Chapter 368

May 15, 1895, Wang Gong of Ma Deli, Spain.

At this time, nearly twenty days had passed since Spain launched the war, and the results achieved made the Spanish government and the public quite excited.

The Guard was worthy of being an army formed by carefully selected elites, performing quite excellently in the operations against Morocco, defeating tens of thousands of Moroccan troops with only 8,000 men.

The current Guard was already undergoing its first rotation to ensure that most of the troops could step onto the Moroccan battlefield and experience the test of the battlefield.

The Guard's 2nd and 3rd Infantry Regiments and 2nd Artillery Regiment were heading to the Moroccan battlefield, and they would replace the 1st Infantry Regiment and 1st Artillery Regiment that had been fighting for more than half a month.

The 4th Infantry Regiment would continue to remain in Ma Deli to protect the capital and the royal palace until the troops withdrawn from the front line returned to the mainland, at which point they would participate in the combat plan against Morocco.

In fact, in Gao Da's plan, he had originally thought about letting these troops heading to Morocco to fight stay for at least a month, so that they could experience the tempering of the battlefield.

But unfortunately, the Moroccan army had no power to resist in front of the Spanish army. Seeing that they were almost about to reach Morocco's capital, Rabat, if they didn't rotate these troops in Morocco, they might not even need the participation of other troops from the mainland to end this war.

Of course, the discussions taking place in the royal palace had nothing to do with the Guard, mainly concerning when the Royal Army would join this war and which troops should go to the Moroccan battlefield for training.

Seeing that the Moroccan war was progressing more and more smoothly, Defense Minister Qiao Di could not sit still.

Spain's army was not just the Guard; there was also the Royal Army with a total number of 175,000 people.

The soldiers of the Guard needed to feel the cruelty of the battlefield, so didn't the soldiers of the Royal Army need it too? Although Spain's Guard was built by Qiao Di, at this time Qiao Di had become the Defense Minister and should be responsible for all of Spain's armies.

This time, seeking an audience with Gao Da, Qiao Di's main purpose was to let the Royal Army participate in the operations against Morocco as soon as possible, at least to let some troops personally feel the cruelty of the battlefield and experience the tempering of the battlefield.

The Royal Army definitely had to join the battlefield because the number of people in the Guard was insufficient, and a portion of the troops had to be left behind to protect Spain's capital and royal palace.

The two colonial divisions in the south were still a long distance from Morocco's capital, Rabat, and to capture Morocco's capital, they could only rely on the Guard and the Royal Army joining forces.

After the last expansion, the scale of Spain's mainland army had reached 175,000 people. This included 12 infantry divisions, 5 cavalry divisions, 4 artillery divisions, and 4 engineer regiments.

In Defense Minister Qiao Di's plan, no matter what, at least more than half of the troops had to be rotated into the battlefield to accept the tempering and baptism of the battlefield.

Of course, it would be best to let all the troops rotate into the battlefield. Currently, the average age of the soldiers in the Spanish Royal Army was only in their 20s; letting these soldiers experience the tempering of the battlefield meant that for the next ten years or so, Spain would not have to worry about the combat effectiveness of the army.

"Your Majesty, the 1st and 2nd Infantry Divisions and the 1st Cavalry Division are already prepared and can join the Moroccan battlefield at any time." Defense Minister Qiao Di looked impatient; if the Royal Army did not participate in the war early, most of the credit for this war would be taken by the Guard.

The colonial troops launching the offensive in the south could all get a share of the pie, but the Spanish mainland's Royal Army had no offensive plans at this time.

Spain had been at peace for so long that the high-level military officials in the country had long been impatient for war. Because only war could allow their military merits to accumulate rapidly, and only war could give those officers stuck at their current ranks more hope and channels for promotion.

Gao Da was a bit dumbfounded by Qiao Di's impatience, but he also understood the army generals' urgency and expectation for obtaining military merits.

Although the Guard was the royal family's private army, the Royal Army was theoretically also loyal to the King, and Gao Da would naturally treat them equally.

After nodding, Gao Da asked: "Does the Ministry of Defense have any combat plans? Are these troops going to act together with the Guard, or are they going to open up a new battlefield elsewhere?"

Qiao Di hurriedly said: "The General Staff plans to land from Casablanca and outflank the rear of Rabat from the north.

With the Royal Army and the Guard attacking from the north and south, we can maximize the assurance of annihilating the Moroccan army.

With the participation of the Royal Army, we have hope of capturing Rabat within a month and ending this war."

Although it was said to be outflanking Rabat from the south, how could Gao Da not know the army's thoughts? If they set out from Ceuta like the Guard, most of the cities along the way had already been captured by the Guard, and the army would not be able to get too many military results.

But in Casablanca, south of Rabat, the land here had not yet been stepped on by the Spanish army. After capturing Casablanca, there were still large cities like Settat, Khouribga, Oued Zem, and Mohammedia nearby, so there was absolutely no need to worry about military merits.

