Royal Military Academy of Madrid

Carlo, having completed his coronation, had quite a headache at the moment.

If Spain wanted to achieve revival, it needed a large number of talented people striving for the expansion of every industry and trade in Spain.

But for Spain, where the illiteracy rate was as high as seventy percent, what it lacked most was talent—especially highly qualified talent trained at proper universities and colleges.

Speaking of which, Spain had a very long history of establishing universities.

The earliest, the University of Salamanca, had been founded in 1218 and already had a history of 651 years. There were also several other universities that had existed for centuries, putting Spain far ahead of those European countries that did not even have a few proper universities.

But that was also where the problem lay.

Despite possessing so many ancient universities, Spain placed far less importance on cultivating university-educated talent than the Great Powers of England, France, Germany, Italy, and Austria.

The Spanish government had previously rather wasted its annual fiscal budget on places of little use than invest it in education and encourage more Spaniards to apply for university.

The major institutions likewise received insufficient educational funding, and Spain's cultivation of highly qualified talent could only be described as a complete mess.

Even in the military, the shortage of talent was constantly affecting Spain.

Under Isabella's previous rule, the senior officers of the Spanish Army had mostly been controlled by the nobility, making it extremely difficult for ordinary people to rise into the army's upper ranks.

Although the current army had been transformed from the revolutionary forces, temporarily eliminating that problem, the lack of successors among junior and middle-ranking officers remained a tremendous headache.

Moreover, Carlo understood that this was a time of major changes in military affairs. The line infantry tactics that had dominated Europe during Napoleon's era had now become tactics for lining up to be shot.

Although the french people's overall strength in the Franco-Prussian War surpassed Prussia's, Napoleon III had imitated his uncle Napoleon and built up vast numbers of French line infantry, which meant the french people's war would not be easy to fight.

Therefore, Carlo not only wanted to expand the Royal Military Academy, but also wanted to learn some of the excellent ideas and systems of the Germans—the future possessors of the world's finest army—in matters concerning the army, so that Spain could establish a more powerful army and officer training system.

Of course, France had not yet completely declined. A Spain that wholly imitated Prussia would likewise be an enormous threat to France.

For Spain at present, fewer troubles were naturally better than more. While the new military academies learned some of the Prussian Army's systems and ideas, they would also absorb certain ideas from the French Army, gathering the strengths of both the German and French armies.

After Carlo presented Primo with the concept of prioritizing university development, Primo readily agreed and stated that the Spanish government would prepare a larger budget for the education sector in the new year.

Seizing the opportunity, Carlo also used 3 Million Pesetas to obtain ownership of the Royal Military Academy from the government.

Primo naturally understood the importance of the Military Academy as well. But for Primo at this time, it was better to hand ownership of the Military Academy to Carlo and devote all his own energy to Spain's reforms.

Although this might allow the officers trained by Carlo through the Military Academy to extend their influence into the army, that would at least be a matter of several years, or even more than a decade, later.

By then, Primo would already be in his sixties. Whether he could continue serving in Spain's Prime Minister position would itself be a question.

It was precisely because he was already fifty-five that bringing about Spain's revival was now Primo's only wish. Power struggles and such no longer mattered to him.

Having gained ownership of the Royal Military Academy, Carlo was in high spirits. His attitude toward Primo changed from the perfunctory politeness of the beginning to genuine respect.

No matter how Primo was judged in history, the Primo before Carlo's eyes was indeed a heroic figure like Garibaldi.

Italy's birth of Garibaldi was Italy's good fortune, and Spain's birth of Primo was likewise Spain's good fortune.

The only difference was that Garibaldi had once aligned himself with the republicans, earning the hostility of the Italian government and King of Italy. Primo, meanwhile, supported the monarchy and Carlo's becoming King of Spain, thus gaining Carlo's trust and vigorous support.

In his excellent mood, Carlo discussed many matters concerning the future development of Spain's military academies with Primo, who came from a military officer's family, and invited him to become the honorary vice principal of the Royal Military Academy of Spain.

Carlo himself would become the honorary principal of the Royal Military Academy, so that every graduate of the Military Academy would understand exactly who had trained them into officers.

Taking into account the Spanish Army's differing needs for officers, the Royal Military Academy would be divided into two parts.

The main campus of the Royal Military Academy would remain in Madrid, where it would train outstanding junior officers for Spain. The student body of the main Military Academy would come from two sources: one would be students from among the Spanish public willing to apply to military school, while the other would be outstanding soldiers selected from within the Spanish Army.

The other part after the split would establish a new Military Academy in Zaragoza, Aragon, with the full name Royal Military Academy Zaragoza Branch.

The Royal Military Academy of Zaragoza would aim to train senior officers for Spain, and could also be called the cradle of Spain's generals.

The two Military Academies, with their different objectives, would continuously train outstanding core personnel and lower-ranking officers for Spain's army, allowing the Spanish Army to maintain excellent combat strength and flexible tactical thinking and become a first-rate army in Europe.

While training officers from Spain, Carlo could also make these officers more loyal to himself.

After all, as King of Spain, Carlo was the nominal commander and leader of the Spanish Army.

In the future, the first lesson at the Royal Military Academy of Madrid and the Royal Military Academy of Zaragoza would be loyalty to the King and the nation.

With these officers who had been baptized by the ideals of loyalty to the sovereign and love for the nation, Carlo could wield greater influence over the future Spanish Army.

If the ideals of loyalty to the sovereign and love for the nation were woven into Spaniards' education from childhood to adulthood, it would create a perfect closed loop and increase the loyalty of all Spaniards to the monarchy and Carlo.

This was also Carlo's ultimate goal for Spanish education. Only influence and baptism that seeped in from childhood onward could make Spaniards accept the monarchy from the bottom of their hearts and feel wholehearted fervor and loyalty toward Carlo.

Having already received an education at the Royal Military Academy of Turin, Carlo was quite familiar with the procedures of military academies.

After investing more than 1 Million Pesetas in the Royal Military Academy of Madrid, the Royal Military Academy swiftly expanded and, after carrying out simple selections within both the Spanish Army and the general public, began a large-scale recruitment drive.

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