Chapter 303 The Archbishop’s Confession

Chapter 303 The Archbishop’s Confession

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz has been having a headache recently, because Archbishop Rauscher comes to him all day long to confess.

What he was doing was nothing more than inviting the French to go to the Central American Federation to counter rebellion.

Not only has France not gained any benefit from its presence in Central America over the years, it has also spent hundreds of millions of francs on military expenditures and the lives of tens of thousands of French soldiers.

But France is not the only victim. The Central American Federation has suffered a sharp drop in income due to the continuous war, and people's lives are miserable.

Of course, the French did not gain anything, such as Carrera, the leader of the rebel army. The French hoped to end the war by putting Carrera on trial and take away the benefits they deserved.

But the former Central American Federation President Ramosan once again showed his talent. Ramosan led his followers to surround the French prison and then broke into the prison and executed Carrera without trial.

The French despised Lamosan's approach, but for the huge profits he promised, they had to endure it for the time being.

Ramossan then resumed his reign of terror, adopting even more aggressive tactics than before he was ousted. Coupled with the pressure to repay the money, Lamosan began a large-scale liquidation.

The reason why he did this was of course to stabilize his rule and eradicate dissidents. Just when Lamosan felt that he was about to return to his peak, rebellion resumed and a larger-scale civil war broke out.

As Franz had judged before, the so-called devil Carrera was nothing more than a swineherd. Lamosan's rule is the source of trouble. Today a pigherder can rebel, and tomorrow a sheepherder may rebel.

But I have to say that France is still very trustworthy. Even so, Lamosan did not suddenly disappear or die suddenly. Instead, King Louis Philippe gave him a French title.

But the biggest loser among them is the Catholic Church. Before Lamosan's reform, they owned 70% of the country's land. Even after the reform, they only controlled 25% of the country's land.

However, since the civil war has started today, the land of the Central American Federation Church has reached less than 5% of the country. Countless churches have been burned down, priests have been massacred, and nuns have been forced to marry local indigenous people.

These people could only seek help from the churches in France and Austria. Of course, they also went to Rome, but they could not afford the high meeting fees and had to give up.

Yes, Pope Gregory XVI at this time was a very greedy person. Under his rule, everything in the Holy See was clearly priced. At this time, it was naturally impossible for the priests of the Central American Federation to still have money to get the Pope. favor.

At this time, the French Church was also in a difficult situation. Many people thought that the war would end soon, and they would be able to control the entire federation like the Austrian Church, and even establish a clerical state.

Many church leaders have placed heavy bets on Lamosan, so they are in a dilemma at this time. If they change agents now, all the previous investment will be wasted, and even if they change, there may not be any changes.

But if Ramosan is not replaced, his various behaviors will make the church lose hope, and he will have to endure criticism from his peers.

Of course, the reason why the French government spared no effort to fight this terrible war was not because of the influence of the church or Guizot's strategy of attacking Mexico from the north to the south.

Dealing with Mexico first is almost an inevitable choice, because the United States is too big and has a good maritime force. In addition, the United States has trade relations with the United Kingdom, Austria and other countries, which makes France dare not act rashly.

But now France has a new target, the Viceroyalty of La Plata, which will later become Argentina. This was supposed to be Spain's territory, and later, like Mexico, it took advantage of Spain's decline to become independent.

But at this time, France and Spain had formed an alliance, and Louis Philippe's youngest son was engaged to the Queen of Spain, so it became a good excuse to help the "in-laws" solve internal problems.

In fact, France had conflicts with Argentina before. Argentina wanted to implement trade protection policies. This move angered France and directly sent a fleet to blockade Buenos Aires.

Juan Manuel de Rosas, the "Lord of War" in South America, could only meet France's demands in exchange for peace. Of course, this is still the case with the British mediation, otherwise it would not be as simple as siege and blockade.

Compared with the Central American Federation, which is surrounded by mountains and remote areas, the Argentine Federation can be described as a paradise on earth. It has many mining areas, large pastures, and rich resources that make people salivate.

Moreover, the rule of Juan Manuel de Rosas was not stable. This king of war went to war everywhere, but he knelt down to Britain and France. What was even more unacceptable to the domestic opposition was Rosas. Joining forces with Argentina's arch-rivals, the Brazilians.

The opposition, led by Justo Jose de Urquiza, a senior official in Entre Rios, secretly contacted France, hoping to use the power of the French to overthrow Rosas' rule.

Their logic is very simple, that is, because Brazil is in contact with Austria, Argentina should join forces with Austria's mortal enemy France. Anyway, they cannot make the same choice as the Brazilians.

After learning the news, Guizot and Louis Philippe would not let go of this opportunity. After all, Argentina was much weaker than Mexico and the United States.

Although Argentina’s area is four times that of France, its population is less than one-fiftieth of France’s, with only more than 600,000 people.

How could the French tolerate such a piece of fat? So Congress asked the military to end this costly war as soon as possible.

But this kind of security war cannot be ended if you want to, because even if you want to sign a peace treaty, you can't find anyone.

As a result, Marshal Magnon de Rochefort, commander of the French Expeditionary Force, adopted a policy of extermination to thoroughly clean up the rebels and those who supported the rebels.

French expeditionary force soldiers were allowed to shoot anyone who might be a rebel and loot supplies that might help fund the rebels.

This was strongly opposed by Lamoisin, who felt that the French were plundering his property.

But Marshal Magnon de Rochefort ignored Lamosan's protests. And he knew that if he followed the other party's advice, he might not be able to end this war in his lifetime.

Marshal Magnon de Rochefort knew his duty. He was responsible first for his country, not for Lamosan and the priests.

The intensity and bloodiness of the Central American battlefields increased rapidly. At first, the French only attacked the indigenous people, but soon it spread to the native whites, and even purebred whites were not immune.

At this time, they remembered Archbishop Rauscher who gave them advice. The power of the church in Austria has increased a lot over the years, but it is simply wishful thinking to interfere in French military operations.

Ever since, Archbishop Rauscher remembered the person who gave him advice. Of course, due to Franz's special status, he naturally cannot accuse Franz like the Central American priests. He can only come to Franz every day to confess his crimes in the name of explaining the Bible.