Chapter 229 Royal Matador Medal

As a collaborator of both sides in the Russo-Turkish War, Spain naturally received the news when the war situation changed.

Although Carlo knew that the Russians won the final result of the Russo-Turkish War, he did not expect that the Russians would quickly gain a huge advantage in the early stage of the war.

Fortunately, Spain has signed an arms trade treaty with Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Even if the war ends at this time, Spain has already made a lot of money.

Since the arms trade between Spain and Russia, Spain has introduced 30,000 Russian immigrants from Russia. Half of these 30,000 Russian immigrants stayed in mainland Spain and were arranged in Catalonia and Andalusia, and the rest were all transported to various colonies.

Among them, the number of Russian immigrants obtained by the Congo Territory has exceeded 3,000, which also makes the resident population of the Congo Territory reach more than 5,000.

Of course, this is based on the premise that only the European population is calculated. If the local indigenous people are counted, the population of the Congo Territory is definitely an exaggerated number, at least in the millions.

Although Spain's development strategy in the Congo Territory was not that bad, the number of local indigenous people has decreased by more than 100,000 since Spain established the Congo Territory.

Most of the indigenous people died on the road to Spain's railway construction, and some died in plantations.

The reduction of 100,000 people is nothing to Spain, after all, there are countless indigenous people on the African continent. The sacrifice of these 100,000 people is also worth it. At present, the development of the Congo Territory is quite rapid. Plantations have been established on the plateau upstream of the Congo River, and the railway is basically fully open.

Just when Carlo was still regretting that he could not obtain a large number of laborers from Russia, the diplomatic department received a request from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Foreign Minister Marquis Everton found Carlo with an urgent look on his face and reported the news to Carlo.

"Austria-Hungary asks us to support them diplomatically?" Carlo expressed his agreement without much hesitation, and said with a smile: "Tell the Austrians that this is our obligation and responsibility as an ally.

But don't forget to remind them that Spain is a weak country. The economic crisis has caused chaos in our industry and economy. Spain is unable to participate in the war in the Balkans."

Carlo's attitude is very clear. It is okay to give diplomatic support to Austria-Hungary, but it is absolutely not okay to join the war.

After all, Austria-Hungary is the thickest thigh that Spain can hug at present, and diplomatic support is still simple.

But there is no need to think about war. If a war really breaks out between Austria-Hungary and Russia, the situation of the war is not something that Spain can control at all.

The army of a war in a country of this level will easily have millions of people. What can Spain's 150,000 troops do? At most, they can only participate in one of the battles. A slight loss will cause Spain to suffer serious injuries. Joining the war is completely not worth the loss.

"The Russians won, and the Austrians are getting anxious." Carlo thought for a while and said, "But this is not the style of Franz Joseph I, unless the Austro-Hungarian Empire has other things to rely on.

Your Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been paying close attention to the movements of the British and Austro-Hungarian Foreign Ministries recently to see if the British have come together with the Austro-Hungarian Empire." Carlo ordered: "

If Britain stands with the Austro-Hungarian Empire for the security of Constantinople, the situation in the Balkans will be interesting.

But this is not a bad thing for us. If the situation in the Balkans can be more chaotic, we will be less likely to attract the attention of other powerful countries."

Foreign Minister Marquis Everton nodded, indicating that he understood.

The facts are exactly as Carlo expected. Not only the Austro-Hungarian Empire intends to stop the Russian attack, but the British also have such an idea.

Only the next day, a surprising news came from the Russo-Turkish War. A small-scale British Royal Fleet has appeared in the Sea of ​​Marmara.

Although this squadron was not the main force of the Royal Fleet, it could also demonstrate the attitude of the British government, that is, for the safety of Constantinople, it would not hesitate to fight the Russian government.

At this time, more than 200,000 Russian troops had surrounded the Plovdiv Fortress, but after learning that the British fleet appeared in the Sea of ​​Marmara, the Russians finally slowed down their offensive.

Seeing that Constantinople could not be quickly occupied, Russia planned to achieve its strategic goals through diplomacy.

Anyway, the two sides of the war were Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Russia only needed to sign a contract with the Ottoman Empire to end the war.

This was bad news for Spain, because after the Russian army slowed down its offensive, the consumption of weapons and ammunition on the front line was greatly reduced.

It was impossible for Spain to obtain a large amount of gold and mineral resources through arms trade, after all, the two warring parties at this time had no intention of expanding the scale of the battlefield.

Seeing that the situation in the Balkan Peninsula could not be chaotic, Carlo turned his attention back to Spain.

As time came to November 1877, the national bullfighting event organized and held by Carlo finally ended.

This grand bullfighting event attracted the attention of millions of people across Spain and also promoted economic development in various regions and around Madrid.

The economic data of each region is not so detailed for the time being, but during the second round of bullfighting in Madrid from August to October, the major bullrings in Madrid were almost full.

