I Became The Crown Prince Of The Mexican Empire - Chapter 110



Only Noblemtl

Core Cities and Capitalists (4)

December 31, 1842.

The landowners realized that they had responded to this incident too complacently.

The incident that occurred at the end of the year forced the landlords to gather in an emergency meeting instead of enjoying the last day of the year with their families.

As their name suggests, all of the landowner lawmakers are landowners. And not just any landowners, but large landowners.

As they were the ones who had the most peons, they were the ones who would suffer the most if the labor law was passed.

“As the end of the year approached, I thought things would finally calm down, but the imperialists proposed a labor law, and the protesters’ momentum picked up again.”

In Mexico, protests themselves are rare except during the turbulent times immediately following independence. This was the first time even lawmakers had experienced such large-scale demonstrations.

“Ahem. I guess this is France.”

ha ha ha-

There was a brief burst of laughter at a member of parliament’s discontented remarks toward the protesters, but then we had to decide how to respond.

“If only our landowners reject the bill, we will be crushed in the next election.”

At the time the Constitution was enacted, only a very small number of people, other than landowners, had property, but from some point on, the number of people who had accumulated enough money to have the right to vote has been rapidly increasing.

“I wonder what those ignorant bastards know that they are giving us the right to vote. Seriously…”

The landowners’ representatives complained about the current state of affairs in the empire, but there were no proper measures taken.

This is a law that aims to fix something that voters are strongly dissatisfied with, so what happens if you oppose it?

So, what they are saying is that the old days were better, and that we should have opposed the constitutional monarchy from the beginning.

“How about cooperating with the church to change public opinion a bit? Isn’t that taking away the right to work?”

Starting with the establishment of the secular university, the Catholic Church and the landowners began to cooperate politically.

“The church is also showing reluctance. They say that the labor law proposed by the imperial faction contains too basic contents to be opposed.”

“Ahem. I see.”

“···I guess we have no choice but to compromise within the limits of adjusting the conditions.”

The landowners, whose pride was hurt, decided to increase investment in the media and pay more attention to public opinion, and left the meeting.

***

January 1843.

Labor laws were passed in the Mexican Empire.

It was the result of a compromise reached after about two weeks of negotiations between the imperialists, landowners, and republicans.

The contents were as follows.

——————————————

Mexican Empire Labor Basic Law

Article 1 (Restrictions on working hours): Pursuant to this Act, the maximum daily working hours for adult male workers shall not exceed 14 hours, and for adult female workers, the maximum daily working hours shall not exceed 12 hours.

Article 2 (Prohibition of Child Labor): All forms of labor of children under the age of 9 are strictly prohibited by this Act.

Article 3 (Restrictions on working hours for adolescents): Adolescents aged between 10 and 14 may work up to a maximum of 6 hours per day, provided that such work does not cause harm to their health, welfare, or education.

Article 4 (Additional allowance for night work): Working hours from midnight to 5 a.m. are considered as hours that may infringe upon the right to sleep, and workers who work during those hours must be paid additional allowance for regular working hours.

Article 5 (Duty to take safety measures): All employers must establish and maintain minimum safety and health measures established for each industry in accordance with this Act.

——————————————

Although it was a basic labor law with only five articles, its scope of effect was much wider than that of the Factory Act and Mines Act enacted in England.

“The restrictions on working hours for teenagers are a bit annoying, but… this isn’t too bad, is it?”

“That’s right. These days, if you require someone to work more than 14 hours or work early in the morning, you can’t even get hired.”

“Yes. We need to take the safety measures in Article 5, but they don’t seem like much.”

“Only those who use Peon will suffer great losses.”

The capitalists who did not hire Peons sighed in relief, but felt a bitterness inside.

While some were relieved, there were also those who expressed their discontent, and of course, they were the ones who used Peon.

Among them, the capitalists were more resistant than the landowners, because the nature of farms was such that working hours were seasonal and increasing the workload did not necessarily lead to more output, and they did not demand long working hours or early morning shifts every day.

The only ones who demanded harsh labor and caused accidents such as overwork to the point of death were the capitalists who had bought peons.

“It’s a really stupid law. Unlike regular workers, peons need to work more to pay off their debts and make a living, but they’re preventing them from doing that.”

“Well, if they can’t pay their debts, then they’ll just have to live off peons for generations. If they get married, they’ll have children.”

In fact, the wages paid to the peons were extremely low regardless of whether the working hours were long or short, so it was much better for the peons to at least avoid death from overwork, but such facts were not important to the angry capitalists.

“This law would not have been passed if those Republican hypocrites had not voted for it.”

“I wonder how much longer they will hold out, even though they have suffered just as much as we have, and there must be many supporters who do not have strong republican beliefs, even if the members of the National Assembly do.”

“That’s what I’m saying. We need to bring them over to us naturally.”

“We need to take the lead and raise the voices of our capitalists within the landlord group. This bill also seems to have caused less damage to landlords than expected, so they easily approved it.”

“Yes. We still have no one to represent our capitalists, so we are clinging to the landlords, but they and we are completely different entities. We need to either increase our power within the landlords or create another force.”

Contrary to the employers’ reaction, the workers cheered.

It doesn’t make a big difference in life, but it does create a law that guarantees workers’ rights. And it also prevents the harsh labor of the peons who triggered this incident.

“Henry! Look at this! Our Mexican Empire is different!”

Victor read the newspaper article to Henry. Henry nodded in return.

“It’s definitely different. I’m glad I immigrated.”

“Then! I believed in you!”

Victor proudly exclaimed.

***

February 1843.

