Ferdinand VII.
During the period when Napoleon occupied Spain and Joseph Bonaparte took the Spanish throne, Ferdinand VII had been called “the Desired” by the Spanish people.
But after the Napoleonic era ended and he returned to the throne, he initially pretended to accept liberal demands.
Then he invited French intervention, purged the liberals, crushed their reforms, and pursued absolutism.
The same people who had once called him “the Desired” came to despise him as “the Felon King.”
Ferdinand VII could no longer tolerate Mexico’s insolence.
“How dare those colonial servants proclaim themselves an empire and lay hands on Crown property!”
“Those insolent bastards even confiscated the property of our nobility!”
Once Spain’s political situation stabilized somewhat, anger toward the American colonies that had so brazenly declared independence began boiling over.
The nobles had not forgotten the enormous wealth they had been unable to recover from Mexico either.
“Your Majesty, now that the liberal rebellion has been brought under control, I believe the time has come to teach those colonial servants who their true master is.”
“Exactly.
Those so-called ‘Mexicans’ are especially arrogant.”
“I agree.
If we don’t punish that traitor called Agustín, the honor of Spain will be dragged through the mud, won’t it?”
“Indeed, Your Majesty!”
“I’ve heard those traitors have been governing quite steadily using the wealth they stole from us.
“If we’re going to punish them, we should do it properly.”
“Exactly.
“At first, I intended to settle accounts with all the colonies.
“I’ve changed my mind.
“We’ll focus on ‘educating’ those arrogant Mexicans first.”
Ferdinand VII, having recovered his authority with French assistance, needed to consolidate his rule.
Ever since he abolished the reforms and swept away the liberals, the way his people looked at him had changed.
‘Insolent wretches.’
Reconquering Mexico would be the perfect distraction.
It could redirect public attention away from domestic discontent while restoring the prestige of both the Crown and Spain.
With what remained of Spanish power, Ferdinand VII began preparing a plan to conquer Mexico.
It was risky.
Almost a gamble.
Instead of stopping him, his advisers were swept up by their own desire to punish the arrogant criollo named Agustín and recover the confiscated estates.
“We will reconquer those insolent Mexicans and restore the dignity of the Crown and of Spain.
“Prepare yourselves!”
“YES, YOUR MAJESTY!”
***
SCREEECH!
SCREEECH!
The sound of rifling grooves being cut into gun barrels by the rifling machine was harsh and almost frightening.
To me, it sounded like heavenly music.
“…Ninety-eight, ninety-nine… ONE HUNDRED BARRELS!”
“Seriously!
We’ve made three hundred in three days!”
“FINALLY!”
Even after increasing the steam engine’s power, switching the critical components to British steel, and strengthening the machine enough to withstand the pressure, our problems had continued.
Some attempts succeeded, but resolving issues involving heat treatment and long-term durability took another entire year.
‘For this to be commercially viable, we need to manufacture at least one hundred barrels per day.’
Today, at last, we reached that goal.
One hundred barrels in a single day.
It had taken two years.
“Eduardo, you’ve done an excellent job.
“And to all the technicians—thank you for your hard work.”
“…”
Eduardo was still staring at the machine, overwhelmed with emotion.
“Well, we’ve been receiving our wages every day, so it wasn’t exactly unbearable.
“Although whenever another prototype failed, the tension around here became pretty frightening.
Hahaha.”
“Hahaha.”
I gave the technicians a special bonus and granted them the rest of the day off.
“Hey, Eduardo!
How long are you going to stand there admiring it?”
“Huh?
Ah, right.”
“We need to figure out how we’re going to sell this.”
Tap.
Tap.
***
Rifle demonstration.
I had planned this event a year earlier, but completing the rifling machine took much longer than expected.
I invited Father to the academy along with key figures from the army, government, and Congress.
“Are you seriously going to perform the demonstration yourself?”
“Yes.
It’ll have more impact if I do it personally.”
Ignoring Eduardo’s concern, I went to greet the guests.
“Father, welcome.”
“Jerónimo.
So you’ve finally made something useful?
Come on, show me.”
Father looked genuinely curious about what I had created.
“General Fernando.
President Rafael.
It’s good to see you again.”
Rafael had once been the leader of the republicans.
However, he had failed to become Prime Minister after being unable to stop Agustín I’s confiscation measures and increasingly authoritarian administration.
