Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 303 Colonial Merger Strategy

As the Berlin Conference progressed, European countries also accelerated their pace of colonization in Africa.

Although Carlo had no plans to establish new African colonies, he still needed to take necessary measures to consolidate the African colonies that Spain already controlled.

After internal discussions within the Spanish government, it was decided that Spain's African colonies needed to be reduced, preferably to three colonies.

The largest colony among them is the Congo Territory. According to the plan of the Spanish government, the current Gold Coast, Guinea Colony and Sao Tome and Principe will be incorporated into the Congo Territory, and the Congo Territory will become the largest colony in central and western Africa.

In West Africa, the smaller Sierra Leone colony will also be merged with the West African colony. The new West African colony will be located in the westernmost part of Africa, with an area of ​​at least hundreds of thousands of square kilometers.

The last African colony is the South Morocco Colony. All the lands occupied by Spain in Morocco will be incorporated into the South Morocco Colony. If the whole of Morocco can be annexed, the Moroccan Colony will gradually become a native province of Spain, no different from the regions of Madrid.

As for the original plan to connect Gambia to Congolese territory, it seems that there is basically no hope of achieving it at the moment.

There were several French colonies between these two colonies, and Germany also sent some merchants and colonial expeditions into this land. It was impossible for Spain to monopolize these lands.

The good news is that the war between France and Vietnam is still going on, which also ties up some of the French government's attention.

It would be easy for Spain to merge its existing colonies, and there would be almost no conflict with the great powers during the merger process.

It is worth mentioning that because the scale of the war between France and Vietnam was getting bigger and bigger, the country behind Vietnam had to invest a lot of financial resources into this war.

The most obvious difference is that the peace faction had the upper hand before, which also led to the fact that the sales staff of the Royal Arsenal were unable to sell the weapons even after they took the initiative to approach them.

Now, feeling the threat from the French, they began to find ways to purchase firearms to resist the French attack.

During the time when the Berlin Conference was being held, the sales representative of the Royal Arsenal had already signed an arms purchase order with the other party, which included tens of thousands of rifles, hundreds of artillery pieces, and matching bullets and shells.

In terms of naval vessels, the other party also purchased several small cruisers, which are warships that the Spanish Navy has been equipped with for several years. The price is not expensive, basically the cost price at the time of construction.

It may seem like a loss to buy a second-hand warship at the price of a new one, but considering that the purchased warship can be quickly put into the war, the strategic value it plays is definitely worthwhile.

After all, Vietnam is already at a disadvantage in terms of naval power. If it does not find a way to make up for its naval power, the French army can land at the port without restraint.

Because Spain's main goal was to delay France's war progress, the weapons and equipment sold by Spain were sold at lower prices.

Because of this, Spain has sold a large number of weapons and equipment one after another.
The opponent can also effectively slow down the offensive speed of the French army.

In August 1884, the Secretary of State for the Colonies suddenly reported urgently that evidence had been found of Germany's attempt to establish colonial outposts in the Gold Coast and Guinea colonies.

This was a serious matter and immediately aroused the vigilance of Carlo and the Spanish government.

Germany's strength is beyond doubt. Although the establishment of Southwest Africa under the nose of Britain was a bit opportunistic, it was indeed land taken from the British.

If another country were to come, it might not be able to make the British give in.

The reason Britain chose to give in in the competition for land in southern Congo and compensate the Spanish government was that their colonists had not yet set foot in southern Congo.

It would not be a good thing for Britain if a dispute broke out rashly. If they wanted to reach the southern part of the Congo, they would have to cross several indigenous tribes and even the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic, which did not have such a good relationship with Britain.

These two countries may not be so famous, but mentioning the Boers, a population that widely lives in these two countries, will surely remind many people of the Boer War that broke out in the early 20th century.

Although Britain won the Boer War, the war also cost the British a lot of manpower, material and financial resources.

The cause of the war was somewhat similar to the land dispute in southern Congo. The location of Orange and Transvaal just blocked the British line connecting Cairo and Cape Town.

In addition, Britain's Cape Colony continued to expand northward, seriously affecting the living space of Orange and Transvaal.

Back to Spain's colonies, after discovering that the Germans wanted to establish colonial outposts in the Gold Coast and Guinea, Carlo immediately convened a cabinet meeting and asked the government to discuss a solution.

Whether it is the Gold Coast or the Guinea colony, Spain will never give up.

The name Gold Coast is somewhat unfamiliar to many people. This land has another name in later generations, that is Ghana.

Of course, the name Gold Coast is quite appropriate now. How exaggerated are the gold reserves here? Even in later generations, Ghana is still an important gold exporter.

Data shows that Ghana's annual gold production can reach more than 400 million ounces, or more than 100 tons of gold.

Although the annual gold production fluctuates, such gold production is enough for Ghana to become the second largest gold producer in Africa after South Africa.

