begin to look down on this originally very powerful country.

Although the problems within Russia had not been solved, for Tsar Nicholas II, he believed that there were no major problems within his country, and that only a victory in a war was needed to make the public believe in the Tsarist government again; the rule of the Romanov family would absolutely not face danger, as after all, Russia did not yet have large-scale revolutionary movements at this time, and the unrest that had broken out was mostly aimless.

The Deguozheng Prefecture did not want a war to break out at this time, as it was believed within Germany that war preparations were not yet sufficient.

But under the constant pressure from France and Russia, Germany could only continuously expand its military strength, crazily manufacturing all kinds of weapons and equipment to cope with the war that might break out.

France and Russia followed the same approach; almost all European countries were crazily producing all kinds of weapons, ammunition, and strategic materials, which also led to a significant rise in the prices of grain, medicine, and steel in Europe starting from the second half of 1909.

Especially grain, a resource that is very important at any time, saw its price soar by nearly 50%.

Before 1909, the price of grain in Europe was basically stable within a certain range, with the price of wheat at approximately 205 pesetas per ton and barley at approximately 176 pesetas per ton.

But by 1909, the price of grain in Europe had already risen to 286 pesetas per ton for wheat and 263 pesetas per ton for barley.

The rise in grain prices did not mean it was a good thing; after all, between the farmers and the purchasers of commercial grain, there existed the middleman of grain trading companies.

The actual income received by farmers was about the same as before the rise in grain prices, which also meant that only the grain companies were truly making money, while the cost of grain consumption for both farmers and urban residents would increase.

Especially for urban residents who did not produce grain, under the premise of a general rise in grain prices, their cost of living would also rise accordingly.

Regarding the generally emerging situation of rising grain prices in Europe, the Xibanyazheng Prefecture also quickly convened a meeting and decided to release a portion of its grain reserves to calm grain prices within Spain.

It was simply impossible to maintain Spanish grain prices at the level of a few years ago under the situation of generally rising grain prices across Europe; as a part of the European market, unless Spain completely closed its domestic market, it could not be an exception.

But under the broad scope of rising grain prices, the Xibanyazheng Prefecture could make certain fine-tuning to ensure that the extent of the grain price increase would not be too exaggerated and to ensure the daily grain consumption of urban residents.

For other countries, it was very difficult to lower domestic grain prices. They either had to release enough grain into the country to calm grain prices, or they had to control the middlemen selling grain to prevent black-hearted merchants from continuously raising grain prices at such a time.

For Spain, both points could be achieved. Spain's African colonies produced a large amount of grain, and the domestic grain reserves were also enough for the entire population of Spain to eat for more than half a year.

Coupled with the fact that Spain's main grain trading companies were all controlled by the government and the royal family, as long as the government issued a notice to these grain companies to calm grain prices, the grain companies in the hands of the government and the royal family would immediately execute these orders, ensuring that grain prices in all regions of Spain would not rise to a rather exaggerated level.

In addition to calming the rise in domestic grain prices, Carlo also ordered the Xibanyazheng Prefecture to increase its efforts in grain reserves and to temporarily slow down most grain export trade.

After Spain carried out large-scale agricultural development in its West African colonies, Spain also became one of the main grain-exporting countries in Europe.

After all, Spain had always been a country with a relatively small population among the great powers, and grain production had been continuously increasing with the use of chemical fertilizers and the development of colonies.

Throughout 1909, the total grain production in Spain and its colonies was 10. 8 million tons, an increase of about 4. % compared to the previous year.

Among these 10. 8 million tons of grain, the main products were wheat and rice, with production volumes of 5. 8 million tons and 2. 1 million tons respectively.

In addition to these two most important cereal grains, the production of rye, oats, and barley was also over 2 million tons.

From these grain production figures, one could also see the food characteristics of the Spanish, with various pasta dishes being the most common, such as bread, macaroni, and pizza.

Rice made from paddy was also widely used in Spain, and the most common way was paella, which could be considered one of Spain's iconic foods.

Speaking of pizza, it was actually born in Italy decades ago. At that time, Carlo had already eaten enough of local Spanish food, and upon learning that a food called pizza was becoming popular in Italy, he immediately had the royal chef of Spain go to learn it, successfully bringing pizza into Spain and causing a large number of Spanish nobles to follow suit.

This also led to the Spanish quickly falling in love with pizza; placing a few slices of beef or Iberian ham on the pizza also gave it a unique flavor.

With the introduction of pizza and the invention of cola and various fruit-flavored sodas, the dining tables of the Spanish became incredibly rich.

Of course, there was also the fast-food company that Carlo founded early on, which produced food similar to hamburgers.

The way to make a hamburger was relatively simple: a beef patty sandwiched between two pieces of bread, topped with some favorite vegetables and a squeeze of special salad dressing; it was not only convenient to make but also rich in nutrition.

According to the current per capita grain production in Spain, the annual production of 10. 8 million tons of various grains was already enough for more than 65 million people to use for a whole year.

Spain did not have such a large population, which also led to Spain needing to sell nearly 2. 2 million tons of grain every year, and this grain could feed nearly 15 million people.