Chapter 37
Dam and Irrigation System (3) (Revised)
The hottest gossip among the upper-class women of the Mexican Empire was who would be the crown prince's bride.
"It's about time he got married, isn't it?"
"He's 22 this year, so it's time, but are you hoping for something?"
The crown prince is 22 this year. He's at the perfect age to get married.
He's a prime catch just for his position as crown prince, but he's also known as a genius and is the richest man in the Mexican Empire, running various businesses. Plus, he's tall and handsome.
"You never know."
"Oh, are you serious?"
"What do you mean?"
The daughters of the landowner class, who could be considered the aristocratic class of the Mexican Empire, were excited.
Isabella, watching the subtle competition between the two women of marriageable age, said,
"Don't you think His Highness will marry a foreign princess?"
"That's not going to happen. Would the established royal families of Europe recognize the imperial family of the American continent, which is only 10 years old?"
"That's right. His Highness will marry the daughter of a large landowner in the country. For example, a family with vast land, like ours, which is one of the top families in Mexico?"
"She's really something. He's the richest man in the Mexican Empire. Do you think he'll choose based on money? He'll choose based on beauty."
Conversations similar to this were taking place in various party halls in Mexico City.
The daughters of large landowner families had dreamy expressions, imagining themselves marrying the crown prince, but some of their fathers were uncomfortable with that.
"Teresa, you want to marry the crown prince? Don't say such nonsense."
"Why not? It's good for our family if I marry into the imperial family, isn't it?"
"Oh, you silly girl. Your father is a republican, opposing the emperor's royalists. You can't marry into the imperial family, and even if you did, it would be a problem!"
"If I get married, we can just switch to the royalist side! Who's going to say anything when your son-in-law is the crown prince?"
"Don't say such nonsense. Don't even dream about it. Understand?"
"···Hmph."
Her daughter didn't seem to want to listen to her father.
***
We also need to simultaneously build large-scale apartment buildings for the city immigrants who will soon be coming.
"I don't know if I'm going to die from overwork."
I need to build dams and irrigation systems, manage immigration and various businesses, and start building large-scale apartment buildings.
The steel-like stamina I built up in California and the military academy has been a great help. If I didn't have that, this schedule would have been hard to handle, even with my young age.
"···Mr. Andres. You're working hard too."
"No, Your Highness. Every day is a joy."
But his face shows fatigue, even though he says that.
"If we just have enough manpower, I'll let you just supervise the site and take it easy. We promised technicians and architects double the benefits and incentives for city immigration, so we'll be able to recruit them to some extent."
"Yes, Your Highness. Thank you for your consideration."
The first destination for city immigration is Morelia, not Mexico City. I need to oversee this apartment building construction site myself because, even though there's a railroad, it's awkward to be far away from the dam construction site. And we need manpower there right now.
'And Mexico City is expanding too quickly.'
Megacities have many advantages, but they also have many disadvantages. I felt that deeply in Korea, and I don't want to create that again in the Mexican Empire.
'Especially if it reaches the level of a capital city, the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages.'
Even in the original history, Mexico, which was laughable compared to Korea, was a country with severe capital concentration. The Mexico City metropolitan area had a population of 21.3 million. In this world, to fully unleash the potential coming from the territory, which is much larger than Mexico in the original history, it's better to go the American way.
"When the designs for the apartment buildings to be built this time and the city plan are completed, we'll apply them to the key cities in each state, with slight modifications. So Morelia, which can be called the prototype city, is important."
I told the architects.
Key cities.
It's not an administrative concept, but the regions I've chosen. These regions were sometimes the capital of each state, and sometimes they weren't.
'If we're going to build a planned city, it's better to build it in a place with the best location.'
The location of the key cities is important.
This is because they need to grow as much as we invest in them, so that they can become the driving force behind regional development. They shouldn't be in areas with geographical problems or on the edge of the state. Of course, the states of Mexico are often larger than South Korea, so we will have to develop second and third cities around the key cities in the future.
"We've decided on two types of apartment buildings for city immigrants. One is an urban apartment building for singles or couples without children. This apartment building will have shops on the first floor, even though it's an apartment building."
"Your Highness, the design shows four floors, isn't that too high?"
Mr. Andres asked.
'Hmm, is he starting to develop an eye for designs?'
Four-story buildings are not common in this era, so he must have questioned it because a building to be built in large quantities is four stories.
"We're going to use reinforced concrete for construction, so it can withstand it."
'If it gets higher, we'll need an elevator, but 4-5 floors are walkable. But we need to prepare for it in the future.'
