Mexico was also one of Franz's weights for balancing California. Though on the surface, it was the Austrian Empire using California to restrain Mexico, in reality Mexico was also shouldering the task of keeping California in check.
The industries Franz had planned for California in the past had all been crippled ones. They looked infinitely prosperous on the surface, but in truth, they could easily be strangled by shortages of supplies.
That thriving appearance was meant more for the Mexicans to see. After all, one could hardly expect someone like Santa Anna to keep himself clean.
But the hardest days had already passed, and now the initiative had returned to the Austrian Empire's hands.
With the opening of the Nicaragua Canal, California's ceiling for development had become tied to the Austrian Empire. Unless Californians were willing to sever their ties with the European world and give up 80 percent of their trade, rebellion would be possible.
But that possibility was slim. The price was too great, while too few stood to benefit—unless Franz truly did something so outrageous that heaven and earth alike would rage against him.
Of course, there was still the possibility that a few agitators could trigger a mass frenzy. But if that happened, Franz could only say that such people deserved to die.
The opening of the Nicaragua Canal also marked the formal beginning of Global Trade 1.0. European merchants no longer needed to sail around Africa to reach the Far East; they could now sail in an entirely different direction.
Crossing Central America and the Pacific Ocean directly to reach the Far East—such a change dealt the heaviest blow to Britain.
It not only meant that many traditional trading posts would decline in importance or become obsolete, but could even fundamentally reshape the pattern of