Family Pride

PAH! PAH! PAH!

The three soldiers shot the rifles with percussion caps, and then the targets a few hundred feet away were destroyed. 

The heads of the big families looked at their pocket watches as they clicked them almost simultaneously. 

The 3 Soldiers quickly began to reload and then shoot again. 

They have previously shot the three other guns, which were flint and steel triggered, and they have noted how long it has taken and their accuracy. 

Either way, the soldiers could not fake them being able to shoot up to 600 feet in length and easily destroy the target. 

After 4 Shots and enough smoke, the soldiers orderly put the rifles back on the table. 

"As you can see, gentlemen… the one that has these guns in every member of a competent conscription army will win over their foes."

"Say that again. Why did the governments of large countries refuse to adopt this?" The Head of the Abraham Family asked weirdly. 

"The offer was made through the embassies, plus it was only recently that the Colombian empire secured enough raw materials to start a constant production of these. We are still in the last stage of being able to make these efficiently. But as everyone might already know, the Revolver is used in America with great success. The manufacturing facilities in Michigan have been able to provide great fortune to my family and empire, yet not a single country has been willing to adopt the gun… Gentlemen… it is a cause of stubbornness and tradition combined; the only salvageable argument is that they do not have the logistics to accommodate it… but in reality… this will be the future, and you can be assured that any country with these cannons on their arsenals will have a more likely chance of winning against armies that don't have them."

Deep thought was in the air as they began considering everything and anything with such a proposal. 

Sir Moses Montefiore broke the ice and added to the conversation: "The Ottomans might be the sick old man of Europe, but they are still a superpower. Enraging them could risk our efforts to ensure our people had more freedoms in the Ottoman Empire." 

"Gentlemen, I intend to obtain most command of Greece as their King… I intend to wage war against the Ottomans as it is already inevitable… I intend to create war bonds at 20% for Greece to create an actual army and take as much as possible… but I would need much more for less, 5% interest, which I intend to collect at least 900 thousand pounds from a Jewish Financial conglomerate as you and across Europe." Felipe explained as he simply stood behind the desk.

"…" 

"In exchange, the eastern Roman empire will carve out Judea and the ancient Kingdom of Israel for the Jews to settle."

"If you were to win the war… the Muskets would be a good touch. However, we are looking into investing in a war. What if you lose? The percentage of the return bonds or debt will be not enough for us to consider." One of the heads explained. 

"People are already leaving; what will you do with them?" 

"Same thing they did to Christians, make them as subhuman and slowly displace them and erase their culture… Identity, more like the Spanish Inquisition… no one expected that Spain would ever be homogeneously Christian once again, but now it is the most catholic country there is… there is from which my empire inherits our homogeneous Christian Religion." Felipe added without seeing a problem. 

"Your majesty, do you know that what the Spaniards did in Spain was the persecution of our people alongside the Muslims? Death and expulsion. Do you expect us to support the same type of thing in a war under your name to take back your family's glory?" One of the old men asked weirdly, as he could not understand. 

Felipe smiled creepily. 

"Well, it worked, didn't it? The Spaniards were able to replace the Muslim lords with themselves. Now, they rule under a homogeneous country of Catholics. If it is not broken, there is no reason to try and fix it, is it? With your help, you can take back your people's rights and create a great nation," Felipe added. 

"The ends justify the means when the end is of huge importance, isn't it?" 

The last line left the men there shook and silent. 

They were being sold a war. The reward was the creation of Judea once again, the kingdom of their ancestral people—the kingdom mentioned in the Bible multiple times! They were being sold a holy war that would end with an incredible circumstance. 

"I am not the only one that has smelled the blood in the water, Gentlemen… It is no secret that Russians and the Ottomans are going to war… it is at this time that they are the weak… the moment the war between Russia and the Ottomans sparks, there will be an invasion of Anatolia and more importantly, the raid of Constantinople… 3 days of straight plunder and revenge against the Ottoman state. For that, I will need your initial support… for the destruction of the Ottoman Empire to give them the Coup de Grace.

"And instead of high interest, you'll receive the land of your ancestors… this is conditional on what I can get. There might as well be a place for the Kingdom of Jerusalem instead of Judea." 

"…The threat of making the holy land a Christian land while it is a Muslim Land, don't you think it is a bit bold? Your majesty?" One of them chuckled. 

"It is, but I plan to do something I have already done. I will conquer," Felipe explained.

"Napoleon tried to conquer Europe a second time, and he failed… what will your saving grace be? There is no reason we would think this a secure investment, especially as we will agree to create a loan to an entity which has yet to form in any type, shape or form."

"My saving Grace is that I will turn 17 in a few weeks. I have directed the nation-building of an empire and successfully expelled the Spaniards from the main continent."

"You expelled the Spaniards from their colonies, not from Spain, in a rebellion nonetheless! You want to wage war on a superpower with private funds… even then…" The Patriarch of the family stopped talking as he felt he had said enough. 

"The loan will not even be attached to the many businesses and securities that Your Majesty has in possession… the news of a sewing machine has been quite impressive." Jacob Samuda, the head of the Samuda family, said he was quite interested in getting a piece of it.

"Even with the backing of your multiple businesses, there is no calm in your house… Ambassadors killed and possible sabotage… you have an inside enemy while at the same time making France your Enemy for a bunch of former slaves." The head of the Rothchild family said very seriously. 

"We might as well make Palestine the Kingdom of Jerusalem, then," Felipe said as he sported the fakest smile. 

"…"

--

"Well, that went well." The ambassador said as they went back to the embassy. 

The meeting in the open air ended with no one saying anything and with just a basic silence. 

"Did it? I felt like a college professor asking a question to many young adults," Felipe said very weirdly, as the meeting felt a bit redundant. When he pitched the case for the Liberation of the Spanish colonies to the British, he was not talking; it was his father. Nonetheless, he composed the words that came out of him.

It was still rather enthusiastically approved by the British, who were desperate to do the same as the Spanish with the 13 colonies of the British in North America.

"They are not shy from showing their displeasure and refusal to what they will not consider… they are at least going to reconsider it," Aurelius said very happily. Though I still do not believe that the best move for your majesty is to liberate another country… even if it is for your family's pride," Aurelio was unafraid to tell the Prince his thoughts. 

"I have seen death multiple times, yet I have not been able to experience that night again… there is a purpose for me… I am calmer now since I arrived here… I am not doing that bad… what preoccupies me is that I do not know who has been sabotaging me… of course, it has to be someone, such as the East India Company, yet I saw their eyes; it would not be them… that means it is internal… The Spaniards? Who knows, it is just annoying…"

"…" Aurelio did not say another as he did not look elsewhere. 

"The guy you arrested… I want to torture him personally." Felipe said as his smile turned serious. 

The Bitterness of the situation made him want to massacre all and anyone responsible for everything which was involved in it. 

Aurelio looked at Felipe's face and almost shivered as he had seen that face before.

Felipe felt Bitterness and unpleasant while showing his plans to possible investors, and their plain disregard for everything he was saying made him sour. The rage he felt from the fact that he now did not know who was responsible for the entire plot against him and the livelihood of his empire was even more annoying. 

Aurelio saw that face when the very first slaves he freed the moment he got congressional power were all decapitated and hanged upside down. 

It was frustration and rage; in other instances, it was more. 

"Understood, Your Majesty. He will be at your holy mercy." Aurelio said as if he was not even going to try to rationalize the entire thing. 

"Good."