novelbin Chapter 229: Royal Matador Medal
Chapter 229: Royal Matador Medal
Spain, as a collaborator of both sides in the Russo-Turkish War, naturally received the news as soon as the war situation changed.
Although Carlo knew that the final outcome of the Russo-Turkish War was a victory for the Russians, he didn’t expect the Russians to rapidly gain a huge advantage in the early stages when the war was stalemated.
Fortunately, Spain had already signed arms trade treaties with Russia and the Ottoman Empire, so even if the war ended at this point, Spain had already earned a large amount of funds.
Since the arms trade between Spain and Russia began, Spain has introduced 30,000 Russian immigrants from Russia. Half of these 30,000 Russian immigrants stayed on the Spanish Mainland and were assigned to the Catalonia and Andalusian regions, while the rest were all transported to various colonies.
Among them, the Congo Territory has received more than 3,000 Russian immigrants, which has also brought the resident population of the Congo Territory to over 5,000 people.
Of course, this is under the premise of only counting the European population. If including the local indigenous people, the population of the Congo Territory is definitely an exaggerated number, at least at the millions level.
Although Spain’s development strategy in the Congo Territory is not particularly harsh, since Spain established the Congo Territory, the number of local indigenous people has decreased by more than 100,
Most of these indigenous people died on the roads during Spain’s railway construction, while others died in the plantations.
A decrease of 100,000 people is nothing to Spain, after all, the African Continent has countless indigenous people. The sacrifice of these 100,000 people is also worthwhile; currently, the development of the Congo Territory is quite rapid, with plantations being established one after another on the highlands upstream of the Congo River, and the railways are basically fully operational.
Just as Carlo was regretting the inability to obtain a large amount of labor from Russia, the diplomatic department received a request from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Foreign Secretary Marquis of Everton urgently found Carlo and reported this news to him.
“The Austro-Hungarian Empire requests our diplomatic support?” Carlo expressed his agreement without much hesitation, smiling as he said: “Tell the Austrians that this is our obligation and responsibility as allies.
But don’t forget to remind them that Spain is a weakened country, with the economic crisis causing chaos in our industry and economy; Spain is unable to participate in the war on the Balkan Peninsula.”
Carlo’s attitude was clear: diplomatic support for the Austro-Hungarian Empire was fine, but joining the war was absolutely not.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was, after all, the thickest thigh Spain could currently hold onto, and diplomatic support was simple.
But war was out of the question; if a war really broke out between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia, the battlefield was something Spain could not influence at all.
Wars between countries of this level involve armies of millions at every turn; what could Spain’s 150,000 troops do? At most, they could only participate in one campaign, and any slight losses would hurt Spain deeply—joining the war would be completely not worth the cost.
“The Russians have won, and now the Austrians are getting anxious.” Carlo thought for a moment and said: “But this doesn’t seem like Franz Joseph I’s style, unless the Austro-Hungarian Empire has other dependencies.
Your Ministry of Foreign Affairs should closely monitor the recent movements between the British and Austro-Hungarian diplomatic departments to see if the British have joined forces with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.” Carlo instructed: “
If Britain stands with the Austro-Hungarian Empire for the safety of Constantinople, then there will be a good show on the Balkan Peninsula.
But for us, this is not a bad thing; if the situation on the Balkan Peninsula becomes even more chaotic, it will be harder for us to attract attention from other great powers.”
Foreign Secretary Marquis of Everton nodded, indicating that he understood.
As Carlo had predicted, not only did the Austro-Hungarian Empire intend to stop the Russian offensive, but the British had the same idea.
Just the next day, surprising news came from the Russo-Turkish War: a small-scale British Royal Fleet had appeared in the Sea of Marmara.
Although this detachment was not the main force of the Royal Fleet, it still demonstrated the attitude of the British Government: for the safety of Constantinople, they were willing to go to war with the Russian Government.
At this point, more than 200,000 Russian troops had surrounded the Plovdiv Fortress, but after learning of the British Fleet’s appearance in the Sea of Marmara, the Russians ultimately slowed their offensive.
Seeing that they could not quickly occupy Constantinople, Russia planned to achieve its strategic objectives through diplomatic means.
After all, the warring parties were Russia and the Ottoman Empire; Russia only needed to sign a treaty with the Ottoman Empire to still end the war.
This was bad news for Spain, because after the Russian army slowed its offensive, the consumption of weapons and ammunition on the frontline also decreased significantly.
It was no longer possible for Spain to obtain large amounts of gold and mineral resources through arms trade, as the warring parties no longer intended to expand the scale of the battlefield.
With the situation on the Balkan Peninsula not getting chaotic, Carlo turned his gaze back to Spain.
As time reached November 1877, the nationwide bullfighting event organized and held by Carlo finally came to an end.
