"Your Majesty, yesterday's news came from the London station of the Secret Service Division! After a fierce battle between the North and South forces of the United States at Manassas, the victorious Confederate Coalition** continued to advance north, and Robert Lee captured Washington, the capital of the Northern Union, and federal cabinet officials and members of Congress fled north. President Lincoln of the United States of America decided to move the capital from Washington to Philadelphia, and President Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward were assassinated by a spy disguised as a blonde while giving a speech on the emancipation of slaves at the Baltimore train station on their way to Philadelphia. Lincoln died on the spot! Vice President Hannibal Hamlin took over as president and moved the federal capital to Philadelphia. And the Confederate army was preparing to attack Baltimore, continuing its offensive to the north. ”

As soon as Fan Ruzeng's words fell, Feng Yunshan asked eagerly, "Is the news true?" Washington was captured, Lincoln was really assassinated? ”

Fan Ruzeng nodded and said, "Your Majesty, it's true!" Wechen hadn't finished reporting just now. In addition to the news from the London station, the Richmond and New York stations of the Secret Service Division also sent back news directly across the Pacific from San Francisco, confirming the above statement, and because the intelligence agents of the Secret Service in the United States collected some other information on the way from Richmond to San Francisco, which is very detailed and exciting! Your Majesty, wait for Weichen to tell you one by one. ”

Feng Yunshan scolded with a smile: "You kid, you shouldn't have been named Fan Ruzeng in the first place, you should have been called Fan Cheap!" Tell us what you've received. ”

Fan Ruzeng knew that Feng Yunshan was not angry, and said with a smile: "Thank you for your name!" As Wei Chen just said, when American intelligence officers passed through the central region of western America, they heard the news that the Confederate army and the Northern Union army had fought fiercely in Baltimore, and each suffered heavy losses and fought each other. General Peng Yulin of the United States seems to have begun the long-planned operation. Nearly 10,000 Japanese and Irish mercenaries sent by His Majesty to support General Peng, led by General Lin Qirong, together with nearly 5,000 Indian tribal soldiers from the Indian region, sailed up the Mississippi River, suddenly appeared in Missouri, captured St. Louis in a few hours, and together with the Irish Independence Army in Missouri, took control of the whole of Missouri.

Now Lin Qirong and his team have continued to advance northward, preparing to capture Iowa and Minnesota, occupy all the two states on the west bank of the Missupi River, and use the Mississippi River as the boundary to cut off the connection between the American Federation and the western region. ”

After listening to Fan Ruzeng's words, Feng Yunshan said with a happy face: "Great! In this way, Lin Qirong has fully moved. It depends on Peng Yulin and Lu Ernan, how long they can delay. In addition, Lin Qirong only led a small number of soldiers to capture the Japanese mercenaries and Irish mercenaries this time, and there were 5,000 Indians as a cover, and their troops were not enough, even if they took advantage of the stalemate in the civil war between the North and the South to capture Iowa and Minnesota, and wait for one of the American Commonwealth or the Confederate States to react, it would be troublesome. If the American Federation sends troops to attack, it will be difficult for Lin Qirong's troops to defend. There must be a surge of troops. How many troops do we have over there in New Mexico? ”

Zuo Zongtang replied: "Back to Your Majesty, New Mexico Province originally stationed a total of 20,000 soldiers and soldiers in the captive army, plus the recently dispatched 3,000 captives and 10,000 Japanese and Irish mercenaries, a total of 33,000 people. Lin Qirong, who was mentioned earlier, led 1,000 captives, 5,000 Japanese mercenaries, and 3,000 Irish mercenaries, and there were 22,000 captives and 2,000 Irish mercenaries left. ”

"Your Majesty, what Lord Zuo said is true. Not all of these troops, though, are in New Mexico. According to the information sent by General Peng Yulin to the San Francisco Intelligence Station of the Secret Service Division, General Peng has already dispatched nearly 10,000 troops from the New Mexico Province to disperse in batches, after all, General Peng has now preliminarily mastered some areas of Texas and Kansas, and needs a certain amount of troops to garrison them. There are not many troops available today. Fan Ruzeng, who was next to him, added: "Your Majesty, this time General Peng originally wanted to ask our secret service department to send a detailed letter to report on his actions in the United States, but because he was in Washington and was in the Confederate States, it was not very convenient, and it was impossible to keep it secret in the form of telegrams, so he could only notify our intelligence officers through a secret message and ask for more troops. ”

Feng Yunshan looked at Zuo Zongtang and Mao Qi with some concern, and said, "On the American side, there are only more than 30,000 troops, including 10,000 mercenaries, which is definitely not enough. Zuo Aiqing and Mao Aiqing, look at it, how many additional troops will be sent to the Americas? ”

