Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 146: Chapter 129: The Debate on Military Expansion

In fact, for every colonial country, colonial resistance has always been the most troublesome issue, as well as the biggest expense in managing colonies.

Currently, Spain has three major colonies: Cuba, the Philippines, and Southern Morocco.

Among these, apart from Southern Morocco, which is newly occupied and faces no large-scale resistance, the other two colonies have significant resistance.

For the Spanish Government, it is certainly hopeful that the colonies of Cuba and the Philippines can be stabilized, continuously generating income to support the development of Spain itself.

Only by making Spain stronger can these colonies be better retained, while also enabling the continuous expansion of Spain’s sphere of influence, ultimately leading to the revival of Spain.

To ensure the stability of the colonies in Cuba and the Philippines, after discussions in the Cabinet meeting, it was finally decided to increase the garrison size in these two colonies.

It was mentioned earlier that the total size of the Spanish army is only about 100,000, with approximately 70,000 in the home army, and about 30,000 in the colonial defense forces.

As one of Spain’s most important colonies, Cuba’s colonial garrison numbers a total of 12,000, making it the colony with the most garrison troops under Spain’s command.

Ranking second is the Philippine Colony, with a garrison totaling around 4,000. Additionally, in the surrounding area of the Philippines, Spain also possesses a colony in Kalimantan, with around 3,000 troops stationed.

Yes, Spain also once had a colony on Borneo island. Although the history of the Sulu colony is only 30 years long, it is indeed a Spanish colony at present, with a considerable total area.

Spain stations a total of about 7,000 troops in the Philippines and Sulu, indirectly proving the importance of the Philippine Colony, including Sulu, to Spain.

Besides the two extremely important colonies of Cuba and the Philippines, Spain also stations over 8,000 troops in the northern Moroccan cities of Ceuta and Tetouan.

Apart from these three colonies with thousands of troops, the remaining colonies, including Puerto Rico, Guinea, and the Canary Islands, each have just slightly over 1,000 soldiers.

Of course, the Southern Morocco Colony is also currently expanding its garrison size. Although the number of troops in these colonial defense forces appears large, only about half of them are true Spaniards, with the rest being local indigenous soldiers recruited from the colonies.

If counted by Spaniards alone, the number of troops in each colony is still somewhat low, especially in Cuba and the Philippines. These two colonies clearly could support more troops, and there is indeed a need to strengthen the local military size to ensure the stability of these colonies.

The total number of colonial defense forces adds up to about 14 regiments, with a total force of approximately 32,200.

With such a military scale, not to mention supporting the Spanish mainland in specific situations, even maintaining the stability of Spain’s existing colonies is not so easy.

Expanding the size of existing colonial forces is very necessary. This not only concerns the stability of Spain’s colonies but also, to a certain extent, the stability of Spain itself.

Regarding colonial troops, Carlo still holds considerable influence. The colonial troops are subject to the leadership of the colonial government and governors, while colonial governors are appointed by the King.

In this regard, Carlo’s influence is higher than that of Prime Minister Prim. However, since Prime Minister Prim has actually served as a governor of a colony, his influence on certain colonies is undoubtedly much greater than Carlo’s.

“Your Excellency Prime Minister, I suggest that we increase our 14 colonial defense regiments to 25, which would solve the problem of insufficient troops in the colonies.” Secretary of State for the Colonies, Scotty Alvarez, expressed his opinion on the issue of insufficient colonial troops.

But before Prime Minister Prim could express his stance on this opinion, Minister of Finance Ewald Bartel stood up, countering: “Mr. Scotty, have you considered that the Kingdom’s finances are incapable of supporting such a scale of colonial troops?

Does our colony genuinely need as many as 60,000 soldiers across 25 regiments?”

Diverging opinions between the Secretary of State for the Colonies and Minister of Finance in the Cabinet were already common, as they approach problems from different perspectives.

As the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Scotty naturally thinks of expanding the colonial forces to enhance colonial influence, which could indirectly increase his influence as a minister.

Whereas Ewald, as the Minister of Finance, prioritizes safeguarding the nation’s finances. If any Cabinet Minister could propose diverting much of the financial budget, the Ministry of Finance would lose its purpose.

Finance is extremely important as the core of national departments, and Ewald is one of Prime Minister Prim’s confidants.

Precisely because he understands that Prime Minister Prim values reform and home development more highly than the colonies, Ewald stood up as the first to oppose Scotty.

If all the government’s finances were used to expand the colonial military, then what about the development of the mainland?

Carlo watched the officials’ argument without making any moves. Even though Carlo has a say in colonial matters, as a King, it is best not to explicitly support one side until the ministers reach a conclusion from their debate.

This not only keeps him invulnerable but also allows him to achieve his goals through others’ means.

If Carlo clearly expressed support for one side during the meeting, he would not only offend the rebutted party but would also associate himself closely with the supported party.

Currently, it is evident that Prime Minister Prim still holds sway in the Spanish Cabinet Government, and Carlo is also awaiting Prime Minister Prim’s opinion.

Seeing that the subordinates had argued for a long time without reaching a clear conclusion, and since neither Grand Duke Serrano nor Carlo showed any intention to step forward, Prime Minister Prim had no choice but to stand up and halt the Cabinet Government’s debate.

“There’s nothing worth arguing about this. Our colonial armed forces are indeed somewhat weak, but we can’t drastically expand the military,” Prime Minister Prim said:

Given our government’s financial capability, I think expanding the colonial defense regiments to around 20 is most appropriate.

If it’s too many, it will affect the government’s finances and harm domestic development. But if we don’t expand, the problems in each colony will persist, which is also detrimental to Spain’s development.

Your Majesty, I think we should expand the number of colonial defense regiments to 20, while equipping these colonial forces with a certain number of Spanish officers, and recruit some local indigenous people as soldiers.

As long as there are Spanish officers maintaining order in the military, the stability of these colonial forces can be ensured.”