Chapter 386

Although the prime minister candidate for the new cabinet government has been obtained, the formation of the new cabinet government has just begun.

The new Prime Minister, Baron Angelo Orcajo, needs to submit a list of cabinet members to Gao Da within half a month; only after obtaining Gao Da's approval and swearing allegiance to Gao Da can the formation of the new cabinet government be considered complete.

Unlike the previous cabinet government that was in a transition period, the new cabinet government is destined to have many new faces to get rid of the Conservative Party's influence on the Spanish government.

Gao Da has also specially ordered Prime Minister Orcajo to appropriately select those younger officials who are more energetic and have an pioneering spirit when appointing ministers for cabinet departments.

Sure enough, when Baron Orcajo submitted the list of cabinet members to Gao Da, except for a very few members whose names were still familiar, most of the cabinet members were joining the cabinet for the first time.

Jovellanos Soler successfully was re-elected as Deputy Prime Minister, and Ewald Bartel was re-elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Qiao Di continued to serve as Minister of National Defense, Eli Wilik continued to serve as Minister of People's Livelihood, Alan Carlton continued to serve as Minister of Education, and Count Menotti continued to serve as Minister of Colonial Affairs.

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

The new Minister of Justice is Klaus Brown, a political rising star born in a Spanish local university who has served as a lawyer and city councilor for several years.

The Minister of Justice is elected by the House of Lords, which actually also means that Klaus Brown, as Minister of Justice, can be considered Gao Da's confidant to a certain extent.

The Minister of Royal Affairs is served by Grant Jerifus. The Minister of Royal Affairs is a close courtier of the King in the true sense; Gao Da naturally wants to select a confidant candidate he can trust.

Grant Jerifus was born in the orphan cultivation system established by Gao Da, and has experienced round after round of screening and elite cultivation since childhood, and his loyalty to Gao Da can be described as extremely high.

Plus, Grant Jerifus is a Spaniard in the true sense; having him serve as Minister of Royal Affairs is actually more suitable than the previous Count Menotti.

The Minister of Finance is served by Ol Acosta. Ol Acosta is a political rising star who has newly emerged from the Progressive Party, and previously served as the Governor of Catalonia.

Although Catalonia, which lost Barcelona, is no longer the most developed state in Spain, Catalonia's population can still rank among the top in Spain.

When serving as the Governor of Catalonia, Ol Acosta showed good ability in finance, which is also the reason why he was promoted to Minister of Finance.

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

Minister of Industry Roger Wills, this is a new face born from the Workers' Party. The Workers' Party has now developed into Spain's third largest political party; some of their propositions are still very helpful for the improvement of Spain's industrial environment, which is also the reason why they were able to obtain the position of Minister of Industry.

Minister of Agriculture Ethan Stevens, this is an out-and-out member of the Conservative Party. Although power balance needs to be carried out in the cabinet government, this does not mean that Conservative Party members cannot become cabinet members.

The Minister of Agriculture only needs to take care of the development of local agriculture; giving this position to the Conservative Party is fine. Agriculture only needs to develop step by step, and basically there will be no mistakes.

Of course, developing agriculture step by step, it is impossible for the Minister of Agriculture to obtain too great political achievements. Unless he can perform well in natural and man-made disasters, letting Spain's agriculture be free from the influence of natural and man-made disasters, otherwise it is basically impossible to go further in the position of Minister of Agriculture.

The Minister of Transportation is served by Warren Francis, who is another member of the Progressive Party. With the rise of automobiles, plus the construction of cement road surfaces has gradually become the choice of European countries, Spain's road system is also about to usher in certain changes.

Not to mention anything else, several national-level main roads in Spain in the future will definitely be paved with cement and built into wide roads with several lanes.

Baron Orcajo served as the District Mayor of the Industrial Zone; he naturally also understands how much addition a convenient and developed transportation system has to the industrial zone.

If Spain wants to make industry grow further, it is very necessary to improve the domestic transportation system.

The Minister of Public Security is served by Anthony Slack. Anthony Slack was born from the Conservative Party; there is no need for major improvements in public security, just maintain the order of various cities according to the book.

The Minister of Health is served by Austin Strauss, which is also the only remaining member of the Liberal Party in the Spanish cabinet government.

The Spanish cabinet has a total of 17 members, of which the Liberal Party and the Workers' Party only have 1 cabinet member; they obtain cabinet positions more for the balance of power.

The Conservative Party and the Progressive Party have 5 and 4 cabinet seats respectively; cabinet members with political party identities total 11, which also means that the remaining 6 cabinet members are all independent.

The reason why there are so many independent members in the cabinet, the actual reason is actually very simple. Positions like Archbishop, Minister of Royal Affairs, Minister of Colonial Affairs, Minister of Justice, and Minister of National Defense are basically served by independent people.

