IBTCPOTME Novel - Chapter 167
**Chapter 167**
< Secularization (4) >
The revolution that erupted in Cartagena, a port city in New Granada, soon turned into a civil war.
Joaquin Posada Gutierrez, the governor of Cartagena and the largest landowner, was furious and organized an army to attack the revolutionary forces, called the “Free Citizen Union of Cartagena,” but most of the city’s citizens had already joined the revolutionaries.
In the end, Gutierrez was forced to retreat, unable to recapture Cartagena.
Months passed.
The revolutionaries grew stronger.
People from other provinces flocked to join the revolutionaries.
“The landowners in our province are doing the same thing as these landowners here.”
“Hmm? Then you should resist them there. Why are you coming here for help?”
“We want to resist, but we can’t. There’s no city even half the size of this one. It means we don’t have the strength to resist the landowners’ power.”
It wasn’t just the eastern region where local power holders started to have second thoughts after New Granada got involved in someone else’s war and lost control of public opinion and local areas.
Almost all the power holders in every province harbored the vain hope of creating their own nation, so the free people living in those provinces had no choice but to resist.
The problem was that the cities of New Granada, except for a few port cities and the capital, didn’t have the strength to resist the landowners’ power.
So, the alternative they chose was to join the revolutionary forces in Cartagena, the largest city and the one most successfully resisting the landowners.
A Cartagena native, a member of the revolutionary forces, heard this explanation and thought.
‘Wait, that means even if they take over the entire Cartagena province, they don’t stop there, but want to advance to other provinces…’
He couldn’t say it to his comrades in front of him, but it felt like things were getting too big.
They had already taken control of most of Cartagena province after months of fierce fighting.
It was possible because one of their comrades was a merchant who could buy old Mexican Empire weapons cheaply.
The funds came from the warehouses of Gutierrez and other landowners in Cartagena province.
Everyone who saw the landowners’ wealth said the same thing.
– These bastards lived so lavishly and still weren’t satisfied, they wanted to create their own kingdom?
The weapons bought from the Mexican Empire were old, but they were similar in performance to the American-made weapons that the landowners mainly possessed, or even better.
It was natural that the landowners were losing to the revolutionaries, whose strength was far greater than expected.
“These bastards, they won’t send any support until the end, will they?”
Gutierrez gnashed his teeth.
When the Eastern Alliance was formed and he was appointed president at the meeting, his future seemed to be shining with brilliant glory, but in just a few months, his situation had been thrown into the gutter.
“Do you think you’ll be safe if I, if we lose?”
The Cartagena province landowners’ alliance he led showed the other provinces in the Eastern Alliance exactly why he was appointed president.
The fact that they had held out for months against thousands of revolutionaries who were surprisingly well-armed was proof of that.
If the other landowners in the Eastern Alliance had just helped, they would have crushed the revolutionaries long ago. But these people, who were called an “alliance” in name only, just said they would send reinforcements, but never actually did. They were just watching, as if it were someone else’s business.
The Eastern Alliance landowners watched as the man who had been appointed president of the new nation they were about to build fell from grace, and they built up their strength.
They had agreed to form the Eastern Alliance army and attack the revolutionaries the moment Gutierrez and the Cartagena province landowners collapsed.
“You disgusting bastards. I’ll show you what I think of you. Load everything!”
Gutierrez gave up.
He hated the Eastern Alliance landowners as much as the revolutionaries, so he decided not to fight anymore and just leave with his remaining wealth.
He had lost a lot of wealth to the revolutionaries, but his wealth was still vast, one of the top in the entire New Granada, not just the Eastern Alliance.
He could rebuild his family’s fortune wherever he went.
“Let’s go. To Argentina.”
“Yes! Set sail!”
In fact, the Mexican Empire was the best choice for immigration, but he didn’t want to go there.
He knew that the revolutionary bastards said they wanted to decide their own fate, but deep down, they were selfishly wanting to join the Mexican Empire and enjoy the benefits. Didn’t the Mexican Empire even sell old weapons to those revolutionary bastards?
‘The United States is in a civil war, so the only places to go are…’
There were only two candidates left. Brazil and Argentina. Gutierrez and the landowners who followed him chose Argentina. They thought it was a good choice because they spoke the same language and the population was small, so there were still many opportunities.
In fact, Argentina was a popular country for immigrants, though not as much as Mexico.
And so, Gutierrez and the landowners of Cartagena, who had held the revolutionaries back, left, and the revolutionaries faced a new situation.
***
Antonio, a large landowner in the Mexican Empire, diligently went around persuading landowners.
His strategy was simple.
He would provoke and unleash the anger that was building up in any landowner who hadn’t converted to the Emperor’s faction.
It was really difficult to persuade them to do something crazy like rebellion in this Mexican Empire, unless it was fueled by powerful emotions like anger and hatred.
“Back then, no one could touch us, no matter what we did on the hacienda.”
“That’s right. There was a time like that. Now, whenever something happens, they run to those police bastards. They’re crazy because they’re too full.”
As the Mexican Empire developed, the landowners also became more prosperous materially. The efficiency and yield of the farms increased dramatically due to the power of various agricultural tools and machinery, dams, and irrigation systems.
The demand for agricultural products increased rapidly as the population grew, but unfortunately, the prices of agricultural products didn’t rise. This was because supply had increased as much as demand. However, it wasn’t a complete crash, so the landowners’ income definitely increased.
It wasn’t just income. They also became richer in terms of expenses, with food like fruit, which they didn’t have before, various high-quality clothing, luxury goods that they had to import from abroad, and other areas.
But despite that material abundance, many landowners longed for the old days. Their families had been landowners for decades, or even centuries, since before independence, and back then, they were practically small lords.
