Chapter 174 Assimilation Experiment

The final choice of the Lan Fang Republic was naturally to submit to the rule of Spain.

At least there was still a choice to submit to the Spaniards. Without the support of Spain, the only outcome waiting for Lan Fang was destruction.

"Diplomat Wu, you made the right choice." In the Royal Palace of Madrid, Carlo smiled with satisfaction and reached a preliminary agreement with Wu Yongxiang on the cooperation between Spain and Lan Fang.

Because Wu Yongxiang was the plenipotentiary representative of the Lan Fang Republic, the signing of the cooperation treaty between the two parties only required him to sign on behalf of him.

As for whether the Lan Fang Republic would break the contract, Carlo did not need to worry at all.

Before the Lan Fang Republic defeated the Dutch, they had always faced colonial pressure from the Dutch East Indies.

And the time when they defeated the Dutch was entirely determined by Spain. As long as Carlo was willing, the Lan Fang Republic could continue to consume the Dutch like this until forever.

On February 12, 1875, Spanish Prime Minister Primo and Lanfang's plenipotentiary Wu Yongxiang jointly signed the "Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Sealand and China" under the witness of some media, and left precious video materials.

Most media are not interested in the Lanfang Republic. They are interested in why Spain chose to sign a cooperation agreement with the Lanfang Republic, which has little fame and strength.

If there is a country that pays attention to this, it may be the Netherlands.

Because Lanfang is theoretically within the colonial scope of the Netherlands, they are even nominally subject to the Netherlands' East Indies colony.

However, when the Dutch received the news, several days had passed since the two sides signed the cooperation treaty.

No matter how dissatisfied the Dutch are, they can only swallow their anger.

After all, Spain has crushed the Netherlands in terms of size and comprehensive strength. Unless the Netherlands is still the United Kingdom that governs Belgium and Luxembourg, the Netherlands cannot be compared with Spain.

But then again, if the three Low Countries were still united, there would be no need for Spain and the Dutch to compete, and the great powers would have made the Low Countries disband themselves.

Being in the angle between Britain, France, and Germany, it is destined that there can be no truly powerful country in this area.

Not to mention superpowers at the level of the great powers, even regional powers are not allowed to exist.

To put it bluntly, none of the three parties of Britain, France, and Germany would allow a country that is more powerful than themselves or threatens them to appear in the Low Countries.

When Prime Minister Primo learned that Carlo had already agreed on the cooperation matters with the representatives of the Republic of Lanfang, he did not express his opposition.

After all, such cooperation is beneficial to Spain, and most of the terms of the entire cooperation agreement can help Spain better colonize in the Kalimantan region.

However, regarding the loyalty of the new brother of the Republic of Lanfang, both Carlo and Prime Minister Primo are essentially distrustful.

It is nothing more than that the Netherlands would rather destroy this country and fully annex the land of the Republic of Lanfang. Spain hopes to control the Lanfang Republic, and while fighting the Dutch, get help from a country with a population of more than 4 million and relatively developed agriculture.

It has to be admitted that the land of Southeast Asia is naturally suitable for growing crops.

Because it is in the tropics, the rice grown here can be harvested twice or even three times a year, and the grain output is several times higher than that in temperate regions.

Although the Lanfang Republic has only 4 million people, the food they produce is enough to feed 15 million people for more than a year.

This is quite exaggerated, and it also makes agriculture in the Lanfang Republic the pillar industry of the entire country and the bulk of economic income.

For Spain, the grain output from the Lanfang Republic can well make up for the food shortage in the East Indies, that is, the Philippines.

Let the Lanfang people provide enough food for themselves, and the Spaniards can focus on more valuable crops, such as rubber or other industries.

Of course, the biggest role of the Lanfang Republic for Carlo and Spain is not to provide food production and fight against the Netherlands, but to exist as a vassal state and provide more troops for Spain.

Yes, Carlo did not intend to give up the Lanfang Republic. In Carlo's strategic plan for Spain's future, the Republic of Lanfang will serve as Spain's permanent vassal state, helping Spain expand its territory and build a prosperous empire.

Although the Republic of Lanfang currently has a population of only 4 million, it is backed by a country with the largest population.

The reason why the population is only 4 million at present is that, in addition to the continuous colonial oppression of the Dutch, the populous country has not completely weakened.

As long as the Republic of Lanfang has a good reputation, it will definitely attract more people to come, so that the population of the Republic of Lanfang will exceed 10 million.

A country with a population of 10 million will have a greater impact on Spain, and the army that can be formed will be as high as hundreds of thousands or even millions.

Such an exaggerated army size, let alone a small Dutch East Indies colony, even India, which the British are obsessed with, can pose a considerable threat.

