I Became The Crown Prince Of The Mexican Empire - Chapter 64



Only Noblemtl

Universities and Slavery (5)

Summer of 1834.

Diego Ruiz, the aide left behind in Texas, has returned.

“You’ve worked hard, Diego. Things have been a bit uncomfortable without you.”

His skin tone has gotten quite dark, probably because he’s been moving around a lot in Texas.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. I also enjoy serving Your Majesty the most.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as I recalled Diego’s sad face when he was ordered to clean up after California and Texas.

“Haha, what can I do if there is no one as trustworthy as you to act as my proxy?”

I patted Diego on the shoulder as a sign that I had had a hard time and asked,

“So, what’s the situation with the Texans?”

“At first I was worried that the natives in Texas were more hostile, but it was certainly helpful to free the natives who had been held captive in the mission field and bring them back. In fact, there was less whipping than in California. This is all thanks to your majesty’s wise strategy.”

“Hahaha, that worked out well.”

Even though Diego returned to Mexico City yesterday and went straight to work this morning, he didn’t come empty-handed.

“Well, it’s a report.”

“Yes, it is a report that synthesizes the contents of the letters sent by the managers and the current situation found out from various government departments.”

“I’ve got a good aide. Let’s take a look.”

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the entire Mexican Empire was a construction site.

The construction of railroads, dams, and irrigation facilities simultaneously across the country was sucking up enormous manpower.

“···It seems that there will definitely be a shortage of manpower. Are we carrying out too many large-scale civil engineering projects simultaneously?”

“It is true that construction sites are sucking up a lot of manpower, but perhaps because the people are more affluent than before, the population growth rate is increasing significantly, just as Your Majesty predicted.”

It is good that national development is being carried out steadily and that the workers are becoming affluent through the wages paid there.

The financial situation is also okay for the time being.

Because the money for the railroad’s construction came from the government budget of the landowners who were Mexico’s largest hacienda owners.

My companies are constantly reinvesting and growing, and the Mora gold mine has become a huge cash cow.

If you look at it up to this point, it’s a very good situation, but economic problems always have two sides.

‘They are sucking all the manpower needed for industrialization from construction sites. Even my companies are competing with each other, so the pressure to raise wages is too strong.’

Just as wages throughout the United States rose above those in London, something similar is happening in the Mexican Empire.

In 1822, the daily wage was 1 peso, but it rose to 1.1, 1.2, and then 1.3 pesos.

It has only recently been quiet for a while as hundreds of thousands more workers have been removed by paying introduction fees to farms in the Yucatan Peninsula and southern Mexico.

“We need to increase the amount of money we invest in immigration companies. We also need to increase the number of countries we can immigrate to.”

Diego, who was going through the documents at my words, picked up one, read it, and spoke to me.

“Your Majesty, the immigration company is still operating at a level where it has little profit. Are you saying that you would invest your personal wealth?”

“Yes. Even if you have money, you can’t invest because there are no people, so what good is it if you just accumulate wealth?”

He was willing to spend his own money to increase the population of the Mexican Empire. As I said that, another idea came to mind.

“In addition, we need to accept immigrants from South America. Most people in South America can speak Spanish, and Brazil also speaks Portuguese, so it’s possible to have some conversation with Spanish, and it’s also incredibly easy to learn Spanish. It’s ridiculous that I’m only thinking about this now.”

Portuguese and Spanish are linguistically quite close. They belong to the same Romance language family and are very closely related among them.

Diego also clapped his hands in admiration.

“Yes, that’s true. The numbers may be smaller than in Europe, but given the current political climate, I think there will be a lot of demand for immigration.”

In a way, it is natural, but the current South American continent has more countries with relatively unstable politics than those with stable politics.

“Okay. Please find someone to take charge of the immigration company in South America.”

The country in question may not like it, but what can we do if they want to leave? Until there is serious diplomatic friction, we will have to accept their immigration.

‘I guess I should start paying attention to Asia too.’

***

The conflict surrounding secular universities, which had been heating up for the past three months, was reaching a climax.

“There was even a fight?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. It doesn’t seem like any of the forces have taken action directly, but I think it’s about time.”

“I guess so.”

Beyond giving speeches containing their respective opinions, they began to criticize each other, and after some time, they even had arguments in the guise of discussions in public places.

‘Is this enough to endure?’

I don’t think the Republicans will do that since I warned them in advance, but the Church is probably preparing to use physical force.

That fight was just the signal to start.

“Deploy the military and strengthen security. Now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Under the permission of Agustin I, central forces began to be deployed throughout Mexico City to maintain order.

The royal family has indicated its intention to intervene.

The next morning.

“Call the Archbishop of Mexico and Congressman Pedro Gonzalez. This evening would be a good time.”

They arrived in time for the evening.

Archbishop Pedro Mirabete arrived first, followed by Congressman Pedro Gonzalez at about the same time.

Coincidentally, both of their names were Pedro.

“Your Majesty, it is the first time since the wedding. It is a great honor to meet you again. I pray that God’s grace will always be with you.”

“Yes, Archbishop. Nice to meet you. And Congressman Gonzalez, please come too.”

“Yes, thank you for your welcome, Your Majesty.”

We sat in the living room.

There was a moment of silence, and I was the first to speak.

“I don’t need to tell you why I invited you two. It’s time to sort out the secular university issue.”

Rep. Gonzalez answered my question first.

“Yes, Your Majesty. We, the Republicans, are willing to accept it if Your Majesty mediates.”

The archbishop said that he had no choice but to act like that.

