Chapter 473: Sphere of Influence

Comes successfully launched a coup and established a military government, which is a great benefit to the US military.

"Since Comes wants us to cooperate with him in a play, then we will play with him." Liang Yao walked out of the telegraph room with the telegram in his hand and greedily breathed the fresh air outside.

"We will take three steps forward and two steps back to cooperate with Comes to play this play well. Since Mexico needs a national hero, then we will create a national hero for Mexico."

"Take two steps back? Where are you going to take two steps back?"

Bell was in a good mood when he learned about the news inside Mexico.

He knew that there must be something fishy about the coup in Mexico so quickly.

This coup is probably related to Liang Yao, and the telegram sent by Comes is ironclad evidence.

"If Comes' army launches a counterattack, the area south of Colima can be abandoned."

After looking at the map of Mexico for so long, Liang Yao has a clear understanding of the administrative divisions of Mexico even without the map.

"I have no objection." Bell nodded.

"The states in central and southern Mexico are densely populated. Even if we take them, we may not be able to take them. What should General Jackson say? The occupied areas on the eastern front were taken by General Jackson after all, and their casualties were greater than ours."

"I think General Jackson also wants to end this war as soon as possible." Liang Yao said.

In the two months since the start of the war, the three million US dollars of military expenditure allocated by the federal government before the war has long been exhausted, and the military supplies provided have long been exhausted.

Since February, Jackson has called Washington several times to ask for more military pay and military supplies, but his demands have not been met.

If it were not for the southern slave owners to support the Southern Army with their own money, and Liang Yao to provide arms and military supplies to support Jackson's Southern Army, the Eastern Front would have been over.

Jackson now also urgently hopes to end the war as soon as possible.

After learning of the coup in Mexico, Jackson immediately stopped the siege.

He keenly realized that the opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the main force of Mexico had come.

Comes brazenly launched a coup in Mexico to seize power and established a military government. Even Santa Ana's family was controlled by Comes.

Santa Anna may not be able to hide in San Luis Toposi anymore.

Santa Anna can lose this war, but he cannot lose the presidency.

Power is what a dictator fears losing the most.

Jackson built a stone wall on the road that the Mexican army must take to Mexico City, preparing to intercept the Mexican army and fight a decisive battle with Santa Anna's main Mexican army.

As Jackson expected, the fire in the backyard made Santa Anna, who was originally defending San Luis Toposi, anxious like an ant on a hot pot.

In order to seize power, and also for his family in Mexico City.

Santa Anna's impulse overcame reason, and he decided to give it a try.

The Mexican army in San Luis Toposi, León, and Aguascardas is now all his capital.

Santa Anna, like a loser, took out all his capital and gambled everything.

At Santa Anna's order, Mexican soldiers marched towards Mexico City in a mighty manner.

The fact that the U.S. Army delayed attacking the three cities of San Luis Toposi, León, and Aguascardas indicated that the U.S. Army was not strong enough.

He did not believe that the U.S. Army, which was short of troops, could swallow his main force in one go.

The Mexican Army of Santa Ana, which was heading south to Mexico City, soon encountered the main force of the Confederate Army.

Jackson's Confederate Army quickly entered the role of defender, relying on the stone walls and other fortifications built in advance to block the Mexican Army from moving south.

The Confederate Army's force of just over 10,000 was not enough for attack, but it was more than enough for defense.

Under the Confederate Army's blockade, the Mexican Army suffered heavy losses.

But the Mexican Army did not collapse. Under Santa Ana's personal supervision, the Mexican Army barely broke through the first line of defense of the Confederate Army.

However, what awaited the Mexican Army were the second and third lines of defense of the Confederate Army.

Jackson asked the Virginia Regiment, the Tennessee Regiment, and the Louisiana Regiment, which had withdrawn from the first line of defense, to retreat behind the line of defense for repair. He ordered the North Carolina Regiment, the South Carolina Regiment, and the Georgia Regiment to go up and engage the Mexican Army.

He wanted to maintain the combat effectiveness of the Southern Army by fighting in a round-robin manner and slowly consume the manpower of the Mexican Army.

The turning point of the war occurred when the Western Brigade joined the battlefield.

After learning that Jackson's Southern Army was fighting a decisive battle with Santa Ana's main Mexican Army, Liang Yao did not choose to sit on the sidelines, but dispatched the main force to the northwest to join the battlefield as soon as possible.

The joining of the Western Brigade was like the last straw that broke the camel's back for the main Mexican Army.

Since the Mexican Army had no defense against the Western Brigade, the entire weak flank was exposed to the firepower of the Western Brigade.

The Western Brigade quickly defeated the Mexican Army on the flank and disrupted the Mexican Army's position.

Seeing this, Jackson seized the opportunity and launched a counterattack against the main Mexican Army.

The two sides fought a decisive battle on the spot.

In just three days, 20,000 Mexican troops were defeated by the Southern Army and the Western Brigade.

Mexican President Santa Ana was captured.

The outcome of the Second Mexican-American War was settled.

Comes's armed forces pretended to recover several lost territories, such as Guerrero, Micancho, and Indago.

The military government temporarily stabilized the people's hearts by recovering the lost territories, and Comes became a national hero in the eyes of the Mexican people.

The so-called recovered territories of Comes' armed forces were not so much recovered as they were given directly to them by the US military.

After the battle line was determined, the two sides came to the negotiation table.

As the head of the new government and a hero in the eyes of the Mexican people, Comes certainly would not sign an unequal treaty of ceding land on behalf of the Mexican government, which would damage his lofty image.

Comes let Santa Ana do the presidency for a few days, and Santa Ana signed the ceding land agreement on behalf of the Mexican government. After the signing, he asked Santa Ana to voluntarily give up the presidency.

Liang Yao and Jackson also demarcated their respective spheres of influence on behalf of California and the South.

California's sphere of influence is mainly concentrated in the Pacific coastal areas, including: the former Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Chihuahua, Durango, Sinaloa, Narit, Guadalajara, and Colima.

The sphere of influence of the South is mainly concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico coastal areas, including: Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, San Luis Toposi, Zacatecas, and Guanajuato.

After California and the South determined their respective spheres of influence, Comes demanded that the United States pay Mexico $15 million as compensation for the cession of territory in accordance with the old system of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo signed during the First Mexican-American War.

Liang Yao certainly could not agree to the figure of $15 million, and southern representatives such as Jackson and Bell were even less likely to agree.

The two sides entered the bargaining stage.

Liang Yao insisted that only $5 million could be compensated, otherwise the war would continue until the Mexican government could not get a penny in compensation.

Of course, these were just harsh words at the negotiation table.

It was already mid-March, and on the European continent, Britain, France, Russia and other countries were about to reach an agreement on conditions such as a ceasefire in the Near East and a re-demarcation of the sphere of influence in the Ottoman Empire.

It would be realistic to continue fighting, and they would have to face the problem of borrowing from Britain, France and other countries.

It would be wise to stop now.

After some wrangling, both sides retreated a few steps, but Mexico retreated a little too much.

The final compensation amount was $7 million.