"Sir, that's the Spanish camp." In the darkness of night, on a hillside in the Corrales mining area, several sneaky dark shadows crouched down to watch a brightly lit camp in the distance below.

It seemed to be a makeshift camp made of wood, lit with oil lamps, torches, and other illuminations, and a shallow trench dug outside the camp, as if to protect against some wild beasts, which were clearly not a detachment to the enemy. Inside the camp it was revealed that there appeared to be a Catholic priest, four Spanish officers and twenty-five Guarani soldiers, who had set up a makeshift camp here as soon as they arrived a week earlier, and then hoisted the flag of the Kingdom of Spain.

The Spaniards have come to set up a military outpost! The militia stationed at the nearby military station immediately reported the news layer by layer, and in mid-to-late August, personnel from the gendarmerie, the army, and the Mei organs heard the news. On the one hand, they sent men to negotiate with Spain, demanding that the other side immediately dismantle the outposts and return to their place of departure, so as not to cause unnecessary misunderstandings; A detailed reconnaissance of the neighborhood was carried out in order to know exactly how the Spaniards were present and where the supply lines were going.

The Spaniards, of course, refused, and instead demanded the dismantling of the military station on the east bank in the so-called Taqualumbo gold mining area, which was the rightful territory of the Kingdom of Spain. The East Bankers, of course, did not retreat at will, but began to spy on the Spaniards, who did not dare to act rudely against the Spaniards until they had received permission from their superiors.

On 20 August, the 6th Army Company arrived at Fort Canyon by train and marched to the mine, then camped near the station. At the same time, patrols in the mine area began. There were a number of minor physical altercations with the Spaniards.

August 23rd. The East Coast intelligence service, surprised by the swift response of the Spaniards, followed. Pu Ting, commander of the gendarmerie, personally went to the front line, and Sun Heiqi, Han Zhen, and others, the backbone of the Mei Organ Action Group, also arrived at Fort Merlot and Baiqi Cliff Fort in the rear with a number of capable plainclothes detective team members to inspect the work and strictly investigate the spies.

At this time, in Dongfang County, the capital, Foreign Minister Xu Xin also urgently met with Raul, the Spanish envoy stationed in the capital. Baron Bravo had a "frank" discussion about the military confrontation between Spain on the east bank of the Taqualumbo River basin, and the result of the negotiations was naturally unpleasant. Baron Bravo did not seem to know that his countrymen had reacted so quickly that they had set up a military post here only a month after receiving the news. However, regardless of the fact that the act of ordering the establishment of a post here was at the behest of the higher-ups. Or simply based on the righteous indignation of the nearby Spanish officers, the fact now is that Spain has extended its military presence here. Baron Bravo naturally wanted to protect the interests of the Kingdom of Spain, so he did not budge an inch in his negotiations with Xu Xin, and his tone was extremely tough, as if he had figured out a means like guò to make the people on the east coast scruple and not act too aggressively.

Xu Xin, who has been engaged in diplomatic work for many years, is naturally not stupid, and he knows very well what it means for the Spaniards to build a military post here, which means that the possibility of a military conflict between the two sides is infinitely magnified. As a civilian and moderate general, Xu Xin, to be honest, was also a member of the East Coast who believed that war between the East Coast and Spain was inevitable, and at the same time agreed that the East Coast would go to war with Spain.

But unlike the radical soldiers who were eager to take advantage of the lack of preparation of the Kingdom of Spain and crush its military presence in La Plata. Xu Xin thought that it would be better to prepare for another one to two years before going to war, so that the certainty would be greater. Even today, when the Spaniards had discovered gold. Xu Xin also believed that Spain, mired in the Thirty Years' War, could not make rapid military preparations, and that the Spaniards might not be able to prepare for a full-scale war with the people on the east coast for two or three years, given the heavy losses of its main naval force and the loss of large ships. Then, the people on the east coast may not be in such a hurry, and can wait for more materials and population, and more army and navy to expand before starting a full-scale war, which will be much more certain.

And his view is more representative of the civilian faction, and most of the civilian officials are still in favor of postponing the war, even if it is to delay the war for a year. They also had to make a series of diplomatic shuttles, negotiating with the Dutch and the Portuguese in order to stabilize the two countries as much as possible so that they would be on the side of the East Coasters in the war, and at worst remain neutral. Of course, it would have been more desirable to maintain a friendly situation or even an alliance with the Ottomans and the French, although this is unlikely.

