Empire Rising: Spain

It was evident that the Spanish Government had made quite adequate preparations for this war. No matter how desperately the Ashanti Chief struggled, his tribe faced only the outcome of annexation.

The reason was simple: the technological disparity between the two sides was simply too great. The effects of cold weapons versus hot weapons were entirely different, not to mention that the Ashanti Tribe’s level of cold weapon manufacturing was uneven, lacking a mature iron manufacturing industry.

Hoping that those tribespeople wielding wooden spears and stone axes could resist the attacks of the Spanish colonial forces was like hoping that the deadly insects and viruses in the African rainforests could stop the Spaniards.

In the imagination of the Ashanti Chief, his people would take up arms and bravely resist the invasion of the Spanish colonizers. But in reality, the chaotic situation on the battlefield saw the Ashanti natives caught in great panic amid the gunshots and cannon fire of the Spanish Army, with some even dropping their weapons and running home.

The army of sixty thousand painstakingly organized by the Ashanti Chief dissipated in just a few hours, leaving only a little over ten thousand troops willing to follow the chief’s orders.

However, these over ten thousand people posed no threat whatsoever to the Spanish Army. Under the frightened or hateful gazes of the Ashanti natives, the Spanish Army soon breached the tribe’s outermost defenses, advancing grandly towards the chief’s center.

At this moment, the Ashanti Chief finally realized that relying solely on his tribe was no longer enough to stop the Spaniards’ advance. To drive the Spaniards out of the Asante Federation, he would need substantial support from other tribes.

After ordering the remaining troops to resist the Spanish Army as much as possible, the Ashanti Chief fled to a large neighboring tribe, taking his few remaining trusted aides and some food and supplies with him.

As long as the remaining ten thousand could barely hold off the Spanish Army, even for just a little while, he would have ample time to reach the large neighboring tribe and use food, supplies, and future-related powers to win over other tribes to support him.

Although his tribe was about to be occupied by the Spanish Army, if the other large tribes united, they could still organize a force of hundreds of thousands to resist the Spanish Army’s advance.

That’s how the Asante Federation previously dealt with the British colonial advances. Although the British seized a lot of territory, it at least managed to protect itself from being completely annexed by the British.

Just as the Ashanti Chief hurried to nearby other native tribes with his few trusted aides, the Spanish Army had already pushed their assault into the Ashanti Tribe’s interior.

As the chief of the largest tribe in the Federation, the Ashanti Chief’s residence differed greatly from the other natives.

The dwellings of other natives were primarily made of wooden planks, thatch, mud, and stakes, with very small areas, and they lacked beds.

As a chief, the Ashanti Chief’s house was constructed with stone and cement, surrounded by a circle of stakes serving as a fence.

Of course, the roof was still made of thatch. However, the chief’s house was much larger, with even the doorway covered with a mat made of thatch.

On either side of the chief’s residence were slightly smaller buildings, seemingly a meeting place for the tribe and living quarters for trusted soldiers.

Aside from the cement and stone walls visible at the chief’s residence, no cement products could be seen anywhere else in the Ashanti Tribe.

This was also why the Spanish Army quickly penetrated the inner part of the tribe; the mud walls couldn’t withstand a regular army’s attack unless these mud walls were tens of meters thick.

But clearly, these natives didn’t have the technology to build tens of meters wide walls. Europeans were even less likely to leak their reinforced concrete technology to them, not to mention whether they could even learn it.

Because of the distinctive nature of the Ashanti Chief’s residence, the Spanish Army immediately noticed this rather unique building.

The over ten thousand soldiers left by the Ashanti Chief to impede the Spanish Army’s advance eventually fled when the Spanish Army breached the tribe’s interior.

They had no choice but to run. If they didn’t, the Spanish Army wouldn’t show any mercy. Once they witnessed the deep red blossoms of blood from their friends under the enemy’s guns, and some unlucky ones hit by shells couldn’t even have recognizable bodies found, these tribespeople initially obeying the chief’s orders quickly deserted their beliefs.

There was no choice; life was important. Some who risked their lives to follow the chief’s orders were eliminated as soon as the Spanish Army arrived, having no chance for resistance.

With no one left to hinder the Spanish Army’s advance, the Ashanti Chief’s residence was swiftly occupied by the Spanish Army.

But this was just the first step. For the Ashanti Tribe and the other tribes forming the Asante Federation, Spain had only one attitude: push them further north into the primordeal forests, and those unwilling to relocate would be directly eliminated.

Of course, some native populations would be kept as free labor. These populations did not include local native women, in order to prevent the proliferation of African natives on Spanish-controlled land.