Chapter 26: Great Expansion of Royal Industries

While the reform and construction in Spain were in full swing, Carlo was already deploying his own public opinion empire.

As early as in Italy, Carlo had asked Loren to acquire Spanish newspapers, but they were kept at a very small scale.

Now that he has become the king of Spain, it is time to expand the newspapers in Spain and establish a highly influential newspaper organization like the Italian Sun.

The Italian Sun's name is still very well-intentioned. In addition, because of the previous publicity of the monarchy, the Sun has also gained a certain popularity in Spain, so Carlo naturally copied the name of the Sun directly.

In October 1869, the Spanish Sun was officially established in Madrid and became Carlo's first main industry in Spain.

The development potential near Madrid is not much worse than that of northern Italy. Carlo's expectation for the new Spanish Sun is that it will become a large newspaper with a daily sales of 20,000 copies within two years.

In addition to the Spanish Sun, a newspaper used to make a name for himself, Carlo also asked Loren to quietly acquire more than a dozen small newspapers to expand the number of newspapers in his public opinion empire.

These newspapers are also scattered all over Spain, which can have an impact on more Spanish families.

In addition to the layout of public opinion, Carlo also officially began the great expansion of royal assets.

In order to realize his own plan in Spain, which is plagued by internal and external troubles, sufficient funds are essential.

Although newspapers can also make a little money, it is just a drop in the bucket for the royal palace with very high expenses.

The land and most of the property of the Bourbon dynasty were confiscated by the government. In addition to taking over the Madrid Palace and some other castles and manors, Carlo did not get much of the valuable industries and land.

At present, the income from Carlo's industries can only barely maintain the expenses of the royal palace, and this is when Carlo has not formed a guard.

Whether it is for the formation of the guard or for the future reform and expansion, it is necessary to invest in more industries.

The first step in the expansion of royal assets, Carlo set his sights on the food and red wine industry.

Needless to say, food is a necessary material for humans to maintain normal life. It is a consumable product and basically has no worries about sales.

And the status of wine in the West is naturally needless to say. As an alcoholic beverage that is sought after by the upper class and indispensable to the lower class, wine has no worries about sales in Europe. Banquets between nobles alone can consume a large amount of wine.

In later generations, Spain is the third largest wine producing region in the world, and it is very suitable for the development of the wine industry. The wine produced by Carlo's winery basically has no worries about sales. After all, a king's private winery is naturally more stylish than those ordinary wineries.

In mid-October 1869, United Food was officially established in Madrid. Carlo acquired a flour mill in Madrid and planned to expand it into a food processing plant based on the flour mill.

What to produce?

Carlo actually had a plan in his mind, which was something similar to fast food in later generations.

But it would not be very complicated. It was almost two large slices of bread with a little meat paste and jam in the middle, and the main feature was a good quality and low price.

In this regard, food practitioners in later generations have opened up too many ways. Carlo has many ways to reduce the cost of food, while making the food look full and taste good.

As for the food safety issue that everyone talked about in later generations, there was no concern in this era.

Of course, as a king, Carlo could not ignore the safety of the lives of the Spanish. All products under the United Foods brand can at least guarantee that there will be no fatal poisoning, and at most diarrhea caused by food quality.

A low-priced food with meat and vegetables will be popular in Spain, where income is not high.

Carlo can also take the opportunity to set a benchmark for Spanish companies by opening a food factory. When all Spanish workers envy the welfare system of employees of royal enterprises, it is time for the Spanish Labor Law to be promulgated.

Although the labor law will gain the favor of workers, it will confront those big capitalists and factory owners.

If there is no full confidence or a large number of workers' support, Carlo does not intend to promote the promulgation of the labor law in the early stage.

After all, those big capitalists are also part of the support for the monarchy. Carlo is digging his own grave to fight against those big capitalists before he has mastered his own power.

The United Food Factory was quietly established. It will take some time before it is officially put into production, and Carlo does not intend to promote his food factory before it causes a good response.

Compared with the food factory, Carlo has promoted his winery more vigorously.

Fortunately, Queen Isabel's several wineries have been well preserved and not distributed to farmers as land.

After all, the real value of the winery is the planted grapevines, and the value of the land is not as great as imagined.

Because Carlo took the initiative to give up those lands, Primo finally decided to hand over the several wineries left by Queen Isabel to Carlo, at least to ensure that the royal family has a part of the income.

This also greatly facilitated Carlo. After all, if you want to start a wine processing plant from scratch, it will not only require a lot of time cost, but also a lot of capital investment.

It takes a long time to cultivate your own grape vines, or it also requires a lot of capital investment to buy finished grape saplings.

Now that there are several finished wineries and grape estates, Carlo only needs to change the appearance of these wineries and set up his own private wine brand.

For his own wine company, Carlo plans to split it into two parts.

The first wine company is called Royal Winery. In the future, the wines sold will be named as royal exclusive and treasured, focusing on mid-to-high-end wines, and the target population is also those wealthy capitalists and nobles.

The second wine company's name does not have the word Royal. It is called Iberia Manor. The red wine it launches is mainly cost-effective, and the target population is those ordinary Spaniards who don't have much money.

Through the two-pronged strategy of high-end and low-end markets, Carlo's wine industry can occupy the Spanish market share at a very fast speed.

Relying on the Spanish market, Carlo can attack and defend, and can also take the opportunity to seize more European wine markets, thereby quickly realizing the profit plan of the wine industry.

The wine industry is more profitable than newspapers. If we can seize a considerable portion of the Spanish market, we can ensure that when Carlo forms the Guards next time, he will not be unable to afford the equipment.

First update, please support!