Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 140: Chapter 124: Land Lease Act (Part 2)

However, if one stands on the side of the Spanish nobility, not only will it offend Prime Minister Prim, but it will also undermine the progress of reforms in Spain.

Carlo, naturally, understood the harm that the vast lands controlled by the Spanish nobility posed to Spain, and naturally wished to reclaim as much of the land from the nobility as possible.

Yet, as the greatest noble himself, the King couldn’t simply come out directly against the noble class. After receiving Prime Minister Prim’s request, Carlo indicated that he would have loyalist noble Duke Jacopo give friendly suggestions to some of the Spanish nobility, while he himself would not make an appearance.

Carlo certainly would not offend a large number of Spanish nobles at a time like this. Although many of these nobles have already become parasites of the state, they are indeed Carlo’s largest supporters at the moment.

At least, Carlo would wait until he had complete control of the country’s power and had minimized the nobility’s influence on the military before attempting to take action against some nobles.

For now, it’s best to stay away from Prime Minister Prim’s reforms. The current nobility still has quite a significant influence, with many nobles holding positions in both the government and the military. This is why Prime Minister Prim, despite holding military and governmental power, is still cautiously probing the nobility rather than taking direct action.

While expressing support for Prime Minister Prim’s reforms, Carlo also set forth his own demand, which was that if the nobility strongly opposed, Carlo himself would convene the Spanish Parliament to forcibly repeal the bill.

This served as Carlo’s fallback to declare to the nobility that he had nothing to do with this incident.

Currently, the King still very much needs the support of the nobility, and Carlo would not damage the good relations with the nobility unless absolutely necessary.

As expected, once the bill was introduced in Parliament, it immediately attracted substantial attention from the nobility.

In Spain, the higher the title a noble bears, the more land that noble controls.

As large landlords, the nobility naturally did not wish to see the government promulgate this bill reducing peasant land rents, as it directly affected their own profits.

Although after the bill’s enactment nobles could still retain 40% of the land rent, their income would be reduced by at least two to three tenths compared to before.

To prevent noble unrest, Prime Minister Prim even mobilized the original Revolutionary Army to garrison in Madrid and personally sought to persuade Duke Serrano.

Compared to power, Duke Serrano placed less importance on land. Like Prime Minister Prim, he was a bestowed noble, not inheriting his title.

Although having reached the peak among Spanish nobility with a Grand Duke title, Duke Serrano did not own much land; instead, his main income came from shares in the Royal United Bank.

Additionally, there were the newly conferred modern nobles by Carlo. Though modern nobles also held some land, it was vastly inferior to the old nobility’s holdings.

They did not mind the bill, as it didn’t significantly affect their interests.

Under the influence of Prime Minister Prim and Duke Serrano, although the nobility collectively expressed dissatisfaction with the bill, quite a few nobles supported it.

While most nobles owned vast lands, it didn’t mean all were immensely wealthy.

In reality, across Europe, numerous noble families suffer financial mismanagement yearly, with many due to bankruptcy being forced to sell off their properties.

Indeed, Spain has many nobles, but its economy is only so-so. Those who truly became rich are only the great nobles.

Earls and Barons aren’t exceptionally wealthy, and their fortunes could go bust if mismanaged.

With the government introducing a policy of purchasing land at high prices, many nobles who urgently needed funds due to bankruptcy actively sold their lands to the government.

Prime Minister Prim also urgently needed noble-initiated land sales to demonstrate, thus raising the purchase price to 1.5 times the market rate.

To prevent nobles from temporarily acquiring farmers’ lands for resale to the government at a profit, the Spanish Government also enacted the Land Trading Law, permitting farmer-owned land sales only to the government, which offered above market prices to ensure farmers wouldn’t incur losses.

Of course, unless it’s desperation, most farmers wouldn’t want to sell their lands. Farmers rely on land for their livelihood; losing this livelihood would leave them with no means for survival.

Those genuinely selling land were large landlords or farmers who couldn’t sustain themselves.

With these nobles voluntarily offering land, the previously angered noble class became divided.

Moreover, the bill wasn’t overly harsh on the nobility; while incomes did decrease, the reduction wasn’t substantial.

The diminished income wasn’t enough to unite the nobles against the government, especially now that the government isn’t like it was a few years ago. Prime Minister Prim’s reforms have significantly increased governmental support among farmers, with whom the nobility often interacted, thus aware of the government’s popular backing.

Additionally, since Marshal Serrano and Prime Minister Prim themselves were part of the nobility, their non-opposition to the bill allowed some nobles to perceive deeper implications.