The Italian Sun Newspaper

Carlo's first task for Loren was to acquire a legitimate newspaper.

Whether it was buying an existing one or starting one from scratch, Carlo only cared about the result.

To showcase his abilities to Carlo, Loren took this assignment very seriously.

In just two days, he investigated the existing newspaper agencies in Italy, filtering out those with potential and likely to be acquired.

Il Sole 24 Ore (24 Hours Sun Newspaper) was the final list Loren presented.

This newspaper was founded last year and currently only had some recognition within Milan's business circles.

However, this newspaper managed to survive into later generations, even becoming one of Italy's top ten media outlets.

Achieving such success proved the newspaper's potential was undeniable.

It also showed that Loren, who selected this paper, possessed exceptionally unique and excellent foresight.

After determining the acquisition target, Carlo's next task for Loren was to properly acquire the newspaper named Sun Newspaper.

This highlighted the benefit of having subordinates to command; at least Carlo, despite being a prince, didn't have to handle certain matters personally.

The acquisition process went relatively smoothly.

At this time, the Sun Newspaper was still just a small publication, and its founder couldn't resist the temptation of Carlo's increased offer.

From proposing the acquisition to obtaining all shares of the Sun Newspaper, Carlo took less than four days.

Unfortunately, precisely because the Sun Newspaper was still a small publication, its daily sales were only around 1,500 copies, a figure that made it difficult to even sustain the newspaper itself.

However, Carlo's goal wasn't immediate profitability. The role of a newspaper wasn't to make a small profit; Carlo aimed to flood the streets of Italy with cheaper and more popular newspapers to increase his control over public opinion.

Whether he remained in Italy or pursued the opportunity to become King of Spain in the future, experience with newspapers would allow Carlo to more smoothly establish his propaganda empire.

Once public opinion was controlled, achieving any goal would become much easier. At the very least, with the public's support, Carlo would hold the initiative.

That said, compared to other small to medium-sized private newspapers, the Sun Newspaper under Carlo's control had significant advantages.

At the very least, leveraging his status as the Prince of Italy, Carlo could publish content that was not easily approved, such as current political news that the public cared about.

This was not the era of the future where newspapers had no sales channels. With good news and content, it was still simple for a newspaper to expand its reach and achieve profitability.

Loren, as Carlo's only subordinate at the moment, naturally took charge of the Italian Sun Newspaper without question and was fully responsible for its expansion.

Carlo had several plans for Loren.

First, within the next two years, the Sun Newspaper's daily sales should increase from 1,500 copies to at least 7,500 copies.

Considering that the Sun Newspaper was located in Milan, a prosperous city in Northern Italy, and could also reach the nearby cities of Turin and Genoa, this sales target was not particularly high.

The second requirement was that the Sun Newspaper must become one of the well-known media outlets in Northern Italy and gain a certain level of credibility among the public.

If the content published in the newspaper couldn't be believed by the public, then the newspaper's existence would be pointless.

After all, the primary goal of manipulating public opinion was to make the public believe it, and this was one of Carlo's expectations for Loren.

There was also the goal of achieving profitability within two years and acquiring more newspapers whenever possible.

Although Carlo's original intention wasn't to make money through newspapers, since the newspaper industry could inherently be self-sustaining, Carlo definitely wanted to allocate funds to more important areas.

As for founding or acquiring more newspapers, it was naturally to strengthen Carlo's influence over public opinion.

In Carlo's grand design, the Sun Newspaper would focus on reporting on current politics and international affairs in the future, while smaller newspapers would fill the gaps for entertainment news and various gossip.

After all, having a highly credible newspaper report on trivial matters and gossip would absolutely damage its public trust.

While Loren diligently executed Carlo's tasks, Carlo himself was contemplating an existing map of the Kingdom of Italy.

Although the fragmented Apennine Peninsula had largely been unified into a complete Kingdom of Italy, there were still two areas that had not rejoined Italy.

The Venetian region in the north was still controlled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Rome, the most important city for Italy, still belonged to the Papal States.

Although the Papal States seemed like the easier target, they were unfortunately backed by France.

France at this time was not the mocked surrender-prone nation of World War II, but the French Empire, basking in the afterglow of Napoleon.

With Germany not yet unified, France at this time could be considered the hegemon of Western Europe and the strongest land power in Europe.

With France's support, the Papal States were able to continue holding Rome, forcing the capital of Italy to be located in Florence.

However, Carlo was not in a hurry about this.

Historically, the process of the Kingdom of Sardinia unifying Italy was practically a free ride, with hardly any difficult battles.

The largest state in Southern Italy, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, was decadent and was easily defeated by Garibaldi's thousand-man expedition.

The states in Central Italy were no match for the Kingdom of Sardinia and had no capacity to resist the tide of unification.

The two truly tough nuts to crack were dealt with by relying on Prussia. The Austro-Prussian War saw Prussia distract the Austrian Empire, allowing the recovery of the Venetian region.

The Franco-Prussian War involved France preventing Prussian troops, leading to the smooth annexation of Rome.

These two seemingly insurmountable obstacles were thus easily overcome. Although it was the Prussian army that cracked these nuts, the benefits were undeniably reaped by the Kingdom of Italy.

Carlo had some understanding of the period of Prussia's rise.

Coincidentally, this year was 1866, the year the Austro-Prussian War broke out.

If history followed its course, the Austro-Prussian War should commence in about six months, with Prussia accelerating the unification of Germany and Italy recovering the northern Venetian region.

Facing such a significant historical juncture, Carlo naturally couldn't let the opportunity slip away. While he couldn't directly interfere in the Austro-Prussian War, as a participant in the war, Carlo could make minor adjustments to the course of history.

New book launch, seeking recommendation votes, collections, follow-up reads, and investments!