Empire Rising: Spain

In addition, the automobile is indeed faster than the carriage and more comfortable to ride. This led to the automobile being quickly accepted by the nobles of Europe and rapidly replacing the carriage to become the most popular means of transportation.

Spain’s main automobile factory holds the markets of Spain, Portugal, and Russia, and due to being the original place of the automobile, it is far ahead in sales, vastly surpassing other automobile branches.

By the end of June 1882, Spain’s main automobile factory had sold over 5,000 cars, with total sales amounting to more than 60 million Pesseta, and a net profit of 15 million Pesseta.

If it weren’t for the production limitations, the number of cars sold would have been even greater.

This sales data also shows that the Royal Mercedes-Benz Company has officially become a cash cow for the Spanish Royal Family, with its rate of earning money not at all inferior to that of the Royal United Bank and the National Bank.

Through more than a decade of development, the Spanish Royal Bank currently only earns several tens of millions of Pesseta annually for the Royal Family.

This is still due to investing in a large number of enterprises. The income generated by the bank itself is not as much as the money earned by the Royal Mercedes-Benz Company, after all, Spain’s own financial market is also limited.

The limited financial market not only has the Royal United Bank, this giant, but also the National Bank, the entity second only to the Royal United Bank.

The two large official banks monopolize Spain’s banking industry, and other private banks can only pick up leftovers behind the two major official banks.

Of the 15 million Pesseta income earned by the Royal Mercedes-Benz Company, 5 million was reinvested into research and development in the automotive industry.

The remaining 10 million Pesseta was transferred to the Royal United Bank for investment.

As the global automobile ownership increases, the prices of rubber and oil will also continue to rise.

Before the cars were even launched, the Royal United Bank had already invested in the rubber and oil industries to seize the initiative and make a huge profit in these two industries.

Speaking of oil fields, this also reminded Carlo of the privilege acquired from swapping colonies with the United Kingdom, allowing colonialization of Oman.

As one of the Middle East countries, the land of Oman certainly also has oil fields.

However, the bad news is that if oil fields are discovered in the Oman Region, it is highly likely to attract the intense attention of the British. If the British discover large oil fields in the Middle East, it would be difficult for Spain to hold onto Oman.

For this reason, even though Spain has obtained U.K. permission to launch a colonial war against Oman, Carlo has no related plans.

Conquering Oman is quite necessary, but even if Oman is conquered, Carlo will not conduct large-scale oil exploration in Oman.

After all, the current oil price is not expensive, and oil demand is not very high. Spain can fully explore those small oil fields in existing colonies or import oil from other European countries, as it’s not a big expense.

Only when Spain possesses enough military strength to ensure it can hold Oman even under British intervention, will Carlo consider prospecting and extracting oil fields in Oman.

Before that, if there’s hope to expand land in the Middle East, Carlo will still take certain actions.

Before oil is discovered in the Middle East, before oil prices rise, this land, which is only a desert, actually has little value.

The entire Middle East Peninsula south of the Mesopotamian Plain has less economic value than even Cuba.

This is not an exaggeration. The entire land is desert, with virtually zero development value.

It is only due to the important geographical location of this land that the British took interest in it.

However, the British haven’t deeply penetrated the Middle East Peninsula; they primarily focused on developing the coasts of the peninsula, particularly the southern part of the peninsula and the coasts of the Persian Gulf.

The British choosing to colonize these two locations is also well understood.

The southern part of the Middle East Peninsula faces the African Continent across the sea and is also the outlet of the Red Sea.

By controlling both sides of the Red Sea’s outlet, the British can form a second line of defense. Even if European countries enter the Red Sea from the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, they will be blocked by the British at the Red Sea’s outlet.

The northern coast of the Persian Gulf is Persia, which is also a key area for the British to prevent the southward advance of Russia.

The reason the British chose to colonize these two areas is not for their economic value, but for their geographical and strategic importance.