1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 643 Our President Has a Bad Stomach

At dusk, under the golden sunset, the waves of the Gulf of Mexico gently lapped the coast of the Port of Veracruz. The black smoke from the battleship's chimney gradually faded, and the off-white sails were slightly bulged in the sea breeze.

A middle-aged man of above-average build, wearing a dark blue military uniform inlaid with gold thread and a tall cape with gold embroidery, walked slowly down the bridge with steady steps to the beat of military music, surrounded by two army and navy generals.

Sven quickly recognized that the naval commander surrounding the French nobleman was his old friend General Tromerin. He had previously received news that Napoleon III might personally lead an expedition to Mexico. He thought that this stylish French nobleman was undoubtedly the famous Napoleon III.

"Your Majesty!" Sven bowed and greeted Napoleon III in fairly fluent French.

Tromeran introduced Sven to Napoleon III. Napoleon III nodded slightly, glanced at Sven, and asked, "Are the supplies I want ready?"

"The 800 tons of flour, 130 tons of canned meats, 120 tons of pickles, 21 tons of sugar, 900 tons of hay, 520 tons of oats, 2000 waxed canvas tents, 3000 barrels of gunpowder, 560 million rounds of Walter rifle bullets, and the 3800 mules and horses you requested have all been prepared for you. All kinds of supplies are stored in the warehouse at the port, and the mules and horses are boarded on the farms of nearby farmers. This is the list, please take a look." Sven handed over the list and added.

"Our president has instructed that if your troops are stationed in the port of Veracruz, we will provide them with clean water and fuel free of charge."

"Not bad." Napoleon III praised Sven's work. He was also quite interested in Sven. "Your French is good. Are you French?"

"Not having the blessing to become your Majesty's subject is one of the things I regret most in my life." Sven said very frankly, "My mother was a prostitute in Aarhus Harbor, so I should be considered Danish. When I was very young, I worked as a handyman on a ship for a living, and later became a sailor. I was influenced by my surroundings, and I can speak a little bit of the languages ​​of various countries."

As Sven spoke, he led Napoleon III to a luxurious and carefully decorated haciendas.

This is a large estate that integrates agriculture, animal husbandry and social life. The estate was built by Carlos Fernanda, a Spanish colonel during the Viceroyalty of New Spain. After Sven led the Atlantic Fleet to the Port of Veracruz, the descendants of Colonel Carlos Fernanda sold the estate to Sven for a symbolic price of $1.

The manor is a typical combination of Spanish colonial style, Baroque and neoclassical styles, supplemented by elements of Mexican native culture.

In addition to the main house, the manor not only has a complete central courtyard and a church, but is also surrounded by high walls and towers used as watchtowers. Climbing these towers allows one to observe the situation around the manor.

Napoleon III took a brief tour of the manor. There were large open spaces around the manor that could be used as military camps, and he was very satisfied with this arrangement.

Of course, as a politician, Napoleon III knew that Liang Yao's hospitality was not just a simple act of hospitality.

"Mexicans are no worse than us Europeans in terms of lifestyle and taste." Napoleon III glanced at the exotic plants carefully planted in the sculpture garden and said with some amusement.

Because Mexico's independence revolution was so incomplete, many of the colonial noble families retained their land, wealth, and social status.

The Mexican nobility still occupied an important position in the social structure after independence and continued to maintain ties with Europe. This made it easy for the Mexican nobility to maintain economic and cultural ties with the European upper class.

The Spanish aristocracy and cultural habits also deeply influenced the social structure and aristocracy of Mexico. Because they shared similar values, religious beliefs and lifestyles, Mexican aristocrats were more easily accepted by the European upper class, and there were many marriages between the Mexican elite and European royal families and aristocrats.

Mexico's neighbor, America, gradually formed a relatively equal and open society after independence. Although America also has an upper class and a wealthy class, its social structure is more inclined towards commercial and industrial capitalism rather than the traditional aristocracy.

Therefore, compared with the Mexican elites who preferred to spend their wealth on extravagance and pleasure, the American elites focused more on accumulating capital and power in their own country, rather than blindly integrating into the European aristocratic network, even though they wanted to. In addition, the early American culture also had a strong anti-colonial and anti-aristocratic color, which made it often not as natural and smooth for the American elites to communicate with the European aristocracy as the Mexican aristocracy. After all, the values ​​of the two were fundamentally conflicting.

The United States and Mexico chose completely different paths at the beginning of their independence, and the mental outlook of their elites was even more different. This also led to the different destinies of the two countries in the future, with one becoming a hegemonic country and the other becoming a third-rate country.

