I Became The Crown Prince Of The Mexican Empire - Chapter 75



Only Noblemtl

Central Bank and Navy (2)

November 1835, Kansas, USA.

“Is it okay to sell us iron weapons like this?”

“Why? Are you going to fight our Mexican Empire again?”

The Mexican Empire merchant spoke with a relaxed attitude.

“That’s not it, but… Ahem, that was a good deal.”

“Then let’s meet again next time.”

Although they did not sign a contract and simply said they would not cross the border, the Mexican Empire kept its promise.

With their immediate food needs met, the Comanche quickly adapted to the conditions in Kansas that were similar to their homeland.

Kansas had low hills that were almost non-existent on the wide plains. It had beautiful natural scenery and high skies.

There were also huge herds of buffalo, although they had to compete with other Native American tribes and Americans.

That wasn’t all.

“I guess it was a good decision to come north.”

“Yeah. These guys are so unprepared for looting.”

“Hehehe, we’re fine. If I had known this would happen, I wish you all had come.”

There were several tribes in the United States, such as the Arapaho, a nomadic tribe similar to the Comanche, but their size and capabilities were nothing compared to the Comanche.

“We are also being called big.”

“That’s right. The Americans will soon realize who we are and we’ll end up fighting.”

Their crushing defeat by the Mexican Empire shocked them greatly. They continued to hunt and raid buffalo as before, but they also began to conquer and absorb other native tribes, which soon became a nightmare for the Americans in Kansas.

The United States, which was keenly aware of the movements of the indigenous people, quickly noticed this.

“···There are 17,000 nomadic indigenous people? Where on earth did they come from?”

“It looks like it came from Mexico.”

“In Mexico? They just signed an agreement on the relocation of the indigenous people, and this is happening.”

It didn’t take long for news of this to reach the central government of the United States.

“They say that the settlements in Kansas are being razed to the ground. Shouldn’t we protest this to Mexico?”

“What good is protesting when the indigenous people are not under Mexican control?”

In response to his aide’s suggestion to protest, President Jackson said:

“Still, wouldn’t it be good to hear at least some information about what happened?”

“Well, I see. Then let’s protest to the Mexican side.”

“yes.”

The American protest was soon relayed to the Mexican Empire, but the Mexican Empire remained helpless.

“Can we not just leave the Indians who continue to plunder our Mexican Empire alone? We sent an army and attacked them once, but they got scared and moved north.”

“Couldn’t you have stopped it from coming over?”

“How can we stop everyone from running away on horseback across the plains?”

“···All right.”

As the Mexican diplomat said, it was inevitable.

“They are not that great of a bunch, so I think you could mobilize the US military to wipe them out and then send them back to our Mexican Empire according to the ‘Native Relocation Agreement.’”

The Mexican diplomat said it as if it was nothing, but Anthony Butler heard that it was nothing. The Comanche tribe, the savages, were taking over all of Kansas. But he couldn’t say such a weak thing.

“Okay, then.”

Anthony Butler had no choice but to report to the US government.

***

After asking several pro-Emperor newspapers to write articles about the central bank and naval bonds, I visited the newly completed shipyards in the port of Veracruz.

“Eriksen, you look good.”

John Eriksen, a Swedish engineer, liquidated his British holdings a few months ago and emigrated with his family to the Mexican Empire.

He answered in slightly awkward Spanish.

“It is thanks to Your Majesty’s consideration.”

“Oh, you’ve learned a lot of Spanish in just a few months. Good job. How’s the situation at the shipyard?”

The docks that were empty when I showed them to Eriksen before were now packed with all kinds of equipment I had prepared.

Push-

Various steam-powered equipment was in operation, emitting steam, and hundreds of workers, including shipbuilders brought from Spain, were busy building warships.

“It is the first ship of the shipyard, so there are trials and errors, but the environment is so well prepared that it is progressing at a faster pace than expected. However, there is a problem.”

“Problem? …Oh, are you talking about that?”

What I was pointing to were small and medium-sized docks. They were filled with various equipment just like the large docks, but they weren’t doing any work.

“Yes, by His Majesty the Emperor’s order, we have started construction work by investing the remaining naval budget, but even that is not enough, so we are only working on the large docks. This is the one that takes the longest.”

“Well, it looks like the funding problem is serious.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I’ll take care of it soon, so focus on the warship you’re building now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. The skills and passion of the Spanish shipbuilders are truly remarkable. They have been directly involved in the construction of the shipyard and have been waiting for its completion. In particular, the warships currently under construction at the wooden ship dock are being built at a very fast pace.”

“Oh, really?”

That could be true. After being brought from Spain, he had been idle for four years. He even asked me to start working right away.

‘After all, bringing someone with the skills is the fastest way.’

The Mexican Empire’s shipbuilding technology, which had to go through decades of trial and error with no foundation whatsoever, was brought to the level of Spain in an instant.

Of the three large docks, one is for wooden ships and the other two are for steam ships. Eriksen was nervous about building two steam warships, which were early models, and suggested building two ships of the line instead, but I pushed for it.

Because I liked the blueprint he showed me, saying he had been preparing it for a long time. It was a version that had been revised and improved through consultation with Spanish shipbuilders.

The early steam-powered warships I had in mind were simply steam-powered versions of existing wooden ships. But Eriksen had a different idea.

Eriksen came to see me a few months ago in Mexico City, where I was preparing to conquer the Comanche, and said:

“Your Majesty, a wooden ship with only steam power cannot be called a steam warship. If it has steam power, it must be designed to utilize it.”

The identity of the blueprint he took out as he spoke was an ‘ironclad ship’, a wooden ship with iron armor added.

“···It’ll cost a lot of money, but it’ll give you a great defense.”

“Yes, but I have heard that the large steel mills Your Majesty owns are very cost-effective.”

