Chapter 386: Reserve Expansion

Although the candidate for Prime Minister of the new cabinet government had already been decided, the work of forming the new cabinet had only just begun.

The new Prime Minister, Baron Ma Deli, needed to submit a list of cabinet members to Yu Kaluo within half a month; only after receiving Yu Kaluo's approval and swearing an oath of allegiance to Yu Kaluo would the formation of the new cabinet government be considered complete.

Unlike the previous cabinet government, which was in a transitional period, the new cabinet government was destined to have many new faces to shake off the Conservative Party's influence over the Spanish government.

Yu Kaluo had also specifically instructed Prime Minister Ma Deli to select relatively young officials with more energy and an pioneering spirit when appointing ministers for cabinet departments.

Sure enough, when Baron Ma Deli submitted the list of cabinet members to Yu Kaluo, except for a very small number of members whose names were still familiar, most of the cabinet members were joining the cabinet for the first time.

Hu An successfully retained his position as Deputy Prime Minister, while Ma Ding retained his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Luo Suo continued to serve as Minister of Defense, Luo Si continued as Minister of Livelihood, Jin Shaoer continued as Minister of Education, and Count Zhang Bolun continued to serve as Minister of Colonial Affairs.

Except for the few familiar names above, the candidates for all remaining cabinet positions had almost all changed.

The new Minister of Justice was Ceng Bei, a rising political star born at a Spanish university who had served as a lawyer and city councilor for several years.

The Minister of Justice was elected by the House of Lords, which actually meant that Ceng Bei, as Minister of Justice, could also be considered a confidant of Yu Kaluo to a certain extent.

The Minister of Royal Affairs was held by Lu Enda. The Minister of Royal Affairs was a true close courtier to the King, so Yu Kaluo naturally had to choose a confidant he could trust.

Lu Enda was born into the orphan cultivation system established by Yu Kaluo, having undergone round after round of screening and elite training since childhood, and his loyalty to Yu Kaluo could be described as extremely high.

Coupled with the fact that Lu Enda was a Spaniard in the true sense, having him serve as Minister of Royal Affairs was actually even more appropriate than the previous Count Zhang Bolun.

The Minister of Finance was held by He Sai. He Sai was a rising political star of the Progressive Party who had previously served as the Governor of Catalonia.

Although Catalonia, having lost Barcelona, was no longer the most developed state in Spain, its population still ranked among the top in Spain.

While serving as Governor of Catalonia, He Sai demonstrated good ability in finance, which was also the reason he was promoted to Minister of Finance.

His identity as a member of the Progressive Party could also help the cabinet government better balance the various political parties; all in all, he was a relatively good candidate.

Minister of Industry Luo Jie was a new face born from the Workers' Party. The Workers' Party had now developed into Spain's third-largest political party, and some of their propositions were still very helpful for improving Spain's industrial environment, which was the reason they were able to obtain the position of Minister of Industry.

Minister of Agriculture Ma Zhini was an out-and-out member of the Conservative Party. Although power balancing was required within the cabinet government, this did not mean that Conservative Party members could not become cabinet members.

The Minister of Agriculture only needed to take care of the development of local agriculture, so it was fine to leave this position to the Conservative Party. As long as agriculture developed according to plan, there would basically be no mistakes.

Of course, by developing agriculture according to plan, it was impossible for the Minister of Agriculture to achieve great political success. Unless they could perform well during natural and man-made disasters and protect Spanish agriculture from their impact, it was basically impossible to advance further from the position of Minister of Agriculture.

The Minister of Transportation was held by Ma Teao, another member of the Progressive Party. With the rise of automobiles, and the fact that the construction of concrete road surfaces had gradually become the choice of various European countries, Spain's road system was also destined to undergo certain changes.

If nothing else, several of Spain's future national-level main roads would certainly have to be repaved with concrete and built into wide roads with multiple lanes.

Baron Ma Deli had served as the head of an industrial zone, so he naturally understood how much of a bonus a convenient and developed transportation system provided to industrial zones.

If Spain wanted to achieve further industrial growth, it was very necessary to improve the domestic transportation system.

The Minister of Public Security was held by Ma Disi. Ma Disi was born into the Conservative Party, and there was no need for major improvements in public security; it was enough to maintain order in each city by the book.

The Minister of Health was held by Dai Mulei, who was also the only remaining member of the Liberal Party in the Spanish cabinet government.

Spain's cabinet had a total of 17 members, among whom the Liberal Party and the Workers' Party only had 1 cabinet member each; they obtained cabinet positions more for the sake of power balance.

The Conservative Party and the Progressive Party held 5 and 4 cabinet seats respectively, and there were 11 cabinet members with party identities in total, which also meant that the remaining 6 cabinet members were all non-partisan.

The actual reason why there were so many non-partisan members in the cabinet was actually very simple. Positions such as Archbishop, Minister of Royal Affairs, Minister of Colonial Affairs, Minister of Justice, and Minister of Defense were basically held by non-partisan individuals.

Coupled with the fact that the current Prime Minister, Baron Ma Deli, was also non-partisan, this was the reason why the number of non-partisan individuals in the Spanish cabinet government reached 6.

