Chapter 119 The Development of Military Factories

Although Prime Minister Primo and Archduke Serrano did not say it explicitly, their attitudes have actually shown their support for the Royal Arsenal.

The government is openly encouraging civilian arms companies to grow bigger and stronger, but in fact it also hopes that there will be a larger-scale military factory to support Spain.

No matter who the military factory belongs to, as long as it can develop more advanced weapons for Spain and continuously manufacture these weapons and provide them to the Spanish army, that's enough.

Spain does need a leading military enterprise. A large military factory can do more than dozens of small military factories. At present, Spain does need a very large-scale military factory to fill the facade.

This is the same for all countries. Just like the Krupp Arsenal of the German Empire and the future Skoda Arsenal of Austria.

Only such military giants can open up the arms market. If you expect small and medium-sized military factories to expand the arms trade, it is better to expect foreign weapons to be sold cheaper.

Currently in the military industry in Spain, only the scale and capital of the Royal Arsenal are qualified to become military giants.

After all, there are no too advanced weapons in this era, and rifles and cannons are the most commonly used light and heavy weapons.

There are many military enterprises in Spain, and there are hundreds of factories and private workshops of all sizes.

But most of them produce old hunting rifles, pistols, etc., which have no technical content, and even the quality of firearms cannot be guaranteed.

Even if there are military factories that can produce muzzle-loading guns and artillery, they are destined to be unable to compete with the Royal Military Factory in the research and development of breech-loading guns and the manufacture of more advanced cannons.

At present, the attitude of the Spanish government towards these military enterprises is to provide as much help as possible to other medium-sized military factories on the premise of focusing on supporting the Royal Military Factory.

It would be better if more flowers could be planted. But if these medium-sized military factories are not up to the task, they will eventually have to concentrate all their efforts to make the Royal Military Factory the leading military enterprise in Spain.

Of course, those small and medium-sized military enterprises will not be eliminated. After all, there is a market for hunting rifles and pistols. These weapons with relatively low profits and relatively few orders are naturally impossible for the Royal Military Factory to grab orders.

After receiving orders from the military and the Guards, the Royal Arsenal entered a relatively busy state.

Although it is only a company that has been established for a few years, the scale of the Royal Arsenal is the top among all military enterprises in Spain.

But compared with the larger military factories in Europe, the Royal Arsenal is still relatively small in scale.

The number of employees in the entire Royal Arsenal is less than 1,000, and there is no exact number for the output of weapons. But according to the current production capacity of the Royal Arsenal, basically at least 500 rifles, 10 artillery pieces, 75,000 rounds of bullets, and 1,200 rounds of shells can be produced every month.

Of course, this is the case of a little bit of everything. If you focus on the production of rifles and bullets, the monthly production capacity should be able to increase to 1,000 rifles and more than 150,000 bullets.

From this aspect, we can also see the current scale of the Royal Arsenal, which is too small for Spain.

Not to mention, if the Spanish army of 100,000 wants to be fully equipped with the latest Vitali M1872 rifles, it will take at least eight years for the Royal Arsenal to work overtime.

This also led to the Royal Arsenal's biggest task in the future being to expand its scale, increase the number of employees to at least 10,000, and increase the annual output of weapons to at least 50,000 rifles.

The Royal Arsenal's current production capacity cannot even meet the needs of Spain, let alone open up the Spanish arms trade market and trade arms with other countries to earn a steady stream of foreign exchange income.

The good news is that with the technical experts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in charge, the expansion of the Royal Arsenal will be much smoother. New employees entering the Royal Arsenal can master certain skills under the short-term training of these technical experts, and it is naturally no problem to invest in the production of weapons.

The large-scale expansion of the Royal Arsenal was not approved before, firstly because the breech-loading rifles developed had no clues, and even if the military factory expanded, it would not produce weapons.

Secondly, there was no confirmed order from the military. If the military factory expands to a sufficient scale, but there is no continuous order, wouldn't it be like eating up the mountain and wasting the royal family's funds in vain.

