Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 230: Congo Territory Expansion

The news and photos of Carlo personally meeting with Sebastian Sharp, the first place winner of the bullfighting competition, were also reprinted by major newspapers, becoming the hottest news in Spain in November 1877.

Sebastian Sharp himself has the supreme honor and is known as the most powerful bullfighter in Spain. He is an idol in the hearts of many Spanish teenagers and is also admired by many young Spanish girls.

This also made many bullfighters envious, and they secretly made up their minds to achieve better results in the new year's bullfighting competitions and replace Sebastian Sharp to become the sought-after national hero.

However, Carlo had no time to pay attention to these things at this time, because in mid-to-late November 1877, bad news came from the Congo Territory. That is, some plantations established by Spain in the Congo Territory were looted by local indigenous forces.

The Congo territory created by Spain is very large, at least hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. Because there are no powerful countries in the interior of Africa to colonize deeply, Spain can occupy this land unscrupulously.

Of course, the unbridled occupation is not without cost. At present, Spain's control over the Congolese territory is not high. In fact, the only areas that can be truly controlled are the Guinea-Congo corridor involved in the railway and dozens of colonies upstream.

The combined area of ​​these colonies is only tens of thousands of square kilometers, and currently there are less than 10,000 people living there.

Outside these colonies, there were at least millions of native people living there. When the colonies were first established, the relationship between the colonies and the native people was relatively friendly.

The colonies could even exchange some food from local indigenous tribes through material trade, which was why colonies could be established in large numbers despite the shortage of materials in the early stages.

After the railway was connected, the Spanish colonies naturally no longer needed to trade with the indigenous people for food. On the contrary, whether it was building railways, developing colonies, building plantations, etc., a large number of indigenous people were needed as labor.

This also quickly damaged the relationship between Spain and the local indigenous people. The relationship between the two quickly changed from friendly trade at the beginning to hostility, and even conflicts of varying sizes broke out.

Fortunately, Spain had already mobilized a colonial garrison regiment to be stationed in the Congo territory, which ensured that no major crisis had occurred in the Congo territory so far.

However, a Spanish colonial garrison regiment had only 2300 people, and more than half of the troops were drawn from the indigenous people of the colonies.

This also resulted in the colonial garrison's weak combat effectiveness, which could only barely maintain the stability of the colony.

If the Congolese territory had maintained its current size, this colonial garrison would have barely been able to protect the Congolese territory. However, the Congolese territory was constantly expanding, and this was also to compete with Portugal for the size of the Congolese colony.

Portugal's colonization of Congo began hundreds of years ago, and they have achieved considerable results.

The purpose of Spain's large-scale development of the Congo colony was to completely control the lower reaches of the Congo River before Portugal and allow the Congo territory to have its own outlet to the sea.

It goes without saying how important an outlet to a colony is. Currently, the trade method for countries around the world is basically maritime trade, and the transportation capacity of land trains is really limited.

If we can control the lower reaches of the Congo River and open up an outlet to the sea for the Congo territory, the development of the Congo territory will usher in a golden period of development.

Moreover, the only enemy in the Congo region was Portugal, which allowed the Spanish government to expand its territory in the Congo quite unscrupulously. It has now expanded by at least 30 square kilometers of land.

The rapid expansion of Congolese territory is certainly good news, but it also comes with a host of problems.

The first thing to be affected is the security of the Congo Territory. Currently, the population of the entire Congo Territory is only more than 10,000 people, most of whom are immigrants transported from Russia.

The number of indigenous people in the Congolese territory ranges from millions to millions, which poses a considerable threat to the security of the Congolese territory.

More importantly, there are various indigenous ethnic groups living on this land, and there is competition among these indigenous ethnic groups, which makes management quite difficult.

To the east of the Spanish colony of Guinea was the territory of the Baka, to the east of the Baka was the Zande. To the south of the Baka and Zande was the Spanish territory of Congo, to the south of the Congo was the territory of the Bantu, and to the east were some indigenous kingdoms that had existed for hundreds of years.

In the lower reaches of the Congo River, there are many indigenous countries including Anziku, Rungo, Ngoyo, Orungu and Congo.

The large number of indigenous countries and tribes made the order near the Congo territory extremely chaotic, so it was not surprising that some indigenous people who hated the colonists took advantage of the chaos to loot the plantations.

As soon as he learned that some plantations in the Congo Territory had been looted, Carlo directly issued an order, requiring the Congo Territory to form a larger army to protect the security of the territory, and appointed Manuel Macias Icardusa, the commander of the garrison regiment stationed in the Congo Territory, as the commander-in-chief of the Congo Territory garrison, and promoted his rank from colonel to major general.

Carlo has been vigorously training native Spanish officers, and Manuel Macias Icardusa is a very prominent representative among them.

