In front of a luxurious residence in Lima, Thomas dismounted his horse, handed it over to the guard in front of the door, took two steps toward the door, stopped and ordered, "Go and get Minister Jose Balta and Francisco Diez Can."
General Seko is here, I want to discuss something important with them."
José Barta is the Finance Minister of Peru and one of the main leaders against Pedro. Historically, José Barta provided money, while Tomas and Francisco provided troops, forcing Pedro to step down in one fell swoop.
Now the three of them have colluded together.
At seven o'clock in the evening, shortly after it got dark, Balta and Francisco came to Thomas's residence one after another.
"General Thomas, the Chinese rebels are very powerful. It is impossible to quell the rebellion with the existing 80,000 troops alone."
At the wine table, Balta spoke in conjunction with the day's meeting.
"Tripa's excuse of economic pressure cannot stop Pedro from expanding his army.
Once Pedro spreads the news that the southern Peruvian garrison has been wiped out, and exaggerates the threat of the Chinese rebels, those big businessmen with huge interests in the southern mines will definitely force politicians like Tripa to support military expansion.
By then, Pedro will have the great cause of regaining his territory, and there will be big businessmen providing money to support the expansion of the army, so the situation will be very unfavorable to us."
Francisco was not in the mood to drink either and frowned.
"All my main forces were lost in the south. Now our strength is simply not as good as Pedro's, so I brought you here to discuss countermeasures."
"It's hard to deal with. I think before you completely offend Pedro, you might as well make peace with him and hand over all your troops to him. Maybe he will let you go when he is happy." Barr
Ta drank a glass of wine and said slowly.
"Balta, what are you talking about? We are grasshoppers on a rope. We were knocked down by Pedro. How can you be better off?"
Francisco groaned angrily.
"I'm different from you. As long as you give Pedro a sum of money, he won't dare do anything to me."
Balta's ancestors are descendants of Spanish colonists and have great power in Peru. If Pedro wants to secure his position as president, he must not offend these big businessmen.
"Balta, if you have anything to say, just say it. There is no need to make false claims."
The reason why Balta said this was just to raise his asking price. Thomas had been in the political and military circles for twenty years, so he still had this kind of vision.
"Haha, General Thomas is still sensible and can tell the truth." Balta smiled, ignoring Francisco's dissatisfied look, and slowly expressed his thoughts.
"Pedro took advantage of the big businessmen's eagerness to regain the south and pushed his subordinates to expand their troops. We can also use the eagerness of those businessmen to pressure Pedro to send troops as soon as possible."
"We are so quiet now that we rashly force Pedro to send troops. I'm afraid he will use him as cannon fodder and use the hands of the Chinese rebels to destroy us."
Thomas was not optimistic about his method.
"Of course it is impossible for just a few of us to force Pedro to surrender, so we must unite all opponents and work together to put pressure on him."
"Besides us, the only ones who are dissatisfied with Pedro are Tripa and his group. Do you mean to cooperate with them?"
Thomas wasn't sure.
"Yes, even Tripa has the support of the British behind him. As long as our two groups unite together, Pedro will have to bow his head."
"Balta, I thought you would come up with a good idea, but I didn't expect you to let us cooperate with Tripa, a traitor.
Can Tripa cooperate with us? Before the Chinese rebelled, he relied on the support of the British to invade our mines.
If we cooperate with him, even if we force Pedro to send troops in advance and consume his strength, our interests in the south will not be much left, so I do not agree with cooperating with Tripa." Francisco said.
What Francisco said was exactly what Thomas was thinking. He didn't want to retreat from the wolf and then advance into the tiger. He didn't want to drive away the wolf Pedro, but recruit the British tiger.
The British have been jealous of Peru's minerals for a long time. In order to monopolize Peru's mineral development, they have constantly forced the Peruvian government to sign unequal economic treaties.
Because of the refusal of several Peruvian presidents, the British encouraged agents in Peru to cause trouble for the Peruvian government, and also encouraged the Chileans to attack Bolivia and Peru to seize the saltpeter producing areas of the two countries on the Pacific coast.
Thomas was very wary of the British and was not optimistic about Baltar's suggestions.
"You didn't understand what I meant." Seeing that the situation was about to come to a standstill, Balta explained, "Don't the British want the minerals in the south? I can sign an agreement with them first and agree to fulfill the contract when I come to power."
"Doesn't that mean we have to hand over the mines to the British?" Francisco interrupted.
"It's different," Balta shook his head, and continued, "After Pedro collapses, we can completely push a puppet to come to power. If we don't come to power, the agreement signed will naturally be invalid."
Balta's method had many loopholes, but Thomas didn't think of a better way, so he agreed with Balta's opinion.
"Sir, this is a letter from General Thomas." Tripa was sitting in the room, and a layman in the family handed over a letter.
After opening the letter, he read it for more than ten minutes and thought seriously for half an hour. Tripa's brows gradually relaxed and he sneered, "You think you can restrain me with just an agreement. You underestimate me."
Tripa didn't care about the trap designed by Balta in the agreement, because all the British wanted was an excuse.
As long as Pedro is overthrown, regardless of whether Tomas and others are improperly elected as the President of Peru, they can ask the Peruvian government to fulfill the contract with the agreement.
If they don't agree, there is no need for the British to do it themselves, the British's younger brother can teach them how to behave in minutes.
“Reply Thomas, I agree to his request.”…
This night was destined to be an uneasy night. Just as Tripa and Thomas were plotting against each other, a guest came to Pedro's house.
"Lou Stuart, aren't you a subordinate of Thomas? Why did you become a lobbyist for the rebels?" Pedro said calmly after reading the letter Li Mingyuan sent him.
"Forgive me, President. My humble position is just to deliver messages to the Chinese troops. I have absolutely no intention of surrendering to the Chinese." Lou Stuart hurriedly explained.
Thomas and others were at their weakest, and Pedro had a chance to win. Although Li Mingyuan offered generous terms, he was still not tempted. Pedro's eyes flashed with a fierce light, and he wanted to kill Lou Stuart.
.
"President, there is urgent information." Just when Pedro was about to deal with Lou Stuart, a rapid voice interrupted his thoughts.
The letter handed over by the servant was sent by the spy lurking in Tripa's house. After reading the content of the letter, Pedro's murderous intention towards Lou Stuart disappeared, but the expression on his face was very wonderful. Here
He thought that he would be able to stabilize his position immediately, but secretly Thomas and others joined forces to confuse him.
"Tell them that I agree to their request, but I ask them to cooperate with me in putting on a good show." After Pedro said this, he then told Lou Stuart his plan.
Lustuart nodded, stood up and left through the back door.