Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 165: Military Intelligence Bureau R&d Collaboration

In early June 1874, expedition leader Medino set foot in a Spanish port, filled with many emotions for a moment.

Although he was Italian, after nearly four years of exploring Africa, he missed his residence in Spain quite a bit.

After taking the train all the way to Madrid, Medino did not have much time to return to his house, nor to catch up with his brother Giuseppe.

He went straight into the Madrid Royal Palace and reported to Carlo all the gains and various discoveries from the four years of exploration.

Seeing Medino again after four years, Carlo was still quite happy. “Medino, welcome back to Spain. These years of exploration have been hard on you. I won’t forget your merit. You and Anthony are both meritorious officials for discovering this new land.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Medino respectfully nodded and reported to Carlo all the exploration materials from the past four years, along with more detailed terrain maps, everything seen, heard, and obtained along the way.

The materials personally delivered by Medino were certainly more detailed and accurate. This was unavoidable, after all, only by personally delivering them into Carlo’s hands could it ensure that the materials would not leak during the journey back to Spain.

The previous materials, although correct, had been blurred in certain places to ensure they were not so accurate, precisely so that when other countries and markets discovered these materials, it could delay them for a longer time.

“Your Majesty, along the way upstream along the Congo River, we discovered many mineral deposits. However, to prevent suspicion and hostility from the local African indigenous people, we did not conduct detailed investigations.

But it can be ensured that the Congo River Basin possesses relatively rich mineral resources. We discovered quite a few copper ore and iron ore deposits, and there may even be diamond ore.” Medino continued to report. The exploration of Africa certainly was not just about determining if the Congo River Basin had fertile land; it also had to determine if this region had rich mineral resources.

Based on the current exploration results, the Congo River Basin definitely possessed relatively rich mineral resources. Although it was not yet certain if there were more precious minerals like gold and silver ore, the value of copper ore and iron ore was also not low.

Carlo nodded. Although he knew how rich the mineral resources of the Congo River Basin were, such things obviously could not be stated outright.

Medino being able to learn about the mineral resources of the Congo River Basin also proved that he had done real work during the exploration, rather than just completing the exploration purpose and ignoring its role.

Looking at Medino, who was clearly much thinner, Carlo stepped forward, patted his shoulder, and said with a smile: “Alright, the matter of the Congo River Basin has already been handed over to the government, and colonial development will begin soon.

Your most important task now is to rest well and enjoy life a bit. The four years in Africa must not have been easy, right? Rest assured, once the colonial development of the Congo River Basin is on track, I will commend you and all expedition members one by one for your merits.

This time, you deserve the greatest merit. I have decided to grant you the count title. The expedition’s task is over. Do you have any plans for your work afterward?”

Medino was the eldest son of Garibaldi, and being able to follow Carlo to Spain clearly meant he was prepared to be loyally devoted.

Carlo already felt guilty enough for sending Medino to explore Africa, and with the exploration task successfully completed, it was now time to reuse Medino and commend his merit.

Hearing the news that he was about to be granted the count title, Medino respectfully smiled but showed no sign of declining.

He also knew how great his merit was from this exploration; excessive humility would be unnecessary. More importantly, his identity as Carlo’s confidant meant it would be strange if he were not reused and heavily rewarded.

But when it came to his future plans, Medino actually did not have many ideas. After more than four years in Africa, Spain had undergone significant changes. He was not yet familiar with Spain’s current situation, so naturally he did not know which department he should go to or what position to take.

“Your Majesty, I haven’t considered future plans yet. If Your Majesty has any orders, I am willing to go to any position, as long as I can serve Your Majesty loyally.” Medino said indifferently.

Having successfully completed such a dangerous task as the African exploration, Medino really had nothing to worry about regarding other positions.

It must be known that exploration in Africa in this era was fraught with dangers. The dangers were not only the indigenous tribes in the African inland but also the unknown diseases and viruses in the African jungle.

