Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 26: Royal Industry Expansion

While Spain's reform and construction were in full swing, Carlo was already deploying his own public opinion empire.

As early as in Italy, Carlo had asked Laurent to acquire Spanish newspapers, but they were kept on a very small scale.

Now that he has become the King of Spain, it is time to expand the newspaper company in Spain and establish a highly influential newspaper organization like Italy's El Sol.

The name of the Italian newspaper "Sun" was well-conceived. In addition, due to the previous publicity of the monarchy, the newspaper also gained a certain popularity in Spain. So it was natural for Carlo to directly copy the name of the newspaper.

In October 1869, the Spanish Sun was officially established in Madrid and became Carlo's first major industry in Spain.

The development potential around Madrid is not much worse than that of northern Italy. Carlo hopes that the new Spanish Sun will become a major newspaper with a daily circulation of 20,000 copies within two years.

In addition to the Spanish Sun, a newspaper used to build its reputation, Carlo also asked Laurent to quietly acquire more than a dozen small newspapers to expand the number of newspapers in his opinion empire.

These newspapers are also scattered across Spain and are able to influence more Spanish families.

In addition to the public opinion layout, Carlo also officially began the major expansion of royal assets.

If you want to realize your plans in a Spain that is facing internal and external troubles, sufficient funds are essential.

Although the newspaper could make a little money, it was just a drop in the bucket for the royal palace, which had huge expenses.

The Bourbon dynasty's former lands and most of its properties were confiscated by the government. Apart from taking over the Royal Palace of Madrid and some other castles and estates, Carlo did not get much of the valuable properties and lands.

At present, the income from Carlo's industries can only barely cover the expenses of the royal palace, and this is when Carlo has not formed a guard.

Whether it is for the formation of the Guards or for greater reform and expansion in the future, it is necessary to invest in more industries.

As the first step in expanding the royal assets, Carlo set his sights on the food and wine industries.

Needless to say, food is a necessary commodity required for humans to maintain a normal life. It is a consumable and basically has no problems with sales.

The status of wine in the West is self-evident. As an alcoholic beverage sought after by the upper class and indispensable to the lower class, wine has no worries about sales in Europe, and banquets among the nobility alone can consume a large amount of wine.

Later, Spain became the world's third largest wine producing region, and it is very suitable for the development of the wine industry. The wine produced by Carlo's winery is basically not worried about sales. After all, a king's private winery is naturally more impressive than those ordinary wineries.

In mid-October 1869, United Foods was officially founded in Madrid. Carlo acquired a flour mill in Madrid and planned to expand it into a food processing plant.

What should be produced?

Carlo actually already had a plan in mind, which was something similar to fast food in later generations.

But it’s not very complicated. It’s basically just two large slices of bread with a little meat paste and jam in the middle. It’s mainly good value for money.

In this regard, the food industry has opened up many new avenues. Carlo has many ways to reduce the cost of food while making it look full and tasty. As for the food safety issue that everyone talks about in later generations, there is no concern in this era.

Of course, as a king, Carlo couldn't ignore the safety of the lives of the Spanish. All products under United Foods could at least be guaranteed not to have fatal poisoning, and at most diarrhea would be caused by food quality.

A low-priced food containing both meat and vegetables, I believe it will be popular in Spain where income is not high.

Carlo can also take the opportunity of opening a food factory to set a benchmark for Spanish companies. When all Spanish workers envy the welfare system of employees in royal enterprises, it is time to promulgate the Spanish Labor Law.

Although labor laws will win the favor of workers, they are actually against the big capitalists and factory owners.

Without full certainty or a large number of workers' support, Carlo did not intend to push for the promulgation of the labor law in the early stages.

After all, those big capitalists were also supporters of the monarchy. If Carlo fought against those big capitalists before he had mastered his own power, it would be like digging his own grave.

The United Food Factory was quietly established. It would take some time before it was officially put into production, and Carlo did not intend to publicize his food factory before it received a good response.

Compared with food factories, Carlo has put more efforts in promoting his winery.

Thankfully, several of Queen Isabelle’s wineries have been well preserved and not distributed as land to farmers.

After all, what is truly valuable about a winery are the planted grape vines, and the value of the land is actually not as great as imagined.

Also because Carlo took the initiative to give up those lands, Primo finally decided to hand over the several wineries left by Queen Isabella to Carlo, at least to ensure that the royal family had some income.

This also greatly facilitated Carlo. After all, if you want to start a wine processing plant from scratch, it will not only take a lot of time, but also require a lot of capital investment.

It takes a long time just to cultivate your own grape vines, or to purchase ready-made grape seedlings, which also requires a lot of financial investment.

Now that he has several finished wineries and vineyards, Carlo only needs to revamp these wineries and establish his own private wine brand.

Carlo plans to split his wine business into two parts.

The first wine company is called Royal Winery. In the future, all wines sold will be labeled as royal supply and collection. It will focus on mid- to high-end wines, and its target audience will also be wealthy capitalists and aristocrats.

The second wine company’s name does not contain the word “Royal”. It is called Iberia Estate. The red wine it launches focuses on cost-effectiveness, and its target group is ordinary Spaniards who do not have much money.

This two-pronged strategy of targeting both the high-end and low-end markets ensures that Carlo’s wine industry can capture a share of the Spanish market at an extremely fast pace.

Relying on the Spanish market, Carlo can attack or defend, and can also take the opportunity to seize more European wine markets, thereby quickly realizing the wine industry's profit plan.

The wine industry has a stronger ability to make money than a newspaper. If we can capture a considerable portion of the Spanish market, we can ensure that when Carlo forms the Guards next time, he will not be unable to afford the equipment.

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(End of this chapter)