[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-rise-of-the-empire-spain":3,"chapter-rise-of-the-empire-spain-rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-75":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Rise of the Empire: Spain",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2365003,4632,"Chapter 75: Fatherly Love","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-75",75,"\u003Cp>Seeing the headache-stricken look on Luo Si's face when he heard the word \"marriage,\" Victor Emmanuel II assumed he was just shy and said with a smile, \"It’s alright, Luo Si, this is a step you must go through.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Both of your older brothers are already married, and now it is your turn.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Si was certainly not shy, but it was difficult to explain anything at the moment, so he could only nod.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, although some members of the British royal family had been diagnosed with hemophilia at this time, the danger hemophilia posed to the royal families of Europe had not yet been fully revealed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Alright, child. Don't worry, I will keep an eye out for you. If there is a suitable candidate for marriage, I will notify the Spanish government.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"However, do not be too demanding in your criteria for a queen; after all, for us nobles, political interests outweigh one's own love.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you truly have a girl you like, you can always make her your mistress, can't you?\" Victor Emmanuel II patted Luo Si's head again and said with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before Luo Si came of age, Victor Emmanuel would try his best to avoid discussing topics like mistresses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But since Luo Si was now an adult and had become the King of Spain, such topics naturally needed to be addressed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"However, child, although you may have mistresses, it is best not to have too many, and do not go around provoking women who have husbands.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"With your status as a king and the royal assets, there are plenty of young, beautiful girls for you to choose from,\" Victor Emmanuel II reminded him, \"If you don't want your reputation to stink because of messing around, you had better remember my words, child.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although having mistresses was an almost tacit status quo among European nobles, this did not mean the public was willing to see their king messing around with many married women.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, as the ruler of a country, one's reputation is quite important. If the public is angered, the best case is being forced to abdicate, and the worst case is being driven off the throne by a revolution; that would be a loss that outweighs the gain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If it were just a brief, fleeting affair, it would be fine; usually, once it's over, you become familiar strangers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if you are to be together as long-term mistresses, it is best to find unmarried girls with clean family backgrounds, so there won't be too much trouble later on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Si could only nod again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regarding this point, Luo Si also understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this era, there was no such thing as a \"little umbrella\" design, and even contraceptive technology was very backward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he were unfortunate enough to contract any related diseases, it would be a complete loss for Luo Si.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching Luo Si nod frequently with an obedient look, Victor Emmanuel II was in a great mood and said with a smile, \"I heard you brought the Sun newspaper to Ma Deli; how is it developing now?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You little guy actually has a pretty good head for business. By now, the Spanish royal assets should be quite substantial, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Sun newspaper that Luo Si founded in Italy had currently become one of the largest newspapers in Italy. Because Luo Si became the King of Spain, after discussing it with his father, Victor Emmanuel, he sold 51% of the shares to the Italian royal family, keeping only 49% for himself to sit back and wait for dividends.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After more than a year, the Italian Sun newspaper had become one of the top three newspapers in all of Italy, and the daily circulation of the paper had exceeded Luo Si's initial goal, which was 50,000 copies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, the reason for such high sales was that the Sun had opened branches in Rome and Turin, and only by adding them together did the daily circulation exceed 50,000 copies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although 50,000 copies did not seem like much, it could directly influence more than 50,000 families, at least one or two hundred thousand people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If one were to talk about the groups that could be indirectly influenced, it would probably be at least a million people. If the spread continued for a longer time, even several million people would not be impossible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, most of the illiterate people in Italy would not buy newspapers; their way of obtaining outside information relied on word-of-mouth transmission from person to person.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If nothing unexpected happened, the sales of the Italian Sun would basically maintain this level and would not see much growth in the short term.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, Italy's illiteracy rate was close to 70%, and before the level of education was raised, there wouldn't be that many people buying newspapers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But regardless, the success of the Sun had already proven that Luo Si's business acumen was quite excellent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Victor Emmanuel held more than half of the shares of the Sun, so he naturally knew roughly how much money his youngest son had made by creating the Sun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Father, you know that the income from the newspaper is ultimately a small portion,\" Luo Si said with a helpless look, \"Spain's development plan dictates that the steel mills will not lack money, but the Spanish royal family does not have that much capital to build steel mills.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Currently, the royal income can only maintain the expenses of the Wang Gong and the guard regiment of more than 2,000 people; any more and the royal family would go bankrupt.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Luo Si's current assets had multiplied countless times compared to when he first left Italy, when facing his father, he still had to cry poor when necessary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Savoy family had been entrenched in Italy for far longer than the Bourbon family had ruled Spain, and the wealth they had accumulated was naturally quite considerable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Si naturally wanted to squeeze some money out of his father's hands; even if it was through an interest-free loan, it would be much better than borrowing from other countries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, it was bad enough that the interest on loans from other countries was high, but there were also all kinds of additional conditions, which were not conducive to Spain's future development.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if he borrowed from the Italian royal family, the loan amount might not be large, but it would likely be an interest-free or low-interest loan, and there would not be any overly harsh additional conditions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Luo Si, who was currently extremely short of money, naturally, he would take whatever he could get; even a little bit was still meat, and he wouldn't turn his nose up at it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You child, you've already become the King of Spain, why are you still coming back to me to cry poor?\" Victor Emmanuel II was somewhat amused, but he still did not refuse Luo Si:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Speaking of which, you have been away from Italy for more than a year; this time, I will just give you your annuity.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you are truly short of money, I can provide you with an interest-free loan quota of 10 million Lira in the name of the Italian royal family, to be repaid within 10 years.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If the Spanish government is short of money, let them go find Italian banks to negotiate; I cannot help them. Even if Italian banks are willing to lend to the Spanish government, the necessary interest will not be lacking; at most, some extra additional conditions can be waived.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Those bankers are not running charities. If that fellow Primo wants to borrow from Italian banks, he had better be prepared to pay high interest.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Victor Emmanuel II naturally felt for his son, but that did not mean he would support the Spanish government out of love for his son.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Spanish royal family and the Italian royal family were naturally a close family, but if it rose to the level of interests between Spain and Italy, then accounts were naturally settled clearly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Victor Emmanuel II would not harm the interests of Italian capitalists because of Luo Si, and Luo Si naturally understood this point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, the fact that Victor Emmanuel II was willing to provide an interest-free loan of 10 million Lira to help Luo Si had already moved Luo Si very much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>10 million Lira was worth 400,000 pounds; using it to invest in steel mills, multiplying the assets several times within ten years would not be a problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Using such a sum of money, enough to build the most powerful ironclad warship, as an interest-free loan to Luo Si, his love for his son was self-evident.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second update, please support! This book goes on sale tomorrow, I beg you brothers for a first subscription!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1473,"2026-06-25T09:27:12.995Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","f3fa14b6a57b0b4cbdafb913d2aaa83b513dcc4661753d436bafd1c0bab8dc5c","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-76","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-74",493,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frise-of-the-empire-spain-cover.jpg"]