African Business Chronicles

Chapter 84: The News

The ship passed through the Far East and finally docked at the port of Mombasa in East Africa.

Thanks to the telegraph line from East Africa to Europe, Ernst received the news that Maximilian I had been successfully rescued.

The ridiculous part was that once Maximilian I figured out it was Ernst who had orchestrated his extraction, he outright refused to return to Europe. He clung to East Africa, unwilling to take another step.

He even sent a telegram to his son-in-law—whom he'd never met—demanding that his whereabouts not be disclosed to the Habsburg family.

Ernst didn't dare decide on his own. After receiving confirmation of Maximilian's safety, he informed Empress Dowager Sophie.

In fact, the news of Maximilian I's impending execution had already reached Europe. Many royal leaders had pleaded with Juárez not to carry it out.

Naturally, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was among them. But Maximilian I was too stubborn. When the French withdrew, they even offered him a chance to leave. Still, he insisted on staying and sharing Mexico's fate, which ultimately led to his capture by Juárez's government.

Although Empress Carlota sought help in Europe, no country had the means or the will to intervene in Mexico. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had just lost the Austro-Prussian War and was in a standoff with Italy in the Mediterranean. The navy certainly had no spare capacity to interfere in the Atlantic.

Thus, all the European powers could do was send telegrams urging Juárez to reconsider—but Juárez was determined to carry out the execution.

Just when Juárez thought he had secured victory, Ernst hit him with a complete surprise. You really thought everything had to follow state protocols?

Ernst ignored "rules of warfare" and used the most direct and classic method in history: he pulled Maximilian I out of Mexico's muddy mess by force.

Mexico, having just emerged from civil war, was plagued by warlords. The chaos was unimaginable—if anything, Ernst believed that even centuries later, Mexico would still be in a mess.

This disorder led to administrative inefficiency, giving Ernst's people the perfect opportunity to rescue Maximilian and flee.

...

"God bless…" Empress Dowager Sophie finally breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that her son was safe.

Naturally, the Mexican government did not publicize the fact that their emperor had been abducted—especially since they had no clue who had taken him.

So until Maximilian I reached East Africa, no country other than Ernst's inner circle knew that he had been taken right under the Mexican government's nose.

"Ernst, I truly thank you this time. I can't believe I didn't think to use mercenaries to rescue Ferdinand (Maximilian I)," Franz Joseph said, somewhat regretfully.

But mercenaries? For something this critical? Ernst would never entrust such a mission to hired guns.

Mercenaries work for money. If things get difficult, they may back out. Ernst was certain that if he had used them, someone would have cracked under pressure—like Qin Wuyang in the tale of Jing Ke's assassination attempt.

After all, Mexico was a large country, and Juárez was in full control. Opposing him was basically opposing all of Mexico.

The operation needed absolute loyalty. Since Ernst didn't keep any death squads, he relied on the students of the Hohenzollern Military Academy.

To them, Ernst was a father figure. Combined with their royalist, patriotic education, they held a fanatical loyalty to Ernst and the Hohenzollern dynasty.

With loyalty assured, the rest was easy. After his marriage alliance, Ernst had selected a group of top students for a special operations team.

They were trained for months. Meanwhile, intelligence about Mexico was gathered and used to refine the rescue plan.

This is what enabled the students to save Maximilian I just before his execution.

"Your Majesty, no one expected Juárez and Maximilian I to be so rigid—one ignored international pressure to execute a monarch, the other was willing to die for a country that was already terminally ill." That was the honest truth.

If Ernst were in Juárez's shoes, he wouldn't have antagonized Europe's royal families. The real threat was the United States, right next door. Ignoring Europe's pleas only isolated Mexico further.

Don't be fooled by the U.S. president's seemingly polite requests to spare Maximilian—he was likely thrilled Juárez wanted him dead.

America had always eyed Mexico warily. After the Civil War, one of the first things the U.S. did was send troops to monitor the border.

When they learned Juárez was still fighting as a guerrilla, the U.S. was overjoyed, quickly supplying weapons and ammunition to help overthrow the monarchy.

From Maximilian's point of view, Mexico was a hopeless mess. The country needed a tough reformer. Its weakness against the U.S. made it ripe for slow dismemberment.

But Maximilian was a liberal. If that was the case, why accept the Mexican crown? Ernst couldn't fathom his logic.

It reminded him of Franz Joseph's son, Crown Prince Rudolf—another liberal who hated the Austro-Hungarian throne. He even publicly claimed he wanted to be president of both Austria and Hungary.

Seriously? What kind of family was this?

Poor Rudolf ended his life in a murder-suicide with his mistress, unlike his uncle Maximilian, who at least left a mark on his country.

Clearly, the Habsburg royal education had serious issues. What about Princess Karina?

After all, both Maximilian and Rudolf had been raised by Empress Dowager Sophie. Karina, too, was raised directly by her.

Ernst glanced over at little Karina, nestled in Sophie's arms. At only eleven, she was just happy that her father had been saved, and her grandmother was in good spirits. Her bright eyes curiously scanned the room.

She seemed smart—her eyes had life in them. She didn't have the dull, heavy gaze of someone depressed.

Depression often manifests in deep-seated gloom. But Karina seemed carefree. Perhaps because Sophie, as a woman herself, didn't impose politics or burdens of responsibility on her. She'd had a relatively relaxed upbringing.

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