IBTCPOTME Novel - Chapter 113
**Chapter 113**
**Rebellion and Revolution (2)**
“Your Highness! You’re early. The party will start in a while.”
It was Solis, whose headquarters was in California, but who had been focusing on the hotel business in Mexico City recently.
“It’s fine. I came early to welcome the guests who are coming to the party. And you’ll be the first guest.”
“Oh, I see. It’s an honor, Your Highness.”
“I hear the hotel is incredibly popular. A year’s worth of reservations are fully booked?”
I’ve been so busy that I only attended the hotel’s grand opening and haven’t actually stayed there, but I heard from Diego that influential people and wealthy people from the Mexican Empire are waiting months to stay at this hotel.
“It can’t be helped. You built an amazing building. Seeing the completed building, I even want to stay here myself.”
The building was indeed impressive. Unlike the university, which emphasized majestic beauty, this hotel has a luxurious feel, like a European palace.
Our Mexico doesn’t have many buildings that emphasize luxury like this. The “National Palace,” which is the royal palace, has its own charm, but it lacks a luxurious feel.
“But people come here because the management and service are good, don’t they? In the hotel business, service is more important than the appearance of the building.”
“Hahaha, you gave me a lot of ideas for management and service, didn’t you, Your Highness? I just executed them.”
“Ahem… Is that so?”
It was the first time “hotel business” itself existed in Mexico, so I don’t know much, but I did give ideas based on the services I experienced or heard about in my previous life.
“This is completely like getting a bow for doing nothing.”
“Giving ideas and executing them are two different things. Even if I gave you the ideas, you executed them well, so you succeeded. Especially recently, you’ve been entrusted with a lot of things, haven’t you? I saw reports that the hotel, as well as the canned goods business and the cola business, are doing very well. There’s nothing I can advise you on, you’re doing great.”
“Thank you, Your Highness. I’m just satisfied that I’m finally achieving results worthy of your trust.”
“You’ve always been doing well, so don’t worry about that.”
Before Solis expanded into the hotel, canned goods, and cola businesses, he was running a food and accommodation franchise centered in California, so he was quite small compared to other managers who were his peers.
It wasn’t because he was incompetent, but rather because of the nature of the business I entrusted to him, so it was almost inevitable. In fact, he had been steadily increasing the number of stores and improving profitability, so it was a profitable business that was steadily earning cash.
When I said that, Solis seemed to be secretly pleased to be recognized by me, and he relaxed the stiff atmosphere a bit and had a friendly conversation.
As I was talking with Solis, the first guest arrived.
“Welcome, Ramon.”
“I didn’t expect Your Highness to welcome me personally, it’s an honor.”
As I greeted Ramon, who runs the clothing company, Solis asked hesitantly.
“···What kind of clothes are you wearing?”
“This is the latest style.”
Ramon Alvarado was confident.
“···That?”
“Is it a style that’s popular in England?”
Solis continued to react hesitantly, but I had a hunch and asked.
The clothes he was wearing were closer to a modern suit than the clothes worn by upper-class Mexican men of this era.
“Yes, Your Highness. That’s right. I saw one of the company’s designers wearing it, so I made my own version. Doesn’t it have a clean look?”
“Well, it does. It looks comfortable too.”
“It’s a style that’s gradually spreading in Europe.”
Among the Mexican upper class, riding clothes derived from equestrian wear were still popular, but this style was very complicated and not very stylish in my opinion.
“Especially those knee-high riding boots are the worst.”
I was wondering when suits would come out, but fortunately, it seems like European upper-class clothing is gradually changing.
In modern times, suits are treated as uncomfortable clothes worn for formal occasions or in strict corporate environments and are gradually declining, but in this era, it’s an evolution from traditional clothing in a more comfortable direction.
“Are you preparing to launch those clothes from “Ramon”?”
“I’m considering it. It might be perceived as unfamiliar to Mexicans, like Solis’s reaction here.”
“I think it’s okay to start. Mexicans have a tendency to follow European trends.”
I already know that it will become a very common style until it gradually declines in the distant future, so there’s no need to hesitate. And I also want to take off these damn long boots and wear pants and shoes.
“If Your Highness says so, there’s no need to hesitate. I’ll prepare right away.”
“Do that. Make me one too and send it.”
As I was talking with Ramon for a while, guests started arriving one after another.
The party began in earnest.
***
Bayto Gaitan felt a mixture of pride and a sense of inferiority at being invited to this party.
“Should I have made an excuse and not come?”
The chemical company he was in charge of was still under construction, so it hadn’t made a single peso in sales yet. In that situation, seeing the faces of the bigwigs here, he couldn’t help but feel discouraged.
He was a manager running a company owned by the Crown Prince, but the smaller ones seemed to be making hundreds of thousands of pesos in sales.
