Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 311: The Collapse of the Empire
In Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, a man in dark gentleman's suit walked out of the royal palace.

Outside the palace is the bustling Imperial Plaza, where white people, black people, Indians, and people of all different races live together on the same land.

A steam train belching black smoke arrived from the station on one side of the square, and batches of wounded soldiers with bandages all over their bodies walked out of the black train compartments.

"Would you like a newspaper, sir? The latest edition of the Brasilia Morning Post."

A newsboy with a full bag of newspapers hanging diagonally around his neck held a stack of newspapers in his right hand and handed it to the man and asked.

"Get me one."

"That's three reais."

The newsboy took out a newspaper and handed it to the man.

"Ten pennies, and the rest is a tip for you."

The man reached into his upper pocket and found that he had no Brazilian currency, so he pulled out a British ten-pence coin.

"Thank you sir, you are such a generous man."

The internal situation in Brazil is turbulent, and the government-issued legal currency, the Real, is depreciating too quickly. The Reals earned by many low-income Brazilians after a day's hard work are almost like waste paper after the depreciation. However, the British Empire is the most powerful empire in the world, and the British pounds and pence issued by the United Kingdom are generally recognized by Brazilians in Brazil. In daily commercial and economic life, Brazilians are more willing to accept strong pounds and pence as circulating currency than the Brazilian currency that is depreciating faster and faster.

Opening the newspaper that still smelled of ink, the man was attracted by several big headlines on it at first sight.

"The rebels suffered heavy losses, and the Imperial Army recaptured El Salvador!"

Reading along the title, according to what was said in the newspaper, the Battle of Salvador lasted for seven months. On August 11, two days ago, the Brazilian army, with the eight heavy artillery purchased from the British Expeditionary Force, blew down the city wall held by the rebel black armed forces. As a result, the Brazilian army was able to attack the city of Salvador. The northern rebellion campaign that had been deadlocked for more than half a year was about to usher in the final victory.

The black rebellion in the six northern states tied up nearly half of the main forces of the Brazilian army. About 60,000 regular troops and militia were dispatched from other local states to the six northern states to fight. Due to the impact of the rebellion in the northern region, the Brazilian government failed to respond to the changes in the situation in Argentina in a timely manner. After the British Expeditionary Force gave up its armed intervention in Han's annexation of Argentina, the Brazilian army, which was fighting fiercely with the Han army on the southern front, was unable to support unilateral combat and had to abandon some of the strongholds and defense lines it had occupied and retreat to its garrison on the Brazilian side. The confrontation between Brazil and Han also returned to its pre-war state.

The timing of the riots in the six northern states was too coincidental. Based on the intelligence collected by various parties, the Brazilian government and the British Expeditionary Force were very sure that the Han State and Paraguay participated in and conspired to plan the riots in the northern region.

Old-fashioned Dresser rifles, obsolete muzzle-loading muskets, and some rare Gatling hand-cranked machine guns (also known as machine cannons), most of the weapons that had been equipped by the Han army appeared in the hands of the rebel forces. Moreover, across the land barrier, the Brazilian army identified more than one hundred active officers from the Paraguayan army from the captured rebels.

Han provided weapons, Paraguay provided military officers with guidance, and the intelligence collected was sorted out. A conspiracy of three parties to overthrow the Brazilian Empire was clearly revealed to the Brazilian military and political leaders. The three parties secretly colluded and cooperated. Apart from the northern rebel forces and Han, the Brazilian government was most worried that Paraguay would join the war and launch a surprise attack on Brazil.

Some time ago, with the support of the British Expeditionary Force, the Brazilian government dared to open up a new battlefield while the rebellion war was going on in the northern region. However, as the war situation changed dramatically, the Han Kingdom quickly eliminated the Argentine government forces and completely occupied Argentina and Uruguay. The Brazilian and British armies lost the best opportunity to attack the Han Kingdom’s troops. The original plan of Britain, Brazil, and Argentina to cooperate internally and externally to jointly attack the Han Kingdom’s army failed. Not only did it fail to weaken the Han Kingdom’s war strength, but it put Brazil in an unfavorable position of being attacked on three sides.

The Brazilian Empire was trapped both internally and externally, and the situation was turbulent. Politicians with a little experience could see the huge crisis facing the Brazilian government. As the ruler of Brazil, a vast empire, Pedro II naturally would not fail to notice the risk of the crown falling to the ground. In order to save his political reputation, eliminate the adverse effects of liberating black slaves and granting blacks equal status, remove political concessions, and relax the restrictions on local states made in the early days of his reign for the purpose of centralization, in terms of military, on the one hand, Pedro II ordered the northern anti-insurgency forces to resolve the black armed forces at all costs and recover the lost land occupied by the rebel armed forces. On the other hand, he decentralized control of the army to a certain extent, allowing officers from the aristocracy and the landowner class to hold middle and upper-level leadership positions.

