I Became The Crown Prince Of The Mexican Empire - Chapter 126



Only Noblemtl

The Mexican Air Makes You Free (5)

News of the Irish famine spread like wildfire around the world.

Even in this era when people were starving to death, a famine of this magnitude was a serious matter.

Many people from all over the world sent in donations, including Sultan Abdul Mejid I of the Ottoman Empire, who donated a generous £10,000.

“Your Majesty, ten thousand pounds is too much. How about adjusting it to around one thousand pounds?”

“What? If I donate, wouldn’t it be a good thing for Britain?”

There was a reason for the British diplomats’ dissuasion: their queen, Victoria, had donated 2,000 pounds.

In the British Empire, Ireland is treated as a colony rather than the mainland, but it is still part of the British Empire.

If a foreign king were to donate a larger sum than the queen, the queen’s reputation would be damaged.

“Hmm… I understand. Instead of exchanging it for a thousand pounds, I’ll send you some grain.”

There was no reason to stop Britain from sending grain, so the proposal was passed.

A similar proposal was made in the Mexican Empire.

In the name of the Emperor of Mexico, he offered to send a thousand pounds of aid and grain.

‘It turns out that the story that the Ottoman relief ships had a hard time getting through the British naval blockade to Ireland because Britain refused to provide grain aid was a distorted story.’

In fact, it was absurd. There was no way the Ottomans could have sent ships all the way to Ireland without the British Navy noticing them. So they expected that they would accept the grain.

On the other hand, donations were understandable given the atmosphere of the time, as the amount was clearly visible.

When Mexico’s offer was accepted, the Mexican press gave extensive coverage to the Irish famine, and some people received covert job offers.

“Huh? An immigration company?”

“It is nominally an immigration company, but in reality, its main business will be relief work.”

“···Then, I think we can just recruit volunteers for relief work.”

“No country likes foreigners running wild on their territory, no matter how much it is a relief effort. That is why I am making this offer to Mr. Gerald, who is from Ireland.”

Among immigrants in Mexico, Irish are the largest group, along with Germans. The Crown Prince’s immigration company secretly recruited Irish people.

It is true that the famine was a pity, but it was an opportunity for the immigration company. The incentives were reduced to a mere speck of dust compared to before, but the speck was adding up like crazy.

The immigration firm’s employees worked for the Mexican crown prince, but were British citizens and had the right to travel around Ireland.

If a person who looked obviously Irish and spoke Irish entered the immigration company as an employee, there would be no problem doing relief work.

“I don’t remember Irish very well, is that okay?”

“No problem. I’ll remember it later after we talk on the boat.”

A relief fleet set sail, recruiting large numbers of Irish-Mexicans.

***

In the South, where escapes had not been a problem for a long time, many slaves were escaping.

Doesn’t this mean that the US government has certified that someone has successfully escaped to Mexico?

“If you play with that mouth carelessly, I’ll kill you!”

The farm owner belatedly tried to silence his workers, but by then all the slaves had already found out.

Even for those who thought there was no hope, learning that there was an escape route, and that some actually succeeded, gave the slaves tremendous courage.

They even knew the names of those who had managed to escape.

“Can we do like Tom?”

“Yeah, your name is Tom too.”

The slaves’ names were all similar. The plantation owners were too lazy to name them, so they gave them common names like James, Tom, and Henry.

Although their names overlapped, their owner, the farm owner, did not feel uncomfortable because he did not have to call them by their names. The employees called them Young Tom, Old Tom, and Little Tom.

When slaves began to escape in earnest in May, the plantation owners strengthened their crackdown and even formed patrols with surrounding plantation owners, but it was not enough.

The border with Mexico was ridiculously long, and the plantations in this area had excessive slave numbers relative to the number of workers, as there was no fear of escapes, and there was no experience in catching escapees.

“So you’re going to hire us?”

They were specialists called ‘slave catchers’ or ‘slave hunters’.

The farm owners knew that in reality, it was mostly a gathering of thugs and hoodlums, but experience could not be ignored, and they were proving it with their performance.

“I’ll give you between $50 and $150 per escaped slave. How about that?”

Not all slaves were worth the same. The price of a slave varied greatly depending on age, gender, build, health, and other factors.

The plantation owners had researched the market in the North and called for a similar price, but the slave catcher Jack’s expression was indifferent.

“That won’t happen. I’ve heard that there are slave escapees from the South, but I doubt there will be enough to leave the North. If we actually get there and there are few or no slaves escaping, wouldn’t that be a loss for us?”

“···Does that mean you don’t have enough money?”

“No, there should be a base salary based on the length of employment. But it’s okay if the incentives are reduced a bit.”

“···I’ll think about it for a moment.”

The plantation owners accepted the slave catchers’ argument because they thought it made sense, but the slave catchers thought:

‘I got caught, you idiots.’

After signing the contract, Jack gave instructions to his subordinates.

“Tell them to all sign the same contract. They say incentives are a loss.”

“Captain, if you talk nicely, you’re going to give me a bigger incentive. If I get a higher incentive, isn’t that okay?”

“Hey, you idiot. Are you going to finish this in one go? If you catch everyone from the beginning, who will escape?”

There are some early success stories, but most slaves will wait and see what happens. What if all of a sudden, everyone fails? Of course, they will give up trying to escape.

It was a kind of collusion.

Since there was a basic salary anyway, it was a collusion among slave hunters to catch them appropriately and send them away appropriately. That way, they could make steady money.

