Carlo was still waiting for the expedition team to be assembled, trying to secretly explore the Congo River Basin while the government planned to colonize Morocco.
But Carlo clearly underestimated the government's ambition for colonizing Morocco.
Serrano and Prim returned from the Royal Palace, and overnight they formulated an action plan for Morocco, and determined the timing of the operation.
It was now September 21, 1870, and the action date set by Prim and Salano was exactly one week later, on September 28.
A week was just the right amount of time to mobilize the military to ensure enough troops were available for military action against Morocco in the early stages of the operation.
Ceuta is located at the northernmost tip of Moroccan territory, facing Gibraltar across the sea, which is why the British are reluctant to have Spain occupy too much territory near Ceuta.
