Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 165: Military Intelligence Agency R&D Cooperation ( words long chapter)
In early June 1874, the expedition captain, Medino, arrived at the Spanish port and was filled with emotion.

Although he is Italian, he missed his home in Spain very much after nearly four years of adventure in Africa.

After taking the train all the way to Madrid, Medino did not have much time to return to his house or catch up with his brother Jyoti.

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

Carlo was very happy to see Medino after four years. "Metino, welcome back to Spain. Thank you for your hard work in the exploration over the past few years. I will never forget your contribution. You and Anthony are both the heroes of the discovery of new lands."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Medino nodded respectfully and reported to Carlo all the information about his explorations over the past four years, as well as more detailed topographic maps, and what he saw, heard, and gained along the way.

The information delivered by Medino himself must be more detailed and accurate. There was no other way. After all, only by delivering it to Carlo in person could we ensure that the information would not be leaked on the way back to Spain.

Although the previous information was correct, some parts were blurred to ensure that it was not so accurate, so that when the information was discovered in other countries and cities, it could be delayed for a longer time.

"Your Majesty, we discovered many mineral deposits while traveling upstream along the Congo River. However, in order to avoid suspicion and hostility from the local African natives, we did not conduct a detailed investigation.

But what is certain is that the Congo River Basin has relatively rich mineral resources. We have discovered a lot of copper and iron mines, and there may even be diamond mines. "Metino continued to report.

The exploration of Africa must not only determine whether there is fertile land in the Congo River basin, but also whether there are rich mineral resources in this area.

According to the results of current exploration, the Congo River Basin is definitely rich in mineral resources. Although it is not yet certain whether there are precious minerals such as gold and silver, the value of copper and iron ore is also not low.

Carlo nodded. Although he knew how rich the mineral resources in the Congo River Basin were, this kind of thing obviously could not be said out loud.

The fact that Medino was able to learn about the mineral resources in the Congo River basin proves that he did practical work during the expedition, rather than just completing the purpose of the expedition and ignoring the role of the expedition.

Looking at the obviously thinner Medino, Carlo walked up to him, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Okay, the affairs of the Congo River Basin have been handed over to the government, and colonial development will be carried out soon.

Your most important task now is to have a good rest and enjoy life. It must have been hard to spend four years in Africa, right? Don't worry, when the colonial development of the Congo River Basin is on track, I will commend you and all the members of the expedition for your contributions.

This time you deserve the most credit, and I have decided to confer upon you the title of Earl. The expedition has come to an end, what are your plans for your future work?"

Medino is Garibaldi's eldest son. He followed Carlo to Spain, which obviously showed that he was determined to be a loyal fan.

Carlo felt guilty enough for letting Medino go on an expedition to Africa. Now that the expedition was successfully completed, it was time to reuse Medino and commend his contribution.

Upon hearing the news that he was about to be conferred the title of earl, Medino smiled respectfully but without the slightest hint of humility.

He also knew how much credit he had contributed to this expedition, so it was unnecessary for him to be overly modest. More importantly, he was Carlo's confidant, so it was strange that he was not reused or rewarded.

But when it comes to his future plans, Medino doesn't have too many plans. After more than four years in Africa, Spain has undergone great changes. He doesn't know much about the current situation in Spain, so naturally he doesn't know which department he should go to or what position he should hold.

"Your Majesty, I have not considered future plans yet. If Your Majesty has any instructions, I am willing to take any position as long as I can be loyal to Your Majesty." Medino said indifferently.

Having successfully completed something as dangerous as the African expedition, Medino really had nothing to worry about in terms of other positions.

You know, the African exploration of this era was full of dangers. The dangers did not only refer to the indigenous tribes in the interior of Africa, but also the unknown diseases and viruses in the primitive forests of Africa.

The biggest reason why European powers' colonial development of Africa remained on the coast was because there were all kinds of terrible diseases in the primeval forests in the interior of Africa.

