The fleet returned after only a few weeks.
Although the ships appeared intact, the Spanish nobles were immediately uneasy.
Wasn’t that far too little time to conquer the vast Mexican Empire?
Why had the fleet returned when it should still have been supporting the army on land?
Then the news they feared arrived.
“A crushing defeat!
Ten thousand soldiers—destroyed in a single battle…!
My… my useless sons of—”
THUD!
King Ferdinand VII collapsed while listening to the report.
The reality was too brutal compared with the glorious future he had imagined over the previous months.
“CALL A DOCTOR!”
“TAKE HIS MAJESTY TO HIS ROOM!”
Even amid the confusion, some nobles continued demanding information.
“Admiral Morales, is all of this true?”
“Yes… In a single battle, we fell victim to the Mexican Crown Prince’s deception and surprise attack.”
“General Barradas isn’t incompetent.
How could this happen?”
“Then what are those bastards demanding?”
“That… I cannot reveal until His Majesty wakes.
Return tomorrow.”
Morales, exhausted, tried to leave the palace.
A group of nobles blocked his path.
“Admiral!
What happened to our sons?
Everyone is panicking because they can’t find them!”
“My son too!”
“They… are prisoners of the Mexican Empire.”
“What?
Wai—WAIT!”
Morales left them with those words.
***
The following day, after careful treatment by his physicians, Ferdinand VII awakened only to face an even harsher reality.
“They captured three hundred and fifty nobles?
“And they say that if we refuse their conditions, they’ll send them to the mines to work until they die?
“How can they be so cruel?
Does the Mexican Empire have no honor?”
For a moment, Ferdinand nearly collapsed again.
Only his fury kept him upright.
He could not believe Mexico dared treat noble Spanish blood this way.
“Exactly, Your Majesty!
The Mexican Empire clearly has no sense of honor!”
“The international community will never tolerate such disgraceful blackmail!”
The nobles echoed one another, clinging desperately to the concept of honor.
It was as though they wanted to forget that Spain had just lost a war into which they had poured enormous resources.
When they spoke of the “international community,” what they really meant was France.
France would never allow a country like Mexico to impose such conditions on Spain.
Admiral Morales watched the scene with growing disgust.
‘The international community?
‘Spain is finished.
‘How did these idiots bring our country to this point?
‘This is what happens when you invite France in just to preserve your own power.’
Morales came from a Spanish noble family himself.
Yet at that moment, he decided he would support the liberal faction.
‘Better to pressure them into signing the indemnity treaty.
‘This will destroy support for the Spanish monarchy—and, with luck, the nobles who incited this war along with it.’
“Your Majesty, the Crown Prince of the Mexican Empire said that if the indemnity treaty is not signed within seven weeks, the prisoners will be sent to the mines.
“We must decide quickly.”
“Seven weeks?
That means we have no more than one or two weeks left!
“SUMMON THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR IMMEDIATELY!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The French ambassador’s answer was not what Ferdinand VII and the nobles expected.
“Your Majesty, I apologize, but this is a matter between Mexico and Spain.
France cannot intervene.”
“What do you mean you can’t intervene now?
You’ve interfered in everything until now!
“And this attack on Mexico was carried out with France’s approval, wasn’t it?”
Diplomatic restraint vanished under Ferdinand’s furious response.
The French ambassador’s patience ran out.
“The United Kingdom has intervened.
“Regarding this matter, I hope Spain resolves it wisely.
“Now, with your permission, I will take my leave.”
With France—their only hope—abandoning them, the Spanish nobles split into opposing camps.
“Your Majesty!
We must sign the treaty immediately!”
Cuba!
CUBA!
How can Spain surrender an island we’ve developed for centuries?”
“Shut your mouth!
Your son escaped faster than anyone, while mine was captured with honor!”
“He wasn’t captured with honor—he was too slow!
Your Majesty, we cannot surrender Cuba because of personal emotion.
They have no way to attack the Spanish mainland anyway!”
“Too slow?
Personal emotion?
YOU DAMNED—!”
The palace descended into chaos.
Nobles screamed at one another in front of the King, their faces red with fury.
Those whose sons had escaped Mexico or never been captured fiercely opposed the treaty.
Those whose sons were among the three hundred and fifty prisoners supported it.
Within a week, the conflict had gone beyond shouting.
The nobles favoring compensation began preparing more drastic measures.
“Those traitors have completely lost their minds.”
“Your Majesty, the situation is worse than we thought.
Rumors are spreading that some of them are in contact with the liberals.”
“What?
Is that true?
How can nobles do such a thing…?”
“I’m afraid it is true, Your Majesty.”
Ferdinand VII and the nobles opposing the indemnity finally yielded.
They knew that if news of the defeat spread while open conflict erupted among the nobility, everything could collapse.
The liberals would never waste such an opportunity.
Admiral Morales crossed the Atlantic for the third time that year.
This time, he carried no army.
He brought diplomats and fifty naval engineers.
***
The Spanish War of Invasion against Mexico—as it was officially called—was over.
The result was, of course, a victory for the Mexican Empire.
Spain ceded the ten-million-peso debt claim, its expeditionary fleet, fifty naval engineers, and Cuba.
In exchange, we released the prisoners.
The Spanish debt claim was transferred directly to the United Kingdom, which honored its promise to forgive part of our debt.
Of Mexico’s forty-five million pesos in debt, twenty-five million was owed to Britain, fifteen million to France, and ten million to the United States.
Britain forgave eleven and a half million of the twenty-five million pesos we owed it.
“Thirty-three and a half million left… Damn it.