Now that there are a steady stream of orders, it can ensure that the Huang family military factory will not lack income in the next few years. As for the source of orders after this order is completed, we can also look to America across the Atlantic.

Europe's breech-loading rifles have just started, and Latin American countries naturally cannot master this technology. With the help of technical experts from Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Spain's breech-loading rifle technology can be regarded as the best in Europe.

Spain's large-scale equipment of standard long guns naturally has a certain market in Latin America.

American countries such as Argentina and Mexico were once Spanish colonies. Although they became independent from Spain, they also solved the only contradiction with the Spanish government.

In theory, Argentines and Mexicans have the same roots as Spanish people. Although this connection has been alienated by long-term colonization and intermarriage, these people are naturally closer to Spain than other countries.

As long as the weapons of the Royal Arsenal have no quality problems, it is still easy to get an order in these countries. Although it may not be a large-scale order, as long as it can support the Royal Arsenal, it is not a problem.

These countries in Latin America can at least make up orders for tens of thousands of rifles. Coupled with the expansion and consumption of the Spanish army and a small number of orders from other regions, the Royal Arsenal will not lack weapon orders in the next five years.

Besides, even if there is a lack of orders for rifles, artillery can be produced first. Moreover, bullets and shells are consumables, and there will be a steady stream of orders.

In the future, the Spanish army will pay more attention to the target shooting training of infantry and the training of artillery, and bullets and shells will be consumed continuously.

These orders combined can support a Royal Arsenal with a scale of more than 10,000 people. Even if it is in a loss state, as long as it is not too serious, it is acceptable to Carlo.

After all, there are still many wars that these European powers will face in the future. As long as Spain's weapons and equipment are not too backward, it can still grab an order.

There will be military actions to develop African colonies in the future. Carlo has nothing to worry about the development of the Royal Arsenal.

But then again, the expansion of military factories cannot be carried out blindly. The expansion of these factories is always linked together. Behind the expansion of a company is the simultaneous development of many industries.

Take the military factory as an example. The production of rifles and artillery requires a lot of steel. The first step is to expand the steel plant to meet the steel demand after the expansion of the military factory.

This is not over yet. A production line of rifles or artillery requires a lot of mechanical manufacturing equipment, which can also help the development of mechanical manufacturing plants.

The expansion of the Royal Arsenal can not only create tens of thousands of jobs on the surface, but also thousands or even tens of thousands of jobs that are not visible.

This has a huge impact on the development of the Spanish economy and is a good thing for the Spanish government and the people.

Apart from anything else, the taxes paid by a large factory with tens of thousands of people every year are a huge number. According to the current per capita income of about 97 pesetas in Spain, the annual salary to be paid to these workers exceeds one million pesetas.

After the workers receive this income, no matter which industry they consume, they can continue to drive the economic development of Spain.

The government can also obtain a steady stream of tax revenue in these consumption links, thus achieving a win-win situation for military factories, the people and the government.

Of course, the one who has benefited the most is probably Carlo's royal family.

The military factory is the industry of the royal family, and the salary paid to the workers by the military factory will also make the workers grateful to Carlo.

You know, the salary and various welfare policies provided to workers by the royal industry are basically the top level among all factories in Spain.

The ten-hour work system, monthly vacations, holiday overtime subsidies, etc. make the Spaniards very optimistic about joining the royal industry.

Logically speaking, Carlo is also a big capitalist at present. Even Carlo's capital far exceeds that of all capitalists in Spain, and his property is comparable to some of the top nobles in Spain.

If the original Bourbon royal family's land had not been taken away by the government, the royal family would probably be the richest family in Spain at this time.

But this is also a good thing. After the people learned that the original Bourbon royal family's land had been taken away by the government and distributed to the people in various ways, their favorability towards the royal family would naturally increase.

Knowing that he could not get these lands, Carlo naturally had to actively provide these lands to the government and advocate various policies so that the people could actually enjoy the benefits.

