Chapter 164: The expedition team's great harvest (10,000 words long chapter)

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

Captain Menotti 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 routes 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 smiled and nodded, and said confidently: "Brothers are all old friends of the expedition team, and these procedures will naturally not be forgotten."

"God bless, 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 with his imagination.

The African expedition team had a hard time in the past four years. After they were fully equipped in Spain, they took a ship to the Guinea colony.

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

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

The further north they went, the more hostile the attitudes of these African natives became. Along the way, the expedition had thousands of native lives, if not tens of thousands, and the reserves of bullets and guns alone had wasted several carriages.

But the good news is that a lot of food was also obtained from these natives. Although the expedition was full of dangers, it could also learn more about unknown things.

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

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

If the expedition team did not have sufficient armed forces to protect it, it would have been exhausted in the contact with these indigenous forces.

The four-year expedition career brought Menotti a truth, that is, those who are not of my race must have different hearts. No matter how humble and respectful these black monkeys are in front of them, they are only hostile to the expedition team in their hearts.

The expedition team also encountered betrayal by African natives in the past few years, and the result was of course the slaughter of that African tribe.

"How many strongholds have we established along the way?" Menotti ordered his men to set up tents and prepare for rest, while looking at his deputy Anthony and asking about the situation along the way.

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

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

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

After all, in-depth exploration is a matter of life and death. Carlo also promised before the expedition team set out that he would not lose the credit of anyone.

Under Carlo's repeated instructions, Menotti did not dare to ignore it. Any little credit of anyone since the operation will be recorded, and when the expedition team returns to Spain, they will be rewarded uniformly.

The reason why Menotti and Anthony are so excited is naturally because Carlo promised it himself. If the expedition team can 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 scope, then they will 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 nobles has not decreased.

Moreover, in addition to the title of nobility, Carlo also promised various property and financial rewards. The two naturally believed the promise of a king, which also made them determined to work hard to improve this expedition, so that they can make greater contributions and receive more rewards.

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

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

Cooperating with the government to colonize Congo was a decision Carlo made after a long consideration.

There are many reasons. First of all, the land of Congo has attracted the attention of many powerful countries. It is difficult to obtain this land in full by relying on the power of the royal family alone.

It is true that Belgium was missed in history, but at that time, Belgium's strength was not ranked high in Europe at all. This is why the major powers were relieved.

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

Under such circumstances, even if you take this land in the name of the royal family, you may face opposition from many powerful countries, the most important of which is the British.

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

It is now inaccessible but countries do not know much about the Congo River Basin. But according to history, it was also during this time that the Congo River was gradually explored.

If the royal family alone relied on the power of the royal family, it would be difficult to effectively occupy and establish Spanish colonial power in a few years. But with the power of the Spanish government, a few years would be enough to establish large colonial strongholds, and use these strongholds to establish large-scale colonies.

Of course, working with the government is definitely not that simple. The Congo River Basin was explored with royal funds, so it is naturally impossible for the benefits to be distributed to the government in vain.

Carlo's bottom line is that the colonies in the Congo River Basin must be established as royal territories, and the royal family is 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 of the Congo River Basin, and distribute the benefits according to the proportion of their respective corporate shares.

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

At an emergency cabinet meeting, Carlo walked into the conference room with detailed information on African colonial expeditions and topographic maps, and asked the guards to hand these information to Prime Minister Primo. He then explained the reasons for convening this emergency meeting. : "

Dear friends, according to the latest news from the African expedition, the expedition has successfully explored the land inside the Congo River Basin and determined that there is at least a vast plain covering hundreds of thousands of square kilometers in the upper reaches of the Congo River.

During this time, the expedition team has 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 that the government can help the royal family promote the establishment of the colony. In return, the government can obtain half of the benefits of the Congo River Basin colony. "

After hearing Carlo's words, even Prime Minister Primo was very surprised. If it weren't for the fact that the information and the topographic map in his hands didn't look like imitations, Prime Minister Primo would probably have asked whether it was true or false.

Even Prime Minister Primo looked surprised, let alone the other ministers in the cabinet. After learning that the royal family had sent an expedition a few years ago and had achieved great success, the cabinet members had different expressions, but they all looked a bit surprised.

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

As the third largest colonial empire in the past, Spain naturally had many people who were enthusiastic about colonization. It's just that the Americas have been carved up, and the American colonies established by Portugal and Spain are basically independent.

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

Now that he suddenly heard that Spain hoped to acquire a plain covering an area of ​​at least hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, Archduke Serrano was naturally very happy.

As for whether this land belongs to the government or the royal family, Grand Duke Serrano is not concerned. After all, no matter whose it is, this land has nothing to do with him.