On March 15, 1897, as the members of the new cabinet government swore their allegiance to Yu Kaluo, Spain under Yu Kaluo's rule officially began the term of its sixth cabinet government.

The next day, Yu Kaluo summoned Prime Minister Baron Ma Deli to discuss the development direction of the Spanish government over the next five years.

In view of the increasingly obvious confrontation between the two major military blocs in Europe, it was necessary for Spain to strengthen its military power to ensure that the Spanish mainland would not be affected by the confrontation between the two major military blocs.

Because Spain was located on the Iberian Peninsula, apart from its neighbor Portugal, the only country Spain actually needed to guard against was France in the north.

Considering that it was not impossible for Spain to join the German-Austrian alliance, if it were to truly go to war with France, it was necessary to prevent the French army from quickly invading the interior of Spain, thereby causing huge damage to Spain's industry and economy.

The border between Spain and France was over four hundred kilometers long, but because of the barrier of the Pyrenees in the middle, the only areas that actually needed to be guarded were the plains at the two mountain passes in the east and west.

This actually meant that even if a war were to break out between Spain and France in the future, one only needed to build solid defensive fortresses at the two passes of the Pyrenees to easily block the French army with a small number of troops.

One only needed to equip the two fortresses with a large number of artillery pieces and machine guns, and by relying on the logistical supply advantage of having the Spanish mainland right behind them, even if hundreds of thousands of French troops attacked these two fortresses, it would be absolutely impossible to break through in a short period of time.

If there were also air superiority, it was no exaggeration to say that Spain would only need 300, 00 troops to block the attack of over a million French troops.

This was the bonus brought by geographical advantage, and it was also the reason why Yu Kaluo was not afraid of the great power of France at all.

After discussions with Prime Minister Ma Deli, the proposal to build military fortresses in Irun in the western Pyrenees and Liangsa in the east was finally confirmed.

While called military fortresses, they were actually two solid defensive lines built relying on the Pyrenees. According to the construction plan, these two military fortresses would consist of bunkers and surface fortresses of various sizes, with a total capacity of over 200, 00 troops.

Before it was determined that France was an enemy, these defensive positions would not be at full capacity, and the number of troops stationed would not exceed 100, 00 at most.

Once it was determined that France was an enemy, these defensive positions would be quickly filled to capacity in a short period of time, and the government would also organize more personnel to build more defensive positions and trenches, turning these two border lines into steel defensive lines to ensure that enemy troops from France and other countries would not step one foot into Spanish territory.

Although both were war, the consumption and casualties of offensive warfare and defensive warfare were completely different.

Relying on artillery and machine guns, the casualties of the defending side were bound to be fewer. Even if Spain were to participate in a world war, it was destined not to be the attacking side.

If it did not go to war with France, that would undoubtedly be a better outcome. Because this meant that Spain's enemies were not adjacent to it, and in most cases, Spain did not need to worry about its own homeland security at all.

In addition to building defensive positions, Yu Kaluo also approved the request from the defense department to expand the reserves.

As time reached 1897, the total population counted by the Spanish government had reached about 32. 7 million. Although such a population could not be considered large when looking at the whole of Europe, it basically made up for the gap with the European great powers.

A population of 32 million allowed the Spanish government to expand its military with confidence, and appropriately increasing the reserves was also to cope with the war that could come at any time.

It should be known that the number of active-duty troops and reserves in European countries had been constantly increasing since the confrontation between the two major military blocs was officially formed.

According to relevant data from the Spanish Royal Security Intelligence Agency, around 1890, the number of army troops and reserves in European countries was still within a relatively reasonable range.

At that time, Russia had the largest active-duty army, with fewer than 700, 00 troops. The number of army troops in Germany and France was just over 500, 00 each; considering the fierce competition between Germany and France at the time, such army numbers were relatively reasonable.

The number of active-duty troops in the remaining European great powers was less than 500, 00; the Austro-Hungarian Empire had just over 300, 00 active-duty army troops, and Italy's active-duty army was only a little over 200, 00.

Except for Germany, France, and Russia, whose reserve numbers exceeded one million, the reserve numbers of other countries were only in the hundreds of thousands.

Because the British government implemented a professional military system, their reserve system was relatively weak, and their reserve numbers were even the lowest among the European great powers.

But now, the number of active-duty army troops and reserves in various countries had changed significantly.

The number of active-duty troops in Russia had surged to the million-level, achieving a cliff-like lead over other countries.

Russia's ally, France, also had nearly 700, 00 active-duty troops. The active-duty troops of France and Russia combined already approached 2 million, not to mention that the reserve numbers of these two countries were also as high as over 2 million.

It was precisely because of the continuous military expansion of France and Russia that Germany had to increase its own reserve numbers to about 700, 00 as well.

Coupled with its own reserves, Germany could also expand its army to over 2 million in a short period of time, barely able to cope with the pressure from either France or Russia.

As an ally of Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's performance in terms of troop numbers was unqualified. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had only 400, 00 active-duty troops, and the number of reserves was less than 500, 00.

