Empire Rising: Spain

Besides reaching an agreement with France on construction cooperation, Carlo also plans to recruit some highly educated talents from France to address Spain’s high-end talent shortage.

Of course, Spain’s pursuit of talent won’t be limited to France but will extend throughout all of Europe.

Particularly in the well-educated German Region, Spain’s level of attention is the highest. For these capable scientists, Spain’s talent acquisition policy has always been quite lenient, and the rewards for scientists are quite substantial.

If those talented students are unable to afford schooling but are willing to come to Spain and obtain Spanish citizenship, the Spanish Government can offer these students part of the scholarship, and even full scholarships and some living subsidies to those with stronger talent.

This talent acquisition policy has been in operation for several years, and as a result, Spain has secured a considerable amount of talent. Although the financial expenditure is substantial, compared to the talent acquired, the spending is negligible.

Currently, Spain has attracted over 2,000 talents from Europe, nearly 500 of whom were unable to afford university and ultimately chose to join Spanish nationality.

These individuals were all identified by Spain as outstanding students with certain talents in physics and chemistry. Their inability to attend university was due to poor family conditions, not a lack of academic ability.

For these individuals, Carlo naturally helps wherever possible. Funding their university education doesn’t cost much, but their contribution to Spain in the future is definitely worth more than just the scholarship.

Even if over half of these students eventually only achieve the level of an ordinary university graduate, Carlo’s investment would not be in vain.

After all, college graduates were already a minority in this era, and immigrants with a university degree have always been within Spain’s scope of immigration absorption. Although the input is slightly higher, these individuals are bound to appreciate Spain more than ordinary immigrants.

To ensure Spain attracts as many top-notch talents as possible, Carlo went so far as to think through the famous scientists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, writing down all the names he could think of and handing them to Kadir, the director of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau.

Unfortunately, because the current era is still early, some of the highly renowned scientists of later generations have neither been born nor are too young.

For example, the well-known Einstein, who was only born in 1879, is certainly not traceable at the moment.

The good news is that some who were originally too young have grown up over time, among them one of the talents Carlo values highly, the famous genius scientist Nikola Tesla.

Back when Spain’s talent recruitment plan first launched, Nikola Tesla’s name was already on the list Carlo gave to Kadir, the director of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau.

However, unfortunately, Tesla was just a teenager at that time, and Carlo did not want his interference to disrupt Tesla’s growth journey.

It was precisely because of this that Tesla was able to complete his high school education as he did in history and enrolled in Austria’s Graz University of Technology in 1875 to study physics, mathematics, and mechanics.

In 1876, due to the abolition of the Austrian Military Frontier, Tesla lost his scholarship and almost dropped out as a result.

At such a critical time, the intelligence personnel of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau found Tesla and proposed a plan to fund Tesla to continue his university studies.

Of course, such funding wasn’t free.

The intelligence personnel disclosed their identity as Spaniards and stated that the scholarship was provided by His Majesty King Carlo of Spain.

In return, Tesla would join Spanish nationality after graduating from university and work for Spain. Naturally, Tesla would be valued in Spain; he could continue his studies at universities in Spain or serve as a fellow at the Royal Academy of Sciences, working in some important project research groups.

At this time, Nikola Tesla was just 20 years old, and he was astonished and incredulous at what the Spanish intelligence personnel said.

Of course, he felt no dissatisfaction, but was rather grateful. Without the scholarship provided by Carlo, he would be forced to drop out and could only audit classes if he wanted to continue learning.

Sitting in a classroom and listening versus auditing outside naturally results in two different outcomes. Tesla desperately needed the scholarship, so he agreed to the intelligence personnel’s request without hesitation.

Tesla was born in a Serbian family in Austria; his family was poor from a young age and faced discrimination in Austria.

This made Tesla not particularly recognize Austria, and he showed no opposition, even anticipation, towards the proposal of joining Spanish nationality.

Spain’s development over the past decade is evident to all, letting many Europeans know of Spain’s revival through the dissemination by Spain’s numerous newspapers.

Tesla was naturally among them; he was very interested in the Royal Academy of Sciences founded by Spain, and naturally anticipated becoming one of its fellows.