Chapter 212 Arms Trade

The war between Tsarist Russia and the Ottoman Empire has begun, which is also good news for Spain.

As soon as the war broke out, the number of troops deployed on the battlefield by both sides was close to one million, and it would only become more and more exaggerated in the future.

The daily consumption of ammunition and supplies for these one million troops is a huge number, and it is also a business opportunity that Spain has been waiting for.

More importantly, neither Russia nor the Ottoman Empire has the ability to be self-sufficient in the war.

Before the war, the Ottoman Empire experienced famine, and Russia also had the problem of reduced grain production. In this war, Spain can not only sell its own weapons and equipment and ammunition, but also sell some medical resources and food. In short, it is a big profit.

Because Spain has no relationship with the warring parties, Spain can trade and cooperate with the warring parties without any burden.

In May 1877, Carlo summoned the Russian ambassador to Spain and proposed to sell weapons and equipment and other important materials to Russia.

For Russia, there is no serious shortage of materials at this time. But the consumption on the front line is very huge, and Russia’s current material reserves will not last long.

More importantly, the Ottoman Empire had the help of Britain and Austria-Hungary, but Russia had no help from any of the great powers.

At this time, Spain took the initiative to propose resource trade, which would help Russia avoid the problem of material shortages in the future.

It was with this idea that the Russian ambassador did not immediately reject Carlo's proposal, but only expressed the need to contact Russia and then have a detailed discussion about the trade between the two countries.

Carlo had no objection. Anyway, it was the Russians who participated in this war, and it was also the Russians who were anxious about the lack of resources in the future.

Within a few days, the Russian ambassador brought a reply from Russia, willing to trade with Spain and purchase Spanish weapons, equipment, bullets, shells and other strategic resources.

After detailed discussions between the Royal Arsenal and the Russian side, a plan to purchase a batch of weapons and equipment was finally determined.

Russia ordered 100,000 rifles, 350 artillery pieces, 25 million bullets and 100,000 shells, and said that this was only the first batch of orders, and the scale of the second batch of orders would be determined in the future based on the consumption of the war.

The Russian side also specifically requested that the Royal Arsenal should transport one-third of the weapons and equipment in the order to Russia before June 15, and complete the delivery of the entire order before August 15.

Because the Royal Arsenal had produced a large number of weapons and equipment long before the outbreak of this war, it naturally nodded in agreement to the Russians' request.

But the Royal Arsenal was not without its own conditions. This batch of weapons and equipment can be produced for Russia in an expedited manner, but the condition is that Russia can only pay for this order with gold reserves, mineral resources or population.

Currently, France, Austria-Hungary and Italy are the three countries that have close trade with Spain, and naturally do not need Russian rubles.

Although the value of currencies of various countries is also linked to gold and silver, the prices of currencies in different places are naturally different in different places.

For example, the official currency peseta issued by the Spanish Currency Issuing Committee has a relatively stable value in Spain, but it is definitely not so valuable abroad.

Because the Russian side is not willing to use only gold to pay for this order, the Royal Arsenal also added other requirements, such as mineral resources and population.

Needless to say, the value of mineral resources is very rich in Russia, and a little bit of expenditure is like a drop in the bucket for Russia.

The population requirement is based on the difficulty of Spain developing colonies.

Whether it is the mainland of Spain or the colonies, it can be said that the land is vast and the population is sparse.

Especially the newly established Congo Territory, although it has vast land, most of the people in the Congo Territory are local natives, and there are only a few hundred Spaniards.

If you want to carry out preliminary development of this land, at least tens of thousands of people must be immigrated. If all immigrants are from the mainland of Spain, it will have a serious impact on the development of the mainland of Spain.

After all, the population of Spain is less than 20 million, and the population disadvantage is too huge compared to the five traditional powers.

There is an advantage to the Russian population in this era. Because of the long-term oppression of serfdom, Russian peasants have developed a submissive character.

And compared with the First World War, there are fewer radical and extreme rebels at this time, which is very suitable for Carlo's rule.

The disadvantage is that Orthodoxy is deeply rooted in the hearts of Russian peasants, and it is absolutely difficult to turn these Russians into Spanish.

For Spain, it can absorb a part of the Russian population, but not too much.

Anyway, Carlo's goal is just to let these Russians develop African colonies and dilute the proportion of local people in Catalonia and the Basque region.

This transaction is a win-win for both Spain and Russia, so after signing the cooperation agreement, both sides are smiling.

Russia obtained its scarce weapons and equipment, and Spain obtained a certain amount of gold reserves and some more obedient Russian peasant population.

Although these people were provided by Russia, Spain would also screen them. Those Russians who were engaged in anti-government movements or had some dangerous ideas would be strictly excluded from the Russian population of immigrants.

