IBTCPOTME Novel - Chapter 159
**Chapter 159**
< South and North (13) >
The cotton industry, the most important industry in the South, has its busiest harvest season in September and October. And when that season ends, the most leisurely time of the year arrives.
Slaves had to maintain and manage the farm, raise animals, prepare the land for the next season, and perform other various tasks even after the harvest season ended, but at least the whites had time to take a vacation.
From mid-October to early November, thousands of slave supporters gathered in Kansas City, which had become the front line of the conflict.
It wasn’t just people from Missouri.
People came from various Southern states, including Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
The Southern anger was immense, but uncontrolled.
As a large crowd gathered, the slave supporters, emboldened by their numbers, targeted the newspaper office first.
“The Liberty Herald! You bastards! Say it again!”
The Liberty Herald was a newspaper that became known for its fierce criticism of slavery. Many people were incensed by the articles, which were so critical that it was hard to tell if they were criticism or condemnation.
Even amidst the city’s ominous atmosphere, the reporters who were diligently working stopped their pens in shock only when the slave supporters actually entered the building.
Gulp-
“Now, calm down for a moment…”
“Shut up! Say it like it’s written here! Didn’t you write it?”
The man with a gun pointed at the pile of newspapers stacked in one corner of the office. The article today, as always, criticized slavery and its supporters.
“…”
No reporter dared to open their mouths in the face of that menacing presence… or so it should have been, but surprisingly, there was one.
“I don’t understand how you can be so arrogant, boasting about supporting slavery.”
It was none other than William Fairfield, the owner and editor of the Liberty Herald.
“Wh-what?”
“You bastard!”
Curses erupted from here and there.
“Say it again!”
In front of the slave supporters pointing guns at him, Fairfield dared to say it again.
“Boasting about supporting slavery…”
Click-
“Now, wait!”
“Stop!”
Before Fairfield could finish his sentence, the man with the gun pointed at Fairfield’s chest, and shouts of “Stop!” erupted from both the reporters and the slave supporters.
One side tried to stop the man, to save their leader and employer, while the other tried to stop him, considering the political repercussions that would follow, but it was too late for the man who had lost his mind.
BANG!
The bullet fired pierced William Fairfield’s heart.
“You, you bastard!”
One of the reporters in the office screamed and pulled out a gun, but there were already three gun barrels pointed at him.
TATATATANG!
“Damn it, it’s all over! Kill them all!”
“What the hell are you talking about! Why kill someone without a gun? We agreed to just burn down the building!”
Opinions were divided among the people who had gathered at the newspaper office.
“Kill them!”
“Don’t kill them!”
Amidst the chaos, some were killed senselessly, while others luckily survived.
WHOOSH!
Kansas City was occupied by the slave supporters, and one newspaper office was burned to the ground. But the tragedy that happened there spread by word of mouth.
“Rebellion! The rebels have occupied Kansas City!”
“It’s a Southern conspiracy!”
“Remember William Fairfield!”
The Northerners blamed it all on the Southern Confederacy, the American Confederacy, but Jefferson Davis, the President of the American Confederacy, denied the accusations.
He made an unusual statement, directly addressing the Kansas City incident.
“I want to make our Confederate government’s position clear on the recent unfortunate events in Kansas City.
These events, I want to make it clear, are outside the scope of the direct control or actions of the American Confederate government, and therefore, we must make it clear that we are free from any responsibility related to them.
Furthermore, in terms of the cause of this incident and the various side effects that have resulted from it, especially the direct and indirect damage and losses suffered by the citizens, we believe that the main responsibility lies with the Missouri state government, which had serious flaws in its ability to maintain order in the region, and, more broadly, with the negligence of the United States federal government.
In this situation, we strongly urge the relevant authorities to take appropriate responsibility for the citizens who have been harmed by this incident and to take concrete and practical measures to resolve it.”
In reality, Jefferson and the Confederate government did not intervene in the Kansas City incident. They had no desire to provoke the North, as they wanted time to prepare for war. But contrary to that intention, Jefferson Davis’s statement poured fuel on the fire of the Northerners’ anger.
The Northerners already had the idea ingrained in their minds that slave supporters were Southern Confederates, and as a result, they believed that Jefferson Davis’s statement was a lie, a mere mockery of the North.
“Those Southern bastards are making fun of us like that, and we’re just going to sit here?”
“If the federal government doesn’t move, I’ll go fight myself.”
“I’ll go too. It looks like Missouri might actually fall to them.”
Kansas City was already lost, so be it, but they had to protect St. Louis, a major gateway to the Mississippi and the largest city in Missouri.
If they were occupied, they would actually join the Southern Confederacy.
With the situation like this, the federal government could no longer just watch.
“It’s time to send in the troops.”
