Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 246 The Third Five-Year Development Plan (Happy New Year!)
Canovas, who successfully became the new prime minister of the cabinet, possessed great power, but he did not become arrogant because of it.

He knew who gave him power, and he also knew that his power could be easily taken back. The day after being elected as the Prime Minister of the Spanish Cabinet, Canovas went to the Royal Palace in Madrid to meet with Carlo and asked him about his attitude towards the appointment of cabinet members.

Both Canovas and Carlo knew that Carlo himself did not care who the cabinet ministers were, but Canovas had to fully respect Carlo's opinions, because this was a manifestation of loyalty.

As expected, Carlo was quite pleased with Canovas's arrival. But when Canovas asked Carlo about his attitude towards the cabinet members, Carlo said he would not interfere with the government's decision.

The meaning of this is very simple, that is, Canovas has full power of appointment. Of course, before appointing cabinet ministers, Canovas must also be clear that the people he appoints must also be sufficiently loyal to Carlo.

Carlo really didn't care about the selection of cabinet ministers because Carlo already had enough power to deal with a cabinet government that was not under his control.

Fortunately, Canovas was indeed loyal enough, and Carlo did not want to frequently change the cabinet government, which would only make the political situation in Spain chaotic.

After Canovas became Prime Minister of Spain, the first thing Carlo did was to appoint Archduke Serrano as Deputy Prime Minister of Spain.

The role of Archduke Serrano is also very obvious, which is to maintain order for Canovas, who is serving as prime minister for the first time.

Although Canovas was also of noble birth, his title was only a small earl. The earl was not bad in the European aristocracy system, and in the Middle Ages he was also a powerful lord with his own territory.

But in Spain, a relatively special country, the title of count is as pitiful as an honorary title and has no sense of existence at all.

Even though the previous noble rebellion caused Carlo to abolish hundreds of titles, the number of nobles in Spain is still as numerous as the hairs on a cow.

In an era when dukes were everywhere and marquises were worse than dogs, counts really meant nothing. If it weren't for Carlo's strong support, Canovas would not have won the support of the Conservative Party at all, and it would have been even more impossible for him to become the Prime Minister of the Spanish Cabinet in such a short time.

This was Canovas' first time assuming the important position of Prime Minister, so it was necessary for him to have the support of the Grand Duke Serrano.

In addition, this is also likely to be Serrano's last time as a cabinet minister. Archduke Serrano, who was born in 1810, is 69 years old this year, which would have been retirement age more than 100 years ago, not to mention the age when the average life expectancy was only around 40 years.

Because Archduke Serrano was old, Carlo did not intend to continue to let him serve as Spain's Minister of Defense.

Although Archduke Serrano is capable and loyal enough, it is obviously too cruel to let a 69-year-old man be in charge of such a busy and complicated department.

Archduke Serrano's position as deputy prime minister was more of a nominal one, which was also to take care of his health. Canovas had actually handled the government affairs of the Spanish cabinet government during his tenure as deputy prime minister, and he would be more adept at it after becoming prime minister.

Although Carlo did not intend to allow Archduke Serrano to continue to serve as Minister of Defense, he also needed to continue to hold a high-ranking military position to maintain order.

Among several senior military officials in the Spanish Military Council, Carlo intends to promote Royal Army Commander-in-Chief Evan Bradley as Spain's new Minister of Defense, Chief of Staff Marca Anthony Fletcher to replace Evan as Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Army, and Archduke Serrano to replace Marca as Chief of the Spanish Ministry of Defense.

Although the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy and the Chief of the General Staff both hold the rank of General, the power and importance of these positions are different.

The Minister of Defense is of course the highest position in the Spanish military, and also the most powerful position. The rank of the Minister of Defense is generally Marshal, and he is in charge of the Army and Navy Command, the General Staff, the Logistics Department and other departments.

Under the Secretary of State for Defence, the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Army outranks the Chief of the General Staff, who outranks the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy.

The reason lies in the different levels of importance Spain attaches to the navy and army and the time when the General Staff was established.

Carlo appointed Archduke Serrano as the Chief of the Spanish General Staff, allowing him to enjoy his last years in peace in this relatively leisurely position during peacetime.

Although he is no longer the Minister of Defense, his title of Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of the General Staff is actually higher than that of the Minister of Defense.

After learning of Carlo's order, Grand Duke Serrano did not object at all and accepted Carlo's order very readily.

Since Carlo had made his decision, there was naturally no obstacle to the election of the Spanish Military Council.

There were only seven people in the Military Committee, and Carlo also obtained the support of the Commander-in-Chief of the Guards, the current Prime Minister, the current Defense Minister, and the current Army Commander-in-Chief, which already had five votes, so it was naturally passed smoothly.

Although his position has been downgraded to Chief of Staff, Archduke Serrano's rank of marshal will be retained. Army Chief of Staff Evan, who has been promoted to Minister of Defense, will be awarded the rank of marshal soon and will officially take over Spain's defense department.

