Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 206 Bullfighting
For people in 1876, society at that time was indeed less fun. A big reason for this was that factory owners continued to exploit workers, resulting in workers not having enough time to rest and have fun.

But it is undeniable that the backwardness of technology and the lack of various entertainment activities are also one of the reasons why people feel bored.

Although Spain's opinion industry has also produced entertainment newspapers that specialize in reporting gossip, not all Spaniards buy newspapers.

Once people do not have enough entertainment options to vent their emotions, over time, various voices and forces against the government will emerge.

This also means that Spain is currently in urgent need of an entertainment project that can mobilize the emotions of the majority of the people, and this entertainment project must also be warmly welcomed in Spain.

Throughout Spain, there is only one tradition that meets these requirements: bullfighting, which has been popular in Spain for hundreds of years.

Spanish bullfighting originated from ancient religious activities and has a long history and tradition in the two Iberian countries of Spain and Portugal.

According to historical records, the ancient Roman Caesar who once ruled Spain was keen on bullfighting on horseback, and bullfighters were seen as a symbol of bravery and fighting skills.

Originally this sport was only popular among the Spanish nobility. After all, the training of bullfighting and the preparation of related activities require a lot of money.

However, because bullfighting caused a large number of casualties among the nobles, Felipe V banned bullfighting among members of the royal family. This also allowed bullfighting to evolve from a privilege of the nobility to a national event in which ordinary people could participate.

After a long period of development, bullfighting has become an irreplaceable tradition in Spain and an activity that a large number of Spaniards are crazy about.

Bullfighters are regarded as brave and fearless men and are respected and admired by all Spaniards.

For Carlo, there is no activity more worthy of respect than bullfighting. Bullfighters symbolize the spirit of bravery and fearlessness. The more the Spanish people worship and admire this spirit, the more it represents the fighting power of the Spanish army.

The national spirit has a great influence on the combat effectiveness of the army. The combat effectiveness of the Italian army is not very strong, but it is definitely not too weak.

Why did Italy perform so badly in both World War I and World War II? The main reason is that the Italian national spirit is more inclined towards freedom and enjoyment, and at the same time, the sense of national identity and identity is weak, so naturally they are not willing to fight for the concept of Italy as a country.

Spain, with its bullfighting tradition, obviously does not have the same shortcomings as Italy. As long as it can be cultivated, even if the Spanish population is small, it can ensure that the army formed by the Spanish has a strong combat effectiveness.

The spirit of bravery and fearlessness has a great influence on an army. When all Spaniards admire this spirit, what reason is there to doubt the fighting power of the Spanish army?
If the Spanish army could be equipped with the advanced rifles and artillery that Carlo prepared for his army, as long as the number difference was not too big, it would be confident that it could fight against the army of any country.

Even though Spain was outnumbered by the enemy, as long as it relied on the Pyrenees Mountains for defense, it would not be afraid of attacks from any country.

This is the belief brought by the national spirit. When all Spaniards have enough national cohesion and identity, the Spanish army will become an enemy that no country in the world wants to encounter.

In addition to cultivating a brave and fearless national spirit, promoting bullfighting has another major advantage: it can promote economic circulation.

People need tickets to watch bullfighting performances, which will increase the probability of currency circulation and promote the growth of the Spanish economy.

Bullfighting is also a major feature of Spain, attracting a large number of European tourists every year. In this era, there are no football or basketball games, and bullfighting is one of the few large-scale events that can attract people's attention.

Although bullfighting has many disadvantages, these disadvantages are less important compared to the benefits it brings.

Carlo decided to vigorously promote bullfighting. On the one hand, it would incorporate bravery and aggressiveness into the Spanish national spirit. On the other hand, it would provide the Spanish with more entertainment activities to vent their emotions and dissipate their energy, while stimulating economic exchanges.

The largest bullfighting arena in Spain is the Plaza de Lerta in the center of Madrid. There is a circular bullring in the center of Plaza de Lerta, and the bullfighting season in Spain is from March to October every year.

The Lerta Bullring can accommodate more than 3500 spectators at most. It is the largest bullring in Madrid and attracts a large number of Spaniards from around Madrid.

Carlo's first step in promoting bullfighting is to personally experience the charm of bullfighting and at the same time feel the public's support for bullfighting.

