Chapter 237: France and Spain cooperate again

It has to be admitted that since the Franco-Prussian War, the development of the Germans has been accelerated.

The unified German Empire has become the world's second largest industrial power, and the speed of industrial development has not been affected by the unification of the country.

In 1871, Germany's steel production was only 251,000 tons. But last year, Germany's annual steel production has exceeded 400,000 tons.

Although it has been surpassed by the United States, which is also developing rapidly, Germany's steel production is still ranked third in the world, far exceeding France's 300,000 tons.

It is worth mentioning that Spain's steel production has finally reached 201,000 tons after nearly ten years of hard work.

Although this does not seem much, it has exceeded the steel production of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia. Even if we look at the world, Spain's steel production can rank after Britain, the United States, Germany and France, and it is known as the world's fifth largest steel producer.

However, steel production can only represent the scale of heavy industry, not the industrial level of a country. Although Spain has surpassed the Austro-Hungarian Empire in steel production, there is still a certain gap between it and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in terms of total industrial scale and industrial level.

It can only be said that the former Spanish colonial empire was too glorious. Even though it has been weak for such a long time, it still has a certain foundation.

After several years of development, although Spain has not yet recovered its heyday, it is not much worse than the five major powers such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia in terms of industry.

The scale of Spain's industry has even surpassed that of Russia, but Carlo did not publicize it too much, which made the people and governments of European countries not know much about it.

In fact, Spain has been developing in the past few years of the economic crisis, and it is definitely the most powerful country in Europe except for the five major powers.

Under the leadership of German officials, Carlo and Spanish officials visited several important cities in the Ruhr area.

After completing the visit, Carlo met the controllers of famous German companies such as Krupp under the introduction of the German government.

In addition to being a famous arms company, Krupp is also a technologically advanced steel company.

At the London International Industrial and Art Fair in 1862, the Bessemer acid converter steelmaking process, which can easily smelt low-quality iron ore into high-quality steel, made its debut.

In the next six years, more than 70 Bessemer acid converters were put into use in Europe, most of which were built in Germany.

Krupp, led by Alfred Krupp, was not only the first steel company in Germany to adopt the Bessemer acid converter, but also became a famous high-quality steel production company in Germany.

The steel produced by the Bessemer acid converter was also called "Krupp Steel" in Germany. Krupp became famous for this and received strong support from the then King William I of Prussia and Prime Minister Bismarck.

Krupp, which received support from the government, quickly expanded its scale and began to delve into military industry and chemical industry.

The Krupp cannon produced with Krupp steel was the best reward for Alfred Krupp's trust in William I and Prime Minister Bismarck, and it was also the trump card that made Krupp prosperous.

The reason why Carlo wanted to meet Alfred Krupp was not only to introduce Krupp's artillery technology, but also to introduce Krupp's steelmaking technology.

Chemistry is needed for steelmaking, and the country with the largest reserve of chemical talents is definitely the British Empire. In fact, many famous steelmaking methods were invented by British scientists, but it was not necessarily the British government that reused these steelmaking methods.

Alfred Krupp's talent in steelmaking technology is unquestionable. He successively learned the Bessemer acid converter steelmaking method and the Thomas steelmaking method, which kept Krupp's steelmaking technology at the forefront of the world, which is also one of the reasons for the prosperity of Krupp.

The powerful German artillery technology is largely due to the advanced steelmaking method. The famous Krupp gun barrel is made of Krupp steel, and the durability of Krupp steel also creates a powerful and very stable Krupp gun.

Because Krupp is a private enterprise, this also increases the possibility of Spain obtaining steelmaking and artillery technology from Krupp.

On the premise that the German government does not object, Carlo is very confident that he can reach a cooperation with Krupp to increase Spain's total steel production through the steelmaking method mastered by Krupp.

As expected, when Carlo met the famous Alfred Krupp, the other party was very respectful and expressed his willingness to cooperate with the Spanish government.

Because the economic crisis has not yet completely ended, Krupp, as a steel company, has also been affected. More importantly, the military industry, another major source of income for Krupp, also lacks orders at this time, and the company's finances are still relatively tight.

Although Krupp is willing to cooperate with Spain, when Alfred Krupp heard that Carlo said the cooperation was to purchase Krupp's artillery technology and steelmaking technology, even Alfred Krupp was a little shocked and hesitant at this time.

Steelmaking technology and artillery technology are the foundation of Krupp's existence, not to mention the introduction of these two technologies at the same time.

But considering that it is still in the stage of economic crisis, and the fact that cooperation with Spain will basically not affect Krupp's business in Germany, Alfred Krupp himself is a little hesitant.

After all, although Krupp's steelmaking method is advanced, it was learned and improved from the British steelmaking method.

