Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 304: Great Army Expansion

After the Spanish Military Committee issued the order to expand the military, the defense department quickly came up with a detailed expansion plan.

With three colonial divisions and 3 colonial guard regiments, Spain's total military strength will reach an exaggerated 35.

Before the Franco-Russian Entente was formed and European countries joined the arms race, such an army was already quite large.

After all, Spain is not like France, Germany, and Russia, and does not have an open enemy. France and Germany need to guard against each other, while Russia simply needs more troops to guard its vast land.

But if the colonial army, which reached 13.8 people after the expansion, is removed, the actual size of Spain's army will only be 10.5.

Excluding the 1.5-strong Guards Division, the so-called Spanish Royal Army had a size of only a pitiful 9 people.

In order to cope with the more tense situation in Europe, it is also necessary to expand the Spanish Army. After internal discussions at the Ministry of Defense, a new and complete expansion plan was finally determined.

The colonial army's expansion plan remains unchanged. The Royal Army of Spain will expand to 12 infantry divisions, 5 cavalry divisions, 4 artillery divisions, and 4 engineering companies, totaling 17.77 people.

If the 1.51 Guards are included, the number of troops stationed in Spain will exceed 19.28, a number that can match the growing armies of European powers.

If the 13.8 colonial troops are included, Spain's military strength will reach an exaggerated 31.59. The size of this army is almost the same as that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

You have to know that the population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was close to 4000 million, while the population of Spain was only 2235 million.

An army of more than 30 is enough to make Spain a European land power. When other powers compete with Spain, they also have to consider the threat posed by the huge size of Spain's army.

After the Ministry of Defense issued the official conscription notice, conscription activities immediately caused waves in Spain.

Thanks to Carlo's emphasis on the army, even an ordinary soldier's annual income, various welfare benefits and subsidies combined are higher than the per capita income in Spain.

In addition, as the country becomes increasingly powerful, the Spaniards are not averse to fighting for their country.

Since the Ministry of National Defense announced the conscription news, the recruitment points set up in various cities in Spain have been surrounded by people who want to sign up for the army.

The conscription problem that worries many countries does not exist in Spain. While people are eager to sign up, the Spanish government is instead worried about how to select the soldiers it needs from among those who have registered.

The city with the most conscription is Madrid, the capital of Spain. As the largest city in Spain, Madrid has a population of nearly 70.

It is also because of this that Madrid has the most conscription quotas and the registration queues at various conscription points are also the longest.

For the sake of order in the city, Carlo did not choose to visit the conscription office in Madrid. However, the Ministry of Defense still reported to Carlo the latest news on conscription and the progress of Spain's military expansion every day.

After this expansion, the Spanish Royal Army will have seven more division commander positions. If the two colonial division commanders are included, the number of vacancies will reach nine.

This also means that with the expansion of the military, a large number of middle and senior military officers will be promoted.

The most representative of them is Carman Esposito, who came to Spain with Carlo. He had already become the commander of the artillery regiment with the rank of colonel. This time, with the expansion of the artillery divisions from two to four, he also has a good chance of being directly promoted to the commander of the third or fourth artillery division.

Of course, if he could be successfully promoted to division commander, Kaman would at least be able to obtain the rank of major general and become a senior figure in the Spanish military.

Andrew, who followed Carlo to Spain like Carman, was not so lucky because he majored in infantry command, which was not as rare as artillery.

This also led to Andrew's promotion not being as smooth as Kaman's. However, he was Carlo's confidant after all. After Andrew spent a year as the head of the Lanfang Military Guidance Corps, Carlo decided to appoint him as the commander of the Guards Division and the commander-in-chief of the Guards, replacing Jyoti.

Carman and Andrew, two outstanding graduates from the Royal Military Academy of Turin, are still very capable. They have been working hard since they came to Spain, so Carlo is naturally willing to promote them.

When talking about Carmen and Andrew, the two officers who came to Spain with Carlo, we have to mention Garibaldi's two sons.