Carlo smiled and nodded, and said: "The news about the expedition is true, that's for sure. In a few days, the leader of the expedition, Medino, will return to Spain. If you have any questions, , you can inquire in detail at that time.”

Carlo carefully looked at the terrain map and specific information reported by the expedition team, and there was nothing suspicious in it.

Although the topographic map drawn has deviations, it is generally very similar to the Congo River Basin in Carlo's impression.

Besides, even without the information reported by the expedition team, Carlo knew about the plains of the Congo River Basin and its rich mineral resource reserves.

However, colonizing Congo also requires a suitable reason to persuade the government to agree. This is why Carlo first sent an expedition to explore the Congo River Basin.

When it comes time to actually take action, the original expedition team can also serve as guides and intermediaries to help the Spanish colonial team better communicate with the local indigenous people.

"Your Majesty, what should be done with the plains discovered in the Congo River?" After reading all the information, Prime Minister Primo first passed the information to Grand Duke Serrano, and then asked the question that he was more concerned about.

Since the plains of the Congo River Basin were discovered by the royal family's expedition, there is a high probability that this land will belong to the royal family.

Since this land belongs to the royal family, why does the government need to work on it? What Prime Minister Primo asked about was actually the benefits that the government could gain from colonial actions.

"The land in the Congo River Basin should be established as a royal domain. The royal family is the only owner of this land." After hearing Prime Minister Primo's inquiry, Carlo said with a smile: "

But half of the benefits gained from this land can be given to the government. Only when the royal family and the government cooperate to develop this land is the best result for us. "

Upon hearing that Carlo wanted to use this land as royal territory, the expressions of several ministers changed instantly. Minister of Transportation Ruiz stood up and said: "Your Majesty, since we are going to establish a colony, it is better to directly establish it as a new colony of Spain.

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

Carlo smiled. He had known for a long time that the government would definitely have ideas about this land. However, the royal family has already gained an advantage because of the expedition. It is basically impossible for the government to obtain sovereignty over this land because it is completely unreasonable.

Unless the government wants to grab it hard, the government 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 flat gaze, not liking this so-called radical reformer.

"Your Majesty, the government has the right to execute Spanish lands. What's more, the government will be the main force in developing the land in the Congo River Basin. I think that establishing colonies under government control is the best way and the most effective way of colonization.

The crown still received a share of the profits from the colonies in the Congo River Basin, as compensation for being the first to discover the land. "Hearing Carlo's request, Ruiz did not panic at all and expressed his opinion again.

For Ruiz, as long as Prime Minister Primo does not express clear objections, he has nothing to fear.

What's more, according to the Spanish constitution, the royal family does not have much influence on the cabinet government. As a minister in the cabinet government, Ruiz is not afraid of Carlo's blame unless Prime Minister Primo obeys Carlo's words.

Furthermore, Ruiz is also a prominent figure within the Progressive Party. He is the second-ranking figure in the Progressive Party and the third-ranking figure in Spanish politics. His influence is second only to Prime Minister Primo and Archduke Serrano.

For Ruiz, the royal family should not interfere too much in the decisions of the Spanish government. Now that this land has been discovered, it should naturally be handed over to the Spanish government.

In order to give back to the royal family, half of the profits from the colony can be given to the royal family. This is already a win-win situation.

Hearing Ruiz's answer, Carlo smiled and said without mercy: "Minister Ruiz, can you represent the Spanish government?

The expedition that discovered the Congo River plain had nothing to do with the government, and it had nothing to do with you. With all due respect, you have no right to dispose of the land in the Congo River Basin, let alone any right to make suggestions.

The purpose of my holding this meeting is just to invite the government to jointly develop the land in the Congo River Basin, not to listen to your self-righteous ideas. "

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

Ruiz's suggestion was actually to send his own face up to Carlo to slap him. Carlo did not have much favorable impression of such a radical reformist.

Because this guy was a member of the Republican Party before he joined the Progressive Party. Whether he sincerely agrees with the Spanish monarchy or whether he has to agree with the monarchy because of Prime Minister Primo's ideas is a question worth thinking about.

Faced with Ruiz's provocative assertion of royal power, the best way is to let him understand his status. Carlo does not believe that Prime Minister Primo will completely offend the royal family for Ruiz, because this is equivalent to digging into the foundation of the royal government.

The royal government and the king are complementary to each other, and provoking the majesty of the king is also equivalent to provoking the majesty of the royal government.

Although Carlo didn't know Ruiz's intention to openly challenge the royal power in the meeting, Carlo would not tolerate such a death-seeking behavior.

