Empire Rising: Spain

The South Morocco Colony, closest to the homeland, has a total military force of approximately 7,000 soldiers with 3 Colonial Defense Corps, while the Congo Territory also has a similar force of 3 Colonial Defense Corps with approximately 7,000 soldiers.

The Guinea Colony has a total force of 4,600 soldiers with two Colonial Defense Corps.

Even counting the Colonial Division that Manuel is about to establish, only the Guinea Colony has sufficient military forces among the Spanish colonies.

The stability of the Cuban Colony has always been an issue. With just six Colonial Defense Corps amounting to only 14,000 soldiers, it’s hard to ensure Cuba’s stability.

South Morocco naturally needs no further explanation. The hatred from the northern Kingdom of Morocco towards Spain has deepened, and given Spain’s assimilation policy in South Morocco, it is necessary to deploy more troops for the defense of Morocco.

The Philippines currently has two directions for expansion: one is to continue expanding on Borneo, and the other is to extend its reach to New Guinea, engaging in colonial competition with major powers.

No matter which expansion direction is chosen, Morocco needs more colonial forces to safeguard the colony’s security.

The Congo Territory, naturally, goes without saying. It is already an area close to a million square kilometers in size. Even with a Colonial Division formed, it may not be able to manage the large indigenous population within the colony.

If Spain only intends to use part of the indigenous labor for the slow development of the Congo Territory, then two thousand soldiers would be enough to ensure its safety.

But Spain’s intent extends beyond just a portion of the indigenous people, aiming to rapidly develop the Congo Territory using hundreds of thousands of indigenous people.

Therefore, the defensive forces in the Congo Territory need to be strengthened to ensure that the indigenous people do not unite against Spanish rule.

The only colony without a worry of insufficient military force might just be the Guinea Colony, which is not planning to expand.

In fact, the direction for expansion of the Guinea Colony is still abundant. Spain’s Guinea Colony is quite large, even though it only covers coastal areas, it involves several future African countries, including Nigeria, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea.

Whether expanding northward or eastward, the Guinea Colony can acquire hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land. These lands are suitable for agricultural development and are located on the coast, making maritime transportation convenient.

But due to the lack of sufficient manpower and financial resources in Spain, they can only focus on developing one colony, thus temporarily giving up on the development of the Guinea Colony.

Since taking the throne, Carlo has indeed temporarily abandoned the development of the Guinea Colony, and the expansion of the Guinea Colony has also been slowed down.

However, with the development of the Congo Territory, the expansion of the Guinea Colony is inevitable. Carlo’s plan for the Congo Territory is to form a triangular area along the Congo River with the Guinea Colony, and Spain will fully occupy this triangular zone.

According to the area calculation, this will be a region close to 3 million square kilometers, including the two Congos, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Central Africa, among other future countries.

As for the Congo Kingdom, south of the Congo River, which is future Angola and other regions, it is currently under Portuguese control, and Carlo does not plan to have a conflict with Portugal.

After all, there is still a vast amount of unclaimed land in Africa for Spain to explore, making it unnecessary to focus on Portugal for now.

Doing so would only intensify the conflict between Spain and Portugal, and would also undermine Carlo’s plans in Portugal.

If the Portuguese develop an excessive hatred towards the Spaniards, it would never be possible to annex Portugal in the future. Although there is not much difference between the Portuguese and the Spaniards, integrating the Portuguese into the larger Spanish group cannot be achieved without decades or even a century.

This depends on internal issues within Portugal, leading to a loss of confidence in their government and royal family among the Portuguese.

If Spain forcibly invades and annexes Portugal, the outcome would be no different from Spain’s historical annexation of Portugal. A forced annexation would only result in the Portuguese holding more animosity towards the Spaniards, ultimately leading to a separation between the two peoples.

Judging from the troop deployment of each colony, both the South Morocco Colony and the Philippine Colony need further expansion of their military forces.

After discussing with Duke Serrano, Carlo also decided to expand the number of Spanish Colonial Defense Corps to 30.

This number represents a ten-unit increase from the original, marking a 23,000-strong military expansion. Manuel’s colony has 8 Colonial Defense Corps, exceeding 20,000 soldiers, which is also the reason Carlo decided to immediately expand by 10 Colonial Guard Corps.

Because the Congo Territory requires an additional 3 Defense Corps beyond the existing 3 Colonial Defense Corps, the remaining 7 Defense Corps have to be distributed among the other colonies.

After consideration, Carlo decided to dispatch 2 Colonial Defense Corps each to the Cuban, Philippine, and South Morocco Colonies, and an additional 1 Colonial Defense Corps to the Guinea Colony.

This ensures that Cuba, the Philippines, and South Morocco can continue to maintain stability. Especially in Cuba, maintaining stability is crucial until Spain can reach a colonial exchange agreement with foreign powers.

The decision to continue sending additional troops to the Guinea Colony also takes into account the future needs of the Congo Territory. In case of a military requirement, troops can be redeployed from the closer Guinea Colony.

As a result, the Guinea Colony will have 3 Colonial Defense Corps. In the event of an emergency, at least 2 Colonial Defense Corps can be quickly dispatched to the Congo Territory.

A Colonial Division, along with the addition of 2 extra Colonial Defense Corps, amounts to nearly 25,000 soldiers.

Frankly, Carlo doesn’t believe that the indigenous people in the Congo Territory could pose a threat to this 25,000-strong army.

Although the Colonial Defense Corps lack serious heavy firepower weapons, the 10 Colonial Defense Corps possess 30 cannons, which the indigenous people without modern weapons cannot hope to challenge.

Historically, Belgian King Leopold II, after acquiring the Congo, ensured the stability of the Congo with barely over 10,000 troops, and implemented a rather brutal rule in the Congo.

Carlo’s rule in the Congo is not as brutal as Leopold II’s. After all, this king was known for having people’s hands chopped off at the slightest provocation. Although Leopold II never personally set foot in the Congo, under his rule, at least several million Congolese had their hands and feet chopped off, a number far from anything Carlo could achieve.