Chapter 53: Fabricated Charges
Prime Minister Primó’s assassination also alerted Carlo that he must have an intelligence organization loyal to himself to gather news for him.
Whether monitoring Spain domestically, infiltrating the republican faction and opposition, or probing the movements and news of various foreign countries, all are very necessary.
To ensure the loyalty of the intelligence department to himself, Carlo decided to start cultivating intelligence officers from a young age.
In an era where life expectancy is not long, the number of orphans is still quite large, and Carlo’s goal is precisely these orphans in Spain.
Orphans’ childhood lives are generally quite miserable, and Carlo only needs to provide them with the living standards of ordinary people to make them grateful.
By the time these orphans grow into qualified intelligence agents, their loyalty to Carlo will also be higher than that of ordinary people.
However, the drawback is that it takes a very long time to cultivate them, with the time cost paid being at least ten years or more, and even more requiring ten to twenty years.
Fortunately, Carlo is not very old at this time and has plenty of time to wait for these orphans to grow into excellent intelligence agents.
However, considering that some intelligence personnel are also needed at present, while waiting for these orphans to grow up, a batch of relatively ordinary intelligence personnel can also be prioritized for cultivation to make do for now.
On Prime Minister Primó’s side, the major screening for the assassination has already begun. However, finding clues in the vast Madrid is very difficult, at least impossible in the short term.
However, are the clues really that important?
This assassination is actually an opportunity, allowing Carlo and Primó to have sufficient reason to settle accounts with the government’s opposition.
Assassinating the prime minister is absolutely a very serious crime. No matter whose head this crime is pinned on, a major purge can be easily launched against them.
Under the premise that the Carlist faction has already been executed, who else can oppose the increasingly stable Spanish Government?
On the second day after the assassination, Primó sought an audience with Carlo and proposed taking advantage of this assassination incident to wipe out the Church in one fell swoop.
Who the real mastermind behind the scenes is no longer important; what is currently important is to use this opportunity to settle accounts with the Church and take over the vast lands possessed by the Church.
It must be known that much of the Church’s land is tax-exempt, and the Church collects taxes on these lands, with the collected tax revenue going into the Church’s own pockets.
If these lands can be taken over, not only can it increase the government’s agricultural tax revenue, but the land can also be rented out to commoners at low prices, increasing per capita arable land area.
The reason for the low income of farmers in Spain, besides previously high agricultural taxes burdening them with harsh heavy taxes including the tithe, is also the continuous decrease in per capita arable land area.
Although Spain’s land area is no less inferior compared to great power countries, a considerable portion of the land is held in the hands of nobles and the Church.
Spain only has a population of over 16 million, so in theory, per capita arable land area should lead great power countries with less land and more people.
But in reality, Spain’s per capita arable land area ranks only at a medium level compared to European great power countries. Farmers do not have enough arable land for planting, so naturally there will not be high agricultural income.