In addition to Archduke Serrano as Deputy Prime Minister, Carlo also appointed Menotti as Minister of Royal Affairs of Spain.

Menotti was Garibaldi's eldest son. After arriving in Spain, he performed very well and was previously awarded the title of count by Carlo.

Carlo wanted to train his abilities by making him the Minister of Royal Affairs. Whether he served as the Minister of Colonial Affairs or the Governor of a colony in the future, it would be a good choice.

Giotti, who served as the commander-in-chief of the Guards, and Menotti, who served as the minister of royal affairs, successfully revived the Garibaldi family in Spain.

As the commander-in-chief of the Guards, Giotti was granted the title of count by Carlo early on. He and his brother Menotti were also among the Spanish nobles with the greatest hope of being awarded the title of duke.

The future of the Garibaldi family is bright, which also makes Garibaldi himself, who is far away in Italy, very pleased.

After learning that both of his sons had been awarded the title of earl and held high positions in the Spanish government, he was completely relieved and repeatedly instructed his two sons to serve Carlo wholeheartedly, fulfill their duties and remain loyal.

Garibaldi certainly understood how important trust was between a king and his subjects, and he didn't want his son to make a fool of himself and be suspected by Carlo because of some wrong choices.

As a noble, betraying the king is asking for trouble. With a bright future ahead of him, the best choice is to follow the king and let him see his loyalty.

Of course, Carlo's trust in the two was worthy of their loyalty. If Carlo did not have much trust in the two at the beginning, Garibaldi would not be willing to let his two sons go to Spain at the same time.

The adjustments of a series of important positions in the cabinet government have made Spain very busy, and major newspapers are also keeping a close eye on the changes in important positions in various cabinet departments.

Kavalos, who had consulted Carlo, was also planning his own cabinet government. Now that he knew that Carlo would not be involved in the appointment of cabinet members, Kavalos had to submit the ministerial candidates for nine cabinet departments himself.

These ministerial candidates are not submitted randomly. It is necessary to ensure that their political ideas are basically the same as Canovas' and that they have quite good abilities. It is best if they are members of the Conservative Party.

The first of the nine cabinet departments to be confirmed was the Foreign Minister, who was still held by the Marquis of Everton. The Marquis of Everton was an old Spanish nobleman who had previously expressed his support for Canovas. Canovas still needed his help.

Jovillar Soler, who is from the same Conservative Party as Canovas, was promoted to the position of Minister of Industry, which is one of the easiest positions to achieve political achievements.

Ewald continued to serve as Minister of Finance. The Progressive Party to which he belonged still had a certain reputation in Spain, and Canovas could not completely ignore the opinions of the Progressive Party.

The remaining cabinet positions have also changed to varying degrees, with the Conservatives clearly occupying the majority of positions in the Spanish cabinet government.

Although he appointed nine cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Kavanaugh was quite sensible. He had no intention of monopolizing power, and the government he formed was more for Carlo's service, with the purpose of better executing the orders issued by Carlo.

As long as he can satisfy Carlo, there is a great probability that he will be re-elected in the next prime minister election at least five years later.

Canovas currently only holds the title of Earl, but if he works as the Prime Minister of Spain for ten years, he will at least be able to obtain the title of Duke when he retires. Although the title of Duke is not that prestigious in Spain, it is at least one of the top nobles. Canovas' children will also have a brighter future in the future. Whether they continue to enter politics or engage in business or other industries, they will have abundant connections and support.

Of course, Prime Minister Canovas still values ​​Carlo's trust. Spain is a monarchy after all, and the King's opinion is the most important in Spain.

If Canovas can gain Carlo's trust through high cooperation, his children will have a brighter future.

For Canovas, it would definitely be something to be proud of if the family could prosper in his hands.

Becoming the Prime Minister of Spain is already a big step, and it also makes Canovas more confident that he can achieve his goal.

Even if they could marry into the Spanish royal family in the future, the Canovas family might become one of the most prominent aristocratic families in Spain, accompanying the Savoy dynasty to become the top of the Spanish ruling class.

With the formal formation of the cabinet government, the biggest task facing the new cabinet government is to discuss Spain’s third development plan.

The first two five-year development plans were both complete successes, and formulating another five-year development plan has become the expectation of everyone in Spain from bottom to top.

After all the cabinet ministers of the new cabinet government swore allegiance to Carlo, Carlo immediately convened a cabinet meeting and asked the cabinet government to come up with a brand new third five-year development plan in a short period of time.

The first two five-year development plans were more like laying the groundwork for Spain, and the next development plan is the key to Spain's complete take-off.

It was for this reason that Carlo put forward his requirements for the third five-year development plan at the meeting, which specifically mentioned railway mileage, total industrial scale, heavy industry and military industry, as well as agricultural production, etc.

In the first two five-year development plans, Spain's economic development was quite rapid, and a big reason for this was the emphasis Spain placed on railway development.

