Empire Rising: Spain

The production scale of these factories and enterprises alone is almost catching up with Spain’s existing industrial scale. As long as the industrial sector can smoothly absorb these enterprises, becoming the most dazzling department in this Five-Year Plan is not a difficult task.

Minister Canovas nodded again. The work of the industrial sector is so easy that he does not consider it his own merit.

The work of the industrial sector was already defined in the previous Cabinet Government. Minister Canovas was promoted by Carlo to be the Minister of Industry in the second Cabinet Government, essentially letting him gain credit.

As long as the industrial sector can methodically complete the existing plan, it is not difficult to become the first sector to successfully complete the goals of the five-year development plan.

This will also serve as Canovas’ own merit, giving him more capital to pursue higher positions when the next Cabinet Government reshuffles.

On August 28, 1874, in the engine research area on the outskirts of Madrid.

This is a small experimental area Carlo built for engine and electricity research, which has now evolved into a medium-to-large experimental region after several years of development.

In addition to engine and electricity research, several other project research teams have been added here, with each new experimental building taller and larger than the last.

This area also accumulates Carlo’s efforts over the past few years. It’s no exaggeration to say if anything happens to this experimental area, half of Carlo’s efforts in recent years will be wasted.

Because of this, the security forces in the experimental area are second only to the Royal Palace, with over a hundred people patrolling openly, and many undercover guards watching covertly.

Moreover, just a few kilometers away from the experimental area is the stationing location of the Guard Division. Such defense forces ensure the safety of the experimental area under any circumstances, unless facing nationwide-scale warfare, no one can breach the heavily guarded lines of defense.

Early this morning, Carlo brought Queen Sophie to the experimental area.

The purpose of visiting the experimental area is simple: to see the simple automobile built after numerous experiments.

Yes, an automobile. Although adapted from a horse carriage, it is equipped with the latest four-stroke gas engine, so calling it an automobile is not wrong.

When Carlo saw this simple automobile for the first time, he didn’t know how to describe it. Calling it an automobile is a bit forced because it looks more like a hodgepodge made from an engine, a horse carriage cabin, and a simple control system.

But from a principles standpoint, calling it an automobile is indeed accurate, if one overlooks its appearance.

“Mr. Benz, could you introduce this big guy?” Carlo smiled and looked at the main developer of this big guy, the future renowned father of the automobile, Benz.

“Your Majesty and Queen, this is the product we manufactured after numerous experiments, which can also be deemed the first-generation automobile.

Our four-stroke engine, after multiple tests, can currently ensure no major issues within 200 kilometers.

The carriage equipped with a four-stroke gas engine can increase speed to about 20 kilometers and continue running more than 200 kilometers.

The carriage cabin has been modified to hold a maximum of 3 people or 350 kg of luggage.

The product you see has been through our testing, and its safety can be guaranteed. It’s completely functional while driven.” Benz introduced very proudly, smiling at his creation.

A speed of 20 kilometers per hour isn’t fast—more ordinary for horses. Compared to trained military horses and other specialized transport horses, this speed is far inferior.

But the issue is, this is with a large horse carriage cabin attached. Adding a cabin to the back of a horse would significantly reduce speed.

Even with several horses pulling a cabin, high speed is not achievable. After all, it’s not simply additive—the speed of horse-drawn carriages is at most 30 kilometers per hour, and as slow as only about a dozen kilometers an hour.

Consider road conditions, weather environment, and the horses’ status. Despite resembling the speed of simplistic automobiles to that of horse-drawn carriages, a regular horse-drawn carriage generally can’t travel far in a day since horses, being living beings, need rest.

Unless the horse driving the carriage is replaced once tired, traveling hundred kilometers a day with a horse-drawn carriage is quite good.

But for a mechanical carriage equipped with a four-stroke engine, or so-called automobile, the situation is entirely different. Though the speed is only 20 kilometers per hour, such mechanical carriages continue driving until the fuel depletes or issues arise.

Benz, Maybach, and others have determined through numerous experiments that the current four-stroke gas engine doesn’t have problems within 10 hours of continuous work or 200 kilometers of continuous driving.

These data show that the current mechanical carriage—or automobile—has demonstrated its utility. With enhanced engine thermal efficiency and stability, the automobile could potentially far surpass horse-drawn carriages, even replacing them.

Benz and others in related fields dream of realizing their created automobiles overtaking horse-drawn carriages, saturating the transportation market.