Although there is no overall data for each industry, the fast food company founded by Carlo almost doubled its sales in the three months from August to October.

Ticket sales at major bullrings are also a huge number. Take the Plaza Lerta, the largest in Madrid, as an example. Because the second round of bullfighting is equivalent to the final, the ticket price is much more expensive than the first round of bullfighting.

The first round of competition is only the preliminary round of each region, and the purpose is to select the outstanding bullfighters from each region to come to Madrid for the second round of finals.

The minimum ticket price for the second round of bullfighting in Plaza Lerta is 0.35 pesetas, and this is for those particularly remote seats.

The ticket price for those medium seats is as high as 0.65 pesetas or more, and the ticket price for some seats with excellent viewing positions is as high as 1.5 pesetas or more, and there is even a state of supply exceeding demand.

During the three-month finals from August to October, at least three bullfights were held in Plaza Lerta every week, and every bullfight was packed.

Plaza Lerta, which can only accommodate 3,500 spectators, sold more than 150,000 tickets during the three-month bullfight finals, and the ticket revenue was close to 100,000 pesetas.

Plaza Lerta alone certainly cannot meet the needs of the finals. In fact, during the three-month finals, more than a dozen bullrings with a capacity of more than 2,000 spectators were opened around Madrid, and the total ticket revenue in these three months was as high as hundreds of thousands of pesetas, not to mention that the major bullrings will have other profitable projects, such as cooperation with beverage companies, food companies, etc.

In fact, it is not only Carlo's fast food company that doubled its sales by bullfighting activities, but Coca-Cola in Madrid has also more than doubled its sales.

Especially in August and September, the climate in Madrid is still relatively hot. A cup of iced cola in a hot climate is quite cool, and the price of cola is really not high, so Coca-Cola's sales have almost doubled in the past two months.

However, since October, the sales of cola have begun to decline gradually. There is no way to avoid it. Ice-cold cola can still retain the gas inside, but if the cola is heated, the gas will all escape, and the cola will lose its soul.

There are naturally not many people who drink iced cola in winter, which also leads to lower and lower sales of cola in winter, but it will reach a new high in the summer of the following year.

Speaking of which, holding such a bullfighting competition is still very rewarding.

According to statistics from various bullfighting arenas, the number of people who have watched bullfighting competitions in Spain is at least 3 million, which is already a very large number.

At least half of the Spaniards are paying attention to the bullfighting events, and some of the outstanding bullfighters have also won the love and praise of the people.

Each region is proud to have an excellent bullfighter. These bullfighters gathered in Madrid for the second round of the finals, which ignited the enthusiasm of people from various regions in Spain to travel and consume in Madrid.

From Carlo's fast food and beverage companies, we can also see how exaggerated the economic boost of such a grand bullfighting competition that has attracted national attention is.

That is, there is no so-called GDP statistics in this era, otherwise Spain's GDP growth this year will definitely reach a new high.

It is worth mentioning that as the popularity of bullfighting competitions ferments, in the second round of finals in the last few months, Spanish bullfighting competitions have also attracted the attention of many foreign tourists.

According to government statistics, at least 30,000 foreign tourists came to Madrid to watch Spanish bullfighting competitions in the three months from August to October.

More than 10,000 of these 30,000 foreign tourists are Portuguese, thanks to the railway connection between Portugal and Spain.

Most of the rest are Italians and French. After all, Italy and France are the European countries closest to Spain besides Portugal.

What makes Carlo more gratified is that while the bullfighting competitions have attracted a lot of attention from Spaniards, they have also attracted the attention of many Portuguese people.

Portuguese and Spanish are very similar. Whether it is language or religious culture, there is not much difference between the two.

Spain has a bullfighting culture, and Portugal also has a bullfighting culture.

However, compared with Spain, where bullfighting culture is prevalent, Portugal's bullfighting culture is not so popular, and bullfighting competitions are only held for 2 to 3 months a year.

In addition, the Portuguese government has not hyped and promoted bullfighting competitions too much, resulting in Portugal's bullfighting culture not being well-known.

On the contrary, the Spanish government attaches great importance to the national bullfighting competition held by Carlo.

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The public opinion forces controlled by the royal family and the government are promoting this year's bullfighting competition, which has also made almost most of the Spaniards know the news of the bullfighting competition.

Because of the close connection between Portugal and Spain, the Portuguese naturally also learned about this news and were quite curious about the Spanish bullfighting competition.

Although Carlo has no idea of ​​annexing Portugal for the time being, it is impossible to say that he has no ambition for Portugal, a fat piece of meat that is so close at hand.

Since bullfighting can attract the attention of Portuguese people, Carlo should promote the prevalence of bullfighting in the Iberian Peninsula more vigorously.

