Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 226 Military Training and Machine Gun Company
It is obvious that the Spaniards' support for the reserve force is proportional to their enthusiasm for joining it.

From the official formation of the reserve force at the end of August to the beginning of September, in just two and a half weeks, the number of people who signed up for the reserve force had exceeded 5.

This is just the data submitted by the larger cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​and Zaragoza. The announcement of the formation of the reserve force was only spread throughout Spain in the past two and a half weeks, and it may take some time for all Spaniards to know about it.

This is the disadvantage of not having the Internet or even a phone, that is the lack of information.

Even with newspapers and government announcements, it would take at least half a month or even more than a month for most Spaniards to know about the formation of the reserve force.

However, judging from the current registration situation at the conscription offices in various cities, it is easy for the final number of registrants to exceed 15.

After learning the good news, Defense Minister Archduke Serrano immediately and excitedly found Carlo and reported the good news.

Carlo had actually received this information through the Royal Security Intelligence Agency a long time ago, but facing the official report from Archduke Serrano, Carlo was still quite excited.

Once the 15 reserve forces are fully formed, Spain's military strength will be second only to the five major European powers, and it can even claim to be the sixth in the world.

Italy, also a great power, is inferior to Spain in terms of the size of its army and navy. This actually means that Spain's revival has been achieved to a certain extent.

Of course, it depends on what Spain's revival means. If it is just about becoming a powerful country in Europe again, it has already been fully achieved at this moment.

But if Spain wants to become a superpower at the level of the five major powers, and wants to be the chess player rather than a chess piece on the European continent, it still has a long way to go.

Fortunately, this is not an unattainable dream for Spain, it is even a reality that can be seen in the future.

The strength of the five great powers is also relative, they are not invulnerable. The Austro-Hungarian Empire has a variety of nationalities, and the main ethnic group, the Austrians, that is, the South Germans, do not have an advantage. The Kingdom of Hungary, a component of the dual empire, has a large population and developed agriculture, which is also an unstable factor for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Needless to say, Russia's reforms were not thorough, and the problem of oppression of Russian serfs was not solved.

Even the relatively stronger countries of Britain, France and Germany are not perfect. Spain currently has little hope of becoming a world hegemon, but it still has some hope of becoming one of the top five European powers, or even the top three in the world.

This is exactly Carlo’s goal. As long as he can build Spain into a world power that ranks fifth and aspires to be third, he can actually achieve the revival of Spain.

As long as it can take advantage of opportunities such as the Boer War or the World War, Spain, which is only among the top five in the world, also has the hope of regaining Gibraltar.

As long as he could recapture Gibraltar, Carlo would be one of the greatest monarchs of Spain, and even through propaganda he could be removed from the list.

"As long as the reserve soldiers pass the screening, they can be put into training immediately." Carlo ordered the smiling Grand Duke Serrano.

According to the reserve plan, the training time for reserve soldiers is April, May and September every year.

It is now September, which is the training time for reserve soldiers.

Although it was a bit hasty to start training right after being selected into the reserve force, these young people who first joined the reserve force are also the ones who support the country and the reserve force the most.

Rather than dampening their enthusiasm, letting them get into training right away will cater to their wishes.

After all, for a man with blood, who doesn't want to experience the standard rifle of the Spanish military?
Although there is no gun ban in Spain, the sale of the Spanish army's standard rifles to civilians is also prohibited.

The only firearms legally owned by civilians are hunting rifles, which have a shooting range and power far inferior to military rifles.

If girls are naturally attracted to beautiful things, then boys are naturally attracted to guns, sticks and the like.

Although it was a bit hasty for these reservists to start training directly, they were able to touch and use guns during the training, which was what they looked forward to.

Archduke Serrano nodded.

The reason why the reserve training time is April, May and September is actually taking into account the planting and harvesting time of crops in Spain.

Spain's two main crops are wheat and rice. Wheat is harvested from May to July, and rice is harvested from October to November. The reserve training will not affect the harvest of these two crops.

The olive harvest season is from October to December, and the grape harvest season is from August to October, so they will basically not be affected.

After all, most of the population in Spain are farmers, and the training time of the reserve forces still has to take into account the harvest time of Spanish crops.

Even though most people support the reserve force, it is also the responsibility of the Spanish government to minimize the burden on the people.

Following Carlo's order, the 20,000 reserve soldiers who had passed the selection first quickly gathered around major cities.

Because the recruitment of reserve forces is distributed in various regions and cities, the training of these reserve forces will also be concentrated around various cities.

The most important training points include the largest training point in Madrid, the training point in Zaragoza closest to the military academy, the training point in Galicia in the north, and the training point in Seville in the south.

The vast majority of the first 20,000 soldiers recruited came from the areas around Madrid and Barcelona, ​​so the first training bases to be put into use were Madrid and Zaragoza.

These reserve soldiers will undergo military training for half a month at the training site, and then conduct at least two shooting training sessions at the end of the training in September.

