The only town upstream of the Negro River, San Carlos.

Viscount Laguna, the commander of the Portuguese expeditionary force, waved his hand to chase away the ubiquitous mosquitoes and frowned at the servant burning cedar bark nearby: "Damn it. Rufino, take that stuff outside, or I’ll be smoked out before the mosquitoes."

Smoldering cedar bark is an Indian traditional method of repelling mosquitoes, often mixed with coffee grounds, citrus peels, and such. However, it doesn’t seem very effective.

The smoke inside the room thinned slightly, and only then did Viscount Laguna continue speaking to the clerk beside him: "Where were we? Oh, our army has controlled San Carlos and set up complete supply stations along the way.

"Currently, the soldiers’ morale is very high, and the Spanish garrisons along the way have been easily defeated by us..."

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but glance outside; even the guard standing there seemed listless, lacking any "high morale."

As for defeating the enemy? The fiercest battle he encountered on this journey was exterminating a few jaguars; he hadn’t seen a single Spanish soldier.

Viscount Laguna withdrew his gaze and looked at the map on the table: "General Silvira is leading his troops to El Picacho, and according to the plan, he will occupy it within ten days.

"If things go smoothly, our army can reach Tunja before the end of the year..."

El Picacho, the future Puerto Carreño, is located at the midsection of the Orinoco River. From here, heading west along the river, they’ll soon reach the prosperous areas of New Granada, greatly easing the logistical pressure on the Portuguese forces.

Tunja is a gateway north of Bogota. After occupying it, Bogota would pretty much be left with only surrender as an option.

It could be said that Viscount Laguna had completed the most challenging part of the journey, and New Granada was almost within grasp.

Just as the clerk finished jotting down the last word and started writing the congratulatory message to Regent King Noan, a staff officer hurriedly knocked and entered, stood at attention before Viscount Laguna, and said: "Commander, last night, the seventh logistics battalion was attacked at the southern section of the transport river. The ’Elephant Fish’ was destroyed, and ’Gladius’ was heavily damaged..."

Viscount Laguna immediately frowned: "What were the protection forces along the banks doing?"

He had stationed over 7,000 soldiers along the Cassiqueiare Canal banks, yet the supply ships had still been ambushed.

The staff officer bowed his head and replied: "Sir, the dense woods along the banks make it difficult for the defending soldiers to notice everywhere..."

Viscount Laguna furrowed his brows and asked again: "How many attackers were there? Have we caught them?"

The staff officer bowed even lower: "Captain Steven said there might be 500, or perhaps 1,000 of them. After the attack, they quickly fled into the jungle."

While Viscount Laguna was still inquiring about the losses, the command office door was pushed open once more.

It was another staff officer: "Commander, our convoy was attacked yesterday morning at the bend on the eastern side of the canal."

By the afternoon of the next day, Viscount Laguna had received four reports of attacks, with the Portuguese logistics battalion losing four ships, suffering 80 soldier casualties, and losing a substantial amount of food and ammunition.

This forced General Silvira, who was advancing rapidly, to stop and wait for supplies, while Viscount Laguna ordered more watchtowers to be built along the canal banks and sent an additional 5,000 soldiers to protect the transportation line.

But the Spaniards’ attacks became increasingly frequent, and half a month later, they even began penetrating into Brazil territory, consistently destroying all supply stations along the eastward path along the Negro River.

It was not until November that Viscount Laguna received intelligence that New Granada had formed a National Army two months ago, mobilizing at least 30,000 soldiers primarily composed of Creoles.

These Creoles, using their towns as bases, attacked the Portuguese supply lines nearby.

Under Joseph’s arrangement, the major newspaper offices in New Granada, as well as influential writers, had received funding from the governor’s palace months ago.

At this point, a large number of reporters followed the attack squads, writing their achievements into news articles, which were continuously sent back to the newspaper offices.

Lately, New Granada’s newspapers almost always followed the same pattern — half filled with victories of the National Army and the other half with changes brought about by the King’s reformation decree.

Stimulated by all the good news, all of New Granada entered a state of excitement.

Many young people even volunteered to follow the National Army to beat the Portuguese invaders without even receiving salaries.

Although the National Army Headquarters only registered slightly over 30,000 soldiers, nearly 50,000 flintlock guns had been issued...

As for the Prussian Army, due to frequent attacks, their advance was significantly delayed, and they had yet to organize a siege on El Picacho.

Meanwhile, the military funds planned to last until next April were exhausted by the end of November.

It’s crucial to know that thousands of kilometers of material transport along the tributaries of the Amazon River make the frontline costs of each piece of bread dozens, if not hundreds, of times their usual cost.

The New Granada National Army could casually burn a bit of material worth potentially thousands of Portuguese Escudo gold coins!

One Portuguese Escudo’s gold content is equivalent to 14 francs!

This forced Noan to issue a round of war bonds at the beginning of December...

...

Before Charles IV’s "New Granada Decree" reached Bogota, an armed Dutch merchant ship quietly docked at New Orleans Port.

As the gangplank from the ship was lowered, Marquis Demarini, the mayor of New Orleans, along with a group of colonial officials, immediately went to greet them.

Napoleon, dressed in military attire, stood in the middle of the road, smiling at the cabin door.

However, when a figure wearing a tricorn hat and a dark blue robe emerged from among a few guards, he couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

"Oh, esteemed Count of Baton Rouge!" The newcomer dealt with the colonial officials and enthusiastically walked towards Napoleon, "We haven’t met for a long time, though I’ve seen you several times in the newspapers in Paris."

Napoleon quickly squeezed out a smile and bowed: "Marquis de Lafayette, I didn’t expect you to travel the long distance to North America; it’s truly an honor for Louisiana."

He looked towards Lafayette’s entourage: "By the way, didn’t Louis come with you?"

Lafayette knew he referred to Louis Charles Antoine Desai, so he smiled and shook his head: "Major Desai is responsible for training at the Walloon New Recruit Camp and couldn’t leave."

He gestured to the two people walking down the gangplank: "Of course, the General Staff knew you needed manpower here, so they specially sent General Jourdan and Colonel Dalmagne to assist you."

Napoleon was momentarily stunned.

He was currently holding only the rank of Colonel, yet the General Staff had sent a General to assist him... And what was Lafayette, the Deputy Minister of War, doing in North America?