Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 85: Expedition Team

“Butler Loren, how is the situation with the foreign explorer you were sent to find? Is there a suitable candidate?” Carlo looked at Butler Loren who had walked in through the door and asked.

“I was just about to report to you, Your Majesty.” Butler Loren replied: “I found a very suitable candidate in Spain. This is his relevant information.”

Butler Loren handed over a document and introduced at the same time: “Anthony Ronaldo Prince Cruise, 38 years old this year. He has an African Expedition Team in Guinea and often deals with indigenous tribes in Africa, so he has considerable experience in this regard.”

Carlo nodded, took the document and flipped through a few pages, finding that it indeed met his requirements quite well.

This African Expedition Team, besides actually exploring the Congo Region, also needed to build good relations with the local indigenous tribes and establish so-called trade treaties with them.

Of course, besides trade treaties, they also needed to use means to make them acknowledge that this land was Carlo’s private property, creating opportunities for Carlo to obtain this land.

Anthony Ronaldo Prince Cruise’s long-term stay in Guinea and frequent contact with African indigenous tribes was the reason Butler Loren recommended him, and it was exactly what Carlo valued.

As the deputy captain and actual manager of the expedition team, other abilities could be weaker, but experience in living in Africa and contacting indigenous tribes was extremely important.

Currently, explorations of Africa by European countries were limited to the outermost coasts and had not gone deep into the African Continent for colonialism.

There were various reasons for this, one of the most important being the complexity and danger of Africa’s terrain. Carlo’s goal was the largest among Africa’s many primary forests, with absolutely high complexity and danger.

The primary forest of the Congo Basin is not only Africa’s largest primary forest but also the oldest, known as the lungs of Africa.

To cross the entire Congo Basin and leave the footprints of Spaniards, such an action was extremely difficult and absolutely very dangerous.

Without experience, perhaps the expedition team would have just set off in the first year, and in the second year, news would come of the expedition team’s total annihilation.

“Have you investigated already? I hope the expedition team I assemble has rich experience, not amateurs temporarily pieced together.” Carlo turned his gaze to Butler Loren and asked.

“I have investigated already, Your Majesty.” Butler Loren nodded and answered very respectfully: “I have sent people to investigate Anthony Ronaldo Prince Cruise’s expedition team, confirming that they have indeed conducted exploration activities in the Guinea region and gone deep into the African Continent.

However, without the support of the Guinea Colonial Government, after conflicting with nearby indigenous tribes, they abandoned deep exploration of Guinea and returned to the Spanish Mainland.

During their exploration, they did have in-depth contact with local African indigenous tribes; these can all be guaranteed.”

Hearing that Anthony Ronaldo Prince Cruise’s experiences were confirmed to be real and effective, Carlo nodded satisfiedly and said: “Find a time for him to come see me. I hope this African explorer won’t disappoint me.”

From the perspective of identity and nationality, Anthony Ronaldo Prince Cruise was absolutely the most suitable candidate.

He himself was a proper Spaniard, and the places his expedition team passed through could more effectively announce Spain’s sovereignty.

Moreover, there was no need to worry about domestic explorers leaking the exploration activities. By the time other countries discovered Spain’s exploration of the Congo Region, Spain’s colonial exploration would already have some results.

Even if other great powers followed up later, Carlo was not afraid at all, because the involvement of one great power would attract the attention of all great powers. Under mutual checks by the major great powers, the Congo would ultimately only fall into the hands of non-great power countries.

Moreover, at present, large areas of land in Africa had not yet been partitioned by the great powers, and Carlo did not think other great powers would compete with him for the more dangerous Congo Colony, instead of occupying and partitioning the lands along Africa’s coast.

After all, what mineral resources the Congo had at this time was unknown. If they spent a huge price to seize a wasteland with nothing, it would really be not worth the loss.

Butler Loren nodded and went to prepare the matters instructed by Carlo.

After Butler Loren left, Carlo also began thinking about the preparations needed for the African Expedition Team.

If Anthony Ronaldo Prince Cruise met the requirements, it would be perfect, but currently the expedition team still lacked a manager in the military aspect. The candidate Carlo was considering now was Garibaldi’s eldest son Menotti.

Since there was progress on the expedition team side, it was natural to accelerate the construction of armed forces.

Carlo decided to call Menotti and ask about his willingness to go to the African Expedition Team as captain.

Menotti was arranged in the Madrid city area not far from the Royal Palace, and it only took less than half an hour to come to the Royal Palace.

Not long after instructing the guards to call Menotti, Carlo saw him in his own reception room.

“Menotti, how does it feel to come to Spain? Can it compare to before in Italy?” Carlo asked with a smile.

“Everything is fine, thank you for Your Majesty’s concern.” Menotti answered very respectfully.

He had followed his father Garibaldi across Europe and America since childhood, so naturally he wouldn’t mind moving from Italy to Spain, such a small issue.

What’s more, he was previously on Caprera Island, and the current living environment was much better than Caprera, who knows how many times.

“That’s good.” Carlo smiled and nodded, stating his purpose: “Regarding your appointment, I have two considerations.

First, you can serve as deputy regimental commander of the Guard, and after the Guard expands, look for opportunities to rise. During this period, you can also go to the Spanish Military Academy to study and supplement your military knowledge.

The second idea is that I have a rather dangerous job here, which I think you can handle. Of course, if you complete this job, you will be a meritorious official of the entire Spain, and I will absolutely not stint on rewards.

The choice of which job is up to you; I hope you consider it carefully.”

After hearing Carlo’s words, Menotti blurted out without much hesitation: “Your Majesty, I choose the second job. Compared to staying in the Guard, I prefer challenging work.”