The first foreign students arrived in the Mexican Empire.

Park Gyu-su looked around at the people who had come to study abroad with him. There were also students from other countries at the port. The guide was supposed to take them all together.

‘Three Japanese, five Filipinos, and two Chinese.’

There were three Koreans. They clearly said that they had to be fluent in Spanish. Even if the Philippines originally knew Spanish, they came from Japan and China.

Park Gyu-su, who was confident that he could learn something, had to focus almost all of his time on Spanish for the past seven months.

The juniors who had been persuaded with great difficulty to go together were about to give up because it was difficult, and many of them actually gave up. But Japan also had three people, just like Joseon.

Park Gyu-su opened his mouth.

“Learning Spanish is not easy.”

This was said to a Japanese exchange student. He was slightly flustered, but calmly answered in Spanish.

“We were originally learning Dutch and English, so it was relatively easy. It’s not exactly the same as Spanish, but there are quite a few similarities.”

“Oh, so that’s what happened.”

There was something that Park Gyu-su had not thought of. Rather, Joseon would be a new thing to them.

‘Japan is good at accepting foreign culture.’

Park Gyu-su thought back to history. The moment we fall behind them, disaster will strike Joseon. Didn’t the crown prince of Mokseoga make such a suggestion in his letter?

Park Gyu-su naturally struck up conversations with people from other countries, and perhaps because the missionaries had been carefully selected, they all spoke Spanish well.

“Why did you come alone from Qing? Since it is a great country, there must have been many people who wanted to study abroad.”

“There were more people who wanted to learn English.”

He answered shortly.

Park Gyu-su was immediately convinced.

The British Empire, the world’s most powerful nation, won the war against the Qing Dynasty, took away land, and exercised enormous indemnities and strong influence.

In that situation, there will be more people who want to learn English than Mexicans.

A day later, the guide arrived.

“Gentlemen, from now on we will take the train to Morelia, where the university is.”

There was no answer from anyone.

“···Hmm? I heard you all speak Spanish well···. Did I speak too fast?”

“No. What is that railroad?”

“Ahhh… Rather than explaining it with words, please see it for yourself.”

The guide said with a smile as if he found it amusing.

The train station of Puerto Pacífico, a port on the Pacific coast of the Mexican Empire.

Park Gyu-su and his party were already jaw-droppingly amazed at the sight of the massive port and shipyard, and the ships being built there.

“Hey, is this a railroad?”

“To be exact, I’m referring to the railroad tracks that run underneath this ‘train.’ The train can only move on these tracks. Come on, get on board.”

“yes.”

Phew-

Poopoo-

There was a noise from the train, and it started to move.

Rattling-

Rattle rattle-

The scenery outside the window began to pass by at an increasingly faster rate.

“There was no mention of stopping this train earlier···.”

“Hey, you say you’re talking, but does this speed make sense? This is actually the train itself moving.”

He responded calmly to his junior who had a shocked expression on his face, but inside, he was also quite surprised.

Fortunately, it wasn’t just Park Gyu-su and his juniors who were surprised. The Japanese, Filipinos, and Qing people seemed quite surprised as well. It was obvious on their faces.

Park Gyu-su realized that he too had that kind of expression, so he controlled his expression and then met eyes with the smiling guide.

“···”

“···Heh heh.”

***

While I was directing the construction of Chihuahua, something interesting happened and I came down to Morelia for a while.

Morelia was also a midway point on my route down to Mexico City to see my family every weekend.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Are you excited about the international students, or are you excited about them being amazed by the architecture of this university?”

“Both.”

Students arrived from four Asian countries trading with the Mexican Empire, just seven months after the missionaries were sent.

I really wondered how well they had learned Spanish, who the Koreans would be, and what they would feel when they saw our Mexican Empire.

My curiosity was soon satisfied.

The international students arrived at a perfect time, barely an hour after waiting.

“I am sorry for wasting Your Majesty’s precious time… I should have hurried.”

The guide heard that I was coming, but he seemed flustered and apologized, as if he didn’t know I would be waiting.

“No. I stopped by because I was going there anyway.”

I tried to appease him a bit and looked at the international students. Most of them were in their 20s or early 30s, but there was one Korean who looked to be in his mid-30s.

“What is your name?”

“Your Majesty, my name is Park Gyu-su of Joseon.”

The foreign students were agitated when I, the crown prince of this country, appeared before them, but the person I spoke to answered calmly.

“Yeah. How was it riding the train?”

“···It was amazing.”

“Hahaha. Then let’s go to the university you will be studying at.”

I moved around talking to several international students, including Park Gyu-su, and although they seemed uncomfortable, they actively engaged in conversation, perhaps knowing that such opportunities were rare.

‘Park Gyu-su… I think I’ve heard of it.’

Since I was more interested in world history than Korean history, I didn’t know much about names that weren’t really famous.

‘From what I can tell from the way you speak, you must be one of the Silhak scholars.’

It was interesting to see what would happen to someone like that who came to Mexico to study.

“We have arrived.”

Everyone got out of the carriage.

It was in front of the main gate of the Imperial University of Mexico.

The main gate consisted of two tall, majestic stone towers, separated by an elaborately carved arch.

It was the main gate that I commented upon seeing the completed structure, saying, ‘It looks like a work of art.’

“Ugh!”

“Hoo···.”

There was no need to ask what they thought. Everyone was gaping in admiration.

I felt satisfied as an architect, gave them some encouragement and left for Mexico City.

It was to meet pretty Cecilia and her cute sons and daughters.

It was one of those happy days that occasionally come in the midst of a hectic life.