As the head of the colonial garrison stationed in the Congo Territory, Manuel Mathias Icardusa carries a huge responsibility.

He also made great contributions to the development of the Congo territory and was promoted to the rank of colonel by Carlo last year.

Since the Congo territory requires a larger army, Manuel Mathias Icardusa is the natural candidate to be the commander of this large-scale army.

A 32-year-old major general, his future military career is naturally quite brilliant and dazzling. Even if there are no outstanding merits and contributions, the accumulation of qualifications alone is enough for Manuel Macias Icardusa to step into the ranks of lieutenant general and major general.

As for the higher rank of marshal, in addition to seniority, it also depends on his ability and loyalty. Of course, in terms of loyalty, Manuel Macias Icardusa is certainly trustworthy.

Although Carlo intended to train native Spanish officers, he would also take their loyalty into consideration. If he was not sure of a person's loyalty to him, he would not have trained him so vigorously.

The fact that Carlo was able to train him vigorously also proved one thing: after an investigation by the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, it was determined that Manuel Macias Icardosa himself and his family were sufficiently loyal to Carlo and the royal family.

Of course, after the expansion of the garrison in the Congo Territory, it was unrealistic for Manuel Mathias Icardusa alone to control the garrison in the Congo Territory.

After all, the Congo territory is a vast area that is close to one million square kilometers, and its area will continue to grow in the future.

The territory's garrisons also need to be dispersed throughout the Congo territory, so as to better ensure that the colonies distributed throughout the territory can be well protected.

According to Carlo's plan, the garrison in the Congo Territory will be increased to the size of an entire colonial garrison division, with a total of approximately 2 people.

Because the number of artillery equipped by the colonial garrison was too small, the only way to improve the firepower of the garrison was to increase the number of people.

Considering the millions of people in the Congo Territory and the troops that could be drawn from the nearby Guinea colony, it was easy to form a garrison of about 2 people.

If all else fails, they can also draw personnel from the colonies of southern Morocco or the Philippines. Anyway, there are many Moroccans vying to join Spanish citizenship, so they can be allowed to join the colonial army to demonstrate their loyalty to Spain.

The garrison in the Congo Territory is as high as 2 troops, which means that in addition to the commander-in-chief, who is also the division commander, a deputy division commander is also needed to assist in managing an army of more than 2 people.

After considering the candidate for deputy division commander, Carlo finally decided to promote Andrew.

Andrew was one of the first group of Carlo's confidants who came to Spain. He graduated from the Turin Military Academy in Italy. Andrew was originally the commander of the 6th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division of the Spanish Royal Army, and was later promoted by Carlo to the commander of the Military Guidance Group in Lanfang.

It has been more than two years since Andrew arrived in Lan Fang, and the results achieved are quite good. With the help of the military guidance group, Lan Fang has successfully established a new army of 2 people, equipped with rifles from Spain and a small amount of artillery.

The current Lan Fang Republic is the third largest military force in Kalimantan after Spain and the Netherlands. The 2-strong new army can easily crush the natives of Kalimantan. It is precisely because the Lan Fang Republic trained the new army that the Dutch expansion in Kalimantan became difficult.

The Lan Fang Republic not only maintained its current land size, but also established closer cooperation with some indigenous people of Kalimantan.

At present, the Chinese population in the Lan Fang Republic is also increasing, and there is hope that before 1880, the Chinese population will increase to more than 60.

The Lanfang Republic has officially signed a treaty with Spain and has become a Spanish protectorate. The Lanfang Republic needs to be guided by Spain in military and diplomatic rights, but the benefit is that Spain will protect the independence of the Lanfang Republic and promise never to annex the Lanfang Republic.

Anyway, the Lan Fang Republic had previously nominally submitted to Dutch rule, and the Lan Fang government had no hesitation at all regarding the protectorate and related treaties.

Because the current situation is very clear. The Qing Dynasty, which they are waving the banner of, cannot help them at all and will not help them at all.

The Lan Fang Republic had no choice but to rely on the Netherlands or Spain, otherwise it would not be able to maintain its independence. Compared with the Netherlands, which had ambitions to annex the Lan Fang Republic, Spain's conditions were not so harsh.

Except for the need to follow Spain's guidance in diplomacy, military affairs and commodity trade, the Lan Fang Republic can have complete internal political power, and Spain will not interfere in the domestic governance of the Lan Fang Republic.

For Spain, the 20,000 new troops trained by the Lan Fang Republic will also be a great help.

Whether it is used to deal with the rebellions of the indigenous peoples in the Philippines or to guard against the Dutch and the British, these 2 new troops can play a very important role.

At the same time, an army of 20,000 was not enough to defeat the Dutch. This would ensure that the Lan Fang Republic would be under Spanish control while having a certain level of strength, and would not allow the Lan Fang Republic to escape Spanish control.