Krupp paid almost no R\u0026D costs. If Krupp himself disguised himself and entered the British factory to learn steelmaking technology, this might be the only cost for Krupp.

If these steelmaking technologies can be exchanged for enough funds to support the company through the economic crisis, it will not be too much of a loss for Krupp.

After thinking again and again, Alfred Krupp finally did not make up his mind. He could only apologize to Carlo and said that such a major matter still needed to be discussed with the company's internal management, and it would take some time to reply to Carlo.

Carlo had no objection. During the discussion stage within Krupp, Carlo visited some factories in the Ruhr Industrial Zone again, and asked Spanish officials to record the planning of the Ruhr area in Germany and the advantages of some factories.

Alfred Krupp did not let Carlo wait for long. Just the next day, he invited Carlo to visit Krupp again and had a long discussion on the cooperation to be reached between the two parties.

Of course, the subordinates brought by Carlo were in charge of the negotiations. Carlo's main task was to visit Krupp's steel plants and military factories to see what was so unique about the famous Krupp company.

In order to welcome Carlo's arrival, Krupp was well prepared. Perhaps it was also to show the company's capabilities so that it could get more funds and benefits when transferring technology.

Krupp directly prepared a room of more than 300 square meters to showcase its achievements. Carlo was shown models of the production process of pig iron and cast steel workshops, steel ingots, train axles and samples of Krupp cannons.

These products represent Krupp's most advanced steelmaking technology and artillery technology, and are also the advanced technologies that Carlo wanted to introduce to Spain.

Although these industrial products are not advanced compared to later industrial and military products, for Carlo, these are what Spain dreams of.

Carlo spent several hours wandering around a room of only 300 square meters, until both sides reached a certain compromise on the content of the cooperation, and then Carlo ended his tour.

After the Spanish officials and the management of the steel plant and military factory argued, the two sides finally reached a consensus on the cooperation.

Carlo's Royal Steel Plant invested 12 million pesetas to purchase a complete set of steelmaking equipment from Krupp, which is expected to achieve an annual output of 10,000 tons of crude steel and 40,000 tons of pig iron.

At the same time, Krupp sent at least 30 technical experts in steelmaking to Spain. These technical experts will stay in Spain for at least two years to help Spanish steel mills master Krupp's steelmaking technology.

Of course, all the expenses of these experts in Spain will be borne by the Spanish side, and Krupp will not pay a penny for this.

Regarding artillery technology, Krupp will not sell it directly. But Krupp can sell 500 artillery pieces to Spain in the form of normal trade, and allow Spanish military factories to dismantle these artillery pieces and learn Krupp artillery technology.

In order to get Krupp to agree to transfer steelmaking technology, Spain needs to pay an additional 20 million pesetas for study fees.

Adding up all the expenses, Spain needs to spend 32 million pesetas to purchase Krupp's steelmaking technology, and the artillery needs to be studied and imitated by itself.

Although it did not meet his expectations, such a result is acceptable to Carlo.

With Krupp's steelmaking technology, Spain's steel production can also be further increased. For a long time in the future, the steel production of European countries will usher in a blowout growth, and Europe and even the world will truly enter the industrial age.

Carlo does not expect Spain to keep up with the development speed of the three industrial powers of Britain, Germany and the United States, but he also hopes that Spain's industrial development can be second only to France, and even surpass France in some cases.

France's comprehensive strength is not bad, but compared with Britain and Germany, France does not pay so much attention to its own industrial development.

This also has to do with the impact of the Franco-Prussian War on France. Although France has a large population, most of the population in France are also farmers.

The small peasant economy hindered the development of French industry, making the overall French industry more dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises.

After the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, France faced large indemnities. These indemnities also restricted the development of French industry and made it difficult for these small and medium-sized enterprises in France to use new industrial technologies and equipment.

Under such circumstances, France's industrial development speed naturally lagged far behind countries such as Britain, Germany, and the United States. This led to the fact that private capital in France was unwilling to invest funds in domestic industrial development, but was more willing to invest funds in other countries to earn more profits through the faster development of other countries.

This created the glorious usury empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but also ruined the development of France.

It can also be seen from historical data that France's development has stagnated since the Franco-Prussian War.

In 1875, France's steel production reached 256,000 tons. In contrast, Britain's steel production at that time was only 719,000 tons, and Germany and the United States' steel production was less than 400,000 tons.

At this time, France's industry had not fallen behind Germany and the United States too much, and it was still a powerful industrial country.

But in the following years, France's industrial scale has not grown much.

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By 1880, the steel production of Britain and the United States exceeded one million tons, and Germany's steel production also had an exaggerated 624,000 tons.

