**Chapter 52**
**Texas (1)**
I sent Major Ricardo to Texas and summoned the chief architect.
The chief architect entered.
"Your Highness, you called for me?"
"I have something that requires me to leave the site for a while. You'll have to take over the site for a while."
"Yes, Your Highness. May I ask how long it will take?"
I'll probably mobilize the army just in case, but it should be shorter than the California trip.
We can take the army to Veracruz by train and then take a ship to Texas, so the journey will take less than two weeks.
"I'm suddenly realizing how reckless it was to go back and forth to California."
"It should take about three months."
"Yes, I think I can handle that."
"Alright. I'm not leaving right away, I'll take care of things by tomorrow, so don't worry too much."
"Thank you."
"Let's review the current situation first."
It's been ten months since I arrived in Veracruz, and a lot has changed during that time.
The chief architect and I moved to a large table.
It's a table where maps of the port of Veracruz, various blueprints, and papers with the progress of work are organized.
The chief architect pointed to various parts of the table and explained to me.
"Yes, Your Highness. The expansion of the port city and the construction of the shipyard are progressing rapidly. The supply of construction materials and workers is going well, and the construction is proceeding without any problems."
"Well, that's good."
Many farm workers from the Yucatan Peninsula, starting with the Escalante family, have moved to Veracruz.
"Congressman Escalante helped a lot."
I was able to take farmers from the Yucatan Peninsula for a very cheap referral fee.
With the support of Congressman Escalante, the most influential person in the area, in addition to my request as Crown Prince, the landowners began to release the farmers they were keeping, even though they didn't need them anymore.
As a result, over 50,000 workers have been brought in from the Yucatan Peninsula over the past eight months.
"It was a lot of work to manage them all at the construction site, so it was also a lot of work to assign them to other construction sites and various companies."
We only hired as many workers as we needed at the construction site in Veracruz, and the rest were sent to railroad and dam construction sites across the country, as well as other companies.
The intelligence agency we're going to establish will keep an eye on them, but we can say that this measure prevented the Caste War that could have happened in the Yucatan Peninsula.
"We prevented a rebellion that could have been a major threat, more easily than I expected."
"So, how much progress has been made exactly?"
"The port city expansion project is about 30% complete, and the shipyard construction is about 20% complete."
"Well, the total construction time won't be short."
If it's this far along after ten months, it will take almost three years.
"The workers are getting used to construction work, and the metric system education is complete, so the speed is starting to pick up."
"Alright. Let's go out to the site and check it out."
It's no exaggeration to say that the entire city is a construction site.
Maya workers were visible everywhere I looked.
"They're full of energy."
Veracruz, already the busiest port in Mexico, has experienced an incredible boom due to the construction work taking place everywhere.
All the accommodation and restaurants were always full, and all sorts of shops were experiencing a huge boom.
The chief architect and I carefully inspected the construction sites throughout the city.
"Everyone is doing a good job following the design. It's thanks to you assigning the architects to the right places."
"No, it's thanks to your leadership, Your Highness."
We checked the progress of the port and shipyard construction until the next day and thoroughly inspected how the construction would proceed in my absence.
"Cecilia, I think I need to go to Texas for a while."
"Can I go with you?"
"No, I'm just going for a short time, so don't worry too much and go to Mexico City for now. I'm also planning to stop by Mexico City before heading to Texas."
"Alright."
"Diego, help me pack."
"Yes, Your Highness."
I left the small house where I had been living like a honeymoon suite for the past ten months.
I wasn't taking everything with me, since I'll be back soon.
On the way back from Veracruz station by train, Cecilia asked.
"Honey, what happened in Texas?"
"Well, nothing has happened yet, but I have a feeling something is about to happen."
***
As soon as I arrived in Mexico City, I went to see my father.
"Hmm? Heronimo, is the shipyard construction finished?"
"No, Father. I came to ask for a favor."
"Well, you came to see me in person instead of sending a letter. What's going on?"
My father asked with a puzzled expression, as most of our communication had been conducted by letter until now.
"I see bad signs in Texas."
"Bad signs? Is it something like the California native situation?"
Agustín I said, looking troubled as soon as I mentioned bad signs.
"This time, it's not like the Chumash incident, where something happened. But looking at the way things are going, I have a bad feeling."
"Hmm. It's good that nothing happened. It will be easier to handle if we intervene quickly. But what do you mean by the way things are going?"
I summarized Ricardo's story for my father. It started with him being sent to Cuba as an informant and then investigating the situation in Texas.
"I've been thinking about this for a while, so I knew about it. If I hadn't been aware, I might have found out after something bigger had happened. We need to come up with a plan to prevent this."
