Chapter 297: Population Issues

After the cabinet report meeting, Carlos had a clearer understanding of Spain's current development.

In terms of industry, although Spain's industrial scale could not compare to major powers like Britain, France, and Germany, it could be mentioned in the same breath as old-established powers like the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia, and its comprehensive strength was not to be underestimated.

Regarding population, Spain's total population was also climbing steadily. Although the total population scale did not match that of the European powers, the rate of population growth was slightly ahead, and it would sooner or later further close the gap with the European powers.

It is worth mentioning that Spain's several colonies in Africa had also demonstrated their own appeal.

The populations of the West African colonies, the Gold Coast, and the Congo territory were all growing continuously, with tens of thousands of immigrants arriving in these regions every year to seek more opportunities for wealth and survival.

These colonies had gone all out to attract immigrants, offering all sorts of conditions to bring in population.

All Europeans willing to go to these colonies could be allocated a large plot of land for free. As long as they farmed the land they were allocated for three consecutive years, they could obtain the sovereignty of these lands.

Of course, one could also choose not to take land and have it converted into other conditions. In addition to welcoming ordinary immigrants, the colonies also welcomed the entry of domestic and foreign capital and various corporate enterprises.

Besides agricultural planting on African land, Spain also extensively cultivated tobacco, sugarcane, rubber, and other crops on African soil.

Tobacco and sugarcane naturally go without saying; back when it was in Cuba, these two items were Cuba's signature industries, making Cuba one of the most developed regions in the Americas.

The rubber industry was also beginning to take shape. Because the Royal Mercedes Automobile Company had already been selling to major European powers, the rubber consumption of various countries had risen significantly.

Currently, countries still relied mainly on natural rubber trees to obtain rubber, but in the future, as the demand for rubber increases, it would be very necessary to artificially plant rubber trees and establish rubber industrial parks.

After the report on the Third Five-Year Development Plan concluded, the Spanish cabinet government was also discussing the goals for the Fourth Five-Year Development Plan.

In addition to conventional domestic development, the development of Spain's various colonies also had its own tasks.

The West African colonies would focus on developing agriculture, Guinea would plant tobacco, and the Congo territory would harvest rubber.

These three industries were all needed by Spain, and they were also basically guaranteed to be profitable for colonial cultivation.

Carlos also attended the cabinet government's meeting on the formulation of the Fourth Five-Year Development Plan and put forward several of his own requirements.

The first was regarding population; Carlos hoped that Spain's population could further increase within the next five years, preferably crossing the threshold of 25 million.

25 million people was not much compared to other European countries, but it was definitely not a small number. Even if a war broke out with other European powers, 25 million people would allow Spain to mobilize nearly 2 million troops, and an army of this scale would be sufficient to participate in a world war.

Moreover, in addition to the army that native Spaniards could arm, Spain could also form colonial armies from the colonies.

If one counted the colonial natives that could be utilized, the army Spain could mobilize would reach the level of 3 million to 5 million, which was already close to the number of troops deployed by various countries during World War I.

This also meant that even if a conflict or even a war broke out with other European powers, Spain had enough confidence to win the war.

Unless facing a situation of one against two or even one against three, the current Spain did not fear any single power.

Of course, in terms of naval warfare, one still had to consider the British Empire's powerful navy. But if it were on land, whether it was Britain or France, Spain would not fear them in the slightest.

Carlos's second requirement was that he hoped the cabinet government could diversify Spain's industries, comprehensively build an industrial system, and comprehensively promote the improvement of Spain's economy.

Establishing industry was not just about focusing on heavy industry; light industry and the chemical industry also needed to be improved simultaneously. Steel production represented heavy industry, but this was not the entirety of industry.

Spain's arable land still had a large gap in yield per mu compared to countries with vast plains like Britain, France, and Germany. To make up for this gap, Spain could only make more efforts in chemical fertilizers and mechanization.

Carlos's requirement for the Spanish government was to utilize chemical fertilizers as much as possible to increase Spain's grain yield per mu, indirectly increasing the income of Spanish farmers.

Coupled with Spain's agricultural layout in the West African colonies, it could ensure that Spain would not lack grain under any circumstances.

In the future, whether it was war or an economic crisis, as long as there was sufficient grain, the Spanish government could respond with ease.

