Rebirth of the Spanish Empire.

Chapter 24 On the Development of Spain
  When the news spread that the Kingdom of Spain was going to hold a military parade, it attracted widespread attention from all over the world.

The strength of the Royal Spanish Army is also spreading among countries around the world along with the spread of news about the military parade.

As the news of the strength of the Kingdom of Spain's Army became known to countries around the world, various countries also sent military representatives to the Kingdom of Spain to study.

The people of the Kingdom of Spain are all proud of this.

Because the Kingdom of Spain has been in decline for nearly half a century, and now their motherland has finally become strong, and is also widely sought after by countries around the world, they are extremely proud.

Alfonso is actually very happy to see the Kingdom of Spain's reputation spread far and wide.

Because in the dark age of the 19th century, when the jungle prevailed, you had to show it to others when you became strong.

Only in this way can we show others a strong image and avoid being bullied by powerful countries.

Only when others think you are strong will your international status be improved. Then they will not bully you easily, and other countries in the world will pay more attention to your opinions.

And while others think you are strong, you'd better be really strong and not just show up.

Because while other countries are afraid of you and respect you, they will also always want to catch up with you and defeat you. If your cover of weakness is exposed by them, your end will be even more tragic.

Take the Ottoman Empire, the sick man of West Asia, for example. Its appearance of weakness was exposed during the Crimean War.

As a result, Britain, France, and Russia set off a frenzy to carve up the Ottoman Empire, and the dependent countries of the Ottoman Empire also began to have independent ideas.

In the historical Russo-Japanese War in East Asia, the Russian Empire at that time was known as the "Steamroller of Europe", and the mighty gray army frightened the European countries.

Before the Russo-Japanese War broke out, countries around the world were generally optimistic about Russia and did not believe that Japan could win.

Because just in terms of territory and population area, the difference between the two is really huge.

At that time, almost all Russians believed that they could easily defeat the Japanese.

But they ignored one thing. Their naval power was extremely weak in the Far East, and Japan also had British help at this time.

Britain helped them build a large naval fleet, enough to suppress Russia's Pacific Fleet.

Russia's Pacific Fleet expedition to Japan has only 63 ships, and most of them are old warships. The Japanese navy has 83 advanced warships.

This was all built by the British for them. This even included four of the most advanced "Fukushima-class" battleships in Asia at the time.

The strength on paper has determined that the Japanese have a greater winning rate, but the Russians are still willing to believe that they can defeat the Japanese.

This also caused Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, which caused their international reputation to plummet. Although the Japanese at that time paid a high price for this war, they gained more from this war!
  So what did Japan gain from this war?

In the 19th century, when the white race was invincible, a group of backward Asians defeated the world's leading powers.

Although Russia has not used its real strength, it is enough to make them proud. Because they are the only country in the world where yellow people beat white people.

Since then, the confidence of the Japanese people has been unprecedentedly high, and Japan has truly won the status of a great power. (Although it is only the last one among the great powers)
  It seems that they just gained confidence and the status of a great power, but some people feel that it is not worth it at all?

But this kind of thing is invisible and intangible, but it allows the people of a country to concentrate their efforts on promoting the rapid development of the country.

That's why the Japanese fought against the Americans during World War II, and what supported their development to this point was that the Japanese won confidence and status as a great power in the Russo-Japanese War.

Although Russia's defeat seemed to have little impact on the surface, they only ceded half of Sakhalin Island, but the label of paper tiger remained on them.

Moreover, the failure of the Russo-Japanese War shook the domestic people's support for the tsarist government. That's why the February Revolution and the October Revolution came about.

Therefore, Alfonso understands that although the title of the world's number one army can bring huge benefits to the Kingdom of Spain, it will also bring more challenges to the Kingdom of Spain.

Of course, it is a good thing that other countries come to challenge. Without other countries desperately catching up behind the Kingdom of Spain, the army of the Kingdom of Spain will also stagnate, which is not a good thing for a country's army.

Only great pressure and challenges will allow the Royal Spanish Army to continue to innovate and develop and become stronger than before.

…………

And 1875 months have passed in 10. In these 10 months, the Kingdom of Spain is undergoing earth-shaking changes.

Alfonso traded military technologies such as machine guns, rifles, and artillery with the Germans to help the Kingdom of Spain build steel.

The entire country's steel industry has officially developed with the help of the Germans.

At this time, the steel produced by the major steel plants in the Kingdom of Spain can already be used in naval warships.

All the naval battleships of the Kingdom of Spain have been equipped with new steel, which has greatly enhanced the defensive power of the Spanish naval battleships.

Various shipyards in the Kingdom of Spain have also begun expansion and renovation on the original basis. After all, the Kingdom of Spain is a naval power, and the development of the shipbuilding industry can be said to be related to the development of the entire country's defense strength.

