I Became The Crown Prince Of The Mexican Empire Novel - Chapter 169
**Chapter 169**
< Secularization (6) >
“Refuse.”
The man was cold.
“Refuse? You guys are the ones who enticed us, and now you’re changing your words. You said you would give us supplies if we swore never to surrender?”
The man chuckled, looking at the Mexican Imperial rebel who was arguing excitedly.
“You said at least five provinces would join the rebellion, didn’t you? You’re changing your words too, so why should we keep our promise?”
The Major wanted to smash the British guy’s nose, but he held back. The British Empire and the Austrian Empire were allies, moving as one. In essence, the guy could decide whether Austria would provide support.
“Then we don’t need to keep our word either. The revelation that you supported the Mexican rebellion will shock the world. Can you handle it?”
The man’s brow furrowed.
“We’ll just ignore claims without evidence.”
“Ha, that kind of covering your eyes and pretending it’s not happening might work with countries you can manipulate at will. The Mexican Empire isn’t like that, which is why you’re supporting this rebellion, isn’t it? Even without evidence, the Mexican Empire will cross-check various testimonies and be sure you instigated it. Those testimonies will also be leaked to our allies, the Kingdom of Prussia, and other European countries.”
The Major’s words were plausible. If that happened, their reputation would be tarnished, which was unavoidable. Also, a tarnished reputation could come back to haunt them someday. But the opponent was the British Empire.
“Hmm, we’ll accept that much.”
“···You’ll accept that?”
“Yes.”
Even if the Major’s argument was plausible, it wasn’t a threatening threat to the British Empire. If they were afraid of mere suspicions, they wouldn’t have dared to actually consider ideas like issuing privateering licenses.
No matter what they thought of Britain internally, there were very few countries that could take direct action, and they were already practically enemies with the Mexican Empire, so it didn’t matter.
The Major had no more cards to play. As the Major fell silent, the man smiled contentedly and spoke.
“Instead, let’s do this. You seize our merchant ships that are currently docked at Veracruz port.
“···Seize?”
“Yes. There are goods for trade with the Mexican Empire, but there are also weapons that we were planning to sell to the United States for a high price. You seize them all. In return, don’t make any explanations even if we officially protest to the Mexican Empire government.”
The Major immediately understood the meaning of the man’s proposal.
It was a despicable proposal.
Since the Mexican rebels had seized the goods of British merchants, they could hold the Mexican Empire accountable for its negligence. They were planning to take advantage of the situation by providing supplies and gaining justification.
On the surface, it would look like the British Empire protesting after having its goods stolen, and the Mexican Empire would be unable to provide a proper explanation.
Even if the revelation came out at the last moment after they had captured all the rebels, they could claim that it was a forced testimony, as there was no explanation at the time when Britain protested.
Instead of Mexico blaming Britain, Britain would blame Mexico, and in the worst-case scenario, they might even have to pay reparations in addition to the value of the goods. It would be a burden on Mexico, regardless of the success of the rebellion.
The Major didn’t rebel because he hated his country. He just disliked the reforms the Emperor was implementing now and the countless reforms he anticipated in the future. But if he failed in his rebellion, there was only death. For that, he needed the supplies of Britain and Austria.
The Major pondered for a long time before speaking.
“···I don’t think this is something I can decide. Can you give me more time?”
“I’ll give you until this time tomorrow.”
Only one day.
It wasn’t a long time to make such an important decision. The Major visited Santa Anna’s mansion late at night.
“I’ll accept.”
Santa Anna, without hesitation, made his decision as soon as he heard the Major’s words.
‘···He’s deciding without any hesitation?’
He had even conveyed his opinion that it could become a huge burden on the country, but there was no hesitation whatsoever.
The Major felt a slight disappointment and conveyed the decision.
They needed those supplies to feed the army and recruit more.
***
“They were robbed of supplies by the rebels? Who would believe that? It’s obvious that they gave supplies to the rebels to check us!”
“It’s not that simple. Whatever their intentions, there are many witnesses who saw the rebels seize the ships of the British Empire and Austria and take their supplies. The two countries have officially protested, so we need to respond.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials were pondering how to respond to the sudden protests from the British Empire and the Austrian Empire.
“First, we need to blockade Veracruz port to prevent any further nonsense.”
It wasn’t difficult to blockade the port, as the Empire’s fleet hadn’t fallen to the rebels. However, there would be some repercussions.
“Trade will be disrupted.”
“It will be for a while, but it will soon return to normal if we disperse it to Campeche, where the 4th shipyard is located, and Tampico, where the 6th shipyard is located.”
Both cities were functioning as important ports in the Mexican Empire, as they had built new shipyards and expanded or newly constructed the entire port.
“···How should we handle the protests from the British Empire and the Austrian Empire?”
It was more of a problem how to handle the protest than the trade issue. Trade issues would be handled by other departments, not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs made his decision.
“It’s unfair, but for now, we’ll express our regret and promise to prevent it from happening again and conduct a thorough investigation.”
They strongly suspected that Britain and Austria had intentionally given supplies to the rebels, but they had no evidence to prove it at this time.
“We will do that.”
