The Sun Never Sets In Spain

Catalonia has never been less independent in history, and its own constitution has been in a state of futility from time to time.

But regardless of the degree of autonomy, the administrative system is still in its own right.

Here I have to mention Spain's wonderful political system.

A normal country is a province-city-county, while Spain is an autonomous region-province-city.

The whole of Spain is divided into various autonomous regions, even the capital Madrid is an autonomous region, as well as the autonomous regions of Castile-León, Castile-La Man, and Galicia...Various autonomous regions.

Each autonomous region can have its own laws, police, and finances.

In addition to lack of military power, it can be said to be a variant of the feudal system of feudalism in a sense.

It is a bit like the United States, but unlike the United States, which is on the rise, Spain is in a state of continuous decline.

So this kind of system is simply innately prepared for independence and warlord melee.

As Spain is now in a state of de facto separatism, various regions have begun to form their own armies.

With the current degree of autonomy of Catalonia, it can be regarded as an independent country that belongs to Spain in name.

Its leadership is naturally quite mature.

On January 10, 1869, Alfonso met with some of them, and Adolf listened as the governor’s successor.

"His Royal Highness Alfonso, this is Army Admiral Garcia, and this is Minister of Finance Enrique." Campos introduced.

Both nodded and bowed slightly to pay tribute to Alfonso.

Alfonso responded with a smile, but with sharp-eyed eyes, he found that although the etiquette of the two opposing parties was very good, Enrique was a little unhappy.

He was not surprised at this. Campos' loyalty to the Bourbon royal family does not mean that his subordinates think so too.

According to the past experience of Bourbon in power, they have every reason to be suspicious of Alfonso.

"Enrique, you can tell your Royal Highness about last year's financial situation." Campos saw that there was a tendency to become silent among several people, and hurriedly raised a topic.

Enrique nodded, all these data were in his mind, he hadn't prepared any documents, and he opened his mouth:

“Last year, Catalonia’s total revenue was 238 million pesetas (approximately 9.1 million pounds), of which 180 million were taxes, 50 million were government-controlled factories, vineyards and olive lands, and the rest Most of them come from the berthing fees and entrepot trade fees of various ports.

At present, the government has a debt of about 70 million pesetas, and the expenditure is...

…We are gradually paying off our loans, but if we want to increase military spending, our debt ratio may increase further. "

Hearing Enrique's last words, Alfonso can be regarded as knowing why the other party resisted himself.

It turned out not to hate the Bourbon dynasty, but to worry that the fight for the Spanish throne would drag Catalonia into the quagmire of war.

Although he knew the reason, he couldn't express it because the other party's worries were completely grounded.

If you really want to fight, how can you not borrow money, even if the supermarket will continue to make money, Isabella still has 3 million pounds, but these alone obviously cannot support a full-scale civil war.

However, overall, Catalonia's economic situation is quite good. Per capita income is at the same level as that of Britain and France. There are no statistics on GDP, but the debt ratio should not exceed 20%. It is fully capable of participating in the Spanish throne.

"You just said that Catalonia is building a railway to France?" Alfonso thought of a key point.

"Yes, the rest of Spain actually has little contact with us.

Our wine, olive oil, almonds, etc. have to find a way to export, and we also need French wheat and meat. "

Enrique replied frankly, as to whether this was due to economic considerations or his selfishness as a Catalan, no one knew.

According to what he just described, the rest of Spain is not very keen on building railways.

Although Catalonia has a large plain that is rare in Spain and the beautiful Ebro river valley, it mainly grows some cash crops, and the food supply rate is not high. It is in urgent need of French crops.

Alfonso felt that there was something wrong with it, but now is not the time to say such things.

Army General Garcia spoke: "His Royal Highness, I will take you to the barracks near Barcelona. You can't tell anything about the army only by talking about it.

Adolf, you follow, it's time to go back to the army. "

Campos nodded in agreement. He also saw that Enrique was not happy, and he was going to disburse Alfonso and they would talk privately with his finance minister.

…

As soon as the three of them got in the carriage, Garcia spoke with a smile on his face: "His Royal Highness, we generally welcome you very much. You don't need to care too much about Enrique, in fact, he is not a bad person."

Alfonso nodded slightly, "I can see that he is not malicious, but his mood is a little depressed."

"Uncle Enrique is a Catalan, maybe because he thinks the number of his compatriots is too small, and he doesn't want them to bleed any more.

Strengthening ties with France should also be a subconscious action, he is not independent. "

Adolf defended Enrique, and he could see that the Minister of Finance was well-connected.

"Yeah." Alfonso didn't worry about Catalonia's investment in France. France dared to expand to Spain, and Britain dared to beat her with Prussia.

He is more concerned about another question: "Is it true that the self-sufficiency rate of food is not high? It shouldn't be, the Ebro River Delta is a large plain."

Adolf smiled bitterly: "The population is not enough. Farmers have entered the factory. We can only barely maintain the existing land without abandoning it. There is more land that can only be seen without development."

The landlords prefer to grow cash crops, vegetables and fruits, and the previous grains were shipped from Castile-León.

Now it is decoupled, but you can also use money to buy cheap wheat from neighboring France, and the government is not good at forcibly interfering. "

"Is this the trouble of happiness?" Alfonso was a little speechless. There are no industries or plains elsewhere in Spain, and the poor are about to eat soil.

Earlier, Enrique said that other regions were unwilling to connect to railways, which was also the prejudice of the rich. Other people are not stupid to know the benefits of railways.

It is too poor. Spain has many mountains, and there are large plains in Catalonia and Andalusia in the southwest.

He shook his head: "The self-sufficiency rate of food must be raised. Let's just make it clear. I intend to unify Spain.

You also know the situation of the popularization of France. It may start tomorrow. France will never win as easily as they claim. Food supply will definitely be affected.

No matter what method is used to unify Spain, there are a large number of famine people waiting for rescue, and we have to discuss the food matter in return. "