Chapter 45
Harbour and Shipyard (1)
'Ah, the terrace…'
It's someone I saw before, leaving the party.
It's the woman I thought looked like a movie star, standing on the terrace with a bored expression.
Her appearance seemed even more surreal when I saw her up close.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Agustín Jerónimo de Iturbide."
I know she already knows my name, but I introduced myself politely, since I don't know how these arranged meetings (?) work in this era.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Cecilia Escalante."
She had a slightly indifferent expression, as if she didn't like being here.
'She's unique.'
It might sound like I'm boasting, but I'm considered a prime catch in the current Mexican Empire. I could feel that firsthand at the party.
"Is something wrong? If so, we can do this another time."
"It's not that."
She said it wasn't that she didn't like it, but she wasn't enthusiastic either.
I don't know if that's her usual personality or if she doesn't like me, but she did answer sincerely, so I could continue the conversation somehow.
"Miss Cecilia, may I ask about your hobbies?"
"···My hobby is reading. Well, it was."
'It was? You're saying it's not anymore?'
In a modern meeting, this kind of attitude would be like saying you want to end the meeting, but right now, the fact that this meeting is happening means that the families have already agreed.
'It's not like she hates me so much that she can't possibly marry me.' It's a meeting to meet the person she's going to marry.
I thought I had given up all expectations, but I guess there was still something left in the back of my mind.
'She's from a republican family, and reading was her hobby?'
This time, I naturally steered the conversation towards her family, who are the owners of a huge estate in the Yucatan Peninsula, and then towards the tenant farmers and natives who work there.
"One lady said she was grateful that you got rid of 'those filthy things' because the 'appearance' of the farm improved."
"···How can you say that?"
Her voice, which had been fairly pleasant until just now, turned cold.
'···What?'
Her eyes were as cold as her voice.
"Filthy things? They're human beings."
She glared at me and said coldly, but I felt a thrill.
"···I didn't say that. I was just repeating something I heard at the party. I'm curious why that part bothered you so much."
Growing anticipation.
"Just the fact that you told me that joke means you think the same way, doesn't it? If you treat them that way, you'll regret it someday."
She warned me, as if her emotions were escalating.
'They're human beings.'
That's not a typical statement from a member of the landowner class in the Mexican Empire of this era. How many hours did I waste listening to those words at the party?
'She said her family converted from the republican side.'
"Regret it? Why would I regret it?"
"···They're human beings, and there's a limit to how much they can endure. Especially, that machine you made is pushing them further. That's why I didn't want to come here."
What's she talking about?
"What exactly do you mean by my machine pushing them further?"
"Of course. Your mechanical harvester. You don't know that it's making the farmers' lives more difficult, do you?"
"We're providing enough jobs for the farmers who lost their jobs on the farms. What do you mean by making things more difficult?"
"That's what's happening in central and northern Mexico. Do you think it's easy to come all the way here from the south? Will the landowners give them a farewell party and some food? How do they come this far?"
'Ah.'
It was like I was slapped in the back of the head.
People from central Mexico can go to nearby cities like Las Truchas, Morelia, and Mexico City.
People from the north will know that they'll be given land if they go to California or Texas, so they'll go there.
But what about the people from southern Mexico? There are cities there too, and people are starting to do business, but it's unlikely that they can accommodate all the job demands of farmers.
Then they have to come to central Mexico, but it's too far. And central Mexico is a very high plateau, so they have to climb mountains.
It's definitely not an easy journey. They are tenant farmers, so they won't have the luxury of preparing enough food.
Especially people living on the edge of the Yucatan Peninsula and in Central America won't even think about coming.
'I need to change the railroad plan.'
I was planning to build the most profitable sections first, between Veracruz and the Mexican plateaus. Then California and Texas, and finally the Yucatan Peninsula and Central America. This was because I thought that would be the most profitable.
I'm not short of money.
I have the railroad construction costs promised by the local landowners, and I have the money I sold the shares for. I have money. I just thought I would build the most profitable sections first because I was short of manpower.
'Did I miss something again?'
I wasn't paying attention to the details because the plan to remove farmers from farms through agricultural efficiency was actually working. I was too busy with the next plan, then the next plan, after the plan seemed to be working to some extent.
It's true that the Mexican Empire is becoming prosperous thanks to the industrialization and land development I'm pushing forward with the imperial power and enormous wealth I possess, and my modern knowledge. But I didn't think about the native situation or this incident.
The limits of a nation's individual abilities. It's slowly revealing itself.
'I guess I need a systematic system.'
Since I'm intervening and making bigger and bigger changes to history, I can't predict and prepare for every event. Even a genius can't do that.
"···You have a serious face."
'Ah, I was in the middle of a conversation.'
I don't know how long I was thinking, but it must have been over five minutes. It's a clear breach of etiquette to think for five minutes or more while talking.
"I was lost in thought for a moment. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. It's fortunate that you're at least thinking that hard."
I put my worries aside for a moment and continued the conversation with her.