Zuo Zongtang said: "Your Majesty, there are no major wars in our Chinese Empire now, and after several years of recruitment and training, the major field regiments have also been set up. Isn't the Sixth Field Corps responsible for the combat readiness of the Nanyang region and the Americas, and it is time to send the Sixth Field Corps to strengthen the combat readiness in the area under its jurisdiction. At present, the Sixth Field Corps has a total of 9 infantry divisions, 1 artillery division and 1 special division, in addition to the original 11th Infantry Division and the 21st Infantry Division in the Americas, which have now been reorganized into the 1st Infantry Division of the 6th Field and the 4th Infantry Division of the 6th Field Division, there are also 5 infantry divisions, artillery divisions and special divisions stationed in various regions of the South Ocean, and 2 infantry divisions have just been formed not long ago and are still assembled in Zhejiang for training. Why not transfer the two infantry divisions assembled in Zhejiang to the Americas, and the artillery divisions and special divisions in Borneo are also transferred to the Americas? ”

Moltke said: "Your Majesty, in fact, how many additional troops to send depends mainly on what Your Majesty's plan for the Americas is. His Majesty wanted to use the Mississippi River as a boundary to control all the western regions of the United States, from the central part of Missouri and Iowa to Utah and Nevada to California and Oregon. But there was a big difference between outright occupation or, as is the case at the moment, propping up Irish and Indian self-government, and indirectly controlling the western part of the United States through them, and the troop reinforcements required were very different. ”

Luo Xuan, who was next to him, said directly: "Of course, it is directly occupied." I heard that it is called San Francisco, many Hakka compatriots are digging for gold over there, and there are compatriots and gold, so naturally they occupy it! ”

Liang Peiyou also muttered: "Yes, yes, Your Majesty, you must occupy it, connect it with the Province of New Mexico, and then connect it with the area occupied by the Russian-American company in the north, so that you can surround this Pacific Ocean and turn it into the inland sea of the empire!" ”

Feng Yunshan fell into deep thought.

Today's Chinese Empire, under its own leadership, has not only gotten rid of the situation of being bullied by foreign powers on the basis of the original Manchu Qing Dynasty, but is also so strong that it has embarked on the road of expansion in all directions. Most likely, in the future, someone will say that he is an arrogant expansionist. But none of this is your own consideration. What I think is that this kind of expansion must be better than harmful, the only worry is that it expands too fast, just like a greedy person, I want to eat a fat person in one bite, and I can't digest it in time, will it make my belly uncomfortable?

Think about it, the Chinese Empire today occupies the Korean Peninsula, more than half of Japan, and the Ryukyus in the east, the vast Outer Northeast including Lake Baikal in the north, the entire Heilongjiang River basin and Sakhalin Island, directly to the entire Bering Strait, the Mongolian region in the northwest, the Tangnu-Ulianghai region, and several Kazakh khanates until the Aiukhan Khanate and the Sikh Kingdom border, and even more so in the south, except for Burma, the entire Indochina Peninsula in later generations, the Luzon Islands, the Malay Peninsula, and the entire East Indies except for Sumatra. Coupled with the Honolulu Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and the New Mexico Province and Panama Canyon region in the Americas, the entire territory is unprecedented in the whole of China.

With such a vast territory, even if the Chinese Empire has a population of 400 million, it cannot be fully digested in the short term. Although Feng Yunshan has asked the cabinet to organize the provinces to actively resettle, and even forcibly relocate the people to these newly occupied areas, there are still too many places where the Han people have not yet gone to live in the local area, let alone develop and settle down. In particular, the Siberian region and the northern part of the Outer Northeast, such as the Kamchatka Peninsula, because it is a desolate and icy cold volcanic desert, it is difficult to live in the population, although the Beiyang Fleet has occupied it for nearly three years, and nearly 1,000 hunters and farmers have migrated from Shandong, Zhili and other places to live there, but within a year, all of them still asked to return to their hometowns, and in the end, less than 100 families remained. This was only survived by relying on the food provided by the 1,000 captive troops stationed there.

Not to mention such harsh environments, even in the Tangnu Ulianghai area, which has a mild climate and pleasant water and grass, or the Malay Peninsula, which is rich in tropical rainforests, not many people are willing to move there for a long time, and in the end, Feng Yunshan had to forcibly escort some people from poor areas to the local area, distribute food and farm tools, and let them survive on their own in the local area.

In other words, the newly occupied territory of the Chinese Empire is actually indigestible in a short period of time. The rest can only be digested slowly over time, and when the technology develops in the future, it may speed up the development of remote areas.

But even so, if he can seize more land, Feng Yunshan is of course willing. It's actually a matter of time or not. No matter how many difficulties are now, but from the perspective of the Chinese people in 100 or 200 years, any difficulties are cost-effective.

For the region of the Americas west of the Mississippi River, Feng Yunshan is already determined to turn the Pacific Ocean into the inland sea of the empire, and this slogan has been shouted above the court. But by what means and means, he had to think carefully.

