Holy Roman Empire

Riding on the east wind of victory in the World War and with the support of the local power factions in Mexico, Earl Bru moved into Mexico City on October 16, 1905.

Without comparison, there is no harm; thanks to the continuous chaos in Mexico over the years, the patience of the people with the Republican Government had long been exhausted, and the restoration efforts proved to be smoother than anticipated.

Once the general trend gathered momentum, forming a torrent of the times, it could no longer be stopped by individuals.

The many years of efforts by Maximilian I were not in vain; he also had a group of supporters in Mexico, many of whom were students who studied abroad and were much more open-minded and progressive, both in vision and thought.

Having seen the prosperity of the European world, these people all had ideas about changing the current state of Mexico and could be considered natural-born reformists.

Unlike Maximilian I, who was brought up in luxury, Earl Bru had carried the title of an exiled crown prince from a young age and had early on undertaken the heavy responsibility of restoration.

With Franz's intervention, Bru received an imperial education from an early age. His vision and personal abilities were far stronger than those of his father.

From a few years ago, as soon as Bru arrived in America, he had already made contact with these supporters. Through these connections, Bru had made arrangements in the Mexican Government and the army.

However, previously lacking full support from his family and fearing intervention by international powers, Bru had always been silently gathering strength.

With the victory of the World War, the situation changed drastically. The Holy Roman Empire became the new hegemon, and the Habsburg dynasty once again stood at the pinnacle of the world.

Under such circumstances, even if the neighbors wanted to intervene, they did not dare to act rashly. The international environment for restoration was already in place.

Moreover, during the World War, Bru took the opportunity to eliminate dissidents with the help of the Shinra's power.

Do not think that just because there are Royalists everywhere in Mexico now, everyone really supports the royal family. In reality, it's because those who did not support the monarchy have been 'snapped away.'

By leveraging Shinra's influence, Bru was able to smoothly bring the mercenaries he recruited to Mexico City in grandeur.

To the uninformed, it seemed that the Shinra Army had entered, and Bru must have received full support from the Vienna Government. To not rush to his side would mean missing the opportunity.

As the saying goes, "A new emperor, a new court." In this time of regime change, backing the wrong side could be fatal.

Followers + Royalists + Opportunists formed the ruling base of Bru.

A temporary government dominated by opportunists was obviously unstable. But Bru had no choice at the moment; even knowing they were opportunists, he had to use them.

...

"How did father respond, did we get the loan?"

Earl Bru asked with concern.

Restoration also requires money; Mexico itself was already deeply in debt, with multiple financial bankruptcies during the Republican Government period, let alone having undergone the baptism of war.

Now Mexico is like a house with its east, south, west and north walls torn down, with just a few remaining pillars also riddled with holes.

Since he has taken over national power, these troubles naturally fall into the hands of Earl Bru. Without solving the financial issues, even if the restoration succeeds, one would not be able to hold onto power for long.

"His Majesty asks you to complete the restoration as soon as possible. As for financial issues, he said you should not worry; he will find a way to solve them,"

The elder replied methodically.

The elder was impressed with Bru's caution. Even with coded telegrams, Bru still insisted on having someone personally retrieve the messages and destroy them immediately after reading.

However, Bru's caution was also well founded; the more critical the moment, the more vigilant he needed to be.

Right now, it was only the Royal family supporting his restoration, not the Holy Roman Empire, and even within the Vienna Government, there was considerable opposition.

Bru was leveraging an information gap to falsely project full support from the Holy Roman Empire, causing outsiders to mistakenly believe that he had the Empire's full backing.

The reason why various parties in Mexico were so cooperative was primarily because of the deterrence of the world's hegemonic power. Once they knew that Bru's current supporters were only the royal family, the situation would be entirely different.

The power of a family, no matter how strong, cannot match that of a country, especially when that country is the world's hegemon.

If Bru could gain full support from the Habsburg Family, then pacifying Mexico would be a simple task. Just a matter of investing enough money and resources, any trouble could be resolved.

This was the mess left by Maximilian I; he repeatedly begged for alms over the past decades but never achieved anything noteworthy.

In everyone's eyes, this was simply a waste of family resources. With this fixed impression, when Bru sought help from his family, there were endless objections.

Everyone was skeptical of their restoration plans, believing that even if they succeeded, it would be short-lived and they would not be able to secure their rule.

Especially during the creation of Sub-States, with a bunch of cousins vying for political resources, the older generation was clearly more willing to invest more resources into building Sub-States rather than supporting their father and son's restoration.