We shouldn’t even have had to pay all of this in the first place.”
Thinking about the debt made my blood boil.
I forced myself to calm down.
This was a good day.
I should focus on the good news.
“The Mexican Empire finally has a real navy.”
“Yes.
The ratio of warships to transports isn’t ideal, but this is only the beginning.
And now we have naval engineers as well.”
The fleet consisted of two ships of the line, five frigates, three smaller warships, and forty-five transports.
The same vessels that had sailed to attack the Mexican Empire now belonged to us.
The Spanish naval engineers who came to Mexico—some more willingly than others—were offered high salaries and housing.
Because they came from Spain, communication with our own engineers was easy enough, which helped them adapt.
“Cuba… I never imagined we’d actually get it.”
“Neither did I.
At first, I only intended to demand three things and leave Cuba out.
“But once they handed us a pile of noble prisoners, the opportunity was too good to waste.”
“That happened because you won the battle.”
“Yes, Father.”
Agustín I proudly patted me on the shoulder.
When news of the peace treaty and victory spread, the entire Mexican Empire erupted in celebration.
And why wouldn’t it?
Cuba was a territory Spain had carefully cultivated, both as a major port and as valuable agricultural land.
Its economic, strategic, and symbolic importance was enormous.
Even after Spain lost most of its American colonies, it had managed to hold Cuba.
Now Mexico had taken it.
Many Mexicans had long felt a mixture of resentment and envy toward Spain.
Independence had relieved some of those feelings.
This victory erased the remaining sense of inferiority and replaced it with renewed national pride.
What was the greatest weakness of monarchy?
No matter how capable a king might be, there was always a chance his heir would be a disaster.
A great father could leave behind a useless son, and the country’s future could collapse regardless of the current monarch’s achievements.
“The Emperor gave us independence and is stabilizing the Empire!
The Crown Prince will lead its revival!”
“Yes!
Any anxiety about the succession vanished.
At the victory celebration and medal ceremony in the Plaza de la Constitución—the Zócalo—the crowd would not stop cheering.
“LONG LIVE THE MEXICAN EMPIRE!
LONG LIVE THE IMPERIAL HOUSE OF ITURBIDE!”
“LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!”
“LONG LIVE THE MEXICAN EMPIRE!
LONG LIVE THE IMPERIAL HOUSE OF ITURBIDE!”
The endless cheering delayed the ceremony for quite some time.
“We will now begin the presentation of medals.
Citizens, please remain quiet for a moment.”
General Jorge and the officers of the defensive army received decorations and promotions of one rank.
Lorenzo, who had infiltrated the Spanish Army as part of the deception operation, and the junior officers who went with him were promoted two ranks.
“Your Highness, when they put me on that mission, I thought you were sending me to die.”
“How could you think that?
We’re classmates!
I was looking after you, you ungrateful bastard!”
“After all that deception, you sent me straight onto the battlefield!
I thought I was going to die under friendly fire!”
“That’s why I supported you from the rear, wasn’t it?”
“Heh.
Thanks.”
The republican politicians were furious.
“Besides the Emperor, his son has military talent too?”
“Not just military talent.
Have you forgotten how he humiliated us in Congress?
And there are rumors he somehow found time at the military academy to invent things as well.”
“Damn it.
He’s a monster.”
“Exactly.
A monster.
If the republican party is going to have a future, we need to keep a close eye on the Crown Prince.”
“And how exactly do you intend to do that in the current situation?
Besides, didn’t you personally buy several of his mechanical reapers?”
“Uh…”
***
The Mexican Empire mobilized five thousand soldiers to take control of Cuba.
Using the fleet newly acquired from Spain, they launched a large-scale landing operation.
Normally, territories transferred by treaty did not require such an aggressive occupation.
The Mexican Empire was different.
“From this moment forward, everything owned by Spaniards on this island belongs to the government of the Mexican Empire.
“Don’t leave behind so much as a single sack of corn.
Understood?”
“YES, SIR!
WE DEPART IMMEDIATELY!”
Spain protested.
Mexico ignored it.
The treatment of private property in ceded territories depended on the countries involved.
Sometimes private property was protected.
Sometimes compensation was offered.
Sometimes property was simply confiscated.
As before, the Mexican Empire left British, French, and American property untouched.
Spanish property was seized.
‘Relations with Spain are already so badly damaged that they won’t recover for at least a decade.
‘If diplomatic relations were likely to normalize soon, perhaps leaving their property alone would be worth considering.
‘But that isn’t going to happen, so there’s no reason to hold back.’
As during the earlier confiscations, Mexican forces landed across Cuba and quickly began moving seized property through Havana—the island’s capital and largest port—toward Mexico City.
This was the Mexican Empire’s first true naval operation.
There were mistakes and delays, but the navy gradually accumulated experience.
Cuba was enormous, covering roughly 110,000 square kilometers—slightly larger than South Korea’s approximately 100,000 square kilometers.
Most of the plantations across that vast territory came under the control of the Mexican government.
With Cuba’s addition, the Empire’s territory expanded from approximately 4.92 million to 5.03 million square kilometers.
‘There are desert regions, but this isn’t like Russia or Canada in the original history, where enormous areas were practically uninhabitable because of the cold.
‘Most of our territory is usable.’
The Mexican Empire possessed staggering potential.
There was no time to rest if we wanted to realize it as quickly as possible.
The celebratory mood lasted for more than a month after the victory ceremony.
I didn’t stay to enjoy it.
I boarded a ship bound for England.
“Set sail.”
Salute cannons thundered across the harbor as the salty wind filled the sails.
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