Chapter 259: The Role Of The Light Bulb
Under the premise that both sides had intentions for peace negotiation, the meeting between Carlo and Ambassador William also ended quickly.
The Dutch were not willing to erupt into a more intense dispute with Spain at this time. After all, the regime change in the Netherlands required a stable environment, and the Netherlands also lacked sufficient strength to confront Spain.
For Carlo, he also did not want to be too high-profile, thereby attracting the attention of the British.
In fact, this conflict was entirely something the Dutch had brought upon themselves. If the Dutch had not courted disaster themselves, Carlo would not have had too many ideas about the Dutch East Indies.
Although this colony also had relatively high economic value, the problem was that besides Spain, the ones paying attention to this colony included Britain, which truly mastered the Indian Colony.
Britain regarded India as a treasure, which also meant that Britain had to guarantee the stability of the regions surrounding India to ensure that the Indian Colony would not have too many problems.
Southeast Asia was neither close nor far from India, so attracting the attention of the British was very normal.
Not to mention that East Asia also had an extremely massive market, and this market had attracted the attention of many great powers.
According to the preliminary contract discussed between Carlo and Ambassador William, the so-called riot in the Kutai Sultanate would be quelled by troops dispatched from Spain and the Lanfang Republic. The partition of the land after pacification would naturally have nothing to do with the Netherlands.
In addition, the Netherlands also needed to pay a certain indemnity to Spain, after all, the riot that occurred on Borneo had affected the local Spaniards.
Furthermore, the Netherlands needed to transfer at least 30 immigrant outposts located in New Guinea to Spain within three months, and these immigrant outposts had to be near the periphery of Spain’s existing outposts.
The sincerity of the Dutch apology could be called quite earnest, and precisely because of this, Carlo personally promised that Spain would absolutely not pursue any responsibility from the Netherlands, nor would it use this as a reason to launch a war against the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies.
Even if the Dutch side was willing, Spain could also sign a mutual non-aggression treaty with the Netherlands, stipulating that both sides would not infringe on each other’s colonies and respect each other’s ruling rights in the colonies.
After reaching an agreement with Ambassador William, the matter on Borneo could be considered concluded.
Once the army of the Lanfang Republic occupied the entire territory of the Kutai Sultanate, the Spanish Colonial Defense Regiment stationed in the Sultanate of Brunai could head south to take over this land.
After all, it was a piece of land exceeding 100,000 square kilometers in area, so Spain naturally took it without any politeness.
What Carlo was currently considering was whether to fully incorporate this land into the Philippine Colony or to re-establish a large-scale colony on Borneo as the most appropriate option.
The current area of the Philippine Colony was already as high as 440,000 square kilometers, which was already the largest-scale colony controlled by Spain besides the Congo Territory.
If the Kutai Sultanate was added, the area of the Philippine Colony would break through 500,000 square kilometers, larger than the area of the Spanish Mainland.
The indigenous population on this colony was also not small at all. Just the indigenous people in the Philippine Region numbered in the millions, and adding the indigenous people living in the Borneo region, the indigenous population of the entire Philippine Colony would approach ten million in scale, increasing the difficulty of rule.
Considering that establishing a new colony would increase Spain’s investment costs in colonial matters, Carlo temporarily decided to incorporate the Kutai Sultanate into the Philippine Colony and suspend colonial expansion of the Philippine Colony.
In the future, aside from New Guinea, the Philippine Colony would diligently develop the land already occupied, having no interest in land outside the colony and no colonial actions.
With the Borneo matter resolved, Carlo’s gaze turned to the popularization of electricity.
During last Christmas, the Nightless City of Madrid became the most lively news across all of Europe, and even to this day, quite a few media outlets continue to mention it repeatedly.
The main reason among them was that up to now, no other country had been able to build a Nightless City like Madrid’s, and Madrid remained uniquely unmatched to this day.
While the European Powers led by Britain, France, and Germany were following up on the Nightless City project, Spain had already begun related projects for the comprehensive popularization of electricity in Madrid and Barcelona.
Although the current electricity could only be used for lighting, lighting could also provide great convenience to humanity. Whether for daily life or industrial production, more effective lighting was very useful.
Carlo’s emphasis on electricity was demonstrated to the fullest. After the Madrid Nightless City, all factories and enterprises of the royal family signed an order with the Electric Company, not only connecting electricity to the companies and factories but also purchasing large and small light bulbs for lighting.
