Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 248 Population
The influx of foreign capital was something Carlo had not expected, but it was a good thing for Spain.

Companies listed on the stock exchange benefited from this, especially railway companies, whose share prices rose by at least ten percent.

The biggest impact for Spain is that many railway companies have obtained additional funds, and the successful completion of the railway construction planned in the third five-year development plan is a foregone conclusion.

The influx of French capital has both advantages and disadvantages. For Spain at present, the advantages are definitely far greater than the disadvantages. The large amount of funds brought by French capital can accelerate the industrial development of Spain and make Spain's five-year development plan more effective.

Although this will also cause French capital to have a more profound impact on Spain, the extent of this impact can be controlled.

Spain follows the path of state capitalism, and the largest capital in the country is the government and the royal family. Under such circumstances, unless all French capital is transferred to Spain, some capital will not be able to influence the decision-making of the Spanish government.

In some cases, even these foreign capitals will become lambs to be slaughtered. Once the relationship between Spain and France breaks down, the industries and properties invested by French capital in Spain will be forcibly taken back by the Spanish government.

Because the Spanish government did not prevent French funds from flowing into the Spanish stock exchange, the share prices of all companies involved in the railways saw rapid growth.

Spain is indeed a better place for French capital at this time. Due to the impact of the previous economic crisis, the economies of European countries have not yet fully recovered.

On the other hand, Spain, which was not greatly affected by the economic crisis, has one of the fastest economic growth rates in Europe at this time.

It was not just the railways in the five-year development plan that attracted the attention of French capital; other plans related to industrial construction also attracted capital from France and even other European countries.

The influx of a large amount of money has set off a wave of investment in the Spanish stock market, and many investors have even multiplied their assets several times in just a few days.

As Spain was open to all, French capital soon reached close cooperation with Spanish enterprises. These capitals were not satisfied with buying stocks released by Spanish enterprises, they even wanted to directly purchase large-scale stocks from shareholders of some railway companies.

Carlo took a laissez-faire attitude towards the actions of these French capitals.

At least for now, French capital poses no threat to Spain. On the contrary, it can accelerate Spain's industrialization and make Spain's capital power even stronger.

If Spain had relied solely on domestic capital to drive its industrialization, by the time Spain completed its industrialization, other European powers would have already achieved a higher level of industrial progress.

Even if it is just to accelerate the progress of Spain's industrialization, it is necessary to absorb these foreign capital.

Since it has been confirmed that a large amount of capital from France and even other countries has poured into Spain, the most important thing to do at this time is to make rational use of this foreign capital to promote Spain's economic development.

Currently, foreign capital is mainly concentrated in railway construction in Spain, and their main investments are also in railway-related industries.

As long as we can find a way to get them to pay attention to other industries in Spain, there is hope that the Spanish economy will see overall growth.

With Carlo's deliberate promotion, Spanish newspapers also began to report news related to other industries, and even industries related to finance predicted that certain industries would achieve great development in the future.

Although it did not have a similar effect to the railway industry, it did attract a small amount of foreign capital to invest in Spain's agricultural product processing, manufacturing and other industries.

It is foreseeable that with the impetus of these foreign capitals, other industries in Spain will also usher in a golden period of development.

Although the influx of foreign capital will cause some local small and medium-sized enterprises to face greater competition or even bankruptcy, it is helpful to the entire industry.

As long as it can help Spain's various industries develop rapidly, it is necessary to sacrifice some small and medium-sized enterprises. This era is originally an era of monopoly giants. These small and medium-sized enterprises do not play such a big role in Spain, and there is no need to feel sorry for them.

Of course, while development is development, we must also prevent the problem of overcapacity.

The hidden dangers brought by overcapacity are quite huge, and it is very likely to trigger a new round of economic crisis. Although Carlo hopes that Spain's economy and industry can achieve rapid development, Carlo does not want Spain to face a serious economic crisis.

It is also because of this that when the influx of foreign capital drove the rapid development of the Spanish economy, Carlo also issued several requirements to the cabinet government, the most important of which was to prevent overcapacity and blind development.

Spain’s development must be purposeful, building those industries that are scarce and greatly needed in Spain, rather than focusing generally on the industries in which Spain is already quite strong.

For example, in steel manufacturing, Spain's steel production has already ranked fifth in the world. There is no need to pursue greater steel production for the time being unless the demand for steel products in Spain expands.

If we blindly pursue steel production and fail to sell the steel products produced, it will lead to an economic crisis.

The rapid development of various industries is certainly gratifying, but we must also resolutely prevent the occurrence of economic crises and avoid the blind development of these industries, which will ultimately lead to the problem of overcapacity.