“I guess Locke told you.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Hmm, the idea of ​​armoring the ship is good. It doesn’t seem like it would be technically impossible to do. But if you’re going to make an armored ship like this, wouldn’t it be better to make the cannons larger? Instead, you could reduce the number of cannons.”

I don’t know much about warships, but I do know that warships that were mostly ships of the line with dozens, or even over 100 cannons, evolved to only be equipped with one or two large-caliber cannons.

I guess it’s because as we entered the era of ironclads, the defensive capabilities of warships increased, making small-caliber cannons meaningless.

“That is certainly true. The reason why it cannot be equipped with large-caliber cannons is because it risks damaging the wooden ship, but if it is covered with iron armor, it can withstand the weight and recoil of the large-caliber cannons. ···You are truly amazing.”

He convinced me with his own logic and praised me, saying that I was great.

“···Well, I guess it’s okay as long as you go in the right direction.”

After a few weeks of revisions, I was very pleased with the blueprint. It was an ironclad ship with a rotating turret.

“I thought about applying the ideas Your Majesty had suggested, and in the end, I thought this was the only way. It may seem a bit difficult, but···.”

Eriksen was anxious about bringing me the blueprints for a completely new type of warship, and was about to explain to me in detail, but I cut him off.

‘As expected, most of the development directions of inventions were inevitable.’

“No, let’s just go ahead and do it. I really like it.”

He said that and set out to conquer the Comanche. And now, after the shipyard was completed, he was building the ship he had designed back then.

“Is the construction of the ‘Monitor’ progressing as planned?”

“Yes, we are having trouble making the rotating turret, but it seems quite possible.”

The core elements of this warship, he explained, were rotating turrets, high-performance steam engines, and iron armor.

Each one is a technical challenge, but it is not impossible.

Eriksen said he consulted with Joseph Locke of Locke Precision Machinery and James Nielsen of Estrada Steel and concluded that it would involve trial and error, but that it was entirely possible.

This was possible because the company had been steadily investing large sums of money in the fields of iron and steel, precision machinery, and steam engines over the past several years.

I too thought that building a new type of warship from the beginning was a risky choice, but those who fall behind will always fall behind if they don’t take risks.

I believe it is possible with the know-how of first-class shipbuilding engineers brought from Spain, the passion and technology of John Eriksen, and the technology fields in which we have consistently invested.

‘Even if it fails, it won’t be a big deal. You’ll gain know-how while making it, and one battleship will be completed.’

I thought so and answered Eriksen.

“Don’t worry about practicality. I can guarantee you that it will be great.”

I returned to Mexico City after encouraging Eriksen and the shipyard workers.

***

A few days later, an article came out about central bank and naval bonds.

Most citizens have little interest in the functions of central banks, such as issuing and managing currency, implementing monetary policy, acting as the government’s fiscal agent, and responding to financial crises.

Rather, I was more interested in the bonds that were advertised as being issued when the central bank was established, because the newspaper explained in detail how interest would be earned if I bought these bonds.

“The government can’t possibly scam us, so wouldn’t it be stupid not to buy this? Who doesn’t have 100 pesos these days?”

The daily wage of construction workers and urban workers is currently 1.2 to 1.3 pesos. Most of it is said to be used for living expenses, but those who save a little have about 100 pesos.

And the same was true for the independent farmers of the pioneer villages, as the railroad and the Rios Express service enabled them to sell their produce at reasonable prices.

“That’s why. If you leave it in the bank, you’ll get a storage fee instead of interest.”

“But it says here that the bill to establish a central bank was rejected? Then it’s meaningless.”

“···I see? Oh, that’s good.”

Under the imperial family’s active investment, pro-imperial media began to expand into new areas along the railroads beyond the core cities of the Mexican highlands, including Mexico City.

In recent times, railroads have extended to California, Texas, the Yucatan Peninsula, and Central America, and residents of cities and settlements in these regions have access to newspaper articles.

The news that the article on central banks and bonds was getting a big response from the public soon reached the landlord and Republican congressmen.

“Using newspapers? It must be the Crown Prince’s plan.”

Chairman Raphael took the initiative. Although he had switched from the Republican Party to the landowners, his position as the Speaker of the National Assembly was solid even within the landowners.

“I think so too. I guess they plan to use next year’s elections.”

The landowner responded like this.

There were only three months left until the election in February 1836.

“We need to respond quickly. We will also publish a rebuttal article. We will inform people of the various side effects of central banks and the fact that the United States is also currently in the process of abolishing them.”

In the Mexican Empire, voting rights were granted only to property-owning men. This was decided in the early days of independence, when the detailed laws were being drawn up after the constitution was created.

Even the Republicans were generally negative about the right to vote, and the conservatives of the time were negative about elections themselves, but if they had to be held, they argued that only landowning males should be allowed to vote.

This was also the method used in England at the time, where only men who owned free land worth more than 40 shillings a year were given the right to vote in county elections.

Augustine I, following the advice of the Crown Prince, pushed for a franchise based on property rather than land, but the problem was that the property standard was not high enough.

“That’s a good idea. These days, we can’t ignore the public opinion of workers.”

In the early days of independence, if you were not a landowner or a church member, you were a tenant farmer, and the best thing a tenant farmer could do was to make ends meet and avoid debt.

Outside of these two classes, there were only a very small number of people who had made money through commerce. However, as the crown prince led industrialization and northern development, some of the urban workers and self-employed farmers who had worked hard to make money were able to vote. The political landscape had completely changed.

The landlords viewed this situation negatively, while the Republicans viewed it positively, but both had the same opinion on this matter.

“We have to somehow turn public opinion around before the election.”

Otherwise, you will pay the price in the election.

The landlords and republicans began preparing to distribute rebuttal articles nationwide.