Empire Rising: Spain

The continuous development of Spain’s industry and successive development plans have led to the expansion and recruitment of factories and enterprises across the country.

Otherwise, the arrival of these Italian immigrants would definitely disrupt the calm surface of the Spanish landscape and spark conflicts between the Italian immigrants and local Spaniards.

Judging by the scale of talent introduction by Spanish enterprises and factories, Spain still holds great attraction from abroad.

Just last year, the enterprises and factories of the Royal Family introduced over a thousand foreign talents, with nearly 50 scientists joining the Royal Academy of Sciences and other laboratories.

At this pace, before Spanish universities are able to cultivate enough talent for Spain, they can obtain tens of thousands of talents solely by introducing foreign talents.

Of course, introducing foreign talents is only one way to fill the talent gap; cultivating talent on our own is the most fundamental solution.

Even if Spain can attract a large number of talents every year, it will absolutely not give up on building universities to cultivate talent independently.

It is worth mentioning that according to the cooperation agreement between Spain and the Lanfang Republic, the Lanfang Republic will send at least 50 students to study at various universities in Spain this September.

Their tuition will be provided by the Lanfang Republic, and their living expenses will also be covered by the Lanfang side. Spain will only dispatch transport ships to assist them in reaching Spain and will allocate universities for them according to their interested fields.

These university students are merely the first step; there will be students trained from a young age in the future.

The primary goal is to help the Lanfang Republic better master some industrial knowledge and technology. The second is to brainwash a group of intellectuals who have a great fondness for Spain and even a blind admiration for this advanced country through the method of cultivating students.

These intellectuals will influence the decision-making of the Lanfang Republic and even rely on them to control the Lanfang Republic.

In the next decade or even decades, these students might climb to high positions in the Lanfang Republic, becoming high officials of the country or high-ranking officers in the military.

Their influence on the government of the Lanfang Republic will also increase. As long as their admiration and fondness for Spain persist, the whole Lanfang Republic will naturally side with Spain.

Thanks to the continuous influx of immigrants and population, Spain’s capital, Madrid, is hopeful of becoming the first city in Spain to surpass a population of 500,000 within this year.

Meanwhile, Spain’s second-largest city, Barcelona, already exceeded a population of 400,000 at the beginning of this year, becoming the second city in Spain to surpass 400,000 people.

The rapid population growth in Madrid and Barcelona also reflects Spain’s rapid development in recent years. The combined population of these two cities already exceeds 900,000, more than one-twentieth of Spain’s total population.

This is not like the United States, a nation of immigrants. The characteristic of an immigrant country is that the population of large cities far exceeds that of small cities, and even the population of a few large cities combined exceeds the total of all small cities.

As a historically traditional European country, Spain’s population naturally cannot be entirely concentrated in large cities like Madrid and Barcelona.

The fact that these two cities alone can account for one-twentieth of the country’s total population also proves the prosperity of Barcelona and Madrid and the issue of other Spanish cities being relatively small in scale.

Besides the two presentable cities, Madrid and Barcelona, other cities such as Seville, Valencia, and Zaragoza only have populations of 100,000 or even less.

Returning from the Electricity Laboratory, Carlo was in quite a pleasant mood, as, so far, the development across various industries in Spain has been very smooth.

With immense investment from the Royal Family and the government, Spain’s heavy industry is also set to experience significant growth. Moreover, the electricity sector has made remarkable progress, and perhaps one day in the future, Spain’s electrification process will make a large leap forward.

Feeling relaxed, Carlo also had the energy to focus on the development of other sectors, such as culture and entertainment.

Since Carlo was crowned King of Spain, Spain has continued to use the flag established since the founding of the Kingdom, which is a two-toned flag with red on top and bottom and a wider yellow stripe in the middle.

On the left side of the widened yellow stripe is a vertically oval emblem topped with a crown. The emblem is divided into two parts: the castle on the left represents the Kingdom of Castile, and the lion on the right represents the Kingdom of Leon.

In fact, there are no issues with such a flag, as Castile and Leon are important components of the Kingdom of Spain.

However, for Carlo, using a flag similar to that of the Bourbon Dynasty era inevitably leads to confusion.

The reason there was no change to the Spanish flag during the rule of Amadeo in history is primarily that the political situation in Spain was chaotic, and secondly, Amadeo only ruled for three years.

But for the present Carlo, designing a new flag is very necessary. A new flag must reflect the ruling status of the Savoy Family over Spain, strengthen the connection between various regions of Spain, and make as few changes as possible to the original flag to avoid causing too much discomfort among the Spanish people.

Considering various factors, the subsequent Spanish flag actually fits the requirements quite well. It remains a familiar two-toned horizontal striped flag, and the color scheme hasn’t changed.

The only difference is that the middle yellow stripe representing Spain’s coat of arms changes from a vertical oval shape to a shield shape, divided into six parts.

The central area can feature the Savoy Family’s crest, symbolizing the Savoy Family’s ruling status over Spain. Dividing the entire shield into four parts with the center point as the dividing line, the crests of the four long-established kingdoms of Castile, Leon, Aragon, and Navarre can be placed, as these four kingdoms are also the most important components of Spain.

The pointed tip below the shield can feature the flag of Granada, which was the last Muslim area annexed by Spain and is currently the most populous region in Spain.

Even the two Hercules Pillars on the sides of the shield have significant reference value, as they represent the two shores divided by the Gibraltar Strait.

Currently, Spain has territories on both shores of the Gibraltar Strait, making this flag design completely fitting for the present Spain.

Considering this, Carlo decided to gather people to make certain modifications to the Spanish flag, modifying it to create a flag that reflects the modern character of Spain and differentiates it to some extent from the former Kingdom of Spain.