Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 268: The Extremely Unstable New Spain

The appearance of Mexico City at this time is far from what it used to be like in the Aztec Empire. The original lake had long been filled up, and it has completely become a Spanish-style city.

But when I saw the equestrian statue of King Carlos IV, I felt that this was a somewhat spineless king. His posture seemed very impolite to those famous rulers in European history.

This makes Spain's rule in the Americas seem quite ridiculous.

At this time, several Spanish viceroyalties still controlled precious metal mines in the Americas, and this output could still be mined until the 21st century. It’s just that the colonists and independent Latin American countries have failed to make good use of their resources. Instead, they have been treated as bloodsuckers by the Americans.

America still has a lot of treasures. In addition to mineral deposits, there are tropical crops grown in plantations, vast plains, and rich fishery resources in coastal areas.
However, Spain's colonies eventually became almost infinitely divisible, without integrating their strength, and many places were lost.

When walking on the streets, one could feel the deep gap between the native whites and the "Peninsula people". The governors of New Spain were unable to divide and rule, but instead 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 areas. Even the San Francisco Fortress, which had always been in a lawless area, had to strengthen its defenses.

Therefore, he was still somewhat 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 their customs. For example, a tribe took out an axe, but this axe is not just an axe, it is also a pipe."

There is an axe under the pipe, which is a way of communication for Native Americans. If you smoke, it means peace. If you refuse, no matter what you do with the axe, it means war.

This is a very simple view, and it has apparently become a norm among 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 do not go smoothly, we have to consider other routes. If they do not allow us to go directly to Rossburg, we also need to think of a backup plan."

"That makes sense, but when dealing with Native Americans, you also have to understand their language. Also, these people have no concept of private property. If they see your things, they might 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 nowadays were introduced to other tribes after one of them 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 on both ends of the Mississippi River, as well as the wars between indigenous tribes.

When they came to the northwestern Great Plains from Lake Michigan, they also lived by the water and grass. It was not necessarily that they moved here because they were defeated by any other tribe.

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, and would later give General Custer and the 1th Cavalry Regiment of the 7st Cavalry Division a head-on blow at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

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

The French were reluctant to immigrate to New France, and many of those explorers married indigenous women. Catholic countries were generally keen on preaching to the indigenous people and did not intend to be conquerors and fight and kill.

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

Therefore, we can see that although the Spaniards did many immoral things, the local indigenous people could still make a living if they had not encountered deadly infectious diseases.

The local Spanish doctors were more humane. When they came to New Spain, they did not distinguish between white people and indigenous people. They vaccinated people against smallpox as long as they could reach the place.

In contrast, the Protestant countries are outrageous. The Dutch, who are obsessed with money, are quite cute compared to the British. After all, they only care about money, and compared with the East India Company, which is usually immoral, the Dutch on the east coast of North America are already good people.

Compared with Britain and the United States, the United States is even worse than Britain. The British at least protected some Native American tribes as friendly forces, while the Americans didn't care whether the other party was a friendly force or not, and their lifestyle had been Europeanized, and they all worked in the reservation.

Compared with the Americans, the life in Rabaul is simple because there are no beautiful girls to be robbed in Rabaul, and people can only farm there.

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

That’s right, the city of Seattle was named after Maynard, the American who founded the city, in order to thank his chief friend. Originally, there were indeed indigenous people living in this city.

But in 1865, the city of Seattle issued an injunction requiring all Native Americans to move to reservations.

This is what the Americans did there, and it was useless even if some white people who had always gotten along well with the chief protested.

It is a great irony that for a city named after a chief, the chief can only enter and leave as a visitor.

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

As for horses, they are also considered "ridable dogs".
The people in the New World still have some simple customs.

Of course, the French are so open-minded that they will get along better with the indigenous people. The Indians do not have a clear marriage system and have always practiced walking marriage. Strong white people and tribal warriors will inseminate when they arrive at the local area. This is a magical system, and the French and Italians still prefer it.

The problem is that you don't get the Spanish disease as you did in South America. The spirochete is far less deadly to the Incas than it is to these people in the Old World.

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

"You mean, if possible, we can establish settlements further north?"

"That's right, but we need to maintain 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 General Corps. He also had some knowledge when he boarded the ship. However, he was in trouble and was left behind by the expedition team to accompany the natives, which was quite funny in itself.

If Solovyov knew about this, it would probably prove that the locals were still able to get along well with the white people.

As for the Governor in Mexico City, the progress of the negotiations with him must also be taken into consideration.

The Spanish were still highly wary of the appearance of Britain and Russia on the borders of their sphere of influence.

In addition, there is 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 the Spanish colonial army stationed in New Orleans in accordance with the previous agreement between France and Spain.

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

This can be seen from his personal ideas. When the war was going unfavorably in early 1803, the visit of the American delegation led by Monroe finally made him make up his mind. 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 of the Cherokee people. In fact, the Americans are not only paying attention to Louisiana, they want many places.

The sovereign countries of these surrounding colonies all have a problem, which is that they are too busy with things happening in Europe to pay much attention to the affairs of North America.

When we arrived in Mexico City, the news was published in the local newspapers.

When the governor himself met with the Russians, he also had a kind of unfounded worry. What if these countries were to encroach on the territory on the border of New Spain?
In fact, only the Americans did this, and they took advantage of Spain and Mexico, which had gained independence 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 received Duke Enghien and Solovyov.

However, the visitor was from the Bourbon royal family, which made the governor feel more at ease.

"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 become the governor of a Russian territory?"

"I was asked to do this. The Russian government's territories in the Americas are mainly in the cold northern areas, which have always lacked food supply. That's why they considered developing the Fort Ross territory to supply towns and trading posts in the Aleutian region. As for coming to North America, it's also relatively safe here."

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

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

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

"I know, but if we go around Cape Horn and only use our fast ships for transportation, it will be inconvenient and time-consuming. More importantly, most of the expatriates we transferred from Saint-Domingue 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 influence them with moral issues, which was indeed a difficult ball 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 to see what Russia's attitude was.

"Your Highness, may I speak?"

"Misha, please talk to the Governor-General about the interests involved."

"Mr. Governor, I assume that you are in Mexico City and are not aware of the current situation in Europe?"

"You mean the English?"

"In fact, 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 form another anti-French alliance. However, 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 develop activities to the north of San Francisco Bay according to the previous exploration of the British. But this is not good for both of us, and I also heard that the settlements in Upper California, such as Monterey, the provincial capital, are currently well built, but they also lack settlers?"

“That’s the case.”

"Perhaps we can open up some areas to support each other. And most of the people who moved to Rossburg this time are French, which also proves that we are not enemies with the New Spain Viceroyalty represented by the Governor and the Madrid Court. What's more..."

According to the customs of diplomatic occasions, the Spaniards will actually still 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 conversation at this time: "We can sign a check that can be cashed in Philadelphia, New York and Boston. Even if the gold content is calculated according to the paper currency, it is still very affordable when settled in US dollars or pounds. When we were in Veracruz, we also paid attention to the local exchange rate and the situation on the black market."

Since he had to pay the money, the Governor was more or less sensible, but he did not intend to make a decision immediately.

This also requires secret meetings to privately agree on an outcome.

(End of this chapter)