IBTCPOTME Novel - Chapter 171
**Chapter 171**
**< Secularization (8) >**
“Break out to the right! Quick march!”
Santa Anna didn’t give up, even in the face of the imminent crisis. He displayed exceptional tactical ability.
The rebels under his command conducted a rapid march to evade the suppression forces advancing from the north and south.
The mountainous terrain made it difficult for the central army’s cavalry to effectively utilize their strength.
‘If we manage to escape again…’
As long as they have the telegraph and railroad, they will continue to be surrounded. But what if they somehow manage to escape? Could they cross the border?
Could the Southern Confederacy, which harbors a strong grudge against the Mexican Empire and is in the midst of civil war, needing troops and weapons, accept them?
It wouldn’t be possible unless they wanted to start a full-scale war with the Mexican Empire, but Santa Anna was desperate to grasp at any straw. However, he felt a sense of unease when he saw the messenger’s anxious expression approaching from afar.
“General! Two divisions are approaching from the front as well.”
The suppression forces were surrounding them from all sides, determined not to let them escape again.
A desperate situation.
The officers’ faces darkened.
“We have no choice but to break through one side.”
The enemy’s encirclement wasn’t complete. The distance between the armies approaching from the north, south, and east was different, likely due to the distance between the train stations they used.
That meant there was a gap.
“We’ll break through to the northeast.”
Boom!
As they moved a few more kilometers, the sound of artillery fire began to be heard.
The real battle had begun.
“We just need to defeat the division in front of us! We have 32,000!”
The officers encouraged their soldiers.
They wanted to escape, but they had to face the enemy. The enemy wasn’t stupid either, and they had narrowed the encirclement with two divisions, keeping a distance between them.
“The enemy’s size is at most 20,000! Break through quickly!”
Santa Anna personally commanded from the field, striving to quickly break through the division in front of them.
The enemy seemed to know they were trying to pass through, and instead of approaching, they retreated slightly, taking advantage of the high ground.
It was a tactically disadvantageous terrain, but there was no choice. If they stayed put, they would only be bombarded, and they didn’t have time.
“Charge! Charge using the terrain for cover!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Weee-oo-wee-oo-wee-oo-
Thump!
The cannonballs swept across the sloping downhill, scraping against the soldiers climbing up.
“Don’t stop! Charge!”
Even Santa Anna himself charged. If they stalled, the enemy division on the right would join them.
True to their nature as the central army, they brought numerous cannons, but they didn’t wipe out all the soldiers climbing the hill. On the contrary, most of the soldiers were safely climbing the hill.
Bang! Bang bang bang bang bang!
Du-du-du-du-du-du-
Kwaaack!
Ker-huk!
Fortunately, there were no barbed wire or trenches, but the central army’s firepower was still formidable.
“Open fire!”
They had been battered all the way up, but the enemy didn’t have any defensive facilities either. The slope of the hill was gentle, so if they drove their entire army forward at once, they could break through.
Santa Anna’s army also had machine guns. As the emperor’s faction and the defenders of the most important port, his army received supplies comparable to the central army.
The 10,000 rebels who had joined after the rebellion also had decent guns, as even Britain was impressed by the Mexican Empire’s rifles and had invested in developing new rifles.
“Check how far the eastern division has come.”
Santa Anna didn’t forget to constantly deploy scouts.
Du-du-du-du-du-du-
About 30 minutes after the leading group secured their position and started firing in the midst of the hail of bullets, most of the army had taken their positions.
Just when Santa Anna felt a little relieved after receiving the scout’s report, he heard the enemy’s command.
“Retreat! Retreat!”
“Huh?”
It was too early to retreat. The enemy still had most of their forces intact.
‘Are they retreating to buy some time? It wouldn’t make much difference if they’re already close.’
Santa Anna pondered for a moment, but he already knew what he had to do.
“Advance! Don’t let the enemy retreat! Attack until they collapse!”
