Empire Rising: Spain

Under the assault of the Lanfang Republic Army, the Kutai Sultanate suffered consecutive defeats, and the territory between Lanfang Republic and Brunei Sultanate was successfully breached.

Seeing the unfavorable situation, the Sarawak Kingdom, which originally supported the Kutai Sultanate from the north, quickly retreated within its borders and sought help from the British Empire’s Strait Colony.

Speaking of the Sarawak Kingdom, it is definitely the most distinctive existence on Borneo. Although it is an indigenous nation, the founder of this country is a genuine British white man.

James Brooke was originally an adventurer. After arriving in the Sarawak region of Borneo, James conquered this land with a strong hand and the backing of the British Colony, establishing an indigenous kingdom under his rule.

James’s country was tacitly approved by the British Government, and James even held the title of a British Knight, which also reflects the connection between the Sarawak Kingdom and the United Kingdom.

During the most critical moments, it was only natural for the Sarawak Kingdom to request help from the British Colony. Britain already viewed this land as part of its sphere of influence and naturally wouldn’t refuse to support the Sarawak Kingdom.

Of course, such support doesn’t come for free. Whether now or historically, the Sarawak Kingdom has always been destined to become part of the British Colony.

Carlo’s target isn’t the Sarawak Kingdom. The United Kingdom is too formidable, and now isn’t the best time to turn against the British.

The Kutai Sultanate alone is enough to satiate Spain and the Lanfang Republic. If they could seize the opportunity to sign a treaty with the Dutch Government and gain more benefits in the Dutch East Indies, Spain’s ambitions in Southeast Asia would be nearly complete.

Although Spain occupies a considerable area of colonies in Southeast Asia, due to the distance from the mainland, apart from future rubber plantations, most colonies won’t receive proper development.

Even if a good opportunity arises, Carlo might consider selling all the colonies in Southeast Asia to facilitate Spain’s expansion in the European Region or to expand colonies in Africa.

If all the colonies in the Philippines and Borneo could get the UK to tacitly approve Spain’s annexation of Portugal, Carlo would willingly trade these colonies.

Any valuable colony can be abandoned in favor of homeland expansion unless it’s like Morocco, which can become a domestic colony.

It’s not necessarily about needing the approval of the British. Among the three great powers of the UK, France, and Germany, if Spain could win over any one of them and keep the other neutral, it might succeed in merging the two countries on the Iberian Peninsula.

But achieving this step is very difficult; currently, there’s no hope of success.

The UK will certainly not allow Spain to annex Portugal, and France doesn’t want a country capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with the five great powers to appear south of its border.

Germany might not oppose, but Germany won’t offend both the UK and France for Spain’s sake.

Unless Spain is willing to pay a price far exceeding the benefits brought by annexing Portugal, neither the UK nor France will agree to Spain becoming a stronger nation after merging.

If one side opposes, it’s still manageable. If both the UK and France oppose, even with strong support from the Germans, annexing Portugal is absolutely impossible.

Because of this, Carlo has shown no ambition to annex Portugal, and Spain’s expansion is only in Africa and farther in Southeast Asia.

Returning to the situation on Borneo, under the assault of the Lanfang Republic, the Kutai Sultanate is retreating step by step, using all its might to defend its capital, Dengajalon.

While resisting as much as possible against the Lanfang Republic’s attacks, the Kutai Sultanate is desperately pleading for aid from the Dutch.

Without assistance from the Dutch, the Kutai Sultanate cannot survive the onslaught of the Lanfang Republic.

Spain’s support to the Lanfang people is indeed significant. Besides being equipped with Spain’s most advanced rifles, these 20,000 new soldiers of the Lanfang Republic are also armed with dozens of cannons of various calibers.

Although these cannons are products discarded by the Spanish Army, and they have a certain gap in power and range compared to the steel cannons currently equipped by Spain.

But cannons are cannons, and when facing the Kutai Sultanate, which lacks heavy firepower, these dozens of cannons are the ultimate weapons.

The reason for the Kutai Sultanate’s constant retreat, besides the indigenous army’s lack of military discipline and their tendency for morale to weaken after a defeat, is also due to the devastating damage caused by the artillery to the Sultanate’s army.

The indigenous approach to warfare often lacks military tactics, usually adhering to the principle of rushing at the enemy en masse and conducting a frontal assault on a wide scale.

This approach makes them the perfect target for the artillery of the Lanfang Republic. With years of training, the new Lanfang army has quite a bit of combat capability, and the artillerymen were personally trained by the Spanish Army. While their accuracy might not be excellent, it is at least above the qualified line.

The result of this is that after a few wide-scale frontal charges, the Kutai Sultanate’s army quickly begins to collapse.

The Sultanate’s officers can’t stop these retreating soldiers, but fortunately, the soldiers don’t have much equipment, so they can flee without dropping armor and weapons.