Chapter 210: Population Introduction Plan

November 11, 1876, Lanfang Republic on the island of Jialimandandao.

A long time has passed since the Lanfang Republic officially began its cooperation with Spain, and the changes brought to the Lanfang Republic are quite evident.

In addition to the new army, which numbers as high as twenty thousand and is currently undergoing training, a large Spanish language training school has been established within the Lanfang Republic.

Besides providing free Spanish language training to Lanfang citizens, this training school also offers higher-paying job opportunities to those Lanfang people who have mastered Spanish.

Although the Lanfang Republic is a Chinese settlement formed for the purpose of gold mining, there are still many civilians within this vast settlement; not everyone is a gold miner.

For gold miners, they might not look down upon such high-paying jobs. But for those civilians of the Lanfang Republic, the jobs provided by the Spanish are still quite attractive.

Although the number of military instructors sent by Spain is not large, dozens of Lanfang people are already working for the Spanish.

What is the content of their work? In addition to serving as translators, they also work at the Spanish language school, helping more people master the Spanish language.

Although the population of Lanfang is not large, Lanfang relies on that populous nation to the north, so its population potential is still quite significant.

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

Of course, the main goal is still the Philippines. If there were only Filipinos within the Philippines, these Filipinos would not remain so docile forever.

But if a balance of power between Filipinos and Lanfang people could be formed within the Philippines, perhaps even mixed with other ethnic groups, it could ensure the stability of the entire Philippine region.

By then, whether it is Filipinos or Lanfang people, it would be very difficult for them to launch an armed rebellion to fight for independence. Because what they would face is not only the Spanish colonialists, but also other ethnic groups within the colony.

In this situation, there would be only one way to resist the colonialists, and that is for several ethnic groups to unite and resist together.

As long as the Spanish government mediates and regulates, this situation is very unlikely to occur. After all, it is very difficult for different ethnic groups to unite; everyone has their own interests and needs.

It is impossible to achieve a situation where Filipinos and Lanfang people confront each other in the short term. After all, the Filipinos have already formed a scale, while the Lanfang population is insufficient; wanting to form a scale within the Philippines will take a very long time.

Fortunately, Spain still has enough time to plan, and there is no need to worry about the security of the Philippines for the time being.

Historically, the reason Spain lost the Philippines was more due to the Cuban rebellion attracting the covetous eyes of the Americans, because the Spanish-American War broke out in Cuba, which ultimately implicated the Spanish in losing the Philippines.

With no major issues in Cuba, the Philippines is currently relatively stable. Based on historical experience, Spain has at least 20 years to deal with the Philippine problem.

If Cuba can be considered for abandonment, then the Philippines can be considered for medium-to-long-term holding. Unless it can be exchanged for a more valuable colony or one with a longer holding period, it is better to keep it in hand for now.

After all, possessing the Philippines allows for projection into Southeast Asia, and Southeast Asia will be a region with extremely high economic value after the birth of the automobile.

The rubber industry alone is enough for Gao Da to consider holding onto Southeast Asian colonies. Not to mention that the land in the Southeast Asian region also possesses other resources, and the numerous indigenous population also makes for excellent cannon fodder.

Give these indigenous people a certain amount of time to develop, and by the time the First World War breaks out in the future, the lands of the Philippines and Jialimandandao could provide Spain with at least a million troops.

This can well compensate for Spain's population gap, allowing Spain to mobilize more troops in the First World War. Whether in the future it truly participates in the First World War to compete with these European powers in military strength and national foundation, or uses the military as its final trump card to demand more benefits based on Spain's unique geographical location, it is a very good choice.

Up to now, Gao Da is still quite vague about the First World War and has not made plans for Spain.

If enough benefits can be obtained without participating in the war, such as the British being willing to give up Gibraltar, or the British being willing to let Spain occupy all of Morocco, etc.

If such benefits can be obtained without participating in the war, then naturally there is no need for Spain to make unnecessary sacrifices. After all, war itself is launched for the sake of diplomacy, and all outcomes of war lead to diplomatic negotiations.

If war cannot ensure that Spain obtains enough benefits, then Gao Da does not mind considering the gains that war brings to Spain.

But whether maintaining neutrality or going to war, Gao Da's goal is the same, and that is to let Spain obtain enough benefits in the future war, whether it is income in terms of land or funds, or technology and some industrial equipment, technical data, etc., including technical personnel and scientists from various industries—these are all benefits that Gao Da sees as worth striving for.

Because the plan for introducing the Lanfang population is only in its initial stage, the number of Lanfang people who have obtained Spanish citizenship is currently only a few isolated cases.

However, in South Morocco, where the population introduction plan has been implemented for several years, the plan has already achieved quite good results.

Because Moroccans are white, Spain's requirements for Moroccans to join Spanish citizenship have also been relaxed.

As long as one converts to Catholicism and is proficient in Spanish, one is eligible to apply for Spanish citizenship.

Of course, after applying for Spanish citizenship, one will go through a period of observation. As long as they are clean and honest farmers, they will generally possess Spanish citizenship after the observation period passes and gain the opportunity to go to Spain.

