Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 206: Bullfighting Event

For people in the 1870s, the society of this era truly lacked some fun. A major reason for this was that factory owners continuously exploited workers, leaving workers with no sufficient time to rest and entertain themselves.

But it cannot be denied that the backwardness of technology itself and the lack of various entertainment activities were also one of the reasons why people felt bored and dull.

Although Spain’s public opinion industry had given birth to entertainment newspapers specializing in reporting gossip news, not all Spaniards would purchase newspapers.

Once the public lacks sufficient entertainment projects to vent their emotions, over time it will lead to the existence of various voices and forces opposing the government.

This also means that current Spain urgently needs an entertainment project that can mobilize the emotions of the vast majority of the public, and this entertainment project must also be warmly welcomed in Spain.

Looking at the whole of Spain, there is currently only one tradition that meets such requirements, and that is the bullfighting activity that has been popular in Spain for hundreds of years.

Spanish bullfighting originated from ancient religious activities and has a long history and tradition in the two Iberian countries of Spain and Portugal.

According to historical records, Caesar the Great, who once ruled Spain, was enthusiastic about bullfighting on horseback, and bullfighters were also regarded as symbols of bravery and good fighting.

Originally, this sport was only popular among Spain’s nobles, after all, the cultivation of bullfighting and the preparation of related activities required a lot of funds.

But because bullfighting brought a lot of casualties to the nobles, Felipe V prohibited bullfighting activities among royal family members, which also turned bullfighting activities from a noble patent into a national event that ordinary civilians could participate in. After a long period of development, bullfighting has become an irreplaceable tradition in Spain and an activity that a large number of Spaniards are crazy about.

Bullfighters are regarded as heroic and fearless men, receiving the admiration and adoration of all Spaniards.

For Carlo, there is no activity more worthy of promotion than bullfighting. Bullfighters originally symbolize the spirit of heroism and fearlessness. The more the Spanish people adore and revere this spirit, the more it represents the combat effectiveness of the Spanish army.

The influence of national spirit on army combat effectiveness is still very significant. The combat effectiveness of the Italian army is not particularly strong, but it is also absolutely not too weak.

Why was Italy’s performance so poor in World War I and World War II? The main reason is that Italy’s national spirit is more inclined towards freedom and enjoyment, while the sense of national concept and identity is weak, so naturally they are not willing to fight for the concept of the country Italy.

Spain, with its bullfighting tradition, obviously does not have such shortcomings as Italy. As long as it can be cultivated, even if the Spanish population is not large, it can ensure that the army formed by Spaniards has relatively strong combat effectiveness.

The influence of a brave and fearless spirit on an army is still very significant. When all Spaniards admire this spirit, what reason is there to doubt the combat effectiveness of the Spanish army?

If paired with the advanced rifles and cannons that Carlo has prepared for his army, in situations where the numbers are not greatly different, the Spanish army has the confidence to fight against the armies of any country.

Even if the numbers are inferior to the enemy, as long as they rely on the Pyrenees Mountains for defense, Spain does not fear the attack of any country.

This is the belief brought by national spirit. When all Spaniards have sufficient national cohesion and sense of identity, the Spanish army will become an enemy that no country in the world wants to encounter.

Promoting bullfighting not only cultivates a heroic and fearless national spirit, but also has a major advantage of promoting economic circulation.

The public needs tickets to watch bullfighting performances, which increases the probability of currency circulation and promotes the growth of Spain’s economy.

Bullfighting is also a major feature of Spain, attracting large numbers of European public to come for tourism and watching every year. This era has no football or basketball games, and bullfighting activities are already one of the few large-scale activities that can attract the public’s attention.

Although bullfighting activities also have many shortcomings, compared to the benefits brought by bullfighting activities, these shortcomings are not so important.

Carlo decided to vigorously promote bullfighting activities, on one hand to infuse the Spanish national spirit with heroic, fearless, and combative character, and on the other hand to give Spaniards more entertainment activities to vent their emotions and dissipate their energy, while stimulating economic exchange.

Spain’s largest bullring at present is Laertta Square located in Madrid City Center. In the center of Laertta Square there is a circular bullring, and from March to October every year is Spain’s bullfighting season.

Laertta Bullring can accommodate more than 3500 spectators at most, and is Madrid’s largest bullring, attracting the attention of a large number of Spaniards around Madrid.

The first step in Carlo’s vigorous promotion of bullfighting activities is to personally experience the charm of bullfighting activities and feel the public’s support for bullfighting activities.