This African expedition was to go deep into the Congo River Basin, facing unknown African natives and unknown diseases. In addition to his ability, Medino must have had a lot of luck in discovering the plains of the Congo River Basin, because those who were not lucky enough would have died on the way to the expedition without a burial place.

Hearing what Medino said, Carlo smiled and nodded, and made his own plan: "Since you don't have any plans, then go to the Royal Security Intelligence Agency to work.

You will temporarily serve as the deputy director of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau. I will have other plans for your job in the future. I only have one request for you, that is, during your tenure at the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau, you should learn the intelligence work capabilities of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau and become as familiar with and master the various departments of the Intelligence Bureau as possible. "

Although the Royal Security Intelligence Service is not a formal organization, it has an irreplaceable position in Carlo's heart.

Medino became the director of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau not to take over from Kader, but to create an independent new intelligence department after becoming familiar with the specific work processes of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau.

Yes, Carlo planned to establish a new intelligence department.

It's not that Carlo doesn't trust the Royal Security Intelligence Agency and Kadir. Kadir's work ability and loyalty can be guaranteed, and Carlo is quite confident in the Royal Security Intelligence Agency under his leadership.

However, there cannot be only one such important intelligence department, as this would make the Royal Security Intelligence Agency overly redundant and would also cause some intelligence errors and arbitrariness.

Although such a problem will not arise now, who can guarantee that the director of the Royal Security Intelligence Service will still be loyal to the royal family in the next few decades?
The purpose of establishing another intelligence department is to allow the two major intelligence departments to supervise each other and complement each other.

Carlo had already thought of the name of the other major intelligence department, which was the Spanish Military Intelligence Bureau. The main areas of responsibility of the Military Intelligence Bureau were also very simple, that is, military external intelligence, sending spies abroad, arresting spies internally, and so on.

Once the Military Intelligence Bureau is established, the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau's military intelligence organization can be transferred to the Military Intelligence Bureau.

The Royal Security Intelligence Service is responsible for comprehensive intelligence exploration at home and abroad, supervision and review of officials and parliamentarians, surveillance of the nobility and parliament, etc.

Upon hearing Carlo's appointment, Medino nodded without hesitation and said very respectfully: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Within a few days, the news of the rebellion in the Philippine colony spread back to Spain. Because the specific actions were top secret, many people were not prepared for the rebellion in the Philippine colony.

Under the indifference of Prime Minister Primo and Carlo, there was even a certain panic in Spain, and parliamentarians demanded that the government quickly send troops to quell the rebellion in the Philippines.

Why panic? Of course, they are worried that the Philippines will develop into a large-scale rebellion like Cuba.

It took more than half a year to quell the Cuban rebellion, and it also caused unimaginable economic losses to the Cuban colony. Although the economic value of the Philippine colony is not as great as that of Cuba, it is still the largest colony of Spain and is still very important.

After waiting for the news of the rebellion in the Philippines to ferment for some time, the Spanish government officially issued an order to urgently dispatch a colonial garrison regiment from the colony of southern Morocco to the Philippines to quell the rebellion and stabilize the situation in the Philippines.

The Spanish government did not conceal the news of the rebellion in the Philippines. As a neighbor of Spain, the Portuguese government naturally also learned the news of the rebellion in the Philippines.

After learning the news, the Portuguese government was relieved. At least it can ensure that in the short term, the Spanish government will focus on the Philippines instead of Portugal.

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

In fact, there is a shortcut from Spain to the Philippines, which is to cross the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal directly to the Indian Ocean, and then cross the Strait of Malacca to reach the Philippines.

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

In order to make the choice of route seem reasonable, the landing place for the army of the South Morocco colony was chosen to be the port of Ifni.

We are close to the Canary Islands in Spain, so it is not a big deal to continue driving south. After all, we have entered the Atlantic Ocean and are far away from the Mediterranean Sea.

The army had set out, but the colonial development of the Congo River Basin had only just begun. Whether it was building railways or establishing more and larger colonial outposts, Guinea was needed as a transit point.

