Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 117 Military Reform
The two-person meeting eventually turned into a small meeting of three people. The extra person was naturally the person with the highest prestige in the army besides Prime Minister Primo, the current Minister of Defense, Archduke Serrano.

When Archduke Serrano was summoned to the palace, he obviously didn't know what Carlo was thinking. But when Carlo said that Spain needed a military reform, Archduke Serrano was shocked at first, but then he quickly reacted and expressed his attitude: "

Your Majesty, I support the reforms you mentioned. Since the end of the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War, there has been a big gap between the Spanish army and the first-class armies in Europe.

If we cannot catch up with the now more powerful German army, our Royal Army may become stagnant and eventually become less and less effective. "

The two wars that founded the German Empire, the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War, brought about absolutely huge changes to European countries.

These two wars also marked the complete farewell of line infantry and muzzle-loading rifles from the stage of history, and breech-loading rifles and advanced artillery technology were increasingly valued by various countries.

The current Spanish army has a total of over 10 troops, of which the garrisons in various colonies add up to about 3.

This also means that there are only about 7 troops stationed in mainland Spain. If reforms are to be promoted, progress should be very fast.

But then, Archduke Serrano also gave his own question based on the current situation of the Spanish army: “However, I think that regarding military reform, we should carefully consider the environment of the Spanish army.

The composition of our military is too complicated. If we reform it hastily, it may cause dissatisfaction among some soldiers and lead to a coup."

The main body of the Spanish army is currently composed of the army during the revolutionary period and the surrendered army of the original royal government. In addition to conservative factions such as Archduke Serrano, there were also some radical factions that supported the republic in the army that first launched the revolution.

If military reforms are launched rashly, these radical republicans will certainly not remain indifferent. This will cause serious damage to the originally stable situation in Spain and may even promote the outbreak of the next civil war.

"Of course I know this, Grand Duke Serrano. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss a military reform method that can effectively solve this situation." Carlo nodded and said to Grand Duke Serrano:

Despite the difficulties, it is necessary to reform our military. Military expenditure accounts for 25.1% of our total fiscal expenditure, of which at least one-third can be saved.

If we complete the military reform, we can reduce the total number of troops to around 6 to 7, and the saved military funds can be used to purchase new weapons and equipment.

Even if we expand the army to 10 men, we can guarantee that the new army will be much stronger than the current one. For Spain, this is what must be done.”

Carlo's attitude towards military reform is still relatively firm. There are indeed capable officers in the Spanish army, but there are also many officers who are simply there to get by.

Many of the soldiers were simply peasants holding rifles. They knew nothing about military knowledge and could only aim their guns randomly when fighting.

Although this phenomenon is common in many European countries, it does not mean that Carlo is willing to see it in the Spanish army.

Spain has a small population, which means that the size of the army it can raise is far smaller than that of other powerful countries.

Given the small size of the army and the inability to guarantee its combat effectiveness, it can completely give up competing with other powerful countries.

In order to deploy troops in colonies in Europe and ensure the security of the Spanish mainland at the same time, it is necessary to have an army with more than 20 people and whose combat effectiveness is among the best in Europe.

It is currently difficult to meet the requirements in terms of numbers. After all, maintaining an army of 10 people is already a bit unbearable for the Spanish government's finances.

If the army is rashly expanded to 20, the Spanish economy will probably go bankrupt in a few years because of the huge army.

Therefore, when it is impossible to expand the number of troops, improving the military quality of each soldier as much as possible becomes the only way to improve the combat effectiveness of the army.

In the absence of the ability to develop a navy in a short period of time, Spain must have a strong army to ensure that no powerful country has the courage to invade Spain's homeland.

Prime Minister Primo pondered for a long time before speaking: "Your Majesty, the biggest problem in military reform is what to do with these streamlined soldiers.

If their job problems cannot be solved, perhaps this military reform will cause dissatisfaction among some people.”

Carlo had actually thought of this a long time ago. In the final analysis, it was because the current Spanish government was established after the revolution and took the opinions of the revolutionary army too seriously.

If it were the traditional Spanish royal government, why would it care about the opinions of the reduced number of soldiers? Anyway, if they didn't have a job, they could still become farmers and plant crops so that they wouldn't starve to death.