Staying in the Guard was indeed relatively leisurely, and there was even time to go to the military academy for further studies.

But the downside was that the position wouldn’t change much in the short term, and there was a high probability of not participating in wars.

Moreover, the Guard’s expansion had already happened once, and wanting to expand again would be years later.

This also meant that if Menotti chose to serve as deputy regimental commander of the Royal Guard, he could only stay idly around the Royal Palace, which did not suit his personality.

In the multiple battles following his father Garibaldi, Menotti had shown an extremely belligerent side, so he naturally did not want to stay in the Guard, this unit far from the army.

“Haha, you must think it through. The second job has the opportunity to establish great merit, but the danger is also extremely high. If you choose the first job, I won’t blame you, but if you choose the second job, I hope you are prepared to possibly die in the mission.” Carlo smiled; he was very happy with Menotti’s choice.

But happy as he was, Carlo did not want Menotti to die on the road to developing Africa without any preparation.

Exploring the Congo Basin was bound to be fraught with dangers; if not prepared to die halfway, it was best not to embark on this journey.

“It’s fine, Your Majesty.” Menotti shook his head, with a fearless smile on his face: “Which war doesn’t kill people? Danger is instead the motivation for action for me. I have confidence in completing Your Majesty’s task, no matter how dangerous.”

Carlo laughed, and it was a laugh from the heart. Menotti and Giuseppe were completely two different styles.

Giuseppe was more conservative and more cautious in actions. As the elder brother, Menotti was the opposite, showing a completely fearless, bold and aggressive attitude.

These two styles each had their advantages, but if forced to choose which was more suitable for the African expedition, Carlo would of course prefer Menotti’s style.

Anyway, Menotti as captain of the expedition team would only be responsible for military aspect affairs; the overall goals of the expedition team and other actions would be handled by the deputy captain, that is, the person with actual African exploration experience.

Menotti’s task was more like that of a thug captain; being aggressive was of course the best. After all, this African expedition would face African tribes never contacted before and unknown geographical environments; sometimes overly conservative choices would lead to problems.

“Excellent.” Carlo nodded satisfiedly and stated the specific content of the second task.

“Do you know the Congo Basin?” Carlo asked with a smile.

“The primary forest in central Africa? Your Majesty, your task isn’t to explore this region, is it?” Menotti asked somewhat surprised.

“Of course.” Carlo nodded and stated his plan: “You know how important colonies are to a country.

In Spain’s colonial plan, occupying the Congo River Basin is one of the main purposes. Your task is to serve as captain of the expedition team, explore the Congo River Basin, and establish trade relations with the local indigenous tribes.

Once most areas of this land are planted with Spain’s national flag, we will naturally possess sovereignty over this land.

For this action, I hope for success only, no failure, because this concerns whether Spain can obtain this land and possess such a massive colony.”

“But, Your Majesty, I have no African exploration experience at all. I suggest finding a suitable candidate to serve as captain of the expedition team, not me.” Menotti hesitated a bit but still spoke: “

I can lead an armed squad to follow the expedition team, but if I lead the entire expedition team, the probability of total annihilation would be higher.”

“Hahaha, don’t worry, Menotti. I have already made preparations. Although you are the captain of the expedition team, someone else is responsible for the expedition team; you only need to be responsible for the armed forces under you.

If the African indigenous tribes encountered can cooperate, that is naturally the best. If those damned African indigenous people are unwilling to cooperate with us, your task is to send them to see God, letting those African indigenous people understand who is the master of this land.” Carlo said with a smile.

Menotti then nodded reassuredly and said firmly to Carlo: “No problem then, Your Majesty. I will do my utmost to complete the expedition team’s task and turn the entire Congo River Basin into Spain’s territory.

Your Majesty, when can the expedition team set off? I can’t wait for the African inland.”

Looking at Menotti who seemed a bit impatient after asking all the questions, Carlo said somewhat helplessly: “We still need to wait a while; at least we need to confirm the specific manager of the expedition team.

Of course, you can also meet the expedition team’s manager in advance; you will be cooperating together for the next few years.

I permit you to select personnel from the Guard and Spanish Army to form a small-scale armed force. The strength of the armed force concerns whether this expedition can succeed; you will need to put in effort for selecting the members.”

Compared to the ready-made African Expedition Team owned by Anthony Ronaldo Prince Cruise, the armed squad Menotti was to lead was currently the most problematic.

Because at this time, besides the captain Menotti, the personnel for the armed squad had not been determined; how to talk about going to explore Africa?

Anthony Ronaldo Prince Cruise did have a small-scale armed force in hand, but most had not undergone much training, and Carlo was not too reassured.

Only an armed squad formed by soldiers selected from the Guard and Spanish Army was 100% trusted by Carlo.

Although the combat effectiveness of the Spanish Army was not that strong, in the overall European environment, it was not bad. Facing the indigenous tribes in the African inland, an armed squad drawn from the regular army could naturally cope easily.

“As you command, Your Majesty.” Menotti nodded.

The members of the armed squad were also very important, and Menotti naturally understood this. If the entire armed squad’s combat effectiveness was not strong, it would naturally be impossible to suppress those indigenous tribes.

Moreover, the journey to explore Africa was fraught with difficulties, and it was hard to ensure that some members’ mentality wouldn’t have problems.

Therefore, when selecting members, priority should be given to those bolder and more loyal to the country soldiers.

Only then would they not choose to desert on the road to exploring Africa; a well-trained and quite loyal armed force could effectively face any accidents and dangers occurring in the process of exploring Africa.

Riwandi 2/7 days, updated 10200/10000 today, two-in-one chapter seeking support!