Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 201: Chapter 150: One Country, One People, One Language

What are relatively forceful measures?

In essence, it involves the strong legal unification of the languages, scripts, customs, and religious beliefs of Spain’s various regions, expelling all heretics that reject Spanish culture, and being prepared to battle with radical nationalists from the Catalonia Region and the Basque Region at any time.

If it were a later era, such methods would obviously be unfeasible. The nationalist sentiments would have already become deeply rooted, and support for regional autonomy and independence among Catalans and Basques would be widely embraced.

But in this era, even the concepts of Catalans and Basques are not that clear. Catalan farmers often can’t even distinguish their own ethnicity; they only know they live in Catalonia. This is their only proof of being Catalan.

These people, who can’t even discern their own ethnicity, naturally don’t support Catalonia’s independence. In fact, most Catalan farmers are very supportive of Spain. Those truly against Spain, seeking Catalan autonomy and independence, are extreme nationalist factions and the Republican Faction, previously including the Carlos Faction.

These individuals remain minorities, so being slightly more aggressive towards them will not harm the good relations between Catalan farmers and the Spanish Government.

Above the second solution, there is a harsher, third option. While the second solution still involves invoking laws for forceful execution, the third option is straightforward and ruthless: the military extermination of heretics and foreign groups.

However, it is evident that now is not the time to employ the third solution, nor is it applicable on Spanish soil.

After deciding on the second approach, Prime Minister Prim’s first action was to contact Carlo, seeking support from the Royal Family.

Why seek support from the Royal Family? Because they control numerous media outlets, namely newspapers, which can significantly and effectively shift the media’s narrative in Spain.

Although Carlo has disguised the newspapers under his control in various ways, outwardly, the Royal Family only controls the Spanish Sun Newspaper.

But in reality, the number of newspapers controlled by the Royal Family is not less than a hundred, creating an impressively vast presence in Spain.

To some degree, this is beneficial to Spain; the previously uncontrolled media environment can now be effectively controlled, with the news released being conducive to managing the situation.

Yet it’s also bad news. Such control over media means the Royal Family wields a Damocles’ sword over the government.

Though Prime Minister Prim sees the threat posed by the Royal Family’s control of the media, he chooses not to interfere.

The reason is simple: the Royal Family’s media empire has already grown significant, not easily restricted.

The government can only support more non-Royal newspapers to counter them, but with the Royal Family already dominating more than half of Spain’s newspaper industry, resistance seems impossible.

News, more often than not, relies on credibility. The Royal Family’s newspapers, led by the Spanish Sun Newspaper, have been rooted in Spain’s news industry for years, without major errors in their reports.

Unless the Spanish Government establishes an official newspaper, it cannot compete with the Sun Newspaper in terms of credibility.

But what difference is there between an official newspaper and official statements from the Spanish Government? Especially when Prime Minister Prim has more to consider personally.

Prime Minister Prim clearly understands the current power structure of the Spanish Government and knows the prime minister’s power surpasses royal authority.

Currently, he, Carlo, and Duke Serrano have a significant understanding, and Spain’s general situation is developing positively.

But if a future Spanish Prime Minister were power-hungry and made a mess of national development, some preemptive measures might be needed to balance power.

It’s naturally impossible to openly strengthen the Monarch’s power, which could disrupt Spain’s constitutional system, reshaping a monarchy.

Allowing the Royal Family to control the media is a better option. Generally, this media control doesn’t heavily influence the government unless there are major issues within the government, where the media can incite turmoil.

If there are no underlying sparks, the media can fan as much as it wants; it actually has little impact on the government.

In February 1873, the Spanish Sun Newspaper published a news article that caught the attention of many Spaniards, titled “Un país, un pueblo, un idioma!” (One Country, One People, One Language!)

Of course, the report in the Sun Newspaper was not so blunt, instead using a more tactful approach to convey the positive changes this policy brought to Spain.

For instance, if everyone uses Spanish, communication among factory workers will be simpler and more straightforward, and factory productivity will increase.

Also, if everyone is Spanish, the government’s tax and welfare policies will be fairer. Everyone being Spanish naturally means everyone enjoys the same tax policy and welfare benefits.