I Became The Crown Prince Of The Mexican Empire - Chapter 94



Only Noblemtl

Mexican-French War (9)

If the first defeat was a shock to French society, like a blow to the back of the head, the second defeat brought despair to French society, as if its worst nightmare had become a reality.

In stark contrast to the first game, this time there was no one who did not consider the possibility of defeat. However, the king, the press, and people from all walks of life were confident of victory, and while the citizens were trying hard to say that they would win no matter what, they were waiting with a sense of anxiety in their hearts, wondering, “What would happen if we lost?”

Even the attitudes of media outlets have changed.

– Another defeat! God save France!

-What will happen to France!

The government was not blamed. The fear of defeat had descended upon France.

“But the Mexicans won’t be able to land on mainland France, right?”

“Then! Our French army is real!”

There were those who comforted each other like that, but everyone knew that if they lost their way at sea, everything would change.

Before the war, they had secured many colonies based on the world’s second-largest naval power. They also had hopes that if they created many colonies like those British bastards, they would be able to compete for hegemony again someday.

It is true that during the reign of Louis Philippe, workers’ discontent had been building, but it was also true that France had been enjoying political and economic stability for a long time and was growing. All of that was ruined by this war.

“You take responsibility! Louis Philippe!”

“Take responsibility! Take responsibility!”

The desperate citizens soon placed the blame for all this on the king and the government.

Most citizens were in favor of the war, but didn’t they say that it was all instigated by the king and the privileged class to turn internal discontent externally?

Nationwide protests began, and thousands of Parisians rushed out of their homes. The city center and the streets began to fill with protesters.

From the Place de la Bastille, a symbolic site of the French Revolution, to the Place de la Concorde and the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.

Louis Blanc and his socialist colleagues, who had opposed the war from the beginning, were also at the forefront of the demonstrations.

The king and those in power who are in league with him must be held accountable. That was Louis Blanc’s idea.

“Gentlemen! Do you know why Louis Philippe started the war? He wanted to embezzle the debts sent by Mexico and use them for his own personal wealth! Here! Here is a translation of a Mexican newspaper! Look!”

As Louis Blanc stood on the small stage and shouted at the top of his lungs, a man took the document as if in a trance.

“Can you read it to me?”

Suddenly, he was forced to read a document in front of a crowd of protesters, but the man read on without hesitation.

“The government strongly refuted the French demand for a debt of 20 million pesos, denouncing it as an unjust extortion.

“The debt demanded by France was filed despite the fact that the original principal and interest had been paid,” a Mexican finance ministry spokesperson said in an official statement. The spokesperson added that “when Mexico shipped 1 million pesos of silver coins to France, the French side claimed that they actually received only 800,000 pesos, while there is no clear explanation for the whereabouts of the remaining 200,000 pesos.”

The comments come amid rising financial tensions with France, with Mexico insisting such problems have not arisen in its dealings with the United States and Britain.

“France’s actions are something even a bad money lender would not do,” the spokesperson added, calling for international attention to the issue.

This controversy is a major issue that could affect long-term diplomatic relations between the two countries, and further discussions between the two governments are expected.”

The protesters were shocked by the content of the Mexican press article. It was a truly shocking revelation.

“What? Is this true?”

“They took a whopping 20%?”

As the protesters began to boil, the man who had read the article shouted:

“Wait a minute! You don’t know if this article is true?”

It was a valid point.

“I’ll check that for you.”

Someone came up to the stage.

“He’s a member of parliament!”

“Congressman? Did the congressman participate in the protest?”

It was Representative Etienne Moreau.

“According to what I have officially confirmed with England and the United States, the debts of the Mexican Empire have all been paid off. Mexico’s major creditors were England, France, and the United States, and the debts of the other countries, except for France, have all been repaid. Isn’t it strange that England’s debt, which was greater than ours, was repaid, and that America’s debt, which was weaker than ours, was repaid, but France’s was not? It is also true that Mexico had been sending silver coins to France continuously up until a certain point. Do you think Mexico, which did not want to repay its debts, would have risked war and plotted this conspiracy?”

Although there is no clear evidence, the reasons presented by Rep. Moro were quite reasonable.

To be honest, it was not enough evidence to confirm the facts, but it was enough for the protesters who already thought the king was the culprit.

“루이 필리프 이 개새끼가 멕시코에 돈을 뜯어서 자기 뒷주머니에 넣으려고 전쟁을 일으켰다는 말이네.”

“You’re going to ruin the country for that little bit of money?”