At the end of September 1876, Carlo personally arrived at the Lerta bullring and watched the bullfighting show specially prepared for Carlo.

The cheering crowd, the majestic bull and the bullfighter holding a red cloth and swearing to do so together form a shocking scene in the bullring.

Knowing that Carlo wanted to watch the bullfight in person, the bullring was carefully prepared. The bullfighter performing for Carlo was the most famous bullfighter in the Madrid area. He had no defeats in recent years and easily defeated thousands of bulls.

Unfortunately, there is no so-called matador march nowadays. Such a thrilling scene can only be played with the audience's cheers and the bull's angry roar as background music.

This also gave Carlo a new idea. Before vigorously promoting bullfighting, he first had to tailor a song for bullfighting, called the Spanish Bullfighters' March.

A majestic and magnificent accompaniment, coupled with the bullfighter's brave and confident bullfighting, this is the perfect combination.

A bullfight does not involve just one bull, but rather three bullfighters take turns to fight a total of six bulls.

For the safety of the bullfighter, he is not alone, but is equipped with three dart bearers and two mounted lancers.

After watching the entire bullfighting show, Carlo left the Lerta Bullring quite satisfied. Before leaving, he did not forget to encourage the person in charge of the Lerta Bullring.

Carlo, the King of Spain, personally watched the bullfighting performance at the Lerta Bullring, which also attracted the attention of some news media.

Although newspaper distribution was controlled, they were not prevented from reporting on Carlo's bullfighting because it was not considered negative news.

This also attracted the attention of the public. After all, during the Bourbon dynasty, bullfighting was banned among members of the royal family. This is one of the reasons why bullfighting changed from an aristocratic sport to a civilian sport.

Carlo watched the bullfighting performance in the Plaza de Lerta. Does this mean that the young king also had a certain interest in bullfighting?
People are still paying close attention to this. They are all curious about how His Majesty the King treats this sport. After all, this is an ancient tradition of the Spanish.

After returning to the palace, Carlo discussed plans to promote bullfighting with Butler Loren.

Butler Loren was quite supportive of this, but he also put forward a few suggestions of his own: "Your Majesty, if you want to vigorously promote bullfighting, the existing number of bullfighting arenas is not enough.

The largest bullring in the Madrid area is the Lerta Bullring, which has a capacity of only 3500 spectators. Even if you include those standing by, the maximum capacity of the entire bullring is no more than 5000 people. If your plan is to develop bullfighting into a large-scale national sport, this bullring is far from enough.

I suggest that while vigorously promoting the sport of bullfighting, we should also build large bullrings on the outskirts of Madrid to ensure that a single bullfight in such a large bullring can accommodate at least tens of thousands of spectators.

This is not only conducive to the promotion of bullfighting, but also conducive to economic exchanges in the Madrid region. If each bullfighting performance can attract tens of thousands of people to watch, it will not only promote local economic exchanges, but also attract more tourists.”

Carlo nodded, agreeing with Butler Loren's point of view.

Spain has a very long tradition of bullfighting, and there are bullrings built at different times in different places. In particular, Andalusia, the southern region of Spain, is the region with the richest bullfighting culture in the whole of Spain, and it also has many historic bullrings.

But no matter how long the history of these bullrings is, they all have a significant drawback, which is that they cannot accommodate more spectators.

The size of bullrings varies greatly, depending on the size of the city where they are located and the financial resources of the builder.

The average size of a bullring is around 2000 to 3500 seats. There are also some large bullrings that can accommodate more than 4000 people, but it basically does not exceed 5000 people.

After all, if you want more seats, you can only expand the area of ​​the bullring. And those seats that are farther away from the bullring don't have a very good viewing experience.

For the sport of bullfighting, a larger national bullring is necessary. Bullfighting events held in this larger bullring can also attract more attention from people at home and abroad, and even become a representative event of Spain.

After Butler Loren made his proposal, Carlo immediately expressed his affirmative attitude: "That's right, Butler Loren. Bullfighters do need a large bullring that can accommodate more than 10,000 spectators. This new bullring will also become one of the representative buildings of Spain.