"I agree with your Majesty's statement." Industry Minister Canovas stood up and expressed his attitude: "Since the Congo River Basin was discovered by a royal expedition, 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 as its own, what does it think of the royal family? Don’t forget, 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 Joviliar followed in the footsteps of Canovas and stood up and said: “What we should discuss is how to cooperate in developing 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 consecutive rebuttals made Ruiz look uncertain, and he turned to look at Prime Minister Primo.

Prime Minister Primo doesn't know Ruiz's thoughts, but if he really follows his thoughts, I'm afraid Spain will 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 failed in this argument.

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

The confidentiality of the expedition is very important. If it cannot be kept secret, I am afraid that while Spain is colonizing, this land will also attract other colonists.

In the competition for colonization, Spain may not have an advantage. After all, this land in Africa is not only concerned by Spain. 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 no other teams have been encountered along the way.

At present, the expedition team has established more than 20 bases. In terms of colonization, we have taken the lead."

Hearing that no one knew about the exploration of the Congo River Basin, Prime Minister Primo was completely relieved. If Spain can make progress in the colonization of the land in the Congo River Basin, even if old colonial powers such as Britain and France join in later, there is no need to worry about falling behind in the colonial competition.

"Do you have any good suggestions for the development and colonization of the land in the Congo River Basin?" Prime Minister Primo looked at other members of the cabinet and asked his own questions.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister. According to this topographic map, the plains of the Congo River Basin are not far from our Guinea colony.

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

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

Although Portugal is a small trouble, it is necessary to The news spread from Portugal to the whole of Europe, which would be a greater burden for our colonization.

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

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

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

"Well." Prime Minister Primo nodded, and he was quite in favor of such a proposal.

This is almost the way Spain used to colonize in the past. If it is purely based on the method of re-dispatching the colony team, it will take several months until the colonization really begins.

But if materials and manpower are prepared from the Guinea colony at the same time, it will undoubtedly save some time.

Although the Spanish colony of Guinea is not large, it is at least a formal colony with a certain number of immigrants and troops stationed.

Even if there are some problems during the colonization, they can be solved by the Guinean army. If it depends on Spain to transport from the mainland, it will take too long to go back and forth, 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 our army expanded, the garrison size of the Guinea colony has also increased to a colonial garrison regiment. But if there is such a vast plain in the Congo River Basin, I am afraid that the size of a garrison regiment is far from enough." Grand Duke Serrano replied.

The Guinea colony is just a small colony established by Spain in Guinea. The scope of the colony is limited to the nearby coast and the area is not large.

There were even only 1,000 garrisons here before. If it were not for the full expansion of the Spanish army, I am afraid that the garrison size would still remain at around 1,000.

Prime Minister Primo also nodded, obviously quite 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 is not the only country with colonies near Guinea. Britain, France and Portugal also have colonies here.

In particular, Portugal's Sao Tome and Principe Island is across the sea from Spain's Guinea colony. If Portugal learned that Spain sent more troops to Guinea, it would definitely strengthen the guards of Sao Tome and Principe Island and pay close attention to the movements of Spain in the Guinea colony.

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

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

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

After all, recruiting troops from Guinea is news that cannot be concealed. The supply of transport ships along the way and the docking of ships will attract the attention of others.

Although the Guinea colony belongs to Spain, there are also immigrants from other countries. The Portuguese island of São Tomé and Principe was not self-sufficient and had to purchase many supplies from the colony of Guinea or even further afield.

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

"Prime Minister Primo, I have a suggestion." Seeing that everyone has discussed for a long time without any solution, Carlo smiled and spoke.

"Since our transport ships will definitely be discovered by others, why not take advantage of the situation?

We can send transport ships under the pretext of increasing troops to the East Indies and dock in the Guinea colony by replenishing supplies midway.

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

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

After hearing Carlo's proposal, the cabinet ministers first thought about it, and then found that although such a proposal was not a good solution, 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 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 off, we can let the East Indies have some problems, so that our excuse for increasing troops will become more reasonable.

In this way, whether it is the Portuguese, the British, or the French, they will not doubt our motives for increasing troops. As long as our soldiers successfully land in Guinea without telling everyone, the troop transportation plan will be a complete success."

After Prime Minister Primo's supplement, the plan became more reasonable, and the 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 Ministry of National Defense plan to send to Guinea?"

After thinking for a while, Grand Duke Serrano gave his answer: "In order not to attract the attention of others 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 2,000 people is enough to deal with any resistance from the local natives. Even in the face of provocations from the British and French colonial forces, we have enough strength to defeat them."

For any country, an army of 2,000 people is not a small force. And for the local African natives, an army of 2,000 people is enough to crush them.

This is not a joke. It is really that the African natives' technological level and thinking are too backward, and they are simply unable to fight against European colonists.

Even Morocco, which is relatively powerful among the African natives, has no room for resistance in the face of the Spanish colonial war, let alone these more loose and backward African native 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.

