Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 204: Chapter 151: The Economic Crisis Arrives

What Carlo was somewhat surprised by was that after the more stringent laws were enacted, the impact in Catalonia and the Basque region was not as significant.

But in hindsight, it made sense, since the instigators who once adamantly demanded regional autonomy and even national independence had long disappeared from Spain’s history along with the Carlos Faction.

It’s impossible to say that these two regions are devoid of nationalists, but it’s unlikely for these individuals to stand up firmly against the government’s laws or incite demonstrations and rebellions.

Although they support regional autonomy and national independence, it doesn’t mean they are foolish. They are able to see the current situation in Spain clearly, and Prime Minister Prim is even waiting for them to emerge so that he can capture them all at once.

Although there are no major disruptions, there are still some occasional small protests.

However, these minor disturbances are completely insignificant to the Spanish Government and can be handled simply by utilising law enforcement agencies.

To ensure stability in Catalonia and the Basque region, Prime Minister Prim specifically ordered the security department to deploy some police from other major areas to Catalonia and the Basque region to maintain order and urge the governments of the two regions to promptly implement the requirements of the newly enacted laws.

Prime Minister Prim also offered a new option for those who are afraid to stand up against the government’s laws and yet unwilling to accept them, which is to emigrate abroad.

Prime Minister Prim is deeply resentful of those who advocate nationalism and regional autonomy because they could greatly impact Spain’s existing stability and cause Catalonia and the Basque regions to become a perpetual scar for Spain.

Understanding this, Prime Minister Prim, as a Catalan himself, still steadfastly chose comprehensive unification of nation, religion, and language.

If the nationalist issues in Spain’s two regions can be resolved in a more peaceful manner, that would naturally be all the better.

For the residents of Catalonia and the Basque region who are unwilling to accept Spain’s new policies, the Spanish Government encourages them to emigrate elsewhere and is even willing to actively organize migration teams to assist those who wish to emigrate but lack travel funds.

On this basis, if there are still radical nationalist elements domestically who have different opinions on these laws, they cannot blame Prime Minister Prim for being heartless.

Encouraging them to emigrate is giving them their last chance: either choose to emigrate to avoid Spain’s laws or stay in Spain and obediently comply with the laws enacted by Spain, with no other choices available to them.

Frankly, this law has little impact on most Spanish civilians. Whether Catalans or Basques, they all believe in Christianity, which is a religion permitted by the Spanish Government.

The only conflict may be the widespread adoption of the Spanish language and the concept of Spanish nationality, but these are still not entirely unacceptable to the civilians.

Although this act can effectively promote national integration in Spain and more effectively resolve the nationalist independence issues in Catalonia and the Basque region.

But doing so is not without drawbacks. As long as one immigrates to Spain, one must naturally comply with the laws enacted by Spain.

This is not particularly friendly to some immigrants, as wanting them to quickly master Spanish and recognize themselves as Spaniards is not that easy.

To this end, Carlo and Prime Minister Prim had multiple discussions and ultimately decided to assign the task of spreading the Spanish language to Pedro, who has been promoted to Spain’s archbishop, letting him take charge of teaching Spanish to foreign immigrants.

In fact, such tasks are not unfamiliar to the Spanish Church because previously, the Spanish Church already controlled many church schools, thus controlling education in Spain.

However, the task of the Church is not only to spread the Spanish language but also to spread religion.

For Carlo and Prime Minister Prim, whether it’s Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy or Protestantism, these are not major concerns.

As long as there is belief in a religion within the Christian system and acknowledgment of God, it’s fine. The missionary task is clearly not aimed at European immigrants, but more towards indigenous and mixed-race residents in the Spanish colony.

Considering Spain’s future strategic plans, when Carlo met with Spain’s archbishop Pedro, he specifically requested the Spanish Church to prioritize evangelizing to the Moroccans in the South Morocco Colony and indicated that certain firm measures could be taken to expedite evangelism.

Although much of Europe currently believes in Christianity, historically, hundreds of years ago, vast expanses of land still believed in various religions derived locally.

Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy spread throughout Europe not because of the gentle evangelism by missionaries but because of the more brutal and oppressive evangelism by the Catholic Church and various governments.

The most notable among these was the Inquisition during the Middle Ages, which laid down an extremely important role for Christianity’s widespread dissemination in Europe.

During this period, the Inquisition was not a court in the true sense but wielded immense power, allowing indiscriminate punishment of heretics with all sorts of penalties (including but not limited to confiscation of all property, flogging, imprisonment, lifelong imprisonment, etc.).