Chapter 49 The French Ambition
The American immigrant separatist forces in Texas, referred to as the Secession Army, was a new definition given to the Texas rebellion in newspapers, and it was quickly accepted by media around the world.
Guizot and Thiers, two big figures in French politics, both believed that this was a good opportunity for France to return to North America.
After all, the Mexicans are too poor. They should not be able to repay the interest, and then use the debt problem to take advantage of the opportunity to ask Mexico for Texas. Using the Gulf of Mexico as a base, it is not a dream to create a second France.
They do not think this is wishful thinking, and they know that Mexico's national strength is simply not enough to support Tasan Anna's military operations.
As a country as big as Mexico, its annual fiscal revenue is only 18 million pesos, less than one-tenth of France's fiscal revenue.
According to French estimates, Mexico's funds will dry up in three months at most, and this is assuming that Mexico does not increase military spending.
According to intelligence, the Texas separatist army has received support from the Americans.
The training level and weapons and equipment of the Mexicans are very backward. As long as there is a small group of organized American troops, entering Texas can defeat the Mexicans.
Regarding anti-Americanism, although the British are the most noisy, it is impossible for them to send troops directly to Texas, so sooner or later the two sides in the war will become the United States and Mexico.
The United States is much stronger than Mexico, and the failure of the Mexicans is a matter of time.
If the Mexicans don't want to accept the fate of failure, they can only borrow money from France, and France is very willing to help these poor people.
After all, we are all Catholic brothers. How can I be called the filial son of the French Catholic Church in vain?
After the war, they used debt issues to claim Texas from Mexico.
In this way, Mexico paid off its debts and received asylum from France. It can be said that it killed two birds with one stone.
After all, as long as France is in Texas, the United States will not be able to continue its westward expansion, and the Mexicans will be able to sit back and relax.
Thiers and Guizot were still thinking about France's bright future in North America when a clerk on duty in the cabinet woke them up.
"Mr. Rothschild and the others are here"
To complete their good deeds, France needs the most professional bankers
On a plain north of San Antonio, a massacre was taking place.
The two sides fighting were Tasan Anna's 1,500 Mexican cavalry and the separatist Colonel Manin's 270 remnants.
Both sides were doomed from the moment the battle began.
Since Manin and his soldiers did not realize that the other party was Mexican at first, they thought they were reinforcements from Houston.
The cavalry was allowed to advance to a distance of less than a hundred meters. At this time, it was too late to organize the soldiers into a hollow square formation or to escape.
At that moment, Ma Ning gave up thinking and allowed the cavalry to crush his own team.
The scattered deserters could not escape the pursuit of the cavalry, and the battle was over soon.
Tasang Anna enjoyed the scene of the cavalry chasing down the defeated soldiers very much. He liked the feeling of blood splattering everywhere, and he shouted excitedly.
"Kill them all! Good boy, God is with us!"
Gablenz and Stadion had no interest in such a one-sided battle, Tasan Anna's adjutant reminded him.
"The two military observers are still here and we should observe gentlemanly etiquette."
Only then did Tasang Anna realize that if he continued to kill indiscriminately, he would definitely be regarded as a barbarian, and he quickly gave the order.
"Don't hurt those who surrender, quickly! Stop them! No more killing!"
Several officers beat their horses and rushed out, because the soldiers had already killed them. No matter who it was, they would be very excited when riding horses to chase rabbits.
By the time the officers stopped the crazy cavalry, there were only a dozen people left in the separatist army, including Colonel Ma Ning, who had given up thinking.
Colonel Ma Ning stood dumbly on the spot and was dressed in an officer's uniform. He was ignored by the cavalry. Instead, it was the fleeing soldiers and volunteers who inspired the cavalry's ferocity.
A Mexican general quickly ran up to Tasan Annama, took off his hat and saluted.
"General, it's your victory, a great victory. We captured 17 people, including a colonel, who was supposed to be their commander, and three hundred guns."
Colonel Manin was the highest-ranking officer captured by the Mexican army since the war began.
Tasang Anna was very proud. He wanted to humiliate this separatist officer, but he was disappointed. The man in front of him seemed stupid.
The fighting in the direction of the town has also ended. Tasan Anna ordered his men to put out the fire, collect the affected refugees, and then threw all the blame for arson on the separatist army.
Hundreds of residents of the town looked at their homes in ruins. Many people burst into tears. No one cared about Tasang Anna's pot-throwing speech.
"General, you should show your mercy." In fact, Gablenz already wanted to curse. How on earth did this man become the ruler of Mexico? Does he have no political talent at all?
In fact, Tasan Anna was the first person in the Americas to bombard the presidential palace, and he also created a genre called "house demolition style". As the name suggests, the presidential palace must be bombed every time there is a coup, causing the president to repeatedly build himself a new home. This genre It spreads widely, and all of Latin America is its fan.
Such dictators who came to power through military coups often have very limited political means.
However, since there were Austrian military observers nearby, he had to restrain himself.
In order to maintain the image of the Mexican army, Tasan Anna ordered the soldiers to serve the residents of the town. He set up temporary tents and distributed part of the military rations he collected to the soldiers and civilians in the town.
Tasan Anna's action gained a wave of support, but it made the military commander very angry because the military supplies from the rear had not arrived. The reason why the Mexican army is now popular is entirely because they robbed those rebels who betrayed Mexico. finance.
But now Tasan Anna refuses to plunder in order to maintain his image, and the Alamo has been unable to be captured for a long time. Goliad has food and supplies, but they have no money, which makes it difficult to deal with it.
On March 9, 1836, the sixteen-pound heavy siege artillery that Tasan Anna had been waiting for finally arrived.
Tasan Anna shouted with joy, "I'm going to kill all those Yankees."
This made Gablenz and Stadion feel that he was hopeless, because there was no point in killing all those Yankees, but it would make those people heroes.
Of course Franz knew this. He had already told Archbishop Rauscher to do everything possible to get the Alamo defenders to surrender.
Before Gablenz and Stadion came to Mexico, they were told to surrender as many Texans as possible, especially the garrison of San Antonio (now the Alamo garrison).
Stadion was the first to speak, "Your Majesty General, you should first send those prisoners to persuade the Alamo defenders to surrender. If the other party surrenders, unnecessary bloodshed will be avoided and your prestige will be enhanced."
Tasan Anna immediately noticed that he had lost his temper. He was the Napoleon of North America, how could he not use both kindness and power?
"Tell the prisoners to tell the Alamo defenders to surrender."