Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 268 035 Extremely Unstable New Spain

The appearance of Mexico City at this time is far from the Aztec Empire. The original lake has long been filled up and has completely turned into a Spanish-style city.

It’s just that when I saw the statue of King Carlos IV on horseback, I felt a little bit like this spineless king. His posture was also very impolite to those famous rulers in European history.

It made Spain’s rule in the American continent look quite funny.

At this time, several viceroyalties of Spain still controlled the precious metal deposits in America, and this output could still be mined until the 21st century. It’s just that the colonists and independent Latin American countries have not been able to properly utilize their resources. Instead, they have been regarded as blood-sucking bags by the Americans.

There are still many treasures in America. In addition to mineral deposits, there are tropical crops planted in plantations here, as well as vast plains and rich fishery resources in coastal areas.

But the Spanish colonies were almost in an infinitely divisible state in the end. They did not integrate their power and lost many places.

When walking on the street, you can feel the deep gap between the native whites and the "Peninsulars". The governors of New Spain failed to divide and rule, but made the conflict more acute.

The current governor is more optimistic about these Criollos, and in the second year after he came to Mexico City, he began to appoint high-ranking officials to directly manage the local area. Even the San Francisco Fortress, which had always been in a no-man's land, had to strengthen its defense.

Therefore, he was still a little wary of the Russians coming here.

"If necessary, I can follow the first batch of immigrants to Fort Ross. When negotiating with the natives, we must respect the customs of the other party. For example, a tribe took out an axe, but this axe is not just an axe, but also a pipe."

The axe under the pipe is a way of communication for Native Americans. If you smoke, it means peace. If you refuse, no matter how you deal with the axe, it means war.

It is a very simple view, and it has obviously formed a rule in these tribes from the west coast to the east coast of North America.

"No, Misha, you still have to go back and report. I am the governor of Rossburg. If the negotiations with the Spanish are not smooth, we have to consider other routes. If they don't let us go directly to Rossburg, we also need to think of a backup plan."

"It makes sense, but when dealing with Native Americans, you also have to understand their language. In addition, these people have no concept of private property. If they see your things, they may take them away. Of course, if they have good things, they are willing to share them. I heard that some of the Indian horse tribes now are introduced to other tribes after one of the tribes got them from the Spaniards."

In fact, the French may be more professional on this issue. The Sioux tribe and the French have always been quasi-allies, but they have always been in the corner of the Great Plains and rarely participated in the disputes between Britain and France at both ends of the Mississippi River, as well as the wars between indigenous tribes.

When they came to the northwest of the Great Plains from Lake Michigan, they also lived by water and grass. It is not necessarily because they could not beat a tribe and moved here.

The Dakota, Lakota and other tribes of the Sioux and the tribes below them soon formed a tribal alliance with the Blackfoot, Cheyenne and Arapaho. They would later give General Custer and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division a head-on blow, which was the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Soloviev actually sympathized with the Native Americans. They could not be said to be unfriendly to the white people, but these white people who spoke English were obviously very unhuman.

The French were unwilling to immigrate to New France. Many of those explorers also married indigenous women. Catholic countries were generally keen to preach to the indigenous people and did not intend to be conquerors and kill.

This can be seen from the church's daily behavior of denouncing the colonists. Whether it was the Jesuits at the beginning or the churches established directly by the Holy See through bishops from various countries, they still advocated cultural integration with the local people in Spain.

Therefore, it can be seen that although the Spaniards did a lot of immoral things, the local indigenous people could still barely make a living if they did not encounter deadly infectious diseases.

The doctors in Spain were more humane. When they came to New Spain, they did not distinguish between whites and natives. As long as they could reach a place, they would vaccinate against smallpox.

In contrast, those Protestant countries were outrageous. Compared with the British, the Dutch, who were obsessed with money, were quite lovely. After all, they only recognized money, and compared with the East India Company, which was usually immoral, the Dutch on the east coast of North America were already good people.

Compared with the United States, the United States was not as good as the United Kingdom. The British at least protected some Native American tribes as friendly forces, while the Americans did not care whether the other party was a friendly force or not, and their lifestyle had already become Europeanized, and they all worked in the reservation.

Compared with the Americans, the life in Rabaul was mainly because there were no beautiful girls to rob in Rabaul, and they could only farm there.

In this regard, Solovyov could think of a famous chief, and the city where Boeing's headquarters was located was named after him.

Yes, the city of Seattle was named by the American Maynard who founded the city to thank his chief friend. In the beginning, there were indeed indigenous people living in this city.

But in 1865, the city of Seattle issued a ban requiring all indigenous people to move to the reservation.

This is what the Americans did in the local area, even if some white people who had always gotten along well with the chief protested.

It was a great irony that the city named after the chief could only enter and exit as a visitor.

The reason why Chief Seattle was friendly to Americans was that he had contact with George Vancouver's expedition team and had always been interested in the "magic spells" mastered by white people.

As for horses, they were also regarded as "ridable dogs".

The people in the New World were more or less simple.

Of course, the French were so open that they would get along better with the indigenous people. The Indians did not have a clear marriage system and had always practiced walking marriage. The strong white people and tribal warriors would breed if they arrived in the local area. This was a magical system that the French and Italians would still like more.