The reason European powers’ colonial development in Africa was still limited to the coasts was largely because the primary forests in the African inland harbored all sorts of terrifying diseases.

This African exploration had to penetrate deep into the Congo River Basin, facing unknown African indigenous people and unknown diseases. Medino being able to discover the plains of the Congo River Basin must involve not only ability but also considerable luck, because those lacking such luck had long died without burial on the exploration road.

Hearing Medino say this, Carlo smiled and nodded, having his own plans: “Since you have no plans, then go serve in the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau.

Temporarily serve as deputy director of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau. I will have other plans for your work in the future. I have only one requirement for you: during your tenure in the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau, learn the intelligence work capabilities of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau, and familiarize yourself with and master all departments of the intelligence bureau as much as possible.”

Although the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau was not some formal organization, it held an irreplaceable position in Carlo’s heart.

Medino serving as director of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau was not to succeed Cadillac, but after familiarizing himself with the specific work processes of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau, to independently create a new intelligence department.

Yes, Carlo had plans to establish a new intelligence department.

It was not that Carlo did not trust the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau and Cadillac. Cadillac’s work ability and loyalty were guaranteed, and Carlo was quite reassured about the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau under his leadership.

But such an important intelligence department could not be just one; that would make the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau overly redundant and cause some intelligence errors and arbitrariness.

Although such problems would not arise now, who could guarantee that decades later, the director of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau would still be reliably loyal to the royal family?

Establishing another intelligence department was precisely to have the two major intelligence departments supervise each other, playing a complementary role.

Carlo had already thought of the name for the other major intelligence department: the Spanish Military Intelligence Bureau. The main areas of responsibility for the Military Intelligence Bureau were simple: foreign military intelligence, dispatching spies abroad, arresting spies domestically, and so on.

Once the Military Intelligence Bureau was established, the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau’s military intelligence organizations could be transferred to the Military Intelligence Bureau.

Meanwhile, the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau would handle comprehensive domestic and foreign intelligence exploration, supervision and review of officials and members of parliament, surveillance of nobles and parliament, and so on.

Hearing Carlo’s appointment, Medino nodded without the slightest hesitation, saying very respectfully: “As you command, Your Majesty.”

Not many days later, news of the rebellion in the Philippine Colony quickly reached Spain. Because the specific actions were top-secret intelligence, many people were completely unprepared for the rebellion in the Philippine Colony.

Under the indulgence of Prime Minister Primó and Carlo, a certain panic even formed domestically in Spain, with members of parliament demanding that the government quickly dispatch troops to suppress the rebellion in the Philippines.

Why the panic? Naturally, it was fear that the Philippines would turn into a large-scale rebellion like Cuba.

Suppressing the rebellion in Cuba had taken half a year and caused unimaginable economic losses to the Cuban Colony. Although the economic value of the Philippine Colony was not as great as Cuba’s, it was still the largest existing colony of Spain in scale and very important.

After allowing the news of the rebellion in the Philippines to ferment for a while, the Spanish Government formally issued orders to urgently dispatch a colonial defense regiment from the South Morocco Colony to suppress the rebellion in the Philippines and stabilize the situation there.

The Spanish Government did not conceal the news of the rebellion in the Philippines. As Spain’s neighboring country, the Portuguese Government naturally also learned of the news of the rebellion in the Philippines.

Upon learning this news, the Portuguese Government instead breathed a sigh of relief. At least it could ensure that in the short term, the Spanish Government’s attention would be on the Philippines, not Portugal.

After loading thousands of soldiers, the Spanish transport fleet openly and grandly sailed south along the African coast.

Actually, there was a shorter route from Spain to the Philippines: passing through the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal directly to the Indian Ocean, then through the Strait of Malacca to the Philippines.

But such a route obviously would not pass through Guinea, so it was abandoned from the start.

To make the route choice seem reasonable, the landing point for the troops from the South Morocco Colony was selected at the Ifni port.