Given such a huge gold reserve, Carlo would never give up the Gold Coast. Not to mention the income from cocoa and timber mining, the Gold Coast was destined to be a colony with far more income than expenditure.

Since the Gold Coast has such rich gold reserves, why would Britain be willing to exchange it?

The main reason is that although many gold mines have been discovered on the Gold Coast at this time, the reserves of these gold mines are not large.

Historically, large-scale gold mining on the Gold Coast did not begin until the late 19th century, and it was not until the 20th century that it became an important gold producing area.

Ghana's gold mines are mainly concentrated in the Ashanti region, which was conquered by Spain after it took over the Gold Coast.

The British had not yet conquered Ashanti, so naturally they could not find large gold mines on Ashanti land. Without gold mines, the value of the Gold Coast in the eyes of the British would be greatly reduced.

More importantly, Spain's Cuban colony was no worse. Cuba's sugar industry was more profitable than the gold mines on the Gold Coast, enough to clamp down on the United States' geographical location, making Cuba's strategic value even more important.

If we look at it from the perspective of future generations, taking into account Ghana's gold and other mineral resources in West Africa, it is unclear who will gain and who will lose from such a colonial exchange.

But from the perspective of the British in the 19s, exchanging a few small colonies in West Africa for a complete Cuba was definitely a good deal for the British.

Just manipulating Cuban sugar to monopolize the sugar industry in Europe and America was enough for the British to make a fortune.

Of course, doing so would also offend the United States even more. The pros and cons of this would need to be weighed by Britain, the current owner of the Cuban colony.

In order to prevent the Germans from interfering in his colonial plan, Carlo immediately decided to speed up the pace of colonial mergers and give priority to the merger of the Gold Coast and Congo Territory.

The Gold Coast to Congo Territory stretches 3000 kilometers from east to west. It is located at the bend of the African figure 7 and is a piece of land with great development value.

The gold reserves in this area alone are estimated to be at least 3000 tons. After all, the gold mines in this area have not yet been mined on a large scale, and the gold reserves are even greater than in later generations.

The total value of these 3000 tons of gold alone reached an incredible 780 billion pesetas. Adding other mineral resources in this land, it can ensure that Spain can obtain a lot of income from this land for decades to come.

In addition to gold mines, these Spanish colonies in Africa also have more than 200 billion tons of iron ore and 2 million tons of coal, which laid a good foundation for Spain's future industrial development.

200 billion tons of iron ore was more than enough for Spain's industrial development. Although 2 million tons of coal was not much, Spain's domestic coal reserves were as high as 88 billion tons, which just made up for the lack of coal in Spain's African colonies.

Judging from the map, it is still difficult for Spain to integrate the land from the Gold Coast to the Congo territory.

Especially in the nearly 1,000-kilometer coastline from the Gold Coast to Guinea, there are some powerful indigenous forces, including the Sokoto Sultanate, the Kingdom of Niger, the Aro Union, the Kingdom of Bam and the Kingdom of Benin. These indigenous forces, like the Ashanti Federation, are African indigenous people with a certain degree of civilization, rather than those backward indigenous tribes.

In order to conquer these indigenous peoples, Spain had to use more means. In addition to sending more troops to forcibly conquer them, it was also necessary to destroy the ties between these indigenous countries to prevent them from uniting to stop Spain's colonial expansion.

In order to speed up Spain's colonial annexation plan, after consultation with the cabinet government, Carlo decided to increase investment in the colonial affairs department and increase military spending in African colonies.

Last year, the Spanish government's total fiscal revenue reached a new high of 11.423 billion pesetas, and the fiscal surplus was 9970 million pesetas.

Even if the government takes out part of it to repay foreign debt, the Spanish government still has a large amount of fiscal budget to distribute to various departments this year.

The Spanish government's cabinet ministers had no objection to speeding up the pace of colonization in Africa. With the convening of the Berlin Conference, European countries tacitly accelerated the pace of colonization in Africa.

Spain must not fall behind. After all, the size of the African pie is limited and will sooner or later be divided up by European countries.

The more of this pie Spain can get, the more benefits it will get. Even if some land is not so important to Spain, it can still get the land it wants through colonial exchange.

It is also because of this that the attitudes of ministers from various departments in the Spanish cabinet meeting were quite consistent, that is, they agreed to accelerate the colonization of Africa and were willing to sacrifice the financial budgets of their own departments and invest them in colonial affairs departments and military expenditures.

Thanks to the cooperation of various departments, the Spanish government quickly raised a fund of 5000 million pesetas.

This is not a small amount of money. If you use it a little more sparingly, you can start a medium-sized war.

Investing this money in the development of African colonies shows how much importance Spanish government officials attach to the annexation of colonies.

The Colonial Affairs Department will receive an additional budget of approximately 1500 million pesetas to be used for colonial integration and construction and to provide logistical support for the army.