"The construction of the Seville Industrial Base should be almost completed, right? The first batch of soldiers who have just been evacuated can choose to work in the factories of the Seville Industrial Base." Carlo said:

I will ensure that they receive a wage at the per capita income level and that they can support their families. The current reforms do not involve the colonial army, but only our 70,000-man army.

We need to streamline the 70,000 troops to at least 50,000, and dismiss those soldiers with low military literacy and mixed thoughts. After completing the streamlining of the army, we can start the next step of the army expansion plan and restore our local army to about 70,000.

In the future, soldiers recruited by Spain must meet both physical and ideological standards. I hope that the 100,000 Spanish soldiers are all tested and excellent soldiers, rather than mercenaries who are just trying to earn a living.

As for the rest who are determined to cause trouble, there is no need to tolerate them. I believe you can solve these problems. If anyone wants to incite a rebellion, then suppress it harshly and let them know who is the master of Spain. "

Hearing what Carlo said, Prime Minister Primo and Archduke Serrano both nodded, indicating that they had no objection.

In fact, what they were worried about were the soldiers who supported the government, not the radicals who had disloyalty to the government.

Many of those unqualified soldiers and officers support the government, but their own abilities are not that good.

If a way out can be arranged for these people, this military reform is still feasible.

As for the radical republicans in the army, they are a minority at present. And even if those republicans can incite some troops to revolt, Carlo is not too worried.

After all, both Primo and Serrano, two military leaders, are stationed in the capital. Not to mention the radical Republicans, even if they join forces with the Carlists, they are destined to be unable to capture Madrid.

It is true that Prime Minister Primo offended some forces, but his reputation among farmers and neo-liberals is quite high.

Archduke Serrano has now become a representative of the Spanish nobility. Archduke Serrano has gradually approached the royal power, and Carlo is naturally willing to see this military leader express his loyalty to him. The two of them hit it off immediately.

Prime Minister Primo's new liberals and reformists, Archduke Serrano's conservatives, and Canovas' old royalists together make up the forces in the current Spanish government and military that support Carlo.

Those who opposed these forces, or those who resisted the Spanish monarchy, were naturally the so-called democrats and republicans.

However, after a series of policies and reforms, the current conservatives and reformists control the government and occupy the majority of seats in the Spanish Parliament.

At the same time, the neo-liberals and royalists have also formed a certain force. It can be said that the entire Spanish Parliament is controlled by these four factions.

The republicans no longer have much of a market in Spain. The monarchy and Spain are inseparable, and the absence of a king means that Spain will fall apart.

It is precisely because of this that there are more and more forces and factions supporting the monarchy in Spain, and they have formed an overwhelming advantage over the factions supporting the republic.

Especially after the defeat of the Carlists, the peasants, who made up the majority of Spain's population, also expressed their firm support for the monarchy.

Under such circumstances, even Prime Minister Primo could not change the fact that Spain is a monarchy.

Now that the decision has been made to carry out military reform, the most important thing next is to discuss the specific process of military reform and when to implement the reform.

On this point, Archduke Serrano, as the Minister of Defense, has a lot of say.

Archduke Serrano knew the situation of the Spanish army best. He also knew best how to carry out reforms and where to make changes.

After more than two hours of discussion, Carlo and the two military leaders finally agreed on a preliminary plan for the reform of the Spanish army.

After this military reform, the Spanish native army of 7 will be expanded to 10, which also means that Spain will have at least 13 standing troops.

However, before expanding the army, the 7-strong local army must first be strictly streamlined, and those soldiers and officers who do not meet the military standards must be laid off.

Officers are graduates from military academies. Basically, more than 400 graduates join the army every year, so there is no need to worry about the reserve of officers.

After the army is thoroughly streamlined, the process of expanding the Spanish army will be initiated. However, the requirements for this expansion will be very strict, requiring not only the Spaniards who join the army to have good physical fitness, but also their family background to be clean, preferably they have been farmers for generations.

The reason is very simple. Currently, farmers have the highest support for the monarchy government, and they are also the least likely to join activities against the government.

After completing this military reform, the government will also increase the income of soldiers and officers according to the financial situation. By increasing the income of soldiers and officers to stabilize the military morale, this is also what Carlo and Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano discussed.

The disbanding of the army will inevitably lead to a shake in the morale of the troops. An appropriate increase in wages will never be detrimental to the construction of the army.

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(End of this chapter)