The Emperor approved the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ proposal.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an official statement, and along with it, they urged merchant ships to head to Campeche and Tampico instead of Veracruz.
The Empire’s fleet blockaded the port, staying out of range of the coastal defense facilities in Veracruz.
If they wanted to, they could disable the coastal defense facilities and enter the port, but they were concerned about the city being destroyed in the process.
“Completely isolate Veracruz. Don’t let even a rat in.”
“Yes!”
It wasn’t just the sea route.
The Emperor’s army completely blocked all paths, including railroads and even footpaths.
“Isn’t the rebellion already a lost cause? Who would join them and guard these mountain paths?”
One soldier complained, not understanding. He hadn’t seen anyone similar for days. It was starting to feel like a waste of time.
“There were actually people like that in other places.”
“Yeah. There are tons of people who do things you can’t understand. Like you, complaining about being a little tired when your superiors are just sitting back.”
The veteran sharply reprimanded him, and the rookie, realizing his mistake, apologized in surprise.
“I-I’m sorry.”
Surprisingly, there were people who wanted to join Santa Anna’s “Veracruz Plan,” which had spread to Mexico City and several other populous cities.
Even Catholicism is a religion, so there are fanatics. They weren’t a minority either. They were deceived by the priests’ propaganda that the Emperor, who had rarely attended church even when he was Crown Prince, was suppressing the church, even though they knew the priests were corrupt.
It was quite bizarre to see people who knew the priests were corrupt willingly joining the insane act of rebellion for them.
“Huh? Uh-huh?”
“What now?”
The rookie, who had been quiet for a while, made a dumbfounded sound, and the veteran snapped.
“Th-there, there are about 300 people climbing the mountain.”
Jump-
The veterans who had been lying down comfortably jumped up.
“Th-three hundred? Do they have weapons?”
“They do!”
“Damn it! Sergeant!”
The veteran informed the sergeant, and the sergeant informed the captain about the group of people climbing the mountain with weapons.
“Are they fanatics? Or are they from the landowners’ side?”
“Judging by their expressions, they’re from the landowners’ side.”
“That’s a relief.”
It wasn’t just fanatics who were joining the rebellion. There were also medium-sized landowners who mobilized their own hacienda peasants.
A while ago, they had also participated in the “Punishment” operation, which was to capture the bigwigs of each province who had joined the rebellion. Bigwigs meant major landowners or bishops.
The central army in normal times didn’t have the capacity to capture thousands of priests and landowners at once.
Originally, after the “Punishment” operation, an operation to arrest everyone who had participated in the rebellion should have been carried out, but it was thwarted by the unexpected Veracruz rebellion.
While conscription was being carried out to suppress the rebellion, half of the central army was still conducting arrest operations in various parts of the country, and the other half was deployed to isolate Veracruz.
“I’ll go down and talk to them.”
“No, stay put. Do you think they don’t know Veracruz is blockaded? They’re the ones who brought guns.”
The captain flatly rejected the sergeant’s suggestion to go down and try to reason with them. The company guarding this path had 200 soldiers.
The enemy had 300.
If he carelessly sent the sergeant down, he might lose a valuable officer.
“Pick one rookie and one reliable soldier with some experience and send them to the company to report the situation and request support.”
“Yes!”
The 1st Sergeant immediately selected two men and sent them to the company. This left 198 soldiers and 5 officers.
Meanwhile, the unidentified group heading towards Veracruz also spotted them. As they approached, the captain shouted.
“Halt! Stop! Veracruz is blockaded, so turn back!”
The captain shouted with a booming voice, putting all his strength into it, so they couldn’t have missed it at this distance. But they only stopped and muttered, without replying.
One man at the back of the formation was gauging the number of men in their company.
A bad feeling was growing stronger.
“—!”
It was hard to hear clearly because of the distance, but the man who was gauging the number of men gave some instructions. The formation of the men changed according to his instructions.
They started to leave the mountain path and enter the forest on the mountain.
“Th-they’re taking cover!”
It was obvious, even without the sergeant saying it.
It was a predicament.
They were outnumbered, but they had the advantage of occupying the high ground, and they had better weapons and training. But what if they dispersed and climbed up, taking cover in the mountains? It would be a chaotic battle.
They couldn’t just open fire without a word.
The captain hurriedly warned them.
“Halt! If you don’t stop in three seconds, we’ll fire! Halt! Three!···Two!···One!”
The enemy didn’t stop. They were entering from both sides of the path.
The captain made his decision.
“Damn it! Open fire!”
“···Open fire!”
BANG! TATATATATANG!
A mountain path in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain range, located between Oaxaca and Veracruz.
A battle finally broke out in that place, where they wondered if they had to guard it all this time.
The battle was won thanks to the timely support from the company, but it was impossible to block all the paths to Veracruz Province.
General Santa Anna’s army, which was a division of 18,000, including conscripts, had grown to 25,000 in three weeks.
Even after killing or arresting thousands who were trying to join the rebellion on the way, they had increased by 7,000.
May 25th.
An additional 100,000 troops from Mexico City set out and joined the 75,000 troops blockading Veracruz, and the suppression force began to quickly recapture Veracruz Province.
Now, Santa Anna was a rat in a cage.
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