Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 164: The Expedition Team’s Great Harvest (-word chapter)

"Commander Menotti, this is truly a fertile land with few people going anywhere!" Anthony Ronaldo Prince Cruz, deputy commander of the Spanish African expedition, stared at the boundless plains in front of him and was shocked for a long time before he spoke slowly.

Menotti, the captain of the African expedition, also stared blankly at the fertile land in front of him. After swallowing his saliva, he issued his own orders: "Have you written down the route along the way? How many indigenous tribes have we encountered and which indigenous tribes have we established contact with? I don't want to miss anything."

"Don't worry, sir." Deputy Anthony nodded with a smile and said confidently, "Brothers are all old friends of the expedition team. Naturally, we will not forget these procedures."

"God bless you, our efforts over the past three years have not been in vain. There is such a vast plain hidden in the Congo River Basin. Perhaps we can use these lands to create another Spain!" The excitement on Menotti's face did not disappear, but became more intense as his imagination progressed.

The African expedition had a hard time during the nearly four years. After they were fully equipped in Spain, they boarded a ship to the Guinea colony.

After gathering all the expedition members in the Guinea colony and replenishing guns, ammunition, horses and steamboats, they set off northward along the Congo River.

After passing through the Kingdom of Kongo, the expedition first encountered an indigenous force called Anziku, and then entered the territory of the Bantu people.

The further north they went, the more hostile the African natives became. Along the way, the expedition team had killed thousands of natives, if not tens of thousands, and had wasted several carriages just on the reserves of bullets and guns.

But the good news is that we also got a lot of food from these natives. Although the exploration is full of dangers, it can also help us understand more unknown things.

Menotti thought he had a good understanding of these Africans, but after exploring deep into the Congo River, he realized how ignorant and backward the Africans in the interior of the continent were.

Along the way, Menotti saw natives who ate raw meat, cannibal tribes, and also large-scale indigenous countries.

If the expedition team did not have sufficient armed protection, it would probably have been wiped out in the contact with these indigenous forces.

Four years of exploration brought Menotti a truth, that is, those who are not of my kind must have different hearts. No matter how humble and submissive these black monkeys were in front of him, they were only hostile to the expedition team in their hearts.

During these years, the expedition team also encountered betrayal by African natives, and the result, of course, was the massacre of the entire African tribe.

"How many strongholds have we established along the way?" While Menotti was instructing his men to set up tents and prepare for rest, he looked at his deputy Anthony and asked about the situation along the way.

"Sir, we have established a total of 22 colonial outposts in the past few years and established contact with hundreds of local tribes and villages. Under your instructions, thousands of Spanish flags have been erected on these lands, which is enough to prove that Spain is the first colonist to arrive in this land." Anthony Ronaldo Prince Cruz reported to Menotti respectfully.

The discoveries made along the way were not small, not to mention the discovery of such a vast plain in the Congo River Basin. When all the news is reported back to the country, their expedition team will definitely be able to gain great credit.

Although Menotti was the chief of the expedition and the head of the armed forces, Anthony was also the deputy chief and commander of the expedition. The two worked together in this expedition.

After all, in-depth exploration is a matter of life and death. Before the expedition set out, Carlo promised that no one's credit would be lost.

Under Carlo's repeated instructions, Menotti did not dare to ignore it. Any contribution of each person since the operation would be recorded, and rewards would be given to all when the expedition team returned to Spain.

The reason why Menotti and Anthony were so excited was naturally because Carlo had promised himself that if the expedition team could find fertile land and rich mineral resources in the Congo River Basin and seize the opportunity to establish a colonial base or even a colonial sphere, then they would have the opportunity to be rewarded with a title.

As the chief and deputy chief of the expedition, Menotti and Anthony are likely to be awarded the title of baron or even earl after returning to Spain. How can they not be excited?

Although the number of Spanish nobles is relatively large among European countries, the value of Spanish nobility has not decreased.

Besides the title, Carlo also promised various property and financial rewards. The two believed the promise made by the king himself, which made them determined to perfect the expedition and make their contributions greater and receive more rewards.

It was two and a half months later when the topographic maps and expedition data of the Congo River basin were sent back to Spain.

