Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 432: The End of the Brazilian Empire

"Since we have reached a consensus on repatriating the rebels, this matter will be handed over to Marshal Garcia and General Eberle."

Queen Isabella sat on the main seat and made the final decision on the repatriation plan for blacks. Then, she turned her eyes to the royal relative-in-law, the Navy Commander-in-Chief Count Deu, who was sitting in the front row: "Count Deu, the next important matter concerning the Imperial Navy will be introduced to everyone by you."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Count Deu stood up and said, "In 1879, at the beginning of the North-South split, the Empire controlled nine states along the central and northern coasts. After the British intervened in the internal war within the Empire, the Republican rebels seized the southern part of Bahia from the Empire's army. Since then, the confrontation line between the Empire and the Republican rebels has retreated from Bahia and Minas Gerais to Tinare Island, Valenza, and Serra Grande. Because the actual controlled area has been reduced and the confrontation line between the north and the south has moved back, the Empire's temporary capital, Saldoba, has been facing the threat of the Republican rebel army."

Count Deu simply described the situation faced by the Brazilian Empire after the division between the North and the South, with no obvious emotional changes on his face: "From 1879 to 1883, the Imperial Navy inherited the main naval strength of His Majesty Pedro II. Therefore, when facing the land military pressure of the rebellious Republican government, it could rely on the naval advantage to maintain the balance of the armed forces on the front lines of both sides.

However, the situation changed fundamentally from 1883. As the advanced warships ordered by the Republican rebel group from Britain returned to South America one after another, the original maritime advantage of the Imperial Navy was quickly offset. The southern rebel group posed an increasing direct threat to the Empire's homeland, especially to the Empire's capital, El Salvador, which was far from the front line. …………"

"Salvador is the most important central city in the central and northern regions. If the central government agencies of the empire are relocated due to the military threat from the southern Republican group, it may cause panic among ordinary subjects and unpredictable political unrest in the areas controlled by the empire."

After listening to Count Deu's words and intuitively realizing the imbalance of military power between the army and navy on the front line and the resulting chain reaction, Duke Forbert immediately felt the seriousness of the matter.

"Moving the capital and relocating the imperial central government is the last step. We cannot take this step until the confrontation line on the front line collapses beyond redemption."

Duke Forbert thought for a moment and said, "Besides moving the capital, does Your Excellency have any other plans?"

"Yes, Prime Minister Forbert."

Count Deu gave Duke Forbert a positive reply, explaining: "According to the intelligence analysis sent back by Europe (mainly the Portuguese royal family) and some southern naval officers who are inclined to the imperial government, the Southern Republican Navy currently has a naval fleet with a total tonnage of between 5000 and 4000 tons, including three 2000-ton armored cruisers ordered from the UK, a 2.4-ton medium-sized cruiser that is about to be completed, three old-fashioned ironclad ships of about 2.8 tons, and more than a dozen small coastal defense gunboats.

Compared with the Imperial Navy, the various naval fleets have a total of 31 ships of various types with a total tonnage of 2.5 tons. In terms of total naval tonnage, the Imperial Navy is at the same level as the naval forces controlled by the southern rebel group.

However, in actual naval warfare, because the main naval forces of the Southern Republican Group are mostly newly purchased advanced armored warships, and the main warships of the Imperial Navy are all old ironclad ships inherited from the time of His Majesty Pedro, if a large-scale naval conflict breaks out, the Imperial Navy will find it difficult to assume the responsibility of defending the Empire's maritime security and assisting the Imperial Army in guarding the homeland.

There are two main ways to offset the Southern Republican Group's maritime military pressure on the Empire's homeland.

The first is to resume the navy's ship purchase plan and seek to purchase advanced warships from European countries such as Britain, France or Germany, so as to gradually reverse the imbalance in the naval power comparison between the North and the South.

