Empire Rising: Spain

In this case, Spain’s significant railway construction activities in Guinea towards the Congo River Basin would certainly be noticed.

How can we enlist troops in Guinea without attracting the attention of the Portuguese or England and France?

This issue prompted extensive discussion among the Cabinet Ministers, but no good solution was found.

After all, conscription in Guinea cannot be concealed; the resupply and docking of transport ships along the way would definitely draw the attention of others.

Although the Guinea Colony belongs to Spain, there are also immigrants from other countries. Portugal’s São Tomé and Principe cannot be self-sufficient, requiring many supplies to be purchased even further afield from the Guinea Colony.

As long as Spanish transport ships dock here, it will definitely catch the attention of the Portuguese. Moreover, Spain’s high-profile actions may cause concern in England and France, especially under the current economic crisis, who can guarantee Spain won’t stir up trouble?

“Prime Minister Prim, I do have a suggestion.” Seeing that everyone had been discussing for a long time without any solutions, Carlo smiled and spoke up.

“Since our transport ships are bound to be discovered by others, why not turn this to our advantage?

We could dispatch transport ships under the pretense of reinforcing the East Indies, making a stop for resupply en route at the Guinea Colony.

As long as our transport ships leave Guinea early, I believe it won’t arouse the Portuguese’s concern. But this would be somewhat of a hardship for our soldiers.

During the docking for resupply, our soldiers cannot disembark directly. They would have to wait until late at night when nobody is watching, to disembark quietly and move elsewhere.”

Upon hearing Carlo’s suggestion, the Cabinet Ministers first pondered for a while then realized that although it isn’t an ideal solution, it’s the best option for now.

Transporting thousands of troops cannot be concealed from everyone, which means that the docking of the transport ships will definitely attract attention from other countries.

To deceive others, we can only rely on this seemingly reasonable method to take a gamble.

Prime Minister Prim pondered for a moment, then nodded with a smile and said: “This is a good proposal, Your Majesty. However, I think, before our transport fleet sets off, we could create some incidents in the East Indies, making our troop deployments seem more reasonable.

This way, neither the Portuguese nor the British and French would question our motives for reinforcement. As long as our soldiers successfully land in Guinea unnoticed, the troop deployment plan will be a complete success.”

With Prime Minister Prim’s additions, the plan became more reasonable, and the Cabinet Ministers began to express their agreement.

After confirming that no one had any objections, Prime Minister Prim nodded and made the final decision: “Minister Serrano, the plan to reinforce the Guinea Colony will be handled by the Ministry of Defense.

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

After pondering for a moment, Grand Duke Serrano finally gave his answer: “To avoid attracting attention while also stabilizing the situation in the Congo River Basin, I believe we should dispatch troops of a Colonial Defense Corps scale.

2,000 troops should suffice to handle any resistance from the local natives. Even when facing provocations from the British and French colonial forces, we have enough strength to defeat them.”

For any country, a 2,000-strong force is not considered a small unit. And for the local African natives, 2,000 troops are enough to crush them.

This is no joke; the African natives’ technological level and mindset are far too backward to resist the European colonizers.

Even the relatively strong Morocco, when faced with Spain’s colonial war, had little means of resistance, let alone those more scattered and backward African native tribes.

Some tribes are still in stages where they eat raw meat and drink rainwater; facing modern armies equipped with guns and cannons, what means of resistance do they have? Certainly none.

No one seated had any objections to dispatching a Colonial Defense Corps.

Seeing this, Prime Minister Prim nodded and said: “Let’s transfer this Colonial Defense Corps from the Southern Morocco Colony. It will vividly showcase our urgency.

Haha, I believe that once the Portuguese learn that there’s trouble in the East Indies, and that we’re urgently transferring troops from the Southern Morocco Colony, they will be quite relieved.

And, to be convincing, deploying troops to the East Indies can’t be just for show. It’s time for the East Indies to unite. As our largest colony currently, the East Indies shouldn’t fall behind.

This troop deployment plan will send two Colonial Defense Corps, one hidden within the transport fleet, the other visible outside it.

The one openly with the fleet will head straight to the East Indies. Their mission is to completely end the rule of the Sulu Sultanate and Maguindanao Sultanate, incorporating these lands entirely into the East Indies Colony.”

To maximize the effectiveness of the deception, the best approach is to instigate an actual conflict in the East Indies.

Precisely, the East Indies, where Spain’s colonial rule hasn’t completely extended throughout the archipelago.