Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 256 Lan Fang Conflict
After seeing the policy of encouraging childbirth formulated by the Andalusia region, Carlo immediately decided to have other regional governments follow suit to increase Spain's population growth rate as much as possible.

The policies formulated by the regions do not conflict with those formulated by the Spanish government, and people can even enjoy double subsidies.

Doing so can also strengthen people's willingness to have children. If having children has benefits, I believe most people will still be willing to have children.

Carlo is quite satisfied with the policies formulated by the Andalusia Region. By the way, Carlo is also quite satisfied with the work of the Andalusia Regional Government.

Naturally, the performance evaluations of the governor of the Andalusia region and some government officials are excellent. They will be more likely to get promotion opportunities, and Spanish newspapers will also publicize their achievements so that they can gain more support from the people.

We cannot count on those regions with a population of less than one million for the time being, but for regions with a population of over one million, it is still necessary to encourage fertility by emulating the policies of Andalucia.

The total population of these regions with a population of over one million accounts for more than half of Spain. If the birth rate can be maintained at around 4%-5%, the annual number of newborns in Spain will exceed .

Coupled with the continuous influx of foreign immigrants and indigenous people who have become Spanish citizens, it is no problem for Spain to have a net population growth of nearly 50 people each year.

With this rate of population growth, Spain's population had the potential to reach 1900 million before 3000, allowing it to gain sufficient voice in World War I.

At the same time, Spain does not have to worry about other countries copying its policy of encouraging population growth, because other countries do not attach such great importance to population, and they are not willing to spend too much money just for population growth.

While regional governments in mainland Spain were constantly formulating policies and subsidies to encourage childbirth in order to implement Carlo's orders, a conflict was ongoing on the island of Borneo, thousands of miles away from mainland Spain.

As the third largest island in the world, the situation in Kalimantan is quite chaotic and complicated. There are not only conflicts between colonists on the island, but also conflicts between the indigenous people of the island.

After the Lan Fang Republic obtained the support of Spain, its development speed was extremely fast, and its strength soon surpassed the Sarawak Kingdom in the north and the Kutai Sultanate in the east.

The Dutch were extremely jealous of the strength and prosperity of the Lan Fang Republic. If it had not been for the strong intervention of Spain, the vast tracts of land in South Kalimantan would have belonged to the Netherlands long ago.

The most fertile land on the island of Kalimantan is the land of the Republic of Lan Fang. Thanks to the cultivation of hardworking Chinese, the grain output here is several times that of the surrounding indigenous countries. The Republic of Lan Fang is also a famous grain production area in the surrounding area.

Unfortunately, this grain-producing area has been controlled by Spain, and every year a large amount of grain is transported from Kalimantan to the Philippines to be provided to Spanish colonists and local indigenous peoples of the Philippines.

The grain production on the island of Java occupied by the Dutch was also considerable, but there were a large number of indigenous people on the island, and there was not even enough grain on the island for these indigenous people to share.

If the Netherlands wanted to speed up its colonization of the East Indies, it had to have sufficient food production to support the colonial army and immigrants.

After much deliberation, the Netherlands finally set their sights on the Lan Fang Republic. Of course, they did not dare to openly invade the Lan Fang Republic, which was supported by Spain, but chose to use another method, that is, to encourage the natives to invade the Lan Fang Republic and test Spain's attitude.

The Dutch also knew that the Lan Fang Republic was training a new army. In order to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the indigenous people, the Dutch collected more than 10,000 muskets through various means and handed them over to the Kutai Sultanate and the Kingdom of Sarawak.

Relying on their large indigenous population and more than 10,000 muskets, these two indigenous countries still have great hope of posing a threat to the Lan Fang Republic.

If Spain did not support the Lan Fang Republic, then the Dutch would naturally take the opportunity to invade and regain control of the Lan Fang Republic.

It would not matter if Spain chose to support the Lan Fang Republic, because in order to mobilize troops to support the Lan Fang Republic, Spain would definitely reduce its investment in New Guinea.

In this way, the Netherlands would gain an advantage in the colonization of New Guinea and establish its own colony first.