France's steel production was only 389,000 tons, which was almost one-third of Britain and the United States, and two-thirds of Germany.

This was not the time when France was most backward. In 1885, Britain's steel production had reached 1.917 million tons, and the United States' steel production had reached 1.739 million tons.

Germany's development was not weak at all, and its steel production almost doubled compared to five years ago, reaching 1.202 million tons.

France's steel production was only 554,000 tons, which was two-thirds of Germany's a few years ago, but by 1885, it was even half of Germany's.

It was the poor performance of the French during this period that gave Carlo hope that Spain would surpass France in industry.

Last year, Spain's steel production was about 200,000 tons, while the French's steel production reached 300,000 tons. If the third phase of the Barcelona Industrial Base can be completed, Spain may really have the hope of surpassing France in steel production in the next few years.

Although steel production does not represent the overall industrial scale, it is closely related to the overall industrial scale. After all, only when the domestic industrial scale and demand are relatively large, will steel mills have enough orders to produce steel.

After signing a cooperation agreement with Krupp, Carlo's goal in the Ruhr area has been largely completed.

The steelmaking technology owned by other steel mills in the Ruhr area is either similar to that of Krupp or worse than that of Krupp, so Carlo does not need to make another trip.

Cooperation with Krupp has already met Carlo's needs in steelmaking technology and artillery technology. This visit to Germany is already a pleasant surprise for Carlo.

After the contract was signed, Carlo did not stay in Germany for too long.

After all, France, which is to be visited later, is the highlight, and the assistance obtained from the French is what Carlo really cares about.

France's gradual transformation into a usury empire has indeed affected France's own development, but it is a good thing for Spain.

Germany's private capital is not necessarily weaker than France, but these German capitals need to be invested in the country to help Germany's industry develop faster.

This also leads to the fact that although Germany has a strong industry, it does not have enough funds to help Spain develop.

France is different. France is completely selfless. They have sufficient funds to help Spain develop, which is why Carlo is more willing to reach a cooperation with France.

Don't worry about how the relationship between Spain and France will develop in the future. At this time, France is the most likely country in Europe to provide the most loans to Spain. This reason alone is enough.

Going to France Carlo did not choose to travel by train like Austria to Germany, but went all the way north from the Ruhr area, and then took a ship at the port to the French port.

The reason is naturally the competitive relationship between Germany and France. If you visit France by train from Germany openly, the Germans will not look good, and France will also doubt Carlo's intentions.

Because France has become a republic, there will naturally be no crown prince or king to receive him.

After arriving in Paris, Carlo was arranged by the French government to live in a manor in Paris.

Among the three countries visited this time, France may be the country with the best attitude towards Carlo, except for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The main reason for this is that France needs Spain to break through the German blockade.

In the conversation with the French government, Carlo mentioned that he wanted to obtain more interest-free and low-interest loans from France, and asked for more industrial and other assistance from France.

The French would naturally not refuse this, but they also put forward their own requirements. After all, the French are not fools and it is impossible to pay in vain.

Among all the conditions put forward by the French, the first one is to prohibit Spain from reaching any diplomatic and military agreements with Germany.

The purpose of doing so is to prevent Spain from joining the alliance formed by Germany to isolate France. Carlo also knows the purpose of the French, so he naturally nodded in agreement.

The second request of the French is to establish a closer trade relationship with Spain.

Carlo has no problem with this. After all, the huge food production of the French is a good choice for Spain to avoid the food crisis, and trade with France will not be a loss for Spain.

Of course, the protection of Spanish industry is also necessary. Spain has been less affected by the economic crisis, and the prices of domestic industrial products are still relatively high compared to those of European industrial products.

Due to the impact of the economic crisis, the prices of industrial products, especially steel products and mechanical processing products, in European countries have fallen to a low point. If these products are allowed to flood into the Spanish market, it will definitely have an impact on Spanish factories.

Under the premise that the quality of these industrial products is similar, people will definitely be willing to choose products with lower prices.

This also means that Spanish local factories either lower their prices or face the problem of a continuous decline in market share.

Carlo was unwilling to let the Spanish industry suffer a huge impact due to the impact of foreign industrial products. Therefore, in agreeing to the French proposal to deepen trade cooperation, he also specifically mentioned that Spain would not import French industrial products for the time being.

The French government did not intend to force Spain to import industrial products. After all, the purpose of their proposal to deepen trade cooperation was to influence the Spanish government at the economic level.

As long as Spain further deepens cooperation, coupled with the influx of French funds into Spain, French capital is destined to have a certain voice.

This can also ensure that Spain is closer to France. This is the real purpose of the French, and it is also a means carefully considered by the French government to ensure that Spain will not turn to Germany.

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