Starting from March 1872, a vigorous military reform officially unfolded in Spain. To avoid a significant impact on the army, the military reform would be implented in batches across the entire Spanish Army.
The first troops to be involved in the reform were naturally the garrison forces around Madrid. The good news was that the troops defending the capital were the elite among all Spanish troops. Most soldiers and officers in this army had certain abilities, and there were not many officers and soldiers within the scope of reduction, so the impact on the army itself would not be too great.
Selecting this army as the primary target of the reform was naturally also due to its minimal impact during the military reform.
After this army’s reform was completed, promoting military reform to other armies across Spain would also proceed confidently and boldly.
With this army protecting the Madrid capital, plus the Guard stationed near the royal palace, it could ensure that the Spanish Governnt would not face any danger, and the military reform could proceed stably.
When Spain officially launched large-scale military reform, Carlo only then learned in detail about the various organizations and garrison situations of the current Spanish Army.
Currently, all Spanish armies together consisted of 28 line infantry regints, 11 light infantry battalions, 12 cavalry regints, 1 engineer regint, and 14 colonial defense regints.
The total number of soldiers exceeded 100,000, with about 70,000 stationed on the Spanish mainland and over 30,000 stationed in various Spanish colonies.
It was worth ntioning that among all Spanish army organizations, there was no independent artillery regint.
Spain certainly had artilleryn, but they existed as artillery companies within infantry regints and cavalry regints.
Moreover, all Spanish cannons together numbered just over 200, and this figure had a significant gap compared to the great powers during the Austro-Prussian War and Franco-Prussian War.
However, this could be understood. In terms of artillery technology and the scale of equipping cannons, there had only been major changes in the past decade.
Especially after Prussia used new steel refining thods to slt steel and then delivered a fatal blow to the French Army with steel cannons, countries gradually increased their emphasis on cannons.
This was not World War I decades later, where countries had countless machine guns and cannons. In this era, infantry and cavalry were still the mainstream of various countries, and machine guns had not yet been born.
To improve the combat effectiveness of the Spanish Army, in addition to conducting military reform and improving the military quality of officers and soldiers, it was also necessary to equip cannons on a large scale, and in the future, machine guns on a large scale.
On the premise of improving the military quality of officers and soldiers, also advancing the level of weapons and equipnt was the effective way to enhance the combat effectiveness of the Spanish Army.
However, these were clearly not sothing that the current Carlo could promote. Although Pri Minister Primó did not oppose so of Carlo’s opinions, he certainly would not allow Carlo to constantly ddle in the governnt and army.
Fortunately, this military reform would also effectively improve the combat effectiveness of the Spanish Army, and other matters could wait until later.
As ti entered April 1872, the Spanish Governnt also beca busy. Pri Minister Primó not only had to focus on the army reform but also invest a lot of energy in the reform of the Spanish Governnt and economic developnt.
At the sa ti, after the marriage alliance with the Austro-Hungarian Royal Family, Spain also needed to take action on the diplomatic front. Currently, the alliance between Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was already under negotiation, which also took up part of Pri Minister Primó’s energy.
For Primó, this nearly 60-year-old man, such busy political affairs indeed brought considerable pressure. Currently, various developnts in Spain had entered relatively critical periods, which made it almost impossible for Pri Minister Primó to get a good night’s sleep.
Unlike the busy and imnsely pressured Pri Minister Primó, as the King of Spain, Carlo was leisurely and self-satisfied during this ti, living his carefree king life.
After the wedding ended, Carlo and Queen Sophie began a honeymoon period.
Carlo took Queen Sophie to first reside in the Madrid Royal Palace for a while, then went to cities such as Toledo, Valladolid, Seville, and Valencia, traveling and appreciating the beautiful scenery of Spain.
However, the regions Carlo passed through were all in central and southern Spain, areas under governnt control, with guaranteed safety.