Butler Loren, the task of building a large bullring outside Madrid is now given to you. I don't care how much money it costs, but I hope that the bullring we build has enough Spanish characteristics and can attract bullfighters and spectators. "

A large bullring that can accommodate tens of thousands of spectators will immediately become a landmark building in Spain once it is built. Although this requires a lot of money, if the promotion of bullfighting activities is relatively smooth, the subsequent income from tickets and corresponding commercial operations will be enough to pay for the cost of building the square.

Because of this, Carlo is not worried about the investment in building a bullring. Building such a large venue will definitely bring more benefits than disadvantages.

After hearing Carlo's instructions, Butler Loren nodded solemnly to show that he understood.

The fact that there was no limit on funding proved Carlo's trust in him, so naturally he had nothing to say.

There are no technical difficulties in building a bullring, and the Spanish construction team has a lot of experience in this type of project.

The only difficulty is the location of the bullring. Not only does it have to be located in a place with convenient transportation to facilitate the arrival of subsequent tourists, it also has to be far away from the center of Madrid so as not to affect the future expansion of Madrid.

You know, Madrid is currently the most populous city in Spain, and its population is growing at a very fast rate.

The only city that can rival Madrid in population growth is Barcelona, ​​and these two cities are also the twin stars of Spain.

Madrid is a city that is growing in size compared to a few years ago due to its growing population. This could be a problem in the future if the location of the new bullring affects the city's future expansion.

It would be better to consider the issue of Madrid's urban expansion earlier, which will not affect the construction and subsequent operation of the bullring, but also facilitate Madrid's urban expansion, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

So far, Madrid has officially become the first and only city in Spain with a population of over 50.

With a population of over 52, the capital of Spain is a veritable big city and is also the current cultural, economic and religious center of Spain.

Barcelona's population is only over 43, which is less than that of Madrid. But the speed of Barcelona's population expansion is no less than that of Madrid. Perhaps one day in the future, Barcelona's population will surpass that of Madrid.

After all, Barcelona has the advantage of sea transportation, which Madrid does not have. Madrid is located in the center of Spanish territory, and its geographical location is relatively important.

But precisely because of its inland location, Madrid’s transportation can only rely on railways and roads, which to a certain extent also limits Madrid’s development.

Now that the issue of large bullfighting arenas has been resolved, the next thing to do is to think about how to promote the faster development of bullfighting activities.

If you want to make bullfighting develop faster, the easiest way is to hold more official competitions, prepare generous prizes, let the Spanish newspapers and media spread the news, and attract the public's spontaneous attention to bullfighting.

But there is bad news: the Spanish bullfighting season is about to end. The Spanish bullfighting season is generally from March to October. Now it is the beginning of October and the bullfighting activities are about to end.

This also means that if we want to vigorously promote bullfighting activities, we can only start from March next year.

Fortunately, there are only a few months in between, which is just enough time to prepare for the bullfighting event and spread the bullfighting event to all parts of Spain in the form of news, attracting more tourists and public attention, increasing the attention and popularity of the competition, and also making it more exciting.

Within a few days, Carlo established the Spanish Bullfighting Association, which is specifically responsible for promoting bullfighting activities, operating subsequent bullfighting events, etc.

Just a few days after its establishment, the Spanish Bullfighting Association announced their carefully prepared first national Spanish bullfighting competition.

The official name of this competition is the Spanish Royal Bullfighter Competition. The whole competition will be divided into two major parts, which will be held in various parts of Spain and the capital Madrid.

The first major part will be held in bullrings in various regions of Spain from March to July next year. Ten outstanding bullfighters from various regions of Spain will be selected and then gather in Madrid for the second round of competition.

The second major part will be from August to October next year. Excellent bullfighters selected from various regions will gather in Madrid to present more exciting bullfighting performances in Madrid.

The three-month competition will select the best bullfighters in Spain. In addition to the traditional applause, bull ears and bull tail rewards, the winning bullfighter will also receive a personal audience with Carlo and the title of Royal Bullfighter of Spain.

In addition to these honorary awards, the top ten bullfighters in each region will receive varying amounts of financial rewards. After the final three months of competition, the ten best bullfighters in Spain will be selected and they will receive even more generous rewards, with the lowest being checks of thousands of pesetas.

As for the best bullfighter who is awarded the title of Royal Bullfighter, in addition to the honorary reward, he will also receive at least a check for more than 10,000 pesetas, which is dozens of times the annual income of an ordinary Spanish person.

(End of this chapter)