This also means that Spain must increase its development efforts in Guinea in order to avoid arousing suspicion from others.

The Spanish government also attaches great importance to the land in the Congo River Basin, because this land is not far from Spain and is much closer than the Philippines.

As long as the sovereignty of such land can be successfully obtained, the future control will be much smoother. Although there are many indigenous people on these lands, Spain's colonial policy does not care about these indigenous people at all.

Cuba, Argentina, Chile and other places used to have a large number of indigenous people. But now, most of the population in these countries and regions are Spanish or mixed-race Spanish, and the local indigenous population is very small or even disappeared.

Such a policy was also the colonial policy of other European countries, and it was also the policy of the entire colonial era.

Why didn't Carlo worry about the possibility that colonizing Africa would lead to the darkening of Spain? Because this possibility basically would not happen.

The reason why the United States and France have been blackened is that they rely too much on black labor and make this black labor one of the main populations in their own countries.

As the black population increases, they will naturally gather together to fight for more power. As long as this can be avoided, Spain can ensure that it will not be blackened.

How to do it? Of course, they would imprison the black population in the colonies forever, kill those who should be killed, exploit those who should be exploited, and reduce the reproduction of the black population.

Those who could not be dealt with were driven out of the colonies, causing headaches for other colonial powers. In areas such as Spain and Morocco that were to be localized in the future, blacks were not allowed to appear.

Kill one as soon as they come, deal with one as soon as they smuggle, it's that simple.

Carlo was quite glad that he was reborn in this era instead of the World War I 40 years later. If he was reborn in the World War I 40 years later, even if he wanted to massacre and transfer these black people on a large scale, it would probably not be so easy.

Because the European powers at that time cleaned up their own messes very well, they would in turn question and condemn those countries that abused the indigenous people.

But in fact, the massacres of indigenous peoples they caused were even more brutal. The Indians in the American continent are the most obvious example, but both Americans and Europeans will cover up this example and try their best to claim that they are civilized countries.

Although the main force in colonizing the Congo River Basin was the Spanish government, Carlo certainly could not rely entirely on the government's power.

After all, this land will be used to establish a royal territory in the future. If the royal family does not contribute much, how can they control this land in the future?
At the same time as the colonial garrison set out for Guinea, Carlo also gave orders to Butler Loren, ordering the royal family's companies to invest in the construction of railways in the Congo River Basin, and to take the lead in establishing a mining company with the government to develop the mineral resources here.

The advantage of colonizing a new land is that the mineral resources on the land can be developed at will. The opinions of the natives are not important at all. The natives who dare to resist can be killed directly. You can even establish your authority by eliminating several native tribes to ensure that these natives will not cause trouble during the mining process.

However, if we cooperate to develop mineral resources within the sphere of influence of other countries, there will be many problems and troubles.

First of all, the exploitation of mineral resources is not so arbitrary, and even the opinions of local people have to be taken into account.

Of course, the mining company established by the royal family must have a suitable name before entering Africa. Caroline has already thought of a name for the mining company to be established, which is the African United Mining Company. The company's business is to explore and mine mineral resources in Africa.

Of course, because it was a Spanish company, it made sense that the company's main exploration areas were located in Spanish colonies.

The good news is that the Congo River Basin has not received much attention from other countries. Although Portugal has colonies nearby, their colonies are located on the coast of the Kingdom of Kongo, which is already south of the Congo River.

Moreover, Portugal was not a big threat to Spain. If Portugal and Spain started a colonial competition in the Congo River Basin, I believe the British would not have much objection.

After all, it is a good thing that the Portuguese are holding back the Spanish, as this ensures that Spain will not set its sights on Gibraltar.

Although the British are not too afraid of Spain, considering the importance of Gibraltar, it would be better to find something for Spain to do.

