Chapter 216: Colonial Expansion Conducted in Secret

In May 1877, Gao Da's gaze had just shifted away from the heated bullfighting matches, and he soon turned his attention to Spain's railway construction.

Ever since Gao Da was crowned King of Spain, a wave of railway construction had erupted in Spain, and the railway mileage was constantly increasing.

According to current statistics from the transportation department, the existing railway mileage in Spain proper has officially exceeded 9, 00 kilometers, and it is expected to reach the goal of 9, 00 kilometers within this year.

Compared to the 5, 00-plus kilometers when Gao Da was just crowned, the total railway mileage has nearly doubled.

It took Gao Da less than ten years to complete this goal; compared to the reign of Queen Isabella, this is definitely a huge change.

The changes brought to Spain by building railways are not just the increase in railway mileage, but also the development of industry and the increase in the economy.

As of now, Spain's industrial scale has grown by more than 60% compared to when Gao Da was just crowned. In these less than ten years, thousands of enterprises have sprung up, among which hundreds have developed into famous Spanish factories and construction companies; this data is quite exaggerated.

The number of workers in Spain has also grown from a small portion when Gao Da was crowned to nearly one million at present. Workers have become an extremely important group in Spain and are also a target Gao Da wants to win over.

For a king to win over workers seems incredible, but it is a goal Gao Da is already achieving.

Under the premise that royal enterprises guarantee the interests and income of workers, the newspapers controlled by Gao Da vigorously publicized the welfare of royal enterprises for workers and Gao Da's protection of workers' interests, successfully keeping the Spanish working class in an attitude of love and recognition toward the royal family.

What workers hate are capitalists, or to be precise, those evil capitalists who exploit workers' interests and withhold workers' wages.

Official capital like Gao Da's is not among them; after all, Spain's official capital still provides a certain degree of protection for workers, at least much better than the income and various treatments of workers in capitalist factories.

Returning to Spain's current railway construction, the results are quite good.

Picking up the entire railway route map of Spain, it looks more like a tilted letter "y". The intersection of the three lines is Spain's capital, Madrid, which possesses one of the busiest train stations in Spain.

And the three edges of the letter "y" are the capital city of the Galicia region, Santiago de Compostela; the capital city of the Catalonia region, Barcelona; and the capital city of the Andalusia region, Seville.

These three main railway lines forming the letter "y", in addition to the three regions above, also pass through the capital city of the León region, Valladolid; the capital city of the Aragon region, Zaragoza; and the capital city of the La Mancha region, Toledo.

And the branch lines extending from these three main railway lines pass through more regions and more cities.

These railways connect to form Spain's railway network, but the busiest ones remain the three main lines that make up the letter "y".

If one were to talk about the busiest railway, it is definitely the railway between Madrid and Barcelona. Madrid and Barcelona are the two largest cities in Spain, and Zaragoza, which is passed along the way, is also one of Spain's major cities.

Madrid and Barcelona are also two of the few major industrial cities in Spain, and the industrial output possessed by the two cities accounts for more than half of Spain's total industrial output.

The reason Gao Da is paying attention to Spain's railway construction is naturally a piece of good news from the transportation department: the railway from Madrid to the Extremadura region has been successfully opened to traffic.

The Extremadura region is a border region of Spain; further west is the territory of Portugal.

The reason Gao Da is paying attention to the completion of this railway is mainly because to the west of the Extremadura region is the Portalegre District of Portugal, and further west are Santarém and Lisbon; Lisbon is the capital of Portugal.

Previously, Spain and the Portuguese government had reached a cooperation agreement regarding railway connection. The main purpose of this railway from Madrid to the capital city of the Extremadura region, Mérida, is precisely to connect with Portugal's railway and lead directly to the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

The connection of the railways between Spain and Portugal is a major event for both countries.

Not counting Andorra, a small country without sovereignty, there are only two countries on the Iberian Peninsula: Spain and Portugal.

France, the only country bordering Iberia, has a huge gap in railway track width compared to the Iberian countries, which has also led to extreme difficulty in economic exchanges between the Iberian Peninsula and the European continent, which can only be solved by sea transport most of the time.

And within the Iberian Peninsula, the railway track widths of Portugal and Spain also have a gap. If it weren't for the fact that both Iberian countries possess deep foundations in shipbuilding, I am afraid that the impact of non-interconnected economies alone could hinder the development of the two countries.

After the railway between Spain and Portugal is connected, the economic development of both countries can be accelerated. For Spain, which has a larger population, the benefits gained will certainly be more.

If the Portuguese government does not control it, there will certainly be more Portuguese population flowing into Spain.

After all, there is no major difference between the two sides in language and culture, and Spain is in the process of high-speed development, offering many job opportunities that Portuguese people cannot refuse.