Because military factories were rushing to produce orders from Russia and the Ottoman Empire, the rifles used by the reserve soldiers could only be selected from those previously eliminated by the Spanish army.

There is no way around it. After all, the most important thing is to trade with Russia and the Ottoman Empire to make huge profits.

Spain does not need so many rifle reserves. If all 15 reservists are equipped with rifles, the rifles alone will be a considerable expense.

The reserve force training will not involve each person being equipped with a rifle. Instead, a batch of rifles will be distributed at each training point for the reserve soldiers to use in turns.

Doing so would not only reduce the demand for rifles, but also allow every reserve soldier to undergo target shooting training, which is the most appropriate option.

On the day when training began at the Madrid training center, the Ministry of Defense was also urgently selecting usable rifles in the arms warehouse.

The Ministry of National Defense certainly has stocks of Vitali M1872 rifles. Before these stocks are consumed, the rifles used by reserve soldiers will also be Vitali M1872 rifles.

It can also be understood as a reward for those who joined the reserve earliest. As for the soldiers who joined the reserve later, if the Vitali M1872 rifle inventory is insufficient, they can only use the old rifles that were eliminated before.

In addition to paying salaries to these reserve soldiers during the training phase, the soldiers with the best performance in each class during the training will also receive additional rewards.

In addition, the reserve forces will compete in the form of companies. The three soldiers with the best performance in each company will have more opportunities, including but not limited to the opportunity to join the regular army, the opportunity to be recommended to military academies, and the opportunity to become a reserve grassroots officer.

Although it is only a reserve force, the reserve force training is also conducted in the same way as the army. The first year, the reserve officers are elite soldiers of the Spanish Royal Army and some grassroots officers. These veterans will serve as squad leaders or even platoon leaders of each class to help these reserve forces adapt to military life faster.

After the first year of reserve training, the most basic positions such as squad leader will be given to reserve soldiers.

Any soldier who performs well in training has the hope of becoming a reserve squad leader.

Those who are extremely outstanding will also have the opportunity to serve as company or platoon leaders. Although it is only a reserve officer position, it is also a good training for these soldiers.

As the saying goes, a soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier. Even if they are just reserve forces, these soldiers definitely still have the idea of ​​becoming a high-ranking official.

Carlo had anticipated this, and as long as the reservists performed well in training, Carlo would give them opportunities and promote them in various ways.

After the reserve soldiers complete their three-year service period, those with relatively outstanding performance can directly join the army.

At present, the service period of the regular army in Spain is 5-7 years, and special talents can extend it to 11 years. In addition to the salary received during the service, soldiers who meet the service period and retire normally can also choose to receive a reward or a job opportunity. This is quite important. These soldiers who have served in the army for a long time cannot master excellent work ability, and it is difficult for them to find a good job after entering the society.

Because of this, these serving and retired soldiers are extremely loyal to Carlo.

The income they receive during their service is 1.3 times that of ordinary Spaniards, and they can receive job arrangements or additional rewards after retirement. It can be said that they have received all the favors of the royal family.

If the people who had the highest influence in the army before were Prime Minister Primo and Archduke Serrano, then the person who has the highest influence in the army now has become Carlo.

However, this influence is not usually apparent, so in the eyes of most Spaniards, Spain is still a democratic constitutional monarchy, and Carlo is still the constitutional monarchy king who loves the people.

On the day when training started at the Madrid training center and the Zaragoza training center, Carlo also visited the two training centers, encouraged the soldiers who had just joined the reserve force, and gave a speech.

It can also be seen from the attitude of these reserve soldiers towards Carlo that they are loyal to Carlo, supportive of the reserve forces, and love their country.

Carlo didn't pay much attention to the subsequent training. After all, the military had extensive experience in military training, while Carlo was a layman.

Even though Carlo graduated from the Royal Military Academy of Turin, he has not had much contact with military work since then.

Compared with the reserve training, Carlo was actually more concerned about the establishment of a machine gun unit in Spain.

After purchasing machine guns from the Royal Arsenal, the Spanish military will definitely form a machine gun unit. But machine guns are very powerful weapons, and Carlo and the Spanish military do not intend to expose them at present.

This also means that Spain will not equip the existing army with machine guns, but will instead form a secret force to conduct machine gun training, and then equip each unit with machine guns when necessary.

Machine guns are mostly used for defensive battles, and do not require any sophisticated tactics. All you need to do is fire at full power when defending and suppress the enemy's attack.

This also means that when these machine gunners are dispersed to various units in the future, they will not have any impact on the combat effectiveness of the units.

On the contrary, each unit will increase its firepower with more machine guns, thereby improving the overall combat effectiveness of the army.

Of course, the defense department can only control the Royal Army, but they have no control over Carlo's Guards.

Because of the higher loyalty of the Guards and their longer service time, Carlo planned to equip the Guards with machine guns directly for training rather than forming a machine gun unit.

