Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 34: Chapter 33: Taking Over the Factories

Although Carlo does not have experience dealing with the Carlo Faction, this does not mean others in the Spanish Government do not.

It is worth mentioning that the current Prime Minister Prim was not only born in Catalonia but also participated in the First Carlist War, so his buffs are full.

Carlo also did all he could do now, which was to fully hand over the command of the army to Prim, letting Prim resolve all the troubles.

This is the huge difference between having Prim and not having Prim. Amadeo had almost no way to deal with the uprising of the Carlo Faction because there was no other official or military leader in Spain besides Serrano who supported him.

But Carlo is different. With Prim and Serrano, two high-ranking military leaders stationed, Carlo has not considered losing this war.

To ensure nothing goes wrong, under Carlo’s suggestion, the Spanish Army imposed martial law in Madrid and prioritized the protection of important government and parliamentary institutions.

Besides the Palace Guard, a 500-man force, Carlo’s Palace also added a 100-man force patrolling around.

Considering the martial law throughout Madrid, unless the Carlo Faction and other opponents can directly break through Madrid, it is virtually impossible to pose a threat to Carlo and other government officials.

Before Carlos VII’s troops could move out of Catalonia, another bad news arrived for the Spanish Government.

A large-scale demonstration erupted in Victoria, Basque, with the marchers attacking the Victoria City Government and clashing heavily with local police.

Clearly, the Basques, who like the Catalans, also fantasize about independence, now have certain ideas.

Compared to supporting the Carlo Faction and inciting workers in Catalonia, the Basques’ demonstration reasons are more radical, demanding either independence or autonomy for the entire Basque Region.

The Basque Region here refers to Spain’s Basque, Navarre, and France’s Northern Basque.

The Basques, entrenched in these areas, are a fierce people of the Iberian Peninsula, also the last people conquered on the entire peninsula.

Fortunately, the total population of the entire Basque ethnic group is only about 600,000, scattered across Basque and Navarre, making the threat not as significant as in Catalonia.

Regarding the demonstrations in the Basque Region, Prim suggested mainly conciliation, supplemented by suppression.

After all, this ethnic group has considerable combat strength. If they can be absorbed into the larger Spanish ethnic group, the combat strength of the Spanish Army will also be guaranteed.

Controlling the Basque and Navarre areas is also very simple. Just migrate a certain number of Spaniards to these two areas to reduce the proportion of Basques.

Since the large capitalist class, Carlo Faction, Catalonia, and Basque separatists have all jumped out one after another, then naturally there will be no other opposition to the Spanish Government’s reforms next.

Prim organized the army to prepare for war with the Carlo Faction while taking this opportunity to push for reforms around Madrid and strictly enforce labor laws.

Those factory owners who actively stirred demonstrations and uprisings became the targets of Prim and Carlo’s purges.

In just a few days, Madrid’s police arrested dozens of factory owners and took over hundreds of factories and enterprises.

To maintain production in enterprises surrounding Madrid and protect workers’ jobs, the Government and Royal Family took over most of these industries.

Although the major portion was taken by the Government, Carlo also gained considerable benefits.

Because Carlo firmly supported Prim during the reforms, as a return, Carlo acquired more than ten factories around Madrid at a minimal cost.

These factories are considered high-quality assets, with their value ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of Pesseta, including large factories like the Madrid Steel Plant, which alone has nearly a thousand workers.

With these factories, Carlo quickly expanded the size of his industry. Currently, Carlo’s total industry value has already reached tens of millions of Pessetas, not to mention the more than a million Pessetas in cash Carlo has.

Not counting the Imperial Palace, palaces, and estates takeover from Queen Isabella, Carlo is already able to rank among Spain’s top ten richest people.

If considering all assets, Carlo can easily become the wealthiest person in Spain.

However, Carlo does not care for these titles, even subtly handling some royal enterprises, making them appear not closely related to the Royal Family.

Currently, besides the winery branded ’Royal’ for high-end marketing, the other industries do not carry the word Royal; there’s no distinguishing from the names whether they are royal enterprises.

As the King of Spain, Carlo is certainly to firmly enforce the provisions of labor laws.

The moment he took over more than a dozen factories, Carlo had someone calculate all the arrears owed to workers, and by the next day, he had repaid almost all of the debts.

Unsurprisingly, the current situation of these more than ten enterprises successfully made headlines in Madrid’s newspapers and became a hot topic among the surrounding population of Madrid.

Carlo’s purpose for doing this is simple: to set a good example for Spain’s capitalists.

Carlo, as King, steadfastly adhered to Spain’s labor laws, and even paid off the wages owed to workers by previous factory owners.

What reason do those capitalists have to continue owing wages? Do they really think the working class is easy to bully?

Under the ferment of public opinion, Carlo smoothly garnered a certain amount of prestige.

Paying owed wages is a very normal act, but paying workers’ owed wages on behalf of previous factory owners is not so common.

For workers in Madrid, the biggest difference between Carlo and those capitalists has been demonstrated.

Starting from early February, when residents of Madrid chat, they often mention their King Carlo, accompanied by a sincere compliment.

Though the wage reimbursement scope covers only about 1,000 workers, it affects nearly 1,000 families.

Because they are located around Madrid, after spreading from person to person, at least tens of thousands of people have a better impression of Carlo.

And this is Carlo’s purpose for doing this: gradually enhancing Spaniards’ goodwill towards himself, making them genuinely support and love him.

Once workers’ friends around them receive their due wages, they naturally will no longer accept factory owners shortchanging them.

And capitalists of this era are always greedy, unlikely to pay equal attention to workers’ opinions as Carlo does.

This will result in capital and workers being hard to unite again to oppose royal power, with the influence of the big capitalist class on Spain always limited to a smaller scope.

As for when Spain’s economy thrives because of reforms in the future, Carlo’s industry will also continue to expand, eventually becoming Spain’s largest consortium, naturally eliminating the worry of the capitalist class making a comeback.

As long as Carlo can become Spain’s largest capital, which other capital can compete with Carlo in Spain?

No matter how strong the capital may be, it can never beat the government because wielding the gun is the hard truth.