Of course, Carlo will not be stupid enough to really compete with the British for India. Putting aside whether it is a good fight or not, Spain's size is not enough to suppress a country as big as India.

But being able to have hundreds of thousands or even millions of troops will undoubtedly make the British pay more attention to the existence of Spain, and also allow Spain to conduct diplomatic activities more assured.

After all, if the two sides really fall out, even if the final winner is Britain, Britain will definitely be seriously injured.

Moreover, even if the enemy is not Britain, the Lanfang Republic can play a certain role. After all, population is the most important thing in this era. With sufficient population, whether it is colonization or war, it represents enough confidence.

But to achieve this goal, it is necessary to achieve dual control of the economy and military of the Lanfang Republic.

It is very difficult to achieve dual control. After all, the Lanfang Republic cannot surrender. The Lanfang people are not fools. They will definitely be more defensive and even hostile to Spain's intention to completely control the Lanfang Republic.

But there is no way out. For example, cultural infiltration can be carried out, and some talents can be selected for training from an early age.

Select some talented children from the Lanfang Republic, train them in Spain from an early age, and send them back after they grow up and graduate from college.

Because these people grew up in Spain, they will involuntarily get close to Spain. When these people enter the upper echelons of the Lan Fang Republic, the pro-Western faction of the Lan Fang Republic will gradually form and gain the right to speak.

At that time, Spain only needs to support the pro-Western faction in the Lan Fang Republic to influence or even control the country.

This is also the routine used by some countries in later generations. Spain does not even need to show up much, and can gain enough voice by relying on the pro-Western faction cultivated in the Lan Fang Republic.

In addition, by controlling the size of the Lan Fang Republic and ensuring that the population of the Lan Fang Republic has always been maintained at the level of tens of millions, it can be ensured that the Lan Fang Republic will not cause a backlash to Spain.

It can even form a balance through the local indigenous people, so that the Lan Fang Republic and the local indigenous people compete with each other, and Spain can rest assured.

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

Since the relevant cooperation treaty has been signed, it is certain that further cooperation with the Lan Fang Republic will be carried out next.

At least before Carlo's goal is achieved, Carlo does not want to see the Lan Fang Republic being eliminated by the Dutch.

At present, the biggest problem between Spain and the Lan Fang Republic is communication. The Lanfang Republic is also relatively backward, so naturally there is no means of long-distance communication.

The most urgent problem to be solved at present is the communication problem between the Spanish mainland and the Lanfang Republic. After some discussion, it was finally decided to build a wired telegraph between the Lanfang Republic and the Spanish East Indies colonies for communication.

The communication between the Lanfang Republic and the Spanish mainland is basically conveyed by the East Indies colonies.

This is also unavoidable. After all, the technology of this era is like this, and there is no wireless call and network technology.

The reason why telegraph information can be transmitted across the ocean is that it depends on the transoceanic cables laid by European countries between the oceans.

Moreover, the technology of transoceanic cables is not mature, and it has only been around for more than ten years.

This leads to a long time for long-distance telegraph transmission, and sometimes the received information is incomplete or incorrect due to sudden signal interruption and other problems.

But there is no way, it is already the most effective and fastest long-distance communication method for humans.

In addition to using transoceanic cables to send telegrams, the only way to spread messages is to travel thousands of miles in person.

Within a few days, the first batch of weapons and equipment from Spain to support the Lan Fang Republic had been successfully loaded and slowly entered the Atlantic Ocean under the watchful eyes of Wu Yongxiang.

In order to express Spain's sincerity in supporting the Lan Fang Republic, this batch of weapons and equipment will be provided to the Lan Fang Republic free of charge.

Neither Carlo nor the Spanish government will lose money by doing this. After all, these are weapons and equipment eliminated from the original army. They are all some backward muzzle-loading rifles and paper-wrapped bullets, without even a cannon.

It is nothing more than a certain transportation fee to transport these weapons from Spain to Kalimantan, and there is no additional expense.

If the Lan Fang Republic wants to buy weapons and equipment in the future, it must spend real money or exchange them with other valuable materials.

Whether it is the backward muzzle-loading rifle or the latest breech-loading rifle of the Royal Arsenal, they are all on the list of weapons exports.

After all, the Lan Fang Republic does not have the ability to build an ammunition production line. Even if they buy guns, they must rely on ammunition imported from Spain.

By selling weapons and equipment, the Lan Fang Republic can be better armed and the attention of the Dutch and the British can be distracted.

Along with this batch of weapons, there was also a military dispatch of dozens of people arriving at the Lan Fang Republic.

The purpose of this dispatch was to help the Lan Fang Republic army train a new army with strong combat effectiveness to fight against the Dutch.