This was already close to Spain’s Canary Islands, and continuing south did not seem abrupt. After all, it was already in the Atlantic Ocean, far from the Mediterranean Sea.

The troops had set off, but the colonial development of the Congo River Basin had only just begun. Whether building railways or constructing more and larger colonial outposts, Guinea had to serve as the transit point.

This also meant that Spain next had to intensify development efforts in Guinea to avoid arousing others’ suspicions.

The Spanish Government also attached great importance to the land in the Congo River Basin. Because this land was not far from Spain, much closer than the Philippines.

As long as sovereignty over such land could be smoothly obtained, future control would also be much smoother. Although there were many indigenous people on these lands, Spain’s colonial policy fundamentally did not care about these indigenous people.

Places like Cuba, Argentina, and Chile in the past also had large indigenous populations. But now, looking at these countries and regions, most of the population is Spaniards or Spanish-descended mixed-race, with local indigenous populations very few or even disappeared.

Such policies were also the colonial policies of other European countries; this was the policy of the entire colonial era.

Why was Carlo not worried that colonizing Africa would lead to Spain being “blackened”? Because such a possibility basically would not occur.

The reason the United States and France were “blackened” was their over-reliance on black labor and allowing these black laborers to become a major part of their domestic population.

With more black population, they would naturally band together to strive for more power. As long as this could be avoided, Spain could ensure it would not be “blackened.”

How to do it? Naturally, by forever confining these black populations within the colonies: kill those that need killing, exploit those that need exploiting, and reduce black population reproduction.

Those that really could not be dealt with would be driven out of the colonies to trouble other colonial countries. In Spain proper and regions like Morocco that would be localized in the future, blacks were absolutely not allowed to appear.

Kill one if one comes, deal with one if one sneaks in; the method was that simple.

Carlo was quite glad to have been reborn in this era rather than 40 years later during World War I. If reborn during World War I 40 years later, even wanting to massively massacre and relocate these black populations would probably not be so easy.

By then, the European powers would have cleaned up their own acts very well and would instead question and condemn countries that abused indigenous people.

But in reality, the indigenous massacres they caused were even more brutal. The Native Americans on the American continent were the most obvious example, but whether Americans or Europeans, they would cover up this example and vigorously claim to be civilized nations.

Although the main force for colonizing the Congo River Basin was the Spanish Government, Carlo certainly could not rely entirely on government forces.

After all, this land would establish royal family territories in the future; if the royal family did not exert much effort, how could it control this land later?

At the same time as the colonial defense regiment set off for Guinea, Carlo also issued orders to Butler Loren: commanding the royal family’s enterprises to invest in building railways in the Congo River Basin, and partnering with the government to establish a mining company to develop the mineral resources there.

The benefit of colonizing a new land was that the mineral resources on that land could be developed at will. The opinions of these indigenous people were fundamentally unimportant; indigenous people who dared to resist could be directly killed, and even entire indigenous tribes could be annihilated to establish authority, ensuring these indigenous people would not sabotage during mineral extraction.

But cooperating to develop mineral resources within another country’s sphere of influence would bring many problems and troubles.

First, mineral resource extraction would not be so arbitrary and would even have to consider local public opinion.

Of course, the mining company established by the royal family also needed a suitable name to enter Africa. Carlo had already thought of the name for this soon-to-be-established mining company: African United Mining Company. The company’s business was to explore and mine mineral resources within Africa.

Of course, because it was a Spanish company, having its main exploration areas in Spain’s colonies was also reasonable.

The current good news was that this land in the Congo River Basin had not yet received attention from other countries. Although Portugal had colonies nearby, their colonial sites were on the coast of the Kingdom of Congo, already south of the Congo River.

Moreover, Portugal was not a major threat to Spain. If Portugal and Spain engaged in colonial competition in the Congo River Basin, the British would probably not object too much.

After all, Portugal holding back Spain was a good thing, ensuring Spain would not turn its gaze to Gibraltar.