The relevant information immediately attracted Carlo's attention. Carlo immediately decided to convene an emergency cabinet meeting and cooperate with the government to colonize and develop Congo.

Carlo made the decision to cooperate with the government to colonize Congo after much consideration.

There are many reasons. First of all, the land of Congo has attracted the attention of many powerful countries, and it is difficult to fully obtain this land relying solely on the power of the royal family.

It is true that Belgium had picked up a bargain in history, but at that time Belgium's strength was not even ranked among the best in Europe, which is why the major powers were relieved.

Spain is different. Spain's overall strength is more like a goalkeeper of the great powers. Those who are stronger than Spain are the great powers, and those who are weaker than Spain are not the great powers.

Under such circumstances, even if the land was taken in the name of the royal family, it might face opposition from many powerful countries, the most important of which was the British.

In addition, Congo is an extremely vast land. There is no difference between Kim and Bo. The expedition led by Menotti explored the entire Congo River Basin, which is a vast land of millions of square kilometers.

The reason why the Congo River Basin is sparsely visited now is that countries do not know much about it. But according to history, it was during this period that the Congo River was gradually explored.

If the royal family relied on its power alone, it would be difficult to effectively occupy and establish Spain's colonial power in a few years. But if the Spanish government relied on its power, a few years would be enough to establish large colonial outposts and build large-scale colonies through these outposts.

Of course, it is not so easy to cooperate with the government. The Congo River Basin was explored with royal funds, so it is impossible to distribute the benefits to the government for free.

Carlo’s bottom line was that the colonies in the Congo River basin must be established in the form of royal territories, and the royal family was the real owner of the territory.

The government can cooperate with the royal family to develop the land in the Congo River basin, tap the resources in the Congo River basin, and distribute the profits according to the proportion of each company's shares.

Although the government does not have sovereignty over the Congo colony, it can still obtain a large amount of benefit distribution, and I believe the government will not refuse.

At the emergency cabinet meeting, Carlo walked into the meeting room with detailed information on the African colonial expedition and the topographic map he had drawn. He asked the guards to hand the information over to Prime Minister Primo, and then explained the reason for calling this emergency meeting: "

Ladies and gentlemen, according to the latest news from the African expedition team, the expedition team has successfully explored the land inside the Congo River basin and has determined that there is at least a vast plain with an area of ​​hundreds of thousands of square kilometers in the upper reaches of the Congo River.

During this period, the expedition team established more than 22 colonial outposts and established contact with hundreds of local indigenous tribes.

But these are far from enough to establish a formal colony. I hope the government can help the royal family promote the establishment of the colony. In return, the government can get half of the benefits of the Congo River colony. "

After hearing Carlo's words, even Prime Minister Primo was very surprised. If the information and topographic maps in his hands were not like imitations, Prime Minister Primo would probably ask whether they were true or not.

Even Prime Minister Primo was surprised, not to mention the other ministers in the cabinet. Upon learning that the royal family had sent an expedition several years ago and had achieved great success, the cabinet members had different expressions, but all of them were somewhat surprised.

"Your Majesty, is this news true?" Defense Minister Serrano was the first to become unable to sit still and asked with joy on his face.

As Spain was once the third largest colonial empire, naturally many people were enthusiastic about colonization. However, America had been divided up, and the American colonies established by Portugal and Spain were basically independent.

In recent times, apart from some gains in Morocco, Spain has not made any colonial progress elsewhere.

Now that he suddenly heard that Spain had the hope of obtaining plains of at least hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, Archduke Serrano was naturally very happy.

As for whether this piece of land belongs to the government or the royal family, Grand Duke Serrano does not care. After all, no matter who it belongs to, this piece of land has nothing to do with him.

Carlo smiled and nodded, then said, "The news from the expedition team is true, that's for sure. In a few days, the expedition leader, Medino, will return to Spain. If you have any questions, you can ask them in detail then."

Carlo carefully looked at the topographic maps and specific information reported by the expedition team, and found nothing suspicious.

Although there were some deviations in the topographic map, it was generally very similar to Carlo's impression of the Congo River basin.

