Empire Rising: Spain

Although the Ruhr District rose due to the coal industry, the factories in the Ruhr District are no longer limited to coal processing plants. As Germany’s largest industrial area, the Ruhr District has reached a significant scale in the fields of chemical, heavy, and mechanical engineering industries, making it one of the most renowned comprehensive industrial bases in Europe.

Though Spain lacks the capability to construct a large-scale industrial base like the Ruhr District, it can still make its current industrial zone planning more rational by learning from the experiences of industrial area planning.

Spain also possesses relatively abundant coal and iron reserves, making it naturally possible to develop a certain scale of industry. Carlo’s expectation for the Barcelona Industrial Base is to build it into a smaller Ruhr District, transforming the Barcelona Industrial Base into Spain’s own industrial heart.

Currently, the scale of the Barcelona Industrial Base is far from comparable to the Ruhr District, but for Spain itself, it is already the largest industrial base in the country.

If Spain can learn from Germany’s industrial experiences, it can also progress further in the construction of industrial bases.

As for Carlo’s request to tour the Ruhr District, after consideration, the German side did not refuse.

Frankly speaking, the Ruhr District is ultimately a traditional industrial base, and naturally, there is nothing to keep secret.

The strength of the Ruhr District is not advanced industrial production technology, but rather the rich coal resources and convenient transportation of this land.

As long as one can have the dual innate conditions of abundant mineral resources and convenient transportation, along with a certain scale of population, establishing an industrial base like the Ruhr District is not a difficult task.

Rising industrial output is certainly a good thing, but it also needs to tie in with the demand for industrial products. If the industrial output rises too much without a corresponding increase in domestic demand for industrial products, an economic crisis will follow.

Germany has not yet completely emerged from the impact of the economic crisis, and its industry has been enormously wounded by the crisis.

As Germany’s largest industrial base, the Ruhr District was also the most severely affected. Fortunately, Germany promptly rescued the factories in the Ruhr District; apart from some small-scale factories that went bankrupt too quickly, most medium to large-scale factories have basically resumed production.

Of course, to restore the full scale before the economic crisis, it will take at least a few years to recuperate.

Germany is also wiser from the crisis, and the expansion of industrial scale is not as rapid anymore.

Having obtained the permission of the German Government, Carlo naturally did not hesitate and boarded a train with a group of Spanish officials heading towards Germany’s industrial heart, the Ruhr District.

Berlin is located in the eastern part of Germany, while the Ruhr District is located in the western part of Germany.

To reach the Ruhr District, one must take a train across half of Germany. Fortunately, the journey primarily traverses the vast Bod Plain before entering the Sudeten Mountains.

Although mountainous, they are incomparable to Spain’s Meseta Plateau and Central Mountain Range, amongst other large mountainous regions. Accustomed to Spain’s high mountain terrain, Germany’s small mountains hardly astonish Carlo.

Throughout the journey, Carlo mainly appreciated the scenery along the way, while the accompanying officials appeared rather busy.

They were both observing the development of Germany’s inland areas and recording aspects worth emulating to implement upon returning to Spain.

Accompanying Carlo on this diplomatic visit were two Cabinet Ministers, namely Foreign Secretary Marquis Everton and Spanish Cabinet’s current Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, Canovas.

Marquis Everton’s main purpose for accompanying was to communicate with officials from the visited countries, perfecting certain diplomatic processes, etc.

After all, these aspects are what the foreign department is proficient at; other departments only have a superficial grasp. In diplomatic visits between the two countries, certain diplomatic procedures and processes are quite crucial.

Carlo certainly hopes no mistakes occur during diplomatic visits, as minor ones can damage national prestige, while major ones can potentially disrupt relations between the two countries.

The reason Deputy Prime Minister Canovas accompanied Carlo naturally relates to his position as Minister of Industry.

The primary purpose of this visit to Austria-Hungary, Germany, and France is to obtain some industrial assistance and cooperation agreements from these three countries.

What Spain specifically needs industrially and what cooperation agreements need to be made with these countries are matters for Minister of Industry Canovas to decide.

All these reasons make Foreign Secretary Marquis Everton and Minister of Industry Canovas the busiest among the accompanying officials.

Unlike Carlo’s leisurely enjoyment of the landscape, the two of them were quite busy throughout the journey, sometimes even pulling many officials together for meetings.

The trains of this era are very slow, but the width of Germany’s territory is not overly exaggerated.

From Berlin to the Ruhr District, the straight-line distance is less than 500 kilometers. Given the common train speed of this era being between 25 and 30 kilometers per hour, the journey from Berlin to the Ruhr District takes about a day.

Since this train was designated a special train by the German Government, the actual travel time was even less. The special train had quite spacious rooms and soft beds, so Carlo and the Spanish officials were not overly fatigued.

Upon arriving in the Ruhr District, led by German Government officials and Crown Prince Friedrich, Carlo and the Spanish officials began their expansive tour.

The Ruhr District is not a single city but rather a large industrial area composed of many cities.

Within the Ruhr District’s range, there are more than 50 towns of varying sizes, including medium and large cities like Dortmund, Essen, and Duisburg.

Because they arrived by train, Carlo and his party directly reached Dortmund, located in the central part of the Ruhr District. Here is also the transportation hub of the Ruhr District.