The problem is not to catch the Spanish disease like in South America. The lethality of the spirochetes to the Incas is far less than that to the people in the Old World.

As for some situations in America, Solovyov still needs to explain to Duke Enghien first.

"You mean, if possible, we can build settlements in the more northern areas?"

"That's right, but we have to have good relations with the local tribes. I don't know where the expedition team that set out from Petersburg is now. Some of the officers I led when I was in the Guards Regiment participated in this voyage."

Count Fyodor Tolstoy was educated at the Naval Academy and later transferred to the Guards Regiment. He also had some knowledge when he boarded the ship this time.

It's just that he got into trouble and was left by the expedition team to accompany the indigenous people. This matter itself is quite funny.

If Solovyov knew about it, it would probably prove that the locals can still have a good relationship with the white people.

As for the governor in Mexico City, the progress of the negotiation with him should also be considered.

The Spanish were still highly vigilant about the presence of Britain and Russia on the border of their sphere of influence.

In addition, there was the attitude of the Americans.

The colonial army of New Spain is still stationed in New Orleans. Although the United States and France have completed the transaction of such a large piece of land as Louisiana, the local garrison is still stationed in New Orleans by the Spanish colonial army in accordance with the previous agreement between France and Spain.

After Napoleon's defeat in Saint-Domingue, he actually had no confidence in keeping Louisiana.

This can be seen from his personal ideas. When the war was unfavorable in early 1803, the visit of the American delegation led by Monroe also made him finally determined. In the second half of the year, the US Congress also approved the purchase.

Now the US military has been stationed in the original settlement area of ​​the Cherokees. In fact, the Americans are not only paying attention to the land of Louisiana, they want many places.

The surrounding colonies, their sovereign countries have a problem, that is, because of the affairs of the European continent, they don't have much energy to take care of the affairs of the North American continent.

When arriving in Mexico City, the local newspapers published the news.

When the Governor met with the Russians, he still had a kind of unfounded worry. What if these countries encroached on the territory of New Spain?

In fact, only the Americans did this, and they took advantage of Spain and Mexico, which was independent from them. As for whether they were bald or not, the parties involved saw it most clearly.

In this atmosphere, the Governor of New Spain met with Duke Enghien and Solovyov.

However, the visitors were the Bourbon royal family, which made the Governor feel relieved.

"Your Highness, it's a good thing that you came to me, but I don't understand why you left Europe and went to a barren place like Rossburg to be the governor of a Russian territory?"

"I was entrusted by someone. The American territories of the Russian government are mainly in the cold and frozen places in the north. There has always been a lack of food supply, so they considered developing Rossburg to supply various towns and trading posts in the Aleutian region. As for coming to North America, it is relatively safe here."

After listening to this, the governor also had a rough idea that the Bourbon royal family of France was not doing well at the moment. He had heard about this even in Mexico City. Louis XVIII has been in exile in Britain.

As for the Prince of Condé family, who have always had some friendship with the Spanish government, they also have contacts with the Russian royal family. It is a normal choice to choose to temporarily serve the Russian government and come to America to deal with the Spaniards.

"It's just that this trip is not easy. We want to let you go, but it's hard to find ships in Lower California."

"I know, but if we go around Cape Horn and only use our speedboats for transportation, it will be inconvenient and time-consuming. More importantly, most of the expatriates we transferred from Santo Domingo are French and Spanish. They boarded our ships to escape the rule of the Governor of Haiti."

The governor looked at the bishop of Mexico City again. It was obvious that Duke Enghien wanted to use moral issues to influence them. This ball was indeed not easy to catch.

The governor himself could understand this approach, and of course the ship issue was just an excuse.

He still wanted to give it a push and see what Russia's attitude was.

"Your Highness, may I speak?"

"Misha, come and discuss the stakes with the Governor."

"Sir Governor, I think you are in Mexico City and don't know much about the current situation in Europe, right?"

"You mean the British?"

"The fact is that they are not only targeting the French, but will also take action against Spain. We in Russia have not taken sides yet, but the British will definitely want to win over our emperor, and also Vienna. In this way, Europe is bound to be another anti-French alliance, but Russia will not have any claims on North America. We just need a large settlement to supply food. . If you cannot accept our request, perhaps we can also conduct exploration activities to the north of San Francisco Bay according to the British's previous exploration, but this will not be beneficial to both of us, and I have also heard that in Those settlements in Alta California, such as Monterey, where the provincial capital is located, are currently well established, but they also lack settlers? "

"That's the case."

"Perhaps we can open up some areas to support each other. Moreover, most of the people who moved to Fort Ross this time are French, which also proves that we are not enemies of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and the Madrid court represented by the Governor General. not to mention"

According to the custom in diplomatic situations, the Spaniards will actually ask for bribes. France and Spain have been fighting in this regard for so many years, and they have learned a lot from each other.

Duke Enghien took over the words at this time: "We can sign a check, the kind that can be cashed in Philadelphia, New York and Boston, even if it is settled in US dollars or pounds based on the gold content of banknotes. , are still very affordable. When we were in Veracruz, we also paid attention to the local exchange rate and the situation on the black market.”

Since he has to pay for it, the Governor is more or less aware of his interests, but he doesn't intend to make a decision immediately.

This also requires a secret meeting to agree on a result in private.