Empire Rising: Spain

Previously, the Spanish Army had a large number of lower-ranking officers who had never received proper military education, which also affected the combat effectiveness of the Spanish Army.

There are many factors that impact a military’s combat effectiveness, but one of the important factors that can practically determine the fighting capability is the military literacy of these lower-ranking officers.

No matter how outstanding the general leading the army is, if the lower-ranking officers lack sufficient military literacy, the general’s orders are unlikely to be fully executed.

If these lower-ranking officers possess excellent military literacy, even if the commander as a leader is not highly capable, at least the army can remain relatively stable.

Although the officer structure of the Spanish Army is limited, Spain’s Defense Department still has important departments like the Staff Department and Logistics Department, so finding positions for these military school graduates to work is not a problem.

As in previous years, Carlo attended the graduation ceremony of these military school students and selected a small number of extremely outstanding graduates to join the Guard Army.

Although the Guard Army has a structure of only one division with 15,000 personnel, the current reserve of officers for the Guard Army is extremely abundant.

It is not an exaggeration to say that whenever Carlo wishes, the Spanish Guard can expand by 2 to 3 divisions at any time, without any concern about the reserve of lower-ranking officers.

Just now, Spain does not need to worry about war issues, coupled with the domestic stability of the country, this also led Carlo to abandon expanding the Guard Army.

Even though the Guard Army is only at the size of one division, as long as it is stationed in Madrid, it can ensure the safety of the capital Madrid.

Given the scale of firepower possessed by the Guard Army, unless faced with a large-scale siege by enemy forces or massive domestic military rebellion, Madrid is not in any danger.

Even during the Carlos Faction rebellion a few years ago, it was impossible to threaten the safety of Madrid. This is the sense of security that firepower brings to Carlo, irreplaceable by anything else.

After attending the graduation ceremony of the Royal Military Academy, Carlo also needed to prepare to attend the ceremony for graduates of the Royal Science Academy.

If the Royal Military Academy is the military school Carlo values the most, then the Royal Science Academy is the university for sciences he cherishes the most.

The Royal Science Academy was built by Carlo according to the requirements of the Royal Academy of Sciences, aiming to provide additional job opportunities for the scientists and research personnel of the Royal Academy, and also to cultivate mid-level scientific talents for Spain.

Of course, if Spain can produce top scientific talents through training domestically, Carlo would be very pleased to see this happen.

Historically, Spain did not have many top talents in the field of physical sciences, largely due to Spain’s neglect of scientific research during the 18th to 19th centuries.

Carlo has been paying attention to scientific research for many years, and he believes this can bring some change to Spain. After all, Spain is a medium-to-large country with over 10 million people, Carlo refuses to believe that Spain will not produce any top talents in the physical sciences.

Compared to the Royal Military Academy, which graduates over 400 students annually, the Royal Science Academy has relatively few graduates, averaging only 200 graduates per year.

But do not underestimate these 200 graduates, as they have been meticulously cultivated by scientists and research personnel of the Royal Academy, their abilities are beyond doubt.

Due to being trained by scientists of the Royal Academy, these graduates are directly absorbed by the Royal Academy after graduation, participating in research projects with those scientists and research personnel, learning more knowledge along the way.

This year’s graduates are the fourth cohort of the Royal Science Academy, and combined with all four cohorts, the academy has cultivated fewer than 1,000 talents.

The good news is that these graduates have a high success rate. Many graduates have already garnered attention from members of the Royal Academy, who spare no effort in imparting knowledge to them, personally involving them in experiments and research.

Teaching students from the Royal Science Academy is a mutually beneficial affair for the members of the Academy.

They can earn part-time fees by serving as professors and holding other positions in schools, and those salaries are not low.

The students they teach can also serve as assistants in their research projects, and as they are personally trained, the students are familiar with their abilities, making it easier to utilize them.

For this reason, none of the foreign scientists recruited by Carlo reject the opportunity to teach part-time at the Royal Science Academy or other universities, and when they receive their part-time income, each of them is beaming with joy.

Originally, the income of academicians at the Royal Science Academy was not low; successfully completing research projects could earn them additional rewards. Their part-time roles provide another great source of income, making their earnings higher than what they used to earn abroad; this is one of the ways Spain attracts external talents to join the Royal Academy.

When the economic crisis initially broke out, the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences had fewer than 500 research personnel, and those awarded the title and treatment of second-level academicians were less than 200.

Now, the number of research personnel at the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences has exceeded 1,000, with over 700 holding the title of Academician, including 322 First-level Academicians, 362 Second-level Academicians, and 46 Third-level Academicians.

Including graduates from the Royal Science Academy, the Royal Academy’s research personnel is close to 2,000. It’s due to the continuous increase in research personnel that various studies conducted by the Royal Academy have progressed smoothly with various advancements.

With the increase in the per capita income of Spaniards, Carlo has also raised the base salaries for Third-level Academicians.

The base annual salary for First-level Academicians has been increased to 2,800 Pessetas, while the base salary for Second-level Academicians is as high as 5,200 Pessetas. Third-level Academicians, as the highest rank and title among researchers in the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences, now have a staggering base salary of 8,500 Pessetas.

Just by paying the base annual salaries to all research personnel of the Royal Academy, Carlo spends upwards of 5 million Pessetas each year.

Not to mention the funding for various Royal Academy research projects, currently making the Royal Academy one of Carlo’s largest investment sectors, with annual expenses reaching 35 million Pessetas.

Even though a large amount of money is spent on the Royal Academy every year, Carlo is more than willing to spend this money.

Any research project by the Royal Academy that makes progress yields benefits several times, even dozens of times, the 35 million Pessetas of research funding.

If those important research projects progress, the profits obtained are immeasurable; Carlo is clear about the ratio of investment to return.