Although the British were not overly afraid of Spain, considering the importance of Gibraltar, it was still better to appropriately give Spain something to do.

As for how much value the land in the Congo River Basin had, the British actually did not care much. Because Britain’s colonies were already spread worldwide, was the land in the Congo River Basin more important than India?

Moreover, Britain also had corresponding colonial layouts on the African continent. What the British valued more was the longitudinal line from Egypt to South Africa, whether the Congo River Basin was on such a longitudinal layout, and what the situation inside the African continent was—these were all worth considering.

Besides beginning colonization of the plains in the Congo River Basin, there was another major piece of good news for Carlo: the British civilian shipyard he had targeted had successfully completed the acquisition process, and the first batch of dismantled equipment, important production materials, and ship design blueprints from the shipyard were already in transit.

This shipyard might not mean much to the British and could only be considered relatively large among civilian shipyards, but not exceptionally so.

However, for Spain, receiving such a large shipyard was still very beneficial. Because it was a shipyard purchased by the royal family, this shipyard would ultimately be taken over by the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard.

After the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard received this equipment and related materials, its foundation in shipbuilding would be greatly strengthened.

At the same time, it could absorb some advanced understandings and experience from the British in shipbuilding. Although Spain’s history in the shipbuilding industry was also not lacking, it was undeniable that currently, Britain was the country with the strongest navy, and Britain’s shipbuilding industry was the world’s strongest.

Absorbing British experience in shipbuilding had no downsides and could even allow Spain to make some progress.

This British civilian shipyard had a value of up to 5 million pounds before the economic crisis, but the royal family’s purchase cost only 11 million pesetas, lower than the anticipated 13 million pesetas.

The value of 11 million pesetas was only about 420,000 pounds, just a quarter compared to the shipyard’s original value.

This also proved the cruelty the economic crisis brought to these private enterprises: a large enterprise painstakingly built could end up with nothing in the economic crisis.

The shipyard still selling for 420,000 pounds was already very good. Many enterprises, unable to withstand this economic pressure, ultimately had to sell at one-tenth or even one-twentieth the price.

The money from the sale still had to repay the massive debts caused by the economic crisis; describing it as total loss was not at all exaggerated.

Speaking of industrial technology development, relying solely on Spain’s strength to catch up with the steps of the great powers or to close the gap would still be very difficult.

Precisely because of this, Carlo had long found a partner for Spain: Italy, a country sharing the same royal family.

Although Italy was also considered a great power, its comprehensive strength was actually not much different from Spain’s. In some aspects, Italy’s foundation and technological level were even stronger than Spain’s, after all, it had once been a sun-never-sets empire.

As a newly independent country, Italy also had no colonies. Moreover, located in the Mediterranean, even leaving the Mediterranean was restricted by other countries.

In such a situation, Italy alone could not become stronger. A union between Spain and Italy was possible, for reasons not only that the two countries’ royal families were the same, but also that both Spain and Italy shared a competitor: France.

For Italy, regions close to the homeland and hopeful as colonies were Tunisia and Libya.

But this region was also eyed by the French, and it would not be easy for Italy to take Tunisia—indeed, the probability was very low.

Although Spain did not participate in the colonization of the Tunisia region, the Moroccan region colonization also had French presence.

For Spain to colonize Morocco, besides facing British opposition, French opinion was also a very important factor.

In such a situation, Italy and Spain indeed had greater potential to draw closer. Combining the two countries’ scientific research forces might barely compare with great power countries.

Precisely because of this, in Carlo’s plan, cooperation with Italy in certain scientific research fields was necessary to advance together.

Of course, even cooperating with Italy, research cooperation in certain aspects would certainly not be completely intimate.

But as long as combining the two countries’ scientific research forces could catch up with the great powers’ steps, it would already satisfy Carlo’s original purpose.

Cooperation with Italy was destined to be short-term; once the cooperative scientific research projects made certain progress, it might be the end of cooperation.

