Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 225: Coca-cola Company And Reserve Formation

To promote the reserve force plan, the attitudes of the Spaniards must also be considered.

After all, this is not a wartime period, and not all the public agrees to expanding the army’s numbers. Carlo does not want the public’s impression of him to become that of a warmonger; it is very necessary to first investigate and guide Spanish public opinion.

But soon, Carlo found that his plan was somewhat superfluous.

When the Spanish Sun Newspaper first suggested on the newspaper that Spain should emulate other European countries to establish a reserve force system to enhance Spain’s military strength, it immediately gained massive support from Spaniards.

This even formed a wave. According to the investigation by the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau, in the newly emerged beverage shops in Madrid, many citizens were excitedly discussing matters related to the reserve force.

This newly emerged beverage shop was the cola shop that Carlo had thought of on the beach earlier. Because it was a beverage manufactured from kola nuts, Carlo unhesitatingly named this beverage cola.

At this time, the two major cola giants Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola had not yet been born, and Carlo was not polite at all, establishing the Coca-Cola Company in Madrid and the Pepsi-Cola Company in Barcelona respectively.

Whichever of these two cola companies could capture the majority scale of the Spanish cola market would depend on their marketing abilities and commercial operation abilities.

The initial cola formulas were not much different; the main flavor relied on kola nuts, and differences in taste came from the amount of bubbles and added sugar.

These two beverage companies gained enthusiastic welcome from citizens as soon as they were founded. The manufacturing cost of cola was not low, after all, cola contained a large amount of added sugar. Currently, the cost price of a glass of cola is approximately 15 peseta, or 15 cents. The selling prices of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola are unified at 25 peseta per glass, about 275 milliliters per glass.

The biggest costs of cola are, first, the sugar added to the cola, and second, the glass bottles used for packaging the cola.

Fortunately, the demand for cola is increasing, which has led both Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola companies to place large-scale orders when producing glass bottles, effectively reducing the cost of glass bottles.

The profit per bottle of cola is 1 peseta, and the daily sales volume of both cola companies has already broken through 50,000 bottles.

This also means that the two cola companies can earn nearly 10,000 pesetas in net profit every day, with annual profits reaching as high as 65 million pesetas.

This data is still expanding continuously, because this is only the cola demand from the two cities of Madrid and Barcelona. When the two cola companies expand their shops across all of Spain, each cola company could sell over 100,000 bottles or even up to hundreds of thousands of bottles of cola per day.

Carlo was happy to see this. Apart from having a high sugar content, cola made from kola nuts had no major drawbacks.

Although kola nuts carry a risk of carcinogenicity, as long as one does not consume cola long-term and in large quantities, the risk of carcinogenicity can be effectively reduced.

Moreover, in this era, there are too many things far more dangerous and deadly than kola nuts. Compared to the Foggy City of London and the wave among noblewomen of using heavy metals in makeup, Carlo felt that kola nuts were really too safe.

Of course, when future technology meets the requirements, cola companies will also stop using kola nuts and switch to healthier extracts.

Returning to the expansion of the cola companies, the Coca-Cola Company in Madrid and the Pepsi-Cola Company in Barcelona have become the two major giants in Spain’s beverage industry, and are gradually expanding from the two major cities to surrounding cities.

The main expansion direction of the Coca-Cola Company is Toledo to the south of Madrid, while the main expansion direction of the Pepsi-Cola Company is Zaragoza to the west of Barcelona.

In addition to expanding domestically in Spain, during arms trade with Russia and the Ottoman Empire, Spain also friendly gifted a portion of cola.

These colas will be given free of charge to Russia and the Ottoman Empire under the name of health products and drugs; as for whether they are used by soldiers or enjoyed by high officials, Spain cannot control that.

There is still a long time before the true birth of the Coca-Cola Company, and Spain’s two major cola companies have hope of occupying the entire European market before the Coca-Cola Company is born, even starting to seek the American market.

By the time the true Coca-Cola Company is born, there may not be much market left for it to develop.

Although the selling price of cola is not high, this beverage often follows a strategy of thin profit margins and high volume. Currently in the two major cities of Madrid and Barcelona, the combined daily sales volume of the two cola companies has already broken through 100,000 bottles.

If looking across all of Spain? Cola’s sales volume could reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of bottles. If this scale expands to all of Europe, cola’s daily sales volume might reach the exaggerated figure of millions of bottles.

Of course, this also depends on whether the cola companies’ production volume can keep up. But it is undeniable that this low-priced beverage also has enormous potential, and the cola market remains an extremely vast market.

Apart from the drawback of carcinogenicity, kola nuts are rich in caffeine and theobromine, which can act as a stimulant.

And unlike coffee, kola nuts achieve physical excitation by directly impacting the central nervous system and the heart.

In addition to acting as a stimulant, kola nuts can treat headaches, depression, whooping cough, asthma, bronchitis, and more, and also aid digestion and have diuretic effects.

