**Chapter 103**
**Pacific Fleet (4)**
July 1841.
After intense back-and-forth negotiations with Britain, a secret agreement was reached.
"Well, I didn't think it would go this far when I first brought it up, but somehow things escalated."
Ambassador Pakenham said with a pale face.
Ambassador Pakenham seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight, as he had been under considerable stress mediating negotiations between Mexico and Britain for months.
He probably didn't intend to make this kind of agreement. But I seized this opportunity, as if I had been waiting for it.
"You've worked hard. Thanks to your efforts, cooperation between the Mexican Empire and the British Empire will continue, you've done a great job."
I gave him some polite flattery.
"···It's rewarding to hear you say that, Your Highness. Thank you."
"Then, let's sign it."
I said that and signed my name first.
쓱쓱-
Richard Pakenham also signed his name.
The content of the secret agreement (Acuerdo Secreto) is as follows:
—————
Article 1
The Mexican Empire recognizes the supremacy of the British Empire over the African continent, India, Indochina, and Oceania, and agrees not to engage in any political or military intervention in these regions.
Article 2
The British Empire recognizes the supremacy of the Mexican Empire over the South American continent, the Caribbean, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines, and agrees not to engage in any political or military intervention in these regions.
Article 3
This agreement will not be made public, and maintaining secrecy between the two countries is essential. The content of this agreement will only be disclosed by representatives officially authorized by the governments of both countries, and in all other cases, it must be kept strictly confidential.
—————
Britain persistently tried to include its supremacy in China, but I refused until the end. The conditions are already quite favorable to Britain. If China is included, the balance of the agreement will be completely broken.
In the end, we managed to exclude all the sensitive areas, including China, Oregon, the Middle East, and the islands of Southeast Asia. It's a pity, but this is a great achievement.
When I didn't back down, Britain showed signs of giving up on negotiations, but I persuaded them persistently and reached an agreement.
It was possible because my persuasion, that I would nurture Korea and Japan to contain Russia, worked on Britain.
"I don't really intend to contain Russia, but..."
Anyway, it was a statement that was too ambiguous to be included in the agreement.
Ambassador Pakenham and I shook hands and parted ways.
***
While negotiations were ongoing for about two months, a report I had been waiting for came from the Pacific Fleet.
It was about the situation in the Philippines.
"Damn those British bastards, they made me waste time by not confirming this."
"I know, right? They could have just said no."
"They probably wanted to stall for time."
According to Admiral Navarro's report, when they approached the Philippines, an unidentified fleet warned them from afar by firing cannons.
It was a fleet that included two ships of the line.
Of course, the Pacific Fleet could easily defeat them, but they thought that the only countries in Asia that had fleets with ships of the line were the European powers, so they retreated for the time being.
They didn't have a flag, so they thought it might be Britain or the Dutch East India Company, but that was just speculation, and they couldn't be sure of their identity.
They thought that Britain or the Netherlands had swallowed the Philippines and were delaying the report while gathering information to avoid diplomatic friction, but the identity of the fleet was completely unexpected.
"The governor appointed by Spain is still holding his position... "
"The fleet that the motherland ordered him to send is also firmly in his hands, it seems like he's a power-hungry bastard."
"He probably got greedy. He must have known that Spain was collapsing, so he thought that if he just held onto the fleet and soldiers under his command, he could become the king of the Philippines."
"What a fool. Even if it wasn't us, other powerful countries would have intervened eventually."
Two ships of the line would be a strong force in Asia, but it's nothing to the imperialistic countries. They wouldn't leave a guy who had no legitimacy and had swallowed a country that wasn't small, would they?
The only reason they left him alone was because Spain hadn't officially given up on the Philippines, but it wouldn't last.
"Greed clouds vision. It makes me angry that the Filipinos are dying because of that guy's foolish greed."
"It's over now, so a true independent country will be born. We Mexicans will be granted trade rights in return for helping with their independence."
The guy, who was a colonial born, proposed an independent Philippines, but of course, it wouldn't work, and he was clashing with the local independence forces who wanted to create a country for the Filipinos.
We will help those independence forces.
***
"I thought the Mexicans were moving so quickly, but it seems like this is what was behind it."
"No, so Mexico has been using the electric telegraph since six years ago? And widely? How is that possible?"
"W...we Americans invented it three years ago, so it's not that big of a difference."
The United States, which had increased its defense budget drastically, was sure that they could easily wipe out the natives, including the Comanches.
That belief was shattered six months later. They couldn't win, even though they were given revolvers, just like the Mexicans had said.
"They were given revolvers and couldn't win against a similar number of Comanche cavalry, how is that even possible?"
"···I don't understand either."