As for the value of the land in the Congo River Basin, the British actually didn't care, because Britain's colonies were already spread all over the world, so was the land in the Congo River Basin more important than India?
Besides, it is not that Britain does not have a corresponding colonial layout on the African continent. Moreover, the British pay more attention to the vertical line from Egypt to South Africa. Whether the Congo River Basin is in such a vertical layout and what the situation is inside the African continent are all issues worth thinking about.

In addition to the colonization of the Congo River plain, there was another piece of major good news for Carlo. That was that the British private shipyard that he had previously targeted had successfully completed the acquisition process, and the first batch of equipment dismantled by the shipyard, as well as important means of production and ship design drawings, were already being transported.

This shipyard may not be a big deal to the British. It can only be considered as a relatively large one among the private shipyards, but not that big.

However, it is still very beneficial for Spain to receive such a large shipyard. Because it is a shipyard purchased by the royal family, this shipyard will eventually be taken over by the Royal Guarnizo Shipyard.

After receiving these equipment and related materials, the Royal Guarnizo Shipyard's shipbuilding foundation will be greatly enhanced.

At the same time, it can also absorb some of the British's advanced understanding and experience in shipbuilding. Although Spain's history in the shipbuilding industry is also not bad, it is undeniable that Britain is currently the country with the most powerful navy, and the British shipbuilding industry is also the most powerful in the world.

There was no harm in absorbing the British experience in shipbuilding, and it could even allow Spain to make some progress.

This British private shipyard was worth as much as 150 million pounds before the economic crisis, but the royal family bought it for only 1100 million pesetas, which was lower than the expected 1300 million pesetas.

The 1100 million pesetas were worth only about 42 pounds, about a quarter of the original value of the shipyard.

This also proves the cruelty that the economic crisis has brought to these private enterprises. A large enterprise that has been run with great effort may very likely be left with nothing in an economic crisis.

It was already good that the shipyard could finally sell it for 42 pounds. Many companies could not withstand the economic pressure and could only resell it at a tenth or even a few tenths of the price.

The money from the sales was used to repay the huge amount of debt caused by the economic crisis. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that all the money was lost.

Speaking of the development of industrial technology, it is actually very difficult for Spain to catch up with the great powers or to make up the gap relying solely on its own strength.

It is also because of this that Carlo had already found a partner for Spain, that is, Italy, as the two countries have the same royal family.

Although Italy is also considered a powerful country, its overall strength is not much different from that of Spain. In fact, Italy is even stronger than Spain in some aspects of its foundation and technology. After all, it was once an empire on which the sun never set.

As a country that has only recently gained independence, Italy does not have any colonies. Moreover, Italy is located in the Mediterranean Sea, and any attempt to go beyond the Mediterranean Sea would be restricted by other countries.

Under such circumstances, Italy could not become stronger on its own. The union of Spain and Italy was possible not only because the royal families of the two countries were one, but also because both Spain and Italy had a rival, France.

For Italy, the regions that were close to the mainland and had the potential to become colonies were Tunisia and Libya.

But the French are also eyeing this area, so it is not so easy for Italy to take over Tunisia, and it can even be said that the probability is very low.

Although Spain did not participate in the colonization of Tunisia, the French also participated in the colonization of Morocco. In addition to the opposition from the British, the opinions of the French were also a very important factor in Spain's desire to colonize Morocco.

Under such circumstances, Italy and Spain do have the potential to get closer. The scientific research strength of the two countries combined may barely be comparable to that of the great powers.

It is for this reason that Carlo’s plan is to cooperate with Italy in certain scientific research fields so that they can make progress together.

Of course, even if we cooperate with Italy, research cooperation in certain areas will definitely not be close.

However, as long as the two countries' scientific research capabilities can be combined to catch up with the great powers, Carlo's original purpose can be met.

The cooperation with Italy is destined to be short-term. Once the scientific research projects of the two countries have made certain progress, it may be time for the cooperation to end.

However, the premise for ending the cooperation is that the cooperation between the two sides must have certain results. As long as there are certain research results, this cooperation is actually not a loss for both Italy and Spain.