Since it had been decided to treat them equally, Gao Da would naturally not stop the army's plan.

"Since there is already a definite offensive plan, then implement it according to the original offensive plan." Gao Da nodded and instructed: "Although tempering on the battlefield is important, try to minimize the casualties of the army. These young men joined the army because they love their motherland, and we must ensure as much as possible that they return to Spain safe and sound."

Qiao Di nodded and promised very solemnly: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will bring these young men back to Spain safe and sound, and for the soldiers who are injured or die in the war, the Ministry of Defense will absolutely not deduct any pension."

Spain's military reform also involved policies related to pensions. Although Spain's military pension was not high, Gao Da had repeatedly ordered that it was strictly forbidden to deduct the pensions of soldiers killed in action.

Once the phenomenon of deducting pensions was discovered, the officials involved would basically say goodbye to their political careers. For the sake of military morale, Gao Da absolutely would not allow anyone to damage the interests of the army and all soldiers.

Moreover, Spain's pension was not much to begin with, and even if they experienced a war like a world war, the government would not go bankrupt because of paying pensions.

May 17, 1895, Spain officially launched a landing in the central Moroccan city of Casablanca.

This landing dispatched two infantry divisions and one artillery division, and they were all regular Spanish Royal Army, which immediately raised the scale of the Moroccan war by a level.

The Royal Army did not live up to Gao Da's expectations. Although landing battles were relatively difficult among many wars, the Royal Army's performance in the landing battle was quite outstanding, taking less than two days to occupy an area on the Casablanca coast that could accommodate large-scale landings.

The city of Casablanca also could not hold out for long under the attack of the Spanish army.

Although the number of artillery pieces equipped by each division of the Spanish Royal Army could not compare to the Guard divisions, looking at the army equipment of various European countries, it could definitely be considered first-class.

Because the Royal Army had just participated in the war, the ammunition supply for each division was quite abundant. As the first battle of the Royal Army's offensive, the various units naturally had no need to save ammunition.

Under the continuous bombardment of hundreds of artillery pieces, the Moroccan city soon turned into a ruin. The Spanish army occupied the city with a blank expression and then carried out strict militarized management.

It is worth mentioning that although the Spanish army would not show any mercy to the Moroccan army, the Spanish army did not have any acts of mass slaughter against the Moroccan civilians in the occupied areas.

Except for those Moroccans who were relatively extreme and particularly hostile to Spain, most Moroccans could receive good treatment.

Even those Moroccans who could not afford to eat because of the war could receive food relief from Spain. Although it was only black bread that was barely edible, it was at least much better than being hungry.

At such a critical juncture, the Moroccan government clearly would not distribute relief food to them.

The ones who could relieve them were the enemies who invaded their motherland; speaking of which, this also seemed a bit ridiculous.

It was precisely because of the Spanish army's act of not harming a single thing of the Moroccan civilians that the Moroccan civilians did not have so much resistance to the Spanish army.

Although there were many Moroccans who were hostile to Spain because the Spanish army invaded their motherland, most people were already numb to this; after all, Spain's Moroccan colony was established on the premise of invading Morocco.

The Moroccans in the South Morocco colony had basically been assimilated into the large group of Spain. Of course, these people in Morocco also knew the situation of the local Moroccans after being occupied by Spain; except for those who truly loved the country of Morocco, most people did not reject joining another country.

After all, for the bottom-level civilians, having enough to eat and living a good life was the most important thing. Was it really important who ruled this country? It was nothing more than changing an exploiting class.

Compared to the current Moroccan government, Spain's exploitation of the Moroccans was not so harsh. As long as they could submit to Spain's rule, in the future, after these Moroccans obtained Spanish citizenship, their status in the colony would be no different from that of the Spaniards on the mainland.

They would not be discriminated against, nor would they be treated in any alternative way. They could enjoy all the policies of the colony, and could even hire free labor from other colonies to reclaim land and become a plantation owner themselves.

This was unimaginable in the current Morocco. Although Morocco was a white country, this did not mean that Morocco's political system was democratic.

On the contrary, Morocco was an autocratic government, and the government's oppression of the bottom-level civilians was much harsher than that of European countries.

At this time, the Moroccans had not yet formed a very obvious national consciousness; the reason they joined the army to resist Spain was nothing more than the Moroccan government's conscription.

They would be thrown into prison if they resisted the government's conscription, so for their own safety, they had to join the army to resist Spain.

This was also the reason why Spain was not harsh on those captured Moroccan prisoners who surrendered. After releasing these prisoners in the future, they could also influence their families and friends through these prisoners to whitewash Spain, which launched the war.

First update of 3,000 words, there will be another update around one o'clock, 6,000 words updated today.

(End of this chapter)