“I was curious about the company with two companies named “Rios,” the only one, but I see him here. Of course, he wouldn’t miss it.”
It was Alfonso Rios.
He heard that everyone who had been sent an invitation had come.
The Crown Prince’s companies were all in the top spot in their respective fields, and they were all in major industries.
“Logistics, finance, construction, steel, railroads, textiles, machinery, resources, defense, shipbuilding, investment, electronics. Can chemistry fit in among these amazing businesses?”
He was chosen by the Crown Prince, but would “Gaitán,” which is just starting to produce disinfectants, be able to grow to that level? He wondered.
The party wasn’t just for managers, but also for people from various backgrounds, including military personnel and politicians who had connections with the Crown Prince, and they were all bigwigs.
Whew-
He took a deep breath, gathering his courage, introduced himself and started talking to people.
“Hahaha, if the Crown Prince chose you, it’s definitely going to be a great company in the future, so you don’t need to think too hard about it.”
“That’s right.”
Fortunately, the bigwigs were kind.
“The “pride” of being “the Crown Prince’s close associate” was a feeling that bound the people in this space together.”
He gained confidence and talked to various people, and surprisingly, he met someone who was in a similar situation.
“An elevator company? What’s an elevator?”
“Well, it’s…”
The man who had recently taken over the elevator company explained what it was.
“Ah, you mean that machine that was in this hotel?”
“Yes, that was made by our company.”
“I see. It was a little scary to ride, but it was a convenient device.”
Gaitan felt an inexplicable sense of kinship as he watched the elevator company president explain with sweat on his brow.
To summarize his story, he was a technician at Locke Precision Machinery, and he was tasked with developing “elevators” by order of the Crown Prince. He had succeeded in commercializing it after years of development, based on the idea he received.
The elevator business was separated from Locke Precision Machinery. Locke Precision Machinery was already doing too many businesses, including milling machines, various tools, agricultural machinery, locomotives, steam engines, and more, so the Crown Prince decided that elevators should be separated into a separate company.
He, who had suddenly become a president from a mere technician, was still using the factory and equipment of Locke Precision Machinery. He said that he would build a headquarters and factory later because there wasn’t much demand yet.
Hearing that story, Gaitan had a hunch.
“You’re probably thinking of making the next planned city to be built, Chihuahua, your headquarters. You’re very careful about the employment situation in the city to be built, so it seems like you’re planning to save the elevator company and settle it in the next city.”
“···So, that means I have to stick with Locke Precision Machinery for a few more years.”
“Ahem, it’s just my guess, it’s not certain. But you’re producing products, so you’re making sales, aren’t you? I…”
Gaitan talked to him a lot.
He wanted to talk to the Crown Prince, but many bigwigs were hovering around him, trying to talk to him, so he gave up.
“Still, I’m glad I came.”
***
The dissatisfaction of the residents in the western region of Hispaniola was also intensifying.
The main complaint of the residents was that “it’s no different from the time they were slaves.”
Their pride in the success of the slave revolution and the establishment of a black country was crumbling under the weight of heavy taxes, economic collapse, political instability, and the power struggle between blacks and mulattos (mixed race).
“What good is land if they take away all the harvest we grow?”
Even though they were heavily in debt to Mexico, the elite in power owned vast amounts of land and lived luxuriously. The ones who were dying were the ordinary farmers who had little land and had to pay heavy taxes.
“I’d rather not farm.”
Almost all the farmers felt that way, but what would they do if they didn’t farm? In the end, most of them were farming, unable to die, and those who actually quit farming, rarely, became criminals.
There was practically no industry other than farming, and the Haitian government couldn’t even afford to pay salaries to its officials and army.
“A failed state.”
That word came to mind, in that desperate situation, another piece of bad news came.
Their control over the eastern region, which they had barely managed to maintain, completely collapsed. When the residents of the east, who had been plotting a rebellion, began to rise up, the officials sent by the government and the small garrison that protected them crumbled in an instant.
It was only natural.
The Haitian government couldn’t even pay them salaries, let alone proper equipment.
“Rebellion! Those bastards in the east have gone mad and revolted!”
“This time, let’s kill those bastards in the east!”
But it wasn’t that simple.
“What? They’re asking to join the Mexican Empire?”
“What… “
“There’s no way they would… accept.”
If it were a country that was treated as a proper country, there would be room for intervention in the international community, but Haiti was completely isolated diplomatically, and most importantly, the other party was the Mexican Empire. They were a powerful country that had defeated their former ruler, France, and taken over their debt.
“We need to come up with a plan!”
“What kind of plan are you talking about?”
“···”
“We can only hope that Mexico won’t accept.”
Of course, that was not going to happen.
In fact, the Mexican Empire’s actions were much faster than the Haitian government expected.
The Mexican Empire’s fleet was dispatched to the east of Hispaniola.
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