"A plan? It seems like you already have something in mind, tell me."
"What if we created an organization to gather information about what's happening within the empire?"
"An organization to gather information..."
Agustín I is a former military commander.
He knows how important it is to obtain information. He's not an average commander, he's someone who could be called a great commander.
"It's true, now that I think about it, it would have been nice if we had known about the California incident in advance, like this. Have you already thought about the organization?"
"Yes, Father. I think it should be under the military for now. I've been thinking of calling it the "unidad de inteligencia militar" (military intelligence unit)."
"Under the military? Well, it's about avoiding the eyes of the members of parliament."
Creating a new government agency requires legislation or, at the very least, an executive order.
"Members of parliament are also included in the security threats, and we can't let them know in advance."
If they know what kind of organization it is, they'll tighten security. We can't let that happen. The only way to avoid this is through the military.
The military is the group that my father can completely control.
The military doesn't need to ask for permission or report to anyone when my father creates a new unit or disbands one. Therefore, if it's composed only of loyal people, there's no chance of information leaking out.
"Yes. It's called the military intelligence unit nominally, but it's not just about collecting military-related information."
It will be an intelligence agency that gathers all information that could pose a threat to security.
"There are also drawbacks to having this kind of intelligence agency under the military, not as an official government department."
There's a risk of the military's power becoming too great.
It doesn't matter now, since Agustín I is the Emperor, a former commander-in-chief, and has overwhelming authority, but it's a factor that could become dangerous in the future.
"By then, we'll have to make it an independent government department and call it the "Imperio Mexicano de Inteligencia" (Mexican Empire Intelligence)."
I explained to my father about the intelligence unit I had in mind.
To summarize, it's as follows.
The main mission is to detect security threats. Initially, the scope will be limited to detecting domestic security threats, but from then on, it will include foreign threats as well.
It will be headquartered in Mexico City and have branches in each state to collect central and local information. Communication will only take place through face-to-face meetings at secret locations or encrypted letters.
Agents will be selected from those who meet strict qualifications and must be proficient in intelligence techniques, codebreaking, language learning, self-defense, and shooting.
I also explained about Major Ricardo, who will be the head of the organization.
"You've thought it through thoroughly. Good. Then, I'll decide on the other personnel, excluding the head."
"Yes, Father. Please choose loyal people."
"Alright, I understand."
I also received the army to completely nip the Texas problem in the bud.
It was a force composed of 1,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry, and 500 artillery.
We'll put this force on trains and take them to the port of Veracruz, then load them onto the transport fleet waiting at the port and take them to Texas, it'll be quick.
"You're working hard."
My father patted me on the shoulder.
***
I visited "Vega Defense Industry," run by Eduardo, for the first time in years.
That's because I thought the new technologies I had given him the idea and rough structure for would be developed by now.
"Eduardo, tell me what's ready for mass production."
"The breech-loading rifle and the revolver pistol are ready for mass production, Your Highness."
Eduardo confidently led me to the warehouse.
"The breech-loading rifle is bolt-action?"
"Yes, Your Highness. After continuous experiments in the direction you told us, we finally succeeded."
Bolt-action and revolvers came out around this time in the original history, and I gave him the structure, so it's only natural.
"The breech-loading cannon is still not ready?"
"Yes. We keep failing to create a proper breech block."
"Well, I guess so."
I know that a proper breech-loading cannon won't come out for quite a while in the original history.
The breech block, which seals the rear of the chamber, is important. I knew a little about bolt-action, but I didn't know anything about cannon breech blocks, so I couldn't give him any hints.
Eduardo gave me a revolver pistol, and I felt a surge of excitement.
"Finally, something is coming out without me having to invent it myself."
It feels like a reward for the past days I spent devoted to technology development, to the point where I didn't know if I was a Crown Prince or an engineer.
It looks similar to a modern revolver pistol, as I instructed. The design is beautiful, a combination of iron and wood.
"This will be useful for infantry, but especially good for cavalry."
There is nothing better than this for close combat among the weapons that have come out so far.
The breech-loading rifle, with its overwhelming reloading speed compared to muzzle-loading rifles, and the revolver pistol, which has a shorter range and accuracy but can fire up to six rounds.
Just seeing these two weapons made me feel secure.
I took the 300 of each that had been produced for mass production testing, since they hadn't received any official orders yet.
"Don't worry, I'll pay you later."
"I'm not worried. You're the Crown Prince, Your Highness."
"Haha. Yes. Large orders will be coming soon, so get ready."
"Yes, Your Highness."
If things go according to plan, we won't need to use these weapons.
If they don't,
We'll just crush them with force.