Today, even the most foolish people would not be optimistic that the Spaniards would remain indifferent to the cross-border reclamation of the East Coast after the discovery of gold. The stalwart of the more conservative society also began to speak publicly about the financial plight of the Spaniards and their rearmament in La Plata. These middle-aged people who are more worried about the war shake their heads and sigh about the inevitability of war, and at the same time they also begin to look forward to the huge dividends that war can bring to them, in short, they are in a state of entanglement and uneasiness.

Among the youths who were deeply influenced by militarist and Easternist ideas, as well as the militant and popular military, the argument that the war would open up the living space of the country was rampant, and a large number of soldiers sharpened their knives and went around all day asking when the war would start. The officers had to be appeased and promised that the war would come, that they would win, and that everyone's standard of living would rise to a new level.

Among these people, the orphan students who came from the regimental fort and the mixed-race teenagers who grew up were the most radical. These people have received military and national education since childhood, and have been influenced by collectivism, East Coast and even militarist ideology, and they have a higher degree of identification with the East Coast country, and are more loyal to the country.

The Executive Committee was naturally very pleased to see this scene, the sharp sword that had been cultivated for ten years was about to be unsheathed, and the sense of national identity, cohesion, and national character of the East Bank was also strengthened in the midst of the country's repeated crises.

A new nation, a new idea, a new idea, a new faith, and a new sense of mission will always be born only in blood and fire. Without the tempering of blood and fire, this nation will always be just a plate of scattered sand and lack cohesion. Any delusional idea of a superficially warm and affectionate life and common prosperity to achieve the natural integration and formation of the nation is unrealistic and naïve, and is doomed to failure, and the country they form will inevitably fall apart in the end.

Both the civilian and military departments were actually advocating war with Spain at this time, and the difference was that one was a slow war faction and the other was a rapid war faction, and there was no essential distinction. For the civilian officials' request for a delay in the war, the officers naturally scolded loudly, because by the time you are ready for war, aren't the Spaniards also ready for war, and they are not fools!

When a lot of forts and forts were built in the area of La Plata, and there were many more troops, it would cost a lot more to fight, and this price would have to be paid by the soldiers! The battle to conquer La Plata, which could have ended lightly, will have twists and turns at that time, and the sacrifices of the soldiers will be greatly increased, how can they not be angry!

The extraordinary session of the National People's Congress, which had just concluded a week earlier, had just voted on a resolution authorizing the Executive Council to take the necessary measures to resolve the current tensions between the East Bank and the Kingdom of Spain, in other words, to authorize the Executive Council to go to war with the Spaniards. Of course, it was up to the Executive Committee and the War Department to decide whether or not to go to war, when to go to war, and what kind of war it would take, at least for the time being, and it seems that the Executive Committee had no intention of immediately entering into a state of war with the Kingdom of Spain, and it seemed that the civilian forces had succeeded in influencing the decisions of the Executive Committee.

However, this state of delay in preparing for war made the soldiers extremely annoyed. There are all indications that although the Spaniards have not yet begun to make substantial preparations for war, if they continue to delay, things will definitely change, and it will be the soldiers who will suffer at that time. Accordingly, the radical officers of the military department, the conspirators of the gendarmerie, and some of the careerists in the Mei organ who carried out their activities behind the backs of their superiors came together and began to hatch a great conspiracy to force the Executive Committee to quickly make up its mind to go to war.

At present, this conspiracy has entered the stage of substantive operation, with the acquiescence of the army, the leadership of the gendarmerie, and the cooperation of Han Zhen, the deputy head of the Mei organ action group, who have been wandering around the Spaniards' military post for several days, and now everything is ready, just waiting for action!

"All the 'evidence' is in the designated place, right?" A middle-aged male voice with an urn voice asked, "Can't it go wrong, if things mess up this time, you should all pack up your things and go to the colony, don't you want to go back to your homeland in this life." ”

The rest of the group were silent, apparently aware of the strictness of what they were doing.

"Retreat." The middle-aged man known as "Chief" whispered, and then led his men out of the dark hillside in turn, heading towards the way they came. They still have a lot to do, and tonight is a day destined to be remembered by history! Thinking of this, there was even a trace of excitement in the cold hearts of these spies. (To be continued......)