Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 40 Night Plan
In front of a luxurious residence in Lima, Thomas got off his horse, handed the horse to the guard at the door, took two steps into the gate, stopped and ordered, "Go and invite Minister José Balta and General Francisco Diez Canseco. I want to discuss important matters with them."

José Balta was the Minister of Finance of Peru and one of the main leaders against Pedro. Historically, José Balta provided money and Tomas and Francisco provided troops to force Pedro to step down in one fell swoop.

Now the three of them have joined forces.

At seven o'clock in the evening, shortly after dark, Balta and Francisco arrived at Thomas's residence one after another.

"General Thomas, the Chinese rebels are very powerful. It is unlikely that we can suppress the rebellion with the existing 80,000 troops alone."

At the dinner table, Balta spoke based on the day's meeting.

"Tripa's excuse of economic pressure cannot stop Pedro from expanding his army.
Once Pedro spreads the news that the southern Peruvian defenders were annihilated and exaggerates the threat of the Chinese rebels, the big businessmen who have huge interests in the southern mines will definitely force politicians like Tripa to support the expansion of the army.
By then, Pedro will have the righteous cause of recovering the country, and with the financial support of big businessmen to expand the army, the situation will be very unfavorable to us."

Francisco was not in the mood to drink either, and frowned.

"All my main forces were lost in the south. Now our strength is no match for Pedro, so I called you here to discuss countermeasures."

"It's not easy. I think it's better to make peace with Pedro before you completely offend him and hand over all your troops to him. Maybe he will let you go if he's happy." Balta drank a glass of wine and said slowly.

"Balta, what are you saying? We are on the same boat. How can you be better off if we are defeated by Pedro?"

Francisco snorted.

"I'm different from you. As long as I give Pedro some money, he won't dare to do anything to me."

Balta's ancestors were descendants of Spanish colonists and had great influence in Peru. If Pedro wanted to secure his presidency, he could not offend these big businessmen.

"Balta, if you have something to say, just say it directly. There's no need to play tricks."

The reason why Balta said this was just to raise his asking price. Thomas has been in the political and military circles for twenty years, so he has some vision.

"Haha, General Thomas is still sensible and understands things immediately." Balta laughed, ignoring Francisco's dissatisfied look, and slowly expressed his thoughts.

"Pedro used the merchants' eagerness to recover the south to push his subordinates to expand the army. We can also use the merchants' eagerness to pressure Pedro to send troops as soon as possible."

"We are powerless now. If we rashly step forward to force Pedro to send troops, I am afraid he will use us as cannon fodder and use the Chinese rebels to destroy us."

Thomas was not optimistic about his approach.

"It is impossible for just a few of us to force Pedro to surrender, so we must unite all opponents and work together to put pressure on him."

"Besides us, the only powerful people who are dissatisfied with Pedro are Tripa's people. Do you mean to cooperate with them?"

Thomas said uncertainly.

"Yes, it is Tripa. He has the support of the British. As long as our two groups unite, Pedro will have to bow his head."

"Balta, I thought you would come up with a good solution, but I didn't expect you to let us cooperate with Tripa, the traitor.

Can Tripa cooperate with us? Before the Chinese rebelled, he relied on the support of the British to occupy our mines. If we cooperate with him, even if we force Pedro to send troops in advance and consume his strength, we will not have much interest left in the south, so I don't agree to cooperate with Tripa. "Francisco said.

What Francisco said was exactly what Thomas was thinking. He didn't want to retreat to the wolf and invite the tiger behind. He didn't want to drive away Pedro, the wolf, but invite in the British, the tiger.

The British had long coveted Peru's mineral resources. In order to monopolize Peru's mineral development, they constantly forced the Peruvian government to sign unequal economic treaties.

Because of the refusal of several Peruvian presidents, the British instigated their agents in Peru to create trouble for the Peruvian government, and also instigated the Chileans to attack Bolivia and Peru to seize the saltpeter producing areas of the two countries on the Pacific coast.

Thomas was very wary of the British and was not optimistic about Baltar's suggestion.

"You don't understand what I mean." Balta saw that the situation was about to become tense, so he explained, "Don't the British want the mineral resources in the south? I can sign an agreement with them first and agree to fulfill the contract when I take office."

"But we still have to hand over the mine to the British?" Francisco interrupted.

"It's different," Balta shook his head and continued, "After Pedro falls, we can completely push a puppet to power. In this way, we can't take power, and the signed agreement will naturally be invalid."

Balta's method had many loopholes, but Thomas couldn't think of a better way, so he agreed with Balta's opinion.

"Sir, this is a letter from General Thomas." Tripa was sitting in the room when a layman in the family handed him a letter.

After opening the letter and reading it for more than ten minutes and thinking seriously for half an hour, Tripa's frown gradually relaxed and he sneered, "You think you can bind me with a piece of paper. You underestimate me too much."

Tripa didn't care about the trap set by Balta in the agreement, because the British just wanted an excuse.

As long as Pedro is overthrown, regardless of whether Thomas and others become the president of Peru or not, they can use the agreement to demand that the Peruvian government fulfill the contract.
If they don't agree, the British don't have to do it themselves, their younger brothers can teach them a lesson in minutes.

"Reply to Thomas, I agree to his request."...

This night was destined to be a restless night. Just as Tripa and Tomas' groups were plotting against each other, a guest came to Pedro's house.

"Rustuart, aren't you Thomas's subordinate? Why are you acting as a lobbyist for the rebels?" Pedro said lightly after reading the letter from Li Mingyuan.

"Please forgive me, President. I was only helping the Chinese troops deliver letters. I have absolutely no intention of joining the Chinese." Lustuart explained hurriedly.

Thomas and others were at their weakest, and Pedro was confident of victory. Although Li Mingyuan offered generous conditions, he was still not tempted. A fierce light flashed in Pedro's eyes, and he wanted to kill Lustuart.

"President, there is urgent information." Just as Pedro was about to deal with Lustuart, a hurried voice interrupted his thoughts.

The letter handed over by the servant was sent by a spy lurking in Tripa's house. After reading the content of the letter, Pedro's murderous intention towards Rustuart disappeared, but the expression on his face was very interesting. He thought he could stabilize his position soon, but Thomas and others secretly joined forces to trip him up.

"Tell them that I agree to their request, but I require them to cooperate with me to put on a good show." After saying this, Pedro told Rustuart his plan.

Lustuart nodded, stood up and left through the back door.

(End of this chapter)