While the reforms and construction in Spain were in full swing, Carlo was already deploying his media empire.
As early as his time in Italy, Carlo had Laurent acquire some newspapers in Spain, though on a very small scale.
Now that he had become the King of Spain, it was time to expand the newspaper presence in Spain and establish highly influential newspaper organizations like the Italian Sun.
The name Il Sole 24 Ore (The Sun 24 Hours) had a good concept, and combined with the previous extensive propaganda for the monarchy, it had gained a certain level of popularity in Spain. Carlo naturally decided to directly adopt the name 'Sun' for his Spanish newspaper.
In October 1869, the Spanish Sun was officially established in Madrid and became Carlo's first major industry in Spain.
The development potential near Madrid was not much worse than that of northern Italy, and Carlo's expectation for the new Spanish Sun was to become a major newspaper with a daily circulation of 20,000 copies within two years.
In addition to the Spanish Sun, which was used to build a reputation, Carlo also had Laurent quietly acquire more than a dozen small newspapers to expand the number of newspapers in his media empire.
These newspapers were also scattered throughout Spain and could influence more Spanish households.
Besides the media layout, Carlo also officially began a large-scale expansion of royal assets.
To realize his plans in a Spain facing internal and external troubles, sufficient funds were essential.
While newspapers could earn a little money, it was just a drop in the bucket for the palace, which had very high expenses.
The land and much of the property once owned by the Bourbon dynasty had been confiscated by the government. Aside from taking possession of the Royal Palace in Madrid and a few other castles and estates, Carlo gained little in the way of valuable land or industrial assets.
At present, the income from Carlo's properties was barely sufficient to cover the expenses of the royal palace—and this was without the added burden of maintaining a guard force. Whether for establishing such a force or implementing broader reforms and future expansion, investing in additional industries had become a necessity.
As the first step in growing the royal estate, Carlo set his sights on the food and wine industries. Food, naturally, was a logical choice: it is essential for survival and always in demand. Wine, meanwhile, held a special status in Western society. Favored by the upper class and indispensable to the lower class, it enjoyed widespread consumption across Europe. Noble banquets alone accounted for a considerable share of demand, making wine a reliably profitable commodity.
In later generations, Spain became the world's third-largest wine-producing region and was very suitable for the development of the wine industry. The wine produced by Carlo's wineries would basically have no trouble finding a market, as a king's private winery would inherently have more prestige than ordinary wineries.
In mid-October 1869, United Foods was officially founded in Madrid. Carlo acquired a flour mill in Madrid and planned to expand it into a food processing plant based on the mill.
What should be produced?
Carlo already had a plan in mind, which was something similar to fast food in later generations.
However, it wouldn't be very complicated, just two slices of bread with some minced meat and jam in between, focusing on good quality and low price.
In this regard, food industry professionals of later generations had already pioneered many paths. Carlo had many ways to reduce food costs while still making the food look substantial and taste good.
As for the food safety issues that everyone talks about in later generations, there were no such concerns in this era.
Of course, as king, Carlo would not completely disregard the safety of the Spanish people's lives. All products under United Foods could at least guarantee that they would not be fatally toxic, at most causing diarrhea due to food quality.
An affordable food with meat and vegetables, it was believed, would be popular in Spain where incomes were not high.
Carlo could also take the opportunity of opening a food factory to set a benchmark for Spanish enterprises. Once Spanish workers were all envious of the welfare system of the royal enterprise employees, it would be time to promulgate the Spanish Labor Law.
Although the Labor Law would gain the goodwill of the workers, it would be against the big capitalists and factory owners.
Without absolute certainty or widespread worker support, Carlo did not intend to push for the promulgation of the Labor Law in the early stages.
After all, those big capitalists were also part of the supporters of the monarchy. Carlo fighting against those big capitalists before he had mastered his own strength would be equivalent to digging his own grave.
The United Food Factory was thus quietly established. It would take some time before it officially went into production, and Carlo did not intend to heavily publicize his food factory before it generated a positive response.
Compared to the food factory, Carlo put more effort into publicizing his wineries.
Fortunately, several of Queen Isabella II's wineries were well-preserved and were not distributed to farmers as land.
After all, the real value of a winery lay in the planted grapevines; the value of the land itself was not as high as imagined.
Also because Carlo voluntarily gave up those lands, Primo ultimately decided to hand over the several wineries left by Queen Isabella II to Carlo, at least to ensure the royal family had some income.
This greatly facilitated Carlo. After all, starting a wine processing plant from scratch would require not only a lot of time but also significant capital investment.
Cultivating one's own grapevines alone would take a long time, or buying ready-made grapevine seedlings would also require a lot of capital investment.
Now with several finished wineries and grape estates, Carlo only needed to rebrand these wineries and establish his own private wine brand.
Carlo planned to split his wine business into two parts.
The first wine company would be named Royal Winery, and the wine sold in the future would be labeled as 'Royal Exclusive' and 'Reserved', focusing on mid-to-high-end wines, targeting wealthy capitalists and nobles.
The second wine company would not have the word 'Royal' in its name, but would be called Iberian Estate, offering wines focused on cost-effectiveness, targeting ordinary Spaniards with limited income.
Through a two-pronged strategy targeting both high-end and low-end markets, Carlo could ensure that his wine industry would quickly capture market share in Spain.
Relying on the Spanish market, Carlo could advance or retreat as needed and also take the opportunity to seize more European wine markets, thereby quickly realizing the profitability plan for the wine industry.
The wine industry's earning capacity was stronger than that of newspapers. If it could capture a significant portion of the Spanish market, it would ensure that when Carlo formed his guard force later, he wouldn't even be able to afford equipment.
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