Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 423 Brazil's Current Situation
In the Linhua Hall of Hanyuan Palace, inside the elegant and exquisite palace, a man and a woman were sitting together, having an intimate conversation.

"My beloved concubine is pregnant. Please pay more attention to your safety. If it is not necessary, try to avoid going out. If you feel bored, let someone around you inform the front court. I will make time to accompany you."

Li Mingyuan held the other person's hand and gave gentle instructions.

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I have the company of Her Majesty the Queen and several sisters in the palace. I live a happy and fulfilling life every day and never feel bored."

Concubine Li Yina brushed her golden hair to her ears and leaned gently into Li Mingyuan's arms. Her clear, bright blue eyes revealed joy and happiness. "I have just been diagnosed with pregnancy. My belly is not yet visible, and my normal outings are not affected. Your Majesty does not need to worry about my health."

"My beloved concubine is right. You can maintain normal outdoor activities during the first four or five months of pregnancy, but you still need to be careful about some aspects. After all, you are carrying our child, so you can't be careless."

"I will remember your majesty's instructions and will pay extra attention to safety when traveling in the palace in the future."

Feeling the importance in Li Mingyuan's words, Concubine Li Yina put away her playful and coquettish expression and spoke seriously.

"After all, this is your first pregnancy, and you have no experience in some things. If you have nothing to do, you can communicate more with the Queen and the Imperial Concubine. You can get some experience on pregnancy maintenance from them, which can also help you suffer less in the last few months of pregnancy."

The four daughters, the imperial concubine, Ying'er and Xiaolan, gave birth to three sons and four daughters successively. In this regard, Li Mingyuan gradually accumulated some experience.

"The living environment in the palace is different from that in Brazil. If you are not used to getting along with the maids and servants around you, you can bring it up. Then your father will select a few good sisters from your family to enter the palace to accompany you for a while, so that you won't be lonely."

"Before I entered the palace, I learned Chinese from the female teacher my father hired. After entering the palace, I stayed in the native land for three years. During these three years, I got used to the local lifestyle and did not feel any discomfort in getting along with the domestic women in the palace."

Being in a different environment, the palace maids and attendants she came into contact with were all Chinese. Although she said she had adapted, the feeling was actually different from when she lived in Brazil. However, she chose to marry Li Mingyuan and live a life different from that of the West. Even though she felt a little uncomfortable, Li Yina was unwilling to say it.

It is normal to feel a little uncomfortable at first when living in a foreign country and trying to integrate into Chinese society. After graduating from university in his previous life, Li Mingyuan joined the French Foreign Legion and stayed with a group of foreign soldiers with different customs. He found it difficult to adapt at first, but after a few years of getting along and going through a long period of adjustment, the feeling of discomfort gradually disappeared.

Compared with Li Mingyuan's previous life, when he passively integrated into the life rhythm of the French Foreign Legion, Li Yina's situation was undoubtedly much better.
She has a gentle, handsome and tall husband, and she can receive his love and care in daily life. As for the family, her father and siblings are free from the risk of being constantly worried about attacks by Republican officials and black mobs during their time in the Republic of Brazil.

My father was hired as a state affairs adviser, responsible for providing military and political intelligence on both the Brazilian Republic and the Brazilian Empire to my husband and the Ministry of National Security. My two elder brothers have just passed the entrance examinations and will enter the Army and Naval Academy respectively. My widowed elder sister also married a Chinese officer in August last year.

The dozen or so core members of the family and the fifty or sixty relatives who depend on the family have all been fully integrated into the military, political and cultural circles of the Han State. They have fewer and fewer Western imprints on them, and their family status and living conditions are improving day by day. Under such circumstances, even if there are some discomforts in the lifestyle, overall, Li Yina's family is still much better off than before.

As Li Yina's husband, Li Mingyuan tries his best to fulfill his duties as a husband, taking time to accompany her and giving her genuine care and consideration. Outside of family life, Li Mingyuan will not forget to use the advantages of Li Yina's family to provide useful intelligence for Han's strategic expansion in Brazil.

Putting aside the trivial matters of state affairs, Li Mingyuan carefully accompanied Li Yina. At noon the next day, in a study room on the left side of the Zhongji Hall in the former court, Li Mingyuan summoned the Minister of National Security Shen Fushan and the State Affairs Advisor Silva together to ask them about various aspects of intelligence on both the Republic of Brazil and the Brazilian Empire.