This grand bullfighting attracted the attention of hundreds of millions of people across Spain and also promoted economic development in the regions and around Madrid.
Economic data from the regions was not yet so detailed, but during the second round of bullfighting competitions held in Madrid from August to October, the major bullfighting arenas in Madrid were almost fully packed every show.
Although there was no overall data for each industry sector, the fast food company founded by Carlo had its sales volume nearly doubled in these three months from August to October.
Ticket sales for the major bullfighting arenas were also a huge number. Taking Madrid’s largest Laertta Square as an example, because the second round of bullfighting was equivalent to the finals, ticket prices were much higher than the first round.
The first round was just the preliminaries from the regions, aimed at selecting excellent bullfighters from each region to come to Madrid for the second round finals.
The lowest ticket price for the second round bullfighting at Laertta Square was 35 peseta, and that was for those particularly remote seats.
Medium seats were already priced at over 65 peseta, and some seats with excellent viewing positions were as high as over 5 peseta, and still in short supply.
During the three months of finals from August to October, Laertta Square held at least three bullfighting competitions every week, and each one was sold out.
Just Laertta Square, which can only accommodate 3,500 spectators, sold over 150,000 tickets during the three months of bullfighting finals, with ticket profits approaching 100,000 peseta.
One Laertta Square was definitely not enough to meet the demand for the finals. In fact, during the three months of finals, more than ten bullfighting arenas around Madrid, each accommodating over 2,000 spectators, were put into use, bringing total ticket profits to hundreds of thousands of peseta in those three months, not to mention other profit projects at the major bullfighting arenas, such as cooperation with beverage companies and food companies.
Not only did Carlo’s fast food company double its sales volume thanks to the bullfighting, but Madrid’s Coca-Cola Company also increased its sales volume by more than double.
Especially in August and September, when Madrid’s climate was still quite hot. A glass of iced cola in the hot weather was extremely refreshing, and with the selling price of cola not being high, Coca-Cola nearly doubled its sales in these two months.
However, since entering October, cola’s sales have started to decline gradually. This is unavoidable; iced cola can retain the gas inside, but if you heat the cola, all the gas escapes, and the cola loses its soul.
Naturally, not many people drink iced cola in winter, which causes cola’s sales to drop lower and lower in winter, but it will reach new highs again in the summer of the following year.
Speaking of which, hosting such a bullfighting competition has brought great rewards.
According to statistics from each bullfighting arena, at least 3 million people across Spain watched the bullfighting competitions, which is already a quite massive number.
At least half of the Spanish people were following the bullfighting events, and some bullfighters with excellent performances also gained the love and acclaim of the public.
Each region took pride in producing an excellent bullfighter, and these bullfighters gathering in Madrid for the second round finals even further ignited the enthusiasm of the public from Spain’s regions to travel to and consume in Madrid.
It can be seen from the fast food and beverage companies under Carlo just how exaggerated the economic boost from such a nationwide bullfighting event was.
It’s just that this era doesn’t have something called GDP statistics; otherwise, Spain’s GDP growth this year would definitely reach a new high.
It is worth mentioning that, as the bullfighting hype fermented, in the final months’ second round finals, the Spanish bullfighting also attracted attention from many foreign tourists.
According to government statistics, at least 30,000 foreign tourists came to Madrid to watch Spain’s bullfighting competitions during the three months from August to October.
Among these 30,000 foreign tourists, over 10,000 were Portuguese, which was thanks to the railway connection between Portugal and Spain.
The rest were mostly Italians and French, after all, Italy and France are the closest European countries to Spain besides Portugal.
What pleased Carlo was that while the bullfighting attracted a large number of Spaniards, it also drew attention from many Portuguese.
Portuguese and Spaniards are very similar, whether in language or religious culture, the differences between the two are not too great.
Spain has bullfighting culture, and Portugal also has bullfighting culture.
However, compared to Spain where bullfighting culture is prevalent, Portugal’s bullfighting culture is not as popular, with bullfighting competitions held only 2 to 3 months out of the year.
Additionally, the Portuguese Government does not overly promote or push bullfighting competitions, leading to Portugal’s bullfighting culture remaining relatively obscure.
In contrast, the Spanish Government placed great emphasis on the nationwide bullfighting organized by Carlo.
The public opinion power controlled by the royal family and government was fully promoting this year’s bullfighting, allowing almost half of the Spanish people to learn about the bullfighting news.
Due to the close ties between Portugal and Spain, the Portuguese naturally learned of this news and were quite curious about Spain’s bullfighting competitions.
Although Carlo temporarily had no intention of annexing Portugal, for this fat meat right next door, it would be impossible to say he had no ambition.
Since bullfighting could attract Portuguese attention, Carlo would push even harder for bullfighting to become prevalent on the Iberian Peninsula.
