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OK, Developing a TL, need some comments, maybe some research help.

Basic storyline is here; The Fox and the Eagle; I tried to do something a little different with the standard ISOT story
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=137725

1803- C-17 with one load of 101st Air Assault troops lands at OTL Muroc Dry Lake. I've worked pretty hard on the load out and the people - please don't tell me about implausibility of the skill sets until you read it, and probably not then either - the characters are all based on folks I was flying with on a mission a few years back. Well no, scratch that - please comment - but realize that I will probably quote you back the real person I based that on. I tried hard to limit the Handwavium to a bare minimum. but if you find some - or think you find some - feel free to raise the bullshit flag.

1804 - quiet development of steampower, refining sulfuric acid/nitric acid and mineral deposits. (Lot more than just gold in them thar hills)
The gold mined by the Eagles is quietly used to buy up the Missions and mortgages sold off by the Spanish government in California, thus preventing unrest.
In the meantime, a quiet recruiting campaign is moving among the unemployed in old Mexico, and men and families are moving to the lure of employment in this place called California.

1805 - String of missions spread out along Pacific Coast, establishing Spanish prescence up to Nootka Bay. Policy will become known as "Boots on the Ground".
This Spanish presence will be in place to greet the American Corps of Exploration as they paddle down the Columbia River. Members of Los Aquilas, the California Guardia Nacional, will meet them, and guide them to Mission San Christopher (OTL Astoria) They will rest, and catch a ship that will take them along the coast, and down to old Mexico, where they will go from (where?) Tehuantepec to Veracruz and catch a ship back to the US.

A diplomatic mission sent to the Spanish King in 1804 has paid off, and California has permission to trade with the Russian American Company.

1806 Nokolai Rezanov shows up in San Francisco harbor and sucessfully negotiates a deal to obtain food and supplies for the Russian Colony in Aleyaska. the beginnings of a long and mutually beneficial relationship begins.

1807 - a lot of continued development as people and material continue to flow toward California - but as long as the proper tax payments come back, the bureaucrats in Mexico City are happy.

1808 - King Charles IV abdicates in favor of his son. But instead of fleeing to France, he decides to do something different, and another huge change is set onto this world. In a story that will excite romance Novelists for centuries, the 60 year old King takes the disguise of a wealthy businessman and travels to the New World.
An avid huntsman, he has decided that he will see with his own eyes, this enormous Empire that he has ruled for so long.
The disguise is thin, but the Peninsulares of Mexico are so overjoyed to see the (former) King visiting them that they honor his wish of remaining incognito.
Until the news arrives that the French have invaded, and further news that Ferdinand has been deposed, and Bonaparte's Brother is the new King.
King Charles throws off his disguise (quite threadbare by now) and declares himself King again. But now he calls for the subjects of the Empire to rise and drive out the French.
For a Reconquista.
It is a request with power to stir the blood.
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