On the one hand, the combat effectiveness of the Lan Fang Republic army was indeed not good, and on the other hand, Spain did need to conduct military infiltration into the Lan Fang Republic.

Another thing was to observe the real performance of these weapons on the battlefield. Although only a batch of muzzle-loading rifles were transported to the Lan Fang Republic, who could guarantee that the Lan Fang Republic would not purchase advanced breech-loading rifles from Spain?

In the army of the Republic of Lanfang, the Spanish military can also practice some of its ideas about the organization of the army, helping the Spanish army to make better reforms.

Real war is the only way to test the army. At present, Spain lacks the experience of war, so it can only rely on such a close observation of the battlefield to gain some experience.

In order to save transportation costs, while transporting weapons and equipment to the Republic of Lanfang, Spain will also transport a batch of weapons and equipment to the East Indian colonies at the same time.

Spain's colonial expansion to Kalimantan has not stopped, and even war will inevitably occur. In order to be on the safe side, it is necessary to supply weapons and ammunition to the colonial army in East India.

There is also the expansion plan of the East Indian colonies. In addition to Kalimantan, Carlo is also preparing to expand the East Indian colonies in the direction of New Guinea.

New Guinea is an island larger than Kalimantan and the second largest island in the world after Greenland.

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

More importantly, compared to Kalimantan, which has been infiltrated by British and Dutch forces, large tracts of land on New Guinea have not yet been set foot by the great powers.

Spain has every opportunity to occupy a piece of land on New Guinea to expand its colonies. Whether it is to establish a new colonial area alone or to incorporate it into the already unified East Indian colonies, it is a good choice.

These places can bring huge gains to Spain, whether it is planting economic products such as rubber or reclaiming land to grow food.

Perhaps Spain alone is not enough to develop these areas, but if the Lanfang Republic is used to develop them, unexpected gains can be achieved.

In the future, the main areas developed by the Spaniards will still be Africa, especially South Morocco. After all, Morocco is the place that can be truly localized. The probability of localization of most of the colonies other than this is very small, and they will eventually be out of Spain's control in the future.

Yes, Carlo sees this very clearly.

The collapse of the colonial system is inevitable unless the outbreak of the two world wars can be prevented. Fortunately, Spain has lost most of its colonies, and even if the day comes when the colonial system collapses, Spain's losses will not be that great.

What Carlo has to do is to cut off Spain's colonies before the collapse of the colonial system. Those that can be localized should be developed more and completely localized before this day comes.

Those that cannot be localized should make use of their last value as much as possible to exchange more benefits for Spain.

Speaking of the South Morocco Colony, its construction since its establishment has been quite successful. The railway that runs north and south in the colony has been completed, which not only greatly facilitates the transportation of materials in the colony, but also strengthens Spain's control over this land.

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

The land occupied by Spain is not small. All the land from Agadir to Tata to the south to the Sahara Desert belongs to the scope of the South Morocco Colony.

But the population of this land is only about one-tenth of the total population of Morocco, and most of the population is located in the largest city, Agadir, which is also the capital of the current South Morocco Colony.

This is bad news, but also good news.

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

Even in the long term, Spain's investment in the South Moroccan colony will be a loss. If the South Moroccan colony wants to generate income for Spain like Cuba, it will not be seen in the next ten years.

But there is also good news. Because the population of the South Moroccan colony is sparse, Spain can use it as an experimental site to explore the possibility of assimilating Moroccans.

As the most special region in Africa, Moroccans are white people, which is similar to Spaniards. In addition to the two most obvious differences in language and religion, it is really difficult to tell a Spaniard and a Moroccan standing together in the same clothes.

Morocco has a small population, so it will be easier to assimilate. Even if only a part of it can be assimilated, it can effectively increase the population of Spain and lay a good foundation for the future strength of Spain.

If the Moroccans really cannot be assimilated, Carlo can only choose a tougher way to completely drive these Moroccans out of Morocco.

After all, if you want to localize Morocco, you must ensure that most of the residents living in Morocco are truly Spanish.

Only in this way can we achieve true localization and make Morocco a region of Spain instead of a colony.

At present, Spain's main pilot is in Agadir, a colony in southern Morocco. By building Spanish language schools and vigorously spreading Catholicism, we will try our best to bring these Moroccans into the arms of Spain.

The second is to educate these Moroccans from an early age so that they will regard themselves as Spaniards from an early age.

Through this two-pronged approach, we will assimilate Moroccans as much as possible. Before Spain completely occupies Morocco, there is still a long time to experiment with the assimilation of Moroccans.

When Morocco is completely occupied, this experiment will eventually have a result. Whether the Moroccans leave or stay, and how the Moroccan region should be dealt with, will ultimately depend on the results of this assimilation experiment.

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