Empire Rise: Spain-Chapter 25: Italian Laborers

After hearing Prime Minister Primó explain the funding preparations for industrial construction, Carlo nodded and asked, “When do you plan to start industrial construction? What direction should we focus on for our initial construction goals?”
“I plan to establish a small industrial base in Seville in Andalusia and increase our steel output.
After increasing steel output, we will invest in railway construction, aiming to raise railway mileage to over 6,000 kilometers within the next five years, connecting various regions in the north, south, east, and west of Spain,” Prime Minister Primó replied.
Don’t underestimate just building railways; the boost to industry is enormous.
The steel rails needed for railways require steel mills to ramp up steel output around the clock, which can drive development in a series of related industries.
Spain possesses considerable coal mine and iron ore resources in Andalusia, which is quite convenient for industrial development.
Although most of Spain’s coal mines produce lower-quality coal, it’s still sufficient for initial industrial production.
After all, in this era, no country’s total steel production is very high; it’s nowhere near the exaggerated levels of tens of millions of tons in posterity.
Currently, the British Empire leads in industry, but even the British steel output is only around 300,000 tons, not yet at such an exaggerated scale.
However, Spain’s steel output is even lower. Because industrial construction was neglected during Queen Isabella’s rule, Spain’s annual steel output to date is only at the thousand-ton level—still a pitiful 2,000 tons.
Although part of this is due to Spain lacking excellent iron ore and coal reserves, for a second-rate European country with a population of over 16 million, such an industrial level is still too embarrassing.
“Once our steel mills are in large-scale production, we have hope of raising steel output to over 10,000 tons within the next five years. At the very least, our steel output must meet domestic industrial construction needs—a Spain without industry is incomplete,” Prime Minister Primó said.
Building 1,000 kilometers of railway in five years may seem slow, but for Spain with its pitifully low steel output, it’s not easy.
In the nearly 30 years from 1840 to 1869, Spain only built 5,000 kilometers of railway, a construction speed far behind countries like Britain, France, Germany, and the United States.
Spain has many mountainous areas domestically; to better strengthen connections between various regions, building railways is extremely necessary.
This not only strengthens the kingdom government’s control over various regions but also accelerates population mobility and economic exchange between regions.
“I approve your plan, Prime Minister Primó.” Hearing Prime Minister Primó’s complete explanation, Carlo nodded and approved Prime Minister Primó’s plan without the slightest hesitation.
Clearly, this industrial plan is extremely necessary for Spain. Although the investment isn’t huge, it is a good starting point for Spanish industrial development.
“Your Majesty, there is one matter that perhaps only you can handle.” After hearing Carlo approve the industrial plan, Prime Minister Primó first smiled and nodded, then quickly made another request to Carlo.
“Oh? What is it?” Carlo asked curiously.
“Whether establishing an industrial base or laying railways, we need a large amount of labor. But Your Majesty also knows that those black laborers we purchased from Africa are not very obedient; they are also an unstable factor in Spain.
Compared to these lowly black laborers, I think introducing white laborers from abroad is a more suitable choice. When I was in Italy before, I discovered that Italy has a large agricultural population choosing to immigrate overseas.
If possible, could we contact the Italian Government to introduce some Italian immigrants and laborers?
Doing so would not only solve our labor shortage problem but also accelerate our industrial construction. I think it’s very necessary to give it a try,” Prime Minister Primó said.
To carry out industrial base construction and railway laying, a large number of laborers must be prepared as workforce.
This is very difficult for Spain. Although Spain has a large agricultural population, these agricultural populations are scattered across Spain’s vast territory and all own their own land; they won’t cross half of Spain for such a small labor income.
But Italy’s farmers are different. They can hardly survive in Italy anymore, which is why they choose to immigrate overseas.
Since that’s the case, why not seize the opportunity to attract some Italian immigrants to Spain, while filling Spain’s labor shortage?
It must be known that most of Italy’s agricultural population is located in Southern Italy, which until recently was under the rule of the despotic Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
These farmers have endured long-term despotic monarchical rule, making them much easier to rule than those black laborers and republicans.
This is one of the reasons Prime Minister Primó targeted Italian laborers—reliable, hardworking laborers who don’t cause trouble are welcome everywhere.
Hearing Prime Minister Primó say this, Carlo was somewhat surprised.
Because introducing Italian laborers was already in Carlo’s plan, and it would also benefit Carlo’s rule.
After all, Carlo was born into the Italian Royal Family; these Italians coming to Spain definitely won’t oppose Carlo’s rule, and compared to native Spaniards, Italians will be even closer to Carlo.
For such a request that is entirely beneficial to himself, Carlo naturally won’t oppose it.
“For Spain’s development, of course I’m willing to do this,” Carlo said with a smile. “If the government is already prepared, then our industrial construction can start immediately.
I’ll handle the labor matter; I hope our industrial construction goes smoothly as expected.”
Prime Minister Primó nodded and said very respectfully, “As you command, Your Majesty.”
In the end, Carlo still had too few people at his disposal.
Right now, the only ones he could use were Giuseppe and Loren. Giuseppe needed to manage the Court Guard, so only Loren could go to Italy to negotiate the labor matter.
Fortunately, this wasn’t a big deal; Italy didn’t lack a few thousand or tens of thousands of laborers. Plus, with the good father-son relationship between Carlo and Vittorio Emanuele II, signing an agreement with Italy to introduce laborers was no problem.
Sure enough, Loren’s entire trip took only over ten days, and he brought back a《 labor introduction agreement》 for Carlo.
Carlo’s requirements weren’t high; being able to introduce a few thousand or tens of thousands of laborers from Italy each year in the early years would meet Spain’s development needs.
Once Spain’s construction achieves certain results and the public’s living standards and income continue to rise, it will naturally attract people from Europe who can’t survive in their hometowns to immigrate to Spain.
Second update, seeking support!