章 25: Military Goals and A Health Crisis
Although The Philippines is officially out of the war, military officials deemed it necessary to sneak in a some people to Europe in order to study the new weapons used by the Europeans.
Realistically, the military knew this will be an almost impossible task as the European empires had been in the business of espionage and counter-espionage for decades. In order to get around the problem, they carefully selected soldiers of Chinese descent to go to China and register as a worker that will be sent to Europe.
The former Aguinaldo government's connections with officials of the newly created Republic of China had been useful. A number of Chinese officials had been willing to assist the Philippines as a sort of repayment for the country's assistance during their revolution.
As the country's first deployment of spies, their mission is fairly simple. Infiltrate various industries as workers and find out whatever they can about the weapons employed by the Europeans. If possible, they should prioritize studying fighter aircraft and submarines.
The reason for this mission is that the Philippine Military had been interested in acquiring technological knowledge of weapons that are cheaper to manufacture in large quantities which could help them secure much of the country's territory in a shorter amount of time.
The military changed it's defense strategy from the impossible task of creating large vessels to try and catch-up to the global powers to manufacturing numerous smaller vessels, basically quantity over quality.
In order to make this happen, the Defense Department drafted a proposal for the military budget and how it will be used. Their plan is to research designs for destroyers, submarines, aircraft, and weapons designed to destroy aircraft, and artillery both mobile and coastal.
They also included plans for the creation of additional shipyards, and new submarine bases.
The military also introduced plans to merge the expropriated companies the government didn't sell into one single entity under Compañía de armas de Las Islas Filipinas, later renamed as Sidapa Industrias named after the God of Death in various Philippine Mythologies.
They also planned to partner with the private sector for the operations of the said company.
Although these plans necessitated the cancellation of a previous multi-decade plan allocated for the navy so that the funds could be re-allocated for the company to allow it to manufacture almost everything the military needs.
This level of government funding eventually gave rise to group of companies later known as The Supremo Corporation. Originally meant to be called The Bathala Corporation, owing to the eventual names of many of its subsidiaries, including The Sidapa Industrias.
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Back in Europe, the Philippine "researchers" had successfully integrated themselves with the Chinese Labour Corps. Some of them are assigned to assist the troops near the front lines digging trenches and repairing tanks and artillery, while some are assigned in the manufacturing sector.
These placements allowed the "researchers" to gain a lot of knowledge for the designs and functionalities of the weapons employed by the Europeans, including one of those they had been ordered to prioritize, fighter aircraft.
In order to send these back home without raising the suspicion of the Europeans, the military asked the Ilustrados from the time of Rizal, if they or their connections in Europe could help smuggle out the information they need.
Only a few agreed to help, mostly those who saw an opportunity to invest in a potentially lucrative government-initiated company.
As the Chinese laborers weren't allowed to venture outside of their workplaces and mingle with locals, they need to somehow retrieve the information then send them to Spain where it will be shipped back to The Philippines.
For this they will need a high ranking official, or fake some sort of approval to be allowed inside and make contact with the "researchers".
For those near the front-lines, the biggest challenge they had is entering the warzone. The only option they had is getting an approval to enter the warzone as a war correspondent and somehow fake an interview with one the country's assets, though this is still uncertain as they don't know if they will be allowed to even talk to the Chinese workers.
In order to make this happen, the military approached former members of the La Solidaridad if they could get in contact with some of the international members of the defunct organization, preferably those who are now working with news publishers in France and Britain.
The former members declined with the reason that they are vehemently opposed to sending Filipinos in the heart of Europe's war. They strongly advised the military to pull out those in the front-lines and make full use of the ones who are safe in Europe's factories.
The nation has already lost hundreds of brave men to a senseless war, they do not want many more added to the casualty list.
Unfortunately, the military doesn't have any way to order those in the front-lines to go back and by the end of the war, none of them made it back home.
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The ones safe inside France and Britain managed to smuggle the information out by mid to late 1918 as the Great War seemed to have reached it's end. The United States had joined the British side, while Russia has signed a peace deal with the Central Powers
The spies also reported about the collapse of the German front lines, the Civil War happening in Russia, and worrying reports of a spread of a sickness in France, Britain and Spain. The spies noted the similarity of symptoms as a reason for concern and advised the government to be on the lookout for anyone arriving from Europe.
Their advise came too late however as the government has already been informed of an unusual number of mild sickness around the country's major international ports.
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