Besides, even if there was no news from the expedition team’s report, Carlo knew about the plains in the Congo River basin and its rich mineral reserves.

However, colonizing Congo also requires a suitable reason to convince the government to agree, which is why Carlo first sent an expedition to explore the Congo River basin.

When the actual action comes, the original expedition team can also act as guides and intermediaries to help the Spanish colonial team communicate better with the local indigenous people.

"Your Majesty, what should we do with the plains discovered along the Congo River?" After reading all the information, Prime Minister Primo first passed the information to Archduke Serrano, and then asked the questions that he was more concerned about.

Since the plains in the Congo River basin were discovered by the royal expedition team, it is highly likely that this land belongs to the royal family.

Since the land was to belong to the crown, why should the government work hard? Prime Minister Primo was actually asking about the benefits the government could gain from the colonization.

"The land in the Congo River Basin should be established as a royal territory, and the royal family is the only owner of this land." Hearing Prime Minister Primo's question, Carlo smiled and said:

But half of the profits from this land can be shared with the government. Only if the royal family and the government cooperate to jointly develop this land will it be the best outcome for us."

When several ministers heard that Carlo wanted to make this land a royal territory, their faces changed instantly. Minister of Transportation Ruiz stood up and said, "Your Majesty, since you want to establish a colony, why not just establish it as a new colony of Spain.

The profits from the colony can still be split 50-50 with the royal family. After all, the government is the main force in building this colony. What do you think?"

Carlo smiled. He had known for a long time that the government would have some ideas about this land. However, the royal family had already taken the lead because of the expedition team. It was basically impossible for the government to obtain the sovereignty of this land because it was not in the right at all.

Unless the government wants to seize it by force, it has no chance of gaining sovereignty over this land.

So the question is, will the Spanish government turn against the royal family for this land?
"Minister Ruiz, please say what you said again." Carlo looked at Ruiz with a calm gaze. He had no good feelings towards this so-called radical reformer.

"Your Majesty, the government has the right of execution over Spanish land. Moreover, the government will be the main force in developing the land in the Congo River Basin. I believe that establishing a colony under government control is the best and most effective way of colonization.

The royal family can still share the profits from the colonies in the Congo River Basin, which is also a compensation for the royal family's first discovery of this land. "After hearing Carlo's request, Ruiz was not panicked at all and expressed his opinion again.

For Ruiz, as long as Prime Minister Primo did not express clear opposition, he would naturally have nothing to fear.

Moreover, according to the Spanish Constitution, the royal family does not have much influence on the cabinet government. Ruiz, as a minister of the cabinet government, is not afraid of Carlo's blame unless Prime Minister Primo obeys Carlo's orders.

Furthermore, Ruiz is a well-known figure in the Progressive Party. He is the second-in-command of the Progressive Party and the third-in-command of Spanish politics, second only to Prime Minister Primo and Archduke Serrano in influence.

For Ruiz, the royal family should not interfere too much in the decision of the Spanish government. Since this land has been discovered, it should naturally be handed over to the Spanish government for handling.

In order to give back to the royal family, half of the colony's profits can be divided into the royal family. This is already a win-win situation.

Hearing Ruiz’s answer, Carlo smiled and said mercilessly: “Minister Ruiz, can you represent the Spanish government?
The expedition that discovered the Congo River plain has nothing to do with the government, and you have nothing to do with it. With all due respect, you have no right to dispose of the land in the Congo River basin, let alone make any suggestions.

I convened this meeting only to invite the government to work together to develop the land in the Congo River Basin, not to listen to your self-righteous claims. "

Since becoming the King of Spain, Carlo has indeed not interfered too much in the decisions of the Spanish government. This is more to give face to Prime Minister Primo, and does not mean that Carlo has no ambition for power and is willing to be a king who is sidelined.

Ruiz's suggestion was actually an invitation for Carlo to slap him in the face. Carlo did not have much good feelings towards such a radical reformer.

Because this guy was a member of the Republican Party before he joined the Progressive Party. It is worth pondering whether he truly agrees with the Spanish monarchy or has to agree with it because of Prime Minister Primo's proposal.

