Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 133: Chapter 118: Agriculture Isn’t as Profitable as Finance (Part 2)

After nearly two years of development, the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau has already become a large hidden agency in the shadows.

As of now, Carlo has invested over 2.4 million Pessetas into the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau.

Director Kadir did not waste Carlo’s investment. These 2.4 million Pessetas have secured Carlo more than 400 intelligence personnel and hundreds of covert operatives collaborating with the bureau.

These covert operatives are unaware of the existence of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau. Externally, it is known as the Royal Military Liaison Group, ostensibly responsible for wartime communication and cooperation among Spain’s various military forces.

In reality, the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau has evolved into Carlo’s eyes, gathering information on various significant events domestically and abroad, and investigating anyone Carlo wishes to investigate.

Notably, the reason Carlo affirmed Kadir’s capabilities was the investigation by the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau, which, within less than a year of its establishment, identified the culprit behind the assassination of Prime Minister Prim.

Initially, Carlo was reluctant to believe the real mastermind behind the assassination of Prime Minister Prim was the distinguished Duke of Osuna from the Spanish noble class.

However, when Director Kadir provided fairly comprehensive evidence and information, Carlo had to accept that the Duke of Osuna was indeed the mastermind behind the assassination.

Since the real mastermind of the assassination had been discovered, the subsequent affairs became much easier to handle.

Considering Spain’s stability and the potential impact on the noble class, it was naturally better to handle this matter discreetly.

After all, the assassination did not significantly affect Prime Minister Prim; it ended in complete failure, and Prim wasn’t even injured.

When the bureau’s personnel delivered the complete evidence chain to the Duke of Osuna, the duke, who had been so confident during the assassination attempt, finally panicked.

However, he also understood that Carlo being capable of having the evidence chain delivered to him rather than handed over to Prime Minister Prim for his arrest, indicated there was still room for negotiation.

Carlo had no particular fondness for someone like the Duke of Osuna. However, considering the Duke’s high status and influence within the Spanish noble class, harsh treatment might cause further discontent among some nobles already lacking loyalty.

After final consideration, Carlo offered the Duke of Osuna two choices.

Either, the Duke himself keeps the evidence chain, with the cost being at least sixty percent of his land and assets sold at market price to the royal family, and the proceeds donated to the government.

Or, these evidences would be submitted to Prime Minister Prim, and the government would arrest and try the Duke of Osuna, ultimately deciding the fate of his assets.

The first choice at least allowed the Duke of Osuna to retain less than forty percent of his assets, and being a wealthy noble thereafter wouldn’t be an issue.

If he chooses the second option, even if the Duke of Osuna’s title is preserved, it may no longer belong to the current Duke of Osuna.

More importantly, the government isn’t likely to be too courteous to the nobles, especially the Duke of Osuna, a traitor who plotted to assassinate the Prime Minister; most of his assets would probably be confiscated by the government.

Without much thought, the Duke of Osuna chose the first option, willingly selling more than sixty percent of his assets to the royal family.

Facing the current Spanish government and royal family, he had little means to resist.

Moreover, the royal family already held sufficient evidence, resistance at this point would have no effect but to expose the Duke of Osuna and his family to greater danger.

This matter resembled more a trade of interests. The Duke of Osuna used more than sixty percent of his land to buy a chance at survival, the proceeds from selling the land were submitted to the government for Prime Minister Prim’s forgiveness.

Through purchasing the land, Carlo could restore the royal family’s estates to be among the most extensive in Europe’s noble classes; the future Spanish royal family would no longer be symbolized by ample money but scarce land.

Although Spain’s land isn’t as fertile as other nations, and income from farming isn’t quite as high.

For those more traditional nobles, the amount of land owned among them to a certain extent determines their influence.

For example, the influential nobles and Grand Dukes in Spain certainly possess the most land and assets.

Those less influential Marquises and Earls’ assets and land quantities certainly couldn’t compare to the Dukes.

This matter had been discussed with Prime Minister Prim. Compared to the Duke of Osuna, of course, Prime Minister Prim was more important to Carlo.

Prime Minister Prim also agreed with Carlo’s idea of discreet handling, as the government could also gain certain funds from this event, with the only loss being the Duke of Osuna.

Besides losing over sixty percent of his assets, the armed force he trained had to be fully abolished and he had to be under long-term government surveillance henceforth.

If not for the sake of national stability, Prime Minister Prim would have even considered directly executing the Duke of Osuna.

Yet, handling it in this manner proved beneficial. Firstly, it stabilized the noble class, which was conducive to the stability of Spain.

Secondly, it could make some individuals within Spain’s major forces ponder the consequences of opposing the government. The Duke of Osuna had a significant amount of assets to compensate, but other nobles might not necessarily have.

The Duke of Osuna was considered one of Spain’s most influential nobles; losing over sixty percent of his assets inflicted a substantial blow to the entire Duke family.

After all, the largest income of this type of traditional noble stems from engaged agriculture. They rent their lands to farmers, who not only pay rent but also taxes to them.

Of course, this might be the reason why the Duke of Osuna would attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Prim. Although these Dukes’ lands aren’t autonomous territories, nobles like them have tax levying rights on their lands.

The government’s reduction in agricultural taxes practically affects their income. Particularly for grand nobles possessing vast lands, the reduction in agricultural taxes equates to a huge figure.

This also couldn’t help but sigh at the Church’s eye for the general picture. If the reduction in agricultural taxes affected one segment of great nobles, then the abolition of tithes represented a significant blow to the Church.

One of the Spanish Church’s main sources of income was the tithes submitted by farmers; another giant was the agricultural taxes from Church lands.

The abolition and reduction policies hit both primary income sources substantially.

Archbishop Pedro’s sense of the matter made all the difference, otherwise, whether the Spanish Church would rebel was truly two-sided.

This easily showcased the numerous forces impacted by Prime Minister Prim’s reforms. Even the nobles openly supporting the royal family were influenced, but most could still read the situation.

Carlo’s establishment of the Royal United Bank was naturally intended to invite nobles to profit together, guiding them to discover new income beyond land.

If they focus solely on the tax and other incomes from land, nobles will continually lament the impact of government tax reductions.

But if they turn their eyes toward the finance and industrial sectors, nobles might discover that in Spain, engaging in finance and industry is where the genuine profits lie.

Spain’s lands are indeed so barren that being a landlord doesn’t fetch major wealth. A simple comparison illustrates this—the income of German nobles is often several times that of Spanish nobles given the same land scale.

The difference in soil fertility already destined Spain not to be a strong nation in agriculture; fulfilling domestic population needs is already good news, dreaming of making big money from agriculture is sheer folly.