At the meeting, Minister of Colonial Affairs William also mentioned a problem: how to deal with the countless African natives in the Spanish colonies.

If following the old tradition of Spanish colonization, for these natives who were neither obedient nor assimilable, the priority would certainly be to adopt the method of slaughter.

But the problem was that Africa was an extremely vast land, and the natives on this land were countless.

Relying solely on the method of slaughter would be difficult to completely resolve the natives in the colonies, and it would also fill the relationship between the Spaniards and these natives with hatred, inciting more intense resistance from the local natives.

It would be best to find a way that would not cause severe dissatisfaction among the local natives while also reducing these natives as much as possible.

After discussion by the cabinet ministers, the Spanish government finally adopted the method of population export to solve the problem of the colonial natives.

The so-called population export was actually to try every possible means to ship these natives out.

Where to ship them? There were many destinations. Whether it was other regions of the African continent or other regions outside of Africa, they were all choices available to Spain.

In any case, as long as they were not in Spain's colonies, no matter where these natives were, Spain could accept it.

Because Carlos had expressed his hatred for the color black very early on, it also led to all the ministers of the Spanish government having a unified attitude of hating black.

After proposing the population export plan, not a single cabinet minister objected, and they all agreed to the method of transferring these African natives to other regions.

Of course, population export could not be rushed. Some colonies still needed to retain a large amount of native labor to ensure that the development of the colonies would not be restricted by a lack of labor.

When the time came, one could slaughter them after utilizing this labor, or drive them to more distant places.

In any case, no one cared about the life or death of these natives; as long as it was not done too excessively, other countries would not offend the Spanish government for the sake of these natives.

Like the Belgian King in history who was forcibly interfered with by European countries, besides the fact that what he did was indeed too cruel, it was also because Belgium itself was not powerful, which was what caused the intervention of European countries.

The Belgian King Leopold's rule in the Congo was quite cruel; not only did he not treat the local natives as human beings at all, but he also slaughtered millions of Congolese and cut off the hands of millions of Congolese while never having set foot in the Congo in his life.

In the few short years that Belgium obtained the Congo, the Congo's population plummeted by one-third, which was also the reason for the intervention of the European powers.

After all, as Europe gradually became developed, the powers all disguised themselves with a gentlemanly face. The cruel behavior of the Belgians would remind people all over the world of the once equally cruel side of the European powers; was this not destroying the disguise of other countries?

After confirming the immigration plan for population export, Carlos put forward an idea, which was to export population to the United States across the ocean.

Compared to other European countries, the United States was definitely a rather special existence. After the Civil War ended, the United States had nominally recognized the human rights of black people, and all black people living in the United States were also Americans.

This also led many black people to still yearn for the United States, only to realize after they arrived in the United States that so-called human rights were just empty words.

The high-ranking officials of any organization and institution were white, and even most black people were racially segregated in a small area; they could not step into the cities where white people were.

The reason Carlos proposed to export a large number of black people to the United States was also to completely disrupt the situation in the United States.

At this time in the United States, white people still firmly held the right to speak. But as the black population increased, the contradictions within the United States were destined to become increasingly intense.

One must know that black people were not an easy-going race at all. This race was lazy and gluttonous, and they always thought about obtaining income in more convenient ways.

The so-called convenient ways were robbery and theft, which was also an important reason why black people were unpopular even in later generations.

Once the number of black people in the United States increased, similar incidents of robbery and theft would also become more and more frequent. As an immigrant country, the United States gathered the three major races of black, white, and yellow, and each race had a significant number.

Once the conflict between black and white people triggered more intense racial discrimination, this could very likely be the arrival of another civil war.

Regardless of whether the United States would break out into a civil war because of this, as long as the political situation in the United States became worse because of it, it was quite worth it for Carlos.

Although the British did not regard the United States as a major threat, if the United States broke out into a civil war itself, I believe the British would not mind taking advantage of the fire to loot.

If the Americans gave the opportunity themselves, Carlos would try every possible means to facilitate an intervention war against the United States, striving to split the United States into several countries.

Of course, even if there was no phenomenon of division and civil war within the United States, the chaos in the political situation alone would leave them with no time to attend to other things.

As long as the United States did not experience intervention in World War I and World War II, Carlos would have enough time to lay out for World War I. In a World War I without American intervention, Spain would become the biggest winner.