The anger of the protesters who learned the full story of the war began to grow uncontrollably.

“Once again, it’s revolution!”

“Join the revolution!”

Louis Blanc and his comrades led the revolution.

“Comrades of the Revolution! Here, take your weapons!”

I don’t know where it came from, but no one bothered to ask about its source.

The ‘protesters’ soon began calling for ‘revolution’, and their first target was an arms depot.

The citizens of Paris skillfully carried out the revolution. This was the third revolution after the French Revolution of 1789 and the revolution of 1831.

“Stop!”

“Open the armory!”

chuck!

The protesters were armed. The police had weapons too, but they were outnumbered.

The police raised their hands and shouted urgently.

“No, wait! Don’t shoot! I surrender! No, I will join the revolution!”

“···Welcome!”

The police who were supposed to suppress the revolution were not well compensated enough to risk their lives to defend the king, and they too were French citizens.

As the fight was about to break out in earnest, he joined the protesters as if it were natural.

The revolution broke out barely a week after the second defeat was announced, and by the second week the protesters had grown into a militant group.

The king and the vested interests who were in collusion with the king began preparing the army without a word of explanation, but not all of the vested interests remained by the king’s side.

Rather, the majority of those with vested interests who had been dependent on the king for various privileges turned their backs and joined the protesters as if nothing had happened.

“Ahem. It’s not like we started the war or anything…”

“It is true that the King has provided us with convenience, but it was only a business relationship, not a relationship worth risking our lives for.”

“That’s right. The king initiated the war, and if he lost, he should take responsibility. That has nothing to do with us.”

The only ones who did not betray were the nobles, bureaucrats, and bourgeoisie whose reputation was so high that even if they did betray, they would be condemned by the citizens.

If the revolution succeeds, it will be detrimental to the vested interests, so they want to stop it, but it is an issue that cannot be stopped.

It is not just a situation where workers are expressing their discontent. They started a war and were defeated miserably. It has even become known that the reason for starting the war was personal greed.

“The king must pay the price!”

“What about the King! Louis Philippe! If you are a man, come out and don’t hide!”

The protesters tried to break through clumsily, but there was no bloodshed. They knew what to do from many experiences.

The demonstrators who occupied all sides of the Palais des Tuileries did not cross the line guarded by the military. Instead, they simply shouted loudly.

“If Louis Philippe does not come out on his own two feet, we will attack four days from now!”

It was a shout that could not be heard inside the palace, but it was heard very clearly by the soldiers guarding the palace.

On the first day, everyone was just watching.

There were a few deserters, but there were always deserters, there just were a few more today.

The problem started after that.

From the second day onwards, soldiers began to disappear in earnest.

“Lieutenant, I can’t see Cesar!”

“I can’t see Joseph either!”

The soldiers’ reports continued without ceasing.

Bam-

“Lieutenant! I told you to report to your troops by 8 o’clock. What are you doing···”

There is no lieutenant.

I guess he might have gone somewhere for a while, but I didn’t think it was like that.

“Even officers are deserting···.”

Even though there were no battle losses, soldiers and even officers began to desert.

The reasons were varied. Some, like most Parisians, were angry at the king. Others felt guilty or scared about having to fight the demonstrators. Or they simply fled because all their platoon members had fled.

The captain, whose mind was filled with something, quickly checked the platoon’s armory, but his ominous feeling turned out to be true.

“What the heck! You even took my weapon?”

This makes things even more serious. Instead of quietly running home, the deserters joined the protesters, or rather the rebels.

It’s not like this happened to our company alone. The tide had turned long ago, but the possibility of fighting itself was there, and now that’s gone.

The captain was in agony.

The day the demonstrators had announced their attack had arrived. Less than half of the soldiers guarding the Tuileries Palace remained.

“Louis Philippe! You coward! Are you willing to send all these soldiers to their deaths for your own safety?”

Louis Blanc shouted at the head of the protest, and the protesters booed.

“Wow!”

“That son of a bitch. He makes me lose even the slightest bit of sympathy.”

“Prepare the guillotine!”

The protesters looked ready to explode at any moment.

“Wait! Not yet! But I will make one last appeal! Soldiers! This is not your fight. It is the fight of the French against Louis Philippe, who exploited us and started this war for his own greed! I understand your loyalty, but justice belongs to us! There is no need to fight a fight without justice and without a chance of victory, so convey our last offer to Louis Philippe.”

