War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

What could five million dollars buy in the nineteenth century?

On October 27, 1821, the United States and Spain signed a contract to purchase the ownership of Florida for $5 million.

In fact, the Americans did not spend a penny, but directly occupied it militarily in the name of expelling the Indians through the Seminole War.

Spain, which was declining, had no strength to bargain with this emerging power in North America. In addition, the former had constant domestic uprisings and natural disasters, so it could only give Florida to the latter for nothing.

Adams, the then US Secretary of State, said excitedly: "This will be a new era in American history."

But he never imagined that 23 years later, the Austrians would buy a fleet of 70 warships and 18,000 officers and soldiers from the Americans for five million US dollars.

In fact, before Ashton Hoffman, the emissary of the Austrian-Mexican Joint Development Company, arrived, the US military was divided into two camps. One group advocated directly admitting defeat and withdrawing to the United States, while the other group advocated continuing to fight to contain the Austrian army.

However, because of John Fremont's personal reputation and excellent organizational skills, these people were united to continue harassing the California coastline, making it impossible for the Austrian army to expand further even if it won.

But since that meeting, John Fremont has been trying his best to cover up the fact that he has lost contact with the mainland United States.

However, paper cannot cover fire, and forcibly putting paper on a fire will encourage the spread of fire.

In order to dispel the doubts of the soldiers, John Fremont directed and acted in a big play.

His men hired a group of businessmen from the port of Barranquilla in Colombia to act as messengers, and then read the "good news" to the soldiers of the expeditionary force.

It did boost the morale of the soldiers at that time, but some people raised objections as to why the US military had already breached Fortress San Gabriel and Mexico City and did not continue to send troops to attack Los Angeles and San Francisco.

And why are there no reinforcements, even a little supply?

But those were just the voices of the minority, and all it took at this point was a big win for John Fremont to regain control of the situation.

But reality hit him hard again. I don't know where the Austrians got so many troops, and there were guards in every city.

It is simply a joke to let the navy go to land to forcibly attack well-defended positions.

After several defeats in a row, John Fremont had to lead his army back to the temporary camp to wait for the opportunity. However, it rained continuously all night, and the fleet's supplies were at the bottom.

In fact, he had previously relied on plundering the coastal areas of California, but now that this method didn't work, he could only go to the nearest port for supplies.

The closest place to here is the Port of Barranquilla in Gran Colombia, but now John Freemont is facing a new problem, that is, no money.

At the same time, John Fremont was not the real commander of this fleet, and he had no authority to owe debts on behalf of the United States. The Colombians also brought a lot of bad news to the US military.

That is, the European powers have decided to support Mexico. The fleets of Britain, France, and Austria have set off from the European continent. What's more terrible is that Winfield's army has been surrounded by the Mexicans, and Zachary Taylor's main force still has not broken through. Rand River Line of Defense.

John Freemont wanted to call these rumors, but another soldier met the extras he had hired before in the tavern.

After a cordial and friendly exchange with him, the American soldier learned the truth of the matter. The development of the matter had exceeded the control of John Fremont.

The angry crowd locked John Freemont into the cargo warehouse on the flagship. He did not resist and did not want to resist again.

In the warehouse, John Freemont began to worry about the future fate of the United States, because his strange army seemed to have become a lone force at this time. An inexplicable sadness came to his heart, and he even began to doubt that he would soon Will die in his sleep.

But when John Freemont woke up the next day, he was not dead. On the contrary, the door of the warehouse was opened, and someone asked him to get out.

John Freemont was very calm at this time, just smiled and tidied his clothes.

"Is there any cigarette?"

The soldier on the side quickly took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it over. John Freemont held the cigarette in his mouth and continued.

"Is there a fire?"

The soldier quickly took out another match, and with a crisp sound, the smell of burning red phosphorus and pine wood came out. John Freemont took a deep breath and closed his eyes as if he was reminiscing about something.

"Thank you, please lead the way." John Freemont said sincerely.

Soon the hatch cover was opened, and the long-lost sunshine made the explorer squint his eyes, and he began to think about his life and those thrilling adventures.

John Freemont looked at these familiar faces in front of him. He felt a little guilty, but he had no regrets.

If God gave him another chance, John Fremont would still choose to cross the Rocky Mountains and the Nevada Desert to this golden coast.

Breathing the slightly salty sea breeze, John Freemont felt that today was indeed a good day to die, so he walked to the bow of the ship.

"Come on, let's get started! Long live freedom! Long live democracy! Beauty"

John Fremont was interrupted before he could finish his last words. The officers on the side helped him put on the uniform of a naval admiral and the sailing cap that symbolized the commander of the fleet.

The captains shouted in unison: "Mr. Fremont! You are now our fleet commander!"

In fact, after John Fremont was imprisoned in the warehouse, the U.S. military had a firefight on the land of Gran Colombia, and nearly a thousand people died before it calmed down.

John Freemont is not an idiot. He knows very well that if his approach does not satisfy everyone, the final result is likely to be like the group of people who were purged last night, dying in a foreign country.

"Long live the Austrian Empire! We have turned from darkness to light!"

"Long live!"

"Long live!"

Accompanied by cheers and flying navy hats, Fremont's fleet sailed towards Los Angeles. As for the account at the Port of Barranquilla, it was naturally recorded with the Omer United Development Company.

In fact, every move of the US military is under Austrian surveillance, but if Fremont can persist for a while, he may be able to wait for intelligence from Washington.

Because this time John Taylor sent a warship to deliver information, which was not something that hundreds of Austrian agents could solve.

There is no problem for these intelligence officers to deal with couriers or ordinary businessmen, but there is almost no chance of winning against the army. After all, the training they receive is mainly to collect and transmit intelligence, not to fight.

But unfortunately, by the time Washington's messenger discovered Fremont's fleet, the latter had already flown the Austrian flag and chose to sink the former without hesitation.

It would have been better if Franz had put the messenger back in Washington as he must have preferred the California Coast Patrol.