No matter what the Spanish choose, the Dutch will not suffer any loss. As long as the Dutch do not actively join the conflict, Spain has no reason to declare war on the Netherlands.

If Spain forcibly invaded the Dutch colonies, the British would not remain indifferent. It is for this reason that the Dutch dared to plan the Lan Fang Republic with confidence, even though they knew that the powerful country of Spain was behind the Lan Fang Republic.

Before we knew it, it had been five years since the Spanish military guidance group arrived in the Republic of Lan Fang.

During these five years, the Lan Fang Republic has developed rapidly, and its population has even exceeded 430 million.

Of course, these populations are the data after taking into account the local indigenous people, Chinese and all other immigrants. If only the Chinese, the main ethnic group of the Lan Fang Republic, are counted, the actual population of the Lan Fang Republic is still less than 60.

But it was these less than 60 Chinese who reclaimed a large piece of land, allowing the grain output of the Lan Fang Republic to always rank first among the countries and indigenous forces on the island of Kalimantan.

A lot of land on the island of Kalimantan is uncultivated wasteland. Neither European colonists nor local indigenous people are interested in it. Instead, the Lan Fang people are very obsessed with reclaiming the land.

There are generally only two types of people in the Lan Fang Republic. One is the gold diggers who specialize in panning for gold near gold mines, and the other is the farmers who live in villages and towns around cities.

If the Lan Fang Republic had not lacked fertilizer technology and its agriculture relied entirely on manpower, its grain output would probably have been greatly increased.

This is also the reason why the Dutch set their sights on the Lan Fang Republic. Aren’t these people, who hardly resist and are hardworking, better than the natives who don’t like to work and are lazy?
As the head of the Spanish military guidance group in Lan Fang, Andrew Rosso was the first to learn about the conflict that broke out on the Lan Fang border and between the local indigenous peoples.

Because Lan Fang is too far away from mainland Spain, Andrew, as the head of the military guidance group, has the right to make his own decisions.

Once the Lan Fang Republic was invaded, Andrew had the right to decide on his own to help the Lan Fang Republic or remain indifferent.

Of course, according to Spain’s current foreign policy, the Spanish government’s attitude is clearly to protect the Lan Fang Republic.

But if facing a strong enemy, such as when Britain chose to help the Netherlands invade the Lanfang Republic, Andrew could remain neutral and avoid involving Spain.

But it was obvious that the British had no energy to care about the affairs of Kalimantan at this time. The Anglo-Afghan War and the Zulu War had just ended not long ago. Although the British did not send too many troops, they spent a lot of money on military expenditures.

If there is nothing particularly important, the British will not clash with other powers at this time. After all, Britain has many enemies everywhere, and once Britain is caught in a difficult battle, there will definitely be many people who will take advantage of the situation.

Of course, Andrew also understood the importance of the Lan Fang Republic to Spain. After learning that a conflict had broken out between the Lan Fang Republic and the local indigenous people, Andrew expressed Spain's attitude to the Lan Fang Republic, that is, Spain supported the Lan Fang Republic in fighting against the indigenous people.

The Lan Fang Republic, which had received support from Spain, no longer hesitated. After all, the purpose of training 20,000 new troops was not just for show, but to protect the security of the Lan Fang Republic.

As it turned out, the Lan Fang Republic's decision to send out troops was the most obvious one.

Because after the conflict broke out in the border area, the two indigenous countries had secretly mobilized troops to invade the Lan Fang Republic.

When the new army of the Lan Fang Republic arrived near the border, they happened to encounter the indigenous army that had crossed the border of the Lan Fang Republic.

Both sides understood the purpose of their coming to the border, and as soon as they met, they launched a fierce attack.

The Lan Fang New Army had undergone five years of training. Although they had never participated in a real war, their combat effectiveness was no match for these natives.

The outcome of the encounter between the two sides was also very clear. The Lan Fang army suffered only a few hundred casualties, but it defeated the indigenous army and caused at least thousands of casualties.

When the results of the battle were reported back to the Lan Fang government, Andrew couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He was in charge of training the Lan Fang New Army. If the new army didn't perform well, wouldn't that prove that he was not very capable?