At the end of September 1876, Carlo personally arrived at Laertta Bullring and watched the bullfighting performance specially prepared for Carlo at the bullring.

The loudly cheering crowd, the majestic bulls, and the bullfighters holding red cloths full of confidence together formed a shocking scene in the bullring.

Upon learning that Carlo would personally watch the bullfighting performance, the bullring had made careful preparations. The bullfighter performing for Carlo was the most famous bullfighter around Madrid, with no defeats in recent years, easily defeating thousands of bulls.

Unfortunately, there is no so-called matador’s march now. This shocking scene that stimulates the bloodline can only use the audience’s shouts and cheers and the angry roars of the bulls as background music.

This also gave Carlo a new idea. Before vigorously promoting bullfighting activities, he must first tailor a song for bullfighting activities, named Spanish Royal Matador’s March.

A majestic and mighty, majestic accompaniment, plus the bullfighter’s brave, fearless, and confident bullfighting, this is the most perfect match.

A bullfight is not just fighting one bull, but three bullfighters taking the stage in succession, fighting a total of six bulls.

For the safety of the bullfighter, the bullfighter is not alone, but is equipped with three banderilleros and two mounted picadors.

After watching the entire bullfighting performance, Carlo left Laertta Bullring quite satisfied, and did not forget to encourage the manager of Laertta Bullring before leaving.

As King of Spain, Carlo personally watched the bullfighting performance at Laertta Bullring, which also attracted the attention of some newspaper and media.

Although the distribution of newspapers by newspaper offices would be controlled, because this was not negative news, the reports by these newspaper offices about Carlo watching the bullfighting performance were not stopped.

This also aroused the public’s attention, after all, during the Bourbon Dynasty period, bullfighting was prohibited among royal family members, which was also one of the reasons why bullfighting changed from a noble sport to a commoner sport.

Did Carlo watching the bullfighting performance at Laertta Square mean that this young king also has some interest in bullfighting?

The public was quite concerned about this, and they were all curious about how His Majesty the King would treat this sport, after all, this is an ancient tradition of Spaniards.

After returning to the royal palace, Carlo discussed the plan to promote bullfighting with Butler Loren.

Butler Loren was quite supportive of this, but also put forward a few suggestions of his own: “Your Majesty, to vigorously promote bullfighting, relying solely on the current number of bullrings is completely insufficient.

The largest bullring around the Madrid region is Laertta Bullring, and Laertta Bullring has only 3500 spectator seats. Even including those standing nearby, the maximum capacity of the entire bullring will not exceed 5000 people.

If Your plan is to develop bullfighting into a national large-scale sport, such a bullring scale is far from enough.

I suggest that while vigorously promoting bullfighting, build a large bullring on the Madrid outskirts to ensure that a single bullfighting performance at the large bullring can accommodate at least ten thousand spectators.

This is not only beneficial to the promotion of bullfighting, but also beneficial to the economic exchange in the Madrid region. If each bullfighting performance can attract tens of thousands of people to watch, it can not only promote local economic exchange, but also attract more tourists.”

Carlo nodded, quite recognizing Butler Loren’s views.

Spain’s bullfighting tradition is very long-standing, and various places also have bullrings built at different times. Especially the southern region Andalusia in Spain is the region with the richest bullfighting culture in the whole of Spain, and it also has multiple historic bullrings.

But no matter how long the history of these bullrings is, they all have one significant shortcoming, which is that they cannot accommodate more spectators.

The scale of bullrings varies according to the size of the city where they are located and the financial strength of the builders.

Generally, the scale of bullrings is around 2000 to 3500 seats, and there are also some large bullrings that can accommodate more than 4000 people, but basically will not exceed 5000 people.

After all, to have more seats, one can only continuously expand the area of the bullring. And those seats farther from the bullring itself do not provide a very good viewing experience.

For bullfighting this sport, a larger scale national-level bullring is very necessary. Bullfighting activities held in this larger scale bullring can also attract more attention from domestic and foreign public, and even become a representative activity of Spain.

After Butler Loren put forward his suggestion, Carlo immediately expressed his affirmative attitude: “You are right, Butler Loren. Bullfighters do need a large bullring that can accommodate more than ten thousand spectators. This new bullring will also become one of Spain’s representative buildings.

Butler Loren, the task of building a large bullring on the Madrid outskirts is entrusted to you. I don’t care how much funds it costs, but I hope the bullring we build has sufficient Spanish characteristics and can attract bullfighters and spectators.”