Spain's economy is developing rapidly, and the only one who suffers is Portugal, which is forced to engage in economic and trade relations with Spain.

Since the two countries' train tracks were synchronized, economic trade between Spain and Portugal has become quite frequent. Spain is Portugal's only land neighbor and the only channel for land trade between Portugal and other European countries.

Since the two countries began economic trade and the train tracks were synchronized, the total trade volume between Spain and Portugal has increased dramatically in a short period of time.

The first five-year development plan was just in its infancy, and the total import and export trade between Spain and Portugal was less than 100 million pesetas. The relationship between the two countries could be said to be tense, and there was basically no trade relationship.

After the end of the second five-year development plan, the total import and export trade between Spain and Portugal had reached 4600 million pesetas, and Portugal became an important trading partner of Spain.

Of course, the only one who benefited from such a trade relationship was Spain, while Portugal suffered much more disadvantages than advantages.

The first is the impact of the influx of a large number of industrial products on Portugal's industrial environment. Under the premise that the impact of the economic crisis has not been completely eliminated, Portugal's industry has suffered a serious impact.

Many smaller factories closed down directly during the economic crisis, which caused Portugal's total industrial output to drop by nearly a quarter.

The remaining factories seemed so helpless when faced with the impact of Spanish industry.

During the period when the economic crisis was more severe, Spain's exports of industrial products to Portugal were not very effective.

After all, many Portuguese workers lost their jobs at that time and they could not afford Spanish industrial products at all.

But when the impact of the economic crisis gradually subsided and these unemployed workers found new jobs, Spain's dumping of industrial products had obvious results.

Compared with Portugal's industrial products, Spain's industrial products are not only more comprehensive, but also have the advantages of better quality and lower prices.

This is also the reason why Spanish industrial products hit the Portuguese market. Under such circumstances, the total import and export trade between Spain and Portugal continued to rise, and the trade deficit between the two sides continued to expand.

To date, Portugal imports more than 3000 million pesetas of goods from Spain every year, including a variety of industrial products and even large goods such as rails and trains.

There is no other way, Portugal also needs to build railways. Under the premise of the collapse of steel mill production in Portugal, Portugal can only buy cheaper rails from neighboring Spain, which can even reduce Portugal's railway construction expenses.

The total value of goods imported by Spain from Portugal was only about 1600 million pesetas, and the trade deficit between the two sides reached a staggering 1400 million pesetas.

Companies engaged in import and export trade and commodity trading made a lot of money, and most of those engaged in these industries were Spanish nobles and capitalists.

Currently, the import and export trade between Spain and Portugal mainly relies on the railway from Badajoz to Portugal, which is also the only connection point between Spain and Portugal.

It can also be seen from the map that Spain's railways are well-connected, but only a small railway in the lower left corner is connected to Portugal's railways.

The Spanish government has also proposed to the Portuguese government to connect more railways, but in the end the Portuguese government rejected it. The reason is very simple. If the Portuguese government fully connects the railways with Spain, then the safety of Portugal will depend on Spain's decision.

Although Spain is mountainous, the road from Toledo to Lisbon is almost flat and has no strategic locations.

If Spain really had any ideas about Portugal, it could rely on the railway connecting the two countries and reach Portugal's capital, Lisbon, in a short time.

This is something the Portuguese could never accept, and it is also the reason why they are only willing to connect with Spain through one railway.

There is only such a small railway connecting the two countries. If there is a rift in the relationship between the two countries, the Portuguese side can blow up the railway at any time to ensure that the Spanish army cannot quickly enter the Portuguese border via the railway.

If the north, center and south were all connected to Spain by rail, it would become very difficult to stop the advance of the Spanish army by blowing up the railroads.

Carlo still feels sorry about this. If the railway line with Portugal can be fully connected, Iberia's railways will form a super-large railway network, promoting economic exchanges among various regions in Iberia.

This is certainly a good thing for Spain, but not necessarily for Portugal, which is why the Portuguese government refused.

So far, Spain's domestic development has been relatively smooth, but there are still many problems in the development of its colonies.

It has been a long time since the establishment of the Congo Territory, and population has always been a major problem in the development of the Congo Territory.

At present, the total population of the Congolese territory does not exceed 3, and many of them are Russian immigrants who were forcibly sent here.

After these Russian farmers arrived in the Congo Territory, they quickly reclaimed a large piece of land with the help of local natives. If nothing unexpected happens, they will settle in the Congo Territory permanently and contribute their own strength to the agricultural development of the Congo Territory.

Of course, Spain would not treat them badly. After arriving in the Congo, these Russian peasants had absolute freedom, and they were also first-class citizens of the colony and had some privileges.

In Russia, they were at the bottom of society, working hard all year round but earning little income, and even had to face huge debts for renting land from the nobles.