The modern elevator was invented by Elisha Otis in 1852. He's the founder of Otis Elevator, which is still the number one elevator company in the world. I know a lot about the elevator business because it's closely related to construction and civil engineering.
It's 1831, so it will be invented in 21 years. The elevator itself doesn't use any special materials that aren't available now. I'll provide quite a bit of detailed information, so it will take 1-2 years to develop.
"The design doesn't differ much, but if we unify the exterior, the city will be too bleak, so we've made four types."
"Clean design, antique design, European (French) flamboyant design, and Mexican (Spanish colonial) design, for a total of four types."
"That's right. For your reference, we'll allow some modifications when building in each city, so try to design them as beautifully as possible."
Most architects have a desire to design. It's a measure to satisfy that desire, strengthen motivation, and develop their individual skills.
"Whoa!"
A small gasp came from among the architects.
"This is the apartment building that will be built on the outskirts of the city. We're going to place families with children here."
It's also a four-story building, but it doesn't have shops on the first floor, and the overall size of the building is larger, and the size of the houses inside is also larger. I designed this one in four types as well.
These houses were designed to be built with a combination of reinforced concrete and bricks. They have basic earthquake-resistant design and are buildings with reinforced strength and fire resistance so that they can be used for a long time.
The architects of Ortega Construction are now slowly getting past the beginner level. They understood the design quickly.
Dozens of apartment buildings began to be built in Morelia, which was just a village.
***
'I'm here again.'
It's a landowner's mansion on the outskirts of Mexico City.
I had been busy, so I had refused them all, but I had received hundreds of invitations to attend parties, banquets, and so on.
'I'm dying of busyness, and I have to do the marriage business too.'
At first, I thought I would call the daughters of the royalists to Morelia and talk to them, but I soon realized how nonsensical that idea was.
'It's perfect for a scandal.'
There will be daughters who will come if I call them. They can get here in four hours because the railroad is open. But in this era, it's almost impossible for a man and a woman to meet one-on-one. If I did that, rumors would spread immediately. It's also strange to call multiple women. It could lead to even stranger rumors.
In the end, I had no choice but to come to Mexico City.
I had been coming here twice every weekend, spending eight hours round trip, and now, on my third visit, I was about to give up.
The appearance of the ladies here wasn't bad to me, who was used to Western standards of beauty. In fact, there were quite a few beautiful people, even by modern standards.
The problem was something else.
"Hahaha, so, that filthy thing begged and begged, but when the guard shot into the air, they scattered like cockroaches, you know?"
It's a story that a certain lady told, laughing. For your reference, the filthy thing refers to the tenant farmers.
I did guide the conversation in that direction. I was curious about how they felt about those who weren't landowners.
This was because I wanted to find someone who could see them as human beings and show at least a little compassion.
'I don't need a wife who will just stubbornly oppose the policies I'll implement in the future.'
The reactions of the ladies from the landowner families were similar when I brought up the situation of the farmers being chased away, starting with the mechanical harvester I invented.
They were grateful that I could get rid of those 'filthy things' to some extent. Thanks to that, their profitability improved and the 'appearance' of the farm improved.
That's annoying enough, but even the lady from a republican family, who wasn't a royalist or a noble, came and talked nonsense.
"···You're the daughter of the Delgado family, aren't you?"
"Are you saying that because our family is republican? Don't worry. We'll switch to the royalist side if we get married."
"···Ugh."
'I was foolish.'
What am I looking for?
I should have just asked my mother to choose someone suitable. I'm dying of busyness, and what am I doing, coming here every weekend for an eight-hour round trip?
I wasn't interested in marriage in my previous life either. It was a foolish thing to try to find someone to marry myself.
'Maybe the ladies from the republican side are better? They might have some liberal ideas. …No, it's meaningless because it wasn't an era where women were educated.'
I didn't just talk to one or two people. As soon as I appeared in society, most of the ladies of marriageable age flocked around me.
'I'll just ask my mother to choose someone suitable from the royalist side.'
I made up my mind. My time is precious. I gave up my expectations for a marriage partner.
"···I think I should leave early today. Let's do this another time. Have a good time."
When I announced that I would leave a little early, there were disappointed sounds around me, but I walked away without hesitation.
The door of the mansion closed, and I turned around.
'Ugh, I'm never coming back. …Huh?'
There was a woman leaning on the railing of the terrace.
She looked bored.
Her thick hair was blowing in the wind.
'She looks like a movie star.'
As I thought that, our eyes met.
Her eyes sparkled slightly with curiosity. There were many beautiful ladies at the banquet, but I had never seen anyone as beautiful as her.
'Well… It's a bit awkward to go back in now that I'm already out.'
I've seen a lot of beautiful people.
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