A wave of electricity use also swept through Spain, with everyone proud to be able to use a light bulb for lighting.
Although this craze had not yet swept to the commoner class, among the nobles and capitalist class in Spain, the high officials and nobles’ fondness for electricity and light bulbs was visibly evident.
Actually, thinking about it, it felt very normal. People of posterity were accustomed to the brightly lit night cities, and when one day the city experienced a power outage, people would also feel unadapted.
When people of this era experienced the brightness and convenience brought by electricity, they would naturally try every means to enjoy this convenience.
If it came to the busiest enterprise at such a time, if the Electric Company claimed to be second, no company would dare claim to be first.
Carlo had long reminded Gramme, the general manager of the Electric Company, to hurry production of light bulbs and wires of various models before the Madrid Nightless City Plan, preparing for the popularization of electricity in Spain.
Gramme had indeed followed Carlo’s orders, producing large quantities of light bulbs and wires in advance. Since its establishment, the Electric Company had also vigorously recruited personnel precisely to prevent such busy times.
But Gramme had greatly underestimated the public’s fondness for electricity, or rather, he had greatly underestimated the nobles’ and capitalists’ enthusiasm for enjoying electricity.
When enjoying electricity and light bulb lighting became a new fashion, the nobles actually had no choice.
With all other nobles using electricity and light bulbs, would the other nobles of the same noble class remain indifferent?
After Christmas, the Electric Company had been in a state of explosive orders. For Gramme, at this time he was in pain and happy at the same time.
Although the current electricity could only be used for lighting, it was undeniable that lighting was also an extremely important role. As a pioneer in the electricity industry, Gramme felt very happy that the things he researched were valued by the public.
But the problem was that the orders for the Spanish National Electricity Company were already scheduled a year ahead, and even daily there were continuous new orders being generated.
According to the current production volume of the Spanish Electricity Company, just satisfying the electricity needs of the two large cities, Madrid and Barcelona, might require the Electric Company to produce non-stop for more than two years.
With no other choice, Gramme could only approach Carlo, requesting that Carlo help the Electric Company recruit more employees, and along the way help expand the production scale of the Electric Company and improve the efficiency of electrification by the Electric Company.
For Gramme’s request, Carlo naturally nodded repeatedly.
The good news was that Carlo had always placed great importance on the development of electricity, and some universities in Spain also had majors related to electricity, though they were not very popular.
Although not very popular, when adding up all sorts of universities, bringing more than 100 talents to the electricity industry each year was no problem.
If including the technical workers in electricity, the so-called electricians, cultivated by technical schools, the number of electricity-related technical talents cultivated in Spain each year might reach as high as several hundred.
If these talents were still not enough, Spain could also recruit a certain amount of talent from other countries. However, because all countries had begun to emphasize electricity development, recruiting talent now was not so easy.
Fortunately, before this, Spain had already poached quite a few from abroad, which was also the reason Spain had advanced to the forefront in the electricity industry among all countries.
Not only did Carlo place great importance on the development of electricity, investing large amounts of funds each year, but he also continuously introduced foreign talent when other countries did not yet emphasize electricity development.
Under such circumstances, the rapid development of electricity in Spain was very normal. Without other external factors interfering, it was very simple for a country to fully develop a certain industry.
Moreover, Spain was not a small country either. With sufficient funds invested, whether electricity or other industries, achieving progress was a matter of course.
For Spain, there was also another piece of good news, which was that through cooperation with Prussia, Spain’s metallurgy technology had been improved to a certain extent.
Metallurgy technology also included the technology for refining brass, which was the most reliable material for electric wires, not only able to improve transmission efficiency but also safer compared to other metals.
Due to the improvement in metallurgy technology, Spain’s annual copper production had also gained a certain increase. With copper production raised, the price of copper naturally fell.
The fall in copper price also brought a small reduction in the production cost of electric wires, contributing quite a bit of boost to the development of electricity in Spain.
Spain’s population was relatively small, which meant that currently only the two more populous cities, Madrid and Barcelona, could popularize electricity.
But this was not entirely bad news. Compared to population giants like Britain, France, and Germany, precisely because Spain’s population was smaller, Spain could spend less funds in popularizing electricity, and the Madrid Nightless City was not the best example.
A Nightless City definitely had to be placed in the capital, or if not the capital, in a city that was relatively developed economically and industrially.
