Empire Rising: Spain - Chapter 277 - 172: Assimilation Experiment 2

However, possessing hundreds of thousands or even millions of troops would undoubtedly make the British pay more attention to the presence of Spain, and also allow Spain to engage in diplomatic activities with more confidence.

After all, if they really break ties, even if the ultimate victor is the United Kingdom, the British would be severely weakened.

Moreover, even if the opponent is not the United Kingdom, the Lanfang Republic can still play a certain role. After all, in this era, population is the most crucial factor. With sufficient population, whether in colonial expansion or warfare, there is enough underpinning.

But to achieve such an aim, it is necessary to achieve dual economic and military control over the Lanfang Republic.

Achieving dual control is very challenging, as the Lanfang Republic would not simply surrender. The Lanfang people are not fools; facing Spain’s intention to fully control the Lanfang Republic, they would undoubtedly be more vigilant and might even develop hostile feelings.

But it’s not completely unattainable. For example, cultural infiltration can be conducted, and some talented individuals can be selected and trained from a young age.

Select some gifted children from the Lanfang Republic and nurture them in Spain from a young age; once they grow up, graduate from university, they can be sent back.

As these people grow up in Spain, they would naturally feel closer to Spain. When these individuals enter high-level positions in the Lanfang Republic, the pro-Spain faction within the Lanfang Republic would gradually form and gain the right to speak.

At that point, Spain would only need to support the pro-Spain faction within the Lanfang Republic to influence or even control this country.

This is also a common tactic used by some countries later on. Spain doesn’t even need to show up much; merely relying on the pro-Spain faction nurtured within the Lanfang Republic can secure sufficient influence.

In addition, by controlling the size of the Lanfang Republic, ensuring its population remains at the tens of millions, it can be guaranteed that the Lanfang Republic wouldn’t backfire on Spain.

It is also possible to create a balance through the local indigenous people, letting the Lanfang Republic compete with the local indigenous, allowing Spain to remain worry-free.

After the cooperation treaty between the two parties was signed, Wu Yongxiang stayed in Spain as the ambassador.

Since the relevant cooperation treaty had been signed, the next step was to carry out further cooperation with the Lanfang Republic.

At least before Carlo’s goal is achieved, Carlo doesn’t want to see the Lanfang Republic eliminated by the Dutch.

Currently, the biggest problem between Spain and the Lanfang Republic lies in communication. The Lanfang Republic is relatively backward, naturally lacking means of long-distance communication.

The most urgent issue to solve now is the communication problem between mainland Spain and the Lanfang Republic. After some discussion, it was finally decided to establish a wired telegraph between the Lanfang Republic and the Spanish East Indies colonies to facilitate communication.

The connection between mainland Spain and the Lanfang Republic mainly relies on the East Indies Colony as the intermediary.

This is unavoidable, given the technological limitations of the era, with no wireless communication or internet technology.

The ability to transmit telegraphic messages across the ocean relies on the transoceanic cables laid by European countries in the ocean.

Moreover, the technology for transoceanic cables is not mature, having only been developed for about a decade.

This results in long-distance telegraphic transmissions taking a long time. Sometimes signal interruptions and other issues can result in the received information being incomplete or erroneous.

However, it’s the most efficient and fastest long-distance communication method available to humanity currently.

Apart from sending telegraphs through transoceanic cables, the only alternative is to transmit messages by personally traversing long distances across mountains and seas.

A few days later, the first batch of weapons and equipment Spain sent to assist the Lanfang Republic was successfully loaded onto ships, slowly entering the Atlantic Ocean under the watchful eyes of Wu Yongxiang.

To express Spain’s sincerity in supporting the Lanfang Republic, this batch of weapons and equipment will be provided to the Lanfang Republic for free.

In doing so, neither Carlo nor the Spanish Government would suffer losses, as these are weapons and equipment phased out from the original military, consisting of outdated muzzle-loading guns and paper cartridges, not even a single cannon.

The main expense is the transportation cost from Spain to Kalimantan, with no additional expenditure beyond that.

If the Lanfang Republic wants to purchase weapons and equipment thereafter, they would have to either spend real silver or exchange with other valuable commodities.

Both outdated muzzle-loading guns and the latest breech-loading guns from the Royal Military Factory are included in the weapons export list.

Since the Lanfang Republic lacks the capacity to build an ammunition production line, even if they buy firearms, they still have to rely on Spanish-imported ammunition.

By selling weapons and equipment, the Lanfang Republic can be better armed, and it can also distract the Dutch and the British.

Accompanying this batch of weapons to the Lanfang Republic is a military mission consisting of dozens of personnel.

The purpose of this mission is to help the Lanfang Republic army train a powerful, new army capable of confronting the Dutch.

On one hand, the combat efficiency of the Lanfang Republic’s army is indeed subpar; on the other hand, Spain does need to conduct military infiltration into the Lanfang Republic.

Additionally, it’s to observe the true performance of these weapons on the battlefield. Although only a batch of muzzle-loading guns is currently being sent to the Lanfang Republic, who can guarantee that the Lanfang Republic wouldn’t purchase advanced breech-loading guns from Spain?