Seward suggested that even the federal government found it unreasonable, and that there was no justification for buying land either to go to war or not to fight.

It's not that the land can't be bought, for example, before the United States was divided, Florida was bought, but it must also be based on the strength of the United States, now the United States is obviously not strong enough, if it is strong, then it will directly participate in the war, the population of the north of the United States is more than 20 million, the population structure is young, with European standards, the mobilization capacity will not be lower than Poland, can mobilize three or four million troops.

But the Americans themselves knew what they could, and the last civil war did mobilize a lot of troops, but in the end they were defeated, so anti-war sentiment rose in the country, and some people even pushed the issue of the United States becoming a permanent neutral country like Switzerland. Seek guarantees from the great powers, the permanent neutral status of the United States. There is even a group of people who naively hope that the conditions of permanent demilitarization can be exchanged for China's support for the permanent neutrality of the United States and the guarantee of American security.

However, Seward still actively promoted the Canadian land purchase plan, and held a closed debate in the Senate, the process of which no one knew, and all senators had to keep it secret, but the result was that the Senate did agree to the land purchase plan.

Seward quickly contacted Britain and urgently signed a land purchase contract, in which Britain announced that it would transfer all British interests in North America to the United States, and that the United States would pay Britain $100 million in addition to all the debts of the British North American government.

"Tiger's mouth? The Yankees want to fight! ”

After the Anglo-American North American land purchase was publicly announced, the crown prince felt inexplicable after receiving the news.

There has been no indication that the United States has the possibility of entering the war, and whether it is domestic public opinion or diplomatic activities, the United States has made people judge that it will remain neutral.

But suddenly they announced that they would buy British North America from the British, but the current state is that although British North America is too large, the vast majority of the area, the Chinese army has not captured it, but only occupied some cities near China at the southern end, and the vast countryside, primeval forests, and grasslands have no troops to occupy them. What does it mean that the Americans announced the purchase of British North America at this time?

The power of the United States, at least in North America, could not be ignored, so the crown prince convened a wartime cabinet meeting to discuss the possibility of the United States entering the war.

Li Zhangtong looked at the fire and snorted coldly: "The American Yankees don't have the idea of fighting, but they still have the idea of letting the British help them fight." ”

The crown prince knew that Li Zhangtong had figured out something earlier than the others.

"Li Zhangyuan, say whatever you want to say!"

Li Zhangtong nodded: "Yes, Your Highness." The United States of America will not enter the war, they do not have the conditions and basis for entering the war. The land purchase case only proves that they did have ambitions for British North America, which is something that everyone knows. There has never been a shortage of moves in the American civil and political circles to promote the merger of North America. It's just that in the past, the people of British North America and the American people had very different attitudes and excluded each other, one looked down on the other, and the old people in the British territories always thought that the United States was a traitor to the British king. Relations between the British and American territories have only improved since the end of our last war with Spain and the Anglo-Americans, and they are more worried about us. The British in the Americas began to be more receptive to the Americans in the South. ”

After talking about these basic facts, Li Zhangtong continued: "But the conditions for the merger have not been met, and the magnates of British North America are unwilling to merge with the United States if they can be loyal to the United Kingdom. But now that our army is in the city, between surrendering to our Great Zhou and merging with the United States, these British subjects are more willing to merge with the United States. This opportunity came, so the United States intends to give it a try. It's just a try, and if you fail, it won't hurt at all, and if you can successfully extract the tooth from our tiger's mouth, of course, it's better. ”

The crown prince couldn't help but snort: "100 million dollars, just to give it a try, what a big deal!" ”

Li Zhangtong smiled: "It's just money." The money was given to the British, who still bought arms from the United States and turned their heads to fight our country. It's just a trick for the United States to spend money and kill others. No worries. What is worrying is that the United States will not directly participate in the war, but it will send troops! ”

The crown prince thought along Li Zhangtong's statement, he knew very well that the Americans did not want China to occupy LinkedIn North America, so they were willing to spend money to help Britain fight, the British won the war by luck, they took over British North America, the British failed, they just lost some money, and they would not be stupid enough to really grab it from China.

It's just "what does it mean to send troops and not go to war?" ”

The crown prince asked.

Li Zhangtong sighed: "Now our army has approached Ottawa along the north bank of the Five Great Lakes, and the British army is weak and unable to resist. In fact, the land occupied by our army is limited, and if the Americans send troops to occupy these places that our army has not yet reached, it will be a lawsuit! ”

The crown prince snorted: "Lawsuit, I think it's a provocation!" ”

Li Zhangtong said: "The same can be said, but they have a reason. If our troops were to Ottawa and the U.S. troops went north to occupy the coastal territories of LinkedIn, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, they bought it from Britain according to the law. If our army continues to march, it will be an invasion of the United States, and they will have the initiative. And I'm afraid this matter is complicated, cows, ghosts, snakes, and gods each have ghosts. ”

The crown prince frowned, he was not afraid of a war with the United States, but the United States was not his target.