But in the Congo territory, any physical work could be done by renting a few slaves from the colonial government, or even directly buying a few black slaves.

The identities of these Russians changed instantly, which made them not averse to settling in the Congolese territory. They were even glad that their choice to immigrate had changed their lives.

It turned out that these Russian immigrants were very useful.

Their arrival accelerated the agricultural development of the Congo Territory and enabled the Congo Territory to barely meet its own needs for agricultural products.

If the Congo Territory had not formed a colonial division with an army of 20,000 people, the current agricultural scale of the Congo Territory would actually be able to meet the requirements of self-sufficiency.

In order to provide food for the army, the agricultural scale of Congo Territory needs to continue to expand. There is no crisis of overcapacity of food, after all, there will always be people who are hungry in this world.

Even in times of economic crisis, the price of food will rise. After all, if people don’t use industrial products, their lives will become inconvenient, but if they don’t eat food, they will starve to death in a few days.

The question of how to increase the population of the Congo territory has been bothering the Spanish government for a long time.

At a cabinet meeting, the new Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs, William, put forward a proposal that caught Carlo's eye. That was to attract a large number of gold diggers through the gold rush, thereby expanding the population of the Congo territory.

The so-called gold rush is actually to attract gold diggers by opening up gold mines. A large number of gold diggers flock to the areas with gold mines to pan for gold, and such an event is also called a gold rush.

Many colonies gradually developed because of the gold rush. Among them, famous cities include San Francisco and New San Francisco. These two cities became large cities because of the gold rush.

Don't underestimate the obsession of gold diggers. Even in the deep mountains and old forests, as long as the news of gold mines spreads to the gold diggers, it will attract a large number of gold diggers.

The Lan Fang Republic also developed because of the gold rush, and at its peak it even attracted tens of thousands of gold diggers.

As long as Spain releases the news that there is a large gold mine in the Congo territory, it will definitely attract many gold diggers.

As long as some gold diggers can be retained, the problem of insufficient population in the Congo territory will be solved.

Of course, attracting population through the gold rush is a double-edged sword. Some of these gold diggers will indeed stay and settle in the Congo territory, but the gold rush will also attract the attention of other countries.

This is gold, one of the most valuable rare metals in the world. Smaller gold mines are destined to not set off a gold rush. The gold mines that can set off a gold rush are basically large and unexploited gold mines.

Such a large gold mine can attract gold diggers, and naturally it will also attract the attention and even covetousness of other countries.

Therefore, before adopting a gold rush to attract population, it was also necessary to consider whether the gold diggers in the Congo Territory would attract the attention of other powers.

After careful consideration, Carlo finally decided to adopt the method proposed by William.

The Congolese territory is relatively special in that there are few colonial competitors on this land, at least for now.

In the entire Congo River Basin, there were actually only two colonists: Portugal and Spain. The closest colonist was the French, whose colony was more than 500 kilometers away from the Congo River.

In addition, France at this time needed Spain to get rid of the impact of its isolation policy on France. It was impossible for the French to have conflicts with Spain over gold, at least not in the short term.

Without the French involvement, Spain only needed to pay attention to Portugal's colonial movements.

Carlo did not take the small country of Portugal seriously, and for this reason, Carlo decided to adopt William's suggestion.

In fact, in addition to France, the British may also have intervened in the gold rush in the Congo territory.

But the British colonies were far away from the Congo River basin, and the nearest one was the Gold Coast, which was nearly 2000 kilometers away.

Spain's Congo territory is located in the interior of Africa. If the British want to intervene, they can only occupy the lower reaches of the Congo River and then go deep into the Congo Basin.

If the British had actually done that, Carlo would have laughed out loud.

Because it was Portugal that occupied the lower reaches of the Congo River at that time. If the British seized Portugal's colonies, the relationship between Britain and Portugal would take a sharp turn for the worse.

Without Britain's support, Portugal would be a lamb to be slaughtered for Spain. If the plot really develops in this way, the merger of Spain and Portugal may be in the near future.

The paper data after the merger of the two countries is still very exaggerated. According to last year's data, if Spain and Portugal merge, the two will have a combined population of more than 2400 million and an army of 25. The industrial output will remain at the fifth level in the world, and the navy will also be the fifth in the world. The comprehensive strength is still relatively strong.

If the two countries merge, Spain's rapidly developing economy will also affect Portugal, allowing Portugal's industry and economy to enter the fast lane of rapid development.

After several years of low-key development, the merged federation can be regarded as the first powerful country after Britain, France and Germany, and it can even compete with the French.

Last month, the number of monthly votes reached one thousand. Today, I will add an extra chapter. I beg for more monthly votes!

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(End of this chapter)