Because a machine gun requires 5 to 8 people to operate it, it is not delegated to the squad level, but to each company.

As long as each company has a machine gun, the combat effectiveness of the Royal Guards can be effectively increased.

In addition to infantry, cavalry can also be equipped with machine guns. By transporting them by horse, machine guns can be transferred faster and have better logistical transportation capabilities.

The disadvantage is that when the cavalry is charging, the machine gun will lose its combat effectiveness. However, considering all factors, it is still necessary to equip the cavalry with machine guns.

Compared with the Royal Army's huge demand for machine guns, the Guards had little demand for machine guns because they only had 1.5 people.

If machine guns were equipped to every infantry and cavalry company, the entire Royal Guards would only need 89 machine guns to be fully equipped.

But considering the excellent firepower of machine guns, Carlo decided to set up a machine gun company in each infantry regiment. Each machine gun company was equipped with 9 machine guns. Each machine gun was equipped with a chief and deputy machine gunner, 1 loader, 2 machine gun transporters, 3 bullet carriers and 1 messenger, a total of 9 soldiers.

In a defensive battle, a single machine gun company could stop thousands of enemies. A Guards Division had four infantry regiments, or four machine gun companies, which could stop tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of enemies.

Of course, this is under the premise that the machine gun has sufficient supply of bullets and will not be scrapped due to continuous shooting.

However, the machine gun company will definitely not be used alone. When the machine gun needs to stop firing to cool down or replace parts, ordinary infantry units can supplement the firepower to ensure that the defense line will not be breached.

The configuration of these four machine gun companies alone required the Guards Division to increase its demand for 4 machine guns on top of the 89 machine guns.

Carlo did not equip the cavalry regiment with a machine gun company. After all, most of the cavalry's tasks were to charge and cut off enemy troops, rather than defending in positions and fortresses like the infantry.

The entire Royal Guards needed a total of 125 machine guns. Carlo waved his hand and directly purchased 150 machine guns from the Royal Arsenal.

For Carlo, the Guards' purchases from the Royal Arsenal were just a transfer of money from one hand to the other.

Most of the shares in the Royal Arsenal belonged to Carlo and the royal family, and the money ultimately remained Carlo's.

Including the purchase order from the Spanish Ministry of Defense, the Royal Arsenal suddenly received orders for more than 500 machine guns.

This was a happy trouble for Maxim. Before the machine gun was invented, he was busy almost all day long, just to see the real automatic firearm in his mind as soon as possible.

But after the machine gun was born, he had to get busy again because there were still numerous orders for machine guns to be delivered.

Fortunately, machine guns are already complete products, and we only need to build a complete production line to produce machine guns on a large scale.

These tasks can also be completed by other experts in the machine gun research and development project team. After all, these experts are involved in the design of the machine gun throughout the process, and they are quite familiar with the structure and principles of the machine gun.

Long before these gun design experts joined the machine gun project team, they signed an agreement with the Royal Ordnance Factory.

After joining the machine gun project team, regardless of whether the machine gun is successfully developed or not, they are not allowed to go abroad within ten years, nor are they allowed to disclose relevant data and information about the machine gun development to the outside world.

Of course, the salary and other welfare systems during the work period will be paid according to the level of European firearms experts. Not only will there not be any harshness, but additional rewards will also be given to meritorious firearms experts.

Most of these experts are native Spanish experts. If their income is high enough, they will naturally not choose to immigrate abroad.

Those experts from Italy and Austria-Hungary who were able to join the machine gun project team had already chosen to immigrate to Spain.

Carlo is quite reassured about these foreign experts who have obtained Spanish citizenship.

Most of them immigrated to Spain with their families, and it is impossible for them to immigrate to a foreign country again with their families for no reason.

The immigration conditions of various countries were not harsh, but the difficulty was the journey to the immigration destination. Ocean voyage tickets in this era were quite expensive and also came with risks.

For most people, as long as their lives are relatively stable, they will basically not choose to immigrate.

The Royal Security Intelligence Agency also has some surveillance on the weapons experts of these machine gun research and development project teams. Of course, this does not affect their lives, and they may not even notice it.

But if anyone wanted to make a profit by selling machine gun information, Carlo would let them know how brutal the Royal Security Intelligence Service interrogation was.

Fortunately, according to the investigation information of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, many firearms experts in the machine gun research and development project team have a relatively high degree of recognition of Spain, or are relatively satisfied with the salary packages offered to them by Carlo.

In addition, with the protection of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, they naturally would not have any idea of ​​selling weapons information in exchange for benefits.

After all, if you want to sell weapons information, you have to contact foreign spies. At present, countries do not have large-scale intelligence organizations, and intelligence operations are all aimed at more dangerous countries, such as powerful powers.

There were not many intelligence operations against Spain, after all, the threat from Spain was not great at this time.

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(End of this chapter)