It is precisely because of so many effects that Europeans in this era regarded kola nuts as a drug and brought them back to Europe from distant Africa.

The good news is that Africa’s tropics have abundant kola nut trees and naturally abundant kola nuts.

In addition to picking these natural kola nut trees, Spain is also conducting artificial planting to ensure that kola nut production volume will continue to increase.

Currently, due to the hot sales of cola, kola nut plantations have also become one of the choices for establishing plantations in Spanish colonies.

Also because cola contains a large amount of sugar, Spain is attempting to establish large sugarcane plantations in other colonies to replace the major sugar producer Cuba.

Of course, before Spain completely loses Cuba, trade routes between Spain and Cuba remain quite prosperous.

Apart from all American cane sugar being directly transported from Cuba, in European-Cuba cane sugar trade, over 60% is first transported from Cuba to Spain, then from Spain to European countries.

Thanks to Cuba as this major sugar producer, Spain’s cola selling price and costs have been slightly reduced.

Currently, on the most prosperous streets in Madrid, several shops with bright red signs can be seen; these are the beverage shops opened by the Coca-Cola Company in Madrid.

Purchasing Coca-Cola in the beverage shops not only allows free icing, but also resting in the public areas of the beverage shops, and more.

The public areas not only provide free newspapers from major newspaper offices over the past week, but also provide some books for customers to read.

At the beginning, the cola companies relied on the name of health products and drugs, as well as free newspapers and books in the public areas, to attract customers.

But after customers tasted Coca-Cola, they fell in love with this beverage with its wonderful taste when iced.

Iced chilling, bubbles, and the unique flavor of kola nuts are indispensable; the combination of these three created cola, a beverage extremely popular even in posterity.

Not to mention in this era with an extreme lack of beverages, cola is a rare delicacy in this lifetime for Madrid citizens.

At first, cola companies needed to rely on the name of health products and medicines, plus free newspapers and books, to attract customers.

Later, it was completely unnecessary; the first thing customers say when arriving at the beverage shop is that they need to buy cola, and iced for over two hours at that.

For citizens, taking a sip of iced cola in the hot summer almost dissipates the irritability of work.

While drinking cola, glancing at a few long-legged beauties passing by means the rest of the afternoon will be filled with good mood.

It is also because cola shops provide free newspapers from the past week that when the Spanish Sun Newspaper published news suggesting the Spanish government establish a reserve force system, it sparked a wave of heated discussion.

To Carlo’s surprise, after learning the news in the newspaper, Spanish people also successively suggested that the Spanish government establish a reserve force system.

The public felt that Spain’s army of 150,000 was really too small and fundamentally unable to protect Spain’s safety.

Moreover, among these 150,000 troops, there were 15,000 in the Guard Division and 46,000 in colonial troops; the Royal Army truly garrisoned in the homeland was only 90,

“It’s really unexpected; the broad Spanish public seems more hawkish than I, the king.” Hearing the report from Royal Security Intelligence Bureau Director Kadir, Carlo was somewhat amused and exasperated, only managing to say this after a long while.

“This is a good thing for Your Majesty; at least the reserve force plan can be smoothly implemented.” Kadir also smiled, congratulating Carlo.

Since being appointed as Royal Security Intelligence Bureau Director, Kadir has been diligent, and the bureau’s expansion has been quite rapid; it has now become Carlo’s main institution for understanding intelligence on Spain domestically and even all of Europe.

And as the intelligence bureau director, Kadir naturally enjoys Carlo’s deep trust. Currently, Kadir is Carlo’s absolute confidant, and the importance of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau is no less than that of the 15,000-strong Guard Division.

Carlo nodded. Although the hawkish attitude of the Spanish public surprised Carlo somewhat, it was actually a good thing for him.

In this chaotic era, being too fond of peace and opposing war is not a good thing. Without sufficient military power to protect one’s country, what awaits the public is not lasting peace, but lasting oppression and bullying.

What protects peace is not a heart that cherishes peace, but a sharp sword that can slay enemies.

Carlo understood this point well; even though Spain currently had no war dangers, it was still necessary to remain vigilant in peacetime and consider future threats from Britain and France to Spain.

After all, plainly speaking, Spain becoming powerful would inevitably conflict with Britain. For Spain, the first thing after becoming powerful is not expanding into Europe, but recapturing Gibraltar occupied by Britain.

Just Gibraltar alone dooms Britain and Spain to irreconcilable contradictions.

It is merely that Spain’s strength is currently too weak, causing the British to temporarily abandon plotting against Spain and focus more on powerful enemies like Russia.

Once Spain’s strength also reaches the level of the five great powers, relations between Britain and Spain will no longer be so peaceful.

“In that case, let’s promote the implementation of the reserve force plan in the name of the royal family.” Carlo said with a smile.