Regarding the issue of adding a colonial garrison regiment, the people present obviously had no other opinions.

Seeing this, Prime Minister Primo nodded and said: "Let's draw this colonial garrison regiment from the South Morocco colony, which can just show our panic.

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

Also, in order to make the fake look real, we can't just pretend to increase troops in the East Indies. It's time to unify the East Indies. As our largest colony at present, the East Indies cannot lag behind.

This troop transport plan will have two colonial garrison regiments, one hidden in the transport fleet and the other exposed outside the transport fleet.

The garrison regiment in the open will follow the transport fleet directly to the East Indies. Their mission is 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 real to a greater extent, the best way is to let a war really break out in the East Indies.

The East Indies is the East Indies. Spain's current colonial rule has not yet fully expanded 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, which is across the sea from the East Indies, Spain has already infiltrated the Sulu Sultanate.

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

This also led to the Sulu Sultanate, together with the local indigenous peoples such as the Brunei Empire and the Kingdom of Sarawak, being annexed by the British and becoming the British colony of North Kalimantan.

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

In most cases, countries still maintain such a tacit understanding. However, for some more 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 colonies are indeed going hand in hand, in other cases, the colonization is generally whoever comes first has the advantage.

Such rules are generally not challenged by anyone, after all, the two major colonial empires, Britain and France, are abiding by them. Dare to challenge such rules, in fact, challenge the original colonial system.

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

But there is no way. At the time of German unification, the important colonies had been divided up, leaving only Africa, which had not been explored in depth.

It just so happens that Germany is still far away from Africa and has no colonial outposts. Although Britain is also far away, the British had already established many colonial outposts before, including the Cape Colony, which is a large colony like South Africa, and had already established a firm foothold in Africa.

At this point in time, Portugal and Spain were faster than Germany in their colonization progress in Africa, which is why the Germans did not get any fertile colonies in the end.

Germany, which did not have much food at the dinner table, could only overturn the dinner table, but the price was to be beaten up by the British and French who ate and drank a lot.

In the final analysis, it was because Germany's geography was too bad. Germany is located in Central Europe, just in the place of four wars. Such a bad geographical location is difficult to give birth to a strong country, not to mention that Germany is surrounded by all the powers.

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

Why can the United States become strong? A big reason is that its geographical location is far away from Europe, escaping the chaotic 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 exceeded that of European powers.

The long-term peace has made the United States' industrial and economic development very fast, which is 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 not have the opportunity to become the world hegemon. The biggest reason why the United States is strong is that the European powers are only concerned with the civil war, allowing the United States, a nouveau riche, to finally take advantage.

Most of the talents and technologies of the United States come from Europe. These talents who escaped the war and went to the United States eventually made the United States strong.

If Germany is placed in the geographical location of the United States, Germany may do better than the United States. But Germany is located in such a war-torn place, which to a certain extent also represents the final outcome of Germany.

The plan to colonize the Congo River Basin was quickly determined, and the meeting ended smoothly.

For Carlo, ensuring that the Congo River Basin eventually belongs to the royal family is the most important thing.

Although the benefits have to be shared with the government in half, the royal family will not lose. After all, the government has to pay for the development of this 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 point, so he expressed his affirmation of 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 status of the royal family has become more stable. After all, after the land in the Congo River Basin is built into the royal territory, the sovereignty belongs to the royal family.

If the Savoy family is driven out of Spain, the land in the Congo River Basin will have nothing to do with the Spanish government.

Carlo is also telling the cabinet ministers of the government that the Spanish royal family and the government are in the same boat at this time.

After determining the specific plan, the Ministry of Defense entered a tense preparation stage.

After all, it is a dispatch of more than 4,000 people, and it is necessary to create reasonable reasons to convince Portugal, Britain and France, so every link of the action must be reasonable.

Because it takes a certain amount of time for the news of the East Indies to spread to Spain, the reinforcement operation can only be carried out after a month at the earliest.

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

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

The reason why it took so long was not the cost of the journey, but the arrangement of the next action of the expedition team and the integration of specific information.

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

This not only creates better conditions for Spain's colonization in this area, but also stabilizes their own merits and ensures that no accidents will occur.

If the expedition team's negligence leads to a large number of destroyed strongholds, even if Menotti and Anthony's merits will not be reduced, it will be embarrassing.

Moreover, if an accident really happens and delays Spain's colonization progress, I am afraid that their merits will be greatly reduced.

Before returning to Spain, Menotti made clear arrangements for the expedition team's next actions, and Anthony repeatedly promised to carry them out one by one.

After all, this is related to their merits and the final work of this expedition. They have worked hard for nearly four years, and they don't care about the remaining months.

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