I Became The Crown Prince Of The Mexican Empire - Chapter 58



Only Noblemtl

Texas (7)

Stephen Austin’s heart began to beat faster at the sound of the cavalry’s hooves approaching relentlessly.

The battlefield before his eyes was hopeless, but he was determined to fight to the end.

‘I will fight until the last moment.’

He gave up running, took cover behind a rock, and began to load his musket.

His movements were quick and accurate. While he loaded his musket, his eyes were constantly watching the movements of the cavalry pursuing him.

bang!

The cavalryman in the lead fired his pistol. The bullet whizzed past Stephen’s ear.

At that moment, Steven sensed death, but quickly came to his senses and aimed his gun at the enemy.

The cavalryman who had just fired his pistol was still aiming at him.

‘He just shot me and he’s still aiming? Doesn’t he know he just shot himself? What an idiot.’

It was a shame that the last one he took was an idiot, but he tried to pull the trigger on the cavalryman. In his mind, he had a firm determination to take at least one person with him.

But at that moment, something unexpected happened.

bang!

The cavalryman who had just fired a shot fired again. Stephen fell down in an instant.

One of the troopers came up to him, put his revolver away, and checked Stephen’s condition. The trooper’s cold voice was heard.

“I guess I shouldn’t have taken him alive. Tsk, I was trying to shoot his leg, but he suddenly turned around and pointed his gun at me.”

“Okay. Let’s at least retrieve the body.”

“okay.”

Stephen was listening to their conversation as he waited for his last moments. Then, he heard the voice of his loyal subordinate, Jonathan.

“Steven!”

Tata Tang!

Jonathan ran to save Stephen, but was shot by the cavalry and fell to the ground.

His courageous actions were in vain, as two key members of the organization lost their lives in an instant.

The commander of the cavalry regiment shouted loudly.

“Surrender! Stephen Austin is dead!”

“If you want to live, throw down your weapons and surrender!”

The cry resonated throughout the battlefield.

The Texas Rangers were shocked, threw down their guns, and surrendered. The Mexican cavalry pursued and caught the fleeing soldiers, and the infantry began to clear the battlefield.

The crown prince looked down at the battlefield and said.

“It’s a landslide victory.”

“Yes, it looks like there was little damage on our side.”

Soon the Mexican army entered San Antonio with over 1,000 prisoners. The city was as quiet as a mouse.

***

At the same time that the Mexican Empire’s troops entered San Antonio, Major Ricardo was chasing his target.

How many days has it been already?

The American spy escaped miserably.

The two had been chasing each other for days across the vast, dirty lands of Texas. But that was over.

bang!

Hehehehehe!

“This son of a bitch! I finally caught him!”

It was the last bullet.

Loading and firing a rifle on horseback was no easy task, especially when the target was also riding and moving.

It was a long time ago that Major Ricardo discovered this American guy. He found out where the American guy was hiding and started to watch him.

I secretly followed the American guy while he was out, but he figured out how I was doing it and started to run away.

That was four whole days ago.

This damned thing keeps spouting nonsense even after falling off his horse.

“Wait a minute! I’m an American citizen! I’m just an ordinary businessman!”

“A common merchant runs away for four days?”

puck-

Major Ricardo struck the nonsense with the butt of his gun. Finally, he tied up his target tightly and placed him on his horse, then sighed.

“Ha, it’ll be a while before I can go back.”

***

San Antonio was quiet.

Citizens did not even come out of their houses, but just watched through their windows.

I gave orders to my officers.

“First, let’s treat the injured properly.”

There are many people who were brought back from the battlefield after only providing first aid.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

‘There’s a lot to handle.’

Those who started the rebellion and those who supported it must be punished.

‘They say there were people who signed under duress, so we should investigate carefully.’

As soon as I entered San Antonio, a man introducing himself as Carlos came to see me.

I was certain it was him since he even knew the contents of the encrypted letter.

“Thank you for reducing the casualties among our soldiers. Thank you.”

He did a really great job. I patted him on the shoulder.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Okay. I’ll add more later, but for now, let’s just look at the list.”

“Yes, I will bring it.”

He soon brought a man with a bundle of papers.

“Your Majesty, this is Michael Williams. He was a third-ranking member of the Texas Vigilantes, but he eventually decided to join us.”

“So you’re saying I betrayed you?”

“Your Majesty, I had no intention of rebelling against the Mexican Empire! It was all Stephen’s doing!”

Michael shouted desperately.

“Hmm… If you were the third in command, you could be useful. You must know a lot about Stephen Austin’s corruption and bribery, right?”

“Yes! Your Majesty! I will tell you everything without leaving anything out! I have an amazing memory!”

“···Okay. If you cooperate well, I will consider it as normal.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty! I will do my best!”

The next day, the full-scale trial began.

The trial went entirely according to my intentions.

State officials, including the governor and judges, didn’t say a word to me.

It must be because there is something that hurts.

‘You didn’t think that if you just kept quiet it would just pass, did you?’

First of all, the trial of the rebels comes first, but those who took a lot of bribes will not be able to avoid punishment either.

“This court finds that 1,057 Texas vigilantes participated in the rebellion led by Stephen Austin and fought in the resulting fighting. Their actions constituted a serious violation of law and order, and each defendant is accordingly sentenced to 20 years of hard labor and forfeiture of his property.”

Land, land, land-

At first they were going to sentence them to death, but they had a use for them. The next trial was held.

