Empire Rising: Spain

November 11, 1876, Lanfang Republic, Borneo.

It has been a long time since the Lanfang Republic formally launched cooperation with Spain, and the changes brought to the Lanfang Republic are also obvious.

Apart from the newly formed army consisting of twenty thousand people currently undergoing training, a large Spanish language training school has also been established within the Lanfang Republic.

This training school not only offers free Spanish language training to Lanfang citizens but also provides those who have mastered Spanish with higher-paying job opportunities.

Although the Lanfang Republic was formed as a gathering place for Chinese gold seekers, there are many civilians within this vast settlement, and not all of them are gold seekers.

For gold seekers, they might not be interested in such high-paying jobs. But for the civilians of the Lanfang Republic, the jobs offered by the Spaniards are quite attractive.

Although the number of military advisory teams sent by Spain is not large, dozens of Lanfang people are currently working for the Spaniards.

What is their job content? Besides acting as translators, they also work in the Spanish language school to help more people master Spanish.

Even though the Lanfang population is small, Lanfang is backed by the populous country to the north, showing great potential.

The purpose of Spain in establishing a Spanish language school in Lanfang is precisely to attract a portion of Lanfang people to Spain and the Philippines.

Of course, the main focus is still on the Philippines. If the Philippines consists only of Filipinos, these Filipinos won’t remain placid indefinitely.

However, if the Philippines can develop a balance between Filipinos and Lanfang people, mixed with other ethnic groups, it will ensure stability across the Philippines region.

At that point, whether Filipino or Lanfang, it will be very difficult to stage an armed rebellion for independence, as they face not only Spanish colonizers but also other ethnic groups in the colonies.

Under such circumstances, the only way to fight the colonizers is by uniting multiple ethnic groups to confront them together.

As long as the Spanish Government mediates, this scenario is very unlikely to occur. After all, it’s challenging for different ethnic groups to unite, as everyone has their own interests.

Achieving a scenario of confrontation between Filipinos and southern people is impossible in the short term. After all, Filipinos have formed a population scale, while the southern population is insufficient; creating scale within the Philippines requires a lengthy timeline.

Fortunately, Spain still has ample time to plan, without immediate concerns over the safety in the Philippines.

Historically, Spain lost the Philippines mainly due to the Cuban rebellion attracting the United States’ covetous gaze, as the Spanish-American War erupted, implicating the Spaniards to lose the Philippines.

With no significant issues in Cuba, the Philippines remains relatively stable at present. From historical experience, Spain still has at least 20 years to handle issues in the Philippines.

If Cuba can be considered for abandonment, then holding on to the Philippines for the medium to long term can be considered. Unless there is an exchange for a more valuable or a longer-term colony, it’s better to keep the Philippines for now.

After all, possessing the Philippines allows Spain to influence Southeast Asia, a region with high economic value after the invention of the automobile.

Just the rubber industry alone is enough for Carlo to consider holding onto the Southeast Asia colony. Not to mention the land in Southeast Asia also contains other resources; the numerous indigenous people are also excellent cannon fodder.

Allow these indigenous people some development time, and by the outbreak of a future war, the lands of the Philippines and Borneo could provide Spain with at least a million troops.

This can nicely offset Spain’s population disparity, allowing Spain to deploy more troops in a war. Whether genuinely participating in a future war to contend with military power and national heritage against European great powers, or using the military as a final bargaining chip with Spain’s unique geographical position, demanding more benefits is a very good choice.

So far, Carlo remains quite vague regarding a future war, with no concrete plans for Spain.

If sufficient benefits can be achieved without participating in the war, like the United Kingdom willing to cede Gibraltar, or the UK conceding the entire Morocco to Spain, etc.

If such benefits can be attained without participating in the war, then Spain naturally need not sacrifice meaninglessly, for wars are waged for diplomacy, and every war’s outcome leads to diplomatic negotiations.

If a war cannot ensure Spain gains enough benefits, Carlo won’t hesitate to consider the gains Spain can acquire from the war.

But whether maintaining neutrality or engaging in warfare, Carlo’s aim remains the same, which is to ensure Spain gains sufficient benefits in a future war, be it land, fund income, or science and industrial equipment, technical data, etc., including technical talents and scientists from various industries — these are the interests Carlo considers worth striving for.

Because the introduction plan for the southern population is just at its inception, currently only individual instances of southern people obtaining Spanish nationality exist.

But for Southern Morocco, where the population introduction plan has been executed for years, the plan has achieved fairly significant results.