Louis Philippe was deep in the Tuileries Palace, so he could not be heard even if he shouted. Louis Blanc delivered the letter to the soldiers in order to avoid bloodshed as much as possible.

Fortunately, the soldier accepted the letter and did not tear it up.

An hour later, Louis Philippe, his face pale and weary, walked out towards the demonstrators.

“Wow!”

“He is a tyrant!”

Amid the jeers of the demonstrators, Louis Philippe spoke calmly to Louis Blanc, who was in the lead.

“···Be sure to keep your promise.”

“Okay.”

Although the crime committed is a crime and one cannot avoid the death penalty, the formalities must be observed.

Land, land, land.

The judge sentenced Louis Philippe to death.

“Do you have any last words?”

“No. Just keep your promise.”

“···execution!”

The guillotine blade, which had been taken out of storage after a long time, fell towards Louis Philippe’s neck.

His family couldn’t bear to see that sight.

The protesters who declared a ‘provisional government’ did not even give the royal family time to collect their thoughts.

“Now, please take only the items that can fit in here. Items of historical value, such as crowns, will not be permitted.”

The demonstrators offered Louis Philippe asylum for his family, and he accepted.

The royal family’s property was confiscated by the provisional government. All they could take with them in exile were the clothes they were wearing and a small bag.

The bag was very small, a reticule, a small bag designed for women to carry their belongings.

“Isn’t this a famous jewel that belongs to the royal family? Leave it behind.”

“···yes.”

The situation was such that even the king’s head was cut off. The royal family obediently followed the words of the provisional government.

“Okay, then, finally, please sign here.”

The document presented by the provisional government was a pledge to renounce all rights to France in the event of exile.

The provisional government, which had meticulously obtained written pledges from all members of the royal family, quickly pushed for exile.

The government has been overthrown, but the war with Mexico is not over. They may bring in the fleet at any time.

Fortunately, Britain granted asylum immediately, and they departed the same day.

“You cleared the luggage quickly. Good job.”

“Because leaving it in France is dangerous in many ways.”

“Yes. There are people who want to kill me, and there are also strange people who still follow me.”

The provisional government quickly got rid of the royal family and began its next plan.

“Hey, wait a minute! This isn’t any different from the promise!”

“Yes! If the king sacrifices himself, the rest will be spared!”

They began arresting capitalists, nobles, and bureaucrats who were dependent on the royal family.

“You said you would save your family, but you never said you would save them too?”

“What!”

Louis Philippe lied. Louis Philippe told his close associates in the Tuileries Palace that if he sacrificed himself, the rest, not the ‘family’, would be spared. It must have been because he knew that if he said ‘family’, they would object.

“Kill him! Kill him!”

The protesters were chanting, “Kill them.”

“Execute!”

The heads of the vicious bourgeoisie, corrupt officials, and traitors who monopolized and flattered high-ranking government positions were cut off.

Only then did Louis Blanc declare:

“The revolution! It was a success!”

“Wow!”

The provisional government was made up of several figures from French society, but the most influential were Louis Blanc and his associates.

“Six months later! We will sort out the confusion and hold a formal election!”

It was the birth of the French Second Republic (Deuxième République). However, the hopes of French citizens who had hoped that the revolution would be successful and that many things would change in the future were shattered in just three days.

“Mexico has brought its fleet!”

June 14, 1840.

After news of defeat was announced, a revolution broke out and lasted a month and a half until it ended.

The war, which had been briefly forgotten in the heat of the revolution, came right before France’s eyes.

“The Mexican fleet is attacking the port of Brest!”

After the desperate efforts of Admiral Russin and his men, two-thirds of the fleet was saved. However, most of the ships suffered minor and major damage, as a result of their efforts to split up the shells.

The fleet was split into two for repairs, one in Brest, the major port in the north of France, and the other in Toulon, the major port in the south.

The Mexican Empire’s fleet stormed into the shipyard in Brest, where repair work was in progress.

“Stop! Stop the attack! Yes, peace talks! Let’s have peace talks!”

“The Mexican side refused.”

The ferry that was sent after taking a risk suffered no harm, but was rejected in less than a minute.

The provisional government’s personnel fell into panic.

Etienne Moreau, a member of parliament with some political experience, put forward a proposal.

“Let us ask Britain to mediate.”

“You mean Britain? Britain would be happy if we were ruined, right?”

“That’s true, but the pirates must be confused by the current war situation. They wouldn’t want Mexico to win the war completely and make huge profits!”

“Okay, let’s give it a try!”

The decision was quick.

The French diplomat ran to the British embassy.