“You’ve grown considerably, Your Highness.”
“Hmm.
It has been a long time, Your Highness.
“This gentleman is Pablo Soto, who has been appointed Minister of Finance in the current government.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Your Highness.
I am Pablo Soto, head of the Ministry of Finance.”
After greeting everyone and exchanging handshakes, I began the demonstration.
“I invited you here today to show you a weapon my companions and I have developed.”
I brought out the rifle we had prepared.
“This weapon resembles the flintlock muskets currently used by the Mexican Army.
“However, if you examine the inside of the barrel closely, you’ll see that it contains rifling.
“I won’t waste your time explaining the advantages of rifling, since I’m sure everyone here is already familiar with them.
“Despite those advantages, rifled weapons have not been widely adopted because of their high manufacturing cost and slower reload speed, since the projectile must properly engage the rifling.
“My companions and I have completely solved both problems.”
“Oh!”
“How?”
“Please look over here.”
I pointed toward the rifling machine positioned nearby.
Once the guests’ attention was fixed on it, I signaled Eduardo.
Click.
Eduardo placed a barrel into the machine and activated it.
The mechanism came alive.
SCREEECH!
SCREEECH!
The noise was loud enough that several guests frowned.
I simply raised my voice.
“This device is a steam-powered rifling machine.
“Using it, we can manufacture up to one hundred rifled barrels per day.”
“One hundred rifles a day?
Then you could manufacture three thousand in a month!”
“That’s correct, Father.
“And because the machine requires relatively little manual labor, production costs can be reduced significantly.”
The Emperor, who had spent much of his life as a soldier, and General Fernando stared at the machine with fascination.
Even Finance Minister Pablo Soto looked impressed.
Rafael, however, wore a thoughtful expression.
When the machine finished cutting the grooves, I shut it down and showed the finished barrel to the guests.
“Oh!
The pattern is extremely precise.”
“Definitely more precise than what we’d normally get from a hand-operated rifling machine.”
“With this development, we’ve solved the production-cost problem.
“Now I’ll show you how we solved the reloading-speed problem.”
I removed an Eduardo bullet from a cartridge and held it up.
“This projectile was designed by Cadet Eduardo.
“Because of the two grooves near the rear, pressure generated during firing causes the rear portion to expand, allowing it to automatically engage the rifling.”
“Oh!
Then the soldier doesn’t need to align the bullet with the rifling while loading.”
“Exactly.
“That solves the reloading-speed problem.
“Allow me to demonstrate.”
***
I led the guests to the shooting range.
“As you can see, there are three rows of targets.
“The first is at one hundred meters, the second at one hundred fifty, and the third at two hundred.”
After explaining the range, I picked up the Eduardo rifle and stepped onto the firing line.
“I’ll perform the demonstration personally.
“Beside me is Captain Joaquín, who is well known for his marksmanship.
“For comparison, he’ll use a standard flintlock musket.”
The guests watched with obvious interest.
Behind us, Eduardo shouted the command.
“ON YOUR MARKS!
READY… BEGIN!”
I immediately began loading.
“FIRE FROM THE READY POSITION!”
BANG!
…BANG!
I fired slightly slower than the instructor, but the difference wasn’t enormous.
My first shot struck the center of the target.
BANG!
…BANG!
As planned, I fired five rounds at each target distance before moving to the next.
Fifteen shots in total.
The small difference in loading speed gradually accumulated.
By the time I fired my thirteenth shot, the instructor had already fired all fifteen.
However, when the targets were brought back, the results spoke for themselves.
At one hundred meters, we both hit the target five times.
At one hundred fifty meters, the instructor hit three times.
I hit five.
At two hundred meters, the instructor hit once.
I hit five.
Nine to fifteen.
‘How the hell did he hit a target at two hundred meters with a flintlock musket?’
“As you can see, there is a significant difference in effective range and accuracy between the two weapons.
“A flintlock musket has an effective range of roughly fifty to one hundred meters, with a maximum range of around two hundred to three hundred meters.
“The Eduardo rifle, by comparison, has an effective range of approximately two hundred to four hundred meters and a maximum range of roughly eight hundred to one thousand meters.”
“Ohhh!”
“That makes me want to try it myself.”
Father and General Fernando reacted enthusiastically.
President Rafael frowned as he examined the targets.
“Hmm… Could Captain Joaquín simply be having a bad day?