The Americans, who had tried to dismiss it as a lucky construction of a new type of ship, which had allowed them to win against France.
The news that the US military was defeated by the Comanches, even though they were carrying out a formal operation, was enough to shock the Americans.
The shock of the Americans turned into a sense of crisis for the politicians, and the US government began to focus on increasing its defense power.
"It's a breech-loading rifle! It's not as good as the one the Mexicans use, but it's not that different."
After revolvers, rifles with superior performance were introduced, and they began to win battles as they gained experience, but the Comanche tribe, without suffering significant losses, began guerrilla warfare.
It was a long war, as the Comanches were running away like they were going to the end of the earth, and they knew that traps were waiting for them if they chased them.
During that time, a man named Samuel Morse heard the news and proposed to the army.
"If we lay down the electric telegraph widely along the border, we can counter their guerrilla warfare."
"That's it! That's it!"
The power of the telegraph was beyond imagination. They were able to successfully protect several towns that had been vulnerable because of the lack of soldiers compared to the vast border.
The Comanche tribe's raids were blocked, and they began to feel like the US was mobilizing a huge army, just like Mexico.
Whenever they tried to raid, US soldiers were there, like ghosts, guarding all around, so it was natural.
After several months of this, the Comanche tribe ran out of the food they had stored and began to starve.
The past nightmare was repeating itself.
It was enough to remind the Comanche tribe of their trauma, and it eventually led them to make the worst choice.
"The Comanches are starting to gather!"
***
November 1841.
The British army, showing off its overwhelming power, easily crushed the Chinese defense forces. After capturing Shanghai, Britain took control of the Grand Canal and blockaded Nanjing, the second largest city in China.
Just like Japan, which accepted the opening demands without fighting when Edo Bay was blockaded, Nanjing and the Grand Canal were such important strategic locations in China. Nanjing served as the economic capital of China.
The blockade of Nanjing and the Grand Canal meant that the connection between the Yangtze River economic zone and the capital, Beijing, had been cut off, and the grain from the south, the Yangtze River, was what supported the population of the north, including Beijing.
Even if the British army just maintained the blockade, tens of millions of Chinese people would be in danger of starvation, and China lost all will to continue the war.
[Britain brought the giant of the East to its knees!]
[Victory of the British Empire! The opening of China and the cession of Hong Kong!]
[The dirty war is over.]
The Western countries anticipated Britain's victory, and the media in each country showed their attitude towards Britain.
When the news of the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing came, several European powers demanded negotiations with China. They realized that China was a paper tiger. Now, right after the war, China wouldn't be able to refuse the demands of the powerful countries, and that assumption was true.
The Chinese government, rationalizing that they could use other powerful countries to contain Britain, accepted the negotiations, and the Mexican Empire also joined them.
"You're saying they have stronger ships than Britain? That's just a bluff, right?"
"They won the war against France."
While rumors like that were circulating, negotiations with the Mexican diplomat began.
The Mexican Empire, demanding typical conditions, that Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai be opened to Mexican merchants, and extraterritoriality and fixed tariffs, also made one unusual demand, about Korea.
"This last part is difficult. Korea is our Qing's vassal state, but we leave their internal affairs and foreign relations to them."
"Think carefully. Russia is eyeing Qing from the land, and Britain and France are eyeing them from the sea. Wouldn't it be beneficial to Qing if they also clash with our Mexican Empire? This is an agreement with Britain."
"···I understand."
"Good thinking."
The Qing official swallowed his tears in his heart.
***
The news that Qing was defeated miserably spread to Korea and Japan.
"It's good that we opened up without fighting."
"Yeah, Qing was defeated, so what can we do?"
The Japanese people, who vaguely understood the power of the Western powers, accepted the news relatively calmly, but it was different for Korea.
It was a shock that truly shook their worldview.
Even Qing, right after their defeat, didn't bother telling Korea, and Korea, which had no external relations, somehow heard the news quickly.
"Tell me again, are you saying Qing really lost?"
"That's right. They even ceded a place called Hong Kong. They even granted extraterritoriality, it seems like they were completely defeated."
Jo Inyeong, his younger brother, who had heard the news from somewhere, said calmly, but his expression wasn't good either.
"···"
"Yeah, it's shocking. I felt the same way."
"···So that letter was true?"
The letter from the Mexican crown prince, which he had cursed and thrown away, came to mind.
It was a thought that came to mind not only for Jo Inyeong, but also for all the officials who were in positions of power at the time, including Kim Jwa-geun.
They felt chills all over their bodies.
A series of shocks.
In that situation, where they felt like their minds would be muddled, another shocking piece of news came.
They heard that a letter had arrived from Qing.