The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 777 Napoleon III: Comrade Maximilian, you will be the Emperor of Mexico!

Early January 1864, France.

The cold sea breeze blew in his face, and Ma Baocai held onto the railing of the ship, his knuckles frozen white. He stared at the masts in the port of Le Havre in a daze. Hundreds of steamships were spewing smoke under the clear winter sky, which looked much more lively than the Huangpu River in Shanghai. Dozens and hundreds of cast iron steam cranes kept making shrill creaking sounds, as if the arms of giants were moving tons of cotton bales. The roofs of warehouses looked like undulating hills in the sun, and several dock workers wearing peaked caps were pushing wheelbarrows piled with cotton bales from America.

"At this time last year, there were only twenty steam cranes here, but in just one year, there are now over a hundred." Weng Tongjue stood behind them at some point, and the white air he exhaled from his mouth was quickly blown away by the sea breeze.

Weng Tonghe's good second brother has been working as an aide to Luo Yaoguo since he came to Shanghai. Although he has not made any great contributions, he has a lot of experience and is reliable. He has made steady progress over the past ten years and has now been promoted to the third rank. He was appointed ambassador to France three years ago. He recently received a transfer order to hand over his duties to Hu Wansheng and then go to Prussia as ambassador.

Today, he came all the way from Paris specifically to welcome Hu Wansheng and Ma Baocai, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's ambassador to the UK.

He pointed to the west side of the dock, where the roar of pile drivers could be heard: "Three new berths were built this year, and the railway branch line from Paris to the port has just been opened... It's really bustling!"

Hu Wansheng looked in the direction and saw bundles of steel rails piled next to the railway. A large group of workers wearing round rattan hats were busy working, apparently laying a double track.

He suddenly noticed a newly built Gothic church in the direction of the train station. The bronze cross on the spire was glowing with a sacred light under the dark clouds.

"That's the Sacred Heart Church, which was consecrated by Archbishop Doria himself." Weng Tongjue pointed at the church and said, "In recent years, the French emperor has been busy with three things: building railways, setting up factories, fighting wars everywhere, and the fourth... is building churches! In fact, the most motivated thing is to build churches and worship God!"

As if to confirm what he said, a group of black-robed monks suddenly emerged from the platform, with the copper bells hanging from their waists jingling. Twenty or so young nuns followed behind carrying wicker boxes, their white scarves rustling in the wind. An old monk with a limp was the last one to fall behind, holding a wooden box wrapped in gold wire in his arms - who knew what treasure was inside?
……

The fireplace in the VIP waiting room of the train station was burning brightly, and the oak wood was crackling. Ma Baocai was holding a cup of hot cocoa he had just ordered to warm his hands. He suddenly heard a few words of French with a Provencal accent floating behind him: "...His Highness Maximilien has lived in the Palace of Saint-Cloud for half a month. It is said that he wears traditional Mexican clothes every day... He even wore a wide-brimmed hat with gold embroidery during mass a few days ago..."

Hu Wansheng pricked up his ears and caught a glimpse of two old priests talking in low voices by the window.

"A letter from Mexico said that the conservatives are willing to donate two million francs a year..." The old man made a cross on his hand with the jeweled cross, and the age spots on his knuckles were clearly visible, "but Catholicism must be made the state religion, and church property must be returned...especially those monasteries that have been converted into schools..."

The sharp whistle of the train interrupted their private conversation. When Hu Wansheng got into the compartment, he smelled a fresh smell of paint. This was obviously a new car that had just rolled off the assembly line.

Weng Tongjue took out a bottle of Bordeaux red wine and several small wine glasses from his suitcase and poured them for Hu Wansheng, Ma Baocai and Feng Xiuying.

"What about the Mexican emperor those two priests were talking about just now?" Hu Wansheng took the wine glass.

Weng Tongjue smiled and said, "This story started six years ago. The Mexican liberals carried out reforms, confiscated church property, and drove the bishops out of parliament. As a result, a civil war broke out!

At first, the so-called reformists had the upper hand, but later the conservatives took advantage of the French army and seized power, driving Juarez's reformists to the northern mountains. However, these conservatives did not dare to become the emperor of Mexico, so they wanted to import a European prince to be the emperor.

Feng Xiuying was stunned: "The emperor also has imported goods?"

"Yes, sometimes it's easier to get things done with foreign emperors in Europe."

Feng Xiuying frowned and asked, "Napoleon III has no one of his own? Why did he give this good thing to the Austrians?"

"I don't know if it's a good thing or not..." Weng Tongjue pulled out a copy of Le Figaro from his briefcase, with a portrait of Archduke Maximilian printed on the front page. "The French army now has 20,000 elite troops stationed in Mexico, and the military expenditure is 150,000 francs a day. The new emperor of Mexico has to bear all this expense!

I heard that the draft treaty stated that Mexico would bear all military expenses, cede the mining rights of Sonora Province, and give France most-favored-nation treatment...”

"Isn't this treason?" Hu Wansheng took a sip of wine. "Does Maximilian really dare to accept this?"