“It seems strange that changing the rifling and projectile could produce such an enormous difference.”
“…”
I answered calmly.
“If you wish, we can conduct another comparison.”
“Very well. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“My aides are military men as well.
They can participate.”
Despite the tension that suddenly entered the atmosphere, Rafael ordered his aides forward without hesitation.
“Do your best.”
This time, I controlled the test.
“BEGIN!”
“FIRE FROM THE READY POSITION!”
BANG!
…BANG!
BANG!
…BANG!
The only major difference from the previous test was that both shooters were slower than Captain Joaquín.
Between the two participants themselves, however, there wasn’t a significant difference in loading speed.
BANG!
…BANG!
“RECOVER THE TARGETS!”
The results were similar.
At one hundred meters, both weapons scored five hits.
At one hundred fifty meters, the musket scored two hits while the rifle scored five.
At two hundred meters, the musket scored zero.
The rifle scored three.
Seven to thirteen.
‘Captain Joaquín really is an excellent shot.’
“Do you understand now?”
“Well… it isn’t that I didn’t understand.
“I merely wanted to confirm the results carefully.
“There’s nothing wrong with caution.”
“…Of course.”
“I believe the weapon has been sufficiently verified.
“I would like to introduce it into the Mexican Army immediately.
“What do you think, General Fernando?”
“I agree.
“I believe this weapon could significantly increase the combat strength of our forces.”
After the additional test, both the Emperor and General Fernando responded very positively.
“One moment.
“As Minister of Finance, there’s something I need to verify first.
“How much does this rifling machine cost?
“It looks expensive.”
Ahem.
He went straight for the painful part.
“…Each machine costs twenty thousand pesos.”
“TWENTY THOUSAND PESOS?!”
Rafael, who had been standing quietly, shouted in shock.
“Twenty thousand pesos is far too expensive!”
“It’s true.
“Given the government’s current financial condition, twenty thousand pesos per machine is difficult to justify.”
“The machine uses British steel.
“And the more weapons we manufacture with it, the lower the effective production cost becomes, so the price isn’t as unreasonable as it appears.”
“His Majesty’s confiscation measures prevented the government’s finances from collapsing.
“However, Britain and France have been pressuring us to pay interest on the loans they extended, so the treasury remains under considerable strain.
“Of course, the government isn’t so poor that twenty thousand pesos is impossible.
“But one machine obviously won’t be enough.
“And even if we purchase the rifling machines, they only allow us to manufacture rifles more cheaply.
The rifles themselves still won’t necessarily cost less than ordinary flintlock muskets.”
The Finance Minister continued emphasizing the difficulty of the government’s financial situation.
‘Damn Britain and France.’
The Mexican Empire carried an enormous debt totaling forty-five million pesos.
That debt had accumulated during the War of Independence.
In the original history, Mexico’s inability to manage its debt contributed to endless foreign pressure and intervention.
In fact, the nominal amount was probably heavily inflated.
Historically, once it became obvious that Mexico couldn’t pay everything demanded, creditor nations eventually renegotiated various claims.
In the case of the United States, one claimed amount was adjusted to only fifteen percent of the original demand.
Not reduced by fifteen percent.
Reduced to fifteen percent.
Mexican records suggested that such reductions often represented the removal of inflated interest and exaggerated claims rather than creditor nations generously abandoning money they were legitimately owed.
The international community of this era was brutal.
And in this world, because the Mexican Empire now appeared to possess money, the foreign powers seemed eager to squeeze as much from it as possible.
‘These loan sharks are shameless bastards.’
I was furious at the behavior of the great powers, which acted like legalized thugs.
Still, I had to do what was necessary.
“Then I’ll invest the money myself.
“I’ll finance the production of the rifling machines and supply rifles and ammunition according to whatever quantities the government orders.”
“Well… under those conditions, I have no objection.”
Once I presented the arrangement I had planned from the beginning, the Finance Minister backed down slightly.
Rafael interrupted again.
“One moment.
“Rifles must be manufactured in a state arsenal.
“We cannot allow a private company to possess weapons-manufacturing facilities.”
“Are you suggesting that my son—the Crown Prince—would do something improper with them?
“That’s ridiculous.”
“…”
“We can arrange for the rifles to be introduced through an arsenal administered by the Crown Prince.”
Agustín I forcefully settled the dispute.
@.
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