In the Royal Palace of Rio de Janeiro, the bustle and splendor of yesteryear has been replaced by silence and emptiness.

In the main hall Pedro II sits above, and below stand the Dukes Garcia and Frobert.

"You all know the statements of Peru and Bolivia, tell us your opinion and what measures we should take in response to them."

Pedro II spoke first.

"Your Majesty, Peru and Bolivia are not strong enough, as long as 10,000 troops are dispatched to reinforce the western border area, the Acre region can be guaranteed."

Garcia did not want to express his views on Peru and Bolivia, because of the defeat in the Paraguayan war, García has been removed from his position in the army as military commander, and he is also indicted by a military court and may be punished in a cell at any time.

The loss of the main Brazilian force and the accusations of domestic public opinion made Garcia uninterested in paying attention to the affairs of the Brazilian army, but Pedro II specially sent someone to find him from the supervision room of the military court and raised military questions, Garcia could not pretend not to hear.

"Peru and Bolivia are clowns who want to take advantage of the chaos of the empire, and they can't help but underestimate the strength of the empire.

Duke Frobert, informed the Army Headquarters to send five thousand men each from the Campinas Military Region and the Ribelangretu Military Region to reinforce the Acre region. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Duke Frobert bowed slightly. Turned around and summoned the officers on duty at the gate of the palace, and after giving Pedro II's orders, he returned to the palace.

"General Garcia, there is no problem with your military command ability, the defeat in the Paraguayan War was an accident, I hope you will face up to the impact of the Paraguayan War and continue to contribute to the development of the Brazilian Empire."

"The main force of the imperial army has been lost, and as the supreme commander of the battlefield, I have an unshirkable responsibility, and my subordinates are willing to accept the trial and punishment of the military court, and will not evade their responsibilities."

García heard Pedro II's reassuring and exonerating himself for the Paraguayan war, but as a pure soldier, he disdained to use this method to clear his name.

"General, the main responsibility for the war in Paraguay is decided by the military court and the Imperial Diet, as a senior general of the Imperial Army, I want you to show the qualities of a good general, and stand up bravely when the Empire needs you, and not be defeated by a war defeat like a coward."

Pedro II looked cautious and said in a serious tone: "Both, you should have seen the situation in the empire, externally, the Chinese forces occupied Rio Gro Sul, tens of thousands of imperial subjects were expelled from the land where they had lived for generations, Paraguay was not dead and sent troops to attack Mato Grosso, Peru and Bolivia issued a statement demanding that the empire abandon the Acre region, and it was confirmed that Peru and Bolivia were engaged in military mobilization, and if the empire did not agree to their conditions, a new war would be inevitable." ”

After Pedro II finished talking about the external situation facing Brazil, he saw that the following two people did not express their position, and said in a heavy tone: "The external threat seems to be severe, but in fact, as long as the empire is stable, they are not a big threat, but is the empire stable and peaceful now?"

The various political parties within the Imperial Diet were particularly active, with representatives of local self-government forces demanding local regional autonomy, and representatives of large farmers and factory owners hoping for radical political reforms that would limit the rights of the monarch and improve their political status. The Liberal and Republican forces initiated a new case in the Imperial Diet to hold me accountable for starting the Paraguayan War and abolishing the monarchy.

Two, the situation in the empire has developed to the point where it is no longer time to hold those responsible for the defeat of the war accountable, and their goal has become a political event against me, and they hope to use the impact of the defeat in the war to prevent the economic and political reform of the empire, or even to overthrow the imperial monarchy.

Pedro II paused for a moment and said in a slower tone: At this time, I hope that you can stand firmly with me, crush the conspiracy of careerists and separatists within the empire, and lead the empire out of the predicament. ”

Pedro II was sincere and serious, but his words were different to the ears of the two people below.

The Forrobert family is a deep-rooted old force in Brazil, they represent the big landowners and large farmers who support the monarchy, the landlord class has always been the most powerful supporter of the monarchy, the Conservative Party composed of the Forrobert family and a group of aristocratic landlords is called the royalist party by other parties in the parliament, and it fights against the liberal party and the republican forces to ensure the stability of Pedro II's imperial power.

However, the full support of the royalists did not come back in return from Pedro II.

In the Imperial Diet, Pedro II only used the Conservative Party as a pawn to balance the opposition, and when needed, let the Conservative Party take the lead in fighting the Liberals and Republicans, and then Pedro II acted as the final arbiter to mediate the contradictions between the two factions, to put it bluntly, Pedro II was between the royalists and the republicans, and did not solve the fundamental contradictions between the two factions,

Moreover, Pedro II, who was deeply influenced by the political systems of Britain and France, hoped to change Brazil into a civilized and democratic country like Britain and France, implement a British constitutional monarchy, pursue superficial democracy and freedom, and could not ruthlessly eradicate the political forces that opposed him, resulting in the Brazilian upper class imitating the life of Britain and France, and the various political parties in the imperial parliament quarreled every day but mostly served the forces they represented, and rarely cared about the interests of the country.

It is said that the idea of learning from the political system of Britain and France is good, but Brazil is not a traditional European country, and the indigenous white people in Brazil come from Portugal, Spain, Germany and other regions, and the centripetal force is not strong, and there are complex contradictions among different groups of people such as mestizos, Indians, and black slaves in the country, and the implementation of democracy in such a country is undoubtedly a slow suicide.

Pedro II is known as a noble monarch by European countries, but he is not a suitable monarch for Brazil, the core of the Brazilian monarchy is represented by the Portuguese aristocracy of large landowners and plantation owners, it is because of their support Pedro II can suppress the separatist forces and separatist forces in the country,

Politically, the Conservative Party of large landowners and large plantation owners protected the monarchy.