The best way to deal with Ruiz's challenge to the royal power is to make him recognize his position. Carlo doesn't believe that Prime Minister Primo will completely offend the royal family for Ruiz, because this is equivalent to digging up the foundation of the royal government.

The royal government and the king complement each other. To challenge the king's authority is equivalent to to challenge the authority of the royal government.

Although Carlo did not know Ruiz's intention of openly challenging the royal power in the meeting, Carlo would not tolerate such suicidal behavior.

"I agree with your Majesty." Minister of Industry Canovas stood up and expressed his attitude: "Since the Congo River Basin was discovered by the royal expedition team, the sovereignty should belong to the royal family.

However, it is necessary for the government and the royal family to cooperate in development. Such a vast land is also a good asset for Spain.

If the government takes the land in the Congo River Basin for itself, what does it think of the royal family? Don't forget that Spain is a royal government and His Majesty the King is the ruler of Spain."

"I also agree with your Majesty's proposal." Agriculture Minister Hovillar followed Canovas' footsteps, stood up and said, "What we should discuss is how to cooperate in the development of the land in the Congo River Basin, rather than fighting for the sovereignty of the land.

If you can't even see this step clearly, how can Spain be strong?"

The two people's rebuttals made Ruiz look uncertain, and he turned his gaze to Prime Minister Primo.

Prime Minister Primo knew what Ruiz was thinking, but if he really did what he thought, Spain would probably be divided.

"The government naturally respects the sovereignty of the royal family." Prime Minister Primo concluded the matter and slowly said, "It is inevitable to cooperate with the royal family to develop the land in the Congo River Basin. This is one thing."

After hearing what Prime Minister Primo said, Ruiz could only sit down, knowing that he had completely lost the argument.

"Your Majesty, does anyone else know about the expedition's actions?" After ending the debate, Prime Minister Primo turned his gaze to Carlo and asked his own question.

The secrecy of the expedition was extremely important. If it was not kept secret, the land would have attracted other colonists while Spain was colonizing.

In terms of colonial competition, Spain may not necessarily have an advantage. After all, Africa is not only the land of Spain that is paying attention to. There are also powerful countries such as Britain and France.

"No one else knows yet." Carlo smiled and said, "The expedition team is protected by armed forces, and we haven't encountered any other teams along the way.

At present, the expedition team has established more than 20 bases, and we have gained an advantage in colonization."

Hearing that no one knew about the exploration of the Congo River Basin, Prime Minister Primo was completely relieved. If Spain could make progress in colonizing the land in the Congo River Basin, it would not have to worry about falling behind in the colonial competition even if old colonial powers such as Britain and France joined in later.

"Do you have any good suggestions for the development and colonization of the land in the Congo River Basin?" Prime Minister Primo looked at the other members of the cabinet and asked his own question. "Your Majesty, Prime Minister. According to this topographic map, the plains in the Congo River Basin are not far from our Guinea colony.

If we can use the railway to connect Guinea and the Congo River plains, it will speed up the establishment of our colonies and promote the development of the plains.

At the same time, we should build a railway along the Congo River to the coast, and further control the Kingdom of Congo on the coast. The southern part of the Kingdom of Congo has been controlled by Portugal. If we don't act quickly, the Portuguese may know about the plains in the Congo River Basin.

Although Portugal is a minor trouble, if the news spreads through Portugal to the whole of Europe, it will become a greater burden for our colonies.

So I suggest that the entire immigration work can be divided into two steps and carried out simultaneously. On the one hand, we dispatch manpower from the Guinea colony to build a railway connecting the two colonies, and on the other hand, we organize new manpower to control the coast west of the Congo River and take all the land north of the Congo River to Guinea into our hands.

In this way, we will be able to build a large colony, and it may not be impossible to create a new Spanish viceroyalty." Minister of Industry Canovas stood up and put forward his proposal.

The most important step in establishing a colony is to build railways to transport materials and troops. This is actually the responsibility of the Ministry of Transportation, but because of Ruiz's poor performance before, Canovas directly proposed a plan on behalf of the Transportation Department.

"Yeah." Prime Minister Primo nodded, and was quite in favor of this proposal.