The situation on the island of Kalimantan has now stabilized. Under the protection of Spain, the Dutch have no plans to invade the Lan Fang Republic for the time being.

This also gave Carlo the opportunity to replace the members of the Military Guidance Group stationed in the Republic of Lanfang, allowing these military experts who had been stationed in the south for more than two years to return to Spain to rest and reunite with their families.

As the head of the Lan Fang Military Guidance Group, Andrew was the one who led the training of Lan Fang's new army.

Because of this contribution, Carlo decided to promote him to colonel in the Royal Spanish Army and appointed him as deputy commander of the Congo Territory Garrison Division to assist Manuel Macias Icardusa in managing the Congo Territory army.

Carlo's order was issued very quickly, but by the time Manuel Macias Icardusa received the news, it was already the next day.

There was no way, the information of this era spread so slowly. Manuel Macias Icardusa could receive the news the next day, but Andrew, who was far away in Kalimantan, would need at least several days to receive the news.

As soon as he received the news, Manuel convened a military meeting and announced Carlo's order to expand the military in the Congo territory.

Even though more than half of the 2-strong colonial garrison division were indigenous soldiers, it would still be difficult to form an army of 2.

Fortunately, a group of officers were sent from mainland Spain, which solved the officer problem of this large garrison division.

The troops can be temporarily recruited from the local indigenous people of the Congo territory, and some indigenous soldiers can also be transported from the relatively nearby Guinea colonies and southern Morocco colonies.

Manuel naturally knew the reason why Carlo ordered the expansion of the army. Spain did not want to see the plantations being looted. No matter who looted the Spanish plantations, they would inevitably be retaliated by Spain.

"Recent events have attracted the attention of His Majesty the King. We must find out who looted the plantation in a short period of time and make them pay the price they deserve." At the military meeting, Manuel Macias Icardusa took the lead in putting forward his demands.

Due to insufficient military strength, Manuel Macias Icardusa did not take much responsibility after the plantation was looted.

But he was the commander of the only garrison in Congo territory, and it was impossible for him to say that he had no responsibility at all.

Especially after learning that Carlo had been paying attention to this matter, Manuel Macias Icardusa wanted to find out the real culprit behind the looting of the plantation as soon as possible and bring him to justice to prove his ability to Carlo.

In addition to the commander of the garrison regiment, some major officials of the colonial outpost also attended the military meeting.

After all, Manuel had to announce Carlo's orders, and these orders required the cooperation of officials from the Congo territory.

At the same time, these officials can also provide some ideas that officers can't think of. As long as the real culprit behind the scenes can be found out as soon as possible, Manuel doesn't mind letting these officials share some of the credit.

“General, those who have the power to plunder our plantations are most likely some local indigenous tribes, such as the Zande, Baka, etc.

Since we can't find out who looted the plantation, we might as well treat them all equally and attack these indigenous tribes at the same time.

These natives must know who is the real culprit. Unless they are willing to sacrifice themselves for the real culprit, I believe someone will tell the truth after several rounds of our attacks." An official made his suggestion.

Although the local indigenous people of the Congo Territory are divided into different tribes and ethnic groups, they all look similar: black.

For the Spaniards, it is really difficult to tell which tribe or ethnic group they belong to.

But being difficult to distinguish is the best way to distinguish them. Since there is no way to tell which tribe they belong to, all of them can be treated as murderers who looted the plantation.

As the saying goes, it is better to kill a thousand innocent people than to let one go. As long as we ensure that all the large indigenous tribes nearby are within the attack range of the Spanish army, we can be sure that the murderers who looted the plantation are also among them.

As for those indigenous tribes that were accidentally injured, they can only blame their bad luck.

If the indigenous tribes want to avoid being accidentally injured, they can only tell who the real culprit is. As long as the real culprit is known, the next thing will be easy.

Of course, if these natives refused to speak, there was a good way to deal with it. Anyway, the construction of the Spanish colonies required a large number of laborers, and there was no need to worry about the life and death of these black laborers.

Transporting them to the major Spanish colonies for construction, and then crossing the river to demolish the bridges and slaughtering them after the construction was completed would also solve the problem once and for all.

Hearing the official's suggestion, Manuel's eyes lit up and he said without hesitation: "This is a good idea, let's try it first.

But there is a problem. Our troops are too few. It seems we need to borrow some troops from southern Morocco and Guinea first. "

If you want to attack several large indigenous tribes at the same time, you will need at least several thousand soldiers. At present, the Congo Territory only has this one colonial garrison regiment with 2300 soldiers, which is obviously not enough to attack several indigenous tribes at the same time.

Fortunately, the Guinea colony and the South Morocco colony are not too far from the Congo territory. If the action is quick, the troops of the Guinea colony can even be transported to the Congo territory within a few days. After all, the railway between Guinea and the Congo territory has been completed long ago.

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(End of this chapter)