Just as the enemy retreated and Santa Anna’s army occupied the gentle hill, it happened.
Click-
Click-
“What?”
Kwaaang!
A massive explosion suddenly occurred.
The soldier who stepped on the pressure-activated mine and the soldiers around him were blown to pieces without even a scream, and a chain reaction began.
Kwaaang!
Kwaaang!
Kwaaang!
Kwaaang!
Dynamite, simply buried in the ground without a detonator, exploded in a chain reaction.
Red flames erupted from the dirt floor, along with the explosions, engulfing Santa Anna’s army.
“Wh, what!”
It was a new weapon.
The chain reaction of explosions, starting from the front, spread to the center of the army, inflicting massive damage.
Santa Anna, who was watching the situation from the rear, was horrified.
It was an explosion of a scale he had never seen before.
The shockwave of the explosion reached him. Fortunately, the flames didn’t engulf him, but hot air blew onto his face. It was hot enough to cause a minor burn.
“My leg! My leeeg!”
“Aaaaah!”
Screams of soldiers, their legs blown off in an instant, and the pain of full-body burns echoed from all sides.
“We, we need to break through…”
Santa Anna, overwhelmed by the gruesome sight, could only mutter that, unable to respond properly.
“Rep, report the damage!”
He finally regained his senses and shouted, but the other officers were all stunned.
“Snap out of it!”
Slap-
The officers, regaining their senses after being slapped, rushed around the battlefield to assess the situation, but the damage was severe.
Thousands of casualties had occurred.
Their ordeal wasn’t over yet. It was inevitable, as they were facing the enemy right in front of them.
The enemy, who had pretended to retreat, returned and launched a fierce attack.
“No, we still have more! We’ve also taken the high ground, we can win!”
That was just Santa Anna’s hope. He and the officers who had been in the rear were still disoriented by the explosion, so the soldiers who were closer were unlikely to be in their right minds.
Soldiers with dazed expressions.
“What are you doing! Fire!”
The officers, who had been slapped by Santa Anna, ran around and did the same to the soldiers, but there was no noticeable increase in combat effectiveness.
They had lost their will to fight, regardless of whether they were conscious or not.
Boom boom boom!
As time dragged on, artillery fire finally began from the right as well. It was a sign that the enemy army was approaching.
A few cannonballs were fired, and the sound of gunfire targeting the right side of the formation began to be heard.
“···This is it.”
***
The suppression forces, having subdued the rebels who had raised the white flag, arrested Santa Anna, the rebel leader.
They found a carriage with a locked door in a corner of the battlefield.
“Leandro… sir. You’re alive.”
The officer, using soldiers to break the lock of the carriage and open the door, heard a foul smell and a desperate cry.
“Santa Anna kidnapped me and locked me up! I was really going on a trip abroad!”
“···Come out first.”
The officer, ignoring his excuses, said, covering his nose.
Antonio López de Santa Anna and Leandro de Iturbide, who had been arrested, were immediately transported to Mexico City.
The trial of Antonio López de Santa Anna, the rebel leader, and Leandro de Iturbide took place in a courtroom with the emperor himself present as a witness.
Through various testimonies, it was revealed that Leandro’s participation in the rebellion was an active act done of his own free will.
“This can’t be! I’m a member of the royal family! Let me see His Majesty the former king! Are you going to execute his nephew?!”
Leandro, who was treated as a rebel leader, tied to the same level as Santa Anna, screamed hysterically, unable to overcome his fear, right before the verdict.
The judge, who had received the emperor’s instructions beforehand, was taken aback by his statement and looked at the emperor, but the emperor calmly gestured.
It meant to continue.
“Ahem.”
Hernández, the most senior of the Supreme Court justices, cleared his throat in the first trial of a rebel leader in the Mexican Empire, attended by the emperor, members of parliament, and journalists.
“I pronounce the verdict on defendant Antonio López de Santa Anna.