Such cities would have larger populations, especially the three great powers Britain, France, and Germany, whose capitals all had populations over a million.
Compared to Madrid, they would at least have to spend twice the cost to replicate a Nightless City. This did not even calculate the costs of power generation and electricity use; if factored in, the cost they spent might be more than three times that of Spain.
This was actually also the reason Britain and France had not followed up promptly. Do not think that building the Madrid Nightless City did not cost Spain too exorbitant a price; if that expenditure was multiplied by three, the cost would be enormous.
Would it not be good to use this money to build a massive fleet? Even if used in the army, could it not forge a large-scale elite army?
Investing large amounts of funds into the field of electricity, which had not yet shown sufficient role, indeed required sufficient boldness for these two old great powers, Britain and France, to accomplish.
If Germany had not followed up too early, the British might have delayed for a while longer. If Britain had not followed up simultaneously with Germany, the French might have delayed even longer.
The popularization of electricity was of course a good thing for humanity. Only when electricity is popularized to major cities and industrial zones can equipment related to electricity continuously emerge and reform generation after generation.
This did not only include electric motors, but also all sorts of other appliances and mechanical equipment, which similarly needed electricity to drive them.
The popularization of electricity was like opening a good start, creating a bright future for the development of electricity. And Spain, as the leading country in the progress of electricity popularization, also had more hope of achieving greater accomplishments in electricity-related technology and fields.
Benz’s Automobile Company was the best example.
In fact, as early as a few years ago, Benz had already developed a prototype automobile that could barely be applied.
But such automobiles had too many defects; it was fine for the government and royal family to procure a few, but putting them into commercial use was completely impossible.
The public would not buy an automobile that could break down at any time, let alone such handcrafted automobiles having extremely high costs, fundamentally unaffordable for ordinary people.
Benz and others had conducted research lasting several years, and up to now still had not solved the problem of internal combustion engine instability.
However, this was also very normal. If the stability of the internal combustion engine was solved, it would mean that the steam engine was to be replaced.
With current technology, to substantially improve the stability of the steam engine, it was simply impossible without more than 20 years.
Precisely because of this, Carlo also temporarily did not hope for the commercialization of automobiles. Building a few such automobiles to provide to the royal family and government was also not bad; at least the special automobile supplied to Carlo was much more comfortable to ride than a carriage, and there would also be maintenance personnel following along with the automobile at all times to ensure it would not break down midway, or if it did break down midway, someone would repair it promptly.
After Spain vigorously promoted the popularization of electricity, Benz suddenly had an idea and decided to add two large light bulbs in front of the automobile models he manufactured to provide lighting.
The benefit of doing so was very obvious, which was to give the automobile the ability to travel at night.
When people rode in carriages, it was very difficult to provide lighting at night. Whether kerosene lamps or torches, it was impossible to fully illuminate the road ahead of the carriage.
Moreover, the vision of horses and people was completely different; what people could see clearly did not mean horses could see clearly. And animals were innately fearful of fire sources; rather than hoping torches or kerosene lamps could provide lighting for horses, it was better to hope the bright full moon could reflect more light.
But automobiles were completely different. If at least two light bulbs could be installed in front of the automobile, there would be hope of providing sufficient lighting for the person driving the automobile.
The automobile itself did not need to see clearly; as long as the person driving the automobile could see clearly, it was fine. Doing so would not only improve the efficiency and safety of the automobile traveling at night but also give the automobile a role that carriages did not possess.
Hoping to install lighting equipment on carriages was unrealistic. After all, light bulbs needed electricity for lighting, and carriages were constantly moving.
If a small power generation device was installed, the carriage would become even more cumbersome, and ordinary carriages fundamentally could not achieve such modifications.
Perhaps only the royal family and government’s special carriages could undergo such modifications. After all, the royal family’s carriages were originally inlaid with steel plates and were much larger in volume than normal carriages.
Installing simple power generation equipment on such carriages was still possible, although the power was not large, it was no problem to provide lighting for a few light bulbs.
Previously, when power generation capacity was not large, the power generation equipment installed on carriages had difficulty illuminating light bulbs with larger wattage. But now, with the increase in power of power generation equipment, there was indeed hope of installing such simple power generation equipment on carriages and automobiles to provide lighting for electric lamps.
This was also the role of electricity; as long as it could facilitate people’s lives, such a role was of great use.
