Chapter 256: Lanfang Conflict
After seeing the childbearing encouragement policy formulated by the Andalusian region, Carlo immediately decided to have the other regional governments emulate it as well, to maximize Spain’s population growth speed as much as possible.
The policies formulated by the various regions do not conflict with those formulated by the Spanish Government, and the public can even enjoy double subsidies.
Doing so can also strengthen the public’s willingness to have children; if having children brings benefits, most people will still be willing to have them.
Carlo is quite satisfied with the policy formulated by the Andalusian region, and by extension, he is also quite satisfied with the work of the Andalusian regional government.
Naturally, the performance appraisals of the Andalusian regional governor and some government officials are all excellent ratings, making it easier for them to obtain promotion opportunities, and Spain’s newspaper offices will also extensively publicize their political achievements, allowing them to gain more support from the public.
Carlo temporarily does not expect much from those regions with populations under one million, but for regions with populations over one million, emulating the Andalusian region’s childbearing encouragement policy is still very necessary.
These regions with populations over one million account for more than half of Spain’s total population; if their birth rates can all be maintained at around 4%-5%, Spain’s annual newborn population can exceed 400,
Combined with the continuous influx of immigrants and indigenous people joining Spanish nationality, it is no problem for Spain’s annual net population growth to approach 500,
Under such a population growth speed, Spain’s population has hope of reaching 30 million before the arrival of 1900, which is necessary to gain sufficient right to speak in World War I.
At the same time, Spain’s childbearing encouragement policy does not need to worry at all about being emulated by other countries. Other countries do not place as much emphasis on population, nor are they willing to invest too much funds just for population growth.
While the regional governments on the Spanish Mainland are continuously formulating childbearing encouragement policies and subsidies to carry out Carlo’s orders, on Borneo, separated by tens of thousands of miles from the Spanish Mainland, a conflict is underway.
As the world’s third largest island, the situation on Borneo is quite chaotic and complex. Not only are there conflicts between colonists on the island, but also conflicts between the island’s indigenous people.
After receiving Spain’s support, the Lanfang Republic’s development speed has been unparalleled, and its strength has quickly surpassed the northern Sarawak Kingdom and the eastern Kutai Sultanate.
The strength and prosperity of the Lanfang Republic made the Dutch extremely envious; without Spain’s strong intervention, large areas of South Kalimantan should have long belonged to the Netherlands.
The most fertile land on Borneo is the land of the Lanfang Republic; due to the reclamation by diligent Han Chinese, the grain yield here is several times that of the surrounding indigenous nations, and the Lanfang Republic is also a famous grain production area in the vicinity.
Unfortunately, this grain production area has been controlled by Spain, and large amounts of grain are transported from Borneo to the Philippines every year, supplied to Spanish colonizers and local indigenous people in the Philippines.
The grain yield on Java occupied by the Netherlands is also considerable, but Java has a large indigenous population, and even the grain on Java is not enough for these indigenous people to share.
To accelerate the colonization of the East Indies, the Netherlands must have sufficient grain yield to support the colonial army and immigrants.
After much deliberation, the Netherlands ultimately set its sights on the Lanfang Republic. Of course, they dare not openly invade the Lanfang Republic supported by Spain, but instead choose another method: encouraging the indigenous people to invade the Lanfang Republic, while also probing Spain’s attitude.
The Dutch also knew about the Lanfang Republic training a new army, so to strengthen the indigenous people’s combat effectiveness, the Dutch gathered over 10,000 muskets through various means and handed them over to the Kutai Sultanate and the Sarawak Kingdom.
With their large indigenous populations and these over 10,000 muskets, these two indigenous nations still have a good chance of posing a threat to the Lanfang Republic.
If Spain does not support the Lanfang Republic, the Dutch can naturally take advantage of the situation and regain control over the Lanfang Republic.
Even if Spain chooses to support the Lanfang Republic, it does not matter, because mobilizing troops to support the Lanfang Republic would definitely reduce Spain’s investment in New Guinea.
In this way, the Netherlands can gain an advantage in the colonization of New Guinea Island and establish its own colony one step ahead.