On the economic front, the well-funded landlord class invested money in industrial construction, which contributed to the development of domestic industry in Brazil.

On the military front, a group of members of large landlord families represented by Garcia joined the army to suppress local separatist forces and rebel forces.

The fundamental reason why the big landowners and the big plantation class supported Pedro's rule was for the security of their land and the security of the land's profits, but the amiable Pedro II faced the influence of the abolitionist movement in European countries and the United States, first freed all slaves belonging to the Brazilian royal family, and then announced a ban on the purchase of African slaves not long ago, and Pedro II repeatedly stated in public that he completely abolished slavery, deliberately catering to the republicans and liberals.

Pedro II's seemingly shrewd but dangerous actions are like walking a tightrope, and one mistake can break you to pieces.

On the original historical trajectory, the Paraguayan War was won, and Pedro II relied on the prestige of expanding the territory to extend the life of the Brazilian Empire for another 21 years, but now that the Paraguayan War was completely defeated, various domestic forces against Pedro II worked together, and if there were no accidents, the Brazilian Empire would definitely not last twenty years.

The contradictions in Brazil are gradually accumulating, and it only takes a flashpoint for the vast Brazilian empire to disappear in a short time.

Pedro II was in a dangerous situation and did not know it, but Forrobert directly felt the severity of the situation, within the aristocracy and the large landlord class, the recovery of the funds invested in industry was far away, the Paraguayan war was lost, more than 40,000 Brazilian soldiers were either killed or captured, and most of the more than 40,000 people were members of the landlord class who wanted to make meritorious contributions on the battlefield to obtain land, their death and capture was a heavy blow to the landlord class in Brazil, and at the same time exacerbated their dissatisfaction with Pedro II.

After Garcia led the remnants back to Rio de Janeiro, many landowners and plantation families visited Frobert's house every day to inquire about the situation, but Frobert's own son Canudute was in the hands of the Chinese Independence Army and did not return, so what could he do to help others.

Speaking of Canudut, the Chinese Independent Army did not treat him badly, did not let him do manual work like an ordinary prisoner, but arranged him in the city of Porto Alegre, where he had food and life guaranteed every day, and as for the more than 200 people who knew his information, they were all executed after the end of the war, Li Mingyuan fulfilled his initial promise to Canudut, and only sent him back after coordinating with Brazil.

When Robert received the news of his son's safety a week earlier, he was a little wary of the Chinese Independence Army's intention to hold him hostage, but more reassuringly.

Although the Chinese Independence Army army is strong in combat, its small number and isolation are inherent disadvantages, and he does not believe that the Chinese Independence Army can threaten the survival of Brazil, so he is not so worried about Canudute's handle in the hands of the Chinese Independence Army.

Pedro II and the mud did not like Forrobert as much, but he had no good way to make Pedro II change his mind, so he nodded in support.

Garcia was different, his straightforwardness as a soldier made him less worried like Frobert, and directly suggested: "Your Majesty, the strength of the domestic army in the empire is seriously insufficient, and I implore Your Majesty to take back the command of the local army and increase the strength of the army." ”

The Paraguayan War lasted for three years, and it was not only the central army that lost so much that the local troops attached to the states also suffered heavy losses.

The opportunity was a good opportunity, but Pedro II could not make up his mind: "Before the outbreak of the Paraguayan War, I formally reached an agreement with the Imperial Diet that the local troops would be under the sole jurisdiction of the respective states, and that the Emperor would not have the right to abolish the local army without a resolution of the Imperial Assembly and the national states, and that the agreement had been codified in the Imperial Constitution, and that I could not take the lead in violating the Constitution." ”

"Your Majesty, the main force of the Imperial Praetorian Guard is still there, plus the guard troops defending the capital, the strength of the army directly under the central government has completely suppressed the local troops, with the central troops in hand, the local troops do not dare to disobey the orders of the central government, and I implore Your Majesty to seize the opportunity to solve the stubborn problem of the local army in one fell swoop."

"I'll talk about the issue of the local army later, I have reached a consensus with the Imperial Parliament, the land that originally belonged to the Church will be redistributed to the Church, and all the black slaves who participated in the logistics and transportation during the war will also be given the status of free men, as for General Garcia, as a punishment for the defeat of the Paraguayan War, you will lose the rank of general, and at the same time be subject to a certain property penalty, after the court pronounces the judgment, I will transfer you to the Praetorian Guard as an adviser to assist in the management of the affairs of the Praetorian Guard."

Pedro II politely rejected Garcia's proposal, but in order to keep Garcia and temporarily appease the opposition forces in the country, he had to make a lot of concessions, first of all, to expand the scope of pardon for slaves, from participating in army battles to slaves who are engaged in logistics and transportation related to the army can be pardoned, so that more than 200,000 black slaves will be pardoned, and the biggest loss is naturally the owners of slaves, those large landowners, large estate owners, and secondly, the land that originally belonged to the church, Increasing the autonomy of the local states was contrary to the reform plan originally implemented by Pedro II, which was a step backwards in reform, but in the face of the pressure of the Liberal Party and the Republicans and the adverse effects of the loss of the Paraguayan war as soon as possible, Pedro II chose to give in, hoping to overcome the current difficulties in a compromise and muddy way.

Pedro has made up his mind, Garcia's persuasion is useless, and Forrobert's face has become ugly, step by step to limit the scope of slavery, using various ways to continuously free slaves, Pedro II is little by little challenging the bottom line of the big Brazilian landlord class.

If the Civil War broke out between the North and the South of the United States because of the issue of effort, should there also be a civil war in Brazil because of slavery?

A brutal image of the Civil War conjured up in Frobert's mind.