Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 212: Chapter 153: Warship Design and Acquisition Plan (Part 3)

After all, what the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard needed at this time was experience in building the latest ironclad ships, and those tens of thousands of Pounds of income were not so important to the shipyard.

In order to secure enough orders for the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard, Carlo specifically contacted Spain’s diplomatic department, asking them to coordinate with the shipyard’s efforts to find partners in Asia who might be interested in purchasing warships.

As the economic crisis intensified, more and more companies and factories went bankrupt in various countries.

After waiting for a period, Carlo felt it was the right time to take advantage of the downturn. Now, factories and companies across Europe were available at rock-bottom prices, and many of these bankrupt businesses were ones Carlo intended to buy.

For example, there was a private shipyard in the United Kingdom, about which the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau had gathered detailed information.

Before this economic crisis, this private shipyard was one of the more prominent private shipyards in the United Kingdom and was quite reputable.

The shipyard even possessed the capability to build ironclad ships, along with the relevant equipment and skilled workers.

Because of this, before the economic crisis, the shipyard was valued at over 1.5 million Pounds, equivalent to 39 million Pessetas.

Such a large sum was a significant expense for the Royal Family before the crisis, which is why the acquisition had not proceeded, leaving Carlo merely eyeing the shipyard longingly.

But now the situation was different. The economic crisis affected not just railroad companies and banks, but also various industries across European countries.

The impact on shipyards, as military industries, was not exaggerated, but it was still significant.

This shipyard, originally valued at 1.5 million Pounds, had recently been put up for sale publicly, with an asking price of just 700,000 Pounds.

In theory, with a price less than half its original value, there should have been a rush of buyers.

However, in reality, many British capitalists were too preoccupied with their own troubles, not to mention gathering 700,000 Pounds to purchase this shipyard.

This led to the shipyard’s sale being completely ignored, with its asking price dropping day by day.

Although the owner knew selling the shipyard would result in a loss, there were no other choices. If they didn’t act quickly, keeping the shipyard would only lead to increasing losses.

As long as the economic crisis continued, the shipyard’s price would keep falling.

Selling now could still recover hundreds of thousands of Pounds; waiting until the shipyard’s value had dropped to a very low number would be too late.

After confirming the shipyard had no takers, Carlo wasn’t in a hurry.

The current situation was that the longer he waited to purchase the shipyard, the less money Carlo would need to spend.

Steward Luo Lun suggested waiting at least another half a month. Based on the current depreciation rate, the shipyard could be bought for around 500,000 Pounds in half a month.

For capitalists, 500,000 Pounds were still a huge amount, but for Carlo, it wasn’t much at all.

This sum, converted to Pessetas, was only 13 million, roughly the annual net profit of the Royal United Bank.

Spending 13 million Pessetas to purchase a medium to large shipyard with experience and technology in building ironclads was definitely profitable for Carlo.

After purchasing the shipyard, it could be merged with the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard to create a truly large-scale shipyard, competing with other European countries in the warship export business.

Meanwhile, the shipbuilding experience from this British shipyard would also significantly enhance the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard.

In this era, the British shipbuilding capabilities were still outstanding. Although the era of ironclads was initiated by the French, the subsequent eras of pre-dreadnought and dreadnought ships were led by the British well ahead of others.

Even aircraft carriers were gradually evolved by the British based on battleships and cruisers.

The British shipbuilding experience would remain world-class for the next 80 years, and for Carlo, it was more valuable than the shipyard itself.

Due to Gibraltar, the relationship between Spain and the British was destined never to be too good.

This made it difficult for Spain to obtain advanced British shipbuilding technology before, either due to prohibitive costs or deliberate British embargoes on Spain.

The current economic crisis presented the best opportunity, prompting Carlo to instruct Steward Luo Lun to focus mainly on opportunities in the United Kingdom.

Of course, it wasn’t just the Royal Family looking to acquire factories in other European countries; the Spanish Government also had clear intentions.

While Carlo and Steward Luo Lun discussed the scope of acquisitions, Spain’s industrial department also prepared a detailed list of companies and equipment that needed to be purchased.

“Your Excellency, here is the latest procurement list confirmed by the industrial department for your review,” the Spanish Minister of Industry handed a detailed purchase order to Prime Minister Prim, seeking his opinion.

Prime Minister Prim glanced at it and was immediately startled by the enormous appetite of the industrial department.

The procurement list from the industrial department almost covered the entire industrial system, primarily focusing on metallurgy, oil, chemical industry, shipbuilding, machinery, engines, and military industry.

“162 enterprises, totaling 520 million Pessetas in acquisition funds?” As he read, Prime Minister Prim’s face suddenly darkened, and he looked at the Minister of Industry with an intense gaze, coldly snorting, “Are you trying to spend the government’s entire annual revenue on purchasing enterprises?”