The palm and the back of the hand are all flesh; against this backdrop, Franz could not possibly provide Bru with too much support.

For the sake of family unity and stability, Franz adopted a fair and equal approach. As long as one had the capability and ambition, all members of the family were given support.

With such dispersion of power, one can imagine how much support Bru could muster.

It might seem like a fair distribution, but those cousins, they still had the political resources their fathers managed within the government, something Maximilian I could not provide.

Bearing the title of Emperor of Mexico, his status was certainly noble, but it also cut off his chances of developing within the Holy Roman Empire.

While his parents were still alive, he could rely on them, but now he only had his elder brother to turn to.

However, this was merely a drop in the bucket. Franz had many brothers, with over a dozen nephews in the second generation, and even more in the third.

Even with familial affection, the share that came down to Bru was not substantial. Without Maximilian I's influence, Bru would have a hard time even pretending to have clout.

If it weren't for Franz's support from behind, the Vienna Government would have spoken up a long time ago. The title of world hegemon is not easy to borrow.

With insufficient resources in hand, Bru had to be extra careful. For telegrams involving core secrets, he preferred to have someone make an extra trip, to use the exclusive line of the governor's mansion.

Having received an affirmative response, Bru didn't feel happy. Favors are used up bit by bit and family ties also wear thin with use.

Now that he had used up all his goodwill, life would be difficult once his forebears passed away.

Although everyone was very subtle, as a smart man, Bru could distinctly feel his cousins distancing themselves from him and his father.

After reflecting for a moment, Bru said, "Hmm, since the funding issue is resolved, let's start the reform plan!"

"Your Highness, shouldn't we restore the monarchy first?"

Having followed Maximilian I for decades, Phillibell had spent his life fighting for the cause of restoration.

His loyalty, if not his ability, was unmatched by any successor.

Now that he had finally seen the dawn of restoration, to start with social reform instead was unacceptable to him.

"Duke, restoration is very simple; there are plenty of people who would risk their lives for such honor. With just one order, the ceremony could be held tomorrow.

But that's meaningless. Without any tangible achievements, how could we win the support of the people?

Many things can be done now, but they would become very complicated once restoration is achieved. While the situation is in disarray, it's the best opportunity for us to reform.

Anyone who dares to oppose can simply be eliminated. After restoration and stability are achieved, dealing with these hardliners will be much more difficult.

This is what my uncle personally experienced. When the Vienna Revolution broke out and Austria was in chaos, it was through his bold reforms during troubled times that the Holy Roman Empire is what it is today."

Having brought up the classic case of Emperor Franz, Phillibell swallowed any objections he had. After many years of hardship, no one wished for a stronger nation more than he did.

Since there was a proven model, why not follow it?

From Bru's every action, it was evident that he was emulating Franz.

Back then, Franz had used the rebel army to eliminate active capitalists and severely weaken the conservative nobility, which paved the way for the rise of the new nobility.

Bru's approach was similar, during the past World War, he had used the Shinra Army's power to eliminate a large number of dissenters.

Now was when the conservative forces in Mexico were at their weakest. Those lucky enough to survive the social crackdown were too scared to cause any trouble for a while.

...

Mexico's grand reform had just begun when the United States' farce started to take center stage. Faced with astronomical war reparations, Congress was in an uproar.

While legislators were bickering, the public argued even more fiercely. Most notably, the Federal States of the Midwest and the various States of the East - engaged in a war of words in the newspapers.

One side accused the other of controlling the government and of igniting this mistaken war for their own benefit, and insisted that they should pay for the war.

Conversely, the other side claimed that the United States was a whole, war was waged by the Central Government, and thus the responsibility naturally lies with the Central Government, with reparations to be shared among all the Federal States.

As for the Central Government, it had already ceased to exist. No sooner had the impeachment proceedings begun than the Roosevelt Government craftily dropped out.

After overthrowing the old government, the new government was struggling to be born. Around the distribution of war reparations, the tension between the Federal States was increasingly flammable.

Due to the domestic situation becoming more severe, the presidential election process was also affected. Political candidates, fearful of being pressured by the public to take a stance, could only address the electorate over the radio.

This was not an easy side to choose, as the current atmosphere in the United States already had some premonitions akin to those before the Civil War broke out.

The radical media had already shouted the slogans for independence. Some Federal States had crowds marching in the streets, demanding that their state governments secede from the United States.