Mexico was not doomed to lose its vast territory and potential to become a regional power in the Mexican-American War in the 19s, but was doomed to lose these lands when it gained independence in 40. A comprador regime that is completely dependent on another country from the economy to cultural ideas is doomed to have no future.

Although Sven was only three feet away from Napoleon III and heard what Napoleon III said, Sven was not sure whether Napoleon III's words were a compliment or criticism of the Mexicans, or both.

When Napoleon III had almost finished reading, Svenjean took a scroll from his adjutant and presented it to Napoleon III with both hands: "This is a gift from our president. I hope you like it." Napoleon III took a look at the exquisite scroll and thought it was a Chinese painting and calligraphy given to him by Liang Yao. He waved to the two generals beside him to take the scroll and unfold it for a look.

The accompanying Generals Eli Ferdinand-Forey and Tromeran slowly unfolded the scroll on the left and right, and a map of the Mexican army's deployment appeared in front of Napoleon III.

Napoleon III was slightly startled and moved forward to carefully check the Mexican military deployment around Mexico City. He found that not only were the numbers and commanders' names of the Mexican troops stationed in various places clear and detailed, but even the actual number of the unit was marked next to the unit number.

Before the expedition to Mexico, Napoleon III spent a lot of manpower and financial resources to collect a lot of intelligence on the Mexican army. However, the intelligence he collected was too rough compared to the map provided by Liang Yao.

"Will your president be willing to give away such a delicious piece of cake?" Napoleon III waved his hand, signaling the two generals to put away the map rolls.

Liang Yao had a history of leading troops to occupy Mexico, and he had done so much intelligence work on Mexico. Napoleon III would never believe that Liang Yao had no interest in Mexico.

"Our president's stomach is not as good as yours. He can't eat such a big piece of cake." Sven smiled.

"Your president's gift is so valuable that I don't know what gift to give back to your president." Napoleon III said casually. He knew that Liang Yao must have some ulterior motive in asking Sven to provide logistical support to the French army as much as possible and giving him the Mexican army's garrison map.

"Our president said that your condescending trip from Europe to America is the best gift you can give us," Sven said. "Please wait a moment. I will prepare dinner for you."

After saying this, Sven saluted Napoleon III and turned to leave.

"Your Majesty, America has always regarded Mexico as its own backyard. Could this Mexican military garrison map be fake?" General Forey questioned the authenticity of this Mexican military garrison map.

"Liang Yao doesn't have the guts to fool me with a fake Mexican garrison map," Napoleon III analyzed. "It's true that he regards Mexico as his own backyard, but as Sven said, Liang Yao doesn't have a stomach that's strong enough to swallow Mexico. Besides, the current external environment of the American Republic is very bad. He wants to gain our recognition and even support. I think this is why he is willing to give up Mexico."

"Your Majesty is wise," General Forey asked. "The current split in America is a perfect opportunity for us to intervene in American affairs. Your Majesty, which of the four regions of North, South and West Germany do you think is most worthy of our investment?"

Faure was the highest-ranking army general in the French expeditionary force. It was a foregone conclusion that he would be stationed in Mexico after the war as the representative of the interests of the French Empire.

Fauré wanted to know Napoleon III's attitude toward other powers in North America so that he could better work in Mexico in the future.

"It's called four forces, but in fact, it's only three forces. Texas is weak and can only rely on one of the South or the West. It's hard for it to exist as a completely independent political entity." Napoleon III said thoughtfully, "I heard that the American Republic is also preparing for war. They can even provide us with a large amount of supplies. This surprised me. It seems that they have plenty of supplies."

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At the same time, after receiving an urgent telegram from Mexican President Benito Juarez in Mexico City, Jose Manuel Hidalgo, the Mexican ambassador to the San Francisco Embassy, ​​was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. He hurriedly took a train to the Presidential Palace in Sacramento to meet with Liang Yao.

Liang Yao had already learned the news that the British, French and Spanish coalition forces had arrived at the port of Veracruz, so he naturally knew Hidalgo's intention. He just wanted to borrow money again.

As expected, the situation in Mexico was extremely critical. Hidalgo had no time to think about beating around the bush at this point and went straight to Liang Yao and asked him to provide another loan to Mexico.

The allied forces of Britain, France and Spain have already arrived in Mexico. At this time, Mexico has no time to borrow money from other European countries. Looking around, the only one who can help Mexico solve its urgent problems is this good neighbor in the north.

(End of this chapter)