Chapter 464: The Second Mexican-American War

Seeing that the intervention of the great powers was hopeless, the Mexican president realized that it was unrealistic to get the support of any of the three countries, Britain, France and Spain, at least at this stage. Lan

Only when the international situation changes and Mexico proves its value, that is, when Mexico has the ability to curb the expansion of the United States in North America, will the great powers give Mexico a certain degree of support.

At this stage, if Mexico wants to resist the invasion of the American army, it can only rely on itself.

The next day, Santa Ana sent a note to Gadsden, the American ambassador to Mexico, condemning the shameless behavior of the United States and expressing Mexico's determination to resist to the end.

Major newspapers in the capital Mexico City also published the news of the US military invasion of Mexico.

This news made all the knowledgeable people in Mexico City indignant.

It has only been 8 years since the last Mexican-American War, which turned Mexico from a major power in North America into a medium-sized country.

Before the Mexicans had time to lick the pain brought to them by the war, the Americans and their army came back again.

Mexican citizens in Mexico City surrounded the American embassy. They vented their anger on the embassy and smashed, looted and burned the embassy.

After learning that the American ambassador was not in the embassy but in the presidential palace, they went to the presidential palace again.

At this time, American Ambassador Gadsden had just walked out of the presidential palace and happened to collide with the angry crowd. Gadsden was so scared that he ran away, but unfortunately he was caught and beaten by the Mexicans. Even his legs were broken by the Mexicans.

Fortunately, Gadsden only broke one leg and his life was saved.

Gadsden also felt very wronged. He himself did not expect that the United States would declare war on Mexico without notifying him, the ambassador.

After notifying the American ambassador, President Santa Ana immediately announced an embargo on the United States, especially the iron ore embargo.

California's steel industry is heavily dependent on iron ore imports from Mexico. Santa Ana believes that as long as Mexico imposes an embargo on California, California's economy will suffer a devastating disaster. Liang Yao had to give in. LAN

Santa Ana's ideas and thoughts are correct. California's steel industry is indeed heavily dependent on Mexican iron ore.

If local governments can implement the central government's iron ore embargo on the United States, California's economy will not suffer a catastrophe, but the steel industry will inevitably be damaged.

But the problem is that Mexico is not a centralized country.

The Mexican central government's control over the states is even weaker than the US federal government's control over the states.

The power of local states in Mexico was controlled by the big landowners and compradors in the states at the beginning of independence. The parties and the central government have long been at odds.

As the president of a country, Santa Ana can only command a few hundred kilometers around the capital, Mexico City.

In the Mexican iron ore states represented by Colima, local miners have joined the California Coal and Steel Alliance four or five years ago. Lan

These states exported high-quality iron ore to California in exchange for California's light and heavy industrial products and gold, and quickly became wealthy states in Mexico.

These miners have thus become the richest group in Mexico.

To put it bluntly, the economic ties between the states from which Mexico exports iron ore and California are much closer than those between Mexico and the country itself.

Therefore, after Santa Anna's embargo was issued to the local states, few states took Santa Anna's ban seriously.

War is for the country, and the gold in your pocket is yours.

Santa Anna was indignant that the local governments did not implement his embargo.

But as a president with extremely limited power, Santa Anna could not punish these traitors except for expressing his dissatisfaction and indignation.

Economic sanctions have no effect. Santa Anna's only hope now is to defeat the powerful enemy from the north militarily and force the other side to the negotiation table.

Fortunately, as a military dictator who was born as a military leader, Santa Anna still maintains some reputation in the Mexican army.

Thanks to Santa Anna's efforts, Mexico gathered an army of more than 33,000 people at a relatively fast speed.

After leaving 10,000 people to guard the capital, Mexico City, Santa Anna personally led his army north to resist the invasion of the American army.

After the Mexican army completed its assembly, it was already early February 1856.

At this time, both the main force of the Confederate Army in Texas on the east line and the main force of the Western Brigade in California on the west line had already marched south.

Under the leadership of the famous Southern general Jackson, the Confederate Army was unstoppable and successively captured border cities such as Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, and Matamoros.

Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo León, Mexico, was also quickly changed hands under the strong attack of the Confederate Army due to insufficient preparation.

The four states bordering Mexico and Texas: Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulispa.

Except for Chihuahua and Coahuila, which were temporarily not affected by the war, the northern regions of Nuevo León and Tamaulispa have all fallen into the hands of the Confederate Army.

The reason why Chihuahua and Coahuila were not affected by the war for the time being was not because the Confederate Army was unable to attack these two states, but because these two states were poor and mountainous, sparsely populated, and the Mexican troops stationed in these two states were also limited.

Considering the low economic value and strategic value of Chihuahua and Coahuila, the sparse garrisons in the two states would not pose a threat to the Confederate Army. Jackson, the commander of the Confederate Army, did not consider attacking these two states from the beginning of the war.

Compared with the Western Brigade, the military discipline of the Confederate Army was not as good as that of the Western Brigade.

Therefore, the Mexicans on the Eastern Front were not as lucky as those on the Western Front. LAN

Where the Confederate Army passed, it can be said that chickens and dogs were in turmoil and no grass grew.

Most of the soldiers of the Confederate Army came from poor families. The reason they were willing to join the war was to make a fortune.

Every time the Confederate Army captured a village, they would plunder the village. They took everything that could be exchanged for US dollars from the Mexican villages and towns.

Spanish silver coins, small pieces of silver, cloth, furniture, food, and even kitchen bottles and jars could not escape the eyes of these Confederate soldiers.

After the looting, the Confederate soldiers took these things to the stalls of the hawkers and exchanged them for US dollars and hard currencies such as cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, tea, coffee, boots, etc.

Hawkers are also an old tradition of the American army.

Whenever a war breaks out, there are smart vendors who do business with the army.

They use US dollars and other materials purchased from the rear to do business with the soldiers in the army. During the last Mexican-American War, many hawkers made their fortunes with this.

These hawkers can also be regarded as a supplement to the logistics of the US military.

Compared with the armies of other countries at the same time, the logistics of the US military is definitely the better one.

Not to mention the gray livestock of the Qing army and Tsarist Russia that could not even supply staple food in peacetime at the same time, even compared with the powerful Britain and France, the US military's wartime diet standards are by no means bad.

The food provided by the Northern Army's logistics is enough to make the British and French armies of the same period cry.

As a large agricultural country with vast territory, sparse population and fertile land, the American army, at least in the homeland and in places close to the homeland, has no worries about the supply of staple food.

The U.S. military not only has no worries about the supply of staple food, but also has sufficient supply of meat. Lan

During the most difficult period of the Civil War, the Northern Army was able to ensure that ordinary soldiers on the front line, even black soldiers, had a hot stew every day.

The logistical conditions of the Southern Army were not as good as those of the Northern Army, but they could also ensure that the soldiers had bacon that tasted bad.

Many Southern Army soldiers even disliked this dark cuisine that even sailors could not swallow, but they did not know that the bacon they disliked was a delicacy that Qing soldiers and the Tsar's gray animals could only dream of but not seek.

The Southern Army, which only looted Mexican villages, was still the Southern Army with better military discipline.

Some unethical Southern Army troops even burned the village after the looting.

Even more unethical, they even slaughtered the village directly.

After all, the veterans who led the new recruits of the Southern Army had participated in the Mexican-American War ten years ago.

They had done these things ten years ago, and it was not a psychological burden for these Southern veterans to relive their old work.

According to their concept, they were just teaching the traditions taught to them by their predecessors to the new recruits, so that the new recruits could pass on this fine tradition.