After all, compared to the power countries of the two major military groups in history, Spain was the existence that did not have intense conflicts with either side.

This also gave Spain more possibilities. For Carlos and Spain, the best situation was to remain neutral in the early stages, first making a fortune by selling grain and arms, and then standing on the side that was about to win in the later stages of the war, enjoying the fruits of victory.

Although doing so was somewhat dishonorable, it could ensure that Spain obtained the greatest gains in the war.

Under the circumstances where European countries all suffered heavy losses, as long as Spain's losses were not great, the increase in Spain's right to speak was a matter of course.

This was simply a perfect script, and now it was just waiting for France and Russia to realize the formation of the Triple Alliance, and then under the pressure of the Triple Alliance, conclude the Franco-Russian Alliance, forming a situation of confrontation between the two major military groups in Europe.

Speaking of the African native problem, Carlos also raised a question he was more interested in, which was about the assimilation of the Moroccans in the South Morocco colony.

When the South Morocco colony was first established, the entire colony still had a population of nearly one million. These people were all Moroccans, that is, white people.

After clearing out the extreme resistance elements among the Moroccans, the remaining people were all targets for Spanish assimilation.

Now that so many years had passed, Carlos was also curious about the situation in the South Morocco colony and where the remaining Moroccans had gone.

Hearing Carlos's inquiry, Minister of Colonial Affairs William was clearly well-prepared and answered without the slightest hesitation: "Your Majesty, currently our assimilation of the Moroccans in the South Morocco colony is quite smooth.

More than 500, 00 Moroccans have left the South Morocco colony; these people have joined our nationality in various ways, they have generally mastered Spanish, and they believe in Catholicism.

Among them, nearly 100, 00 people have been transferred to the mainland and are scattered across major regions. The remaining 400, 00 people have been transferred to various colonies, among which the Congo territory has received over 200, 00 Moroccans.

According to our attention to these Moroccans who have obtained nationality, they have not shown any posture or thoughts of resistance after entering their new lives.

From this, it can be inferred that our assimilation of the Moroccans is quite successful. Once these Moroccans give birth to the next generation, those children will be pure-blooded Spaniards."

Carlos nodded, quite satisfied with this data.

After clearing out those extreme resistance elements, the population of the South Morocco colony was left with less than 800, 00 people.

Among these 800, 00 people, 500, 00 had already been assimilated; such results were still quite good. If one looked at this data, Spain could at least assimilate half of the millions of people remaining in the Kingdom of Morocco.

This was actually the reason why Spain wanted to colonize Morocco. In addition to being able to obtain Morocco's vast land, it could also obtain millions of Moroccans.

As long as they were taught Spanish and forced to believe in Catholicism, they would not be much different from real Spaniards.

Then, by scattering these Moroccans who had converted to Catholicism to Spain and the colonies, even if they still had feelings of resistance, they would not be able to produce any influence on Spain's situation.

"How is our population introduction plan for the Americas region being executed?" Carlos continued to ask.

At that time, because of the lack of population, Spain formulated two major plans to increase the domestic population.

The first plan was to assimilate the hundreds of thousands of Moroccans in the South Morocco colony as much as possible, and the second plan was to introduce a large number of Spanish-descended and mixed-race immigrants from the Americas, where Spain had once colonized, to Spain.

Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and other medium and large countries in the Americas were all once Spanish colonies. Even the United States had some places that once belonged to Spain, and these places also had a large number of Spanish-descended immigrants and mixed-race populations.

As long as relatively generous conditions were offered, some of these people would be willing to return to Spain's embrace. After all, after becoming independent from Spain, although some countries did indeed embark on a path of rapid development, there were also some countries whose economies were a mess and whose political situations were quite chaotic, not necessarily better than during the Spanish colonial period.

The matter of population introduction was also the responsibility of Minister of Colonial Affairs William, and William continued to report: "Your Majesty, as of now, we have introduced about 200, 00 immigrants from the Americas region.

If we count the Cuba region, the number of immigrants we have obtained from the Americas region has already exceeded 400, 00. According to the willingness of the populations of various countries in the Americas to immigrate to Spain, we can still continuously obtain immigrants from various American countries, and this will also be an important source of our population growth."

(End of chapter)