Empire Rising: Spain

In addition to acting as a stimulant, kola nuts can also treat headaches, depression, whooping cough, asthma, and bronchitis, and they also aid digestion and have diuretic effects.

It is precisely because of so many benefits that Europeans of this era considered kola nuts as a kind of medicine and brought them back to Europe from distant Africa.

The good news is that the tropical regions of Africa have lots of kola trees, and naturally, plenty of kola nuts.

Besides picking these natural kola trees, Spain is also engaging in artificial cultivation to ensure that the yield of kola nuts will increase.

Currently, due to the high sales of kola, kola nut plantations have also become one of the choices for opening plantations in Spanish colonies.

Because of the high sugar content in the kola, Spain is also attempting to establish large-scale sugar cane plantations in other colonies to replace the major sugar producer, Cuba.

Of course, before Spain completely loses Cuba, the trade route between Spain and Cuba remains quite prosperous.

Besides all the sugar from America being directly transported from Cuba, more than 60% of the sugar trade between Europe and Cuba first involves Cuba transporting the sugar to Spain, which then distributes it to various European countries.

Relying on Cuba, this sugar-producing giant, allowed Spain’s costs and prices of kola to decrease slightly.

On the most bustling streets in Madrid right now, you can see a few brightly-colored red signs, these are the beverage shops opened by the Coca-Cola Company in Madrid.

Buying Coca-Cola at the beverage shop not only offers free chilling but also allows resting in the shop’s public area, among other amenities.

The public area not only freely provides newspaper news issued by major newspapers from the past week but also some books for customers to read.

Initially, the Coca-Cola Company attracted customers under the guise of health products and medicines, and by offering free newspapers and book reading in the public area.

But once customers tasted Coca-Cola, they fell in love with this exceptionally delightful iced beverage.

Chilling, bubbles, and the unique taste of kola nuts are all indispensable; all three combined created the extremely popular beverage Coke of later generations.

Not to mention, in this era of scarce beverages, Coke is a rare delicacy for the citizens of Madrid.

At first, the Coca-Cola Company had to rely on the guise of health products and medicines, plus free newspapers and books to attract customers.

Later, it wasn’t necessary at all, as customers would enter the beverage shop and their first request would be to buy Coke, especially those chilled for more than two hours.

For the citizens, taking a sip of chilled Coke on a hot summer day would almost entirely dispel the irritability from work.

While drinking Coke, stealing a glance at a long-legged beauty passing by signifies that the rest of the day will be filled with good spirits.

The fact that the Coke shop provided the past week’s newspapers for free is what stirred a wave of heated discussions when the Spanish Sun published news suggesting the Spanish Government establish a reserve system.

To Carlo’s surprise, the Spanish public, upon learning the news from the newspapers, also suggested the Spanish Government establish a reserve system.

Citizens felt that the 150,000 troops of the Spanish Army were far too few to protect Spain’s security.

Moreover, out of these 150,000 troops, 15,000 belonged to the Guard Division and 46,000 to the Colonial Forces; the actual Royal Army stationed on the mainland was only 90,000.

”I never expected that the broad Spanish public would seem more hawkish than me as the King,” Carlo said with a wry smile after listening to the report from Kadir, Director of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau, before finally saying this sentence after a long pause.

”This is actually a good thing for Your Majesty, as at least the plan for reserves can be smoothly implemented,” Kadir said with a smile, congratulating Carlo.

Since being appointed as the Director of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau, Kadir has been working diligently, and the expansion of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau has been relatively rapid, and it has now become the main institution for Carlo to understand intelligence in Spain and even the whole of Europe.

And as the Director of the Intelligence Bureau, Kadir naturally is deeply trusted by Carlo. Currently, Kadir is Carlo’s absolute confidant, and the importance of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau is no less than that of the 15,000 strong Guard Division.

Carlo nodded. Although the hawkish attitude of the Spanish public was somewhat unexpected for Carlo, it was actually good news.

In this chaotic era, being overly pacifist and against war is not a good thing. If there isn’t enough military power to protect the country, what awaits the citizens won’t be long-lasting peace but longstanding oppression and exploitation.

Protecting peace isn’t through a heart that loves peace, but a sword sharp enough to slay enemies.

Carlo understands this quite well—even if Spain currently faces no threat of war, there is still a need for caution in times of peace, considering the potential threats from the United Kingdom and France in the future.

Ultimately, the reality is that the rise of Spain is bound to conflict with the United Kingdom. For Spain, the first thing to do after becoming powerful isn’t expanding into Europe, but reclaiming Gibraltar, occupied by the United Kingdom.

Just the matter of Gibraltar alone ensures that irreconcilable contradictions exist between the United Kingdom and Spain.