It would be better for these people to stay in Russia to harm the Tsarist government. Spain does not need these anarchists and radicals to harm them.

Compared with Russia, Spain still has some appeal to these Russian peasants. Although the Russian reform abolished slavery, these serfs just changed the way they continued to be exploited by Russian nobles and landlords.

Although Alexander II gave these serfs the status of freemen, these serfs did not have any land property.

The peasants had no land, so how could these serfs who had just become freemen survive?

They could only rely on loans from nobles and other banking institutions to buy land that was obviously overpriced, or be forced to rent arable land from the hands of nobles with rents as high as mountains, and continue their serf life in another way.

It is precisely because these Russian peasants have been extremely cruelly oppressed and exploited in the country that Carlo has the confidence to increase the population of Spain by introducing some Russian peasants.

Of course, no matter how submissive these Russian populations are, Spain's ability to carry the Russian population is always limited.

Considering the current population size of Spain, the plan to introduce Russian population has an upper limit. The current upper limit is 500,000 people, which will change with the growth of Spain's total population.

But it is certain that unless the population of Spain exceeds 30 million, the Russian population introduced by Spain will not exceed 1 million.

And these introduced Russian populations will also be scattered all over Spain, and they will not have the opportunity to unite.

With more than a dozen regions and several colonies in Spain, the Russian population will not have any impact.

After all, such a population introduction plan is implemented step by step, and the maximum number of Russian population obtained each year is only tens of thousands.

Tens of thousands of people are still easy to handle, which will not burden the Spanish government and can effectively promote the growth of the Spanish population.

At present, the population of Spain has a very obvious improvement in a relatively peaceful and stable environment.

During the reign of Queen Isabel, the population of Spain almost stagnated, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing, and the population size has never grown steadily.

After Queen Isabel stepped down, Spain's population growth began to enter a faster level.

In the whole year of 1869, Spain's net population growth exceeded 140,000, which was also the fastest year of population growth in Spain since the 1860s.

Entering the 1870s, Spain's population growth was like taking a train, getting rid of the slow speed of walking.

So far, Spain's population has officially exceeded 18.66 million, while the population eight years ago was only 16.61 million.

The net population growth in eight years exceeded 2 million, and the population growth rate has been able to match some of the more populous powers.

Although the powers are affected by immigration, the population size is there after all. Spain's population growth can match these powers, which can also prove the positive impact of Spain's stability during this period on Spain.

According to this population growth rate, Spain has the hope to increase its total population to more than 20 million within five years and to more than 25 million before the new century.

This is just a conservative estimate. If we take into account immigration, the increase in life expectancy and the development of medical technology, perhaps before the new century, or in the first few years of the new century, Spain's total population may increase to about 30 million.

Considering Spain's population introduction plan in the Philippines, Morocco and Lanfang, a population of 30 million is expected to be achieved.

If a population of 30 million can be reached in the first few years of the new century, Spain will have more confidence in the future First World War.

In June 1877, the guns and bullets produced by the Royal Arsenal were transported to Russian ports by sea.

Because Britain had blocked the Strait of Constantinople, there were only two ways for Spain to transport these weapons and equipment to Russia. One was to transport the weapons and equipment to the Russian ports on the east coast of the Baltic Sea through the English Channel and the North Sea.

The other is to transport it to the Russian Far East, and then transfer it to the front battlefield by land transportation.

For Russia, the only acceptable transportation method is to transport it to the Baltic coast.

If it is transported to the Far East, the time for sea and land transportation is not certain at all, and it will take at least several months for the front-line troops to get this batch of equipment.

If it is unloaded on the Baltic coast, Russia's railway facilities in Eastern Europe are still relatively good. Although it is not as convenient as the railways in Germany and France, it is at least a complete railway transportation system.

The first transportation method can ensure that the Russian front-line troops obtain this batch of weapons and equipment within one month, which is acceptable to Russia.

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In fact, from this point, we can also see the reason why Russia wants to continue to expand in the Balkan Peninsula.

Constantinople was in the hands of the Ottoman Empire, directly cutting off Russia's connection between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

Any country that wanted to support Russia could only transport supplies through the Baltic Sea in the north.

The Baltic Sea was far away from the main battlefield in the Balkans. Compared with transporting supplies directly through the Strait of Constantinople, the time wasted might even change the situation on the battlefield.

Fortunately, Russia had made careful preparations before launching the war, and at least there was no shortage of weapons and equipment in the short term.

This also deserves praise for the changes brought to Russia by Alexander II's reforms. During the last Russo-Turkish War, that is, the Crimean War, Russia's industrial foundation was extremely poor, and the war ended in failure.

In this war, Russia has established a certain industrial foundation through reforms, which is an extremely significant change for Russia.

Although Alexander II's reforms were not thorough, they were at least a reform for the whole of Russia, which had a very important positive effect on Russia.

