It will take some time for the invention of the electric light, but the construction of thermal power plants can begin now.

The electric motor was not invented until the Vienna World's Fair three years later, but its predecessor, the generator, had already reached the point of being more proliferated.

The laws of electromagnetic induction and electromagnetic invalence have existed decades ago, and when they heard that the government was going to build a power plant, the engineers of the research institute rushed to sign up, for fear that they would not be able to participate in the world's first initiative if they were one step too late.

However, it is a European power that has the ability to build power plants, but it is limited by cost, and they do not know what power plants can do.

If these engineers want to make a name for themselves, they don't want to think about it.

Having said that, Ernesto Estrada, the director of the institute, made a big move and got 21 of the best engineers involved in the construction.

Even if you don't get the honor, it's good to get some bonuses.

In addition, the research institute is well aware of the electric light research carried out by the team led by Swan, and in the government's plan, the power plant will only supply power to the train station, but if they plan it properly, they can have the surplus electricity to supply power to the research institute and several nearby business districts, and no one will object.

Due to the sufficient budget and site management, there was not much to coordinate, and with the concerted efforts of all the engineers, a complete plan was produced in just one week.

The construction of the power plant began immediately, and the level of construction was not good due to the lack of large machinery, and the time given in the plan was 2 years.

The person in charge was very anxious to report the plan to the superiors, and the government's attention to it can be seen by people, and he does not know whether the two-year construction time can satisfy the high-level management.

And what does Alfonso say about this...... It was quite unexpected, because it was faster than he imagined, and he expected 3 years, which was just enough time for them to invent the electric light and then build a preliminary electric light production line.

In two years, the finished electric light will be built as soon as it comes out, and there may be an embarrassing situation where the power plant is built but useless.

Regardless, it's better to be faster than to be slow.

As soon as Alfonso inquired, he learned that the construction was carried out 13-15 hours a day, all year round, so it would be faster than he expected. (Generally from 4:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., with a half-hour lunch break in between, skipping breakfast.) ）

Alfonso has been in this world for one and a half years, and he has not been to the grassroots level, and he really does not know that the concept of weekend rest is still limited to the middle level.

The government officials he came into contact with would take half a day off on weekend afternoons, leading him to mistakenly believe that the half-rest on weekends was a universal rule, and no one had taught him about it, not even the teachers in Paris had ever told him.

In fact, the spread of the half-rest to the lower class is not far off, probably after the Franco-Prussian War, Britain and France and other countries began to implement the half-rest system.

However, at present, there is really no country in the world that gives the general public a weekend off.

Alfonso is a little excited, at this stage, Spain's labor force is in a state of surplus, and there may be a lack of market after a while, and if the half-rest can be implemented, both problems can be alleviated.

This is also the reason why the half-rest system is popular in history, the market, all for the market.

However, after careful consideration, he gave up this idea for the time being, the conditions are not very sufficient, and if the half-rest salary remains unchanged, the labor cost will increase, which is not conducive to attracting foreign investment, and it is not easy to supervise.

If the salary is reduced accordingly, the workers will not be happy and will definitely take the initiative to ask for overtime, and even the overtime pay may be lower than the normal wage.

Alfonso did not know when the Anglo-French were half-rested, and he decided to wait and see, and if it was not implemented in one and a half years, he would be the first to eat crabs.

The construction of the thermal power plant has attracted some attention, not because of its grand scale, but because of the curiosity of what the Spaniards are doing with this thing, just a voltaic battery for laboratory power generation, and there is no such thing in the world that needs large-scale electricity.

Spain has ignored these small discussions and the letters of some individuals.

The British did speculate that it was no secret that Swan was poached by the Spanish, and that the fact was still slightly known in London's engineering circles.

The Times even left a small box for this, with the headline "Spain to build its first power plant".

It's a pity that the British people and government are indifferent to this, and the large-scale establishment of state-owned enterprises in Spain some time ago made them laugh, and this time, this backward country wasted taxpayers' money to fix useless things, and they didn't bother to laugh.

The British government can see the prospect of electric light a little, but they don't care, whatever Spain comes up with can't compare with the British, let them do it, and if they really invent electric light, they can quickly kill the original with their own industrial capabilities.

……

In order to understand the rest system of ordinary people, Alfonso walked around Madrid, and to be honest, the smell of human and horse excrement made him a little unbearable, otherwise he would not have been at the grassroots level for so long.

But he still reluctantly persevered, not wanting to become the king of "why not eat minced meat" in the future.

Madrid may be one of the few places in the mainland that can compete with the coastal economy, which naturally has a siphon effect on the surrounding population.

This situation is exacerbated by the return of the Bourbon royal family, the stability of the country, and the increase in employment opportunities.

People from the surrounding countryside came to work in the factory, but there was no food in the factory, and there was very little shelter, and they could not afford to rent a house, so they had to build their own sheds to live.

In this way, a sizable slum has formed around Madrid, all of which are quite cramped wooden houses, and the sanitary conditions are extremely poor, and I don't know how many people can die in a fire.

Alfonso felt heavy after reading it, the capital of a country was like this...... He knew that London and Paris might be similar, or even worse, but he couldn't accept it.

There are still some funds on the government's account, but they are all marked with a place.

But it doesn't matter, the government doesn't have money, the royal family has money.

Counting the money from the sale of military watches and luxury watches, Wal-Mart gave him an extra 370,000 pounds in dividends this year, and the farm tool rental company gave him 40,000 pounds in dividends, and after returning to Madrid, the royal family's estate also began to make money, plus the money lent to the government before, the government is repaying interest, and he currently has as much as 1.03 million pounds in his hands.

This money is not enough to revolutionize Madrid, but it is enough to afford an initial slum upgrading program.

And he doesn't plan to renovate for free, maybe he can make money if the operation is good, after all, he and the government mentioned the slum matter, and he can get as much land as he wants for free, and the operation space is large.