Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 437 The Login Plan
Before arriving in Spain, the Irish Republican Brotherhood group, including Patrick Henry Pierce, was quite strapped for cash.

Even the ocean voyage tickets for their trip to Spain were raised by selling off some of their assets.

But when they left Spain, the situation changed dramatically. After Carlo expressed his support for the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Spanish government quickly approved a loan for the organization.

The first loan amounted to 10 million pesetas, and was an interest-free loan with a repayment period of 1000 years.

Although the loan amount was not large, it was for a nation. The Irish Republican Brotherhood was merely a political force akin to a party, neither recognized by the British government nor supported by the majority of the Irish people.

In this context, the 1000 million pesetas in development funds were a godsend for the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

After receiving the loan, Patrick Henry Pierce, after consulting with other members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, used most of the loan funds to purchase a large amount of weaponry, including the previously mentioned 5 rifles, hundreds of artillery pieces, and dozens of machine guns.

In addition to these weapons and equipment, Spain will also help the Irish Republican Brotherhood establish a secret military school in Ireland to train a more elite army.

During the formation of this secret military school, the instructors were all regular Spanish military officers, and the temporary principal was a regular professor from the Royal Military Academy of Spain.

All Irish officers will be trained in accordance with the standards and regulations for Spanish officer training, ensuring that these Irish officers graduating from military schools will become the backbone of the Irish military in the future.

Having secured a series of support, the Irish Republican Brotherhood members returned to Ireland in high spirits, ready to begin their independent work.

Before launching the final war of independence, they needed to gain substantial popular support within Ireland to incite a nationwide Irish resistance against Britain.

This point was already established during the negotiations between Patrick Henry Pierce and Carlo. Even with Spanish support, the Irish Republican Brotherhood's ability to arm itself was ultimately limited by its own strength.

However, if it could ignite a nationwide resistance against Britain by the entire Irish population, then Ireland could arm as many troops as its population dwindles, and the resulting impact and outcomes would be vastly different.

After seeing off the Irish Republican Brotherhood, Carlo turned his attention back to the Iberian Peninsula and began to focus on the situation of the Portuguese civil war.

To save Portugal, the British government spared no expense. More than 5 British soldiers landed in Portugal and then rushed to the front lines to fight.

In response to pressure from the Spanish army, the British government conducted a small-scale mobilization at home and planned to increase the total number of troops sent to Portugal to more than 10 within a month.

This also shows how important Portugal was to the British. Without Portugal, it would have been impossible for Britain to attack Spain.

A single amphibious landing operation would have been enough to inflict heavy losses on the British Army, and even with such heavy losses, it was not certain that the British forces would be able to successfully land on the Spanish coast.

After all, the British navy could no longer maintain a sufficient advantage. Under such circumstances, if the Spanish navy were to discover the large-scale British landing operation first, it was very likely that the British troops would be sunk by the Spanish navy at sea.

By then, the British army might not even have started the landing operation before being swallowed up in the ocean and become food for fish.

Portugal was clearly a better option than a forced landing on the Spanish coast. British troops could operate safely in Portugal without worrying about threats from the coast.

The British troops who successfully landed had ample time to rest and prepare, which allowed them to maintain sufficient energy for subsequent operations.

This alone made it absolutely impossible for the British government to abandon Portugal, a country with such a strategically important location. Although land warfare was not the British Empire's forte, the British government was confident that its finances were better than Spain's, and they were confident that they could continue to expend resources in Portugal and Spain.

Since the British were determined to help Portugal, Carlo naturally didn't mind having some fun with them.

In land warfare with limited numbers of troops, Spain was truly not afraid of anyone. Let alone Britain, whose army wasn't particularly strong, even the German Empire, which was considered the world's strongest land power, wouldn't have given Carlos any trouble.

The situation in the Portuguese civil war is currently quite tense, with the British-backed Portuguese Republican government controlling less than half of the original Portuguese territory.

From Coimbra in the north to Setúbal south of Lisbon in the south, and from Novo Montemor west of Évora in the east, this roughly encompasses the territory currently controlled by the Portuguese Republican government.

Orléans and Beja in the south of Portugal, and Braga, Porto and Braganza in the north have all been occupied by the Democratic Republic of Portugal. In terms of both land area and population of the occupied territories, the Democratic Republic of Portugal is in no way inferior to the Republic of Portugal.

Currently, the British have around 5 troops in Portugal, the vast majority of which are concentrated along the line from Lisbon to Novo Montemore.

Carlo planned to launch a fierce offensive against the Portuguese and British forces on the main battlefield, along the line from Évora to Novo Montemor, forcing Britain to send a large number of troops to Portugal to support them.

This would leave Britain's homeland defenses vulnerable, giving Patrick Henry Pearce's Irish Republican Brotherhood more opportunities to launch a war of independence.

Once Britain deploys more troops along the Lisbon-Neu Montemor line, the Spanish army, with the help of the navy, will launch a surprise attack on Lisbon, aiming to capture the Portuguese capital before the British army can react.

If they could capture Crisbourne, the British troops deployed along the Lisbon-Novo Montemore line would be encircled by the Spanish army, making a breakout extremely difficult.

Because Lisbon had fallen to the British forces behind them, these troops had no choice but to flee north, heading towards the Coimbra.

Spain was not Germany in World War II; Carlo would never give Britain a chance for a Dunkirk evacuation. If he could capture Crisburn, Carlo would annihilate every single British army that Britain sent.

Only by inflicting a heavy blow on the British would they consider retreating and surrendering to Spain. If even completely eliminating the British forces in Portugal failed to force a British surrender, then Carlo would have no choice but to continue fighting a war of attrition against the British.

