Chapter 304: Great Military Expansion

After the Spanish Military Commission issued the directive to expand the military, the Ministry of National Defense quickly provided a detailed expansion plan.

With 3 colonial divisions and 35 colonial guard regiments, Spain's total troop strength will reach an exaggerated 243, 00.

Before the Franco-Russian Alliance has formed and before European nations have joined the arms race, such a military scale is already quite significant.

After all, unlike France, Germany, or Russia, Spain has no obvious enemies. France and Germany need to guard against each other, while Russia simply requires more troops to garrison its vast territory.

However, if the 138, 00 colonial troops are excluded after the expansion, Spain's actual military size remains only 105, 00.

Subtracting the 15, 00-strong Guard Division, the so-called Spanish Royal Army is actually less than a pitiful 90, 00.

To cope with the increasingly tense European situation, it is necessary to expand the Spanish mainland army as well. Following discussions at the Ministry of National Defense's internal meeting, a new, complete expansion plan was finalized.

The colonial military expansion plan remains unchanged; the Spanish mainland Royal Army will expand to a scale of 12 infantry divisions, 5 cavalry divisions, 4 artillery divisions, and 4 engineer companies, totaling 177, 00 personnel.

If the 15, 00 troops of the Guard are added, the troops stationed on the Spanish mainland will exceed 192, 00; only a force of this size can match the ever-increasing armies of the European powers.

If the 138, 00 colonial troops are also included, Spain's military strength will reach an exaggerated 315, 00, a land force size now comparable to that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

One must know that the population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is already close to 40 million, while Spain's population is only 22. 5 million.

An army of over 300, 00 is enough to make Spain a European land power, and other powers must consider the threat posed by Spain's massive army when competing with it.

After the Ministry of National Defense issued the official conscription notice, the recruitment drive immediately triggered wave after wave of fervor within Spain.

Thanks to Gao Da's emphasis on the military, even an ordinary soldier's annual income, combined with various benefits and subsidies, is higher than Spain's per capita income.

Coupled with the nation growing stronger, the Spanish people are not opposed to fighting for their country.

From the moment the Ministry of National Defense announced the conscription news, the recruitment centers set up in various Spanish cities were crowded with people wanting to enlist.

The conscription problem that gives many countries a headache does not exist in Spain; with the public eagerly signing up, the Spanish government instead has to worry about how to screen the required recruits from the crowds.

The city with the most recruits is Spain's capital, Ma Deli. As the largest city in Spain at present, Ma Deli has a population of nearly 700, 00.

Precisely because of this, Ma Deli has the largest recruitment quota, and the lines at the various recruitment centers are the longest.

For the sake of urban order, Gao Da did not choose to visit the recruitment centers in Ma Deli. However, the Ministry of National Defense still reported the latest news on recruitment and the progress of Spain's military expansion to Gao Da every day.

After this expansion, the Spanish Royal Army will have 7 more division commander positions. If the two colonial division commanders are included, the total number of vacancies will reach 9.

This also means that with this military expansion, a large number of mid-to-high-level officers in the military will be promoted.

The most representative of these is Ka Man, who came to Spain with Gao Da. Having previously become a colonel and artillery regiment commander, and with the artillery divisions expanding from two to four, he has a high chance of being promoted directly to commander of the Third or Fourth Artillery Division.

Of course, if he can successfully be promoted to division commander, Ka Man will at least attain the rank of major general, becoming a high-ranking member of the Spanish military.

An De Lu, who came to Spain with Gao Da just like Ka Man, was not so lucky. Because he studied infantry command, his specialty is not as rare as artillery.

This led to An De Lu's promotion not being as smooth as Ka Man's. However, as a trusted aide of Gao Da, after An De Lu spent a year "gilding" his resume as the commander of the Lanfang Military Advisory Group, Gao Da decided to appoint him as the commander of the Guard Division and concurrently as the Commander-in-Chief of the Guard, succeeding Qiao Di.

Ka Man and An De Lu, both excellent graduates of the Royal Military Academy of Turin, are quite capable. Since coming to Spain, they have worked diligently without complaint, and Gao Da is naturally willing to promote them.

Speaking of the two officers, Ka Man and An De Lu, who followed Gao Da to Spain, one must mention the two sons of Garibaldi.