Although the aircraft carrier built by the King of Spain for Thailand in later generations was small, pitiful and weak. But this is also a serious aircraft carrier. The aircraft carriers built were small and weak, of course because Thailand did not have the money to build larger aircraft carriers.

The large arsenal industry across the country has also begun to officially operate, and the Royal Spanish Army can be equipped with new weapons in just two months, which also benefits from the rapid production of major arsenals across the country.

In various regions of the Kingdom of Spain, schools have been built one after another, and all school-age children in the Kingdom of Spain have officially begun to enroll in school. All of this is developing in a good direction.

Although education cannot see results in a short period of time, it is the foundation of a strong country.

The most representative product in the second industrial revolution is electricity. In this regard, although Alfonso wanted to develop, he was unable to do anything.

Because most of the electric power inventions during this period were mainly for civilian use, there were not many electric power inventions that really served large-scale production.

During this period of development of the Kingdom of Spain, the development of electricity was ranked behind heavy industry and machinery manufacturing.

Because heavy industry and machinery manufacturing are the strong foundation of a country at any time.

Delaying the development of the power industry is also Alfonso's helpless move.

Because although the Kingdom of Spain is undergoing large-scale industrialization, it has also brought many farmers into factories.

However, there is still little money in the hands of ordinary people, so the popularization of electricity applications in the Kingdom of Spain is destined to have no market.

Some people will say that the government can be allowed to invest, but because of the large number of new enterprises and investment in arms development.

Investments in these areas have already put the Kingdom of Spain's finances on the verge of a deficit, so the government now has little money to invest in the development of the power industry.

After all, the reality is there, which forces Alfonso to temporarily slow down the development of electricity.

In terms of machinery manufacturing, that is, the application of internal combustion engines, this is now the key industry that Alfonso is mainly concerned about and is preparing to develop.

The widespread use of internal combustion engines has officially promoted the large-scale development of the electric power industry. Therefore, the application of internal combustion engines is a key step in whether the Kingdom of Spain can keep up with the second industrial revolution.

In 1879, German Karl Benz was the first to invent the internal combustion engine. Since then, cars, airplanes, motorcycles and other means of transportation that we will be familiar with in later generations have officially appeared one after another.

Therefore, without the internal combustion engine, there would be no future inventions such as airplanes, tanks, and tractors, but these inventions are indispensable in future development trends.

From this perspective, Karl Benz, the inventor of the internal combustion engine, is particularly important to the current Kingdom of Spain.

In the current situation where industrial production and military combat technology have encountered bottlenecks, seeking new breakthroughs is obviously the best way.

So a few months ago, Alfonso had ordered people to invite those famous scientists and inventors of later generations, including Karl Benz.

Knowing who the talent is and where it is, not looking for them leaves them in the country where they belong.

This seemed to Alfonso like an enemy, and those who refused his invitation. Alfonso will also look for a suitable moment for him to have an accident.

Among the weapons and equipment used by the Spanish Army, these equipment were purchased by a large number of people. Three of the leading equipments have already received orders from people from other countries waving banknotes.

After excluding those countries that might be enemies of the Kingdom of Spain, Alfonso sold it with a wave of his hand.

Because these weapons and equipment will be manufactured by major powers in the next 10 years, it is better to sell them at high prices than to hide them in your hands.

Selling at such a high price can also exchange for a large amount of money, which greatly relieves financial pressure.

The Maxim machine guns and heavy artillery were sold at ten times the cost.

If other countries think the price is expensive, then if you don’t want to buy it, go find someone else to buy it instead of flying to me to buy it?
  But do other countries have it? No, so you can only buy it from me.

But huge profits in arms will only occur in the past few years, because after these few years, other countries will definitely develop more advanced weapons.

In this chaotic 19th century, in order to protect their own national security, other small countries in the world placed a large number of orders for the military factories of the Kingdom of Spain, which resulted in a continuous flow of orders from the military industry.

After high-performance weapons produced by the Kingdom of Spain entered the market, it indirectly caused a world-wide arms race.

Even the Germans and the French had to get involved in this arms race dominated by the Kingdom of Spain.

Even if I bought a weapon, I still couldn’t figure out the composition of the ammunition. Therefore, other countries have to continue to purchase ammunition, and the Kingdom of Spain can continue to suck blood for its own development.

After all, in the 19th century, an era when science and technology was underdeveloped and scientists were not taken seriously.

Alfonso could use knowledge and technology from later generations to quickly monopolize the talents of other countries, allowing the Kingdom of Spain to keep up with the Second Industrial Revolution.

In this way, the Kingdom of Spain can quickly become stronger, which has been Alfonso's goal all along.

…………

(End of this chapter)