Empire Rising: Spain

When Carlo received the report on Manuel’s actions, two days had already passed since Manuel’s operation.

Although the speed of receiving the news was indeed a bit late, fortunately, the message was something Carlo was pleased to hear.

With the cooperation of the tribal leader, Manuel quickly controlled the entire Bangui Tribe and divided the population of the Bangui Tribe and nearby indigenous villages.

More than 200,000 indigenous people ultimately contributed over 70,000 adult male laborers to the Congo Territory, making the labor force in the Congo Territory abruptly abundant.

Besides these 70,000 adult male laborers, Manuel also held nearly 100,000 elderly, women, and indigenous women as leverage over those male laborers.

For their families and relatives to remain safe and sound, adult male natives must go to work at the locations designated by Spain for a year.

Fortunately, Manuel also personally promised that their work would earn them and their families food and other supplies, which prevented any intention to resist from these natives.

Even though he held the families of these natives, considering the safety of the Congo Territory, Manuel immediately requested assistance from the nearest Guinea Colony and sent a telegram to Spain requesting Carlo to dispatch two Colonial Defense Corps to help maintain order.

Although Carlo granted him the power to establish a larger military force in the Congo Territory, it’s definitely too late to form a military now.

Currently, order can only be temporarily maintained relying on the Defense Corps from other colonies, and it will take at least more than half a year to train the Congo Territory’s own army to form combat power.

Moreover, the loyalty of soldiers selected from the natives of Congo Territory cannot be guaranteed either. Therefore, Manuel also requested Carlo to transport some indigenous people from Southern Morocco, Philippines, and other colonies with a large number of natives to serve as troops for the new army of the Congo Territory.

The number of these foreign indigenous people need not be too much; as long as they can control half the number of soldiers in the Congo Territory’s army, it can ensure that the entire army is controllable.

After all, considering the combat power of army formation, in the Colonial Division that Manuel is about to form, at least 2 to 3 Colonial Defense Corps will be retained as the main force of the army.

These two or three Colonial Defense Corps are also a troop strength of 5,000 to 7,000 people, plus nearly 10,000 troops transported from other colonies, already occupying more than half of the entire division’s 20,000 troops.

No matter how insufficient the loyalty of these soldiers selected from the Congo Territory is, they cannot influence the entire division.

When Manuel was promoted to Major General, Carlo had already issued orders to withdraw one Colonial Defense Corps from each of the Guinea Colony and Southern Morocco Colony to the Congo Territory.

It was unexpected that in just a few days, Manuel gave Carlo a big surprise. Carlo initially thought Manuel’s actions would wait until these two Colonial Defense Corps arrived before proceeding, but unexpectedly, he relied on his own 2,300 troops to forcibly conquer a large indigenous tribe with a population of over 100,000.

Of course, this is definitely a good thing for Spain. With these tens of thousands of indigenous laborers, the construction of Spain’s Congo Territory will certainly be more rapid.

As for the casualties inflicted on the indigenous population by attacking the indigenous tribe, no Spaniard cares at all.

Carlo not only did not criticize Manuel’s independent action but also extensively praised his achievements.

In the reply to Manuel’s telegram, Carlo stated that the two supporting Colonial Defense Corps were already on their way. The troops withdrawn from the Guinea Colony, nearest to the Congo Territory, might arrive at the Congo Territory even before Manuel received Carlo’s reply, and the troops withdrawn from the more distant Southern Morocco Colony could also arrive at the Congo Territory within a week.

Besides the verbal awards to Manuel, Carlo also decided to intensify his support for Manuel.

Forming a Colonial Division in the Congo Territory is very necessary, and the local natives are lacking in credibility; at least they cannot be expected to work devotedly for the Spaniards.

Precisely for this reason, Spain needs to transport a significant number of troops to Congo Territory to assist Manuel in completing the formation of a Colonial Division as soon as possible.

Concerning troop withdrawal, Carlo was already planned ahead.

Although the population in Southern Morocco Colony is not the largest among Spanish colonies, these Moroccans are the most trustworthy among all colonial populations.

Of course, this is under the premise of excluding the colonial European population. To speak of the colonial natives most hopeful of being assimilated, it could only be Moroccans.

At least in terms of skin color and appearance, they are very similar to Spaniards, and just by learning Spanish and converting to Catholicism, there is no trace of them being of Moroccan descent.

After all, to put it simply, there used to be a large number of Islam believers on Spanish land. Spain is indeed experienced in converting Islam believers to Catholic believers.

If the gentle conversion method is not feasible, then the coercive conversion can also be adopted. In the process of converting from Islam to Catholicism in Spain, the Inquisition played a tremendous role.