Of course, during Carlo’s travels, the Guard dispatched a cavalry battalion and an infantry battalion to follow and protect. Under the protection of these soldiers, Carlo’s safety could basically be guaranteed.
Even facing thousands of rebels, the Guard Cavalry Battalion and Guard Infantry Battalion could hold out until the Spanish Governnt Army arrived. Unless facing over 10,000 rebels, no situation could threaten Carlo’s safety.
Carlo placed great importance on his own safety. In addition to mobilizing these Guard troops to follow and protect him, the already established Royal Security Intelligence Bureau would also accompany for protection.
The Royal Security Intelligence Bureau was established on May 17, After a year-long test period, Carlo affird the abilities of Royal Security Intelligence Bureau Director Cadillac Bruno and formally appointed him as the director, making him one of his confidants.
After nearly two years of developnt, the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau had long beco a massive institution hidden in the shadows.
Up to now, the funds Carlo had invested in the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau had exceeded 4 million pesetas.
Director Cadillac had not wasted Carlo’s investnt. These 4 million pesetas brought Carlo over 400 intelligence officers, as well as hundreds of undercover agents cooperating with the intelligence bureau.
These undercover agents were even unaware of the existence of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau. Externally, the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau was called the Royal Military Liaison Group, nominally responsible for communication and cooperation between various Spanish armies during warti.
But in reality, the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau had evolved into Carlo’s eyes, gathering all sorts of major and minor events dostically and internationally for Carlo, and investigating anyone Carlo wanted investigated.
It was worth ntioning that the reason Carlo affird Cadillac’s abilities was precisely that the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau investigated the assassin of Pri Minister Primó’s assassination attempt in less than a year after its establishnt.
When Carlo learned that the mastermind behind Pri Minister Primó’s assassination was the prominent Duke of Osuna among the Spanish aristocracy, he was initially unwilling to believe it.
But when Director Cadillac provided relatively complete evidence and information, Carlo had no choice but to believe that the Duke of Osuna was the real mastermind behind the assassination.
Since the mastermind of the assassination incident at that ti had been found, the subsequent matters beca much easier to handle.
Considering Spain’s stability and the possible impact on the aristocracy, it was naturally better to handle this matter discreetly.
After all, it had not caused too much impact on Pri Minister Primó; the assassination incident had ended in complete failure, and even Primó’s pistol was not damaged, let alone him being wounded.
When the intelligence bureau personnel delivered the complete chain of evidence to the Duke of Osuna, this duke, who had been full of confidence when launching the assassination, finally panicked.
However, he also understood that Carlo having soone deliver the chain of evidence to him instead of handing it to Pri Minister Primó for his arrest proved there was still room for maneuver in this matter.
Carlo had no fondness for soone like the Duke of Osuna. However, considering that the Duke of Osuna was a figure of relatively high status and influence among the Spanish aristocracy, treating him too harshly might make so already wavering nobles even more disloyal.
After final consideration, Carlo offered the Duke of Osuna two choices.
Either, the Duke of Osuna would keep these chains of evidence himself, at the cost of selling at least 60% of his land and property at market price to the royal family, with the proceeds donated to the governnt.
Or, the evidence would be submitted to Pri Minister Primó, and the governnt would arrest and try the Duke of Osuna, ultimately deciding the fate of his properties.
The first choice at least left the Duke of Osuna with less than 40% of his property, allowing him to live as a wealthy noble from then on without issue.
If he chose the second option, even if the duke title could be retained, it might not be on the current Duke of Osuna’s head.
More importantly, the governnt would not be polite to nobles. Especially for a traitor like the Duke of Osuna who plotted to assassinate the pri minister, most of his property would likely be confiscated by the governnt.
Without much thought, the Duke of Osuna chose the first thod and willingly sold over 60% of his property in his hands to the royal family.
There was no way around it; facing the current Spanish Governnt and royal family, he had few ans to resist.