"Your Majesty, according to the intelligence provided by a group of Brazilian businessmen who were bribed by the locals, the Brazilian Republican government is planning a black migration plan. They plan to move 20 blacks from the central and inland areas to the southern states of Sao Paulo and Paraná."

Shen Fushan, Minister of National Security, said: "The migration of blacks from inland and central areas to coastal areas is an important part of the Brazilian government's population cleansing plan. I believe that the migration of 20 blacks is just the beginning. After completing the resettlement of 20 blacks, the Brazilian government will formulate a larger plan to continue to migrate and evacuate more blacks to other parts of Brazil."

"Forced migration and evacuation of black people requires a large amount of financial funds. Can the Brazilian Republican government come up with this money now?"

Li Mingyuan doesn't quite believe that the Brazilian Republican government is willing to spend precious fiscal funds just to whitewash its own black people.

"At first, I thought the source of the information was wrong, but after comparing and verifying the information from many sources, I think this is most likely true and credible."

Shen Fushan explained: "In the late Brazilian Empire, due to the collapse of the national finances, the financial and industrial sectors were on the verge of bankruptcy, and the financial resources and power of the emerging bourgeoisie in Brazil suffered a major blow. When the Republican forces and the big capitalist class joined forces to drive Pedro II out of power, the Republican government abolished all restrictions on blacks on the basis of Pedro II's abolition of black slaves, and tried to use the released black labor to drive the development of the frustrated financial industry and light industry. However, the policies of the Brazilian Republican government did not achieve the expected results. After completely getting rid of their slave status and obtaining the same electoral rights as adult whites in the political field, blacks took advantage of their numerical advantage and won the elections in the central and inland regions where the population was absolutely dominant. Many blacks from the lower classes became government officials and began to intervene in and manipulate local government management.

Under the influence of the atmosphere of freedom, democracy and republic, in the past ten years since the establishment of the Brazilian Republican Government, black forces have gradually infiltrated into the military, government, agriculture, planting and other fields, especially in several provinces in the central and inland areas, where black forces quickly replaced local whites and took control of the main political and military power in the area. …………

The power of black people was difficult to control, and the plantation economy of coffee, sugar and other industries, which was originally built on cheap labor, suffered the same fate as the financial industry and light industry because of the slave emancipation policy.

Without the support of finance and light industry, coffee planting became the main source of revenue for the Brazilian Republican government in the areas under its control. Therefore, in order to save the coffee planting economy that was in recession and solve the problem of black concentration in the central and inland areas, the Brazilian Republican government was willing to pay a huge financial price and implement the black migration plan.

"It seems that the black issue has become the top priority for the Brazilian Republican government."

Li Mingyuan nodded, and roughly understood the difficulties that the Brazilian Republican government was currently facing. Brazil's domestic industrialization was interrupted due to the failure of the Paraguayan War. The originally thriving light industry and the financial industry that depended on emerging industries were also affected by the Paraguayan War and the subsequent Argentine War, the Brazilian Civil War and several other wars, and they were unable to recover.

Apart from light industry and finance, coffee and sugarcane cultivation are the main sources of fiscal revenue in Brazil. The sugarcane cultivation is concentrated in the Brazilian Empire headed by Princess Isabella, while the remaining coffee cultivation is distributed in the central and inland provinces.

Over the past two decades, due to the continuous domestic war, Brazil not only lost the population influx of about 80 white immigrants in the same period of history, but its total population decreased by about 100 million due to the war.

The decreased population was mainly composed of native white people who migrated out. Without the influx of white immigrants and with the outflow of domestic white people, the ratio of blacks to whites in the Republic of Brazil and the Brazilian Empire had reached a very extreme limit. After more than a hundred years of continuous immigration, the Brazilian government raised the proportion of non-blacks to 50% of the total population, and this also included mixed-race children with black ancestry. If one follows the one-drop blood principle, anyone with black ancestry will be classified as a black ethnic group. Then the proportion of blacks in Brazil is at least 80% of the total population.

In the real world, at the end of 1888, the population of the Republic of Brazil was about 660 million, with the ratio of blacks to whites being to .

