Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 131: Debate on Military Expansion

In fact, for every colonial country, colonial resistance has always been the most troublesome thing and the biggest expense in managing the colonies.

Spain currently has three large colonies: Cuba, the Philippines and southern Morocco.

Among these three colonies, except for Southern Morocco which had just been occupied and had no large-scale resistance, there were large-scale resistances in the other two colonies.

For the Spanish government, it certainly hopes that the two colonies of Cuba and the Philippines can be stable and generate continuous income to support the development of Spain.

Only when Spain becomes stronger can it better preserve these colonies, while at the same time allowing Spain's sphere of influence to continue to expand, and ultimately achieve Spain's revival.

In order to ensure the stability of the colonies of Cuba and the Philippines, after discussions at the cabinet meeting, it was finally decided to increase the size of the garrisons in the two colonies.

As mentioned before, the total size of the Spanish army was only about 10, including about 7 native troops and about 3 colonial garrison troops.

As one of Spain's most important colonies, Cuba has a total of 1.2 colonial garrisons, making it the Spanish colony with the largest number of garrisons.

The second place is the Philippine colony, with a total of about 4000 garrisons. Around the Philippines, Spain also has a colony in Kalimantan, with a garrison of about 3000 people.

Yes, Spain also had a colony in Kalimantan. Although the history of the Sulu colony is only 30 years, it is indeed a Spanish colony at present, and the total area is not small.

Spain stationed a total of about 7000 troops in the Philippines and Sulu, which also proves that the Philippine colonies, including Sulu, were still very important to Spain.

In addition to the two extremely important colonies of Cuba and the Philippines, Spain also has more than 8000 troops stationed in the northern Moroccan cities of Ceuta and Tetouan.

Apart from these three colonies with garrisons of thousands, the remaining colonies, including Puerto Rico, Guinea and the Canary Islands, had garrison numbers of just over 1000 soldiers each.

Of course, the southern Moroccan colonies are also expanding their garrison forces. Although the number of these colonial garrison forces seems large, only about half of them are real Spaniards, and the rest are native soldiers recruited from the colonies.

If only the Spanish were counted, the number of troops in the colonies was still a little small. Especially in Cuba and the Philippines, these two colonies could obviously afford more troops, and it was necessary to strengthen the size of the local army to ensure the stability of these colonies.

All the colonial garrisons together numbered about 14 regiments, with a total strength of about 3.22 men.

With such an army size, it would not be easy to support the Spanish mainland under certain circumstances, let alone maintain the stability of Spain's existing colonies.

It is very necessary to expand the size of the existing colonial army, which is not only related to the stability of Spain's colonies, but also to a certain extent to the stability of Spain itself.

Carlo had a say in the colonial army, which was under the leadership of the colonial government and the governor, who was appointed by the king.

In this regard, Prime Minister Primo's influence is not as high as Carlo's. However, because Prime Minister Primo actually served as the governor of the colonies, his influence on individual colonies must be much higher than Carlo's.

"Mr. Prime Minister, I suggest increasing our 14 colonial garrison regiments to 25, and the problem of insufficient troops in the colonies can be solved." Colonial Affairs Minister Scotti Alvarez expressed his opinion on the problem of insufficient colonial troops. But before Prime Minister Primo expressed his attitude towards this opinion, Finance Minister Ewald Bartel stood up and retorted: "Mr. Scotti, have you ever thought that the kingdom's finances are simply unable to afford such a size of colonial army?

The 25 garrison regiments have a strength of nearly 6 men. Do our colonies really need so many people?"

It is very common in the cabinet for the Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs and the Chancellor of the Exchequer to have different opinions, after all, they consider issues from different perspectives.

As Colonial Secretary, Scottie was of course thinking about expanding the colonial army and enhancing the influence of the colonies, which would also indirectly enhance his influence as Colonial Secretary.

As the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Ewald had to protect the country's finances first. If any cabinet minister could take away a large amount of the fiscal budget through proposals, the Ministry of Finance would lose its function.

Finance is very important as the core of a state department, and Ewald is also one of Prime Minister Primo's confidants.

It was precisely because he knew that Prime Minister Primo's attitude towards reform and local development was higher than that of colonies that Ewald was the first to stand up and oppose Scotti.

If the government's finances were all used to expand the colonial army, what would happen to the development of the homeland?

Carlo watched the officials quarreling without making any move. Even though Carlo had a say in colonial affairs, as a king, it was better not to clearly favor one side before the ministers had a conclusion.

This not only makes you invincible, but also allows you to use other people's means to achieve your own goals.

If Carlo clearly expressed his support for one side in the meeting, he would not only offend the other party being refuted, but would also make himself highly associated with the supported party.

It is obvious that the current Spanish cabinet government is still led by Prime Minister Primo, and Carlo is also waiting for Prime Minister Primo's opinion.

Seeing that his subordinates had been arguing for a long time without reaching a clear result, and that Archduke Serrano and Carlo, who had the final say, had no intention of speaking out, Prime Minister Primo had no choice but to stand up and stop the debate in the cabinet government.

"There is nothing to argue about this matter. The armed forces of our colonies are indeed somewhat weak, but we cannot expand them significantly." Prime Minister Primo said:

Taking into account the financial capabilities of our government, I believe it would be most appropriate to expand the number of colonial garrisons to around 20.

If there are too many, it will affect the government's finances and harm the development of the mainland. But if the army is not expanded, the problems of the colonies will continue, which is also not good for Spain's development.

Your Majesty, I think we should expand the number of colonial garrison regiments to 20, and equip these colonial troops with a certain number of Spanish officers, and some local natives can be recruited as soldiers.

As long as Spanish officers were there to maintain order in the army, the stability of these colonial armies would be ensured.”

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(End of this chapter)