Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 298 The Crumbling Empire

On the night of July 1879, , several mysterious men crossed the Brazilian side of the defense line, went down the Paraná River and arrived at Guaira where the Paraguayan troops were stationed.

The mysterious men showed the Guaira garrison evidence that could prove their identity. That night, the commander of the Guaira garrison did not dare to delay and immediately dispatched a company of troops to escort the mysterious men to the capital, Asuncion, by land.

At midnight the next day, the gate of the Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Paraguay was slowly opened, and the kingdom's new marquis, Istigali, walked quickly into the palace with a middle-aged white man.

"Your Majesty, this is General Marmolles, Deputy Commander of the Brazilian Empire's Military Police. General Marmolles has important intelligence about the Brazilian Empire and needs to report it to you in person."

After Istigali finished speaking, he took a step back and motioned for Mamores to speak first.

"Your Majesty, the Brazilian Empire is about to end. His Majesty Pedro II has issued an abolition decree, which has led to a riot among blacks and black legions. The soldiers in the empire and the free people of all classes who originally supported His Majesty are very disappointed. Now the farmers in the capital Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have given up their loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor. General Deodoro da Fonseca of Victoria State has organized an officer corps to plan a military coup.
Republicans, in alliance with General Floriano Araujo Peixoto, planned to seize command of the São Paulo state forces and lead the São Paulo regional forces to march to Rio de Janeiro and seize control of the country;
Father Antonio Gonzalo gathered believers in the central and northern regions of the empire and publicly declared that His Majesty Pedro II was the reincarnation of the devil and would fight the imperial government to the end. …………”

The deterioration of the situation in Brazil exceeded Lopez Jr.'s expectations.
The liberation of black slaves, the rebellion of the black army, the stalemate in the second war against the Han Kingdom...

Pedro II's repeated political and military mistakes consumed the foundation accumulated since Brazil's independence and pushed the white peasants, farmers, and aristocrats, the cornerstone of the imperial government, to the opposite side.

Garcia, Duke Frobert and the few generals and nobles centered on the Brazilian royal family were dismissed and idled by Pedro II. A group of subordinates of Admiral Garcia, instigated by young officers, established the Knights of Brasilia, and then changed their allegiance to Pedro II's daughter, Princess Isabella. Radical officers led by Eber believed that Pedro II was no longer suitable to rule the crisis-ridden Brazilian Empire as a monarch. Instead of watching the empire established by their ancestors destroyed in the hands of a foolish emperor, it would be better to put power in the hands of young officers, who would support Princess Isabella to be crowned the Queen of the Brazilian Empire and save the collapsing empire.

By analyzing the intelligence provided by Mamolez, the astute Lopez Jr. realized that Pedro II's rule had come to an end, and an opportunity he had been waiting for more than ten years had finally arrived.

"General Mamoles, you are a wise man, and you will be proud of the choice you made today."

Lopez Jr. showed an excited smile on his face. He clasped his hands together, stared at the huge map hanging on the wall, and said enthusiastically, "I knew long ago that it was a serious mistake to let a prince of a small European country rule Brazil.

Pedro II is a stupid and cowardly waste. He is not worthy of wearing the crown of the Brazilian Empire. Only I, the successor of Emperor Napoleon, the King of the Kingdom of Paraguay, and the supreme leader of white people in Latin America, am qualified to wear the crown of the Brazilian Empire and have the ability to defeat all the barbarians who attempt to seize white territory! "

Before the start of the Paraguayan War, Lopez Jr. looked down on Pedro II, who advocated the European democratic system. He once said, "Democracy is a trick played by politicians to fool the common people. There has never been real democracy. The common people are like sheep on the grassland. As long as they follow the instructions of the head of state, the sheep can survive and the living needs of the common people can be met. If power is given to the common people, they will only mess up the country like Pedro, this fool."

After hearing about the dire situation of the Brazilian Empire with his own ears, Lopez Jr.'s contempt for Pedro II became even greater.

"The Brazilian Empire was destroyed in Pedro's hands. How could his fat pig-like head come up with a stupid way to liberate black slaves? Black slaves were a group of uncivilized savages. They were covered with viruses. Anyone who came into contact with them would be infected with the disease. How could Pedro give them equal status with white people!

Even if a pig were the emperor, he wouldn't think of giving equal status to black slaves!"

"His Majesty Pedro II was deceived by the British. He thought that as long as he did what the British wanted, they would always support him."

Marmolez explained as Little Lopez expressed his contempt for Pedro II.

"Only a fool like Pedro would believe the English.