Attract Portuguese tourists through bullfighting, strengthen economic and cultural exchanges between Portugal and Spain. After all, there are not too many language barriers between the two countries; Portuguese can even understand Spaniards without learning Spanish.
Gradually influence all Portuguese through strengthened economic and cultural exchanges, making them not reject Spain, which could expand the possibility of Portugal merging into Spain.
To say that the environment in Portugal is much worse than current Spain. If they could wait for Portugal’s chaotic period and have it merge into Spain through peaceful means, that would naturally be the best outcome.
Even if peaceful means couldn’t achieve Portugal’s merger into Spain, it could still influence some Portuguese, making them not reject joining Spain.
Under the influence of this public opinion, Spain’s expansion toward Portugal would become more legitimate and reasonable, and less likely to face rejection from Portuguese after the annexation of Portugal.
In fact, as early as mid-to-late October, the bullfighting competitions had basically ended. Through several rounds of quite intense competition, Spain’s most excellent bullfighter was finally selected.
Of course, besides the first-place bullfighter, the top ten bullfighters nationwide, and even the top ten from each region, would receive different shares of cash rewards.
But only the first-place bullfighter could receive the honor of being personally received by Carlo, and would also be awarded the title of Spanish Royal Matador.
The Spanish Royal Matador is awarded to only one person each year, making such a title quite valuable.
After all, one must win through round after round of bullfighting competitions among Spain’s numerous bullfighters to finally obtain the Royal Matador title; the difficulty is by no means low.
Bullfighting is not some entertainment activity, but a highly bloody and extremely dangerous challenge. Even the most excellent bullfighters dare not show the slightest contempt when facing fierce and robust bulls.
The bullfighting competitions achieved huge success, but there were also a large number of casualties during the bullfighting process.
According to statistics from the regions, this year’s Spanish bullfighting competitions had over a thousand bullfighters participating, but only over 100 went to Madrid for the second round competition.
The two full rounds of competition resulted in hundreds injured, including more than ten bullfighters who were directly gored with severe injuries and died on the spot during the bullfighting, and dozens more who died from severe wounds and infections.
As Spain’s bullfighting becomes increasingly prosperous, every year’s bullfighting competitions will result in over a hundred people dying from it.
This is a quite exaggerated number, also representing the high danger of bullfighting.
But compared to the profits brought by the bullfighting competitions, hundreds of casualties are acceptable to Spain.
Bullfighters take great risks to participate in bullfighting competitions, and once successful, they receive great rewards.
The top ten bullfighters from each region received checks starting at least at 300 peseta, and some economically stronger regions issued checks as high as 500 peseta, which is more than three times the annual income of an ordinary Spaniard.
The top ten in the second round bullfighting received at least 1,000 peseta checks, and the first place was as high as 2,600 peseta, twenty times the average annual income in Spain.
Besides these generous check rewards, what attracts bullfighters is the adoration and acclaim from all Spaniards.
Through half a year’s public opinion propaganda, the Spanish public greatly admires and praises the brave and fearless spirit of bullfighters, making bullfighters the most beloved heroes in Spain.
During the bullfighting period, several newspapers also issued brochures about the bullfighting competitions, vividly telling stories of various bullfighters, allowing more Spaniards to learn about and pay attention to the bullfighting competitions.
From the current effects, Carlo’s plan to cultivate the bold and combative traits in the Spanish character through bullfighting competitions has been quite successful.
Under the influence of this trait, the formation of Spain’s reserve force has also gone very smoothly. The public seems unafraid of death, at least not afraid of sacrificial death for the country.
Not to mention reserves; there are already members of parliament proposing to expand Spain’s army size, bringing Spain’s armed forces back to first-class European levels.
Unfortunately, such proposals were ultimately rejected, because current Spain does not need too many active troops, which would only create greater trouble for finance.
But no matter what, the braver and more fearless the Spaniards are, the stronger the combat effectiveness of the Spanish Army will be; this cannot be changed.
Carlo is even more eager to see the future performance of the Spanish Army in wars; if this trend continues, Spain’s army will evolve into an elite army with extremely strong combat effectiveness, and even in the future, it could clash with the German Army.
Of course, this is under the condition that Spain’s army numbers and weapons and equipment are all improved. If the army size is insufficient and weapons and equipment are still backward, let alone clashing with Germany, clashing with any great power would be enough to hurt Spain deeply.
In early November 1877, Carlo received the sole bullfighter who emerged victorious after multiple rounds of competition, Sebastian Sharp, and awarded him the medal and title of Royal Matador.
This Royal Matador medal has no practical use, just to prove the identity of the Royal Matador. But after all, it is the first bullfighter medal issued in the first bullfighting competition, so it still has some commemorative value and significance.
At least Sebastian Sharp himself was quite delighted and excited when receiving this medal, as it was personally awarded and pinned on him by Carlo.
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