Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 698: Chapter 324: Encounter (2)

Since there was no room for retreat, the Sokoto Caliphate could only attempt to break through the Spanish Army’s formation quickly while they were still unsettled, hoping to gain the advantage.

Watching the vast number of natives rapidly approaching, Andrew’s lips couldn’t help but curl into a smile as he issued his command: “Deploy all machine guns to the front line. I want these natives to taste the power of the machine guns.

The artillery should also be prepared, and once these natives get close to our machine gun positions, drive them back. I don’t want anything happening to these precious babies; they are treasures of the army, and even the Guard Army hasn’t equipped many yet.

Prepare the native armies, for when the Sokoto Caliphate’s forces crumble, it will be their chance to pursue the victory.

Inform the officers of these native armies that if they achieve military merit, I will personally send a telegram to the country, petitioning His Majesty the King for their reward.

But if anyone dares to hesitate in battle, don’t blame me for being harsh. The supervising team should keep a close watch on these natives; if anyone hesitates or deserts, execute them on the spot.”

“Yes, Commander-in-Chief!”

At this moment, Andrew was full of energy. Due to the smooth expansion of Spain in Africa, he had become a hot new star in the Spanish military.

Unlike Kaman, who had steadily worked his way up in Spain, Andrew seemed to be on a trajectory of overtaking him.

Carlo had recently commended Andrew’s achievements and promised to personally honor him in Spain after the African war, granting him a title.

Andrew was already titled Baron. If he could advance further in rank, he could at least become an Earl in Spain.

Though an Earl in Spain isn’t considered a major noble, for Andrew, who was merely an ordinary graduate of the Royal Turin Military Academy, everything he had gained so far was quite precious.

Because it concerned his own future, Andrew took this war very seriously. He put forth everything he had learned in his life, aiming to end the conflict quickly and expand the military gains as much as possible.

With Andrew’s orders, the Spanish Army also began to act.

Carlo did not only give Andrew dozens of machine guns; he also provided machine gunners secretly trained in Spain for machine gun usage.

Many machine gunners were dispatched to Africa because Carlo was worried these colonial army soldiers weren’t very familiar with using machine guns.

At present, machine guns were lethal weapons, and Carlo definitely did not want information about them leaked to the natives or other European countries.

How to prevent leaks? The best way was to ensure complete victory in warfare, making sure the enemy could not capture Spain’s weapons.

Compared to colonial soldiers, the machine gunners sent from the homeland were more loyal. Because they were trained in machine gun usage, they naturally wouldn’t leak machine gun data.

Since these colonial soldiers had never encountered machine guns, the most they could leak was information that Spain possessed firearms with stronger firepower.

Without the Maxim Gun, such secrecy could delay the time it took for European countries to acquire machine guns. They were behind Spain in obtaining machine guns, so their technological development related to machine guns would naturally lag behind Spain.

To say nothing else, Spain’s existing smokeless powder machine guns, including the principles of water-cooled and air-cooled systems, would be enough to keep European countries researching for several years.

In history, the Maxim Gun was practically open source, as European countries developed their own machine guns based on it.

Now, due to the high confidentiality within Spain, European countries could not use the Maxim Gun as a reference for developing their own machine guns, slowing their progress in the machine gun field.

This was basically the limit of blocking the information. Although Spain had tried its best to maintain secrecy, European countries still made some progress in machine gun research.

It was fundamentally impossible to completely keep secret and prevent European countries from obtaining machine guns. After all, even without Maxim, there would be other firearms experts developing new machine guns similar to the Maxim Gun.

Seeing the natives getting closer, Andrew couldn’t help but feel some urgency. Spain’s machine gun deployment still needed several minutes, and before the deployment was complete, these native soldiers mustn’t get too close to the machine gun positions.

“Colonial Division One, move up and hold back the natives’ advance. I want them unable to get close to our machine gun positions within five minutes.

Once our machine guns and artillery positions are set up, Colonial Division One can retreat in an orderly manner,” Andrew immediately issued his orders, changing his original deployment.

Under Andrew’s command, Colonial Division One moved grandly towards the front line.

As Spain’s earliest established colonial division, Colonial Division One had the highest training, and its overall combat effectiveness was the best among Spain’s three colonial divisions.

Having Colonial Division One resist the native forces’ attack, not to mention just five minutes, it could hold them off for five hours or even five days without a problem.

Of course, as time dragged on, Colonial Division One would inevitably face more casualties.

But as the machine gun and artillery positions hadn’t been fully deployed yet, the troops had to go up first.

The enemy couldn’t be allowed to rush into the machine gun and artillery positions. By then, not only would those natives miss out on experiencing the power of machine guns, the machine guns and artillery would likely be destroyed by the natives immediately.

Although these natives didn’t know exactly what machine guns were, they surely wouldn’t leave such firearms, which resembled rifles, behind for the Spanish Army.

As soon as they rushed into the Spanish machine gun and artillery positions, these native soldiers would certainly try to destroy these machine guns and artillery immediately.

These machine guns and artillery pieces were treasures to the colonial army. If it weren’t for the need to attack the Sokoto Caliphate’s forces, Andrew’s Congo Territory Army would never receive so many machine guns.

Obviously, machine guns damaged in warfare won’t be replenished quickly. After all, these newly improved machine guns need to be equipped en masse by Spain’s domestic troops, which are prioritized over colonial troops.

It would take years before it’s finally the colonial army’s turn.

This is like Spain’s current latest standard rifle, the Maxim M1884 Rifle.

Although the Maxim M1884 Rifle has been around for some time, it has only achieved complete equipment for Spain’s domestic forces so far.

No colonial army has been equipped with the Maxim M1884 Rifle, and likely won’t be for the next few years.

The reason is simple. Firstly, fully equipping such a large colonial army with the latest rifles is a huge cost. Colonial armies are composed of natives; Spaniards only serve as officers, and there’s no need to equip them with so many new rifles.

Additionally, new rifles not only increase shooting range and power but also improve firing rate. Fully equipping the colonial army with the Maxim M1884 Rifle would present a significant logistical challenge in supplying bullets.

Currently, among Spain’s numerous colonies, only the Philippines has a small arms factory capable of independently producing ammunition.

The reason the Philippines has small arms factories is straightforward; it’s mainly because the Philippines is too far from Spain, and it’s too costly to transport weapons from the homeland.

Even so, the only guns the small arms factory in the Philippines can produce are the already outdated Vitali M1872 Rifles, with limited production capacity, alleviating concerns about the factory being captured by the enemy.

The primary purpose of the small arms factory is to supply ammunition to the Philippine colonial army, and firearm production is a secondary concern.

Outside the Philippines, only the Guinea Colony has a small arms factory, which similarly can only produce ammunition.

If the colonial army were to be fully equipped with the latest rifles, these small arms factories would also need to overhaul their production lines.

This would incur enormous costs, which are unnecessary expenses for both the Spanish and colonial governments.

Unless the finances of the colonies become significantly wealthy, only then might Spain consider equipping all colonial armies with the latest rifles.