By then, the Irish Republican Brotherhood's preparations should be nearly complete, and if a rebellion breaks out in Ireland, the British government will certainly have an even bigger headache.

After all, the wars in Portugal and Spain alone tied down at least 100,000 British troops. Under these circumstances, it would be difficult for the British government to continue to move troops from the mainland to Ireland to quell the rebellion.

Although the colonies could provide a large number of troops, the combat effectiveness of colonial armies varied greatly. A small number of troops in colonies such as Canada, South Africa, and Australia possessed decent fighting capabilities, but most colonial armies, including those in the Indian colony, were merely empty shells with no real fighting ability.

Despite the large number of colonial troops in Britain, they were simply incapable of undertaking any significant offensive missions.

On the one hand, the military skills of these colonial armies were far worse, and the soldiers were far less trained than the British home army.

On the other hand, the colonial armies did not receive the same treatment as the British home army. Neither the white immigrants in the colonies nor the local natives were particularly willing to fight for Britain.

After all, Britain's defeat in the war would not have a significant impact on these colonies. On the contrary, some colonies could use Britain's defeat as an opportunity to seek opportunities to gain autonomy.

After Carlo had conceived the plan in his mind many times and made sure that there were no omissions, he dictated the ideas of the plan to the Spanish Ministry of Defense and asked them to discuss and develop a more complete and detailed plan based on these ideas.

The military leaders of the Ministry of Defense naturally carried out Carlo's request without question.

The task of discussing operational plans naturally falls to the General Staff under the Ministry of Defense. Of the operational plans mentioned by Carlo, the riskiest was likely a surprise attack on Lisbon, the capital of the Portuguese Republic.

Amphibious landings are inherently difficult, but attacking Chrisburn before the British forces could react made the landing even more challenging.

Fortunately, Spain held a naval advantage at this time. If the landing operation could not proceed smoothly, it could withdraw under the cover of the navy. The only downside was that the landing operation would require a large number of casualties, but this was something Spain could afford.

Now that war had broken out, it was impossible to expect Spain to suffer minimal casualties. Spain wanted Gibraltar and Portugal, which crossed a line for Britain.

To achieve their goals, they had to force the British government to back down. To force the British government to back down, they had to thoroughly inflict heavy losses on the British on the battlefield.

This actually means that both Britain and Spain will have to suffer heavy casualties in this war.

Carlo was prepared to bear huge casualties, and the Spanish treasury was already raising funds to provide pensions to the fallen soldiers.

Carlo is extremely generous when it comes to soldiers' pensions, rewards, and subsidies. The families of the first batch of fallen soldiers have already received their pensions. Carlo not only strictly requires all levels of government to oversee the distribution of these pensions, but also orders the Ministry of National Defense and the Performance Evaluation Bureau to review the distribution of pensions to fallen soldiers in various regions to ensure there are no omissions or deductions.

The pensions were not only a means of survival for the families of these fallen soldiers, but also an important means of boosting the morale of the Spanish army.

Carlo absolutely forbids any corrupt officials from disrupting the distribution of Spanish military pensions. If any omissions or embezzlement are discovered, the local municipal and state governments will be severely punished.

Therefore, even for the sake of their own political future, officials at all levels of government must strictly control the distribution of pensions to ensure that no mistakes occur.

After Carlo's orders were given, the General Staff developed a complete offensive plan in just a few days and submitted it to the relevant units.

The troops currently fighting in Portugal will not be affected; their mission is to intensify the offensive and put pressure on the British government, forcing it to send more troops to Portugal.

目前在葡萄牙作战的是西班牙皇家陆军第4、第5、第6步兵师，第2、第3骑兵师和第2炮兵师，总指挥官是西班牙国防大臣乔蒂上将。

The attack on Lisbon was a daunting task, involving several divisions of the army, including the 7th, 8th, and 9th Infantry Divisions and the 3rd Artillery Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Kaman, who had previously besieged Gibraltar.

Because the task of attacking Lisbon is quite arduous, the Spanish Navy will provide full assistance to the army during the landing process and will try its best to suppress the firepower of the Lisbon garrison.

In addition to dealing with the troops stationed in Lisbon, these landing troops also need to contend with the firepower of the coastal defense batteries along the Lisbon coast.

The Republic of Portugal attaches great importance to the defense of its capital, with more than 2 troops available to be mobilized around Lisbon, including tens of thousands of wounded and sick soldiers. Some of these soldiers can also be integrated into the Lisbon garrison to undertake certain defensive tasks.

This is why Spain decided to deploy three infantry divisions and one artillery division; only in this way could they cope with the size of the Lisbon army and ensure that the attack would proceed without any unexpected incidents.

Since the goal was to annihilate as many British troops as possible, an attack on Lisbon could not be launched prematurely. According to the General Staff's plan, over the next two weeks, the Spanish army would intensify its offensive towards Lisbon, inflicting greater casualties on the British forces.

If British troops suffer heavy casualties, the British government will have to deploy more troops to defend the country. Once these new troops arrive in Lisbon and head to the front lines, Spain will launch an attack on Lisbon, aiming to annihilate all British troops sent to Portugal.

This also means that the troops responsible for the Lisbon landing have more than two weeks to prepare. They can conduct more training on the landing to ensure that the soldiers will not panic due to unfamiliarity with the battlefield environment when the landing operation begins.

To avoid arousing the British's suspicion, Spain would make it appear for the better part of a month that it was going to send more troops to the Évora front.

This would entice the British government to send more troops to Portugal, and the more British troops Spain could annihilate.

(End of this chapter)