"Why not? Archbishop, the lost lamb needs the right guidance, and that is the duty of the shepherd. ”

The two men spoke relatively vaguely, but Archbishop Rauscher understood what Franz meant, and the two countries still need the Church to help deal with the aftermath.

Although it was a bit disappointing that Guatemala and Honduras did not get relatively wealthy, Archbishop Rauscher decided to do his best to carry out Franz's plan.

After all, in Southeast Asia, no one could figure out why Franz chose Chenla, a land with no roots, instead of Vietnam, which has a strong church, and Siam (Thailand), which has a strong economy.

But in the end, Archduke Franz was right, and Chenla became the only country in the world other than the Papal States to be controlled by the Church.

Sure enough, after the proposal was revealed through secret channels, the French immediately agreed. Of course, the Tuileries Palace had absolutely no reason to refuse this proposal, after all, it would be possible to directly reduce the number of enemies by a third.

The authorities in Paris immediately made peace with the two countries unilaterally, despite Ramossan's objections, and recognized their independent status.

But the price of peace was high, and the two Governments had to accept the harsh conditions of five million francs in war reparations, which was undoubtedly exacerbated by the harsh conditions of the two weak countries whose annual government revenues were less than one million francs.

And the driving force behind the scenes, Guizo, also has his own considerations. As Marshal Magnon de Rochefort described, it was a good idea to install a puppet government after a direct unconditional peace, but France had given too much to the Central American Confederation.

These stingy and greedy men will never agree to add money for the sake of a bunch of gold-eating beasts that require a lot of investment, unless they impress the domestic bureaucrats and financial capitalists with tangible benefits.

(In fact, in the early days of colonial development, the cost was often very high, so it was called the Gold Eater)

On July 15, 1841, as soon as the armistice was announced, the wealthy local merchants and mine owners in Honduras immediately united and offered an olive branch to the French expeditionary force:

First, they would not make any unfriendly moves towards the French army.

Second, they were willing to pay a lump sum of five million in war reparations.

Of course, this little trick will not deceive France, which has been through many battles and has long been chatting and laughing with other colonial powers.

Like other colonizers, French soldiers and adventurers came from afar for the land and gold of Central America, and how could a mere 8 million francs fill their hungry hearts?

Having unsurprisingly rejected the proposals of the local capitalists, the French threw out a list of 100 million francs in war reparations, with a demand to cede the port of La Ceiba and to grant France the most-favored-nation status and the right to build and operate railroads.

France's ambitions were clear, but Honduran merchants and mine owners had no bargaining power, since they had guns in their hands and could find an excuse to launch an armed extortion operation.

At this time, the world's No. 1-stirring stick with an unusually sensitive sense of smell took the initiative to mediate with his old rival after learning the news of Honduras' independence.

The reason why England's sense of smell was so keen was that, in addition to Franz's obstruction, La Mossan was also dissatisfied with the French's damage to his property.

So he thought of a good solution, which was to let the British clean up the French by "razing the razes", so that he could continue to fight left and right.

But to La Mosan's surprise, the British and the French actually began to divide the spoils directly, ignoring him as a bitter master. As a matter of fact, the opposition within the French government is very strong against Britain's demand for exclusive occupation of Honduras.

This time it was not only the Bonapartist clamoring for war with the British, but even the financial capitalists, who had always been the most opposed to war, also advocated war, because France had paid too much in the Central American Confederation, and the gold and silver mines of Honduras were too important.

In the end, it was Guizzoli who decided to make concessions to Britain for the sake of his so-called "Anglo-French goodwill" and agreed to assign Honduras to Britain, but Britain must also bear the war reparations of 30 million francs in Honduras, and support France to occupy Guatemala and El Saldóva under the pretext of "debt disputes".

At this time, La Mosan, who was enjoying the joy of victory in Guatemala City, did not know that he had actually become a fish on the board, and had even divided the plate.

Marshal Magnon de Rochefort, commander of the French expeditionary force, immediately after receiving an affirmative reply from Paris, ordered the arrest of La Mossan and demanded that he immediately pay a debt of 1 billion francs.

Naturally, La Mossan disagreed, and even if he did, he did not have so much money, and he refused to sign the colonial agreement.

But there are many people in the Central American Federation who want to end the war, and after so many years of war, all the factions of the Central American Federation are exhausted.

In the past, the motivation that sustained them from surrendering was the fear of settling accounts after Ramossan, but now that the scourge is gone, they are willing to be subjects of France.

The civil war in the Central American Federation ended, Guatemala and El Salva became French colonies, and Honduras was nominally an independent state under British protection, but in reality the government and major economic lifelines were controlled by the British.

Nicaragua and Costa Rica, located in the southeast, declared independence, but were effectively controlled by the Austrian Church. The U.S. government once again reaffirmed the Monroe Doctrine and demanded that the French government return power to the legitimate government of the Central American Federation.

In fact, with the increasing prosperity of Texas, the contradiction between France and the United States is also deepening.

Moreover, France has always been very generous in the development of the colonies, and Texas has developed rapidly in French hands, and the length of the railroad is even longer than that of mainland France.

At the same time, the Texans were treated very favorably in the law, they could enjoy almost the same treatment as the French, and the French law brought order, security, and fairness that they had never enjoyed.

After the arrival of the French gendarmerie, even the most powerful family in Texas, with hundreds of cowboys, did not dare to act as sheriffs or confront the French government.

In fact, the early West was not as beautiful as depicted in the movies, bandits considered themselves sheriffs, large families controlled local militias, and gangs were organized on the Great Plains to rob good people.

The gangs slaughtered the Indians and dealt with the mercenaries of the American government, but when it came to the real French army, they looked embarrassed.

Those seemingly stupid tactics have left these arrogant cowboys in their minds. The French did not pay attention to martial virtues, and frequently used artillery to attack the strongholds of the bandits.

Due to the influence of Napoleon, artillery played a very important role in the French army at this time, and if you did not fire two cannons during the battle, it would be as if you were not French.

To put it bluntly, although Guizot's actions maintained peace with Britain, it was at the expense of French interests and French national feelings, which laid a hidden danger for the future.

I have time today, and I should add another chapter in the evening.

(End of chapter)