Moreover, the royal family already held sufficient evidence, so resistance at this point would have no effect and would instead put the Duke of Osuna and his family in greater crisis.
This matter was more like an interest exchange. The Duke of Osuna used over 60% of his land to exchange for a chance to survive, handing the proceeds from selling these lands to the governnt in exchange for Pri Minister Primó’s forgiveness.
And Carlo could also, through purchasing land, make the royal family’s fields once again among the most abundant among European nobles; the Spanish Royal Family would no longer be representative of having much money but little land.
Although Spain’s land was not as fertile as other countries, and inco from farming was not as high as imagined.
But for those more traditional nobles, the amount of land owned among nobles could, to a certain extent, determine a noble’s influence.
For example, those Spanish nobles and grand dukes with relatively great influence certainly held the most land and property.
Those marquises and counts with smaller influence certainly had less property and land than dukes.
This matter had also been discussed with Pri Minister Primó. Compared to the Duke of Osuna, Pri Minister Primó was undoubtedly more important to Carlo.
Pri Minister Primó also agreed with Carlo’s approach of handling it coldly, as the governnt could gain certain funds from this incident, with the only loss being the Duke of Osuna.
In addition to losing over 60% of his property, the ard forces he had trained also had to be completely abolished, and he would need to remain under long-term governnt supervision thereafter.
If not for the sake of national stability, Pri Minister Primó would even have planned to execute the Duke of Osuna directly.
However, handling it this way could also be considered a good thing. First, it could stabilize the aristocracy, which was helpful for Spain’s stability.
Second, it could also make so people in various major Spanish forces carefully consider the consequences of standing up against the governnt. The Duke of Osuna had a large amount of property for compensation, but other nobles might not.
The Duke of Osuna was one of the most influential nobles in Spain, and losing over 60% of his property was a huge blow to the entire duke family.
After all, for this type of more traditional noble, their largest source of inco was agriculture-related. They would rent their land to farrs, who not only paid them rent but also handed over taxes to them.
Of course, this might also be a reason why the Duke of Osuna wanted to assassinate Pri Minister Primó. Although these dukes’ lands were not relatively autonomous territories, such nobles had the right to collect taxes on their own land.
The governnt’s reduction of agricultural taxes would actually affect their inco. Especially for these large nobles with vast lands, the actual reduction in agricultural taxes was an extrely huge sum for them.
This also had to make one sigh at the church’s perceptiveness. If reducing agricultural taxes affected a portion of large nobles, then abolishing the tithe was a major blow to the church.
One of the church’s major sources of inco was the tithe paid by farrs, and the other major giant was the agricultural taxes from church land.
These two major sources of inco—one directly abolished by the governnt, the other greatly reduced under the governnt’s tax reduction policy.
It was also because Archbishop Pedro understood matters clearly; otherwise, whether the Spanish Church would rebel was really up in the air.
Actually, from this point, it could be seen how many forces were affected by Pri Minister Primó’s reforms. Even nobles who openly supported the royal family were affected, though many could still see the situation clearly.
The reason Carlo established the Royal United Bank was naturally also to pull the nobles along to make money, letting them find new inco in industries beyond land.
If they only focused on land taxes and other inco, the nobles would always rember the impact of the governnt’s tax reductions on them.
But if they turned their gaze to the finance industry and industry sector, the nobles would also discover that in Spain, doing finance and industry was truly where the real money was made.
Spain’s land was inherently barren, and being a landlord did not earn much money. A very simple example could illustrate this. When German nobles and Spanish nobles owned land of the sa scale, German nobles’ inco was often several tis that of Spanish nobles.
The gap in land fertility had already dood Spain to never beco a great power in agriculture; being able to et dostic population needs was already good news, and expecting to make big money from agriculture was simply wishful thinking.
One update for today; CK3 has updated with a big patch, hands are itching. Also, a new season of King of Glory started, playing gas today.
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