Chapter 675 - 314: Inspection

Counting the Balearic Islands and Canary Islands, Spain has a total of 14 state-level administrative regions, which provided more foundation for the establishment of Barcelona Special City.

As everyone knows, the number 13 is a taboo in the Western world.

The earliest saying comes from the traditions of Christianity. According to the Bible, Jesus had dinner with 12 disciples before his crucifixion. The 13th attendee was Judas, who betrayed Jesus, and the date of this dinner is also considered by Christianity to be the 13th, closely associating the number with betrayal and suffering.

The famous painting "The Last Supper" by Da Vinci further propagated this biblical story, reinforcing the negative connotations of the number 13.

Although the influence of religion on European countries has gradually weakened, whether among the populace or the upper echelons of governments, people avoid the number 13 as much as possible.

The common practice is that tall buildings or public venues like theaters will skip numbers like the 13th floor or the 13th row.

When Europe holds banquets, they also avoid having 13 people dine at the same table; each table will either have 12 seats or 14 or more seats.

Even famous figures like Napoleon and Bismarck would refuse to start wars or sign government documents on the 13th day, showing how deep this taboo has taken root in Europe and even the Western world.

If Barcelona is not established as a Special City, then Spain would be left with only 13 state-level administrative divisions, clearly violating the taboo.

If you can avoid the number 13, you naturally should try to avoid it.

After establishing Barcelona as a Special City, Spain’s administrative divisions on the Iberian Peninsula became 12 (excluding the two islands), which is also a rather lucky number.

To dispel the Spaniards’ concerns about establishing Barcelona as a Special City, Carlo instructed the royal family’s newspaper to vigorously report news related to the number 13, encouraging the public to support the parliament’s decision.

In any era, the populace is blind. Under the intense media coverage by the newspapers, Spaniards quickly came to believe that only by establishing Barcelona as a Special City could the number 13 be avoided, thus bringing luck to the entire country.

As for those who still support leaving Barcelona within Catalonia, their ideas would bring disaster and misfortune to Spain, and they are the 13th person—the betrayers of Spain.

Indeed, due to the close connection with the biblical story, this kind of statement received widespread recognition among many Spaniards.

Except for a few Catalans who still had some opinions, other Spaniards had no objections to establishing Barcelona as a Special City, and even some applauded the idea.

Once the common people didn’t oppose, the process could proceed smoothly.

Those who continued opposing parliamentary decisions weren’t much different than Judas-like traitors.

With public support, Carlo had nothing to fear.

Spain’s security department acted swiftly, capturing a large number of dissenters every day and interrogating them, further unearthing more traitors.

Although Spain lacked population, not just anyone was needed. For those lacking a sense of belonging to the concept of Spain as a nation, Carlo had only one solution: exile.

Currently, Spain has many options, and these people’s destinations will be varied.

Some of the more intense dissenters would be exiled to the Philippines. If they wanted to cause trouble, let them join the local indigenous struggles there.

The remaining less radical individuals would be sent to several African colonies. If they behaved well in the future, they still had the chance to return to Spain.

Of course, those exiled to the Philippines shouldn’t expect to return. Carlo would never trust such extreme nationalists.

Spain only accepts citizens who identify with the country; for any acts of independence or secession on Spanish soil, Carlo’s stance is unequivocal: strike hard, leave none unpunished.

In just a month after the administrative reform plan was announced, Spain emigrated nearly ten thousand people in various ways.

There’s no doubt that these people had been confirmed to have no belonging to Spain and were seeking national autonomy or independence as radical reactionaries.

The majority of these individuals were sent to the West Africa Colony, Congo Territory, and Guinea, where they would replenish the population of African Colonies, engaging in the more strenuous developmental work there.

Around a third of the remaining people were more extreme opposition figures and were directly sent to the Philippines.

Notably, the places they were sent were not the bigger islands of the Philippines but several smaller islands where Spain’s control was weak.

The Philippine government would provide them with rifles and living supplies; their task was to survive locally and establish larger Spanish colonial strongholds, enhancing Spanish rule there.

Don’t underestimate these smaller islands; because Spaniards rarely set foot there, the local indigenous people were more feral with stronger attack power.

If they could survive and successfully manage the island, Carlo might consider letting them establish a state under Spanish control in the future.