“Our Catholic Church is also willing to accept it. However···”

When he tried to continue speaking, I cut him off.

This is because the clergy’s unique way of speaking can emerge, where they deliberately speak at length and subtly direct the conversation towards themselves.

“Since you have decided to accept arbitration, we will have to make some concessions to each other. Do you agree?”

“I agree.”

It was practically a rigged game.

Rep. Gonzalez immediately agreed this time.

Archbishop Mirabete thought for a moment.

You may not like the idea of ​​having to compromise, but simply rejecting someone isn’t an option either.

‘No matter how strong the influence of the Catholic Church is in Mexico, it is at odds with the other major power, the Republican Party, and is turning the royal family into an enemy? That is nothing short of crazy.’

“···I agree.”

“Okay. Well, basically, universities themselves are not bad, right? I agree that the universities in the Mexican Empire are lacking in terms of size and diversity of education. This is an area that needs to be improved for the sake of national competitiveness.”

When I responded by saying this and trying to defend the establishment of the university, the archbishop objected.

“Of course, universities themselves are not bad. However, the universities that these republicans want to create are places without moral principles. I think that it is worse to not have them because they can encourage materialism and unethical behavior.”

“Just because the clergy don’t run and teach doesn’t mean there are no moral principles!”

In the traditional European way of thinking, morality was a religious value and meant following the life Jesus taught, so the archbishop’s words were not wrong. However, for Rep. Gonzalez, who believed that morality based on human reason, fairness, and justice was possible, it was just an outdated idea.

He argued that secular universities should exclude anything related to religion, but I was willing to compromise on that.

“Archbishop Mirabete is not against the establishment of a university itself. In that case, it would be better for the Republican Party to make concessions on this issue.”

“No, what are you talking about!”

At my words, Congressman Gonzalez was taken aback, and Archbishop Mirabete smiled at his appearance.

‘It’s still too early to be laughing like that.’

“I think it’s too radical to say that we should exclude religion altogether. Wouldn’t it be okay to build chapels on campus, establish theological schools, and allow clergy to hold professorships?”

Since government funds are being invested, the operation itself will be done by government personnel, and there will be professors who are not clergy. But I guess there is no need to say anything about it.

“···I think that’ll be okay.”

Rep. Gonzalez agreed.

“What do you think, Archbishop? It seems like even the Republicans have made a lot of concessions. Most of the students will be Catholic anyway, so if we build a chapel and allow them to worship, there’s no need to worry about morality, right?”

“···”

You may be dissatisfied with the concessions you received, but it would be difficult to turn everything upside down.

It would be understandable if they unilaterally forced concessions on the church, but since that is not the case, the justification is too weak.

The archbishop, who had been agonizing over the matter, eventually agreed to a compromise.

“···All right.”

In any case, most of the intellectual class in Mexico is priests, so they have an unrivaled position in the academic field. In that case, most professors cannot help but be priests.

You might be rationalizing it that way.

‘You can’t even imagine that I will import a bunch of professors from abroad. The only things the church can do are teaching theology and running the chapel.’

I said, thinking so.

“It seems like we’ve reached a compromise. If we had made concessions like this earlier, there wouldn’t have been any bloodshed. Hahaha. Now, let’s shake hands.”

They both looked slightly displeased, but eventually shook hands.

I said as I looked at the sight.

“I will write a detailed plan that reflects the opinions of both parties. Your Majesty, do you agree with that?”

“Well… Wait a minute, are you saying that Your Majesty will make the plan yourself?”

When Rep. Gonzalez looked embarrassed, the archbishop seemed to cheer up a little and said,

“Yes, that seems fairer.”

“great.”

That’s what we agreed on.

Congressman Gonzalez seemed a little dissatisfied, but when I called him the next day and told him my plan, he acted as if he had never been dissatisfied.

“Are you planning to bring in dozens of professors from Europe?”

“That’s right. If all the professorships are given to priests, isn’t it not a secular university? If we’re going to make it, we should make it the best university.”

“···You always plan one step ahead. If that’s the case, I like it.”

“But there are some areas where you have to make concessions.”

“What is it?”

“They are planning to locate the university in Morelia.”

“Yes? Wouldn’t it be better to build it in the capital, Mexico City? It’s also accessible.”

“Wasn’t it difficult to secure land for a university in Mexico City? Didn’t you want to build a large and magnificent university?”

Mexico City is a city with many shortcomings.

Mexico City, the successor to Tenochtitlan, a city built in the middle of a lake, grew by reclaiming Lake Texcoco as the city expanded.

‘This makes the city extremely vulnerable to earthquakes.’

Mexico City needs to grow strategically. It is already struggling to control its growth rate, and building a university here will be difficult.

“That’s true, but… isn’t it symbolic?”

It may seem a bit odd to build the first secular university of its kind in a city other than the capital, but I intend to prioritize practicality.

“Morelia is connected by rail and only takes four hours to get there anyway. I’m thinking of donating some of the royal land.”

Four hours may seem like a long time in Korea, but in this day and age, and in Mexico, it’s considered a distance that you wouldn’t be surprised to call the next town over.

Morelia was practically an imperial fiefdom, and they could donate large tracts of land without any burden.

“Hmm… I guess we can save a lot on land costs. But I don’t think His Majesty would just give us the land. Are there any other conditions?”

“Hahaha, now you understand me.”

The university should be built according to my designs and plans. As a result, it will be a much better university than the standards of this era, so there is nothing wrong with that for a republican.

I started to unravel my plan.