However, the premise for ending cooperation was that both sides had achieved certain results. As long as there were certain research results, this cooperation would not be a loss for either Italy or Spain.

Prime Minister Primó was also very approving of cooperating with Italy. For Spain to achieve the goal of becoming powerful, it must unite all possible friends.

At least current Italy was still Spain’s friend, naturally within Spain’s scope of drawing in.

After Carlo and Prime Minister Primó set the tone, Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and some enterprises quickly took action, going to Italy and other countries to seek friendly cooperation.

Intimate cooperation at the national level was unlikely, but friendly cooperation between these civilian enterprises had great hope of success.

Besides Italy as the main cooperation target, small countries like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Portugal, Netherlands, and Belgium were also on the list.

These small countries’ scientific research capabilities certainly could not match Spain or the great powers, but combined, their capabilities were quite excellent.

If their scientific research capabilities could be utilized to help Spain’s certain industry research, such actions would not be a loss.

Under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ contacts, Spanish enterprises went abroad one after another, seeking cooperative partners among European countries.

Such cooperation would naturally not involve some more important industries and research directions, but more general directions could cooperate, such as steel smelting, petroleum extraction, and so on.

Of course, cooperation with these countries’ enterprises would not all succeed; most would likely fail.

But no matter, as long as a portion succeeded, it proved such actions were not in vain. Moreover, research in these fields was not just change in a single field but could cause qualitative changes in entire industries.

Whether the Spanish Government or various civilian enterprises attached great importance to such cooperation, and even governments of other countries including Italy were happy to see it.

Both parties to the cooperative research projects had patent usage rights, which took care of both sides’ interests—this was also why other countries were willing to cooperate.

If not for the economic crisis, such cooperation might have achieved even better results. But precisely the economic crisis diverted other great powers’ attention from Spain, so Spain’s high-profile cooperation with other countries’ enterprises did not attract much notice.

Once the land in the Congo River Basin was discovered, it brought great pressure to the Spanish Government. Of course, not pressure from colonial competition.

Currently, the only Europeans to set foot on the land of the Congo River Basin were Spaniards, which was still worth affirming and reassuring.

The reason the Spanish Government felt pressure was that while completing the original five-year development plan, it also had to attend to colonial development.

Especially the transportation department, which not only needed to build railways domestically in Spain but also railways in the Congo River Basin.

Domestic railways concerned the smooth completion of the five-year development plan, while Congo River Basin railways concerned smooth colonial development—neither could be delayed.

The industry department was the same. Although no large factories needed to be built in the colonies, mineral extraction and transportation still required the industry department’s responsibility.

The agricultural department went without saying. The plains of the Congo River Basin had hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land; if all this land was fertile and suitable as arable land, it would greatly boost Spain’s agriculture.

Moreover, Africa had large indigenous populations that could serve as labor. Forcing these African indigenous people to farm in plantations and farms built by Spain not only ensured crop production but also reduced labor costs.

Thinking carefully, was this not another America? Although this America’s area was small, currently only Spain was partitioning it.

If this land could be fully occupied, the boost to Spain would be no less than discovering a new continent. Spain could also rely on reforms and the discovery of the “new America” to become a powerful great power again, jumping out of Europe’s big chessboard to become a chess player rather than a piece.

Yes, the current European continent was like a huge chessboard. The chess players were only the five great powers of Britain, France, Germany, Austria, and Russia; even Italy had not yet escaped the identity of a chess piece.

The rest, secondary powers and small-to-medium countries, were all chess pieces; their interests hinged on a single thought from the chess players.

Whether Spain was powerful depended on whether Spain was a chess player. The mark of Spain being a chess player was whether Spain could take back Gibraltar, letting other players see Spain’s power.

About half a month passed, and finally news came from Guinea that the troops had successfully landed. This also let the Spanish Government and Carlo breathe a sigh of relief, because it meant the current plan was very successful, and colonial development of the Congo River Basin was about to get on track.