A large bullring that can accommodate tens of thousands of spectators will immediately become a landmark building in Spain once built. Although this requires spending a lot of funds, if the promotion of bullfighting goes smoothly, the subsequent income from tickets and related commercial operations will be sufficient to cover the expenses of building the square.

It is precisely because of this that Carlo is not worried about the investment in building the bullring. Building such a large venue is completely more beneficial than harmful.

Hearing Carlo’s instructions, Butler Loren nodded solemnly, indicating that he understood.

No restrictions on funds proves Carlo’s trust in him, so he naturally has nothing to say.

Building a bullring has no technical difficulties, and Spain’s construction teams also have a lot of experience with such projects.

The only relatively difficult part is the site selection for the bullring. It not only needs to be in a place with convenient transportation to facilitate the arrival of subsequent tourists, but also needs to be relatively far from Madrid City Center, without affecting Madrid’s future expansion.

It should be noted that Madrid is currently the city with the largest population in Spain and is undergoing population growth at an extremely fast speed.

In terms of population growth, only Barcelona can compare with Madrid. These two cities are also the twin stars of Spain.

Because of the continuous population growth, the urban scale of Madrid has also been continuously expanding compared to a few years ago. If the site selection of the new bullring affects Madrid’s subsequent urban expansion, it may become a problem in the future.

It is better to consider the issue of Madrid’s urban expansion early, so as not to affect the construction and subsequent operation of the bullring, while facilitating Madrid’s urban expansion, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

So far, Madrid has officially become the first and only city in Spain with a population exceeding 500,

With a population exceeding 520,000, Spain’s capital has become a well-deserved big city, and is also Spain’s current cultural center, economic center, and religious center.

Barcelona’s population is just over 430,000, which is still inferior to Madrid. But Barcelona’s population expansion speed is in no way inferior to Madrid. Perhaps one day in the future, Barcelona’s population still has hope to surpass Madrid.

After all, Barcelona has the advantage of sea transport, which Madrid does not have. Madrid is located in the very center of Spain’s territory, and its geographical position is relatively important.

But also because it is located inland, Madrid’s transportation can only rely on railway and road, which to some extent also limits Madrid’s development.

The matter of the large bullring has been resolved, and the next thing to do is to think about how to promote the faster development of bullfighting activities.

To make bullfighting activities develop faster, the simplest way is to hold relatively official competitions, prepare rich prizes, let Spain’s newspaper and media extensively publicize them, and arouse the public’s spontaneous attention to bullfighting competitions.

But there is currently bad news, that is, Spain’s bullfighting season is about to end. Spain’s bullfighting time is generally from March to October, and it is now early October, with bullfighting activities about to end.

This also means that to vigorously promote bullfighting activities, it can only start from March next year.

Fortunately, there are only a few months in between, which can be just used to prepare for holding bullfighting activities, and to spread bullfighting activities to various places in Spain through news, attracting more tourists and public attention, increasing the attention and popularity of the competition, and also increasing the excitement.

A few days later, Carlo established the Spanish Bullfighting Association, specifically to be responsible for promoting bullfighting activities, as well as operating subsequent bullfighting events and so on.

And a few days after its establishment, the Spanish Bullfighting Association announced their carefully prepared first national-level Spanish Bullfighting Competition.

Spanish Royal Matador Competition is the official name of this competition. The entire competition will be divided into two major stages, held in various places in Spain and the capital Madrid respectively.

The first stage will be held in bullrings across Spanish Autonomous Communities from March to July next year, selecting ten excellent bullfighters from Spanish Autonomous Communities, and then gathering in Madrid for the second round of competition.

The second stage will be from August to October next year. The excellent bullfighters selected from various regions will gather in Madrid to present more exciting bullfighting performances in Madrid.

The three-month competition period will select Spain’s most excellent bullfighter. In addition to the more traditional applause, bull’s ear, and bull’s tail rewards for bullfighters, the final winning bullfighter will also receive a personal audience with Carlo and the title of Spanish Royal Matador.

In addition to these honorary rewards, the top ten bullfighters from various regions will have cash rewards of varying amounts. And after the final three-month competition to select Spain’s top ten most excellent bullfighters, these ten bullfighters will receive even more generous rewards, with the minimum being a check of at least a thousand pesetas.

As for the most excellent bullfighter who obtains the Royal Matador title, in addition to the honorary rewards, he will also receive at least a check worth more than ten thousand pesetas, which is already dozens of times the annual income of ordinary Spaniards.