Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 157: Chapter 135: Visitors from France (Double-Length Chapter) (Part 2)

After all, the titles of the old nobility have nothing to do with Carlo; it’s only because Carlo is the King of Spain that they have no choice but to pledge their allegiance to him.

The new nobility is different. The titles of the new nobility come from the enfeoffment by Carlo, and everything they have is granted by him, so their loyalty to Carlo is naturally higher.

Moreover, unlike the old nobility, they have no other options. The old nobility can still rely on their vast wealth to live as wealthy gentlemen, but if the new nobility does not stay close to the King, they are merely small landowners with noble titles, incomparable to the old nobility’s wealth.

Members of the Royal Knight Order are generally recruited from noble children over the age of 12. They undergo an elite-style noble education in the Royal Knight Order for four years, along with more than two years of training.

After completing all the education and training, they are either assigned to serve in the Guard Army or Royal Army, or they follow other career paths.

Regardless of where they work, their future potential is not low. The nobility understands this, so there is no resistance to the establishment of the Royal Knight Order; in fact, they go to great lengths to get their sons into it.

Of course, the ones sent in are usually the younger or less prominent sons. The eldest son is set to inherit the title, so the younger son’s inheritance is less; it’s better for him to join the Royal Knight Order to find more opportunities.

Although the Royal Knight Order focuses more on military training, it does not neglect the cultural education of noble children.

If there are noble children who are more suitable for civil positions than military ones, Carlo is also willing to train them to become officials.

After all, once these noble children enter the military or government, the influence of the Royal Family in these areas will be strengthened.

This is the advantage of the European system of nobility: no matter how high a noble’s status is, ultimately they must be loyal to the King.

Without the nobility system, there would be no King, and the King and nobility are closely tied, with the King being the greatest noble within the system.

After this military reform, the Spanish Army’s size will be even larger. Just the combined forces of the mainland and colonial troops approach 150,000, and with the Guard Army included, it’s nearly 170,000.

Such a large army could be maintained financially, but it would significantly increase pressure on the logistics department.

Carlo also wants to enhance the training of each unit, which means the consumption of bullets and artillery shells will significantly increase in the future. Given these factors, changes to the logistical system within the troops are necessary.

If the traditional logistics system is followed, it is likely unable to meet the current operational demands of the troops.

Transporting artillery shells alone is enough to cause headaches for logistics, not to mention the faster firing rate of breech-loading rifles, causing the consumption of bullets to increase severalfold.

Currently, there’s not much that can be done, except to strengthen the local logistics management system as much as possible, while also ensuring efficient transportation to meet the demands for weaponry and equipment.

Thankfully, expanding the army takes a long time, and along with the time required for weapon production, logistics has plenty of time for changes.

Besides expanding the scale of the Royal Knight Order, Carlo has established the Royal Pharmaceutical Company, dedicated to research in biotechnology and drug development.

To promote the company’s establishment, Carlo has invested heavily in recruiting many top experts in biology and medicine from all over Europe, inviting them to work in Spain.

The terms of the invitation were indeed filled with sincerity. Besides salaries higher than before, they were offered a house in Madrid and certain shares in the pharmaceutical company.

Although the shares they received are not large, the Royal Pharmaceutical Company is destined to become a major enterprise in the future, so even a small stake will not be of insignificant value.

Because of such generous compensation, several top biological and medical experts from across Europe have indeed been attracted.

In addition to having them serve at the Royal Pharmaceutical Company, Carlo has appointed them as honorary professors at Spain’s medical schools to nurture more talent in biology and medicine.

The current medical technology is still too backward, resulting in a low survival rate of newborns, affecting the growth of the Spanish population.

A considerable number of newborns die from various diseases every year, and these children represent the future population of Spain, thus it is undoubtedly good to save them if possible.

Carlo’s mandate for the pharmaceutical company is to engage in as much research and development concerning medicines as possible, regardless of the type of drug, to research what can be researched and produce what can be produced.

In the short term, Carlo does not expect the pharmaceutical company to generate profits. Even in the long term, he has not considered how much revenue the company could produce.

The main purpose of establishing the pharmaceutical company is strategic, aiming to maintain Spain’s leading position in the world by laying the groundwork for the development of certain important medicines in advance.

What Carlo did not anticipate was an unexpected guest arriving at the Spanish Government at the end of September 1872.

Yes, the guest is the famous Adolf Xi…no, Adolphe Thiers, the first president of the Third French Republic and the current supreme ruler of France.