There is no need to explain the benefits of building railways. The large-scale construction of railways across the country has also enabled Spain's industry and economy to grow synchronously.

When Prime Minister Primo proposed the second five-year development plan, the goal was to increase the total scale of Spain's railways to more than 1879 kilometers by 1.1.

This data was achieved as early as the middle and late last year. At the end of December 1878, the total railway mileage in Spain had officially exceeded 12 kilometers and was constantly moving towards the milestone of 1.15 kilometers.

After discussions among cabinet members, the railway mileage target for the third five-year development plan was formally determined.

Spain's population is generally concentrated in the coastal plains and around Madrid, which means that the construction of railways does not need to take into account every part of the country.

Regarding the railway mileage requirements in the next five-year plan, the cabinet's attitude is relatively clear, which is to abandon radical construction methods and stabilize the railway mileage at around 1.3 kilometers.

Because the current railway mileage has exceeded 1.15 kilometers, this also means that Spain only needs to build less than 1500 kilometers of railways in the next five years, with an average annual mileage of less than 300 kilometers.

This figure is only half of the mileage of railways built annually in Spain during the second five-year development plan, which is also the most distinctive feature of the third five-year development plan.

Of course, this does not mean that Spain will slow down the development of railways across the board.

Only the mainland railway construction was temporarily suspended, and the railway construction in the colonies had to be accelerated to ensure that the materials in the colonies could be quickly transported to the Spanish mainland, while at the same time increasing the control over the colonies.

The construction of railways in Spain is not without other tasks. Because Spain is mountainous, railway construction is quite difficult and takes much more time and money than those countries with more plains.

In addition, due to the immature technology, some railway lines have become fragile due to frequent railway transportation.

One of Spain's tasks in its third five-year development plan is to comprehensively transform existing railway lines and convert single-track railways into double-track railways in some busy areas to increase railway transportation capacity.

A single-track railway is a single railway, while a double-track railway is two parallel railways. As the name suggests, the transportation capacity of a double-track railway is at least twice that of a single-track railway.

It is worth mentioning that in the calculation of railway mileage, the mileage calculated for single-track railways and double-track railways is the same.

This also means that if the length of a single-track railway and a double-track railway are both 100 kilometers, the calculated railway mileage will also be 100 kilometers, and the double-track railway will not be counted twice.

What Spain needs to do is to increase the proportion of double-track railways, especially on some busier railway lines, and turn them into double-track railways as much as possible to increase the railway's transportation capacity.

The population of Spain will still grow in the future, and Carlo does not want to wait until the population of Spain reaches tens of millions before renovating the railway lines.

Currently, there are two busiest railways in Spain, namely the Madrid to Barcelona railway and the Madrid to Seville railway.

Carlo's expectations for Madrid and Barcelona are not small cities with a population of 50, but large cities with a population of at least 200 million.

Although this goal is still far away for both cities, railway construction in Spain is taking this phenomenon into account.

Spain receives many immigrants every year, many of whom are placed in industrially powerful cities such as Madrid and Barcelona.

This has also caused the population of the two cities to continue to rise. Currently, the population of Madrid has exceeded 55, and the population of Barcelona has exceeded 46. They are the most dazzling twin cities in Spain.

No city below them can compare with these two cities. Larger cities like Seville have a population of only about 15.

It is precisely because of the large population of Madrid and Barcelona, ​​and the fact that both cities have a fairly large industrial scale, that the railway line between the two cities has become one of the busiest railway lines in Spain.

The biggest task of the Spanish transportation department in the next five-year development plan is to convert all the railway lines between the two cities into double-track railways, and to take charge of as many cities around the railway lines as possible, such as Zaragoza.

In addition to certain requirements for railway mileage, the third five-year development plan also stipulates a series of issues and development directions including industrial scale, total steel production, and population education level.

It was estimated that before the end of the third five-year development plan in 1884, Spain's population would reach at least 2150 million, and the total steel production would reach 30 tons and 75 tons respectively, with a total steel production of more than 100 million tons.

In addition, the third five-year development plan also mentions the foreign debt currently owed by the Spanish government.

Although Spain's fiscal revenue is rising steadily, the government's fiscal expenditure is also growing. Considering that Spain still has a lot of foreign debt to repay, in the next five years, Spain must save as much fiscal expenditure as possible while taking into account its own development, and the money saved will be used to repay foreign debts.

The first debts that needed to be repaid were those to Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but these were basically low-interest or interest-free loans, so they were relatively easy to repay.

The French have a longer time to repay their debts, and the Spanish government can wait until its own economy develops better before considering repaying France's debts.

France is a big country with a lot of money, so it doesn't need this little bit of money. If the loan is returned to France, the French may lend the money to other European countries, including Spain.

It would be better to keep the money in hand. At least in the next few years, this money can accelerate Spain's development and keep Spain's economy and government revenue growing at a high rate.

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