"I heard that he is a progressive emperor!" Weng Tongjue laughed, "When he was governor of a place in Italy, he promoted many liberal policies, read the Anti-Scripture, and liked to discuss revolution with others..."

"Discussing revolution?" Ma Baocai was stunned. "Isn't he the emperor? Why is he still revolting? Whose life is he revolting?"

Weng Tongjue smiled and said, "I don't know about that... maybe they are revolutionizing themselves? Anyway, in recent years, except for the Queen of England, all the emperors in Europe are pretending to be progressive... Even Alexander II, the Russian emperor, is pretending to be progressive, saying nonsense about caring about farmers all day long! I think Europe... will cause big trouble sooner or later!" Hu Wansheng and Ma Baocai looked at each other and smiled without saying anything...

……

The Tuileries Palace at dusk.

The golden candlesticks illuminated the map of Mexico in an amber color. Napoleon III looked helpless as he looked at the map and said, "Your Highness's land reform plan..." He coughed twice and organized his words, "Is it to give one-third of the country's land to the Indians?"

The progressive Habsburg prince deliberately wore a Mexican-style embroidered jacket today, pretending to be a progressive Mexican lord - but in the eyes of Napoleon III, he had simply got the wrong script.

"Your Majesty, Mexico needs a new social contract." He unfolded a document he had carefully prepared. "The big landowners in Mexico retain one-third of the land, one-third is returned to the state for railway construction, and the rest is distributed to mixed-race people and indigenous people who are willing to become self-employed farmers." His slender fingers ran across the silver belt, his nails trimmed smooth and round. "Use the mineral income to establish a national bank, and build the first steel plant in Latin America in Monterrey within ten years. I have commissioned Krupp to design the blueprints."

Maria's biological father, Archbishop Doria, was surprised. He never thought that a Habsburg prince could make such progress!

He frowned and said, "But the church must take back the property occupied by the liberals. The blasphemous behavior of the Juarez government must be corrected!" He took out a list from his arms, "The Archdiocese of Mexico City needs to rebuild 30 churches and 50 church schools. The buildings of the Inquisition must be returned in their original state."

Napoleon III added: "The 1867 French troops must be stationed until at least ." His trembling fingertips tapped on Article of the draft treaty, with ink stains hidden between his fingernails. "Military expenses will be deducted from customs revenue." His cane suddenly poked at Texas on the map. "In addition, Mexico must become a transit point for our aid to the southern United States!"

……

Notre Dame de Paris.

When Princess Charlotte stopped Doria in the chapel, the bells of Notre Dame were ringing for evening prayers outside the window. The future Queen of Mexico was wearing plain casual clothes, dressed like the daughter of a small shopkeeper.

"Archbishop, can your daughter really communicate with angels?" Princess Charlotte asked, taking out a check and stuffing it in. "I want to know if my husband can really become the emperor of Mexico? He is full of progressive ideas..."

The princess dreamed of becoming a queen! Unfortunately, Maximilian's brother was in good health and didn't look like he was going to die anytime soon... So, she persuaded her "progressive husband" to seize the opportunity to become the emperor of Mexico.

However... His Royal Highness the Grand Duke has been making great progress recently and is a little bit unlike the Emperor.

So she felt very uneasy and wanted to ask an expert for advice.

Archbishop Doria smiled and said, "Don't worry, Your Highness." He deliberately let the shadow of the chandelier cover half of his face, and the other side of his face was illuminated red by the candlelight - he had practiced this action for a long time, so that people could not see the changes in his facial expression when he lied.

"Lord Luo Yaoguo revealed in person: Quetzalcoatl will eventually return, but it will require the blood of European monarchs. Maria said that your husband will be crowned with the Aztec Eagle Crown."

As he spoke, this Catholic cardinal, a future candidate to become Pope, secretly took out a piece of talisman paper with Chinese writing on it and handed it to Princess Charlotte.

When the princess took the talisman, she found the words "Heavenly Father, Heavenly Brother, Heavenly King, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" printed on the back - of course, she didn't recognize these Chinese characters, but she had heard of the "True Testament Indulgence"... This should be it, right?
At the same time, the Tuileries Palace.

Duke Walewski, the French Foreign Minister and the Polish son of Emperor Napoleon, walked quickly through the Hall of Mirrors, holding in his hand a telegram he had just received.

"St. Petersburg announced the abolition of Polish serfdom!" His voice trembled, "The insurgents obtained land certificates and freedom certificates issued by the Tsar! Spy reports in Warsaw said that the peasants were burning the land deeds..."

Napoleon III was staring at a map of Mexico in a daze. When he heard Valevsky's words, he was stunned: "What did you say?"

"The Tsar not only liberated the Polish serfs, but also distributed the land of the Polish nobles to the Polish peasants... He wanted to implement the principle of "land to the tiller" in Poland!"

"What?" Napoleon III was stunned. "How can he be like this... Duke, what's wrong with this world? How can the emperor be more progressive than the revolutionaries?"

(End of this chapter)