Attract Portuguese tourists through bullfighting and strengthen economic and cultural exchanges between Portugal and Spain. Anyway, there is no big language communication barrier between the two countries. Portuguese people can even understand what Spanish people say without learning Spanish.

By strengthening economic and cultural exchanges, all Portuguese people will be gradually influenced, so that Portuguese people will not reject Spain, which can also expand the possibility of Portugal joining Spain.

To say that the domestic environment in Portugal is much worse than that of Spain now. If Portugal can be incorporated into Spain in a peaceful way during the chaotic period of Portugal, it will naturally be the best outcome.

Even if Portugal cannot be incorporated into Spain through peaceful means, it can also influence some Portuguese people and make them not reject joining Spain.

Under the influence of these public opinions, Spain's expansion to Portugal can become more legal and reasonable, and it can also be less likely to be rejected by the Portuguese after annexing Portugal.

In fact, the bullfighting competition was basically over as early as mid-to-late October. After several rounds of fierce competition, the best bullfighters in Spain were finally selected.

Of course, in addition to the bullfighter who won the first place, the top ten bullfighters in the country, and even the top ten bullfighters in each region will receive different shares of financial rewards.

But only the bullfighter who won the first place can get the honor of being received by Carlo himself, and will also be awarded the title of Spanish Royal Bullfighter.

The Spanish Royal Bullfighter is only awarded to one person every year, and such a title is still quite valuable.

After all, it takes a lot of difficulty to win the title of Royal Bullfighter from a large number of bullfighters in Spain through rounds of bullfighting competitions.

Bullfighting is not an entertainment activity, but a very bloody and dangerous challenge. Even the best bullfighters dare not despise the mighty and strong bulls.

The bullfighting competition has achieved great success, but there are also a lot of casualties during the bullfighting competition.

According to statistics from various regions, there are a total of thousands of bullfighters participating in the bullfighting competition in Spain this year, but only more than 100 can go to Madrid to participate in the second round of competition.

The two rounds of competition resulted in hundreds of injuries, including more than a dozen bullfighters who were killed on the spot due to serious injuries caused by bullfighting, and dozens of people died due to serious injuries and wound infection.

With the increasing prosperity of bullfighting in Spain, hundreds of people will die in bullfighting every year.

This is a rather exaggerated number, which also represents the high risk of bullfighting.

But compared with the benefits brought by bullfighting, hundreds of casualties are acceptable to Spain.

Bullfighters take great risks to participate in bullfighting, and once they succeed, they will also receive great rewards.

The top ten bullfighters in each region receive checks starting at at least 300 pesetas, and some economically better regions issue checks as high as 500 pesetas, which is more than three times the annual income of ordinary Spaniards.

The top ten in the second round of bullfighting can also get checks of at least 1,000 pesetas, and the first place check is as high as 2,600 pesetas, which is 20 times the average annual income of the Spanish people.

In addition to the generous check reward, what attracts bullfighters is the love and praise from all Spaniards.

After more than half a year of propaganda, the Spanish people love and praise the brave and fearless spirit of bullfighters, and bullfighters are also the most popular heroes in Spain.

During the bullfighting competition, several newspapers also issued small picture books about bullfighting competitions, which vividly told stories about bullfighters, and made bullfighting competitions known and concerned by more Spaniards.

Judging from the current effect, Carlo's plan to establish the brave and aggressive attributes of the Spanish character through bullfighting competitions is quite successful.

Under the influence of this attribute, the formation of the reserve forces in Spain is also quite smooth. People do not seem to be afraid of death, at least they are not afraid of dying for the country.

Not to mention the reserve forces, some parliamentarians have proposed to expand the size of the Spanish army and let the Spanish armed forces return to the first-class level in Europe.

Unfortunately, such a proposal was eventually rejected, because Spain does not need too many active troops at present, which will only create greater trouble for the finances.

But no matter what, the braver and more fearless the Spaniards are, the stronger the Spanish army will be, and this will not change.

Carlo is more looking forward to the performance of the Spanish army in the future war. If it develops according to this trend, the Spanish army will evolve into an elite army with extremely strong combat effectiveness, and even in the future it will be able to clash with the German army.

Of course, this is under the condition that the number of Spanish troops and weapons and equipment are all improved. If the army is insufficient and the weapons and equipment are still backward, then let alone a clash with Germany, a clash with any powerful country will be enough to hurt Spain.

In early November 1877, Carlo met with Sebastian Sharp, the only bullfighter who won after many rounds of competition, and awarded him the medal and title of Royal Bullfighter.

This Royal Bullfighter medal is of little use, it is only to prove the identity of the Royal Bullfighter. However, it is the first Bullfighter medal issued in the first bullfighting competition, so it still has a certain commemorative value and significance.

At least Sebastian Sharp was very happy and excited when he received this medal, after all, it was awarded to him by Carlo himself and worn by him.

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