Seeing that several slave states in the Upper South began to secede from the Union, Lincoln began to sleep through the night.

The situation of the entire federation seemed to be out of his control, and even when the southern slave states broke away from the federation and established the Confederate States of America, he did not have this feeling of panic from the bottom of his heart. But ever since the Kansas region unexpectedly seceded from the Union, ever since the Union soldiers in Fort Sumter were the first to open fire on the Confederate state, which was supposed to be the attacker, everything seemed to have become unpredictable.

Virginia suddenly seceded from the Union, and Lincoln was sure that the governor of Maryland, who was loyal to the Union, would be murdered by a black slave for such a person who wanted to abolish black slavery. All this, Lincoln faintly felt that there was an invisible black hand manipulating behind his back!

In particular, the death of the governor of Maryland, which was pushed on the head of the federal government and even himself, made Lincoln even more determined to do so. From here, it can be seen that Virginia Governor John Lecher must have colluded with the black hand, if not the black hand behind it! Lincoln began to decide that it was the Confederate state in the South!

Early that morning, Lincoln was shocked by a piece of news brought by Secretary of State Seward!

The state of Virginia, which had already declared its secession from the Union, once again declared its direct accession to the Confederate States of America in the South. At the same time, the Confederate Congress voted to move the capital north, from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia, with immediate effect, because they believed that Virginia would be an important battleground in the Civil War, and that it would be closer to the north and would be able to attack the Confederate capital of Washington sooner.

Although he had been mentally prepared for a long time, the news of Virginia's accession to the Confederate states still made Lincoln's position tremble. Virginia is not better than other states, it is one of the big states of the United States, the economic strength and military strength are very strong, the white population is quite large, it is one of the main sources of soldiers in the United States, the most important thing is that Virginia is the hometown of many celebrities in American history, almost one-third of the graduates of the West Point Military Academy are from Virginia, its accession to the Union State, the impact is huge, the strength of the Union will be significantly enhanced, the Union wants to quickly put down the Southern rebellion, I am afraid that it will be more difficult.

But in any case, the offensive should have been launched earlier. Otherwise, it is not known how many slave states will join the ranks of the Confederate States. Moreover, the financial situation of the Federation did not allow for the gathering of large numbers of soldiers to sit idle.

It's time to rush the War Department and the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Army, Scott.

And at this moment, Scott, the commander-in-chief of the Federal Army, panted and pushed away the presidential secretary John Hay, regardless of his obstruction, and rushed directly to Lincoln, saying: "Mr. President, I have received news that I heard that the members of Congress, the media, and the people are urging the federal government to send troops to attack the Confederate States as soon as possible?" ”

Lincoln frowned when he heard Scott's angry question, and he was also worried about this matter, so he said, "Yes! As you know, the people of the states are enthusiastic about joining the army, and they are gathering in the Washington area, and now military spending, food and grass supply, and the care of livestock all require a lot of financial resources, and the federal government is under great pressure. Moreover, those reporters are watching every day, inciting the people, and those members of Congress have been urging the federal army to send troops. Moreover, in Virginia and North Carolina, the federal government's armory and arsenal have been occupied by Southern rebels, and even the largest shipyard in the South, Gosport Naval Shipyard, in Norfolk has been captured by Southern rebels, and many federal factories and even banks have been seized by rebels. All of these are forcing the Federation to send troops as soon as possible! ”

Scott was rarely polite to Lincoln: "Mr. President, you can't rush to send troops and give the order to fight in a hurry!" Today, although the states have sent a large number of militias, they have gathered in a hurry, lack the necessary preparations, and do not have much combat effectiveness at all. And, I heard, the governor of Virginia has invited Colonel Robert Lee to be the military commander of the Virginia Army, this guy commands the Southern Army, and we may not be so easy to defeat him. ”

Lincoln saw that Scott's words had some truth, but remembered that the Secretary of the Treasury had said that the federal government's deficit had deteriorated badly, that the northern states were in a commercial depression, that the banks were tightening their monetary system, and that the federal government needed to pay high interest rates of 12 percent or more on its borrowings. I couldn't help asking, "General Scott, in your opinion, how to do it?" ”

Seeing Lincoln ask himself, Scott was a little pleased, although he was old and lacked energy, he still had a lot of feelings for the Federation, and he didn't want to see any mistakes in the Union Army that he had managed for 20 years. hurriedly replied: "Mr. President, I have a 'Python Plan' to quell the rebellion in the south, and I hope Mr. President can adopt it!" ”

"Project Anaconda?"

"Yes! Mr. President! Scott's eyes flashed with a gleam that did not match his age, and he said firmly: "The recent situation The president should also be aware of the fact that with the continuous secession of the Upper Southern slave states from the Union, especially the betrayal of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee, and joining the Confederate States, although the Union can finally win, it will take more time than three months and a half to do." I have carefully calculated in the past few days that it may take a year, or even two years, to put down the rebellion in the south once and for all. We have to fight a war of attrition aimed at attenuating the overall strength of the South! This is also the safest way! ”

"General! But the Federation doesn't have so much time to be patient! Lincoln said unhappily: "The whole Union is screaming for attack!" Didn't you see the kid named Horis Grille, who hosts the New York Tribune at 8 a.m., printing big slogans on the top of his editorials every day: 'National Call to Fight,' 'March to the Confederate Coalition'? What's more, the federal government has no money, and until it borrows new funds, it can't carry out your python plan! ”

"Listen to me finish the python plan first!" Scott was also very unhappy, he didn't expect him to be so patient and kind to Lincoln to suggest, before he could finish speaking, he was questioned and rejected, which made him very unhappy, if it weren't for the sake of the Union, he would have spat on the face of this bamboo pole president boy and brushed his sleeves!

