I Became The Crown Prince Of The Mexican Empire - Chapter 138



Only Noblemtl

Mexican-American War (11)

The Mexican Empire’s Third Army Corps, heading for Colombia, advanced southward at a rapid pace.

The target is Bogotá, the capital of New Granada.

“Could it be that they are all the shabby troops we encountered at the border?”

Although the enemy force at the time was estimated to be around 20,000 strong, there was almost no actual fighting and instead, only surrendered prisoners were captured.

The Mexican Empire’s casualties, including both dead and wounded, were less than 500. It was a force so weak that it was absurd to the officers and soldiers alike.

Huh-huh-

The army was climbing the mountain range.

“Ugh-. I’m more scared of this mountain climb than the army of New Granada.”

“Uh, well then.”

Bogotá, the capital of New Granada, was located at a high altitude similar to Mexico City in the Mexican Empire, at an altitude of 2.6 km above sea level.

As the country itself is very close to the equator and thus hot, this large plateau area in the Andes called the Sabiana de Bogotá was an ideal location for a capital city.

The mild climate of this plateau makes it suitable for habitation, with temperatures remaining relatively constant throughout the year.

Fortunately, the slope was not steep and the road leading to the capital was paved, so the horse was able to climb it, but it was a difficult road for both the horse and the person.

It is a long distance in a straight line from Panama to Bogota, but it took even longer to climb this mountain range.

Mid June.

After struggling to climb the mountain range, the Mexican Empire’s army was approaching the capital of New Granada.

“Yes, but you still don’t give up the advantages of this mountain range.”

“···Aren’t our troops too small to say we didn’t give up?”

The army of New Granada was establishing a defensive line on the high ground in front of the capital, but its numbers were ridiculous.

“I don’t think it even reached 20,000 people.”

“They say that although the territory is large, the population is only 2 million.”

“···2 million? That’s less than I thought. But even so, does it make sense that the enemy army has advanced all the way to the capital and there is no support from the provinces?”

Although the population was extremely small compared to the vast territory, the capital was still on the verge of being attacked. If it had been Mexico, patriots from all over the country would have gathered and fought to the death. Isn’t that the right thing to do as a citizen? That’s what the Mexican Imperial Army officer thought.

But the reality in New Granada was not like that. There was a time when, immediately after independence, there was an ambitious dream of unifying South America under the leadership of Simon Bolívar, but it ultimately failed.

“Even the people here use the names Colombia and New Granada interchangeably. That shows how weak the identity is.”

Simón Bolívar failed to create a national identity that would unite people with diverse regional, social, and economic conditions across a vast territory, and was anxious to maintain his power.

The intangible, invisible value called ‘national identity’ is the key element that maintains a nation.

Without national identity, which means a sense of personal identity or belonging to a country, there can be no such thing as patriotism. That is why the name Gran Colombia, which Simón Bolívar named after Christopher Columbus in 1819, disappeared into history and became Ecuador, New Granada, and Venezuela.

The Mexican Empire quickly crushed the last, handful-strong defenders of New Granada.

“···I couldn’t even fire ten rounds from the cannon.”

“Oh my. I worked so hard to get these.”

The cannons and machine guns that had been brought over the mountains with great difficulty finally came into play, but just like the last battle, the New Granada army began to crumble within an hour of the start of the battle.

It was natural that the citizens of the capital were forcibly conscripted and placed in positions without any training.

In this way, Bogotá, the capital of New Granada, was conquered.

***

Victory, victory again!

News of victories coming one after another from land, sea, America, and Colombia excited the Mexican people, but that was all.

“What, I thought we could easily beat the US and Colombia?”

“Of course. His Highness the Crown Prince is at the front commanding.”

It was a completely different reaction from the war with France, when not only the people but even the members of parliament were terrified.

What the people knew was America’s external perception, not its actual weight class. Externally, America was treated as something that was ambiguous to classify as a great power, let alone a great power. On the other hand, the Mexican Empire fought only at sea, but won the war against France, which was considered to be the second or third largest in the world.

There were few who thought that they would be defeated, since they were led directly by a genius crown prince who was known to have never failed or been defeated.

In fact, the 1st and 2nd Corps were occupying Memphis and trying to fortify it, the Navy was blockading all American ports, and the 3rd Corps was smoothly conquering Colombia, so the situation was very favorable. But I was worried about this atmosphere in the Mexican Empire.

“···This is a little worrisome.”

Diego took a moment to read my mind.

“Is it because of what you take for granted?”

“Yes. Not only the general public, but even the media and intellectuals take it for granted. How dangerous is this?”

I felt a deep sense of crisis. Something that had been ignored for a very long time was now surfacing.

“Something similar happened in the Navy.”

“You are talking about Admiral Castillo.”

The report he wrote after experiencing a crisis due to his own pride caused a great stir in the Navy for a while. It was a confession of his own mistake in adopting a tactic of ‘pushing forward without hesitation’, believing in the overwhelming gap between the mighty Mexican Empire’s fleet and the weak American fleet compared to it.

“It is dangerous to be careless. I am not just talking about the navy or this war. Along with the support of the people for the imperial family, the power of the imperial faction has also grown and has come to control the majority of the parliament. Just think of all those people blindly following my words ‘without care.’”

“···that.”

Diego’s face became as serious as mine.

“Haven’t I always told you to tell me if there’s anything I haven’t thought of or if you have any questions about something I’ve told you?”

“Yes, you wanted me to think for myself.”