The total population of the Brazilian Empire was approximately 230 million, with the ratio of black to white population being to .

There are huge differences in the total population and the ratio of blacks to whites between the Republic of Brazil and the Brazilian Empire. The reason for this difference is related to the distribution of blacks in Brazil.

The main ethnic groups in the two southern states of Brazil (excluding Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, which were occupied by the Han Dynasty) are descendants of white European immigrants, and blacks account for less than 10% of the local population.

In central and inland areas such as Rio de Janeiro, Milasquez-Goiás, and Bahia, the number of blacks is roughly two to three times the number of whites.
The Amazon rainforest in the north-central region is mainly inhabited by indigenous Indians, with relatively few whites and blacks.

The central and northern coastal regions, namely provinces such as Pernambuco, have always been the main importation point for African slaves, and the number of blacks is far greater than the total number of whites and Indians.

Both the Republic of Brazil and the Brazilian Empire face the problem of an excessively high proportion of blacks. Compared with the Brazilian Republic, the Brazilian Empire has a smaller population and a higher proportion of blacks. However, because the black riots that broke out earlier in the central and northern coastal areas were suppressed by Pedro II, the local black rebel armed forces were greatly weakened. Therefore, the current situation within the Brazilian Empire is better than that of the Brazilian Republic.

The problems left over from the early days of the establishment of the Brazilian Empire gradually evolved into a tumor attached to the country's body. If the essential problems of ethnic conflicts could not be resolved, even if the Han State gave up its expansion strategy, it would be difficult for both the Republic of Brazil and the Brazilian Empire to become regional powers.

Of course, it is impossible for the Han State to give up its strategy of expanding its sphere of influence in Brazil. For the sake of the country's future health and stability, Li Mingyuan also needs to make early arrangements to deal with the black issues left over from the Republic of Brazil and the Brazilian Empire.

"The Brazilian government has not officially announced the implementation of the black migration plan yet, which means they themselves have doubts about this plan. In this case, the local authorities can add fuel to the fire for them. We can have our people spread the news after slightly modifying it and see how the blacks in Brazil and the whites in the southern region will react."

If the Brazilian Republican government really relocated 20 or more blacks to the southern region, it would undoubtedly have a serious negative impact on the Han State's expansion strategy. Therefore, in order to stop the actions of the Brazilian Republican government, it is very necessary to intervene in advance and cause sabotage.

"The Calaveras family still has some friendly families in Sao Paulo State and Rio de Janeiro. If we tell them about the Republican government's plan to relocate black people, it will surely have a good effect."

After Li Mingyuan gave the instructions, Silva took the initiative to take on part of the task in Chinese with a Western accent.

“It’s great that the Calaveras family can serve the country.”

Li Mingyuan was happy to see Silva take the initiative to play his role, and praised: "The Calaveras family is a family with a long history. Although your family is a branch of the side branch, as a role model for defecting to the empire, I hope you can set a better example for the local white community."

"White people and Chinese are all part of the Han nation. I am willing to make greater efforts and sacrifices for the development of the empire."

"You don't need to make sacrifices. As long as you can complete the few tasks assigned to you, it will be a great achievement. When the virtuous concubine gives birth to a child in the future, combined with your achievements, you may be able to earn a hereditary title for the family and revive the glory of the Calaveras family."

"Your Majesty, please give me your orders. I promise to complete the task assigned by Your Majesty."

Silva was quite decisive. He agreed directly without asking what task Li Mingyuan was assigning him.

"I heard that the new naval commander of the Brazilian Empire, Count Deu, is related to the Calaveras family by marriage. I want you to go to the Brazilian Empire in person and use your family's relationship with Count Deu to convince him to support the cooperation between the Brazilian Empire and the Han Kingdom."

"Although the Brazilian Empire had unpleasant experiences with the Empire before, under the pressure of the Republican military forces, I believe that Count Deu and Queen Isabella will be able to see the situation clearly and accept the olive branch extended by Your Majesty."

Count Deu is a prince of the Orense family and the uncle of Queen Isabella. Relying on the relationship between the Calaveras family and the Orense family, as well as the practical needs of the Brazilian Empire, it is not difficult for Silva to persuade Count Deu, and then, through Count Deu's relationship, persuade Queen Isabella to agree to conclude military cooperation between the two sides. …………

(End of this chapter)