Prime Minister Primo also approves of the attitude of cooperating with Italy. If Spain wants to achieve its strong goal, it must unite all the friends it can unite.

At least now Italy is still a friend of Spain, and naturally it is within the scope of Spain's wooing.

After Prime Ministers Carlo and Primo set the tone, Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and some companies quickly took action and went to Italy and other countries to seek friendly cooperation.

Close cooperation at the national level is unlikely, but there is still great hope for friendly cooperation among these private enterprises.

In addition to Italy as the main cooperation target, small countries such as Austria-Hungary, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium are also on the list.

The scientific research capabilities of these small countries are certainly not as good as those of Spain and the great powers, but their combined capabilities are also quite excellent.

If we can utilize the scientific research capabilities of these countries to provide assistance to scientific research in certain industries in Spain, then such an action will not be a loss.

With the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Spanish companies have gone abroad to find partners for cooperation in European countries.

Such cooperation will certainly not involve some more important industries and research directions, but cooperation is still possible in more popular directions, such as steel smelting, oil extraction, etc.

Of course, it is impossible for all cooperation with these countries and companies to be successful, and most of them will even fail.

But it doesn’t matter, as long as we can succeed in some aspects, it proves that such actions are not in vain. Moreover, research in these fields is not just a change in a certain field, but may also lead to qualitative changes in the entire industry.

Both the Spanish government and private enterprises attach great importance to such cooperation. Even governments of other countries, including Italy, are happy to see such cooperation.

Both parties in a collaborative research project have the right to use patents, which takes into account the interests of both parties. This is also the reason why other countries are willing to cooperate.

If it weren't for the impact of the economic crisis, perhaps such cooperation could have achieved better results. However, it happened that the economic crisis made other powerful countries not focus on Spain, so Spain's high-profile cooperation with companies from other countries did not attract much attention.

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

The only Europeans who have set foot on the land in the Congo River basin are the Spanish, which is something worth affirming and reassuring.

The reason why the Spanish government felt pressure was that while completing the original five-year development plan, it also had to take into account the development of the colonies.

The transportation department, in particular, is not only responsible for building railways within Spain, but also for building railways in the Congo River Basin.

Domestic railways are related to the successful completion of the five-year development plan, and railways in the Congo River Basin are related to the smooth development of the colony. Neither can be delayed.

The same is true for the industrial sector. Although there is no need to build large factories in the colonies, the mining and transportation of minerals still need to be the responsibility of the industrial sector.

The agricultural sector is even more important. The plains of the Congo River Basin have hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land. If all of this land is fertile and suitable for arable land, Spain's agriculture will be greatly improved.

Moreover, there are a large number of native Africans who can serve as labor. Forcing these African natives to cultivate plantations and farms built by Spain can not only ensure the production of crops, but also reduce labor costs.

If you think about it, isn't this another America? Although the area of ​​this America is very small, it is currently divided up by only one country, Spain.

If they could completely occupy this land, it would bring Spain an improvement no less than the discovery of the New World. Spain could also rely on reforms and the discovery of the "New America" ​​to once again become a powerful country, jump out of the big chessboard of Europe, and become a chess player instead of a chess piece.

Yes, the European continent is now like a huge chessboard. The players are only five great powers: Britain, France, Germany, Austria and Russia. Even Italy has not yet escaped the status of a chess piece.

The remaining secondary powers and small and medium-sized countries are all chess pieces, and their interests depend only on the thoughts of the chess players.

The strength of Spain depends on whether Spain is the flag bearer. The sign of whether Spain is the flag bearer is whether Spain can take back Gibraltar and let other chess players see the strength of Spain.

About half a month later, Guinea finally received news that the army had successfully landed. This also made the Spanish government and Carlo feel relieved, because it meant that the current plan was very successful and the colonial development of the Congo River Basin was about to get on track.

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

Manuel Macias Icasadu, a young officer less than 30 years old.