No matter how the Spaniards choose, the Dutch will not lose out. As long as the Dutch do not actively join this conflict, Spain has no reason to declare war on the Netherlands.
If Spain forcibly invades the Netherlands’ colonies, the British will not stand idly by. It is precisely because of this that the Dutch dare to confidently plan against the Lanfang Republic, even knowing that behind the Lanfang Republic is Spain, a powerful great power.
Unknowingly, five years have passed since Spain’s military advisory group arrived in the Lanfang Republic.
In these five years, the Lanfang Republic has also developed quite rapidly, with its population even exceeding 3 million.
Of course, this population includes local indigenous people, Han Chinese, and all other immigrants. If only counting the Lanfang Republic’s dominant ethnic group, the Han Chinese, the Lanfang Republic’s actual population is still less than 600,
But it is these less than 600,000 Han Chinese who have reclaimed a vast area of land, keeping the Lanfang Republic’s grain yield at the top among all countries and indigenous forces on Borneo.
Much of the land on Borneo is unreclaimed wasteland, in which European colonizers and local indigenous people have no interest, but these Lanfang People are quite obsessed with land reclamation.
The Lanfang Republic broadly has only two types of population: one is gold prospectors who specialize in gold mining near gold mines, and the other is farmers living around villages, towns, and cities.
If the Lanfang Republic did not lack fertilizer technology and relied entirely on manual labor for agriculture, the Lanfang Republic’s grain yield could probably achieve a significant increase.
This is also why the Dutch have their eyes on the Lanfang Republic—these people who hardly resist and are diligent, are they not stronger than those indigenous people who dislike labor and are lazy?
Andrew Rosso, as the regimental commander of Spain’s military advisory group in Lanfang, learned at the first moment of the conflict that erupted between the Lanfang border and local indigenous people.
Because Lanfang is too far from the Spanish Mainland, Andrew, as the head of the military advisory group, has the right to make decisions independently.
Once the Lanfang Republic is invaded, Andrew has the right to decide independently whether to help the Lanfang Republic or remain indifferent.
Of course, according to Spain’s current diplomatic policy, the Spanish Government’s attitude is clearly to protect the Lanfang Republic.
But if facing a strong enemy, such as if the United Kingdom chooses to help the Netherlands invade the Lanfang Republic, Andrew can remain neutral to avoid Spain being involved.
But obviously, the British have no energy at this time to care about matters on Borneo. The Anglo-Afghan War and the Zulu War have just ended not long ago; although the United Kingdom did not deploy too many troops, the military expenses spent were not insignificant.
If there is no particularly important matter, the British will not erupt into conflict with other great powers at such a time.
After all, the United Kingdom has many enemies in various places; once the United Kingdom falls into a bitter battle, there will definitely be many who take advantage of the situation.
Andrew naturally also understands the importance of the Lanfang Republic to Spain; after learning of the conflict between the Lanfang Republic and local indigenous people, Andrew expressed Spain’s attitude to the Lanfang Republic, which is that Spain supports the Lanfang Republic in fighting the indigenous people.
The Lanfang Republic, having received Spain’s support, no longer hesitated; after all, the purpose of training 20,000 new troops was not to put on a show, but to protect the safety of the Lanfang Republic.
Facts have proven that dispatching the army by the Lanfang Republic was the most clear-cut choice.
Because after the conflict erupted in the border area, the two indigenous nations were already secretly mobilizing troops to invade the Lanfang Republic.
By the time the Lanfang Republic’s new army arrived near the border, they happened to encounter the indigenous army crossing the Lanfang Republic’s border.
Both sides understood the purpose of coming to the border, and at the moment of encounter, they launched fierce attacks on each other.
The Lanfang new army, having undergone five years of training, although it had not participated in real wars, its combat effectiveness was not comparable to these indigenous people.
The outcome of the encounter battle between the two sides was also very clear: the Lanfang army only suffered a few hundred casualties, but beat the indigenous army into abandoning their armor and fleeing, with casualties at least several thousand.
When the war spoils of the encounter battle were reported back to the Lanfang government, Andrew could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. The Lanfang new army was trained under his responsibility; if the new army’s performance was not good, would it not prove that his ability was inadequate?
