Empire Rising: Spain

Tens of thousands of Bam soldiers charged down from the mountains, targeting the already dispersed Spanish Army.

The Spanish soldiers, upon seeing the indigenous forces descending from the mountains, retreated even faster. Many soldiers abandoned their helmets and armor; hats were lost, and rifles were missing from their hands.

In an instant, at least a thousand rifles were abandoned on the battlefield.

The Bam Sultan would not let such a good opportunity slip away, immediately ordering his soldiers to sweep the battlefield and collect all the weapons and equipment abandoned by the Spaniards.

There’s no doubt that the rifles equipped by the Spanish Army are more advanced than those of the Bam Army. Once these rifles are fully equipped in the troops, the Bam Sultan would have greater confidence in resisting the Spaniards’ attacks.

With the Bam Sultan’s order, the indigenous soldiers were not in a hurry to pursue the Spanish Army; instead, they began collecting the scattered rifles on the battlefield.

Shoes, hats, rifles, bullets—the items left behind by the Spanish soldiers on the battlefield were various. From these discarded items, one could see the panic among the Spanish Army during retreat, which further reassured the Bam Sultan.

From the current situation, the collapse of the Spanish Army was undoubtedly real. Although it was unclear why the well-equipped Spanish Army collapsed so quickly, it was undoubtedly favorable for the Bam Kingdom.

Before the Bam Sultan could rejoice for long, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed.

Boom! Boom boom!

First, the artillery of the Spanish Army unceasingly fired at the Bam Army, causing the Bam soldiers who were sweeping the battlefield to panic, frantically searching for cover to protect themselves.

Under the suppression of artillery fire, these indigenous forces hid behind cover, not daring to show themselves, creating an opportunity for the Spanish Army’s advance.

In the terrified gaze of the Bam Sultan, a continuous stream of Spanish soldiers surged forward, advancing towards the chaotic Bam Army.

Under the artillery suppression, the Bam Army couldn’t react at all. To collect rifles, these indigenous troops had scattered far apart, and some hadn’t even realized the Spanish Army had launched an attack.

Suddenly, the indigenous forces were surprised to find the Spanish artillery had stopped firing.

Before they could catch their breath, they immediately heard a barrage of gunfire.

Bang! Bang bang!

As one companion after another fell beside them, the group of indigenous forces finally reacted, hurriedly picking up their rifles to retaliate.

Except they forgot one thing: the significant difference between muzzle-loading rifles and breech-loading rifles.

Although the Bam Army also had a large number of rifles, most were muzzle-loaders, whereas breech-loaders were exceedingly rare.

The reason for this is simple. Firstly, countries in Europe hadn’t been equipping breech-loaders for long; breech-loading rifles were a product of the past decade.

Secondly, the weapons sold to these indigenous countries weren’t from formal arms factories but from private trading companies and other forces.

These people likely couldn’t acquire large numbers of breech-loaders; instead, the outdated and gradually phased-out muzzle-loaders were abundant, which was why these African indigenous forces were heavily equipped with muzzle-loaders.

Since muzzle-loading rifles were already redundant in the armies of various countries, private trading companies only needed to spend a small cost to buy a large number of rifles and bullets.

Once these rifles were shipped to Africa, they were worth more than new guns, as these indigenous forces lacked any ability to produce rifles.

The cycle resulted in trading companies making a significant profit just from margins. Not to mention they would also receive a large amount of ivory and palm oil from various African tribes, which, when shipped back to Europe, would yield even greater profits from Europeans.

If this were in the era before the abolition of slavery, the main product of these trading companies would also include African slaves.

Unfortunately, after the abolition of slavery in European and American countries, slave trade lost its biggest market, and African slaves were no longer the main product for trading companies.

However, similar human trafficking existed in the vast African and other colonies.

After all, not all colonies had a sufficient population, and even if there were a local workforce, labor costs would be far higher than these virtually free African laborers.

Why were African slaves so popular in America? The reason is none other than African slaves were not considered as humans. Not to mention their labor earnings, ensuring even three meals a day was not guaranteed.

The slave owners could continuously exploit the African slaves for income, and the money earned could be used to purchase new slaves, with no worry about this cheap labor force dwindling.

There’s an interesting rumor. It’s said that one significant reason future African Americans had well-developed limbs was that the African slaves sold to America then were carefully selected by slave traders, who ensured they were physically robust.

Even if those with slightly weaker bodies could pass the selection by slave traders, they might not withstand the long sea journey.

Before the birth of Ironclads, European countries relied on Sailing Warships for their transoceanic journeys, using wind as their source of power.

This greatly increased the time required to travel from Africa to America. During the era of the slave trade, transporting African slaves to America would take at least one and a half to two months.