The defendant led and organized an illegal armed rebellion, attempting to overthrow the royal family and government, thereby seriously threatening national security. This constitutes clear acts of treason and sedition.
Furthermore, during the rebellion, numerous innocent civilians and Mexican Imperial soldiers lost their lives, all stemming from the defendant’s crimes.
Despite the massive loss of life and property, the defendant showed no sign of guilt or remorse throughout the trial.
Therefore, the court, in accordance with Articles 1, 2, and 31 of the Criminal Code, sentences the defendant to death. All of the defendant’s property shall be confiscated by the state, and the defendant shall be hanged within 48 hours.”
Bang-bang-bang-
The trials of Archbishop Bayesteros and landowner Antonio, who had been arrested and imprisoned for a long time, were also held similarly today.
They were all sentenced to death.
These four were considered the masterminds of this rebellion.
Only Leandro de Iturbide’s verdict remained.
The journalists were on edge, staring at the face of Chief Justice Hernández.
“I pronounce the verdict on the defendant Leandro de Iturbide.
The defendant conspired with Antonio López de Santa Anna to plan and execute an illegal armed rebellion, and if the rebellion had been successful, he intended to ascend the throne himself. This is clearly treason and a criminal act of usurping the throne.
In particular, the defendant used his special status as a member of the Iturbide family to disrupt the national order and severely damaged the authority of the royal family.
However, the court shall consider the fact that the defendant was somewhat coerced during the rebellion, and that he showed a degree of remorse in court, in determining the sentence.
Therefore, the court, in accordance with Articles 2 and 12 of the Criminal Code, sentences the defendant to life imprisonment without parole. All of the defendant’s property shall be confiscated by the state.”
Bang-bang-bang-
Life imprisonment without parole.
It could be considered the next most severe punishment after death.
The citizens were satisfied with this verdict, but the emperor didn’t stop there.
“Those who knew Leandro was going to do something stupid and still condoned it, arrest them all. We need to eradicate this at the root.”
“Yes!”
It wasn’t just Leandro.
The emperor didn’t dismiss the conscription.
He began to arrest those who had received invitations to rebel from landowner Antonio and Archbishop Bayesteros but didn’t report them.
A cold wind began to blow across the entire Mexican Empire.
The executions were carried out in early June.
Those sentenced to death cursed the emperor as they died, but the emperor didn’t even witness their executions.
He was walking through the empty Metropolitan Cathedral with his father. This building, where the coronation had taken place at the beginning of the year, had become the site where the rebellion began. All the clergy affiliated with this church were either dead or imprisoned.
“Actually, the secularization law was just a pretext. I think the root cause of this rebellion was jealousy.”
“Jealousy?”
“Yes. Back then, landowners and clergy wielded absolute power on their own land, and officers were either from wealthy families or sponsored by such families. For those who remembered those days, it must have been galling that I, a mere officer, became emperor.”
The man who had been on the same level as him, or even below, had become emperor, and he had begun to centralize power, taking away the power of the landowners.
“The secularization law became a catalyst for the dark emotions they had been suppressing deep down for so long. They must have also felt a desperation that they wouldn’t be able to overthrow the royal family unless it was this opportunity. Nowadays, young people, unlike them, take it for granted to be loyal to the royal family.”
“I didn’t know there were such feelings.”
“Well, I don’t know exactly what it is, but considering the reforms you’re going to implement, it’s like you’ve gotten rid of it at the perfect time, isn’t it? That’s why I deliberately pushed it hard.”
“Well, I did deliberately push it aggressively, but I didn’t expect them to prepare for a full-scale rebellion like this. Everyone knows the strength of the central army, so I thought no one would participate.”
“Hahaha, people are always swayed by emotions. That’s why there’s a word called regret.”
As the situation and the emperor strolled through the empty cathedral, talking, a cold wind swept across Mexico, and the executions of the rebels were being carried out.