I Became The Crown Prince Of The Mexican Empire - Chapter 81



Only Noblemtl

Central Bank and Navy (8)

Charles X of France suppressed the citizens’ discontent by raising a private army with money received from Mexico while pursuing conservative policies, but the citizens’ discontent could not be resolved with money alone.

The sight of the icy soldiers equipped with the latest weapons only made the citizens’ spirits dwindle for a moment, but the citizens’ long-suppressed discontent eventually exploded, resulting in a massive popular uprising.

The September Revolution of 1831 in France resulted in the abdication of Charles X and the accession of Louis Philippe, the “Citizen King.”

As befitting his title of citizen king, he adopted a more liberal and citizen-centered political approach, overcoming the turmoil of the post-Napoleonic era and achieving political stability and economic growth.

“The amount of money sent by Mexicans has decreased?”

Louis Philippe asked François Guizot, the current French Foreign Minister.

The money sent from Mexico was important to France, as it contributed greatly to government finances and helped to increase French military spending and restore order.

France has been gradually regaining its influence and reaching out to many countries in recent years, but no country has had as much to exploit as Mexico.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Since you ‘adjusted’ the amount you sent from Mexico last time, the amount you send has been decreasing, and now you’re not even paying the interest and just making a fuss.”

These funds were also important to Louis Philippe and his entourage, as they were obtaining slush funds by slightly ‘adjusting’ the amounts sent from Mexico.

“Tsk. I guess it’s time to get my ass kicked for beating Spain, after all. When all the ports are on fire, they’ll know their place.”

It seems that there was some dissatisfaction with the ‘adjustment’, but Louis Philippe and French politicians have no intention of letting it go.

“Wouldn’t Britain intervene? Even during the Spanish occupation, they sided with Mexico, and even after that, they signed a non-aggression pact. The scale of trade between the two countries is also large.”

“No, Britain will never allow a full-scale invasion, but it is highly likely that Britain will tolerate a moderate amount of help and make them pay off their debts. They are both creditors in this matter.”

If they hit France, they would have hit back, there’s no way Britain would let Mexico hold out and not pay its debts.

François Guizot nodded as if he understood and said.

“Then I guess it would be better to let the amount grow large enough. After all, debt grows with compound interest.”

If that’s the case for us, then so be it. That was the thought.

“Yes. We need to collect a lot of war reparations on top of the debts that have accumulated over time. The Mexican government has so many farms. If they are short on money, they can just give up those farms and that should be enough.”

Louis Philippe said with a smile, not even hiding his greed.

***

As the push-and-pull negotiations finally came to an end, the British ambassador, Richard Pakenham, said:

“It has been a pleasant conversation. Well then, I will take my leave now, Your Majesty.”

“⋯Take care.”

I felt exhausted and sent him away.

‘I can’t believe we have to negotiate to this extent just to wrap this up.’

It is not a request to help fight France someday. It is not yet time to fight, and it is a request that England will not grant.

“The debt has now been ‘virtually’ paid off. Thank you for your hard work, Your Majesty.”

As I was getting tired, Diego brought me some refreshments and said,

“Wow, I didn’t know paying back money would be this hard.”

The negotiation I had with the British ambassador was to have our Mexican Empire pay off all its debts to Britain. Wouldn’t it be better for the creditors if they paid off their debts? That only applies to ordinary creditors.

‘I’ve heard of loan sharks trying to avoid receiving money, but it’s incredible that the so-called world’s most powerful country would do such a petty thing.’

“I never thought I would have to ask for money. I wasn’t paying in banknotes, but in silver like before.”

Diego also said with a bewildered expression.

“I guess they wanted to continue to have the upper hand as creditors.”

After the government finances were ample through currency issuance, it began purchasing silver coins in circulation to pay off the debts of the United States and Britain.

As before, the principal and interest were steadily repaid, but a situation arose where the ships sent to England were continuously refused entry.

At first we believed the British excuse, but as time went on we realized that it was not true. They were deliberately sending the ships back because they did not want us to repay our debts anymore.

‘Well, I guess you couldn’t have imagined that a country would be able to pay off that enormous debt.’

The era of full-scale imperialism has not yet arrived and is only at its beginning, but is it only in the era of imperialism that powerful countries impose absurd and unreasonable practices on weaker countries?

It was common for powerful countries such as Britain and France, as well as countries in Europe that were not so powerful, to try to gain greater benefits by forcing various countries around the world to take on absurd debts under absurd pretexts.

“⋯But isn’t it better than France? They take your money and then swindle you by claiming that the amount is empty.”

“It’s even sadder that it’s true. But this makes me certain that if we surrender to the French, we’re in for a real hell.”