At this time, it is naturally the most direct to send troops, as long as the troops are sufficient, they can occupy Western America. Not to mention the huge consumption, in this case, it will also incur some evil consequences, that is, the two countries of the United States, which were originally in a civil war, may unite to deal with themselves. Moreover, the Irish and Indian tribes that were originally wooed would have a dislike for this, which would be detrimental to the Empire's control in the Americas. The most crucial thing is that if they directly annex the western part of the Americas, the European powers, not only Britain and Tsarist Russia, which were already hostile, but even France, which has always been good friends, will certainly be wary of and even hate themselves. It may also be that Prussia, which was the first to form an alliance, will still make friends with itself, after all, it has no overseas colonies, and the stronger the Chinese Empire, the more attention it attracts from the European powers, the more conducive it will be to its development and growth, not to mention that it has always regarded France as its greatest enemy.

However, if you do not send troops at this time, but secretly support the Irish and Indians, although you can save a lot of money without sending many additional troops, once the Irish or the Indians fail, whether the American Commonwealth or the Confederate States of America recover the area west of the Mississippi River, the empire may lose control of the Midwest of the Americas. And if the Irish grow stronger, completely master and occupy the central and western regions of the Americas, it will not be a good thing for the Chinese Empire, with the reproduction rate of the Irish, coupled with such a vast American land, it will not take many years to become a powerful country, and the Chinese Empire wants to turn it into a puppet, and completely control the area west of the Mississippi River by supporting the Irish, and it will completely collapse.

Therefore, thinking about it this way, Feng Yunshan felt that he was still insured by sending troops, no matter what, the six major field corps of the Chinese Empire today, plus the local defense forces that are still increasing in number, as well as the new Mauser rifles and Krupp rifled artillery that even he is eager to try to go to the battlefield, as well as the more than 400 million Chinese people behind the empire, he seems to feel that he has a lot of confidence. At least, in terms of land warfare, the Chinese Empire at this moment is not afraid of any country in the world. What's more, he has always felt that fate should be in his own hands, rather than handing it over to others and pinning his hopes on the performance of others.

Thinking of this, Feng Yunshan gritted his teeth and said, "It's better to implement the Hexi plan formulated by me personally and send troops directly!" General Staff, don't limit yourself to the defense scope of the six field corps today, what the field corps of the empire needs to do now is not only to prepare, but more importantly, to take the initiative! I have decided to not only transfer all the two infantry divisions of Liuye that Zuo Aiqing just mentioned in Zhejiang to the Americas, but also transfer two infantry divisions from the first field and one infantry division and artillery division and special division from the second field to the Americas in several batches. He landed directly from San Francisco, without having to disguise himself as a Japanese mercenary or an Indian tribal soldier. ”

"I want the whole world to understand that this America is not only a stage for their European powers, but also a stage for us Chinese! We have so many Chinese laborers digging and building railroads in the Americas, and now as their home country, we want to get back all their suffering! This west of the Mississippi River is their new home! ”

Zuo Zongtang's eyes widened, he didn't expect that the emperor would suddenly announce in such a high-profile manner that he would directly send troops to land from San Francisco and send troops to occupy the area west of the Mississippi River. But in any case, even if you want to occupy the western part of the Americas on the surface, you can't say it explicitly, and you have to find a fig leaf.

So, Zuo Zongtang hurriedly suggested: "Your Majesty, Wechen also agrees with Your Majesty's move to send troops, and Your Majesty is determined to send a total of 100,000 troops to the Americas, such a grand feat, Wechen deeply admires Your Majesty's determination and courage, and is ashamed to be out of reach." However, Wei Chen still suggested that our Chinese empire could prepare in advance, first look for some evidence of the oppression of Chinese compatriots by the American army and police, and then use this as an excuse to land in San Francisco and send troops to occupy California and Oregon. The main defensive forces of the American Federation are in these two states, and the rest are free territories that have not yet joined the American Federation, but are just inhospitable autonomous areas waiting to be developed. ”

Feng Yunshan was silent.

Zuo Zongtang continued to admonish: "Your Majesty, Weichen also thinks that while conquering the western part of the Americas, he secretly sent envoys to explain to the Irish and Indian leaders and appease them!" ”

Moltke also admonished: "Your Majesty! Lord Zuo is right, and Weichen also thinks it's the best! It is even possible to set aside a large area for the Irish and Indian tribes to live freely there, as a self-governing state, without interference with anything but sovereignty and taxation. In this way, you will win the support of these Irish and Indians! Internationally, our Chinese empire can also stand in the great righteousness and be invincible. ”

Feng Yunshan took the case and said, "Okay! What Zuo Aiqing and Mao Aiqing said is reasonable! The two of you will urge this general staff to do the same. Immediately notify Peng Aiqing and Lin Aiqing, tell them the news of the empire's troops, and these field soldiers will be under the command of the two of them! ”