"The story I told earlier was just to see how you feel about the farmers. I don't think of them as 'filthy things'. I actually think of them as my people, who I need to take care of."
"···I'll believe you, since I saw you thinking for five minutes."
"But you really think differently from other people. It seems like there are no other republican ladies who think like you."
In this era, even if someone believes in republicanism, it's not common for them to educate their daughters, let alone their sons.
"···My father wasn't like this when he was young. He was deeply engrossed in republicanism in his twenties. He read books to me."
'Was that it? He's saying he's different now.'
"My father liked it when I read books until he was in his mid-thirties. His study was full of books he had brought from Europe. He changed after my grandfather passed away and he inherited the farm. He gradually changed from then on."
She seemed to have lost a lot of her apprehension about me, and she told me about her family.
Her father had joined the republican side when republicanism was the mainstream right after independence, and he still had some republican ideas. But he started to have second thoughts as the imperial family's power grew stronger and the possibility of the republicans taking power began to fade, and he completely abandoned republicanism.
Her father also banned her from reading, and he started looking for a family he could sell her to for the highest price (her words). She was forced by her father to start attending social gatherings.
"So that's why you were on the terrace with that bored expression."
"···Yes."
"Well, you're going to be married into the imperial family, so he succeeded properly. But as you've probably realized, I'm not going to just let the landowners keep taking land and living off of it. Is that okay?"
"It's okay. No, it's good!"
After that, we continued to have a lively conversation.
After talking to her, I realized that she did have republican ideas, but she didn't have extreme thoughts like wanting to kill the royal family. She was critical of the current Mexican Empire's society, where a small number of landowners exploit the vast majority. I have the same thoughts, so it's actually good.
Did my mother anticipate this situation and choose her? It's unlikely. She probably just chose her because they were a wealthy family with a huge influence in the Yucatan Peninsula.
'If I had just asked her to choose someone suitable then, it might not have been this family. Did I make this happen by asking for a year?'
I guess I should just think of it as fate.
What's there to not believe in fate when you've already met a god?
***
I immediately told my mother that I would marry her. The wedding of a royal family takes months just to prepare, so I participated in the finishing work on the dam construction in Morelia during that time.
Winter 1832.
The first modern dam in the Mexican Empire was completed.
It's the Cointzio Dam, which also existed in the original history. It's a medium-sized dam with a reservoir capacity of 70 million cubic meters, and it was completed in a relatively short period.
A lot happened in two years.
There was a native rebellion, and we built a large-scale apartment complex in Morelia and accepted city immigrants.
The railroads were stretching out, and the Mexico City-Veracruz section was completed, and they were also extending to the Yucatan Peninsula and Central America, as I instructed.
My businesses and various companies in the Mexican Empire were still suffering from a severe labor shortage, but the imperial administrative workforce was being recruited sufficiently.
'Spain's bankruptcy was a big help.'
Spain, which was already struggling, was forced to pay huge reparations after losing the war, and those claims were transferred to England, so they were suffering from strong collection pressure and eventually declared bankruptcy.
'I didn't accept it.'
A nation's individual can file for bankruptcy and receive legal protection, but a nation's declaration of bankruptcy doesn't receive legal protection. There are no kind countries that will just accept it if they say they can't pay.
'They started to ruthlessly take everything.'
Even in modern times, where international law exists, a nation's declaration of bankruptcy is sometimes ignored. Argentina is an example.
Argentina formally declared bankruptcy, but Elliott, an American fund company, ignored the declaration and seized the Argentine Navy frigate ARA Libertad in Ghana.
England in this world did something similar. They started taking not only Spanish warships but also their merchant ships. This incident completely destroyed Spain's already struggling economy.
The liberals, using this turmoil and suffering as a pretext, staged an uprising, leading to a civil war. As a result, the immigration flow to Mexico, which was already large, began to surge.
'Spaniards are coming in at a rate similar to all the other countries combined, including Ireland and Germany. The butterfly effect is starting to take place.'
"Good job, Mr. Andres. …I feel like I keep saying this."
"Your Highness, you've worked hard too. I keep saying this too. It means we've created a lot of things."
"That's right."
I stood on the Cointzio Dam and looked down at it.
The Cointzio Dam, which will supply water to Morelia, where the imperial estate is located. The sunlight was sparkling on the reservoir, creating a beautiful sight.
"We're the only country that has built a dam of this scale. Be proud."
"It's heartwarming to just look at it, Your Highness."
The water flowed over the dam through the section we created to control the water level, creating a magnificent spectacle like a waterfall.
Walking near the dam, I felt like I had entered another world, as the sound of flowing water and the chirping of birds harmonized.
This dam had various functions, not only flood prevention and agricultural water supply, but also a fishing spot.
"How about going fishing while we're here?"
"Good idea."
I'll have to be busy again starting tomorrow.
Marriage is good, but the wedding itself will be a lot of hard work. After that, other land development plans await.
"But Your Highness, didn't you say the wedding is in two days?"
"···There's not much time left to relax like this."
It's okay to relax for a while, even if we're leaving.
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