Plus the current Prime Minister Baron Orcajo is also an independent, which is the reason why the number of independent people in the Spanish cabinet government reached 6.

On March 15, 1897, with the members of the new cabinet government swearing allegiance to Gao Da, Spain under Gao Da's rule officially began the term of the sixth cabinet government.

On the 2nd day, Gao Da summoned Prime Minister Baron Orcajo to discuss the development direction of the Spanish government in the next five years.

Given the increasingly obvious confrontation between the two major military groups in Europe, it is necessary for Spain to strengthen its military strength to ensure that the Spanish mainland will not be affected by the confrontation between the two major military groups.

Because Spain is on the Iberian Peninsula, except for its neighbor Portugal, what Spain needs to guard against is actually only France in the north.

Considering that Spain is not without the possibility of joining the German-Austrian alliance, if it really fights with France, it must prevent the French army from quickly invading the inland areas of Spain, thereby causing huge damage to Spain's industry and economy.

The border between Spain and France is more than 400 kilometers long, but because of the barrier of the Pyrenees in the middle, what actually needs to be guarded against is only the plain areas of the two mountain passes in the east and west.

This actually also means that even if Spain and France break out in war in the future, it only needs to build solid defensive fortresses at the two mountain passes of the Pyrenees, and it can easily block the French army with a small number of troops.

It only needs to equip the two fortresses with a large number of artillery and machine guns; relying on the logistical advantage of the Spanish mainland behind it, even if hundreds of thousands of French troops attack these two fortresses, it is absolutely impossible to break them in a short time.

If there is air superiority, it can be said without exaggeration that Spain only needs 300,000 troops to block the attack of millions of French troops.

This is the addition brought by geographical advantage, and it is also the reason why Gao Da is not afraid of France, a powerful country, at all.

After discussion with Prime Minister Orcajo, the proposal to build military fortresses in Irun in the western Pyrenees and Liansa in the east was finally determined.

It is called a military fortress, but it is actually two solid defensive lines built relying on the Pyrenees. According to the construction plan, these two military fortresses will be composed of large and small bunkers and ground fortresses, with a total capacity of more than 200,000 troops.

Before it is determined to be an enemy of France, the defensive offensive here will not be full, and the number of troops stationed will not exceed 100,000 at most.

Once it is determined to be an enemy of France, the defensive offensive here will be full in a short time, and the government will also organize more manpower to build more defensive positions and trenches, creating these two border lines into steel defensive lines, ensuring that the enemy troops of France and other countries will not step into Spanish territory.

Although both are wars, the consumption and casualties of offensive warfare and defensive warfare are completely different.

Relying on artillery and machine guns, the casualties of the defensive side are destined to be less. Even if Spain wants to participate in the world war, it is destined not to be the offensive side.

If it does not fight with France, that is undoubtedly a better ending. Because this means that Spain's enemies are not adjacent to it; most of the time, Spain does not need to worry about its mainland security at all.

In addition to building defensive positions, Gao Da also approved the request of the National Defense Department to expand the reserves.

As time reached 1897, the total population counted by the Spanish government had reached about 32.07 million. Although such a population is not much looking at the whole of Europe, it basically made up for the gap with European powers.

A population of 32 million can allow the Spanish government to expand the army with peace of mind; appropriately increasing the reserves is also to deal with the war that may come at any time.

You know, the number of active troops and reserves in European countries has been continuously increasing since the confrontation between the two major military groups was officially formed.

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

At that time, the country with the most active army was Russia, with a number of less than 700,000. The number of army troops in Germany and France was both over 500,000; considering the fierce competition between Germany and France at that time, such a number of army troops was also relatively reasonable.

The number of active troops in the remaining European powers was less than 500,000; the number of active army troops in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was only over 300,000, and the number of active army troops in Italy was only more than 200,000.

Except for the number of reserves in Germany, France, and Russia exceeding one million, the number of reserves in other countries was only hundreds of thousands.

Because the British government implemented a professional soldier system, their reserve system was relatively weak, and the number of reserves was even the smallest among European powers.

But now, the number of active army troops and reserves in various countries has had obvious differences.

The number of active troops in Russia suddenly mentioned the million level, achieving a cliff-like lead over other countries.

Russia's ally, France, also possessed nearly 700,000 active troops. The active troops of France and Russia added together already approached 2 million, not to mention that the number of reserves in these two countries was also as high as more than 2 million.

It is precisely because of the continuous expansion of France and Russia that Germany had to increase its reserve number to about 700,000.

Plus its own reserves, Germany could also expand its army to more than 2 million in a short time, barely able to cope with the pressure from France or Russia.

As an ally of Germany, the performance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in terms of the number of troops was unqualified. The number of active troops in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was only 400,000, and the number of reserves was less than 500,000.