Before developing the Congo River Basin colony, Carlo had already selected the future governor for this land.

Manuel Mathias Icasado, a young officer not yet 30 years old.

There were many reasons for choosing Manuel. First, Manuel was a pure-blooded Spaniard; Carlo currently needed to reuse Spaniards to express his trust in them.

Second, Manuel was born into an officer family, entering the army at 17, with excellent military ability.

His father was a staunch Conservative Party member and once a local member of parliament in Madrid. Since Carlo became King of Spain, Manuel’s father had repeatedly expressed support for the monarchy and Carlo, entering Carlo’s attention list.

However, Manuel’s father was nearly 60 and not particularly capable. His highest position was regional member of parliament in Madrid, retiring with the rank of army major.

Fortunately, he attached great importance to his son’s cultivation. Manuel followed in his father’s footsteps, entering the army at 17; now at only 29, he had already surpassed his father’s highest rank and was currently a lieutenant colonel in the Spanish Army.

For Manuel, Carlo had already had the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau investigate him several times. During the Cuban rebellion suppression, Manuel established considerable merit and fought very bravely.

After returning to Spain, he strongly supported army reforms and successfully served as one of the regimental commanders of the garrison regiment in the South Morocco Colony.

After the plan to colonize the Congo River Basin land was confirmed, Manuel was recommended by Carlo as the person in charge of the Congo River Basin garrison troops.

The garrison regiment he led had already set off with the transport fleet and successfully arrived at the Guinea Colony, preparing to enter the upper Congo River without attracting Portuguese attention.

Prime Minister Primó naturally would not oppose Carlo’s recommended Manuel. After all, since this land was determined to become royal family territory, the government had no power to refute.

Prime Minister Primó knew this point of self-awareness and was unwilling to conflict with Carlo over such matters, after all, Spain’s reforms were on the verge of success; if they failed midway due to some accident, Prime Minister Primó’s efforts these years would be wasted.

The perspective shifts to the Spanish Guinea Colony, where Manuel had just led his troops to land.

Although Manuel was under 30, his military career had exceeded 12 years, making him a seasoned commander.

His lieutenant colonel rank was not accumulated through seniority but earned through military merit from participating in campaign after campaign.

A lieutenant colonel was not a senior officer in Spain, but a 29-year-old lieutenant colonel was still rare.

Manuel had a long time ahead to accumulate seniority and establish merits. As long as his military career avoided major mistakes and proceeded smoothly, becoming a general would not be difficult.

The rank of general counted as a senior officer in any country, and the same in Spain.

Manuel was born into an ordinary officer family; achieving this was already quite good, absolutely outstanding among Spain’s over 10 million commoners.

After stepping onto African soil, Manuel also understood the arduousness of his task.

The garrison regiment he led must enter the upper reaches of the Congo River Basin in absolute secrecy, protect the Spanish colonial outposts established there, and help subsequent arriving teams build railways, maintain order, and so on.

At least until Spain’s colonial outposts in this region formed scale could Spain’s troops be exposed to other countries’ eyes.

Their enemies included not only local African indigenous tribes but also troops from surrounding other countries’ colonies. Even local African viruses and poisonous insects were enemies; one misstep could mean death in Africa.

Before coming to Guinea, Manuel had already had people carry sufficient medicine, including quinine for treating malaria.

The African jungle harbored countless types of malaria; only with quinine’s discovery in 1820 did Europeans escape the scourge of African malaria.

Of course, compared to later more mature medical systems, the drugs for treating malaria in this era were still relatively simple and inefficient.

Quinine was indeed discovered in 1820, but this substance extracted from cinchona tree bark, although effective against African malaria, had significant side effects.

It was even possible that malaria patients were not killed by malaria but by quinine’s side effects.

But regardless, quinine was currently the only and most effective means for treating African malaria, and one of the must-carry drugs for expedition teams and other colonists entering Africa.