The second is to jump out of the circle of the naval arms race and strike at the Southern Republican Group from other aspects, including political, economic, and military, to weaken the overall military strength of the Southern Republican Group and buy time for the imperial government to restore the economy and develop military strength. "

"Once the empire's mainland rebellion war is over and the black repatriation plan is completed, the potential risk of rebellion in the empire will disappear. At that time, part of the fiscal funds used for suppressing the rebellion can be transferred to the purchase of new warships."

Following Count Deu's words, Marshal Garcia expressed his own views.

Although Marshal Garcia came from the Brazilian Army, his military rank and position meant that the scope of issues he considered was not limited to the Army. The Army was the main force against the Southern Republican Group, and the Navy was also an indispensable force against the Southern Republican Group. Therefore, in the face of the overall situation, it was reasonable to cede part of the interests to develop the Navy.

"In the next two years, the imperial government can squeeze out a total of 35 pounds of foreign exchange funds (equivalent to 125 million taels of silver) to order an armored cruiser of about 5000 tons."

After listening to Count Deu's introduction, Duke Forbert knew that the order price of the 1885-ton armored cruiser Aquidaban ordered by the Southern Republican Government in 5000 was 34.5 tons, so he added 5000 pounds to the quotation of Aquidaban.

"Bahia is the area controlled by the Empire where the counterinsurgency activities are carried out most thoroughly. In addition, because Bahia borders the area controlled by the southern Republican rebel group, in the past seven or eight years, a total of more than 14 white people who are dissatisfied with the Republican group's policies have crossed the border and entered the central and northern parts of Bahia controlled by the Imperial government. If the decision to move the capital is made for naval reasons, the favorable conditions for the counterinsurgency war will be completely lost. Therefore, for the sake of the more than 32 subjects who follow Her Majesty the Queen in Bahia, no compromise or concession can be made." The plan to repatriate blacks is Eber's top priority. As the current ruling core of the Brazilian Empire, the number of whites in the central and northern parts of Bahia has reached 50, and their population share has increased to % of the total population. In addition, with the relocation and repatriation of blacks who participated in the rebellion in the jurisdiction, and the continued influx of white population from the south, the proportion of whites in the central and northern parts of Bahia controlled by the Brazilian Empire is likely to increase to % in the next five years.

In order to smoothly implement the plan to repatriate blacks, Eberle followed Marshal Garcia's point of view and also agreed to the plan of allocating financial funds to the navy to a certain extent and ordering new warships.

It was in everyone's common interest to deal with the threat from the Southern Republican Government and defend the Brazilian Empire. Therefore, ordering new warships to partially offset the military advantage of the Southern Navy became a consensus among everyone.

"The core area of ​​the Empire's territory is occupied by the Southern rebel group. Relying on the fiscal revenue of the eight and a half states in the central and northern coastal areas to engage in a naval arms race with the Southern Republican government is not in the Empire's interest. Therefore, while taking out a portion of fiscal funds to try to develop the military strength of the Empire's navy, the Empire must also unite with external forces to contain and disperse the military strength of the Southern Republican government. This is an aspect that the Empire must pay attention to at present."

Skipping the specific details of ordering new warships, Count Deu focused on uniting external forces to jointly resist the threat of the Brazilian Republican Government: "Since the division of the empire into north and south, the situation in South America has undergone fundamental changes. Although King Lopez Jr. of Paraguay took advantage of the military weakness of the Brazilian Republican Government to occupy Mato Grosso do Sul and part of Goiás, Paraguay is internally unstable. In addition, Lopez Jr. is seriously ill, and his control over Paraguay has gradually weakened. Even if the imperial government abandons previous grievances and takes the initiative to unite with Paraguay, it will not be able to effectively contain the southern Republican Government.

In addition to Paraguay, Peru and Bolivia were affected by the Guano War, and there were many separatist armed forces within the country. They were also unable to share the military pressure for the imperial government.

