Empire Rising: Spain - Chapter 278 - 172: Assimilation Experiment (3)

Within the army of the Lanfang Republic, it is possible to rehearse some of the Spanish Military’s ideas for army formation, aiding the Spanish Army in making better reforms.

Real warfare is the only means to test an army. Currently, Spain lacks the experience of warfare, so they can only rely on this close observation of the battlefield to gain some experience.

To save transportation costs, Spain will simultaneously transport a batch of weapons and equipment to the East India Colony alongside the transportation to the Lanfang Republic.

Spain’s colonial expansion in Borneo has not stopped, and even war will inevitably occur. To be on the safe side, it is definitely necessary to supply weapons and ammunition to the colonial army in the East Indies.

There is also the expansion plan of the East India Colony. Besides Borneo, Carlo also intends for the East India Colony to expand towards the direction of New Guinea.

New Guinea is an island larger than Borneo, the world’s second-largest island second only to Greenland.

Considering that Greenland is already quite close to the Arctic, and the climate is cold and unsuitable for development, New Guinea is now the largest developable island.

More importantly, compared to Borneo, which has already been infiltrated by British and Dutch forces, large areas of New Guinea remain untouched by great powers.

Spain completely has the opportunity to occupy a piece of land on New Guinea and expand its colony. Whether establishing a new colonial region alone or incorporating it into the already unified East India Colony, both are excellent choices.

In these areas, whether planting economically valuable crops like rubber or cultivating land for grain production, Spain can reap enormous rewards.

Perhaps relying solely on Spain is not enough to develop these regions, but if using the Lanfang Republic to develop them, unexpected gains can be achieved.

In the future, the main area for Spanish development will still be Africa, especially the Southern Morocco region. After all, the Moroccan area is the place truly capable of localization; most of the other colonies have little probability of becoming localized and will eventually break away from Spanish control.

Yes, Carlo sees this point very clearly.

Colonial system collapse is inevitable, unless two world wars can be prevented. Luckily, Spain has already lost most of its colonies, so even when the day of colonial system collapse comes, Spain’s losses won’t be that great.

What Carlo needs to do is to segment Spain’s colonies before the colonial system collapses. Intensively develop those capable of localization, achieving full localization before this day arrives.

For those that cannot be localized, try to utilize their remaining value and exchange more benefits for Spain.

Speaking of the South Morocco Colony, its construction has been quite successful since its establishment. The north-south connecting railway within the colony has been completed, which not only greatly facilitates the transportation of goods within the colony but also strengthens Spain’s control over this land.

The population of Morocco is not large, even smaller than that of the small Lanfang Republic. The population of the Lanfang Republic has just reached 4 million, while Morocco’s population barely exceeds 3 million.

The land occupied by Spain is not small; all land south from the line between Agadir to Tata to the Sahara Desert belongs to the Southern Morocco Colony.

However, the population of this land is only about one-tenth of Morocco’s total population, with most people located in the largest city, Agadir, which is currently also the capital of the Southern Morocco Colony.

This is bad news, but it’s also good news.

The bad news is that the Southern Morocco Colony, with a population of less than 300,000, is difficult to develop into a highly prosperous region like Cuba in a short time.

Even in the long term future, Spain’s investment in the Southern Morocco Colony will result in losses. It’s almost impossible to see continuous income generation like Cuba did for Spain within the next ten years.

But there is also good news. Because of the sparse population in the Southern Morocco Colony, Spain can use it as an experimental ground to explore the possibility of assimilating Moroccans.

As Africa’s most unique region, Moroccans are white population and are quite similar to Spaniards. Aside from the two major differences of language and religion, a Spaniard and a Moroccan dressed in the same attire standing together are really hard to distinguish.

Moroccan population is not large, making assimilation relatively easier. Even if only a part can be assimilated, it can effectively increase Spain’s population, laying a foundation for Spain’s future strength.

If Moroccans truly cannot be assimilated, Carlo can only choose a rather tough approach to completely expel these Moroccans from Morocco.

After all, if Morocco is to be localized, it’s necessary to ensure that most residents living in Morocco are genuinely Spaniards.

Only in this way can real localization be completed, making Morocco one of Spain’s major regions, rather than existing as a colony.

Currently, Spain’s main test point is in Agadir within the Southern Morocco Colony. Through the construction of Spanish language schools and the vigorous spread of Catholicism, as much as possible incorporate these Moroccans into Spain’s embrace.

Additionally, educate these Moroccans from an early age to make them view themselves as Spaniards from a young age.

By employing this dual approach, attempt to assimilate Moroccans as much as possible. Before Spain completely occupies Morocco, there is still ample time to experiment with the assimilation of Moroccans.

Until the moment of complete occupation of Morocco, the outcome of this experiment must ultimately be determined. Whether the Moroccans stay or leave, how the Moroccan region should be handled, all depends on the results of this assimilation experiment.