But if their background is somewhat complicated, or even carries the risk of being an extreme nationalist, then sorry, everyone including their family members will be refused the chance to become Spanish.

The observation period is generally 3 to 6 months, with a maximum of one year. In general, it can be shortened through good performance, but it cannot be shorter than 3 months.

Spain has built mines in South Morocco, and there are also some construction teams and plantations. As long as Moroccans perform well in the mines, construction teams, or plantations, they can shorten the observation period, or even ignore the condition of being proficient in Spanish; as long as they know a few words, they can obtain Spanish citizenship.

In any case, there will be opportunities to train in Spanish after arriving in Spain, so relaxing some restrictions in this regard is acceptable.

But no matter what, to join Spanish citizenship, one must convert to Catholicism. Spain's condition for European immigrants is that all religions within Christianity are acceptable, but for immigrants from outside Europe, the immigration condition must be Catholicism.

After Spain established the South Morocco colony, the population introduction policy still had a certain effect.

Currently, the number of Moroccans who have joined Spanish citizenship has exceeded 2, 00, and it is still increasing at a rate of more than 500 per year.

If it were not for Spain being too strict in the assessment of identity and background, I am afraid the speed of Moroccan immigration could have doubled several times over.

Although only 2, 00 Moroccans have joined Spanish citizenship, this does not mean that only this many people are willing to join Spanish citizenship.

Spain's attitude toward the governance of Moroccans is polarized, and it is an open and above-board double standard. For those more extreme Muslims and extreme Moroccan nationalists, Spain's attitude is quite cruel.

Their only treatment is to labor to death in mines and other places; there is no possibility of them ever leaving the mines and other labor sites in this lifetime.

As for those Moroccans who are not extreme, Spain is still willing to give them a chance. As long as they perform well during work, or have certain technical skills, or are willing to intermarry with Spanish soldiers, etc., they can all have the opportunity to obtain Spanish citizenship.

Currently, the number of Moroccan girls who have intermarried with Spanish soldiers alone has reached several hundred, which also proves that for Moroccans, there is still a considerable portion of Moroccans who are not repulsed by becoming Spanish.

After all, in terms of appearance, Moroccans and Spaniards are very similar. The real difference between the two is religion and language, but these are things that can be changed later in life.

There are indeed quite extreme believers in the Muslim religion, but there are also some who are not extreme, or rather, believers who do not have a deep recognition of the religion.

When it comes to their own interests, religion and the like are not impossible to change.

In the South Morocco colony, there is a huge difference in wages between those who speak Spanish and those who do not, as well as between those who believe in Islam and those who believe in Catholicism.

Moroccans who speak Spanish and believe in Catholicism, although they also need to labor in plantations and mines, will not be sent to relatively dangerous places, their work content is not as tiring, and they can obtain enough food, and even see meat, vegetables, and fruits from time to time.

Those who only meet one of the criteria of Spanish or Catholicism can also receive certain preferential treatment, such as the work not being dangerous, or the work content not being too tiring, etc.

Those who neither speak Spanish nor believe in Catholicism have no preferential treatment at all. They will be prioritized for relatively dangerous work, and even if it is not dangerous, it is quite tiring work.

Their daily food is also black bread made from a mixture of various coarse grains and even straw bran; if they are lucky, they can also eat sand, tree bark, and grass roots, etc.

Even so, they can only eat one full meal a day. The remaining two meals are quite thin porridge and rotten vegetable leaf soup, just enough to ensure they do not starve to death.

The reason for such a stark difference in treatment, besides giving preferential treatment to those Moroccans who are willing to obey to attract more Moroccans to "defect," is also to save colonial expenses as much as possible.

Compared to northern Morocco, the economy of the South Morocco colony is quite backward, and the land belongs more to deserts and mountainous areas.

Spain's purpose in occupying this land is to localize South Morocco or even the entire Morocco, so naturally there is no need to cherish the Moroccans too much.

If Moroccans are willing to obey Spanish rule, then Spain can naturally gently assimilate these Moroccans.

But if Moroccans are quite repulsed by or even full of hatred for Spanish colonial rule, then the Spanish government can only consider completely expelling the Moroccans and immigrating Spaniards to occupy this area.

As long as the land of Morocco is full of Spaniards, then this land has been Spanish land since ancient times.

Using this method can also ensure the localization of the Moroccan region, and there will be no worries. It is just that the Spanish population is too small; under the premise of being able to assimilate Moroccans, Gao Da still wants to obtain these millions of people in Morocco.

Otherwise, there will be even more cruel means waiting for the Moroccans. Before the end of World War II, Spain still has enough time to carry out various assimilation experiments in the Moroccan region.

In fact, Gao Da actually underestimated the attraction that Spanish citizenship, or the status of a free citizen, brings to Moroccans.

Although Moroccans are white, this is a backward African region. Morocco still has slavery, and Morocco is a quite feudal monarchy.

Although Morocco has a population of millions, a considerable portion of them are slaves to the nobility.

