Chapter 272: Chapter 170: The Problem of Military Expansion (2)

Moreover, Spain’s development has gradually moved onto the right track. The most crucial task ahead is to seek stability, ensuring that Spain’s economy and industry progress steadily, which is what the government should prioritize.

Thinking of this, Carlo couldn’t help but be thankful for the corruption during Queen Isabella’s reign. It was precisely because the Spanish Government indulged in pleasure instead of focusing on development that it doesn’t carry too much debt.

Currently, the total debt of the Spanish Government is around 700 million Pesseta, which is still within the range that the Spanish Government can bear.

Moreover, the shortest debt repayment term is over ten years, and some are even as long as twenty years.

With relatively low debt pressure, Spain’s future development indeed looks promising. Even without relying on financial push, the growth rate of industrial and economic development in the coming years will also progress steadily.

Moreover, thanks to the economic crisis, Spain’s agriculture saw significant improvement in 1874.

After acquiring large amounts of land from the nobility and the Church, these lands were made available to farmers for cultivation in various ways.

Coupled with newly reclaimed land, Spain’s total arable land has reached a new high, with grain production continuously increasing.

Although there are no detailed statistics, it can be confirmed that Spain’s arable land area has exceeded 10 million hectares, with most of the 18 million Spaniards engaged in agricultural work on this land.

Yes, Spain’s population has already exceeded 18 million. Although this figure is merely a simple estimate by various regions regarding the birth and death situations, the actual situation should be more or less the same.

After the average annual income in Spain increased, the birth rate in the population is also constantly growing. After all, it’s only when the populace has spare money that they will consider more matters.

If they can’t even have enough to eat, few would consider issues like continuation of offspring.

Unfortunately, among the large number of babies born each year in Spain, some inevitably die prematurely.

This is unavoidable and something Carlo is powerless to change.

It boils down to how backward the medical technology of this era is, leading to a very high risk factor during childbirth.

Even if childbirth goes smoothly, caring for infants is a major issue. Various invisible diseases can threaten infant lives, which is why Spain’s infant survival rate has been consistently low.

This problem exists in other countries in Europe as well, including the European Royal Family.

To improve infant survival rates, one can only hope for progress in the subsequent medical environment and related medical devices and technology.

"Your Majesty, this year’s total budget is about 722 million Pesseta. Here is the financial budget report from various departments for your review." After reading the Spanish Government’s 1874 work report, Prime Minister Prim handed over a new financial budget report and introduced it to Carlo.

"722 million Pesseta?" Carlo asked curiously, looking towards Prime Minister Prim, "Reducing the budget by over 300 million Pesseta at once, will it affect this year’s construction plans of various departments?"

"According to the current situation, reducing the budget will have an impact, but the impact should not be significant." Prime Minister Prim explained: "Last year, our total fiscal expenditure exceeded 1 billion Pesseta primarily due to foreign action expenses reaching nearly 270 million Pesseta.

This is why even if this year’s budget is reduced by 300 million Pesseta, the impact on each department will not be very significant.

Additionally, our military expansion has concluded, and military spending can be appropriately reduced. That’s why this year’s budget is reduced by 300 million Pesseta compared to last year."

Upon hearing Prime Minister Prim’s explanation, Carlo nodded, realizing there was indeed no problem.

Certainly, last year’s budget overflow was largely because the Ministry of Industry spent a significant amount on purchasing foreign companies and industrial equipment.

As European countries gradually recover from the impacts of the economic crisis, and the procurement plans of the Ministry of Industry have been completed, there is naturally no need for extra spending.

After deducting last year’s 270 million Pesseta for foreign action, the Spanish Government’s total budget for the year amounts to only about 800 million Pesseta.

Although this year’s budget compared to last year has indeed decreased, the reduction is not much, totaling just a few tens of millions of Pesseta.

"Were there any issues during the military expansion?" Carlo expressed concern over the expansion of the Spanish Army.

This expansion was no small operation, as it increased the scale of Spain’s pre-existing army several times.

Upon completion of the expansion, Spain’s army ranks among the top eight in Europe, specifically second only to the UK, France, Germany, Russia, and Austria, boasting more than Italy’s regular army.

More importantly, the Spanish Army also possesses considerable combat effectiveness. During the era of the Sun Never Sets Empire, Spain was a world power with formidable land and naval forces.

Although the land and naval forces have declined, the Spanish Army lacks major flaws and can become an elite force with rigorous training.

Coupled with the newly supplied rifles and cannons after military reforms, Spain’s army might not match the powerhouses like France and Germany, famous for their land forces, but at least it is at the level of the United Kingdom and Austria, slightly stronger than Russia and Italy.

Italy, understandably, had poor performances in both World Wars. Although there are various reasons, the overall performance of the Italian army is certainly poor.

The Russian army has many complex reasons too, but the biggest reason remains the decay within Russia itself.

Being a despotic empire founded hundreds of years ago, Russia’s decay is very common. Corruption and deduction are prevalent domestically, and the army’s combat effectiveness is abysmal.

In both World Wars, the Russian army relied on overwhelming numbers, not combat effectiveness.

This resulted in Russia being one of the nations with the highest casualties in world wars, with soldier casualties alone reaching tens of millions.

Having the army’s combat power stronger than Italy and Russia isn’t saying much. Italy ranks at the tail among major powers, while Russia has extremely vast territories and dense populations.

Spain, at most, has a population of only 18 million, and in extreme situations can recruit millions for the army, but this would cause irreversible damage to the nation.

Compared to the UK, France, Germany, Russia, and Austria, each of these powers can recruit armies over a million, even several million.

Spain still has too many disadvantages compared to these nations, the largest gap being in population.

Only when the population increases to over 30 million will Spain be qualified to confront these countries. Otherwise, the population casualties alone would be enough for Spain to feel the pinch, marking the biggest gap between small to medium countries and major powers.

"The expansion of the army went very smoothly, with barely any troubles." Prime Minister Prim first delivered good news, before addressing the actual issues encountered during expansion: "

If there’s any issue, it should be the discrepancy between the planned number of artillery in the army and the actual number that can be equipped.

In our expectations, each infantry division has over 248 artillery pieces. However, after equipping 248 artillery pieces, we simply cannot meet the ammunition requirements for those guns.

This places immense pressure on frontline supplies and would slow down the infantry division’s advance.

After Defense Department discussions, the number of artillery equipped for each infantry division was reduced to 112, barely meeting the ammunition requirements for simultaneous firing."

Cannons are certainly good items, but that doesn’t mean the more artillery the army has, the stronger it becomes.

Artillery requires ammunition to showcase its power, and once war begins, the consumption of ammunition is astronomical.

Despite the current slow rate of fire for artillery, if each infantry division is equipped with over 200 pieces, just Spain’s six infantry divisions would possess over 1000 artillery pieces, nearly matching the number that Prussia and France had during the Franco-Prussian War.

Yet, Spain’s six infantry divisions have less than a hundred thousand troops. What does this mean? Spain equips several times more artillery pieces per division than Prussian and French armies, and the logistical pressure can be imagined.

After identifying this issue, the Defense Department promptly amended it by altering the original 248 artillery pieces per infantry division to 112, thus barely resolving the problem.