The eldest son, Meinuodi, was the previous commander of the Lanfang Military Advisory Group and has now been elected as the Minister of Royal Affairs in the Spanish Cabinet.

The second son, Qiao Di's position, was taken over by An De Lu; this does not mean Gao Da does not trust Qiao Di. On the contrary, Gao Da has a more arduous task for Qiao Di: to serve as the Commander-in-Chief of the garrison in the Congo Territory, commanding 2 colonial divisions and a dozen colonial guard regiments with the rank of lieutenant general, responsible for fighting against the natives in West Africa and promoting Spain's colonial merger plan.

Although the Guard Division commander only commands one division, because he concurrently serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Guard, his rank is higher than all other division commanders, at the rank of lieutenant general.

From the perspective of domestic status, the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Congo Territory garrison that Qiao Di is about to assume is not necessarily higher than his previous position as Commander-in-Chief of the Guard.

But the opportunity for the Commander-in-Chief of the Congo garrison is clearly higher than that of the Commander-in-Chief of the Guard. The main task of the Guard is to protect the capital, the Wang Gong, and the safety of the King; under normal circumstances, they do not actively participate in wars.

This makes it difficult for the Commander-in-Chief of the Guard to be promoted through military merit, forcing them to slowly accumulate seniority in the position.

The Congo garrison commander is different. Spain is about to launch a war against the African natives, and as the supreme leader of Spain's fighting forces in Africa, the Congo garrison commander has many opportunities to earn military merit.

As long as Qiao Di performs well in the war against the African natives, he has a high chance of advancing further and entering the Spanish Ministry of National Defense after the war ends.

A further promotion for Qiao Di would essentially lead to positions such as Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Army and Navy, Chief of General Staff, Minister of National Defense, or Chief of Staff of the Ministry of National Defense.

After receiving Gao Da's transfer order, Qiao Di and An De Lu quickly took action.

Qiao Di must travel from Ma Deli to the distant Congo Territory and prepare for the formation of another colonial division. Currently, the Congo Territory only has one colonial division, which does not meet Spain's requirements for launching a war.

Of course, accompanying Qiao Di to Africa is a group of mid-to-high-level officers prepared by the Ministry of National Defense for the new colony.

Qiao Di will work with these mid-to-high-level officers to train the newly formed colonial division, giving it a certain level of combat effectiveness.

Meanwhile, An De Lu needs to come to Ma Deli from the even more distant Lanfang Republic to take over the patrol duties of the Guard.

As an army that Gao Da can command directly, the Guard has many tasks. The location where the Guard is stationed is only a few kilometers away from the Wang Gong, and they can reach the Wang Gong within half an hour at the fastest.

The Guard also needs to send out patrols to be responsible for patrolling around the Wang Gong; inside the Wang Gong, there is a guard detachment composed of elite soldiers selected from the Guard. The patrols and the guard detachment together form the defensive force of the Spanish Wang Gong.

It is no exaggeration to say that with the current defensive strength of the Ma Deli Wang Gong, it can be ensured that the Wang Gong is impregnable.

Even if another great revolution like the one during the time of Queen Isabel were to occur, the Guard would be sufficient to ensure the safety of the Wang Gong and the members of the royal family.

Not to mention the 15, 00 elite troops of the Guard, this force is sufficient to deal with the attack of tens of thousands of troops.

The guard detachment stationed in the Wang Gong also has a scale of nearly 500 people; these are the true elites of the Spanish military.

As everyone knows, Spanish Guard soldiers are carefully selected from the Royal Army. And the guard detachment is selected from the Guard soldiers, so their level of elite status is evident.

Every guard in the guard detachment is screened through various assessments; their loyalty is even higher than that of the Guard soldiers, reaching the point of being willing to die for Gao Da.

The identity of the guard detachment captain, Bu La De Ai Lei La, is even more special.

As early as when Gao Da first became the King of Spain, he intended to take in a group of orphans who had lost their parents and families for various reasons.

These orphans were all raised with funds provided by Gao Da, and in their education, Gao Da also instilled a large amount of loyalist and patriotic thought.

The guard captain, Bu La De Ai Lei La, is not only a member of this group of orphans but also one of the best among them.