The good news was that although the amount of quinine Manuel carried was limited, they could resupply through the Guinea Colony.

As a colony in Africa, the Guinea Colony having quinine circulation was normal. Spain transporting quinine to Guinea was also normal, giving this army about to penetrate deep into the upper Congo River some assurance in drugs.

After landing from Guinea, Manuel led the army eastward, arriving at the Baka people’s sphere of influence in just a few days.

This was already far from Portuguese and British colonies, so no worry of discovery by other colonists. The downside was deep into the African continent; Manuel and his soldiers faced unknown environments and enemies.

According to the terrain maps provided by the expedition team, south of the Baka people’s sphere was the Bantu people’s settlement area.

And the vast plains discovered by the expedition team were precisely within the Bantu people’s sphere.

The army naturally could not all go to the upper Congo River Basin; after all, it was over 2,000 troops, and logistics management alone was enough to give Manuel a headache.

After careful consideration, Manuel’s decision was to station the army main camp at the junction of the Guinea Colony and Baka people, also convenient for obtaining supplies from Guinea.

A small number of troops would penetrate deep into Baka territory, stationing at the connection between Baka and Bantu people. South from there was the upper Congo River Basin, not far from that plains region.

Only after colonial development of that region was in full swing would the army consider stationing in the plains.

After all, without providing army logistics support, stationing troops there would instead become a burden.

The reason the exploration team could persist for four years was through burning, killing, and plundering local indigenous people. Plus, the expedition team was small to begin with, ensuring their logistics supply.

The army’s numbers were several times the expedition team’s, so such methods were impossible. Even if food could be obtained through robbery, weapon and ammunition supply would always be a problem.

Before establishing a complete supply system and supply lines, it was best for large troops to stay near the Guinea Colony to ensure supply safety.

Although the garrison regiment’s main camp was selected near Guinea, Manuel himself did not plan to stay near the Guinea Colony.

Although going east into the Baka people’s sphere was more dangerous, it was also his responsibility as army commander.

Moreover, greater danger meant greater opportunities. Manuel’s task was to protect the newly established colonial outposts in the upper Congo River Basin, help the expedition team maintain local order, and establish extensive contacts with more local indigenous tribes.

Although subsequent colonial development would certainly exploit these indigenous people, there was no need to wipe them out entirely during the initial colonial outpost establishment.

The most important thing now was to widely establish colonial outposts and, based on them, announce the establishment of the entire Congo River Basin colony.

Before this step was completed, Spain would not consider massacring the local indigenous people. After all, these newly established colonial outposts still needed certain trade with local indigenous tribes to solve supply problems.

Although local tribes’ technology level and culture were relatively backward, their hunting methods were still quite powerful. Trade outposts could purchase prey hunted by these tribes, which was also a source of food.

Only if really unable to buy would they consider forcibly seizing from nearby indigenous tribes. After all, these indigenous people’s safety was certainly less important than the safety of Spaniards at the colonial outposts, not to mention the abundance of indigenous people on this land—simply put, unkillable.

The government’s actions were quick. Just a few days after Manuel led the army to land in the Guinea Colony, the first team dispatched by the government had already arrived at the Guinea Colony.

This team’s task was to expand the population of port cities and basin outposts, while figuring out how to build a simple railway connecting Guinea and the Congo River Basin regions.

Only by connecting these two regions could the logistics supply problem for Congo River Basin outposts be thoroughly solved. Only by solving the logistics supply for Congo River Basin outposts could the army confidently station on this land, protecting these Spaniards for the next step of colonial development.

To get rich, build roads first—this was an eternal truth in any region, even in colonization.

As for whether the railway passing through Baka people’s territory would cause their opposition, no one cared.

If the Baka people opposed, they could simply turn this land into no-man’s land. As for the Baka people living on this land, underground was actually more suitable for their eternal rest.

10200-word mega chapter, seeking support! Day 2 of daily updates, and tomorrow the final day.