Dividing the spoils

Author: Seven Years Period

Dividing the spoils

"Why not? Archbishop, the lost lambs need the right guidance. This is the duty of the shepherd."

The two spoke relatively vaguely, but Archbishop Rauscher understood what Franz meant. These two countries still need the church to contribute to the aftermath.

It was a bit disappointing not to get the relatively wealthy Guatemala and Honduras, but Archbishop Rauscher decided to try his best to implement Franz's plan.

After all, in Southeast Asia before, no one could figure out why Franz would choose Chenla, a land with no foundation, instead of Vietnam, where the church was stronger, and Siam (Thailand), where the economy was developed.

But the final result proved that Archduke Franz's judgment was correct. At this time, Chenla became the only country in the world controlled by the church besides the Papal States.

Sure enough, the proposal was immediately approved by the French after being revealed through secret channels. Of course, the Tuileries Palace had no reason to reject the proposal. After all, this could directly reduce the number of enemies by one-third.

The Paris authorities immediately ignored Lamosan's objections, unilaterally negotiated peace with the two countries, and recognized its independent status.

But the price of peace is high. The two governments had to accept the harsh conditions of paying war compensation of five million francs, which is undoubtedly worse for the two small and weak countries with annual government income of less than one million francs.

Guizot, the driving force behind the scenes, also had his own considerations. As Marshal Magnon de Rochefort described, it is certainly a very good idea to support a puppet government after direct unconditional peace, but France has paid a lot for the Central American Federation.

Too much.

Unless the domestic bureaucrats and financial capitalists are impressed with tangible benefits, these stingy and greedy guys will never agree to continue to add money to a bunch of gold-eating beasts that require large investments.

(In fact, in the early stages of colonial development, the cost is often very high, so it is called the gold-swallowing beast)

As soon as the armistice agreement was announced on July 15, 1841, local wealthy businessmen and mine owners in Honduras immediately united to offer an olive branch to the French Expeditionary Force:

First, they will not make any unfriendly moves towards the French army.

Second, they are willing to pay a one-time payment of five million in war reparations.

Of course, this little trick will not take the bait of France, which has experienced hundreds of battles and has long been chatting and laughing with other colonial powers.

Like other colonists, the French soldiers and adventurers came all the way for the land and gold in Central America. How could a mere 8 million francs fill their hungry hearts?

As expected, after rejecting the proposal of the local capitalists, the French issued a list of war reparations of 100 million francs, with the requirement to cede the port of La Ceiba, and grant France most-favored-nation status and the right to build and operate railways.

At this point, France's ambitions are obvious, but Honduran businessmen and mine owners have no bargaining power. After all, the other party has a gun in their hand, and it is easy to find any excuse to launch an armed demand operation.

At this time, the world's No. 1 shit-taker with an extremely sensitive sense of smell took the initiative to mediate with his old rival after learning about the independence of Honduras.

The reason why the British sense of smell is so keen is that, in addition to Franz's obstruction, Lamoisin was also dissatisfied with the French's damage to their own property.

So he thought of a good way, which was to "use barbarians to control barbarians" and let the British take care of the French, so that he could continue to have both sides.

But what surprised Lamosan was that the British and the French actually started dividing the spoils directly, ignoring him as the victim. In fact, there was very strong opposition within the French government to the British request to monopolize Honduras.

This time it was not only the Bonapartists who clamored for war with the British, but even the financial capitalists who had always been the most opposed to war also advocated war because France had paid too much in the Central American Federation, and the gold and silver mines in Honduras were too important.

.

In the end, it was Guizol who overcame all opinions and decided to make concessions to the British for his so-called "British-French goodwill" and agreed to transfer Honduras to the British. However, the British must also bear Honduras's war compensation of 30 million francs and support France in the "debt dispute".

"pretext to occupy Guatemala and El Salvador.

At this time, Lamosan, who was enjoying the joy of victory in Guatemala City, did not know that he had actually become a piece of meat on the chopping board, and that the plates had even been divided.

After receiving a positive reply from Paris, the commander of the French Expeditionary Force, Marshal Magnon de Rochefort, immediately ordered the arrest of Lamosan and demanded that he immediately pay a debt of 1 billion francs.

Naturally, Lamosan did not agree. Even if he agreed, he did not have so much money. At the same time, he also refused to sign the colonial agreement.

But there are many people in the Central American Federation who want to end the war. After fighting the war for so many years, all the factions in the Central American Federation are exhausted.

In the past, the driving force behind their refusal to surrender was the fear of La Mossan's future settlement. Now that scourge is gone, they are willing to be French subjects.

The Civil War of the Central American Federation ended with this, Guatemala and El Salvador became French colonies, and Honduras was an independent country in name and protected by the British, but in fact the government and main economic lifeline were controlled by the British.

Nicaragua and Costa Rica in the southeast declared independence, but were actually controlled by the Austrian church. The U.S. government once again reiterated the "Monroe Doctrine" and demanded that the French government return power to the legitimate government of the Central American Federation.

In fact, with the increasing prosperity of the Texas region, the contradiction between France and the United States is also deepening. At this time, the United States is not a beacon country for future generations, but France is.

Moreover, France has always been very generous in developing its colonies. Texas has developed rapidly in the hands of France, and the length of its railways is even longer than that of France itself.

At the same time, the Texans were also treated very favorably legally. They could enjoy almost the same treatment as the French, and the order, security and fairness brought by the French laws were something they had never enjoyed before.

After the French gendarmes arrived, even the most powerful family in Texas, with hundreds of cowboys, did not dare to act as peace officers or confront the French government.

In fact, the early West was not as beautiful as described in the movies. It was common for gangsters to consider themselves sheriffs, large families to control local militias, and to organize gangs to rob good people on the Great Plains.

Those gangs slaughtered Indians and had no problem dealing with the mercenaries of the U.S. government, but they were in a panic when facing the real French army.

Those seemingly stupid tactics drove these proud cowboys to their wits. The French did not follow martial ethics and frequently used artillery to attack gangster strongholds.

Due to the influence of Napoleon, artillery played a very important role in the French army at this time. If you don't fire two cannons during a battle, you will feel like you are not French.

Closer to home, although Guizot's behavior maintained peace with Britain, it was achieved at the expense of French interests and French national sentiments, which laid hidden dangers for the future.

If I have time today, I will probably add another chapter tonight.
Chapter completed!