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Talleyrand's suggestion was completely unexpected by Juan. Therefore, Juan told Talleyrand that he needed to study the matter further with the government.

As he saw Ambassador Juan off, Talleyrand said to him, "Ambassador Juan, I won't hide it from you. As you know, our country recently successfully developed a steam locomotive. Its carrying capacity is no less than that of a seagoing vessel, and in some aspects, it is even stronger. If we can acquire the Panama region, we intend to invest there and build a railway line connecting the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Such a railway line is almost guaranteed to be profitable. For one thing, whales in the Atlantic Ocean are becoming increasingly scarce. To hunt whales, we have to go to the Pacific Ocean, to the Bering Sea. And to get to the Pacific Ocean, we have to go around the Strait of Magellan, around the entire Americas. And bringing whale oil back is the same. The long journey consumes a lot of time and significantly increases costs."

In addition, the Strait of Magellan is quite dangerous, with many ships capsizing there every year, which adds up to a significant cost. To adapt to the Strait of Magellan, they also have to sacrifice a lot of economic efficiency when building ships.

Now, if we had a railway in Panama running from the east coast to the west coast, the whole situation would be completely different. All sorts of Pacific Ocean goods could cross the Americas from here, saving a huge amount of costs. And controlling such a railway would mean that whale oil from the Bering Sea, copper and nitrates from Peru would all pass through here. Just imagine, um, Mr. Ambassador, would you be interested in investing in one as well?"

Back at the embassy, Ambassador Juan immediately began drafting the report. He then carefully compared it with the ciphertext and converted the document into a ciphertext version, though this was practically useless, but Juan was unaware of this.

Before Spain could respond, new information reached Napoleon's ears.

"What? How could the Spain be so stupid? I remember we were very restrained; we really only sold them some civilian weapons! Lucien, are you sure this information is correct? Are you sure there's no problem?"

"Of course it's correct. There's definitely no problem. Our intelligence personnel saw it with their own eyes. Napoleon, don't confuse the Spain army with the France army! Especially don't confuse the Spain colonial army with the France army. They're not even in the same league. For one thing, the Spain army in Mexico is still using the weapons and tactics of the enemy we encountered in Valmy. They're a generation behind."

The insurgents, on the other hand, were armed with civilian firearms purchased from Louisiana. Although they were civilian weapons, they were still genuine, new-style rifled rifles. And their morale was on a completely different level—what was the point of fighting? I think if you were in their shoes, you would also...

"Unfortunately, that news came almost twenty days ago. I wonder if Mexico City is still in Spain hands," Lucien said.

"Me? Heh..." Napoleon chuckled, not taking Lucien's argument seriously. On military matters, Napoleon disdained arguing with Lucien. Regarding how to deal with laymen, Napoleon greatly admired a saying by Joseph: "For example, if a fellow told me, 'Your Little Melon uses bad explosives, you should use black powder, not Nitrated Starch, and preferably add some lime, sand, or something to guarantee its power,' I would never argue with him. Even just looking at him would be enough for me to admit defeat."

"Theoretically, the rebels have no heavy weapons and almost no ability to breach fortifications. Taking Mexico City shouldn't be so easy. But... well, Joseph, you're an expert in defensive warfare. If it were you, how would you plan to defend Mexico City right now?" Napoleon suddenly turned to his elder brother.

"Defend Mexico City? Defend my ass! In this situation, what's the point of defending it? If it were me, I'd pack up immediately, blow up all the cannons, and take everyone to Veracruz! The rebels may not have many heavy weapons, but Napoleon, let me ask you, do you think the defenders of Mexico City still have the will to fight at this point?"

"If we had the will to fight, we wouldn't have been defeated so badly by a rebel army that was only one-fifth the size of our own in the previous field battles! Even if there was a technological gap in weaponry, it wouldn't have happened like that."

"Is the situation in Mexico City stable? Won't anything unexpected happen?" Joseph asked again.

"Heh, Mexico City is full of native whites, it goes without saying whose side they're on," Napoleon chuckled. "Joseph, what you said is indeed very true. At this point, the best course of action is to retreat to Veracruz. However, to make the decision to flee in the blink of an eye, that's truly your style, Joseph."