After the railway is connected, it becomes much more convenient for Portuguese people to go to Spain. The straight-line distance from Lisbon to Madrid is only a little over 500 kilometers. If taking the currently faster trains, even including the time needed for border crossing procedures, it will definitely not take 24 hours.

This will become very difficult for the Portuguese government. If these outflowing populations are not controlled, Portugal's population will also become fewer and fewer.

But if control is implemented, what reason should be used to stop the outflow of these populations? If it causes dissatisfaction among these people, it is very likely to lead to the Portuguese people hating the government even more, which will instead cause bigger problems.

Gao Da certainly knows that doing this will bring many problems to the Portuguese government, but who cares?

Spain has only so many land neighbors; one cannot just set one's sights on Britain and France.

Besides Britain and France, the only neighbor Spain can set its mind on is Portugal. When it comes to national interests, this is not something that some kinship can stop.

What's more, Gao Da currently has no intention of annexing Portugal; he is just introducing a portion of the Portuguese population through railway connection while using Portugal to promote Spain's development.

As time entered May 1877, another piece of important news also changed the situation in the Balkan Peninsula, which was the stance of Germany, another participant in the League of the Three Emperors.

For Germany, the choice in this Balkan war is very difficult. Germany's ally, Russia, is one of the participants in the war, while the other ally is Russia's opponent.

If Germany makes a choice easily, it will obviously offend the other ally.

Both allies, Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, are great powers and are also important executors of the policy of isolating France formulated by Prime Minister Bismarck.

For Germany, choosing either ally would destroy Germany's own diplomatic plans. Therefore, the best choice is to remain neutral, not express its attitude, and avoid losing either of the two allies.

But with the development of the situation in the Balkan Peninsula, Germany eventually had to choose one between the two allies.

The relationship between allies is not just talk; it is about providing one's help at critical moments. If an ally cannot provide help to oneself, then why conclude this alliance?

Before declaring war on the Ottoman Empire, Tsar Alexander II personally sent a telegram to German Emperor Wilhelm I to strive for German support.

For Russia, Germany's support is very important. First, Germany's support can ensure that the Austro-Hungarian Empire remains still; the Austro-Hungarian Empire's reliance for defeating the Russians is Germany's support.

Secondly, with the support of the Germans, it can ensure that Russia will not have any worries during the entire war.

The vast Russian territory will continuously transport supplies to the front line, and Russia has full confidence in winning this war against the Ottoman Empire.

In the end, the Germans still chose Russia between Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Speaking of the relationship between the League of the Three Emperors, the relationship between Germany and Russia is a pure alliance relationship, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire is more like a sycophant.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire actively approached Germany, and before the Austro-Hungarian Empire actively showed weakness, the relationship between Germany and Austria was still in a state of hostility.

Compared to Austria, which had fought a war only a few years ago, the Germans clearly trusted Russia more, which had no conflict of interest.

At least in the strategy of isolating France formulated by Prime Minister Bismarck, Russia's role is more important than that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Currently, what the Germans worry about most is the hatred with France; there is no major conflict of interest with Russia, which is also the reason why Germany eventually chose Russia.

With the support of the Germans, the next things were easy to handle.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire, without Russian support, had no courage to start a war with Russia, which also meant that Russia had hope of letting the Austro-Hungarian Empire remain completely neutral in this war through diplomacy alone.

Russia did indeed achieve this. The Austro-Hungarian Empire really did not have the courage to start a war with Russia alone, even if the British had a probability of supporting the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Under the condition that Russia promised to let the Austro-Hungarian Empire annex Bosnia and Serbia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire finally chose to remain neutral in this war and gave up the idea of interfering in this war.

The active abandonment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire also made the British see a greater crisis.

Without the interference of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russia only needed to focus on dealing with the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was no longer a match for Russia; if Russia were allowed to attack the Ottoman Empire wantonly, perhaps Constantinople would become Russia's next year.

To help the Ottoman Empire resist Russia's attack, the British Hobart, who claimed to have converted to Islam, led the Turkish fleet to blockade the Black Sea, preventing the Russians from transporting supplies to the front line by sea.

Speaking of Hobart, he served in the British Royal Navy in his early years and retired with the rank of British Navy Captain more than ten years ago.

After retiring, Hobart went to the Ottoman Empire and converted to Islam, and was awarded the title of Pasha by the Ottoman Empire.

Pasha was previously called Bashaw, generally referring to high-ranking officials in the Ottoman Empire's administrative system, such as viceroys, generals, or high officials, etc.

After a long period of development, the title of Pasha has now evolved into an honorary title, similar to a Lord in the British peerage.

Hobart, who obtained the title of Pasha, possesses a lofty status in the Ottoman Empire's navy and will even be awarded the rank of Admiral of the Fleet in the future.