Fortunately, the Lan Fang new army performed quite well and easily crushed the indigenous army. This also proved that imitating the training method of the Spanish Army was very effective, and the Lan Fang people could also be trained into a powerful army.

Although the Lanfang Republic won the conflict, it still had to report. Andrew sent all the results of the conflict between the Lanfang Republic and the indigenous people and the encounter between the two sides back to the country in the form of a telegram, and requested the Spanish government's next move.

Because the two places are far apart, by the time Spain received the telegram, several days had passed since the conflict broke out.

The outbreak of this conflict was actually a good thing for Spain, because it proved that the colonists, including the Dutch, had not given up on Lan Fang.

If the Lan Fang Republic did not submit to Spanish rule, it could be annexed by the Netherlands at any time.

This would also make the Lan Fang people understand that only by submitting to Spanish rule could they preserve their country and regime.

The Philippines currently does not have enough troops to suppress the Lan Fang people, so the Spanish government must ensure the stability of Lan Fang.

If a rebellion broke out within Lan Fang, the Spanish government would have no choice but to dispatch troops from more distant African colonies or the mainland, which would waste a lot of time.

As long as the Dutch still have ideas about the Lan Fang Republic, the Lan Fang people will have to submit to Spanish rule.

As long as Spain takes the initiative, it can gain more benefits and advantages from Lan Fang. At present, the only railway in the Lan Fang Republic was built with Spanish capital. Although the ownership belongs to the Lan Fang Republic, Spanish capital also has the right to collect tolls on this railway for 30 years.

There are many collaborations like this. For example, most of the grain exports from the Lan Fang Republic were first purchased by Spanish capital from the Lan Fang Republic and then sold to other countries and regions.

This also led to the fact that Spanish capital almost firmly controlled the economy of Lan Fang. The status of the Spaniards in the Lan Fang Republic was extremely high, and Andrew's influence in the Lan Fang Republic was naturally also extremely high.

In order to strengthen its control over the Lan Fang Republic, Spain tried every possible means.

The good news is that the first batch of international students sent by the Republic of Lan Fang to Spain have successfully graduated, and the second batch of international students are about to graduate.

As Carlo vigorously develops Spain's education industry, some Spanish universities also have a good reputation in Europe.

This has also led to Spanish universities receiving many applications for study abroad, many of which are from European students, but also many from Asia and America.

The international students at this time were different from those in later generations. The value of international students was still very high. There were no fake universities in Spain that only offered fake academic qualifications. As long as they were key national universities, they all required students to master sufficient knowledge and have certain practical skills.

Especially famous science universities like the Royal Academy of Sciences attach great importance to the cultivation of students' talents. From the fact that these students can join the Royal Academy of Sciences to conduct research after graduation, it can be seen that the Royal Academy of Sciences attaches equal importance to students' theoretical knowledge and practical ability.

It is also because of this that the international students trained by Spanish universities all have certain abilities.

At present, the first batch of Lan Fang students sent to Spain have returned safely. They have become talents that the Lan Fang Republic attaches great importance to and are entrusted with important tasks as soon as they return to the Lan Fang Republic.

Perhaps the person who is most valued at the moment is Wu Yuansheng, an international student who graduated from the Royal Military Academy.

Andrew carefully selected people from the Lan Fang Republic, and finally chose less than ten people to study abroad at the Royal Military Academy of Madrid.

Wu Yuansheng is one of the representatives. Because of his outstanding performance at the Royal Military Academy of Madrid, he was received by the vice president of the academy and was invited to serve in the Spanish army.

But because he was concerned about Lan Fang, Wu Yuansheng finally chose to return to Lan Fang, and the Spanish side did not stop him.

Wu Yuansheng and others who had just returned to Lan Fang were highly valued by the Lan Fang government. These military academy students were given the positions of regiment leaders and the rank of major.

In particular, Wu Yuansheng, because of his outstanding performance, was promoted to lieutenant colonel by the Lan Fang Republic and served as the actual leader of the Lan Fang New Army.

(End of this chapter)