Currently, Carlo is quite satisfied with the pace of Spain’s developnt.
By the end of 1870, the total length of Spain’s railroads had nearly reached 6,000 kiloters.
And earlier this year, the total length of Spain’s railroads had already surpassed 6,440 kiloters.
This also ans that from late 1868 to early 1872, over three and a half years, Spain’s total railroad mileage increased by over a thousand kiloters.
Although the average annual construction of railroads was only about 300 kiloters, it was already a significant progress for the Spanish Governnt.
After all, from the birth of the railway to late 1868, Spain’s total railroad mileage was only about 5,400 kiloters.
The territory of Spain is not inferior in size to other European Powers (at ho), and due to the scarcity of plains in the country, there is a greater need for railroads to enhance economic exchange between regions.
Currently, centered around Madrid, Spain has already established a wide-ranging railway loop line. The capital cities of each major region, including so important cities, are all included in the planning of the railway loop line.
The next goal of the Spanish Governnt’s railway construction is to include more cities in the railway developnt plan, so that Spaniards can conveniently travel to other cities by train, which naturally also includes the transport of goods.
The construction of railroads can enhance the importance of Madrid in Spain, as well as strengthen the economic exchange and stability between different regions.
As the center of the Iberian Region, Madrid’s advantages beco apparent. From Madrid, it is only a few hundred kiloters to any city in Spain.
Even the relatively remote northeastern corner of Spain, Barcelona, is only over 600 kiloters away from Madrid.
With the current train speed, it takes just over a day to reach Barcelona from Madrid by train. If the ti spent stopping at stations is not counted, the current train speed even allows one to reach Barcelona in only over 20 hours.
Under such circumstances, no matter which region in Spain encounters turmoil, the troops stationed in Madrid can arrive within a day, which is also a reason why Spain remains a unified country throughout history.
Even if the independence movents in Catalonia and Basque are rampant, the Spaniards, being in the center of the whole country, can always march to the rebellious regions to quell the rebellion.
Even when including the Portugal Region, Madrid remains at the center of the entire Iberian Peninsula, which is the geographical advantage of Madrid and the reason it could beco the capital of Spain.
By the end of April 1872, the first phase of the Spanish Governnt’s reform was declared a success, and the reform smoothly entered the second phase.
On May 1st, a mber of the Liberal Party submitted the "Land Leasing Law" to the Spanish Parliant, seeking for the governnt to legislate that the rent for land leases must not exceed 40% of the land’s annual inco.
The purpose of this law is to guarantee the rights of tenant farrs, so they are not left in a situation where they cannot make ends et due to exploitation by nobles and landlords.
This law was clearly aid at the land-owning nobles and the Church, and Pri Minister Prim naturally understood the risks involved.
Therefore, the proposer of this law was a mber of the Liberal Party, not from Pri Minister Prim’s Progressive Party.
If the proposal of this law leads to considerable discontent among the nobles, Pri Minister Prim would convene an ergency eting to have the Parliant repeal the law.
Also, to prevent a drastic reaction from the nobles, Pri Minister Prim changed the maximum rent from 30% of the annual inco to 40%, which is not significantly different from the 40%-50% rent the nobles originally demanded from the farrs, in order to prevent an intense reaction from the nobles.
Of course, aside from launching this law, Pri Minister Prim was also well prepared in advance.
Firstly, he, along with Duke Serrano, as the most influential representatives among the Spanish nobles, persuaded a portion of the nobles to agree to this law.
Additionally, they asked Carlo to persuade so nobles to agree to the law, in order to divide the entire noble class.
Overall, there were simply too many nobles in Spain. These nobles held large tracts of land, which had an extrely serious impact on Spain’s future developnt.
Given that Spain’s developnt has already been affected, the governnt naturally cannot ignore this situation. If these nobles continue to hold such large tracts of land, Spain’s future developnt will be severely impacted.
However, since the nobles are the most influential power in Spain, Pri Minister Prim naturally could not adopt too aggressive a stance.
Firstly, Pri Minister Prim had no intention of fully reclaiming the lands from these nobles. The governnt would only persuade so nobles to willingly sell their land to the governnt, which would purchase these lands at above-market prices, as a form to reward these nobles.
Secondly, this was also a probe into the nobles. If successful, it would ensure that landless farrs could have so guaranteed inco when leasing land, at least enough to afford a al.
But if it sparked strong opposition from the nobles, there would still be room for compromise, so as not to cause intense conflict between the nobles and the governnt.
Upon learning of Pri Minister Prim’s plan, Carlo was also quite troubled.
Upon reflection, Carlo concluded that it was not suitable for him to make an explicit statent on this matter. Standing by Pri Minister Prim’s side would undoubtedly offend a large number of Spanish nobles.
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