Since it has been confirmed that Spanish public opinion supports the reserve force plan, there is naturally no need for other members of parliament to promote it.

After all, doing so can be said to be following public opinion; no matter who promotes the reserve force plan, they can gain the public’s favor.

A few days after the Spanish Sun Newspaper published the suggestion for the Spanish government to establish reserves, Carlo submitted a plan for establishing reserves to the military committee in the name of the King of Spain.

Without surprise, the reserve force plan received unanimous approval from the entire military committee.

The military committee consisted entirely of senior military officials besides Carlo and the prime minister. The prime minister was concurrently held by Minister of Defense Grand Duke Serrano, and Carlo was the proposer of the reserve force plan, so naturally no one could oppose it.

After all, this was also a good thing for the military; expansion of reserves meant an increase in army strength, and senior military officials would elevate their own status.

After the military committee’s unanimous approval, the parliament side naturally needed no further discussion.

Members of parliament are not fools; they would not oppose a proposal unanimously passed by senior military officials. Moreover, this was personally proposed by Carlo as king.

Plus, this was a proposal following public opinion; standing up to oppose the reserve force system at this time would be personally destroying one’s future political career.

After successive approvals by the military committee and the lower house, Spain officially began implementing the reserve force system from the end of August

All Spanish male citizens aged 20 to 25, except scientific researchers, university students, and some special talents, must participate in three years of reserve service.

Unlike regular troops, reserve force soldiers can still perform their own work, but must go to training grounds for at least one month of training during each year’s assembly training phase.

According to discussions by the Spanish Military Committee, these reserve force soldiers’ annual assembly training time is three months total in April, May, and September.

During the period when reserve force soldiers go to training grounds for assembly training, their employing enterprises and factories must retain their jobs but may not pay salary or other subsidies.

The salaries of these soldiers during assembly training are uniformly handled by the Ministry of Defense, at 2 times the average annual income in Spain that year.

Although the three years of reserve service require three months each year for assembly training, these three months also come with income, which can reduce the public’s negative emotions toward being conscripted into reserves.

Although most of the public supports establishing reserves, this does not mean everyone wants to become a reserve member.

Appropriately increasing reserve income is very necessary, and they only train for three months, so this expenditure is not that expensive compared to the role of establishing reserves.

Since Carlo became King of Spain, to show his emphasis on the army, the average salary of Spanish soldiers has already reached about 3 times the average annual income.

The most elite Royal Guard has soldiers’ average salary reaching 5 times Spain’s average annual income, which is also why the Guard attracts ordinary soldiers.

Officers need even less mention; officers’ income is higher than ordinary soldiers, which is also why large numbers of high school graduates apply to military academies every year.

Precisely because under Carlo’s leadership the incomes of soldiers and officers were raised, the Spanish army’s support for Carlo remains quite high.

With soldiers’ income increased, naturally more youth will be willing to join the army. This is win-win for Carlo: not only raising the army’s loyalty to him, but also getting more Spaniards to eagerly join the army, ensuring the Spanish army can expand to several times its scale anytime, anywhere.

It is just that Spain’s finances are insufficient to support hundreds of thousands of troops, plus there is currently no real war danger.

Otherwise, given the current enthusiasm of Spaniards to enlist, maintaining an army of 300,000 to 500,000 would be effortless.

But doing so would not only put enormous pressure on Spain’s finances, but also affect Spain’s industry and economy.

Assembling hundreds of thousands of massive troops is simple, but it also means hundreds of thousands of labor will be wasted. If these hundreds of thousands of labor were used in agricultural and industrial production, Spain’s agriculture and industry would improve considerably.

With the official announcement of the reserve force plan at the end of August, Madrid’s recruitment offices were filled with eligible youth wanting to become reserves.

According to the military committee’s regulations, the first batch of reserves will be maintained at 150,Once some complete their three-year service term, sufficient numbers will be selected to replenish to 150,

Once reserve numbers exceed 150,000, the Ministry of Defense will stop recruiting to ensure numbers do not exceed the planned quota.

Spain is establishing 150,000 reserves for national defense, but if establishing 200,000 or even 300,000 reserves, it would no longer be just for national defense.

Although Spain could indeed do so, at that time, not only Portugal, but even the British would jump out to question Spain’s intentions.

To avoid attracting attention from Britain, this famous shit-stirrer, Carlo still strictly limited the reserve scale to 150,

If the number of youth applying is less than 150,000, under the reserve system, 20-to-25-year-old Spanish males will be forcibly conscripted into reserves.

Even if applicants exceed 150,000, the Ministry of Defense will select from them to ensure reserve soldiers have excellent physical qualities.

5000-word two-in-one chapter, seeking support!

Two things: first, the weapon prices in yesterday’s chapter have been revised; the previous selling prices were indeed too low, with profits too low to be reasonable.

Second, the author will not stop updating during the New Year period; minimum 4000 words during New Year, and explosive updates depending on the situation.