It’s a frustrating situation for the farmers, but how would they know since they weren’t there?

“You missed half of it again?”

“They cleverly split the group in two. But they still caught more of them, so this isn’t so bad.”

Only then did the plantation owners realize what these slave hunters were up to.

“I totally got this.”

“But don’t we catch more than if we go out and catch them ourselves?”

“But that’s true. Does it make sense to take money and then just send the slaves away?”

“That doesn’t make sense. But isn’t it ridiculous to expect those thugs to have work ethics? If they were in their right mind, they wouldn’t have done this in the first place.”

“That too.”

It was at the end of September that the frustrating situation changed.

“The president said he was sending troops to the border.”

“at las!”

“Now you’re finally getting what you paid for!”

Thousands of cavalrymen were deployed in the border areas alone. Scouting units in platoon units began to capture escaped slaves in their respective territories.

“The contract is over, so whether you want to head north again or not, it’s up to you.”

“Well, that’s what happened.”

Plantation owners, who were gnashing their teeth at the slave hunters’ slowdown, quickly terminated their contracts, but not all of them left the South.

‘If I had known this would happen, I would have just taken advantage of it and left for the North.’

Jack, the slave hunter who was preparing to leave with regret, smelled money in the stories of the second lieutenants and lieutenants in charge of the reconnaissance platoon.

‘Competition?’

There was talk that the scout platoon that caught many escaped slaves would be rewarded.

The reward in the military was promotion.

‘It smells like money.’

***

“I’m sure you have the skills, right?”

Most people would be scared of Jack, who had five or six scars on his face. But this lieutenant was not only confident, but also overbearing.

Of course, you might think that a mere thug could be proud of himself for messing with an officer of the United States military and receiving unbearable retaliation, but it feels different when the thug is right in front of you.

This man’s confidence must have come from the big guys on either side of him, and his own equipment. The shiny equipment of the lieutenant and the big guys next to him was clearly new.

‘You chose well. This is definitely a rich kid.’

Just like the big guys on either side, the so-called guy was tall and plump, so it was clear that he had eaten well and grown up.

“I’m sure I can do it. If you hire me, I’ll help you catch more escaped slaves than anyone else.”

Jack, who had been acting rough in front of the farm owners, answered politely. The lieutenant chuckled at his confident words and said.

“Really? Then let’s say you don’t get paid if you lose first place.”

“No matter what, it’s like that···”

As Jack tried to respond to that absurd statement, the lieutenant cut him off and shouted.

“Instead! If you win first place, I’ll give you 150 each. What do you think?”

‘That little brat···.’

He was not a complete idiot, perhaps because he was well-educated.

It was a condition of high risk, high return.

“···great.”

The idea was to get first place. Jack and his men were experts. How much would newly commissioned second lieutenants and first lieutenants know about escaped slaves?

Thus began the strange collaboration between US Army Lieutenant Lucas and slave hunter Jack.

“This way!”

When Jack shouted that he had discovered the traces of the slaves, Lucas’ platoon immediately ran towards them.

It was actually nonsense.

It makes no sense for a soldier to personally hire civilians to do his job, or to travel with them and receive instructions. But new officer Lucas had no intention of missing this opportunity.

The U.S. military was growing rapidly under the will of James Polk and the Democratic Party. It had been growing steadily in size for the past few years, but the growth rate was accelerating.

Since it wasn’t a wartime situation yet, they were raising a standing army centered around officers and non-commissioned officers, which meant that there were a lot of senior officers above Lucas.

Of course, most of the rapidly increasing number of officers were recruited through routes other than the military academy, but officers are officers. That means they are competitors.

He would have a much greater advantage as a graduate of a military academy from a good family, but for a soldier, major is the most important. If you miss this opportunity that the president himself said he would award, you never know when you might get another chance like this.

‘My choice was right.’

His reconnaissance platoon, with the help of slave hunters, had been performing exceptionally well throughout October. If he could continue like this, he would surely be the one to take the prize.

“Sergeant! They say 30 people have escaped! We have to go now!”

“what?”

“Did I mishear that?”

“Did you just say there were 30 people?”

Lucas calmly asked back at the news that shocked not only the platoon members but also the slave hunters. It was possible that the platoon members had mistaken the numbers.

Most escapes so far have involved less than five people, and in many cases, as many as ten. But 30 people?

“Yes, 30 people for sure.”

The soldier confirmed that it was not an illusion by writing numbers on a piece of paper. It was even within the territory of the reconnaissance platoon commanded by Lucas. However, it was not without competition. The superiors had intentionally assigned the reconnaissance areas to overlap, so it was also the territory of the neighboring platoon.

“Ha, I guess it’s true that the farm owners have been lax about security since the military was deployed. I’ll have to report back when this is over.”

Among the swaying platoon members and slave hunters, Lucas muttered a polite word and looked around.

As expected, everyone had an expectant look on their face. Lucas shouted as if responding to that anticipation.

“Get ready to leave right away!”

“yes!”

If there are 30 people, it would take 6 sorties to catch them on average. Considering that each sortie would take from two days to a week, it was a number that could quickly widen the gap, and if they were taken over by another platoon, it was a number that could quickly catch up.

The slave hunters who had agreed to receive $150 per head also began to prepare quickly, drooling. In such a large group, there may be children and old people, but it doesn’t matter. Regardless of condition, everyone gets $150. They can receive money at the highest level.

Lucas, the scout platoon, and the slave hunters started running like crazy.