Of course, Hobart's current status and position are also not low. As the actual commander of the Ottoman Navy, he has 22 armored ships, 82 non-armored ships, and 763 naval guns under his command, totaling more than 15, 00 naval officers and soldiers.

In terms of naval scale, the Ottoman Empire's Black Sea Fleet has more advantages than the Black Sea Fleet established by Russia.

Why can the Ottoman Empire possess such a large-scale navy? Except for a small part which is the empire's foundation, most of it comes from the help of the British.

The British, in order to prevent Russia from occupying the Constantinople Strait, can be said to have stopped at nothing. The Ottoman Empire's Black Sea Fleet also successfully blockaded the Black Sea, forcing Russia to transport supplies to the front line only by land.

Although this hindered the offensive on the front line, fortunately, the problem was not too big. Although it fell into a disadvantage in terms of the navy, Russia's army also had a great advantage compared to the Ottoman Empire's army.

Since the Black Sea had been blockaded, the Russians completely gave up the sea transport routes on the Black Sea and pinned all their hopes for the offensive on the army.

The Russian army also lived up to expectations; in the battles with the Ottoman Empire's army, it quickly pushed the front line forward with a posture of winning more and losing less.

Calling it a push, in reality, it was just barely recovering the territory in Romania occupied by the Ottoman Empire.

Because of the flooding of the Danube River, and coupled with the blockade of the Black Sea, it was very difficult for the Russian army to cross the Danube River to fight the Ottoman Empire's army.

For most of May, the way the Russian army and the Ottoman Empire's army exchanged fire was by shelling each other across the gap, and firing a few shots from time to time to prove that the war was still ongoing.

Besides consuming bullets and shells, the casualties of soldiers on both sides had been reduced to a minimum.

Originally, the Russian army had a leading advantage in the number of artillery pieces, but after the consumption in April, the supply of shells on the front line was insufficient.

This also led to the firepower of Russia and the Ottoman Empire dropping to almost the same level, and the army was blocked by the Danube River on the land of Romania, unable to advance an inch.

The slowing down of the offensive made the Russian government start to become a bit anxious.

A large amount of bullets and shells were wasted every day on the front line, and the Russian government's fiscal expenditure was also constantly increasing.

If it just stayed in a stalemate like this, it was hard to say whether the government's finances could support it, but the supply of bullets and shells on the front line could not be sustained anyway.

The front line had a full 3, 00 artillery pieces; if one artillery piece fired ten shells a day, the total number of shells consumed reached 30, 00.

In a month, the number of shells consumed would be close to one million, which is something Russia's current military industrial production capacity cannot make up for.

Not to mention that during times when the war was more intense, the artillery on the front line would also fire in large quantities. The consumption of shells and the problem of logistical supply alone were enough to give the Russian government a headache.

Not to mention that the consumption of bullets on the front line was the big part. The number of bullets consumed by hundreds of thousands of troops every day was countless. If they could not be replenished in time, the front-line troops would have low morale due to the lack of logistical supplies, and not only would they be unable to continue launching attacks, but even defense would be very difficult.

One couldn't just let these soldiers go up and fight the enemy with bayonets without bullets. Not to mention whether the Russian soldiers had the courage to fight the enemy with bayonets, even if they did, the enemy would not be stupid enough to not use rifles and go for bayonets instead.

The situation of bayonet fighting only happens when the enemy has already broken into the trenches, or when one has broken into the enemy's trenches, or when one is out of ammunition and food.

In other situations, especially when the Ottoman Empire maintained a lead in weapons and equipment, it was definitely better to use firepower suppression if possible.

Seeing that the blockade of the Black Sea was very effective, the British finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although it was not certain that such a strategy could help the Ottoman Empire win this war, at least it could drag Russia for a longer time.

Britain also had more time to prepare; whether it was joining the war to help the Ottoman Empire or ensuring that the Ottoman Empire would not lose more interests after the war, especially ensuring that Russia would not expand its sphere of influence to the vicinity of the Constantinople Strait, were all directions that could be chosen for Britain.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire remained neutral due to various pressures, the British did not believe that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would still remain neutral when Russia's sphere of influence annexed the Balkan Peninsula.

To put it bluntly, it was just that Russia had not yet won the war, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had to concede due to pressure.

Once Russia really threatened the layout of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Balkan Peninsula, even if the Austro-Hungarian Empire faced threats, it would certainly not remain indifferent.

Taking advantage of the time when the war in the Balkan Peninsula attracted the attention of the major European powers, Spain accelerated its expansion into African colonies and Southeast Asian colonies.

In terms of Africa, Spain mainly had two directions for expansion.

One was the expansion of the South Morocco colony toward the Western Sahara Desert. Although the Western Sahara Desert was a barren land and did not have much population, its economic value was still very high.