It didn’t matter that I didn’t actually have superhuman abilities, it just seemed that way because of my future knowledge.

The important thing is how to believe. Now, there were signs everywhere that many in the Mexican Empire believed that if they believed in me, everything would be fine.

“You and I are both 40 now.”

“···”

I was worried about my afterlife, and Diego knew that too, so I kept quiet. I changed the subject because it was a problem I couldn’t solve right away.

“Whew. I’ll take this problem one step at a time, and I think it’d be best to focus on the current issue. There’s a lot of work piling up, after all. What happened to the dynamite gun?”

Although I was in Trinidad City as a commander, I was not limited to military affairs. I still had to deal with the many things I had caused.

“They say they haven’t found a way to produce it safely yet.”

As a civil engineer, it was something I really wanted to make, but the conditions were not right for it. Before I invited someone from outside, there were no chemical experts in Mexico, and there was no environment for handling hazardous chemicals.

I scouted several chemical experts from various European countries and brought them to my company, and with the know-how I gained from building laboratories at universities, I built safer laboratories in the research institute of my chemical company, Gaitan.

By my order, nitroglycerin and the ‘explosive gunpowder’ that can be made by absorbing nitroglycerin into diatomaceous earth were developed, but I decided to use the brand name dynamite that I was familiar with.

“I see. It’s okay if it’s a little late, but tell them not to rush and to be careful.”

It deals with nitroglycerin, an extremely unstable compound. Since Nobel, who invented dynamite in the original history, also knew that many workers died from nitroglycerin explosions at his factory, rather than attempting mass production right away, he was conducting research to produce it safely.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

We also checked in with Diego and other pending issues as the war neared its end.

“Your Majesty, the 3rd Army Corps in the Colombian direction has assured us that they will be able to conquer Bogota by the end of June, so we intend to conduct an amphibious landing using the 3rd and 4th Army Corps within July.”

It was a report from Chief of Staff Fernando.

I nodded and asked.

“Have you decided on a destination?”

The general plan to blockade the Mississippi River, blockade the ports, and begin landings in the Northeast was already planned before the war. However, there was still debate over which cities on the Northeastern coast to target, and they continued to blockade the ports and conduct detailed surveys.

It appears that the decision was made to coincide with the end of the 4th Army Corps’ preparations.

New York, the largest city and port in the United States, and Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States.

Targeting cities had its pros and cons. Targeting New York first would deal a greater economic blow to the United States, but its coastal defenses were too strong to be a burden. Washington, D.C., as the capital, had great symbolic significance and its coastal defenses were weaker than New York’s, but it would inflict little economic damage.

“Yes, Washington DC.”

I nodded at those words.

“Let’s make it happen.”

“yes!”

With President James Polk out of the capital, the capture of Washington, D.C., would not have ended the war, but an attack on New York would mean the loss of a significant portion of our fleet.

It was dangerous to lose any more fleets now that Britain was showing signs of maneuvering.

***

“Mr. President!”

Secretary of State William Marsh protested unusually strongly, but President James Polk was stubborn.

“You want to replace the commander? He is a war hero of our United States and a highly respected commander within the military.”

He was referring to Lieutenant General Winfield Scott.

It was not a question of blame for the defeat. President James Polk also knew that many conditions were unfavorable. The problem lay elsewhere.

“If you say that Memphis will be difficult to retake, isn’t that basically giving up the war because it’s lost? Do you think it’s acceptable for an American general to say something like that?”

It is true that the situation has become very unfavorable, but now many factories have been converted into weapons factories, and trade blocked by the coastal blockade is being resumed through Canada. Now is the time to start a counterattack, so why are you saying such weak things?

It was something that President James Polk could never accept. The voices of anti-war groups were growing louder, but the American people still did not think that they had completely lost. In that case, it was the duty of a soldier to fight with his life at stake.

“···Lieutenant General Scott proposed that rather than attacking the Mexican Empire’s defensive line in Memphis, they should fight a guerrilla war in cooperation with the local population in the territory they controlled.”

The Mexican Empire’s army was supplied by the Mississippi River, but it also had an extensive supply network over land.

The calculation was that continuing to harass the supply network on that land and the supply lines running along the Mississippi River would also be a significant burden to the Mexican Empire’s forces.

“When on earth are we going to win the war like that? After all, we’ll have to reclaim Memphis and New Orleans to breathe a sigh of relief. The supplies the British provide aren’t free. They’re selling them for a damned high price. This can’t go on forever.”

“But any attempt to breach Memphis’ defenses could result in even greater casualties than in previous battles.”

In fact, most of the army generals were convinced that those bloody Mexicans were building a defensive line of barbed wire, trenches, and machine guns, and they were building it in layers, not just one.

After observing the scene from a distance, we sighed that we should have done the same, but it was already too late.

“I heard that the Mexicans have done very little additional recruiting. They are very much letting their guard down. And with so many men assigned to territorial maintenance, there are far fewer men left to guard Memphis than before.”

President James Polk wasn’t talking to Secretary of State William Marsh. He was talking to himself.

“We have 200,000 troops, which is much more than theirs. We also provide them with guns, bullets, cannons, and other military supplies that are fresh from the factory. Surely you are not saying that we can’t win even with this?”

“···”

Secretary William Marsh, looking at President James Polk’s questioning face with wide eyes, gave up. Expressing dissent here would only change the person in the Secretary of Defense’s seat, not the operation.

In this way, the US military began preparing for a ‘counterattack’ operation.