“It is true that former Texas Vigilante Michael Williams participated in the civil war; however, in consideration of his reflections on his actions during the final stages of the rebellion and his collaboration with the Mexican Imperial Government, this court sentences Michael Williams to ten years of hard labor and forfeiture of his property.”

Michael, who was standing in the courtroom with a relaxed expression, momentarily felt uneasy, but then nodded as if he thought this was a blessing.

As the vigilantes were sentenced to heavy sentences, the mood in San Antonio became even more tense.

As if to prove his impressive memory, Michael Williams compiled a list of government officials to whom Stephen Austin had bribed in just one day.

“What is this? It’s getting harder and harder to find someone who hasn’t taken a bribe.”

“Ahem···. I’m sorry.”

Michael lowered his head as if he felt embarrassed about what he had written.

“I can feel the rottenness all over Texas. I’m going to need major surgery.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I have already heard that those Your Majesty had arranged in advance have arrived at the port of Galveston.”

“So you’re saying it’ll arrive in a week? Okay. Then it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start right away.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We will begin the operation.”

The officers responded to my call to begin.

They dispersed in unison.

I watched the scene from the governor’s office, at the very top of the three-story government building.

“Governor Miguel of Texas! You are under arrest for taking bribes from Stephen Austin!”

“Judge Antonio of Texas! You are also under arrest for taking a bribe from Stephen Austin!”

A bitter cold wind began to blow across Texas.

Most of the government officials were arrested, including the governor, judges, garrison captains, and government officials.

“Well… wait a minute, Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Please just look at this once. This is all because of the threats from Stephen Austin!”

“You said he was so thoroughly monitoring the situation in Texas that he couldn’t even tell you? And didn’t you attend the railroad opening ceremony in the capital last time?”

“···”

“Tsk tsk, what’s so disappointing about those so-called Emperor’s faction···.”

If you just did your job well and got some beans and stuff, I would have taken care of giving you some real estate information related to the railroad, you idiots.

I clicked my tongue as I looked at them, kneeling and bound, and spoke to the two cavalry commanders.

“It seems like the San Antonio area is pretty much cleared out, so leave the rear to the infantry and go arrest the criminals in the other settlements.”

“Yes, Your Majesty! I will arrest them all!”

A cavalry force of 1,000 men set out across Texas.

‘Let’s see. Now that the civil service issue has been taken care of, only the troublesome problems remain.’

There are those who have signed the petition, having been persuaded by Stephen Austin. I don’t intend to be harsh on them, but I couldn’t just ignore them.

“Since we have to solve the land issue anyway and there is also the excuse of collecting signatures, I think it would be best to disperse them.”

Stephen Austin gave more land to immigrants than was agreed upon with the Mexican government in order to attract more immigrants.

Immigrants may feel cheated, but they cannot accept this as it is.

“Diego, first, lead the infantry and start surveying the land from San Antonio. I will also join and supervise.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

A massive land survey of farms and ranches in and around San Antonio was launched.

“Ha, Stephen Austin, you crazy bastard. You don’t know what ‘moderate’ means.”

“That’s a bit much. He built a hacienda in Texas.”

His land holdings amounted to a whopping 30,000 acres.

“You even bought a bunch of black slaves.”

“Yes, I see that there are quite a few black slaves spread out here in Texas. Most of them are owned by immigrants from the United States.”

It is a direct copy of the culture of the American South.

“In this situation, they must have been doing whatever they wanted, calling themselves ‘Texans’ or something.”

This Texas had a cultural heterogeneity so different from the Mexican Empire.

Like Texas, California also received a large number of immigrants, but this was not the case in California.

Each village was to be centered around a Mexican official and a Mexican person.

The nationalities of the village itself were mixed as diversely as possible, and those who could speak Spanish were naturally encouraged to become leaders, so the settlers had no choice but to learn Spanish, even if it was inconvenient for them.

‘After about three generations, you will naturally forget your original country’s language.’

Pioneer immigration was done in family units, so in most cases the second generation came at the same time. Even if that was not the case, since couples came, the birth of the third generation would only take about 15 to 20 years.

‘Texas needs to do the same.’

The more I investigated the lands of Texas, the more I was amazed.

“They cleverly took care of immigrants from the US more. And they took care of those who joined the Texas Vigilantes even more.”

“Yes, it seems like they tried to do some kind of classification.”

A week passed, and the people I had arranged arrived in San Antonio.

The new governor of Texas, state judges, and officials from various departments, including the immigration office, asked my father to make appointments.

“Welcome! I’ve been waiting for you.”

“It is an honor to be welcomed in person by His Majesty the King.”

The new governor, who was a member of the imperialist family, seemed touched when I personally welcomed him.

“There is so much to do in the future.”

The task of breaking up Texan immigrants from the United States into small groups and relocating them throughout Texas must be undertaken.

It could be seen as an extreme prescription, but it is difficult to see it as a severe punishment since he had clearly signed a petition supporting a group that had rebelled.

There is no way to overcome the heterogeneity with the Mexican Empire without such an extreme prescription.

There is no need to relocate all immigrants from the United States. Those living in small settlements are expected to reclaim only land that was paid for beyond the contract.

The important thing is the city where people gather. Cities where many people live, including San Antonio, must manage to assimilate well into Mexican culture.

About half of all immigrants from the United States, or about 17,000 people, would be subject to relocation. The people who live in this city are also among the strongest supporters of Stephen Austin.

They will now learn to live as members of our Mexican Empire.

‘It’s going to be a Texas life starting from zero.’