The combined number of active-duty and reserves was less than one million, and wanting to rely on the Austro-Hungarian Empire to drag down the Russian army was completely impossible.

As another ally of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy's army numbers had also ushered in a new round of expansion in recent years. Italy's active-duty army had exceeded 300, 00, and its reserves were also as high as 300, 00.

Although such army numbers had seen a not-insignificant increase compared to the original Italy, they were clearly incomparable to France and Russia.

This was also the reason why the advantage of the Franco-Russian alliance on the surface was greater than that of the German-Austrian alliance; apart from Germany being able to match either France or Russia, the remaining Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy combined could not contend with the other super great power.

Because of the continuous military expansion of the two major military blocs, Britain could only continuously expand its army numbers.

Because the Boer War had just ended, Britain did not disband its army. Britain still deployed over 200, 00 garrison troops on the South African battlefield, and even this could not completely quell the Boer rebellion.

It was precisely because of these 200, 00 garrison troops that the number of British troops leaped to a high level of 700, 00.

But unlike other European countries, Britain's performance in terms of reserves was still quite poor, and their reserve numbers were at the same level as Italy's.

More importantly, there was a lot of "water" in these 700, 00 British active-duty army troops.

Only 200, 00 were truly elite homeland troops, and the remaining nearly 500, 00 were all colonial auxiliary troops, whose actual combat effectiveness could not be guaranteed.

The reason why the British army had high casualties on the Boer battlefield, besides the Boer guerrilla tactics that gave the British a headache, was that the combat effectiveness of the large number of troops mobilized by the British from various colonies was truly too poor.

The troops from India alone lost over ten thousand heads on the Boer battlefield. It was precisely because the performance of these troops from various colonies was so poor that it greatly lowered the performance of the British army, making Britain and the Italian army the laughingstock of European countries.

Fortunately, Britain still had a powerful navy, which was enough to maintain the glory of the British Empire. If the army's performance was poor, so be it; in any case, it was Britain that achieved final victory.

Compared to the four major European powers, Spain's active-duty army was the smallest. Including colonial troops and the Imperial Guard, Spain's active-duty army was only 329, 00.

Such army numbers were only on the same level as Italy's, and even less than the Austro-Hungarian Empire's active-duty army, let alone the four major European powers.

If Spain wanted to participate in future wars and obtain sufficient benefits, it was necessary to appropriately expand its active-duty army or increase its reserves.

Only by ensuring that it could quickly arm over a million troops when war broke out could Spain calmly deal with the enemies in a world war.

Considering the military expenditure pressure brought by expanding the active-duty army, Yu Kaluo finally chose the second method, which was to strengthen Spain's military power by increasing the number of reserves.

Currently, the Spanish army had a total of 329, 00 troops, of which the Royal Army had 175, 00, the Imperial Guard had 15, 00, and colonial troops had 138, 00.

From the proportion of the army, it could also be seen that the number of elite Royal Army and Imperial Guard troops was too small, and nearly half were colonial troops, which were just making up the numbers; the overall combat effectiveness was clearly still different compared to the active-duty armies of other European countries.

Even if the combat effectiveness of Spain's colonial troops was stronger than that of Britain's colonial troops, they were destined to be incomparable to the homeland troops of the European great powers.

Therefore, Spain not only had to increase the reserves of its colonial troops but also had to increase the reserves of its homeland troops.

In some relatively important battles, where homeland Spanish troops needed to be committed, they still had to be committed at all costs.

Although using a large number of homeland troops would incur huge casualties, thereby affecting production and order within Spain, such sacrifices were necessary to win a world war.

Spain could reduce casualties through a large number of colonial troops, but to win the war, relying solely on these colonial troops was definitely not enough.

To put it bluntly, the greatest role of these colonial troops was only to serve as cannon fodder and to bear a certain amount of pressure for the elite troops on the front lines.

After long discussions with Prime Minister Ma Deli and Minister of Defense Luo Suo, it was finally decided to increase Spain's reserve numbers to 1. million.

Don't look at 1. million as a large number; in reality, a distinction had to be made among these 1. million people.

The number of reserves belonging to the Spanish homeland army was only 700, 00, and coupled with Spain's existing homeland army, it could ensure that Spain would have a million-level homeland army when war broke out, which was the true foundation for Spain to win the war.

The remaining 800, 00 reserves were provided by various colonies, serving as cannon fodder and pathfinders for the homeland army after the war broke out.

When performing relatively arduous assault missions, these colonial reserve troops could be used first to reduce the casualties of the elite homeland troops, allowing the homeland troops to be committed to more important battles.

By increasing the number of reserves to about 1. million, Spain's total force of active-duty plus reserves would reach 1. 3 million, barely reaching the threshold of 2 million.

Although there was a lot of "water" in such a 2-million-strong army, there were nearly 1 million homeland troops, which could ensure that Spain would pass through the early stages of the war safely.

As for the middle and late stages of the war, it would certainly be necessary to draw a large number of troops from the homeland and various colonies to train new armies; relying solely on active-duty and reserve troops to survive the entire world war was completely impossible.

(End of chapter)