The eldest son Menotti was the previous head of the Lanfang Military Guidance Group and has now been elected as the Minister of Royal Affairs of the Spanish Cabinet.

Andrew took over the position of the second son, Jyoti, but this did not mean that Carlo did not trust Jyoti. On the contrary, Carlo had a more difficult task for Jyoti, which was to go to the Congo Territory as the commander-in-chief of the garrison, commanding the two colonial divisions and a dozen colonial garrison regiments in the Congo Territory with the rank of lieutenant general, responsible for fighting against the natives in West Africa and promoting Spain's colonial merger plan.

Although the commander of the Guards Division only commanded one division, his rank was higher than all other division commanders because he also served as the commander-in-chief of the Guards Army, and was a lieutenant general.

From the perspective of domestic status, Jyoti's upcoming position as commander-in-chief of the Congo Territory garrison may not be higher than his previous position as commander-in-chief of the Guards.

However, the chances of becoming the commander-in-chief of the Congo Territory Garrison were obviously higher than that of becoming the commander-in-chief of the Guards. The main task of the Guards was to protect the capital, the palace and the king, and they would not actively participate in wars.

This also made it difficult for the Commander-in-Chief of the Guards to be promoted in rank through military merit, and he could only slowly accumulate qualifications in this position.

The commander-in-chief of the Congo garrison was different. Spain was about to launch a war against the African natives, and as the highest leader of the Spanish army fighting in Africa, the commander-in-chief of the Congo garrison had many opportunities to gain military merit.

As long as Jyoti performs well in combating the African natives, he will have a good chance of moving up to work in Spain's defense department after the war.

Jyoti's military rank goes one step further, basically including positions such as Commander-in-Chief or Chief of Staff of the Spanish Navy and Army, Minister of Defense, and Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Defense.

After receiving Carlo's transfer order, Jodi and Andrew also took action quickly.

Joti was going to travel from Madrid to the distant Congo Territory and prepare for the formation of another colonial division. Currently, there was only one colonial division in the Congo Territory, which had not yet met the requirements for Spain to start a war.

Of course, accompanying Jyoti to Africa were a group of middle and senior-level military officers prepared by the defense department for the new colony.

Jyoti will work with these middle and senior officers to train the newly formed colonial division so that it has a certain scale of combat effectiveness.

And Andrew needed to come to Madrid from the more distant Republic of Lanfang to take over the patrol work of the Guards.

As an army that Carlo can directly command, the Guards have many tasks. The Guards are stationed only a few kilometers away from the palace and can reach the palace in half an hour at the fastest.

The Royal Guards also need to send out patrols to patrol the area around the Royal Palace. There is also a guard team composed of elite soldiers selected from the Royal Guards. The patrol team and the guard team together form the defense force of the Spanish Royal Palace. It is no exaggeration to say that with the existing defense force of the Royal Palace of Madrid, it can ensure that the Royal Palace is indestructible.

Even if there were another revolution like the one during Queen Isabella's reign, the Guards would be enough to ensure the safety of the palace and royal family.

Not to mention the 1.5 elite troops of the Guards, this army is enough to deal with the attack of tens of thousands of troops.

The guards stationed in the royal palace also have a size of nearly 500 people, and these people are truly the elite of the Spanish army.

As we all know, the Spanish Guards were carefully selected from the Royal Army, and the Guards were selected from the Guards, which shows how elite they are.

Every guard in the guard team is selected after going through multiple tests. Their loyalty is even higher than that of the guards, and they are even willing to die for Carlo.

The identity of Guard Captain Brad Herrera is even more special.

As early as when Carlo just became the King of Spain, he deliberately gathered a group of orphans who had lost their parents and families for various reasons.

These orphans were all raised by Carlo, and in their education, he also instilled a lot of ideas of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.

Captain of the Guards Brad Herrera is not only one of these orphans, but also the best among them.

After Carlo expressed his desire for Brad Herrera to apply for military school, he worked hard for it without hesitation and was successfully admitted to the Royal Military Academy of Madrid.