After all, it was a coastal area; the coast of the Western Sahara region possessed extremely rich fishery resources, and the small population existing here was also generally based on fishing and animal husbandry.

In addition to these common fishery resources, Western Sahara also possesses extremely rich phosphate deposits; the reserves in Bou Craa alone reach as high as 1. billion tons.

Phosphate ore has a wide variety of uses and can be extensively applied in agriculture, chemical industries, medicine, and handicrafts.

Its primary role is in the production of phosphate fertilizer, which can provide crops with the essential element phosphorus; phosphate fertilizer is also one of the most important types of chemical fertilizer.

For Spain, which suffers from insufficient soil fertility, these large-scale phosphate deposits can provide the country with a massive amount of phosphate fertilizer.

This phosphate fertilizer can improve the fertility of Spanish soil, assist in crop production, increase the yield of Spanish crops, and allow Spanish agriculture to develop even more robustly.

For Spain, occupying the Western Sahara region presents no difficulty at all.

It is not an exaggeration to say that after Spain established the South Morocco colony, various nations already tacitly accepted Spain's occupation of the Western Sahara region.

Why is this said? This land was originally controlled by Morocco, but it was not under any actual administration; it was merely within Morocco's sphere of influence.

European colonists had also arrived in this land, but they were not interested in this sparsely populated desert region.

Within several hundred kilometers of Western Sahara, there are no other colonies belonging to other colonial powers besides Spain's South Morocco colony.

Even if Spain did not establish a colony in Western Sahara, it is unlikely that other great powers would come to establish one.

Unless the great powers have already finished partitioning Africa, but within the next ten years, completely partitioning Africa will be very difficult.

After all, the reason the major powers have not penetrated deep into Africa is not because they do not want to, but because the costs of doing so are too great; currently, no country has the strength to develop the African interior, so naturally, there is no need to penetrate deep into the African interior to establish colonies.

Like the Congo territory established by Spain, although it may arouse the envy of some great powers, most countries will view it as good luck.

After all, the process of Spain exploring the Congo territory was filled with too many coincidences; if it were not for good luck, Spain would likely have been unable to discover such a vast territory for the Congo territory.

In the eyes of other European powers, the process of Spain establishing the Congo territory is impossible to replicate. If they were to conduct exploration of the African interior like Spain, aside from spending a large amount of capital to organize expeditions, it is unlikely there would be any other effect.

It would be better to focus on expansion along the African coast; the land along the African coast has also not been completely partitioned by the great powers, and this is where the great powers focus their attention.

In addition to expanding in the Sahara Desert, Spain has another direction for expansion in Africa, which is for the Congo territory to expand downstream along the Congo River.

According to the plan of Kaluo, the Congo River territory is to be connected by rail to the Guinea colony and the ports on the lower reaches of the Congo River.

Currently, the Congo territory has already completed its rail connection with the Guinea colony, but the plan to build a railway along the Congo River has not yet officially begun.

The main reason is that there is a long-standing indigenous state on the lower reaches of the Congo River, which is the Kingdom of Congo.

Most of the land of the Kingdom of Congo is currently controlled by Portugal, and Portugal has also established its own African colony on the land of the Kingdom of Congo.

If Spain wants to continue expanding the Congo territory along the lower reaches of the Congo River, it will certainly trigger a new round of conflict with Portugal.

Portugal did indeed tolerate Spain establishing the Congo territory on the upper reaches of the Congo River, but if Spain were to also reach its hand into the lower reaches of the Congo River, it is unlikely the Portuguese would retreat so easily.

After all, the Portuguese expansion in the Kingdom of Congo has already lasted for over a decade; how could they abandon these established colonies just because of colonial competition with Spain?

Fortunately, the only major competitor in the Congo River basin at present is Portugal, and Spain does not fear the threat posed by Portugal.

Taking advantage of the fact that Portugal's backer, the British, have their attention focused on the war in the Balkan Peninsula, Kaluo decided to accelerate the expansion into the land on the lower reaches of the Congo River, aiming to bring the Kingdom of Congo under Spanish control before the Portuguese do.

The Kingdom of Congo possesses a large indigenous population, which can be used to develop the Congo territory.

Completing the expansion to the lower reaches of the Congo River can also form a triangular zone between Guinea and the Congo River basin, and the land within this triangle could potentially be controlled by Spain.

Before there are other external competitors in this land, it is very beneficial to be the first to take control of these lands. Even if they cannot be developed in the future, they can be exchanged for colonies that Spain wants more from other great powers through colonial exchange.

Even if colonial exchange is not possible, this contiguous block of colonies is easier to control; only a certain scale of military force is needed to ensure the stability of the colonies.

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(End of this chapter)