This is also the way Spain used to colonize. If it relied solely on re-dispatching the colonization team, it would take several months for the colonization to actually begin.

But if supplies and manpower were prepared from the Guinea colony at the same time, it would undoubtedly save some time.

Although Spain's Guinea colony was not large in scale, it was at least a formal colony with a certain number of immigrants and troops stationed there.

Even if there are some problems during the colonization, they can be solved by the Guinean army. If we rely on Spain to transport from the mainland, the round trip time will take too long, which may delay things.

"How many troops do we have in Guinea?" Prime Minister Primo looked at Defense Minister Serrano and asked about the garrison in the Guinea colony.

"After the expansion of our army, the size of the garrison in the Guinea colony has also increased to a colonial garrison regiment. But if there really is such a vast plain in the Congo River Basin, I'm afraid the size of a garrison regiment is far from enough," replied Grand Duke Serrano.

The Guinea Colony was just a small colony established by Spain in the Guinea region. The colony was limited to the nearby coast and was not large in area.

There were only 1000 troops stationed here before. If the Spanish army had not expanded across the board, the garrison size would probably have remained around 1000.

Prime Minister Primo also nodded, clearly agreeing with Archduke Serrano's opinion: "It seems that it is time to send more troops to Guinea, but we have to find a suitable excuse."

Spain was not the only country with colonies near Guinea; Britain, France and Portugal also had colonies here.

In particular, Portugal's Sao Tome and Principe Islands are across the sea from Spain's Guinea colony. If Portugal learned that Spain was sending more troops to Guinea, it would certainly strengthen the guards on Sao Tome and Principe Islands and pay close attention to the movements of Spain in the Guinea colony.

In this case, Spain's large-scale construction of railways from Guinea to the Congo River basin would definitely be discovered.

How could we recruit troops from Guinea without attracting the attention of the Portuguese, Britain and France?

This issue caused extensive discussion among cabinet ministers, but no good solution could be found.

After all, the news of recruiting soldiers from Guinea could not be concealed, and the supply of transport ships along the way and the docking of ships would attract the attention of others.

Although the Guinea colony belonged to Spain, there were also immigrants from other countries. Portugal's Sao Tome and Principe Island was not self-sufficient and many materials had to be purchased from the Guinea colony or even further away.

As long as the Spanish transport ships docked here, they would definitely attract the attention of the Portuguese. Even Spain's high-profile actions would cause concerns in Britain and France. After all, under the current economic crisis, who can guarantee that Spain will not stand up and cause trouble?

"Prime Minister Primo, I do have a suggestion." Seeing that everyone had been discussing for a long time without any solution, Carlo spoke with a smile.

"Since our transport ship is bound to be discovered by others, why not take advantage of their own strategy?
We could send transport ships under the pretext of sending reinforcements to the East Indies, and have them stop at the Guinea colony to replenish supplies en route.

As long as our transport ships leave Guinea earlier, I believe it will not cause the Portuguese to worry. But in this case, our soldiers will be wronged.

When docking for supplies, our soldiers cannot disembark directly. They need to wait until late at night when no one is paying attention, and then they can disembark in small groups and move to other places. "

After hearing Carlo's proposal, the cabinet ministers first thought about it, and then found that although this proposal was not a good idea, it was also a good choice at present.

The transportation of thousands of troops cannot be hidden from everyone, which also means that the docking of the transport ship will definitely attract the attention of other countries.

If you want to hide it from others, you can only take a gamble in this seemingly reasonable way.

Prime Minister Primo pondered for a moment, nodded with a smile, and said, "This is a good suggestion, Your Majesty. But I think that before our transport fleet sets out, we can create some problems in the East Indies so that our excuse for increasing our troops will be more reasonable.

In this way, neither the Portuguese, the British, nor the French will doubt our motives for increasing our troops. As long as our soldiers can successfully land in Guinea without telling anyone, the troop transport plan will be a complete success. "

After Prime Minister Primo's supplement, the plan became more reasonable, and cabinet ministers began to express their approval.