After he successfully graduated, Carlo let him join the Guards for two years of training, and then appointed him as the captain of the Guard, commanding a royal guard of up to 500 people.

The mission of the Royal Guard is simple: to protect the safety of the royal family at all costs.

Any member of the Spanish royal family needs to be accompanied by guards when traveling, at least several dozen guards to ensure safety.

Carlo's travels were even more grand, with hundreds of guards often accompanying him, and even several hundred guardsmen for protection.

Although this may seem cautious, for the sake of your own and your family's safety, the necessary protection must be in place.

Carlo couldn't believe the medical level of this era. Even if the assassination was unsuccessful, as long as he was injured, there was a risk of infection and death.

Not to mention that if the enemy is lucky enough and hits the vital points directly, he will die on the spot.

At present, the development of Spain depends entirely on Carlo's leadership, and the little ones have not grown up yet. In this case, Carlo will never allow any accidents to happen.

This would not only destroy Carlo's efforts in Spain for more than ten years, but would also extinguish the light that Spain has finally welcomed, and plunge the country into a turbulent situation again.

In September 1884, before Jyoti and a group of officers were about to leave for the Congo territory, Carlo summoned them to the Royal Palace in Madrid and encouraged everyone.

In his conversations with these officers, Carlo reiterated the importance of the colonial annexation plan to Spain and stated that the fight against the African natives could only succeed and not fail.

In the absence of war in Europe, Spain could only demonstrate its combat effectiveness by fighting against the indigenous people.

Don't underestimate these natives in Africa. Although they lag behind Spain in terms of weapons and equipment, the natives can unite and work together, and they are also a strong resistance force.

Carlo didn't want the army he had carefully built to fail and become a laughing stock for other countries.

It would be a joke, but if other countries mistakenly believe that the Spanish army is not strong, then Spain's influence at the international level will decline significantly in the future.

Just like Italy, which successfully demonstrated the poor combat effectiveness of its army through fighting against African natives, the Italian army was subsequently looked down upon by European countries and became a laughing stock among soldiers from various countries in their spare time.

Originally, these officers did not take the idea of ​​going to the African colonial army to gain experience, but after Carlo personally pointed out the importance of fighting against the African natives, these officers began to take it seriously one by one.

As the saying goes, a soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier. These young officers who have just graduated from the Royal Military Academy naturally want to show their abilities to their king.

After hearing that great powers like France and Germany might also interfere in Spain's war against the indigenous people, the relaxed smiles on the faces of these officers disappeared. They all looked at their king with serious expressions and listened carefully to Carlo's instructions.

After all the conversations were over, the officers, led by Jyoti, saluted Carlo respectfully and enthusiastically, and then headed for the train station in a mighty procession.

They would take a train to the port, and then take a ship from the port to the African colonies.

Because the soldiers of the colonial army were all composed of local indigenous people, these officers were the only ones Spain could provide.

But the good news is that Spain immigrated a large number of Filipinos, Lanfangs and Moroccans to the Congo territory. These people can also sign up to join the colonial army and form a check and balance on the local indigenous people.

This is actually in line with Spain's colonial policy. After excluding the unrecognized black group, the Spanish colonial population is divided into two major categories: white people from Europe and Morocco and yellow people from Asia.

Because these white people are not Spanish, Spain actually treats these white people and yellow people equally.

Carlo preferred to balance the two groups and let them check and balance each other to ensure the stability of the Spanish colonies.

This is also similar to the regional balance policy established by the United Kingdom in various regions. Whichever group of people is more powerful, Spain will choose to help the weaker one.

The conflict between the two groups will not affect Spain. Even if they hate each other, they hate the party that has hatred against them.

In order to ensure that their survival status is not exploited by the other side, both sides can only desperately move closer to Spain, so as to gain the support of the colonies and ensure their own living space.

Spain first implemented this policy in the Philippines and the Lan Fang Republic, and it has been very successful so far.

The colonial government only needed to control the conflict between the two groups of people in order to effectively use their power for its own benefit.

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(End of this chapter)