It can even be said that Russia was able to maintain its position as one of the five traditional powers in Europe after the Crimean War. One reason is its vast territory and population that leads the European powers, and the other is the improvement of Russian industry brought by Alexander II's reforms.

Russia's industry can only be said to be the last among the five traditional powers in Europe, but compared with other powers and non-powers, Russia's industry is of course still very strong.

After finalizing the arms trade with Russia, the Spanish government turned to contact the Ottoman Empire.

Although the Ottoman Empire had experienced famine and financial collapse, who let them have the support of the British?

As we all know, Britain is definitely one of the richest countries in Europe. The support of the British is an extremely important blood supply for the Ottoman Empire, and it also keeps this decadent empire alive.

But no matter what, at this time on the battlefield, the Ottoman Empire always lacks advanced weapons and ammunition supplies.

Spain just has these two things, which is why Spain found the Ottoman Empire.

In addition to scarce weapons and equipment, the Ottoman Empire also lacks food, which is not lacking in Spain at present.

Compared with the negotiations with the Russians, the negotiations with the Ottoman Empire were obviously smoother. The main reason for this is that the Ottoman Empire's industrial base is weaker, and the weapons and ammunition consumed in the war almost all came from the aid of Britain and Austria-Hungary.

Since it is aid, it must be limited. The supply of guns and ammunition in the Ottoman Empire is getting less and less, which also caused the top leaders of the empire to panic.

At present, the active contact of the Spanish government is like seeing the hope of persistence for the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire can be said to be short of everything, but the two things it lacks most at present are weapons and equipment, and the other is food.

Before the outbreak of this war, the Ottoman Empire experienced a relatively serious famine. This famine not only caused chaos in the Ottoman Empire, but also caused a large number of refugees to starve to death.

The British aid was absolutely instrumental in organizing nearly 400,000 troops in the war. Most of the weapons and equipment of these soldiers came from the British aid, and a small amount was secretly transported by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

From this aspect, we can also see that the British aided the Ottoman Empire with all their strength.

In addition to weapons and equipment, the British aided the Ottoman Empire with food and some financial support.

The Ottoman Empire had fallen into a financial crisis during the famine. If there was no financial support, the Ottoman Empire would have gone bankrupt before the war was over.

Carlo was eyeing this part of the funds. The British pound is still very valuable and can be used as currency in other European countries.

Selling a large number of weapons and equipment to the Ottoman Empire in exchange for pounds, and then using pounds to buy industrial equipment and other technical information from other European countries to develop Spain's own industry is simply a perfect plan.

The arms trade with Russia is mainly orders for rifles and bullets. After all, Russia has an advantage in artillery, and the domestic artillery production in Russia is enough for consumption in this war.

The Ottoman Empire is different. The Ottoman Empire is at a huge disadvantage in artillery, and what they want most is a large number of artillery to make up for the gap.

The Ottoman Empire was not short of rifles. After all, the British provided considerable support. The Ottoman soldiers were holding British-made rifles, so they naturally did not have much idea about Spanish-made rifles.

After several days of negotiation, the military factory signed another order with the Ottoman side.

This order only included 20,000 rifles and 10 million rounds of bullets, but more than 580 artillery pieces were ordered, as well as 150,000 rounds of shells.

The Ottoman Empire also specifically requested that the orders for rifles and bullets could be delivered later, but the artillery orders should be fully delivered within three months.

For the Royal Military Factory, which had been prepared for a long time, there was no problem in delivering more than 580 artillery pieces within three months.

In this way, the Royal Military Factory and the Ottoman Empire happily signed an order. Both parties agreed to complete the delivery of the order within three months, and the Ottoman Empire would pay for the order with gold, pounds and mineral resources.

In addition to this arms order, the Ottoman Empire also signed a grain trade agreement with Spain.

During the stable period of the past few years, Spain's grain production has also been stable and improved. At present, Spain exports a large amount of grain every year, and signing a grain trade order with the Ottoman Empire is not a big deal for Spain.

The signing of two orders in a row has brought the Royal Arsenal into a short period of busyness. At present, the inventory of the Royal Arsenal can almost complete the delivery of most of the two orders, and a small amount of weapons and equipment have been expedited to ensure that the entire order can be delivered within the specified time.

As for the profits generated by the two arms trades, the Royal Arsenal uses them to upgrade and transform weapons and equipment.

Although the rifles and artillery currently equipped by Spain are relatively excellent products, with the development of military technology, these rifles and artillery will eventually fall behind.

Only by constantly improving them and developing new products generation after generation can we ensure that Spain's military technology has always been at the forefront of Europe.

Although a lot of money has to be spent for this, compared with the improvement brought to Spain by the continuous updating and iteration of military technology, this little bit of money is definitely worth it.

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