Pedro II, Baron Muritba, and Baron Loreto sat on the veranda in the garden, looking at the lake with their backs to the lake.

"Boom" a puff of white smoke fills the air, two cameras stacked on top of each other, under the operation of the court photographer José Insley Pacheco, Pacheco was born in Portugal and immigrated to Brazil at a young age, While working in New York from 1849 to 1851, he studied and studied photography with Jeremiah Gurney and Matthew Brady, and when he returned to Brazil, he opened a studio in Rio de Janeiro, specializing in photographing dignitaries of the Brazilian Empire. As a result, he became acquainted with Pedro II and Princess Isabella, with whom he maintained a good personal friendship.

"Your Majesty, Baron Muritba, Baron Loreto, it has been taken, and I will personally send it to you after the photos are cleaned up in a few days."

Pacheco and his two assistants put the cameras in order and said, "I'm sorry, there are a few guests with appointments in the camera studio today, I have to hurry back first, I can't stay in the palace to accompany His Majesty and the two baroness." ”

"Dear Pacheco, go about your business first, and don't forget to attend the banquet next weekend when Isabella and Count Iyu are at the royal estate outside Rio de Janeiro."

"Thank you Your Majesty and the princess for your kindness, and when the banquet is held on the weekend, I will use the camera to leave a good memory for Your Majesty, the princess, and the Count of Iyu." …………

"Your Majesty, the peace talks between Britain and the Han have failed, I heard that the Han negotiators have given up their efforts to save the peace talks, and are preparing to leave Rio de Janeiro in a week to return home, the peace talks between the two countries have failed, and the frontline areas bordering Argentina in the empire are afraid that they will be counterattacked by the Han army, and the imperial army must plan in advance to deal with it."

After Pacheco left, Baron Muritba and Pedro II discussed recent events.

"The recent behavior of the republicans and the democrats is very abnormal, in the past two weeks, the Imperial Home Police Department has found that the Republican leader Morais and many democrats have visited the British Minister Auston privately many times, Your Majesty, Britain is the largest creditor country of the Empire, and most of the weapons and equipment of the Imperial Army and the ironclad ships of the Navy need to be imported from the British mainland, if the Republicans and the Democrats carry the Central Committee of the Empire behind their backs and promise the conditions that the British cannot refuse, then the situation of you and the Imperial Royal Family is too dangerous."

"The Brasakan family had a strong friendship with the British Empire for three hundred years, and it was impossible for the British to heed the temptation of the republicans to abandon the alliance of the Brasacans."

Pedro II shook his head and said, "Five days ago, when the British and Han had just started peace talks, the British Minister Sir Auston made a special trip to the palace and promised me that the British Empire would always support the Brazilian government to resist the illegal expansion of the Han people, and Britain would not bypass Brazil to make peace with the Han alone. ”

"However, Your Majesty, the greatest crisis of the Brazilian Empire is the riots and uprisings that have broken out in various parts of the country and the non-stop republicans, democrats and other dissidents, the first thing the central government of the empire should do is to quell the rebellion and combat the conspiracy of the ambitious guys of the republicans and democrats to subvert the country, although the threat of the Han State to the empire is huge, it will not endanger the survival of the imperial government, and the Han State has just annexed Argentina and Uruguay, and has no intention of expanding externally for the time being. The Imperial Government continued to follow the orders of the British, and it was pointless to stand in the forefront of the most direct attacks by the Han Chinese.

In my opinion, the Imperial Central Committee should participate in the peace talks with the Han State, and even if the British oppose it, it is necessary to reach a temporary armistice with the Han Chinese, transfer the central army that is facing the front line back to China, increase the military strength in the hands of the Imperial Central Committee, and deter those ambitious factions who are ready to move. ”

"Your Majesty, there has been instability in the army stationed in Rio de Janeiro, dozens of middle- and lower-level Guards officers have gathered in private to secretly propagate the idea of republicans and democracy, and the influence of the republicans and democrats is spreading to the army, and if this trend is not curbed, it will not take a few years for the guards and defense forces stationed in Rio de Janeiro to obey His Majesty's orders, or the demagoguery of the republicans and democrats!"

Baron Loreto was equally worried.

"How serious is the situation in the Imperial Army?"

Pedro II frowned.

"Very serious, Your Majesty, since the end of the Paraguayan War, there have been secret groups in the Imperial Army and Navy, and the slightly more influential ones are the Knights of Brasilia organized by Lieutenant Colonel Ebel, the officers' club organized by General Fonseca, and more than a dozen factions with political opinions, these secret groups are very tightly organized, and it is difficult for outsiders to find out their internal information without their approval."

"Baron Muritba, I now appoint you as the new commander of the Rio de Janeiro Military Region, and General Atrenotta's 4,000 city defense troops under your command, and I also grant you the power to supervise and investigate in the Rio de Janeiro army, allowing you to directly arrest officers and soldiers who intend to plan a rebellion, without having to report to the Minister of War in advance!" ”

Pedro II realized the seriousness of the army's problems and issued several orders one after another: "Order the gendarmerie command to send special soldiers to carry out comprehensive monitoring of General Fonseca, and as soon as he finds definite evidence of his contacts with republicans, democrats and other dissidents, immediately report it to the Reich Central for arrest!"

Baron Loreto, appoint you as the commander-in-chief of the front-line army in Paraná, and set out in two days to take over the command of the 30,000 central troops on the front, without the order issued by the Central Council of the Reich and me, the front-line army is not allowed to launch a provocative attack on the first-line defense line of the Han State without permission! ”…………

After making a rough adjustment to the army's chain of command and supervision system, Pedro II sat alone on the veranda, opened a Portuguese version of "The Treatise on the Monarch", opened the book and read it for less than ten minutes, and saw Baron Muritba running in with a panicked expression.

"Your Majesty, someone in the Guards is going to launch a coup d'état, and the troops guarding the gates of the palace have been replaced by Fonseca's people, and while Fonseca's people haven't found out, Your Majesty should leave the palace quickly!"

Pacheco has been a court photographer since 1855, free access to the Brazilian palace for 24 years, not only has a good relationship with the royal nobles, because he often gives free pictures of ordinary soldiers, and is respected by most of the guards soldiers, when Pacheco left the palace, he accidentally found that the guards guarding the palace Hong have a few new faces, and quietly found an officer he knew to ask a few words, Pacheco sensed the danger from the officer's kind reminder, so he pretended to leave, and walked more than 100 meters outside the palace. Then he turned around and found a secret place and stopped, until Baron Muritba and Baron Loreto came out, and told them of the danger they perceived.

"Go to the telegraph hall, I want to contact the city defense army in Rio de Janeiro and order General Atrenotta to lead the city defense army to eliminate the rebels stationed at the palace!"

"It's useless, Your Majesty, the telegraph hall is controlled by the Guards, it is impossible for us to send a telegram to contact the troops outside, Baron Loreto and Mr. Pacheco are rushing to contact Princess Isabella and General García respectively, the troops in the city of Rio de Janeiro are unreliable, Your Majesty must leave the palace immediately!"

"Okay, let's go right away."

Pedro II panicked, at the urging of Baron Muritba, panicked towards the back door of the garden, but unfortunately Baron Muritba's move to return to the palace caused the alarm of the Guards, Fonseca got the report of his subordinates, and quickly decided to launch a military coup in advance, the officers of the Guards who originally planned to act at noon that night, under the temporary change, led their soldiers to pour into the palace, and other troops in the city of Rio de Janeiro who participated in the coup d'état also hastily mobilized their troops under the reminder of Fonseca, Cooperate with the actions in the palace.

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