The various measures taken by Pedro II only superficially eased the conflicts among various classes within Brazil. In fact, the Republicans attributed the responsibility for the two foreign wars and the introduction of British capital entirely to Pedro II, while the Democrats were more convinced that the monarchy had failed and that the Braganza family was not suitable to continue ruling Brazil.

The big landowners and nobles were resentful of Pedro II's reforms of abolishing black slavery and redistributing land. They either chose to be loyal to Princess Isabella and place their hopes of restoring their interests on the next monarch, or they were completely disappointed and watched the competition among various forces within Brazil with an indifferent eye, staying out of the open and secret struggles.

Being in the vortex of the Brazilian Empire, everyone is affected by the changes in Brazil's political situation, either actively or passively. As the head of the British expeditionary fleet, Gordon's political future is unknowingly mixed up with Brazil's political situation.

Gordon became the first Governor-General of Sudan with the honor of a yellow jacket and first-rank admiral bestowed by the Qing Empire. However, before he had the chance to show his talents, he was appointed commander of the expeditionary fleet by the London government, responsible for blocking the Han Kingdom's attack on the Argentine government.

Before coming into contact with the Han army, Gordon believed that there was no essential difference between the Han National Defense Army and the Taiping Army. Both armies relied on the lower-class Chinese to start their business, and with the help of religious incitement, they bewitched the lower-class people to work for them. If they were hit by the modern weapons of the Western army, those backward armies composed of laborers and farmers would be defeated at one blow. Holding this inherent prejudice, Gordon ordered his landing troops to march straight into the attack on the enemy, but suffered a disastrous defeat. After several months of land fighting, the British troops suffered more than 2,600 casualties, and 1,500 casualties due to disease and other reasons. The expeditionary force of less than 15,000 people suffered losses of 4,000.

The loss of a mere 1841 men could not shake the foundation of the British army. More than 4500 years ago, in 12000, an uprising broke out in Kabul, Afghanistan. A total of more than 16000 people, including garrison troops and family members, were wiped out on their retreat to Jalalabad. Only a military doctor ran back to the stronghold to report the battle process to the British army.

In 1855, Britain and France jointly launched the Crimean War against Tsarist Russia, and the number of British casualties exceeded 2.

The wealthy British Empire was not afraid of losses in the colonial wars, but the British government was reluctant to participate in wars with low returns and unprofitable results.

Disraeli, the British Conservative Prime Minister who was obsessed with overseas expansion, was driven out of office by the Liberal Party because of his radical colonial policy, which led to high fiscal expenditures. After being ousted, the Conservative MPs took the Argentine War as an opportunity to encourage the government to send an expeditionary force to intervene in the Argentine War, but failed again. The British political arena was in a state of political stalemate due to the Argentine War, the tense situation in Afghanistan, and other overseas colonial crises, which triggered party conflicts and confrontations. After losing the prime minister's throne, the old Conservative Party gradually lost the upper hand. In the House of Commons and the House of Lords at Buckingham Palace in London, the MPs had just reached a consensus to give up saving Argentina. The current strategic goal of Gordon's expeditionary force changed from defeating the Han army to deterring the expansion of the Han country and stabilizing the domestic situation in Brazil to prevent further damage to British interests.

The London government's order to Gordon was to remain neutral in the competition among various factions in Brazil. The British Expeditionary Force stranded in Brazil, including Gordon, had to obey the orders of Sir Austin, the British Minister to Brazil.

From the harsh orders sent to him by the government, Gordon could sense that Pedro II was gradually being snubbed by the London government. British Minister Sir Austin, while publicly expressing support for Pedro II's national defense policy, privately frequently accepted requests for meetings from Brazilian Republicans and Democrats.

The content of the talks between the British envoy and the republicans is unknown. They always isolated Gordon when they talked. Gordon guessed that his frequent contacts with Pedro II and his acceptance of the title of Baron Piratininca in Brazil aroused the suspicion of the envoy, who was worried that because of his personal relationship with Pedro II, he would reveal the true attitude of the London government towards the political situation in Brazil.

Brazil, Han, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia were at war. Gordon was restricted by the London government's orders and could only be a spectator of history. He clenched his fist unwillingly and crumpled up the newspaper he had just read. Gordon looked back at the solemn and majestic Brazilian Royal Palace and prayed for Pedro II in his heart, "I hope the military progress in the north can bring some help to His Majesty."

(End of this chapter)