1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 644 Take the initiative

"Our two countries are friendly neighbors. When our neighbors are in trouble, we should generously help them." Liang Yao said slowly.

"So you are willing to provide us with a loan?" Hearing Liang Yao's willingness to help, Hidalgo stood up excitedly and thanked Liang Yao.

"Personally, I am very willing to provide loans to your country, but your credit is really too bad." Liang Yao interrupted Hidalgo who was in the midst of excitement, "Last year we provided your country with a loan of 80 US dollars, but your country has not fulfilled the contract and paid us even one cent of interest. Your actions make it difficult for me to explain to my country's taxpayers."

"It's not that we don't want to repay your interest, but our country's finances have been really difficult in the past few years. After this most difficult period is over, we will definitely repay you in full." Hidalgo vowed to Liang Yao, "Besides, haven't we already mortgaged the Port of Veracruz, the best port in the Gulf of Mexico, to you?"

Liang Yao naturally would not believe Hidalgo's assurance. It is better to believe that the Americans do not like oil and the Russians have no interest in their neighbors' land than to believe in the credit of Latin American countries.

"Although your country's credit is very bad, I don't want to see the lives of our neighbors suffer." Liang Yao said with great reluctance, "As long as your country provides equivalent collateral, we will lend you the money as soon as possible."

"Collateral?" Hidalgo frowned and asked cautiously, "Which port have you set your sights on? I can ask our president for instructions."

"I don't want your land." Liang Yao shook his head and said.

The new territories acquired during the Second Mexican-American War had not yet been fully digested by the American Republic. Moreover, the British, French and Spanish forces had already stationed in Mexico. The Second French Empire also had a strong interest in Mexico's territory. It was a very unwise choice to encroach on Mexico's territory at this time.

The external environment faced by the American Republic now does not allow Liang Yao to continue expanding towards Mexico.

"What do you want as collateral?" Hidalgo asked anxiously.

"Your country can mortgage your tariff rights, road construction rights, and mineral resources of equivalent value." Liang Yao said slowly.

The remaining territory of Mexico has a large population. Compared with the previous simple and crude direct occupation, Liang Yao is more inclined to Mexico to adopt a more moderate approach and carry out economic colonial infiltration at this stage.

"We can't use the tariff rights as collateral," Hidalgo said after a moment of silence. "As for the road construction rights and mining rights, I can report to our president and then give you a reply."

Liang Yao knew clearly that Mexico’s tariff rights were not unmortgageable, but had already been coveted by the British. Perhaps representatives of both sides were secretly negotiating at this time.

Hidalgo came to him to borrow money not to pay off debts to Britain but to repay debts to France and Spain.

However, these ignorant Mexican elites had not yet figured out that the purpose of France's expedition was not to force Mexico to fulfill its debt obligations, but to covet Mexico's territory.

After Zeiss sent Hidalgo away, Liang Yao returned to the conference room to continue the meeting with cabinet members.

"What does Lincoln mean by neither publicly refuting our land bill nor accepting it?" Wu Yuanhua said. "Lincoln did not respond to our request to demilitarize North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and other places and withdraw troops from these areas."

"A large number of mobilized soldiers of the Northern Army have entered Washington. I think the communication between Washington and the outside world has been restored." Pan Zhengwei said, "Lincoln must have turned a blind eye to it and wanted to delay time."

"Although the Washington authorities have not responded, their actions have made their attitude clear," Fremont said. "Federal authorities have closed the Omaha train station and cut off the Pacific Railway. This move is obviously aimed at us."

After the direct military conflict between the North and the South, more and more middle-class and wealthy businessmen in the East chose to go to the West to escape the war. This allowed the West to absorb a lot of high-quality labor and capital from the East in a short period of time. The Lincoln administration's move to close the Omaha train station and restrict the flow of people from the East to the West really touched Liang Yao's pain point.

"This is just one of them." Liang Yao added, "According to the latest intelligence, the federal government has launched a second round of mobilization, and the number of people mobilized this time is 10."

"If they complete the second round of mobilization, the North will have nearly 20 troops." Wu Yuanhua said dissatisfiedly, "What's wrong with those Dixies? They are dithering and not attacking Washington when such a good opportunity is left. Are they waiting for the North to mobilize before looking for a fight? Or are they waiting for us to fight the North so that they can reap the benefits?"

"I don't know Davis' intentions," Fremont said, "but from what I know about them, they have no interest in the land of the Northern states. They just want to be independent from the Union. In addition, the transportation efficiency of the Southern Railway is relatively low. I think this is one of the reasons why they have not taken action yet."

"20?" After hearing this number, Cowen, who had served as the federal government's finance minister, shook his head repeatedly. "The federal government's financial situation cannot afford an army of 20, unless they open up new tax sources or obtain support from other channels."

"There are many European countries that want to intervene in American affairs. It is not impossible for Lincoln to get the funds for the second mobilization." Fremont analyzed. "The Union and the Confederacy have not yet fought a large-scale war, and the outcome is still unknown. The federal government has no reason to conduct a second mobilization when the finances are tight. We must attach importance to the second mobilization of the federal government. These mobilized volunteers and militia may not be used to deal with the South, but to deal with us."

"Mr. President, should we mobilize militias from all over the country to continue to send reinforcements to North Platte to deal with the possible threats posed by the federal army?" Deng Wenyu asked.

"We can't wait for the federal government to take the first step. That's too passive." Liang Yao said after thinking for a moment, "Those federal forts east of North Platte are like a thorn in our throat. If we don't remove these thorns, our strategy of developing the Great Plains will not be implemented. Whether Lincoln remains silent, hesitates, or is stalling, we can't follow their pace.

Haven't Stanford and Hawke always wanted to help on the North Platte front? Let them take the Utah militia and the West Mexican militia brigade to North Platte and wait for deployment."

"Napoleon III brought thirteen infantry regiments this time. It is obvious that he is not here to collect debts from Mexico. Do we really want to hand over Mexico?" After the cabinet meeting, Fremont came to Liang Yao and said.

Fremont had always regarded Mexico as his sphere of influence, and he felt somewhat uncomfortable about handing Mexico over to the enemy.

"We need to open a diplomatic breakthrough in Europe." Liang Yao said, "For us, the best diplomatic breakthrough in Europe is France. We have no other choice. Therefore, it is important to let the French emperor enjoy himself in Mexico. Moreover, according to the French colonial model, they will not stay in Mexico for many years. The French army will withdraw sooner or later."

Liang Yao was not worried about France taking root in Mexico. France tended to adopt direct rule over its colonies. It liked to send French officials to directly manage the colonies, regarded the colonies as an extension of mainland France, and implemented assimilation policies in the colonies to Frenchify them.

Compared with Britain's indirect rule and divide-and-rule cultural policy over its colonies, France's model was very costly to maintain colonial rule and was difficult to sustain for a long time.

Besides, the Second French Empire didn't have many years left to live, so it wouldn't hurt to let Napoleon III indulge in his desire to be an emperor.

"I hope it's as you said. Mexico's debt is a huge sum. If Mexico agrees to borrow money by mortgaging the road building rights and mining rights, where are you going to get such a large sum of money? You don't want to use the 1500 million US dollars raised by issuing treasury bonds, do you? That's our life-saving money." Fremont said with some concern.

"The future is uncertain. These 1500 million US dollars are the ballast of our American Republic. I will not touch this money unless it is absolutely necessary." Liang Yao said seriously.

"With the British, French and Spanish armies approaching, it's hard to say whether Mexico can survive for a month. If they can get the British, French and Spanish coalition forces to withdraw, it won't be too late to have a serious talk with them then."

(End of this chapter)