Fortunately, the Lanfang new army performed quite well, easily crushing the indigenous army. This also proved that emulating the Spanish Army’s training methods was very effective, and the Lanfang People could also train into a powerful army.
Although the Lanfang Republic achieved victory in the conflict, the necessary reports could not be omitted. Andrew sent the conflict between the Lanfang Republic and the indigenous people, as well as the war spoils of both sides’ encounter battle, all back to the homeland via telegram, and requested the Spanish Government’s next actions.
Because the two places are very far apart, by the time Spain received the telegram, several days had already passed since the conflict erupted.
The outbreak of this conflict was actually a good thing for Spain, because it proved that the colonists, including the Netherlands, had not given up on Lanfang.
If the Lanfang Republic did not rely on Spain’s rule, it could be annexed by the Netherlands at any time.
This can also make the Lanfang People understand that only by submitting to Spain’s rule can they preserve their country and regime.
The current Philippines does not have enough troops to suppress the Lanfang People, so the Spanish Government must ensure Lanfang’s stability.
Once rebellion occurs within Lanfang, the Spanish Government can only transfer troops from even more distant African colonies or the mainland, which would waste a lot of time.
As long as the Dutch still have designs on the Lanfang Republic, the Lanfang People have no choice but to submit to Spain’s rule.
As long as Spain holds the initiative, it can obtain more interests and benefits from Lanfang. The Lanfang Republic’s only railway is currently invested and built by Spanish capital; although the ownership belongs to the Lanfang Republic, Spanish capital also has the right to collect tolls on this railway for 30 years.
There are many such cooperations; for example, the Lanfang Republic’s grain export is mostly first purchased by Spanish capital from the Lanfang Republic, and then sold to other countries and regions.
This has also led to Spanish capital almost firmly controlling Lanfang’s economy; Spaniards hold extremely high status in the Lanfang Republic, and Andrew naturally has extremely high influence in the Lanfang Republic.
To strengthen control over the Lanfang Republic, Spain can be said to use every possible means.
The good news is that the first batch of Lanfang students sent to Spain has successfully graduated, and the second batch is about to graduate.
With Carlo vigorously developing Spain’s education industry, some of Spain’s universities also have a good reputation in Europe.
This has also led to Spain’s universities receiving many study abroad applications, many of which are from European students, but there are also many from Asia and America.
The students studying abroad at this time are different from those in posterity; the value of studying abroad is still very high. Spain has no wild chicken universities that mix degrees; all nationally key developed universities require students to master sufficient knowledge and possess certain hands-on ability.
Especially prestigious science universities like the Royal Academy of Sciences place great emphasis on cultivating students’ talents. The fact that graduates from these can join the Royal Academy of Sciences for research also shows that the Royal Academy of Sciences values students’ theoretical knowledge and practical abilities equally.
It is precisely because of this that the students studying abroad cultivated by Spanish universities all have certain abilities.
The first batch of Lanfang students sent to Spain has now successfully returned, and they have become talents highly valued by the Lanfang Republic, entrusted with important responsibilities immediately upon returning to the Lanfang Republic.
If one had to name the most valued currently, it would perhaps be Wu Yuansheng, the student who graduated from the Military Academy.
Andrew carefully selected in the Lanfang Republic and ultimately only chose fewer than ten people to study at the Madrid Royal Military Academy.
Wu Yuansheng is one of the representative figures; due to his excellent performance at the Madrid Royal Military Academy, he was even received by the vice dean of the military academy and invited to stay in the Spanish Army to serve.
But because of his attachment to Lanfang, Wu Yuansheng ultimately chose to return to Lanfang, and the Spanish side did not obstruct him.
Wu Yuansheng and others who had just returned to Lanfang were immediately heavily employed by the Lanfang government; these military academy students all received positions as regimental commanders plus the military rank of major.
Especially Wu Yuansheng; due to his overly excellent performance, his military rank was additionally promoted by the Lanfang Republic to lieutenant colonel, serving as the actual leader of the Lanfang new army.