After making sure that no one had any objections, Prime Minister Primo nodded and made the final decision: "Minister Serrano, the plan to send more troops to the Guinea colony will be handed over to the Ministry of National Defense.

How many troops does the Department of Defense plan to send to Guinea?

After thinking for a while, Grand Duke Serrano gave his answer: "In order not to attract other people's attention and to stabilize the situation in the Congo River Basin, I think the additional troops we send should be kept at the size of a colonial garrison regiment.

An army of 2000 people is enough to deal with any resistance from the local natives. Even if faced with provocations from British and French colonial forces, we have enough strength to defeat them. "

For any country, an army of 2000 people is not a small force. For the local African natives, an army of 2000 people is enough to crush them.

This is no joke. The technological level and thinking of the indigenous Africans were too backward, and they were simply unable to fight against the European colonists.

Even Morocco, a relatively powerful country among the indigenous Africans, had no room for resistance when facing the Spanish colonial war, not to mention the more loose and backward indigenous African tribes.

Some tribes are still at the stage of eating raw meat and drinking rainwater. Do such tribes have any means of resistance against modern armies with steel guns and cannons? Of course not.

As for adding a colonial garrison regiment, those present obviously had no other opinions.

Seeing this, Prime Minister Primo nodded and said: "This colonial garrison regiment can be drawn from the southern Moroccan colony, which can also show our panic.

Haha, I believe that when the Portuguese learn that there is a problem in the East Indies and that we urgently dispatched troops from the colony of southern Morocco, they will be very relieved.

Also, in order to make the fake look real, we can't just send more troops to the East Indies for show. It's time to unify the East Indies. As our largest colony, the East Indies cannot fall behind.

Two colonial garrison regiments will be involved in this troop transport plan, one hidden in the transport fleet and one exposed outside the transport fleet.

The garrison regiment that was in the open followed the transport fleet directly to the East Indies. Their mission was to completely end the rule of the Sulu Sultanate and the Maguindanao Sultanate and completely incorporate these lands into the colonization of the East Indies. "

In order to make the fake look more realistic, the best way is to make a real war break out in the East Indies.

The East Indies is the East Indies, and Spain's current colonial rule has not yet been fully extended to the entire East Indies.

In the southern part of the East Indies, there are still indigenous forces such as the Medan States and Maguindanao. On the island of Kalimantan, across the sea from the East Indies, Spain has already infiltrated the Sulu Sultanate.

However, due to the continuous weakening of Spain and frequent domestic problems, the colonization of the Sulu Sultanate was not accelerated.

This also led to the eventual annexation of the Sulu Sultanate along with the Brunei Empire, the Sarawak Kingdom and other local indigenous peoples by the British, which became the British colony of North Kalimantan.

The tacit understanding among European countries regarding colonization is that whichever country comes first and establishes a certain colonial outpost can claim that a certain area is its own colony.

In most cases, countries still maintain this tacit understanding. However, for some important colonies, competing countries will not give in, but will provoke a colonial war because of competition.

But war is not the only way to resolve disputes. Except when the colonies are too important and the two countries are really on par with each other in terms of colonization, in other cases, whoever comes first generally has the advantage.

Generally, no one would challenge such rules, after all, the two major colonial empires, Britain and France, were abiding by them. To dare to challenge such rules is actually to challenge the original colonial system.

Under the existing colonial system, the conflicts between Britain and France and Britain and Russia were both fierce competition conflicts. But why did World War I eventually turn into Britain, France, Russia vs. Germany and Austria? The reason was that the Germans challenged the existing colonial system.

But there is no way around it. By the time Germany was unified, all its important colonies had been divided up, leaving only Africa, which had not been explored in depth.

Germany was far away from Africa and did not have any colonies there. Britain was also far away, but the British had already established many colonies, including the Cape Colony, a large colony in South Africa, and had already established a firm foothold in Africa.

At this point in time, Portugal and Spain were both progressing faster in colonization of Africa than Germany, which is why the Germans ultimately did not acquire any fertile colonies.

Germany, which had little to eat at the dinner table, had no choice but to overturn the table, but the price was being beaten up by Britain and France, which were eating and drinking lavishly.

