Chapter 303 The Archbishop's Confession

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz has had a headache recently, because Archbishop Rauscher has been coming to him to confess all day.

The reason is not other things, but to invite the French to the Central American Federation to quell the rebellion.

France has not gained any benefit in Central America in these years, but has also spent hundreds of millions of francs in military expenses and the lives of tens of thousands of French soldiers.

However, France is not the only victim. The Central American Federation has suffered a sharp drop in income due to continuous wars, and people are living in misery.

Of course, the French have not gained nothing, such as Carrera, the leader of the rebels. The French hope to end the war by trying Carrera and take away the benefits they deserve.

However, the former President of the Central American Federation, La Mosan, once again showed his talent. La Mosan led his followers to surround the French prison and then broke into the prison, and executed Carrera without trial.

La Mosan's actions made the French very disgusted, but for the huge profits promised by him, they had to endure it temporarily.

After that, La Mossan started his reign of terror again, adopting a more radical strategy than before he was driven out of power. Coupled with the pressure of repaying the debt, La Mossan began a large-scale liquidation.

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

As Franz had judged before, the so-called devil Carrera was just a swineherd. La Mossan's rule was the source of the chaos. Today a swineherd could rebel, and tomorrow a shepherd might rebel.

But it must be said that France is still very trustworthy. Even so, La Mossan did not suddenly disappear or die suddenly. Instead, King Louis Philippe granted him a French title.

But the worst loser was the Catholic Church. Before La Mossan's reform, they owned 70% of the country's land, and even after the reform, they still controlled 25% of the country's land.

However, as of today, the land of the Central American Federation Church is less than 5% of the country. Countless churches have been burned down, priests have been massacred, and nuns have been forced to marry local natives.

These people can only ask for help from the churches in France and Austria. Of course, they have also been to Rome, but they can't afford the high meeting fee and have to give up.

Yes, Pope Gregory XVI at this time is a very greedy person. Under his rule, everything in the entire Roman Curia is clearly marked. At this time, the priests of the Central American Federation naturally have no money to get the favor of the Pope.

At this time, the French Church is also riding a tiger and it is difficult to get off. Many people think that the war will end soon, and they can control the entire federation like the Austrian Church, and even establish a theocracy.

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

But if La Mosan is not changed, his various behaviors make the church see no hope, and they have to endure the accusations of their 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, but because of Guizot's strategy of attacking Mexico from the north and south.

It was almost an inevitable choice to deal with Mexico first, because the United States was too big and had a good naval force. In addition, the United States had trade relations with Britain, Austria and other countries, which made France dare not act rashly.

But now France has a new goal, that is, the Viceroyalty of La Plata, which is Argentina in later generations. This should have been the territory of Spain, and later, like Mexico, it took advantage of the decline of Spain to become independent.

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

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

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

Compared with the Central American Federation with its mountains and remote countryside, the Argentine Federation can be described as a paradise on earth, with a large number of mining areas and large pastures, and rich resources that make people salivate.

Moreover, Juan Manuel de Rosas's rule was not stable. This king of war fought wars everywhere, but he was servile to Britain and France. What was even more unacceptable to the domestic opposition was that Rosas actually colluded with Argentina's old enemy, the Brazilians.

The opposition of Justo José de Urquiza, a senior official of Entre Rios, secretly contacted France, hoping to overthrow Rosas' rule with the help of the French.

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

Guizot and Louis Philippe, who learned the news, would certainly not miss 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, at just over 600,000 people.

How could the French resist such a piece of fat meat, so the Congress asked the military to end this costly war as soon as possible.

But this kind of security war is not something you can end just because you can't find anyone to sign a peace treaty.

So Marshal Magnon de Rochefort, commander of the French Expeditionary Force, adopted an extermination policy 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 support the rebels.

This was strongly opposed by La Mossan, because he felt that the French were looting his property.

But Marshal Magnon de Rochefort ignored La Mossan's protest. And he knew that if he followed the other party's advice, he might never be able to end the war in his lifetime.

Marshal Magnon de Rochefort knew his responsibilities, and he was first responsible for his country, not La Mossan and those priests.

The intensity and bloodiness of the Central American battlefield increased rapidly. At first, the French only attacked the natives, but soon it spread to the native whites, and even the pure whites were not spared.

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

So, Archbishop Rauscher remembered the person who gave him advice. Of course, due to Franz's special status, he naturally could not accuse Franz like those Central American priests, and could only come to Franz every day in the name of explaining the Bible to confess his sins.