"I'm not running away, I'm retreating!" Joseph said. "Throughout history, even the strongest fortress cannot be held if there are internal problems. That's why Mr. Mencius told us: 'In war, geographical advantage is more important than weather advantage, and the unity of the army is more important than geographical advantage.' Now, the rebels are clearly more united, and they have advantages in both manpower and equipment. Why aren't we running? Are we waiting to go to the guillotine?"

"Joseph, the Spain don't use guillotines often. They're very traditional; they still use the gallows," Lucien said.

"It's not even as effective as the guillotine!" Joseph scoffed. This was the truth; if one had to choose between the gallows and the guillotine, theoretically, the guillotine would be more comfortable.

"So what will happen if they retreat?" Napoleon asked.

"It's hard to say," Joseph shook his head first. "If that pastor..."

"Reverend Hidalgo," Lucien reminded him.

"Hmm." Joseph nodded and continued, "If Father Hidalgo had received special training at the Toulon training course and had enough time to prepare, those Spain scum wouldn't have been worth mentioning. However, Father Hidalgo only received theological training, not military training. And his supporters also lacked basic military skills. From the battle mentioned in the intelligence, it can be seen that they actually won by skirmishing. But at the beginning, they tried to get the militia into dense formations, which almost collapsed under the Spain artillery fire. If they hadn't disobeyed orders, launched attacks, and fired randomly, it's hard to say who would have won. In short, the insurgents were very poor in military technology. They were just lucky to have encountered those lovely Spain."

Of course, this isn't the most critical problem. Not knowing war isn't a problem; the Spain don't know it either. They have plenty of time to learn war through war. But they have a much bigger problem: their organization is expanding too quickly. Hmm, Lucien, I remember you had intelligence on those people in Mexico before. It seems this Father Hidalgo has only been building his organization for a few months.

Furthermore, our revolutionary priest had not received professional training in how to build an organization. He genuinely treated building a revolutionary organization as missionary work, accepting all comers without question. His ranks expanded too quickly, and he had not prepared enough cadres beforehand, resulting in the unavoidable use of many unreliable people. In addition, I think Father Hidalgo was more suited to be a propagandist than a leader of the revolution.

Therefore, Father Hidalgo's army will soon occupy Mexico City. But the question is what will happen after they occupy Mexico City. The people who join his ranks each have their own demands and their own purposes. The key is whether Father Hidalgo can quickly reorganize and indoctrinate his troops. If he can do this quickly, then the Spain should think about how to withdraw from North America with dignity.

But if Father Hidalgo can't do that, then the Spain really do have a sliver of hope again."

"Do you think he can do it?" Napoleon asked.

"I don't think that will work. Because there's a clear flaw in what's taught at the 'Revolutionary Seminary.' Of course, we've deliberately created this flaw," Lucien interjected. "Those guys studying at the 'Revolutionary Seminary' always think they can persuade others with reason. That's normal; not many of them have actually experienced a revolution. They lack an understanding of its cruelty. And we've intentionally reinforced this idea in them, so... heh... I reckon Father Hidalgo will be hesitant and waste a lot of time when it comes to reforming his own organization."

"A revolution is not a dinner party, not an essay, not a painting, not an embroidery; it cannot be so elegant, so unhurried, so refined, so restrained, patient, tolerant, and humble. A revolution is an insurrection, a violent act by which one class overthrows another. If it cannot decisively integrate internally, then the problems that follow will indeed be very troublesome," Joseph said.

"They might even experience internal divisions and infighting. And their victory this time wasn't due to unity and organization, but rather to disobeying orders and acting independently. This victory might even encourage them to disobey unified command, thus reducing their organizational capacity. In a sense, this kind of victory is sometimes more deadly than defeat," Napoleon said. "However, this is exactly what's in our favor. If the Spain don't see hope, they won't obediently submit to us. And if necessary, we only need to release some information, which will likely deal them a heavy blow immediately. And they won't blame us."

Then everyone burst into laughter.

"It'll probably be a while before the Spain find out. After all, they don't have high-speed communication ships. By then, they'll probably... well, I think we can be a little more ambitious," Napoleon added.