The remaining 3500 million pesetas would be invested in fighting against the African natives.

If there were only African natives, there wouldn't be so much military expenditure. But the problem is that with the convening of the Berlin Conference, European countries have increased their investment in African colonies.

If Spain wanted to integrate its existing colonies, it would face conflicts with other European powers.

Although Britain has withdrawn from the competition for West African colonies, with the participation of Germany, this region of West Africa will become lively.

Don't forget the British's trouble-making nature. Since Spain has offended the British many times, the British don't mind thoroughly muddying the waters in West Africa and creating even greater trouble for Spain.

Investing such a large military budget is also a warning to European powers that if they want to interfere in Spain’s colonial affairs, they must be prepared to fall into this quagmire.

At present, Spain's colonization in Africa has made great progress. The indigenous population in the Congo territory alone is as high as tens of millions.

By forcibly arming these natives, hundreds of thousands or even millions of native troops could be formed. If the European mainland was not involved and only local conflicts were carried out in parts of Africa, other European powers might not necessarily be Spain's opponents.

Of course, the huge industrial and economic gap could bring down Spain, but whether it was worth fighting to the death with Spain for a small African colony was also a question that other European powers needed to think deeply about.

Since a large amount of military budget has been invested, it is certain that the colonial army in Africa will be greatly expanded.

Currently, Spain has a total of 1 indigenous troops, including 22 colonial garrison division and 7 colonial garrison regiments. This is obviously not enough in the more severe competition for African colonies.

After discussion by the Spanish Military Committee, it was decided to expand Spain's colonial divisions to 3 and the colonial garrison regiments to 35 to cope with more intense colonial conflicts.

In this way, Spain's military force in the colonies will reach about 13.8 people, which can basically maintain the security of existing colonies.

Two of the three colonial divisions will be deployed on the line from Congo Territory to the Gold Coast. These two divisions will also be the main force in fighting against the indigenous people.

The remaining colonial division will be deployed in the West African colony, with the task of annexing the indigenous areas between the West African colony and the Sierra Leone colony.

As for the 35 colonial garrison regiments, their main role is to guard the colonies and maintain local order and security.

Therefore, these 35 colonial garrisons will be scattered throughout all Spanish colonies, contributing to the stability of Spain's colonies.

The expansion of the army is something that Spain welcomes.

First, the expansion of the army can increase the promotion channels for low-level Spanish officers. Although the treatment of the colonial army is not as good as that of the local army, the qualifications of officers in the colonial army are also substantial.

The middle and high-level officers in these colonial armies were all Spanish, which was also a means of controlling the loyalty of the army.

At present, Spain’s military academies can train a large number of military talents for the country every year. Only when the Spanish army continues to expand can these talents have employment opportunities.

Secondly, the expansion of the army also means that the army needs more weapons and equipment, which is a huge source of income for the Royal Arsenal and other small factories that produce weapons and equipment for the military.

Especially those small private military factories. If the Royal Military Factory had not outsourced many less important orders to them, they would probably not have survived at all.

After all, Europe at that time was still relatively peaceful. Although there were minor conflicts, war was absolutely impossible.

Without the threat of war, the size of the armies of various countries remained at a relatively low level. Even King Umberto I of Italy, who had always called for the expansion of the army, only increased the size of Italy's army to 20 people at this time.

The smaller the size of the army, the less damage to weapons and equipment and the less consumption of bullets, which is bad news for military factories in various countries.

It’s not so bad for larger military factories, such as the Royal Ordnance Factory of Spain and Krupp Company of Germany, as they can find foreign buyers through their own channels.

Even if they cannot find foreign buyers for various reasons, these large military factories can get support from the domestic government and will have no problem maintaining normal operations.

Small military factories are different. Due to their small size and output, they are unable to attract foreign buyers.

A better situation is like the Royal Arsenal, because the master behind the scenes is King Carlo, who is very willing to support these small military factories.

The worse situation is that large military factories are also private enterprises. The capitalists are unwilling to give up the orders in their hands, and it is even more impossible for them to transfer the orders they have already signed to those small enterprises.

When they learned that Spain was going to expand its colonial army, Spain's small military factories breathed a sigh of relief.

This expansion of the colonial army was a golden opportunity for them, allowing them to make a small profit and keep the military factories going.

The good news is that the Royal Arsenal has signed an arms order with Vietnam and the country behind it. Coupled with the orders to be signed after the Spanish military expands, the Royal Arsenal will not lack orders during this period.

Since the Royal Arsenal has no shortage of orders, small businesses like theirs have the hope of obtaining some orders from the Royal Arsenal that the Royal Arsenal does not value.

For example, producing bullets for rifles, producing some parts for firearms, etc.

Although the revenue from these orders is bound to be less than that from finished firearms, for small-scale factories, it is definitely better than nothing.

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