Excluding Paraguay, Peru, and Bolivia, the Han Kingdom, which was once hostile to the imperial government, ranks first in South America in terms of population and military strength. It is currently the only country capable of suppressing and threatening the Southern Republican Government by force.

On the other hand, the comprehensive national strength of the Han Kingdom far exceeds that of the South American countries. Although cooperation with the Han Kingdom is conducive to easing the military pressure from the Southern Republican Group, in the future, the further growth of the Han Kingdom may also bring greater military and political pressure to the imperial government. "

After receiving the cooperation intention from the Han side through Silva, Count Deu was emotionally unwilling to agree to the fact of cooperating with the former enemy. However, faced with the military threat from the Southern Republican Group, and the test of his personal interests and the survival of the entire Brazilian Empire, Count Deu finally put forward the cooperation plan conveyed by Silva at the meeting.

"Cooperation with the Han Kingdom has both risks and benefits. Before today's meeting, the Han Kingdom sent someone to privately pass on the message that they wanted to reach an agreement with the Imperial Government to deal with the military threat from the Southern Republican Government. However, the cooperation matter is too important. After I learned the news, I dared not conceal it. After obtaining the permission of Her Majesty the Queen, I took the opportunity of this meeting to bring it up to you in person. I hope that after discussion, you can make an appropriate decision."

"The people of the East are too greedy for land, and their emperor always has his eyes on the land in the north. Cooperating with the Han Kingdom will bring too many risks in the future.

However, if the imperial government rejects the olive branch extended by the Han Kingdom and relies solely on its own strength to confront the Southern Republican Government supported by Britain, I am afraid that the imperial government will fall under the military pressure of the Southern Republican Government and Britain before it sees the danger of the Han Kingdom's further growth in the future. "

After several wars, the strength of the Han army and the Han emperor's greed for land have been known to the high-ranking officials of the Brazilian Empire. However, even though they knew that cooperating with the Han meant giving the Han an opportunity to grow stronger,

However, when faced with an imminent threat, the top brass of the Brazilian Empire chose the decision that was most beneficial to them.

As the saying goes, there may be individuals who betray their class, but there will never be a class that betrays its class.

The interests of the nobles and generals in the palace depend on the Brazilian Empire and the physique on which the empire depends. If the Brazilian Empire is gone, their interests will be gone too. Compared with the possible future threats from the South American Han Kingdom, it is not difficult to choose between maintaining current class interests.

Eber's words pointed out the necessity of cooperating with the Han Kingdom in South America, and then the good news revealed by Count Dewu prompted the hesitant people to make a positive decision.

Count Deu was the commander of the Brazilian Empire Navy. While managing the affairs of the Brazilian Empire's naval fleet, he also maintained close ties with some senior generals in the Southern Republican Government Navy who were inclined towards the monarchy through the connections left over from the Pedro II period.
Count Dewu roughly shared the secrets he knew with everyone, and revealed his plan to take advantage of the outbreak of war between the Han Kingdom and the Southern Republican government in the future to incite the Southern Republican Navy fleet to rebel.

According to Count Deu's plan, if the operation goes smoothly and a part of the Southern Republican Government's naval warships can be won over, not only will the strength of the Brazilian Empire's navy be enhanced, but it can also be used as a breakthrough to strike at the Southern Republican Government's ruling foundation and create favorable conditions for the reunification of the Brazilian Empire.

After the meeting, officials within the Brazilian Empire once again became busy.
Ebel was responsible for carrying out the operation of repatriating the rebellious blacks.
Count Deu was responsible for purchasing advanced warships, maintaining close ties, and inciting the rebellion of naval officers of the Southern Republican Government.
Duke Forbert and officials from various departments of the cabinet were busy raising financial funds on the one hand, and implementing internal cleanup plans on the other hand, suppressing the remaining dissidents within the empire on a large scale. (Including republicans and black rebels who were hostile to the Brazilian Empire.)...

(End of this chapter)