After Gao Da expressed his wish for him to apply to a military academy, Bu La De Ai Lei La worked toward it without hesitation and successfully passed the entrance exam for the Ma Deli Royal Military Academy.

After he graduated successfully, Gao Da had him enter the Guard to train for two years, then appointed him as the captain of the guard detachment, commanding the 500-strong Royal Guard Detachment.

The task of the Royal Guard Detachment is very simple: to protect the safety of the royal family at all costs.

Any member of the Spanish royal family needs to carry guards when traveling; they must bring at least a few to ten guards when going out to ensure safety.

Gao Da's entourage is even larger, starting with hundreds of guards, and sometimes even taking hundreds of Guard soldiers to protect him.

Although this seems a bit cautious, for the sake of his own and his family's safety, the necessary protection must be in place.

Gao Da does not dare to trust the medical level of this era. Even if an assassination is not successful, as long as one is injured, there is a risk of infection and death.

Not to mention if the enemy is a little lucky and hits a vital point, that would be instant death.

Currently, Spain's development relies entirely on Gao Da leading the direction, and the little ones have not yet grown up. Under such circumstances, Gao Da absolutely does not allow any accidents to happen.

This would not only destroy Gao Da's efforts of more than ten years in Spain but also cause the light that Spain has finally welcomed to be extinguished again, and the country to fall back into a turbulent situation.

In September 1884, before Qiao Di and a group of officers were about to go to the Congo Territory, Gao Da summoned them to the Ma Deli Wang Gong and encouraged them all.

In his conversation with these officers, Gao Da reiterated the importance of the colonial merger plan to Spain and stated that the war against the African natives must succeed and cannot fail.

In the absence of war in Europe, Spain can only demonstrate its combat effectiveness by fighting against the natives.

Do not underestimate these local natives in Africa. Although they are backward in terms of weapons and equipment compared to Spain, the natives can also twist into a rope when united, which is also a not-weak resistance force.

Gao Da does not want his carefully assembled army to capsize in the gutter and become a joke to other countries.

Being a joke would be one thing, but if other countries mistakenly believe that the Spanish Army's combat effectiveness is not strong, then Spain's future international influence would drop significantly.

Just like Italy, which successfully demonstrated the poor combat effectiveness of its army through the war against African natives, and subsequently, the Italian Army was looked down upon by European countries and became a joke for soldiers of various countries in their spare time.

Originally, these officers did not attach much importance to the act of "gilding" in the African colonial army, but after Gao Da personally raised the importance of fighting against the African natives, these officers all took it seriously.

As the saying goes, a soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier; these young officers who had just graduated from the Royal Military Academy naturally wanted to show their capabilities to their King.

Upon hearing that powers like France and Germany might also interfere in Spain's war against the natives, the relaxed smiles on the officers' faces disappeared; they all looked at their King with serious expressions, listening to Gao Da's instructions very earnestly.

After all the conversations ended, the officers, led by Qiao Di, gave a respectful and fanatical military salute to Gao Da, then grandly took cars to the train station.

They will take a train to the port and then take a ship from the port to the African colony.

Because the soldiers of the colonial army are all composed of local natives, all Spain can provide are these officers.

However, the good news is that Spain has immigrated a large number of Filipinos, Lanfang people, and Moroccans to the Congo Territory; these people can also sign up to join the colonial army, forming a check and balance against the local natives.

This actually conforms to Spain's colonial policy. Excluding the black group, which is not recognized, Spain's colonial population has two major categories: white people from Europe and Morocco, and yellow people from Asia.

Because these white people are not Spaniards, Spain actually treats these white people and yellow people equally.

Gao Da prefers to balance the two groups, letting them check and balance each other to ensure the stability of the Spanish colonies.

This is also like the regional balance policy established by the British in various regions. Whichever group's power is stronger, Spain chooses to help the weaker side.

The conflict between the two groups cannot affect Spain; even if they hate, they hate the side that has a grudge against them.

In order to ensure that their survival status is not squeezed by the other side, both sides can only desperately lean toward Spain, so that they can obtain the support of the colony and ensure their own living space.

Spain first implemented such a policy in the Philippines and the Lanfang Republic, and it has been very successful so far.

The colonial government only needs to control the conflict between the two groups to effectively use their power for its own purposes.

The monthly ticket count has reached one thousand, thank you all for your support!

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(End of this chapter)