George M. Dallas, the President of the United States, made his decision.
“Send troops to retake Kansas City and protect Missouri.”
“That could lead to an immediate war!”
Many members of Congress thought they weren’t prepared enough.
“Isn’t it already war? How much more can we prepare in this situation? If we ignore the Missouri situation, we might be able to hold out for a few more months, but if the bordering states join the South, the few months of preparation will be meaningless.”
It hadn’t even been a year since the end of the major war. The wounds left by Mexico were deep, and the United States had not even recovered half of the damage.
The capital, Washington D.C., was still in ruins. After paying off the debts to Britain and Mexico, there was a huge hole in the budget.
“We don’t have the budget right now!”
You need money to raise an army.
“···Inform them that we will postpone the payment of the fourth-quarter war reparations.”
“Mr. President! If we do that, the financial plan we have painstakingly put together…”
“Enough! It’s already decided.”
He didn’t need Congress’s approval.
The President of the United States was the Commander-in-Chief of the military, and he had the authority to act swiftly in emergency situations related to national security.
President Dallas ordered the Federal Army to seize Missouri and protect it from the slave supporters.
“I hear the Northerners have sent troops.”
“···The plan is completely messed up. But, that’s the same for them.”
Jefferson Davis, the President of the American Confederacy, also made his decision.
“It wasn’t intentional, but now that all our Southern patriots have gathered, we can’t just let them be sacrificed, can we?”
Unlike the United States Army, which had demobilized most of its troops after the war due to manpower and budget limitations, “the Southern army” had more than half of its troops remaining and continued training.
“It’s time to crush those cowardly Northerners.”
***
Late November 1847.
The United States entered a full-fledged civil war.
It was a major event for the United States, but it didn’t have much impact on our Mexican citizens. It was a situation that was already expected, and it was ultimately someone else’s business. But from my perspective as a policymaker, it was different.
“This number is the immigrants from the United States? Didn’t you say it decreased last time?”
“Ah, that was right after the end of the war. This time…”
“They must have immigrated quickly because they didn’t want to be involved in the war.”
“Yes, that’s it in a nutshell.”
“Well, I can understand that. It hasn’t even been a year since the end of our war, and they’re already in another civil war. It’s tiresome.”
As the saying goes, “a nation of immigrants,” Americans are either those who left in search of a better life or their descendants.
Many of them have already firmly established their American identity and have strong patriotism, but there are also many who don’t. For those people, the option of re-immigration is quite tempting.
The fact that there are benefits to immigrating to Mexico is already well-known, thanks to our diligent promotion for a long time. It’s close, politically stable, and, as you know from being in a war, it has a strong military, a rapidly developing economy, and a warm climate. Even I think it’s a good choice.
Canada is just a rural colony of Britain, so not many people would want to go there.
“It is presumed that the number will continue to increase until the civil war ends. The longer the civil war lasts, the more suffering the American people will endure.”
“That’s right.”
There will be innocent people caught in the crossfire, but it’s something the Americans have to deal with, because in both the original history and here, they attacked Mexico, who was minding its own business.
However, slavery must disappear, so I have no intention of letting the South survive. I’m going to crush them even harder to prevent them from spouting nonsense like “Lost Causes.”
Next year, 1848, is expected to be a year of immense immigration. It’s because events are starting to unfold in Europe, just as they did in the original history, following the United States and Ireland.
The so-called 1848 Revolution.
This liberal revolution that will occur in various European countries will ultimately be brutally suppressed. But because of that, the desire to immigrate will grow even stronger, and they will come to Mexico instead of the United States, which is in the midst of a civil war.
‘It’s going to be a remarkable year in many ways. 1848.’
It’s not just immigration, it’s also the year of my coronation.
And it’s on January 1st, right.
Mexican citizens are more concerned about my coronation than the American Civil War.
As December approached, newspapers across the country were filled with articles about the coronation.
As a result, the palace staff and various government officials were also busy.
“Whew. Even for a coronation, it’s a bit excessive to prepare for a one-day event for almost a year…”
It seems a bit wasteful, no matter how you look at it.
“Now, not only domestic dignitaries but also dignitaries from all over the world will be attending, so we have to prepare properly.”
Diego said.
“That’s true, but…”
It’s not the same Mexican Empire that was on the verge of collapse when my father had his coronation. Back then, it was just my father, members of Congress, and clergymen who gathered for the coronation, but now, Mexico is a great power on par with Britain and Russia, so dignitaries from countless countries will be visiting. Even diplomats from Qing, Joseon, and Japan are scheduled to attend.
That’s why my father and mother seem to be determined to show off the majesty of our Mexican Empire, and they are diligently preparing.
But my mind is already focused on the huge reforms that will follow, not the coronation.