That changed after independence, when railroads were laid and the strong control of the Mexican Empire’s central government began to reach all over the country.
“Don’t they only share information about railroads and various real estate with each other? It’s so ironic that they pretend to be righteous.”
“That’s what I’m saying. Did you see that they built a university right in Morelia, not even the capital? They say the land prices around there have skyrocketed since then.”
“That’s right, the people should know about these things. Isn’t that emperor guy just crazy about money? And what’s this? The church is corrupt and degenerate, so he’s going to take their property? Does that make sense?”
Antonio’s method was cunning. He linked the anger towards the emperor to the anger towards the secularization law.
“It doesn’t make sense! In the end, it’s just going to fill the emperor’s and his faction’s pockets.”
The church’s vast farms had a huge number of peons attached to them. The emperor would naturally release all the peons and operate them like the existing state-owned farms, introducing large-scale agricultural machinery.
The workforce released from the farms would naturally become workers, and the beneficiaries would be the corporations.
“That’s right. The emperor will get the biggest share, and then it will be the emperor’s faction.”
Most of the emperor’s faction were former landowners, and they were still landowners now, but they were trying to do business and invest under the emperor’s strong encouragement. The Mexican industrial sector’s manpower shortage had been chronic for a long time, and the landowners knew it well.
“So, in conclusion, all of this will ultimately benefit the emperor and his faction.”
The landowners’ faction tried to follow them and invest, but their investment returns were dismal. They were simply lacking in information and know-how.
Seeing that they were feeling the relative deprivation as he had intended, Antonio took it one step further.
“They can abolish church privileges that have been maintained for hundreds of years with a single bill, so they won’t abolish the peon system? If they abolish it, they’ll benefit economically and politically.”
If there were no peons, they would have to hire farm workers and pay them a fair wage. It’s the same even if they introduce more agricultural machinery. In the end, the landowners would suffer a huge blow.
“…That’s true. He would do that.”
Antonio’s meticulous build-up shone once again. The landowner was angry, even though it wasn’t his business right now, and he even felt threatened by his survival.
It wasn’t always successful. Some were cowardly, or cold-blooded and not swayed by emotions.
But he had chosen his targets very carefully, so there were no incidents of information leaking. Even if they didn’t join the rebellion, they were still landowners. They were dissatisfied with the imperial family and the government, and they sympathized with the church’s rebellion, so they decided to keep their mouths shut.
The day of the uprising was approaching.
Antonio, having persuaded another person today, thought the plan was going smoothly.
***
“It’s about time. Start the operation.”
The Emperor spoke in a light tone, but the atmosphere in the room was solemn.
The head of the military intelligence agency and several generals stood at attention, as if they were going to war.
Click-
“Yes.”
Everyone saluted in a disciplined manner with perfect timing, and the Emperor returned the salute.
A few minutes later, the telegraphs installed throughout the country began to ring.
Click, click, click.
The sound of the telegraph keys being tapped in a regular, fast tempo echoed through the air.
The content was ‘-.-. .- … – .. –. —’
‘Castigo (Punishment)’
It was a signal to execute the operation.
2:00 AM, April 31, 1848.
It was just one day before the rebels’ uprising.
The clergy moved too quickly.
They were forced to do so as their property was being confiscated in real time and their power was diminishing, but they moved too quickly and leaked too much information, too easily.
Intelligence agents and soldiers raided the mansions of various landowners.
Bang-
Weee-eee-eee-
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The thick iron gate, and the mansion’s front door, which was in a straight line with it, were smashed to pieces in an instant.
-Whoa!
Antonio woke up in a panic at the sound of the huge bombardment that erupted in the early morning.
“What, what’s going on?”
He was startled for a moment, but then he heard the sound of footsteps entering the mansion. It wasn’t one person. At least dozens of people had invaded his mansion.
Antonio, chills running down his spine, looked out the window.
That was when it happened.
Bang! Tatat!
Gunfire erupted.
Antonio’s men belatedly began to attack the unidentified force.
A flash of light revealed the enemy’s appearance.
It was the army.
Not the local army, but the central army.
Their counterattack was immediate.
Tatatatatat!
A hail of bullets rained down, and Antonio’s men fell.
‘Crazy.’
Antonio was watching the scene from the window.
The uprising was just a day away, so he had secured weapons and troops, but the only people in this mansion were his direct subordinates who would act as officers.
He had a lot of weapons in the warehouse, but that would be evidence of rebellion.
Thump, thump, thump.
He heard the soldiers climbing the stairs of the mansion.
“H, honey.”
His wife, trembling with fear, begged him to do something, but Antonio had no answer.
What could he do, being attacked in the dead of night?
He had been preparing for the rebellion, so he had reinforced the mansion’s doors and security, but what kind of nonsense was this? Antonio felt his mind going numb.
“Damn it. What the hell were the guards doing? Does it make sense to suddenly fire cannons?”
The guards had been diligently doing their jobs and were assassinated by intelligence agents, but Antonio took it out on them.
As Antonio just stood near the window, unable to do anything, the bedroom door swung open.
“Antonio Gabriel de la Cruz Santamaría! You are under arrest for treason! Evidence has already been found, so stop acting foolish and get down!”
“…Damn it.”
His vain dreams crumbled so easily.
It wasn’t just Antonio. Many landowners, clergymen, and military officers, including those he had persuaded, were simultaneously raided in the early morning and arrested for treason.
The operation, which lasted from dawn to morning, was a success.
As the intelligence agency had investigated beforehand, rebellions were planned in eight provinces in central Mexico, but none of them were able to rise up.
But on the morning of May 1st.
One place that wasn’t on the list.
There was one place that even the Emperor and the intelligence agency had missed.
A place that could be considered one of the core parts of the Mexican Empire.