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

As another ally of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy's army number has also ushered in a new round of expansion in these few years. The number of active army troops in Italy has exceeded 300,000, and the reserves are also as high as 300,000.

Although such an army number has had no small growth compared to the original Italy, it is clearly unable to compare with France and Russia.

This is also the reason why the advantage of the Franco-Russian alliance on the surface is greater than that of the German-Austrian alliance; except that Germany can match any one of France and Russia, the remaining Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy added together cannot confront another super power.

Because the two major military groups continuously expanded their armies, Britain also had to continuously expand its army number.

Because the Boer War had just ended, Britain did not disband its army. Britain still deployed more than 200,000 troops on the South African battlefield, and this still could not completely quell the rebellion of the Boers.

It is precisely because of these 200,000 troops that the number of British troops jumped to a high level of 700,000.

But unlike other European countries, Britain's performance in reserves is still quite bad; their reserve number is at the same level as Italy's.

More importantly, these 700,000 active army troops in Britain also have a lot of moisture.

The elite local troops that truly belong to Britain are only 200,000, and the remaining nearly 500,000 are all colonial servant troops, and the actual combat effectiveness cannot be guaranteed.

The reason why the British army had high casualties on the Boer battlefield, in addition to the Boer guerrilla tactics making the British very headache, is that the combat effectiveness of the large number of troops mobilized by Britain from various colonies was too bad.

Just the troops from India sent tens of thousands of heads on the Boer battlefield. It is precisely because the performance of these troops from various colonies was too bad that it greatly lowered the performance of the British army, making the British and Italian armies a laughingstock of European countries.

Fortunately, Britain still has a powerful navy; the navy is enough to maintain the glory of the British Empire. The performance of the army is bad, so be it; anyway, it is Britain that won the final victory.

Compared with the four major European powers, Spain's active army number is the smallest. Counting the colonial army and the Guards Division, the number of active army troops in Spain is only 329,000.

Such an army number is only at the same level as Italy, less than the active army number of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, let alone the four major European powers.

If Spain wants to participate in the war and obtain sufficient benefits in the future war, it is very necessary to appropriately expand the number of active army troops or increase the number of reserves.

Only by ensuring that millions of troops can be quickly armed when the war breaks out can Spain calmly deal with the enemies in the world war.

Considering the military expenditure pressure brought by expanding active troops, Gao Da finally chose the second way, which is to strengthen Spain's military strength by increasing the number of reserves.

Currently, Spain's army has a total of 329,000 people, of which the Royal Army has 175,000, the Guards have 15,000, and the colonial army has 138,000.

From the proportion of the army, it can also be seen that the number of elite Royal Army and Guards is too small, and nearly half are colonial troops that make up the numbers; the overall combat effectiveness is clearly different compared to the active army of other European countries.

Even if the combat effectiveness of Spain's colonial army is stronger than that of Britain's colonial army, it is destined not to be comparable to the local army of European powers.

So Spain must not only increase the number of reserves for the colonial army but also increase the number of reserves for the local army.

In some relatively important battles, those that should be invested in the local Spanish army still need to be invested at all costs.

Although using a large number of local troops will bear huge casualties, thereby affecting Spain's domestic production and order. But in order to win the world war, this sacrifice must be made.

Spain can reduce casualties through a large number of colonial troops, but wanting to win the war, just relying on these colonial troops is definitely not enough.

To put it bluntly, the biggest role of these colonial troops is just to act as cannon fodder and share a certain amount of pressure for the elite troops on the front line.

After a long discussion with Prime Minister Orcajo and Minister of National Defense Qiao Di, it was finally determined to increase the number of Spain's reserves to 1.5 million.

Don't look at 1.5 million people as a lot; in fact, it is necessary to distinguish these 1.5 million people.

The number of reserves belonging to the Spanish local army is only 700,000; plus the number of existing local troops in Spain, it can ensure that Spain has a million-level local army when the war breaks out, which is also the true confidence for Spain to win the war.

The remaining 800,000 reserves are provided by various colonies, acting as cannon fodder and pathfinders for the local army after the war breaks out.

When performing relatively arduous offensive tasks, these colonial reserve troops can be used first to reduce the casualties of the elite local army and let the local army be invested in more important battles.

Increasing the number of reserves to about 1.5 million, the total strength of Spain's active and reserves will reach 1.83 million, barely reaching the threshold of 2 million.

Although such 2 million troops have a lot of moisture, there are nearly 1 million local troops, which can ensure that Spain passes through the early stage of the war safely.

As for the middle and late stages of the war, it is definitely necessary to draw a large number of soldiers from the mainland and various colonies to train new troops; wanting to support the entire world war by relying only on active and reserve troops is completely impossible.

(End of this chapter)