There are many reasons for choosing Manuel. First of all, Manuel is a pure Spaniard, and Carlo currently needs to reuse Spaniards to express his trust in Spaniards.

Secondly, Manuel was born into a military officer's family. He joined the army at the age of 17 and had excellent military abilities.

His father is a staunch conservative and was once a local councillor in Madrid. Since Carlo became King of Spain, Manuel's father has made many statements in support of the monarchy and Carlo, and has also entered Carlo's attention list.

However, Manuel's father is almost 60 years old and his ability is not very outstanding. His highest position is the regional councilor of Madrid, and he retired with the rank of major in the army.

Fortunately, he still attaches great importance to the training of his son. Manuel followed in his father's footsteps and joined the army at the age of 17. At the age of 29, he has already surpassed his father's highest military rank and is currently a lieutenant colonel in the Spanish Army.

Carlo had asked the Royal Security Intelligence Agency to inspect Manuel several times. During the Cuban rebellion, Manuel also made considerable contributions and fought very bravely.

After returning to Spain, he was very supportive of military reforms and successfully served as one of the commanders of the garrison regiments in the southern Moroccan colony.

Once the plan to colonize the lands in the Congo River basin was established, Manuel was recommended by Carlo as the head of the garrison troops in the Congo River basin.

The garrison regiment he led had set out with the transport fleet and had successfully arrived at the Guinea colony, and was preparing to enter the upper reaches of the Congo River without attracting the attention of the Portuguese.

Prime Minister Primo would naturally not object to Manuel's recommendation by Carlosso. After all, since the land had already been determined to be built into a royal territory, the government naturally had no power to refute.

Prime Minister Primo was self-aware enough to know this, and he was unwilling to conflict with Carlo over such matters. After all, Spain's reforms were on the verge of success. If they were abandoned halfway due to some unexpected events, all the hard work of Prime Minister Primo over the past few years would be in vain.

The perspective comes to the Spanish Guinea colony, where Manuel has just landed with his troops.

Although Manuel was under 30 years old, his military career had lasted for more than 12 years and he was considered an experienced commander.

He did not get the rank of lieutenant colonel by accumulating seniority, but by participating in one battle after another and gaining military merit.

Lieutenant colonel is not considered a senior military officer in Spain, but it is still rare to be a lieutenant colonel at the age of 29.

Manuel still has a long time to accumulate experience and build up merit in the future. As long as he does not make any big mistakes in his military career and everything goes smoothly, it will not be difficult for him to become a general in the future.

The rank of general is considered a senior military officer in any country, and the same is true in Spain.

Manuel was born into an ordinary military officer family. It was quite remarkable that he could achieve such an achievement. He was definitely a leader among the more than 1000 million civilians in Spain.

After setting foot on African soil, Manuel also understood the difficulty of his mission.

The garrison regiment he led had to enter the upper reaches of the Congo River in absolute secrecy, protect the Spanish colonial outposts established there, and help the next arriving troops build railways, maintain order, etc.

At least it will take until Spain's colonial outposts are established in the region before the Spanish army can be exposed to the eyes of other countries.

Their enemies include not only the local African indigenous tribes, but also the armies of the colonies of other countries around them. Even the local viruses and poisonous insects in Africa are their enemies, and they may die in Africa if they are not careful.

Before coming to Guinea, Manuel had asked people to bring enough medicines, including quinine to treat malaria.

There were countless types of malaria in the African forests. It was not until the discovery of quinine in 1820 that Europeans were freed from the trouble of African malaria.

Of course, compared with the more mature medical systems of later generations, the drugs used to treat malaria in this era were still relatively simple and inefficient.

Quinine was indeed discovered in 1820, but although this substance extracted from cinchona bark can effectively treat African malaria, it also has serious side effects.

It is even possible that malaria patients were not killed by malaria but by the side effects of quinine.

But no matter what, quinine is indeed the only and most effective means of treating malaria in Africa at present, and it is also one of the medicines that expedition teams and other colonists must bring before entering Africa.