In the final analysis, it is because Germany's geographical location is too bad. Germany is located in Central Europe, right in the middle of four wars. Such a bad geographical location makes it difficult for a strong country to be born, not to mention that Germany is surrounded by all the great powers.

Although geographical location is not the fundamental factor that determines the strength of a country, it can significantly affect a country.

Why did the United States become so powerful? A big reason is that it is geographically far away from Europe and escaped the chaos of war in Europe.

It is precisely because of this feature that the United States attracted a large number of European immigrants, and its population soon surpassed that of European powers.

The long period of peace allowed the United States to develop its industry and economy rapidly, which was also the reason why the United States eventually rose and became the most powerful country in the world.

If the same United States is placed in Europe, the United States will never have the opportunity to become the world hegemon. The biggest reason why the United States is so powerful is that the European powers are only concerned with the civil war, allowing the upstart United States to finally take advantage.

Most of America’s talent and technology come from Europe. These talents who fled to the United States to escape war ultimately made the United States strong.

If Germany were placed in the same geographical location as the United States, Germany might have done better than the United States. But Germany is located in such a place surrounded by wars, which to a certain extent also represents Germany's final outcome.

The plan to colonize the Congo River basin was quickly finalized and the meeting ended successfully.

For Carlo, the most important thing was to ensure that the Congo River basin ultimately belonged to the royal family.

Although the royal family has to share half of the profits with the government, they will not lose out. After all, the government has to pay for the development of the land and send troops to protect the sovereignty of the land. The royal family only needs to wait for dividends.

However, no one can question the legitimacy of the royal family's sovereignty over this land. After all, this land was discovered by the royal expedition team, which is the source of the royal sovereignty.

If the Spanish government itself does not recognize such sovereignty, other countries will naturally not recognize it. In this way, this is not a dispute between the Spanish government and the royal family, but a colonial competition between Spain and other countries.

Prime Minister Primo understood this, so he affirmed Carlo's proposal. In fact, there is no difference between the royal territory and the government's colony. After all, the income generated by this land is divided equally between the government and the royal family.

The only difference is that the royal family's status has become more stable. After all, after the land in the Congo River basin was built into the royal territory, the sovereignty belongs to the royal family.

If the House of Savoy was driven out of Spain, the land in the Congo River basin would have nothing to do with the Spanish government.

By doing this, Carlo was also telling the government's cabinet ministers that at this time the Spanish royal family and the government would prosper and suffer together.

After finalizing the specific plan, the Ministry of National Defense entered an intensive preparation phase.

After all, it involves the dispatch of more than 4000 people, and we have to create reasonable reasons to convince Portugal, Britain and France, so we have to ensure that every link of the action is reasonable.

Because it takes some time for news from the East Indies to reach Spain, the operation to increase troops could not be implemented until at least a month later.

This period of time was just right for dispatching troops, preparing transport fleets, etc. As long as the news of the rebellion in the East Indies was transmitted back to mainland Spain, the government could use this as an excuse to urgently mobilize troops and send reinforcements to the East Indies.

About two and a half weeks later, Menotti, the captain of the Spanish African expedition, finally returned safely from the Guinea colony.

The reason why it took so long was not because of the travel expenses, but because of the time spent on arranging the next actions of the expedition team and integrating specific information.

Although Menotti returned from Africa, Anthony still had to lead the expedition team back and forth between Guinea and the Congo River Basin to establish more bases and strengthen ties with local indigenous people.

This not only creates better conditions for Spain's colonization in the region, but also helps stabilize itself and ensure that no accidents occur.

If the expedition team's negligence caused a large number of destroyed strongholds, even if the contributions of Menotti and Anthony would not be reduced, it would still be embarrassing.

What's more, if any accident really happened and delayed Spain's colonization progress, the contributions of the two would probably be greatly reduced.

Before returning to Spain, Menotti specifically arranged the expedition's next actions, and Anthony repeatedly assured that they would be carried out one by one.

After all, this concerns their credit and the final work of this expedition. They have worked hard for nearly four years and don’t care about the remaining few months.

10200 words big chapter update, please support! First day of daily , two days left.

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(End of this chapter)