The British originally promised to guarantee Argentina's national security, but in the end the Han Chinese still destroyed their country."

"The British cannot be trusted. When Your Majesty rejected the British request for navigation in domestic rivers, the British instigated Brazil and Argentina to attack us. If Your Majesty had not led the entire Paraguayan people to resist, I am afraid Paraguay would have ended up like Brazil." Istigali was a close confidant of Lopez Jr., and because he was captured after the defeat in the Paraguayan War, he was full of hostility towards Britain, the mastermind behind the war.

“Don’t the English always say that their cattle and sheep are grazed on the grasslands of Argentina and western North America, and Peru sends them its silver?
Now that Peru and the British have fallen out, and the Han army has occupied Argentina, where can the British find their cattle, sheep and silver? "

Although Istigali's words were full of gloating over the British's misfortune, the uncontrollable Peru and Han Dynasty caused huge losses to Britain's assets invested in South America, which was the main factor that led Britain to step out from behind the scenes and directly intervene militarily in the chaos in South American countries.

Starting from the mid-19th century, Britain had a surplus of capital, and local business owners invested their surplus capital in overseas markets. Countries such as India, the United States in North America, Argentina, Peru, and Brazil in South America received large amounts of British capital inflows.

After the Civil War, the American domestic industry developed rapidly, and the North American market was replaced by American goods. At this time, the British textile industry was in urgent need of wool textile raw materials. Therefore, British capital squeezed out of the American market re-selected Argentina as a substitute for wool textile raw materials, and a large amount of funds poured into the La Plata region, especially

In Buenos Aires, located in the heart of the Pampas Plain, cattle and sheep are everywhere within a radius of two or three hundred kilometers.

In addition to agriculture and animal husbandry, the British were also keen on investing in railway construction.

In 1870, the Central Railway, which started from Rosario and connected Cordoba to the southwest, was completed and opened to traffic. In the following years, the Central Railway was extended to the northeast, connecting important cities such as Buenos Aires and La Plata with the Central Railway.

Due to the influx of British capital, the construction of railways in Argentina began to grow rapidly. In 1870, the national railways in Argentina were only 740 kilometers long. By 1879, when the Han Dynasty occupied Argentina, the length of the railways in Argentina reached 2000 kilometers.

The fast and convenient Argentine railway lines brought benefits to the Han State. Railway transportation was used when the British expeditionary fleet landed, when the Argentine War ended, and when the Han State withdrew troops to defend the Brazilian border area.

Britain's investment in Argentina's livestock industry, railway construction and other industries accounts for about one-fifth of its total investment in South America.

As soon as the Han Kingdom occupied Argentina, it took control of all industries belonging to British capital. Heavy industrial enterprises such as the Railway Construction Bureau, steel smelters, and machinery processing plants were handed over to the National Defense Force for key supervision. The persons in charge of the factories were forced to hand over technical information, and technical personnel were arranged to assist Han technical workers in learning mechanical operation skills.

Light industrial industries such as cattle and sheep ranches and wool textile factories were handed over to the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce after government officials completed the asset statistics. Finally, they were used as one of the bargaining chips in negotiations with the British government along with the confiscated heavy industrial factories.

On the one hand, he looked down on Pedro II in his heart, but on the other hand, as it involved a war that mobilized tens of thousands of troops, Lopez Jr., after being excited, quickly entered the state of a military maniac.

"Marquis Istigali, send someone to contact the Han Kingdom. The main force of the Kingdom is ready. Within half a month, the Paraguayan troops will launch an attack on the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo from Mato Grosso do Sul. I hope that the Han Kingdom will abide by the Quadruple Alliance Treaty and advance to Santa Catarina to attack the Brazilian defenders. The two armies will work closely together to defeat the Brazilian Empire's troops."

"Your Majesty, will the Han army remain in place? After all, during the Argentine War, the Kingdom's troops did not cooperate with the Han country in launching an attack on Brazil?"

"The Brazilian Empire is about to collapse. The Han people will not miss the opportunity to tear a piece of fat from the Brazilian Empire. Don't worry, based on my understanding of the King of Han, he will definitely send troops!"

"But if the Han Kingdom annexed Argentina, their strength would increase several times. If they were to snatch a piece of meat from the Brazilian Empire, would it pose a threat to the kingdom?"

"Han has now become the greatest threat to the kingdom, but our main goal right now is to unite with Brazil. As long as we seize the crown of the Brazilian Empire from Pedro II and combine the strengths of the Kingdom of Paraguay and the Brazilian Empire, we will be able to surpass Han. That will be the time to break with Han."

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(End of this chapter)