The good news was that although Manuel had a limited supply of quinine, they could resupply it through the Guinea colony.

As a colony in Africa, it was normal for Guinea to have quinine circulating. It was also normal for Spain to transport quinine to Guinea, which also provided a certain guarantee for the army that was about to go deep into the upper reaches of the Congo River in terms of medicine.

After landing in Guinea, Manuel led his army eastward and arrived at the Baka people's sphere of influence in the east within a few days.

This place is far away from the Portuguese and British colonies, and there is no need to worry about being discovered by other colonists. However, the disadvantage is that it is deep in the African continent, and Manuel and his soldiers are facing unknown environments and enemies.

According to the topographic map provided by the expedition team, the Bantu people's settlement is south of the Baka people's sphere of influence.

The vast plain discovered by the expedition was located within the Bantu people's sphere of influence.

Of course, it is impossible for all the troops to go to the upper reaches of the Congo River. After all, there are more than 2000 troops, and the logistics management is enough to give Manuel a headache.

After careful consideration, Manuel decided to station a military base at the border between the Guinea colony and the Baka people, which would also make it easier for the army to obtain supplies from Guinea.

A small number of troops went deep into the heartland of the Baka people and stationed at the place where the Baka and Bantu people met. To the south of there is the upper reaches of the Congo River, not far from the plain area.

Only after the colonial development of that area has been successful will the army consider stationing in the plains.

After all, if the military's logistical support cannot be provided, the troops stationed there will become a burden.

The expedition team was able to persist for four years because they burned, killed and looted the local natives. In addition, the expedition team was small in number, which ensured the logistical supply of the expedition team.

The army had several times the number of people as the expedition team, so it was impossible to use this method. Even if they could obtain food for the army through looting, the supply of weapons and ammunition would always be a problem.

Before a complete supply system and supply lines are established, it is best for large forces to be located around the Guinea colony to ensure the safety of supplies.

Although the garrison's base camp was chosen to be close to Guinea, Manuel himself did not intend to stay around the Guinea colony.

Although it would be more dangerous to go east into the Baka's sphere of influence, it was also his responsibility as the commander of the army.

Moreover, greater danger also means greater opportunities. Manuel's mission is to protect the newly established colonial outposts in the upper reaches of the Congo River, help the expedition team maintain local order, and establish extensive contacts with more local indigenous tribes.

Although subsequent colonial development will certainly exploit these indigenous people, there is no need to wipe out all of them in the early stages of establishing colonial outposts.

The most important thing at present is to establish colonial outposts extensively and announce the establishment of the entire Congo River basin colony based on the colonial outposts.

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

Although the local tribes' technology and culture are relatively backward, their hunting skills are still quite powerful. Trade points can purchase the prey hunted by these tribes, which is also one of the sources of food.

If they really couldn't buy it, they would consider forcibly snatching it from the nearby indigenous tribes. After all, the safety of these indigenous people was definitely not as important as the safety of the Spanish in the colonial strongholds, not to mention that there were many indigenous people in this land, and in simple terms, they could not be killed.

The government acted quickly. Just a few days after Manuel led his troops to land in the Guinea colony, the first team sent by the government had already arrived in the Guinea colony.

The mission of this team is to expand the population of the port and river basin strongholds, and at the same time find a way to build a simple railway connecting the Guinea and Congo River basins.

Only by connecting these two areas can the logistics supply problem of the Congo River Basin stronghold be completely solved. Only by solving the logistics supply problem of the Congo River Basin stronghold can the army be stationed in this land with confidence to protect these Spaniards for the next step of colonial development.

If you want to get rich, build roads first. This is an eternal truth in any region, even in colonialism.

As for whether the railway passing through the Baka territory will cause objections from them, no one cares.

If the Baka people object, the worst that can happen is that this land will become a no-man's land. As for the Baka people living on this land, the underground is actually more suitable for them to rest in peace.

10200 words long chapter, please support! The second day of the day, and tomorrow is the last day.

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(End of this chapter)