For example, a considerable part of these lands would be rented to the people at a low price. With the reduction of agricultural taxes, the income of these rented farmers would also increase significantly.

Although it was the government that actually rented the land, Carlo had the help of a large number of public opinion organizations, and the people would naturally be grateful to the royal family and Carlo.

It is impossible for the government to come out and claim that renting land has nothing to do with the royal family, so Carlo can enjoy a good reputation among the people without spending much money.

Although Carlo has not made any big moves, under the influence of such a long period of time, the Spanish people's recognition of Carlo is still relatively high. They have no rejection or prejudice against this foreigner who came from Italy to be the king.

Compared with many previous kings of Spain, even if Carlo is not ranked as excellent, he can at least get good results.

With the reforms of Prime Minister Primo and the development of the Spanish economy, Carlo's achievements will continue to improve.

At least so far, Carlo is not in a hurry. Now he has completely secured the throne, and no one can drive him off the throne.

The next thing to do is to exert influence in the government and the army step by step, and then wait for the opportunity to take over power.

After he completely takes over the power of the government and the army, Carlo will also set his own goals while maintaining the rapid development of the Spanish economy and industry.

The only goal is to make Spain stronger and become a European power again, to become a chess player in the world chess game, rather than a chess piece on the chessboard.

Whether Spain is strong or not, whether it can rise or not, there is only one sign, that is, the ownership of Gibraltar at its doorstep.

As long as Spain can retake Gibraltar, Spain has achieved its goal of becoming strong and re-entered the ranks of European powers.

But if Gibraltar at its doorstep is still in the hands of other countries, Spain has not completed the task of becoming strong, and there will be a distance from becoming a European power.

The reason why Gibraltar is regarded as the goal of Spain's rise is that Gibraltar is very important to Spain and the Spanish.

Later generations of Spain have never given up their claims to Gibraltar, but unfortunately the time for Spain to retake Gibraltar has long passed, and the ownership of Gibraltar has always been one of the topics that the Spanish are concerned about.

If Gibraltar can be retaken from the British, it will greatly enhance Carlo's reputation. It is not an exaggeration to say that as long as Carlo can take back Gibraltar from the British, he will become one of the greatest monarchs in the hearts of all Spaniards now, and even the word "one" can be removed.

This is a great improvement for the military and public morale of Spain, and it will also greatly increase the loyalty of all Spaniards to Carlo.

After retaking Gibraltar, even if Carlo directly declared that he would ascend the throne and become the emperor of the Spanish, no Spaniard would object.

The ability to inspire the people and infinitely improve the military morale alone is destined for Carlo to take Gibraltar.

What's more, Gibraltar's geographical location is also very important. It can control the Strait of Gibraltar and cut off the routes between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

However, it is precisely because of Gibraltar's extremely important geographical location that the British also attach great importance to Gibraltar.

If Spain wants to retake Gibraltar, it is destined to have a war with the British. The British are not fools. It is impossible for Spain to exchange any land for Gibraltar.

So in Carlo's heart, the British have never been Spain's allies, not now, and not in the future.

The only countries in Europe that are suitable to be Spain's allies are Germany and Austria-Hungary, and they are also countries that can actually help Spain regain Gibraltar.

As for Italy, basically don't think about it. First of all, Italy is unlikely to go to war with the British for Spain, and they don't have much conflict with the British.

Secondly, even if the Italian government is willing to go to war with Britain for Spain, Carlo doesn't dare to believe the performance of the Italian government in the war.

Although Carlo is also a member of the Italian royal family, it does not mean that the relationship between Spain and Italy will be so close.

Both countries are powerful countries on the Mediterranean coast, and there is competition between them. In Carlo's heart, Italy may not be as reliable as Austria-Hungary, and Carlo never expected Italy to help Spain.

4200 words second update, please support!

I forgot to ask for leave yesterday, I'm sorry, I wrote almost 1,500 more words today, just as compensation, thank you for your support.