As long as they obey Spanish rule and join Spanish citizenship, they can obtain the status of a free citizen, which is a huge attraction for those Moroccans with slave status.

As for the Spanish enslavement of the entire Moroccan people, what does that count for to Moroccan slaves?

Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Moroccan nobility and other landlords also enslaved them in the same way. The difference is merely that a group of people has been changed; for the slaves, it is no different.

Those who truly hated the Spanish, or the more extreme Moroccan nationalists, as well as extreme Muslim believers, were already enslaved to death in the first few years of the establishment of the South Morocco colony.

The establishment process of the South Morocco colony was quite bloody, which is also the standard process for European countries to establish colonies.

Most of the manpower used in this was local indigenous people, and the life and death of these indigenous people is not a big deal to European colonialists, and there is no need to worry about it at all.

This may also be good news; after all, after the more extreme Moroccans died, the remaining ones are relatively obedient.

According to news from the South Morocco colony, the number of Moroccans who have mastered Spanish has already exceeded ten thousand, and the number of Moroccans who have openly converted to Catholicism is as high as over one hundred thousand.

This also truly confirms that saying: if it were not for Spain's strict audit in population introduction, the number of people with Spanish citizenship in the South Morocco colony would have long since exceeded ten thousand.

Regardless of whether these Moroccans who converted to Catholicism are sincere or not, in short, one can see the attraction of Spanish citizenship to Moroccans in this regard.

This also means that such a plan can also be applied to the entire Moroccan region. Morocco has a population of millions, which will be an excellent supplement for Spain.

Even if only half or even less than one-third of the population can be absorbed, that will still be a scale of millions.

Of course, whether it is Moroccan immigrants or foreign immigrants, Spain is relatively cautious in handling them.

These immigrants will be dispersed and settled, and mainly filled into the nationalist-prevalent Catalonia and Basque regions.

Only by constantly diluting the population of Catalonia and the Basque region can the stability of these two regions be ensured.

Currently, Spain's handling of Catalonia is still relatively effective. By building the Barcelona industrial base, it has helped Catalonia attract more than one hundred thousand immigrants.

This has also led to an effective reduction in the proportion of Catalans in the Catalonia region, and it is still constantly decreasing.

With the development of the Barcelona industrial base, there is even hope that the proportion of Catalans in the future will decrease to below 60%.

And among these 60% of Catalans, how many people truly feel that they are pure-blooded Catalans?

The Basque region is also handled in the same way. Although the population of the Basque region is smaller, the difficulty of wanting to immigrate to the Basque region with great fanfare is still relatively high.

Compared to Catalans, Basques are more radical and have a clearer national consciousness.

If it can be said that a considerable portion of Catalans are not very clear about whether they are Spanish or Catalan, then almost all Basques know that they are of Basque descent.

The Basque region is sparsely populated, and the two major regions combined only have a population of several hundred thousand. This has also led to the fact that most of the population in these two regions are Basques, and they possess national culture and character that are completely different from Spain.

The handling of the Basque region has always been a difficult problem, even more thorny than the Catalonia region. The Barcelona industrial base already has hope of solving the Catalonia problem, but there is currently no effective solution for the Basque region.

Fortunately, there are indeed not many Basques, and they cannot cause too much influence on Spanish rule.

Perhaps only by waiting for Spain to welcome the opportunity of a large number of immigrants and seizing the opportunity to immigrate more than one hundred thousand or even hundreds of thousands of people to the Basque region can the problem of the Basque region be solved.

Otherwise, by the time the nationalism in the Basque region becomes more radical and prosperous, and the Basques feel that they should enjoy the status of autonomy or even independence, Spain will eventually have to face a civil war.

Gao Da also often asks himself, why are Spain's problems always so terrible?

Indeed, Spain's problems are quite terrible.

Compared to Spain, a country that has been unified for hundreds of years, the German Empire and the Kingdom of Italy, two countries that have been unified for only a few years, actually do not have so many problems.

Germans and Italians still quite recognize the concept of the nation, and even if there are problems of national independence, they are not so radical.

And as a country that has been unified for hundreds of years, Catalans and Basques are radically demanding autonomy or even independence, which is simply somewhat incomprehensible.

Fortunately, although Spain has many problems, it is not unsalvageable. As long as the problem of Catalonia is solved, the Basque region is nothing more than a small trouble.

Whether through large-scale immigration or victory achieved via civil war, the ultimate victor will inevitably be the Xibanyazheng Prefecture.

The Basque population also limits the Basque from being able to defeat the Xibanyazheng Prefecture, unless they possess the support of other great powers.

But then again, the great powers have their own troubles as well. The British, who love to stir up trouble the most, will also have fires starting in their own backyard. The Indians also want autonomy and independence, and even the later Boer War left the British looking disheveled and disgraced.

In any case, everyone is just a makeshift operation; it is merely a matter of seeing who has fewer problems and troubles, and that person will be able to achieve the final victory.

5200-word two-in-one chapter, asking for support!

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(End of this chapter)