Even the British, who are quite gangsters, do not blatantly extort money like France. The interest rates are ridiculously high, but if you try to repay the principal and interest faithfully, the problem is that you never know how far they will go if you put up with blatant extortion.

The problem is not the extortion itself. The problem is that they do not hide the fact that they have no intention of letting us go. Trying to pay back a large amount without thinking will only increase the amount of money being extorted.

“I guess you plan on continuing not paying me back like you are doing now.”

I still owe France 10 million pesos. I’m sure it’s been compounded, so it’s probably increased by now. I have no intention of paying this debt.

“Yes. This is not just for me, but my father and the Minister of Finance also came to the same conclusion, so I have no choice but to build up my strength so that I do not suffer such humiliation any more.”

If we add up all the money that we owe to France, it will be at least 20 million pesos. How many battleships can we buy with that amount of money? We would rather use that money to build a fleet and fight, and of course, pay off the debt.

With that determination, I got up to report the results.

***

“Okay, so the negotiation went well?”

When I arrived at the office, my father asked me as if he had been waiting for me. He knew that I was negotiating with the British ambassador in person today.

“Yes, we eventually settled on 7 million pesos.”

There was silence for a moment.

“⋯Are you old enough to have hearing problems? Didn’t you say before that you only had 3 million pesos left in debt?”

The father asked again, as if he wanted to deny what he had just heard.

“From the British perspective, they probably think that receiving money and ending the debt relationship was a show of consideration because they are close friends. They are also well aware that our naval power has been increasing recently, so they must have made a long-term choice.”

“You’re saying that you paid 7 million pesos, not even double 3 million pesos, and that’s what you paid attention to?”

My father compressed and digested the absurdity and irrationality I had felt during the past two hours of negotiation.

“⋯That’s what the British would think.”

“Haa… Okay, now that it’s all over, it’s better than those French guys. I guess I should be thankful that America just took the principal and interest and ended it.”

The United States surprisingly readily ended the debt relationship, but since they were directly adjacent to the border and were in the midst of a war with the natives, there would have been nothing good to come from opposing us.

My father accepted the reality and said.

“Are we going to conduct that ‘population census’ we talked about before?”

“Yes, because the last remaining France cannot be resolved now. For now, it is time to focus on internal affairs and build up the military.”

There was no need to fight France right away. The later the better. Our fleet was just beginning to expand, and our shipyards and engineers were still growing.

As long as the government has enough money, the fleet will continue to grow, and the naval officers and sailors will continue to train and gain experience.

“It would be good to know how many people there are in the Mexican Empire, but don’t we already know roughly? Each church keeps records.”

It is true. As in Europe, our Mexican Empire inherited Spanish culture, and the church played an important role as a record keeper. Major events such as births, marriages, and deaths were recorded in church records, and the census up to this time was nothing more than a compilation of these records.

“I want more detailed information than that. The church has no information on immigrants from the United States, Europe, and South America, and also on Central American regions that joined after independence, the growth of self-employed farmers in the north, indigenous people who decided to become subjects of the Mexican Empire, and indigenous people who are not recorded in the church. We need to identify all of these people and manage them in an integrated manner by our government.”

“Well, that would be great, but it wouldn’t be easy. Some might argue that there’s no benefit to going through the hassle of doing that.”

The census is not something that Congress and the church will fiercely oppose, but it is not something they particularly like. They will tackle it, but they have to push for it.

“Yes, it’s not easy, and it will cost a lot of money. But the benefits are sufficient. Once you understand it, it will be useful as a reference when establishing various policies or development plans, and above all, wouldn’t it be possible to collect taxes more closely? From our perspective, it can also play a role in bringing the functions of the church to the government.”

From the perspective of running a country, it is frustrating to have to manage without even knowing the population.

The population of our Mexican Empire is not very large, but considering the vast territory, it will take a lot of time and money. I have never thought of it before, but it has become much easier with the construction of many railroads, and the government has money, so I should do it now.

‘We have to squeeze every last drop of manpower out of them.’

My father nodded to my persuasion.

“Yes. It’s not that we don’t have money, and if it helps the country, it wouldn’t be bad to do it. I’m also curious about the population. This is something that can be pushed through by executive order without legislation, and the government has sufficient justification, so we should just implement it.”

My father’s permission was granted.

A completely accurate census like the one we have today may not be possible, but with enough investment of manpower and money, usable results could be obtained.

‘While we’re researching, we should investigate not only population distribution but also age, gender, race, and occupation.’

As for population structure, you will get the most accurate information of any country in this era. This information can be of great help in managing the country in earnest.

‘I’m looking forward to it.’

If we still have manpower that is being used inefficiently, we must squeeze out every last drop.