Chapter 56: Royal Security Intelligence Agency
To be honest, Carlo was also very curious about who the mastermind behind the assassination of Prime Minister Primó really was.
Having the audacity to assassinate the prime minister proved that this person had prepared well in advance and it was impossible for it to be a spur-of-the-moment decision.
After all, if the assassination failed, someone without preparation would find it hard to escape the government’s strict scrutiny.
Archbishop Pedro chose to yield in the face of the government’s challenge, which actually also indicated that the church was most likely not the mastermind behind the assassination.
The remaining forces that might have planned the assassination were only the nobility and the republican faction, which also meant that the Royal Council established by Carlo might not be monolithic.
However, this was also good news. Once the government and the church jointly identified the mastermind, it would be the time for Carlo to kick out the traitors in the Royal Council who were disloyal to him.
The Royal Council was one of the ways Carlo controlled the Spanish aristocracy, so he naturally would not allow disloyal rebels to sabotage it from within.
The investigation could be left to Prime Minister Primó and Archbishop Pedro, as Carlo had no time to pay attention to these matters and only needed to wait for the final results.
For Carlo, the most important thing was still about his own industry, after all, having money in hand was the truth.
On May 17, 1870, on this seemingly very ordinary day, the mysterious organization that Carlo had high hopes for was officially established and named the Spanish Royal Security Intelligence Bureau.
As the name implied, this was a new organization specifically responsible for intelligence and spies, cultivating professional intelligence officers, that is, so-called agents.
For the director of the intelligence bureau, Carlo was quite troubled in terms of personnel selection. As the person in charge of an important organization for Carlo to obtain domestic and foreign intelligence, the director of the intelligence bureau must possess good ability and high loyalty.
In the end, Butler Loren recommended a candidate to Carlo, who was also one of the subordinates sent to Carlo by his father Vittorio Emanuele II, Cadillac Bruno.
Vittorio Emanuele II certainly would not harm Carlo. The subordinates he selected for Carlo were all loyal to the Italian Royal Family, so they naturally also had loyalty to Carlo.
At least in Spain, a foreign land, Cadillac Bruno was already a candidate that Carlo could trust and was worth using.
At least temporarily serving as the director of the intelligence bureau was qualified. After Carlo cultivated his first batch of trusted subordinates in Spain through the method of aiding orphans, it would not be too late to consider other candidates then.
After personally meeting Cadillac Bruno, Carlo finally understood why Butler Loren recommended him.
Cadillac Bruno looked tall, thin, and very ordinary, but through a few brief questions, Carlo determined that he was a good prospect for intelligence work.
“Cadillac, I have a difficult task that needs you to complete. Do you have the confidence?” Carlo looked at Cadillac, whom he was meeting for the first time, and asked.
“Please give your orders, Your Majesty.” Cadillac Bruno responded immediately without the slightest hesitation after hearing Carlo’s question.
“Very good.” Carlo nodded in satisfaction. As a leader, Carlo certainly did not want to see his subordinates hesitate and lack confidence in completing the task when he assigned it.
“I need you to establish an intelligence organization to gather important intelligence from home and abroad for me. All major events happening in Spain, I need to know in a timely manner. Nobles, factory owners, the church, and even those officials and factions are all within the scope of intelligence gathering.
Can you do it?” Carlo asked with a smile.
“As long as Your Majesty gives me sufficient manpower, even what vegetables Prime Minister Primó ate for dinner, I will investigate clearly for you.” Cadillac Bruno said immediately.
“The target is certainly not Prime Minister Primó.” Carlo continued to smile and was not angry because of Cadillac Bruno’s words: “However, Prime Minister Primó is loyal. Who can guarantee that the next prime minister will continue to be loyal?
Your targets are all officials, factions, and powerful forces in Spain. I need to know their every move clearly.
As for the manpower you need, feel free to select from the Royal Guard. You can also find suitable talents from civilians. I give you one year. One year from now, I hope the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau can play a role.”
“Understood, Your Majesty. One year from now, if the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau cannot play a role, I am willing to accept any punishment.” Cadillac Bruno guaranteed.
He understood that this was not only a task given to him by Carlo, but also his opportunity, an opportunity to truly become Carlo’s trusted subordinate and possess great power.
Although this so-called Royal Security Intelligence Bureau was nominally only gathering intelligence on officials and forces, who could guarantee that the intelligence bureau would not have disposal powers?
When Cadillac Bruno heard his task, he understood that the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau was an important means for Carlo to understand the outside world, and he was Carlo’s eye hidden in the shadows.
Eyes could also turn into butcher’s knives at any time, swinging toward those disloyal officials and forces when necessary.
The establishment of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau was done quietly, and even Prime Minister Primó did not know what Carlo was doing.
Besides giving Cadillac Bruno 500,000 pesetas in funds and allowing him to freely select people from the Royal Guard, Carlo provided no further help to Cadillac Bruno.
And Cadillac Bruno’s task was to preliminarily build the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau within this year and start gathering intelligence on domestic officials and forces.
One year later would be the time to inspect the results. If Cadillac Bruno’s Royal Security Intelligence Bureau was built successfully and could play a role, he could leap to become Carlo’s trusted subordinate and enter the power core of Spain.
But if the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau failed to be established, Cadillac Bruno would not only lose this precious opportunity but also lose Carlo’s trust.
Because of the special nature of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau, as long as intelligence officers joined the intelligence bureau, their welfare benefits were top-notch.
Their salaries were much higher than those of Spanish soldiers and the Royal Guard. If they sacrificed due to intelligence work, their families would also receive compensation to ensure his family could survive.
In the case of providing money and manpower, if Cadillac Bruno still could not train a batch of qualified intelligence officers, it would indeed be reasonable to doubt whether his ability was problematic.
At first, Carlo was also doubting whether Cadillac Bruno could get the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau on track within a year.
But after hearing Cadillac Bruno’s selection conditions for intelligence officers a few days later, Carlo dispelled his doubts.
The entire Royal Guard had about 2500 people, and after Cadillac Bruno’s strict screening and selection, only fewer than 50 people qualified to join the intelligence bureau, with an average of only two out of every 100 Royal Guard soldiers passing the screening and selection.
Even with such strict screening conditions, it was enough to ensure that the selected intelligence officers possessed good ability.
After all, Carlo’s Royal Guard were all rigorously selected from the army and civilians to enter. If purely in terms of combat effectiveness, they were really not inferior to the Spanish regular army.
If the intelligence officers were all selected through such careful screening, Carlo was already looking forward to the role the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau could play a year later.
First update, seeking support!
