Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 180: Chapter 142: Encouraging Births, Three Major Research Projects (Part 4)

This will also affect the timing of Spain’s rise. Without the impact of the economic crisis, Spain hoped to complete the reform and achieve revitalization before 1880.

But with the impact of the economic crisis, the time to complete the reform and achieve revitalization may be delayed by more than ten years.

If so, Spain would certainly miss the best time to divide Africa. Even if Spain’s reform is completed and economic revitalization is achieved in the future, Africa would have been mostly divided by the great powers, leaving little area for Spain to govern.

Given that the economic crisis affecting Spain is not too severe, Carlo naturally does not need to worry too much but turns his attention to the development of Royal Family enterprises, including those talents previously absorbed from Europe and their research.

Currently, the Royal Family enterprises include not only the traditional steel and heavy industries, food industry, and financial industry, but also military industry, agriculture, mining, and machinery manufacturing.

Carlo is particularly interested in three research areas: the Maxim brothers’ research on machine guns and smokeless powder, the engine research by Benz, Daimler, and Maybach, and Graham’s electricity research.

Any success in these three research areas would have a profound impact on Spain. Should all three research areas be completed, Spain could greatly enhance its comprehensive national strength and achieve significant advancements in both civilian and military fields.

However, the difficulty level of these three research areas is very high, and achieving good results is extremely challenging.

For instance, in the popularization of electricity, a generator is just the foundation; research is also needed on power transmission and electricity-using equipment.

Currently, Graham is attempting to build a large thermal power plant to provide lighting for the most bustling streets of Madrid.

If it is confirmed that such electricity usage is feasible, the next step is to lay power lines in the Royal Palace and government buildings, ensuring their electrical lighting.

However, the popularization of electricity will take a long time, and it will be challenging for ordinary people to use electricity within the next decade.

The current power plants have limited output and cannot deliver electricity over long distances. This also means that to popularize the use of electricity across Spain, corresponding power plants must be built in every city.

Especially in large cities like Madrid, several power plants might not suffice. Until the issues of generator power and power transmission are resolved, large-scale popularization of electricity is unlikely.

The same applies to the engines developed by Benz. While it’s easy to invent engines, widely adopting engine-using machinery will be difficult in the coming years.

An engine can be mounted on a horse carriage to make a simple automobile, but the stability, speed, and safety of such a vehicle cannot be assured, so mass production for commercial purposes is out of the question.

Moreover, the current engines have low power, which might be less effective than using several horses.

Carlo is not in a rush for results in the research of electricity and engines. As long as there is certain progress within the next 10 years and considerable achievements within 20 years, Carlo would be quite satisfied.

The research that Carlo truly values and anticipates is the Maxim brothers’ development of machine guns and smokeless powder technology.

Smokeless powder was developed in 1884, twelve years later. Given Carlo’s substantial investment in the Maxim brothers, this timeline should be significantly reduced.

The invention of smokeless powder significantly advanced the development of rifles and machine guns. The Maxim machine gun might also be developed ahead of time, becoming one of the heavy firepower weapons equipped by the Spanish Army.

If machine guns can be equipped earlier than other countries, it might put other countries at a disadvantage in future wars.

Especially since Spain is certainly going to reclaim Gibraltar in the future, focusing on equipping the army is also necessary.