Lincoln was silent.

Scott continued: "Operation Anaconda, which I have formulated, is, simply put, to restrain and bring down the Confederate the Southern Allies by means of depleting them from outside supplies. Specifically, it is to use the navy to forcibly occupy ports within the territory of the Federal Alliance, block the maritime transportation of the South, and cut off all exchanges between the Southern Union and Europe. Then block the Mississippi River and go south along the Mississippi. In this way, the east and west roads were pressed step by step, forcing the rebels into one place, and then concentrating on total annihilation. It's like a python, turning the rebels into prey and entangling it, and it suffocates directly when it lacks supplies. This python operation can be described as foolproof, however, there is still a fatal weakness, that is, the speed of victory is slow, the time is very long, it takes at least half a year to prepare, and it will take at least more than 1 and a half years to completely quell the rebellion, and it will take more than 2 years to really put down the rebellion. ”

Lincoln shook his head repeatedly: "This can't be!" It is impossible to delay it for so long! As I have already said, what the Federation needs is a swift and complete solution to the rebellion! To be honest, I don't approve of your python action! For today's Confederation, the most urgent thing is to send troops as soon as possible, especially the rebels in the south, who have decided to move their so-called capital to Richmond, Virginia, which is less than 200 kilometers from Washington, and take advantage of this opportunity for them to gain a foothold in Richmond! ”

Seeing this, Scott stopped talking and closed his eyes in pain. After half a ring, leave a sentence: "Lincoln, you will regret it!" Turn around and go!

Lincoln hurriedly chased Scott out and tried to keep Scott, but Scott ignored it. Lincoln could only shout behind his back: "Scott, I will consider your suggestion and do my best to block the sea transportation in the south, and in addition, recruit 40,000 volunteers, select 10,000 from them to enrich the Union Army, and increase the total strength of the Union Army to 26,000." But the timing of the troops is completely beyond my control! ”

..........

The assassination of the governor of Maryland by a black slave has not yet been completed, and Virginia, Arkansas, and North Carolina have also seceded from the Union, and even Virginia has announced its accession to the Confederate States. The Tennessee legislature has also announced its secession from the Union State, and is only waiting for a statewide referendum on the 8th, which is basically certain that it will agree to join the Union State. As a result, four of the eight slave-owning states in the Upper South would have seceded from the Union. Even, even if North Carolina has not yet announced its accession to the Confederate States, it is bordered by Virginia to the north, South Carolina to the south, and Tennessee to the west.

Sure enough, on the 8th, the news spread, and more than 80 percent of Tennessee's 1.1 million people, excluding 280,000 black slaves, voted for the rest of the free citizens, and as expected, 560,000 people voted in favor of joining the Confederate States. So, the day after learning the news, North Carolina also announced that it would join the Confederate States.

For a time, the Confederate states will advance their borders with the Northern Union north to Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, and even Pennsylvania.

The federal government was impatient, and demonstrations were held in various parts of the North, scolding the federal government for inaction, accusing Lincoln of being weak and not tough enough, and even radical Republicans in Washington, D.C., demanded Lincoln's resignation and a new election of the president.

The situation was critical, and Lincoln learned from the War Department that 75,000 militiamen had been gathered in the northern states, including 15,000 of the first to arrive at the capital by railroad from Baltimore to Washington.

By this time, Washington was safe, and Maryland had been temporarily settled after a few days of garrisoning thousands of rebellious pro-slavery pro-Confederate people close to the Confederate states. Delaware, another slave-holding state, had a small population, with only about 2,000 black slaves, and slave owners were small and in the hands of the Union.

Therefore, Lincoln cared most about and valued the two slave states of Missouri and Kentucky.

At this moment, although a lot of troops were slowly starting to be assembled, all the weapons, ammunition, and logistics materials were not properly prepared, and even some militiamen could not master the march formation without training, and could not fight at all.

Moreover, because he feared that the two large slave-holding states of Missouri and Kentucky were too sensitive, Lincoln did not dare to send troops directly into the territory of the two states. After all, the governors of both states explicitly replied to Lincoln's conscription orders for disobedience, and even Missouri Governor Clayben Jackson gave Lincoln a challenging reply: "Your conscription call is illegal, unconstitutional, rebellious, inhumane, and brutal, and cannot be answered." ”

Lincoln could only send envoys to the two states in the hope of convincing the governors and legislators of the two states not to turn to the Confederate States.

In the ensuing process, Kentucky, under the chairmanship of Governor Beria Megovin, convened a special session of the state legislature in early May and issued a proclamation of neutrality, warning neither the Northern Union nor the Confederate States to send troops into or through Kentucky.

Lincoln could only respect Kentucky's choice, and he knew that if he forced the other side, he could only make the other side fall into the arms of the Confederate States. It's just that Governor Megovin himself has more than 100 slaves, which still makes Lincoln extremely worried. He could only send a handwritten letter from him, promising never to change Kentucky's slave rights.

But what happened next in western Missouri and Virginia left Lincoln dumbfounded!