Li Zhangtong said: "There must be people in the United States who want to fight, and if we take the initiative to march into the army, it will be in line with the wishes of these people, and it will just incite the people to go to war." If we don't march into the army, the United States will be able to take away large swathes of British territory anyway. The purpose of the British, I am afraid, is not pure. ”

The Crown Prince's goal has always been Britain: "What is Britain's purpose? ”

Li Zhangtong said: "This land purchase case is very bizarre. The Americans are probably thinking that there are no dates to fight three poles, even if stealing chickens and rice is not successful, it is still spending money to fight the British. Britain may have such an idea, and use this land to drag the United States into war. The Americans bought the land, but Britain could not hold it, and the land was taken away by China, and if the United States wanted to, it must start a dispute with China, and it is best to drag the United States into a war, and if it does not succeed, it will also provoke contradictions between China and the United States. For the British, anyway, dead pigs are not afraid of boiling water, and they know very well in their hearts that they will not be able to hold this land. ”

The crown prince nodded, thinking that Li Zhangtong probably had a thorough understanding of the mentality of both Britain and the United States.

It's just that the crown prince is a little annoyed: "The Americans are really jumping off the beam, I don't believe it, he dares to fight with us!" ”

Li Zhangtong shook his head and said: "I'm afraid that the biggest trouble in this matter is still in the country, and what the public opinion is, it's unpredictable." ”

The crown prince also couldn't help but have a headache, after the war, he always faced serious public criticism, which was the fault that the emperor was used to conniving. The crown prince still remembers that the emperor once personally taught him how to view public opinion, telling the crown prince that public opinion may not represent the real public opinion, but it can reflect the attitudes and thoughts of some people to a certain extent. Because newspapers are always going to sell, they have to write what customers want to read, so the more high-circulation newspapers, the more vulgar they are, not only the text should be simple and easy to understand, but also often take the approach of simplifying complex issues and attributing complex results to simple causes, so that ordinary people don't have to think about it, and they are more willing to believe it because they can understand it. For example, all wars are attributed to conspiracy, and although most wars are full of accidental and inevitable mutual propulsions, it is more desirable to attribute them to the ambition of one person and the conspiracy of a certain force.

In terms of press control, the emperor told the crown prince not to take care of anything, and the government not only did not care, but also never responded. If they criticize the government, let them criticize it, the government is really derelict in its duties, and being criticized can be regarded as a kind of civil venting. Human beings are impermanent, and no one will be permanently concerned about issues that do not concern their own interests, and will soon be forgotten. Once you respond, it will form a continuous craze, which will cause trouble.

If the government does not intervene in public opinion, there will be different voices of the people to discuss it on their own, and they will not get into trouble.

The crown prince thought that the emperor's statement was very reasonable, but this time because of the war, although he never responded, but the criticism in the newspapers became louder and louder, and there was no possibility of forgetting at all, as long as the war continued, then the topic of war would continue to heat up, and they would continue to criticize the crown prince.

What kind of public opinion will be aroused by the actions of the Americans this time, the crown prince cannot predict.

If the forces that are already dissatisfied with the war are worried about the expansion of the war because of the attitude of the United States, they will be even more opposed to the government.

However, the crown prince's worries are obviously superfluous, because the attitude of Chinese public opinion towards the US land purchase is not worry, but anger. The crown prince was angry with the Americans, and those who were keen on overseas expansion, or patriotism, or profit, were angry.

As a result, after the news of the US land purchase case spread, there was a wave of condemnation of the United States in Chinese public opinion, which was nothing more than saying that the Americans took advantage of the fire to rob, China was at war, and the United States occupied the land. Nationalists even denounced the American Yankees as provoking the Great Zhou and calling for war against the United States.

At this time, the crown prince understood what his father said, public opinion sometimes really does not represent the broadest public opinion, public opinion is a kind of voice, the voice is made by people, it can only directly represent the attitude of the speaker, can affect the concept of the audience, can reflect the audience's thoughts, but can not fully represent the public opinion.

Because there is also a vast group, either confused or unconcerned, a large group of people, but a silent group, they are the silent majority, and this silent majority will not generally express their attitude unless provoked.

The crown prince learned that the U.S. preying had indeed inspired a fairly large group of silent people who began to speak out.

What was different from what the crown prince thought was that although Li Zhangtong was also happy about the turn of public opinion, he was more concerned about how to use the turn of public opinion to guide the people's attitude towards the war.