In the spring of 1863, the war was already in its third year.

The war had already taken on a one-sided situation, and the Northern Union had an overall advantage, not only began to suppress the South on the battlefield, but after the victory of Gettysburg over the South, the North began a full-scale counteroffensive on land, and the Northern Army entered the territory of the South to fight on all fronts. On the sea, the main force of the southern navy has been basically eliminated, and the ironclad ships built by the north can reach the world-class level in terms of design and quality, and a lot of improvements have been made during the war, but the shipbuilding industry in the south can only be modified at most.

With the support of huge war funds, the number of ironclad ships of the Northern Federation has reached 110, and the capital ships have even surpassed those of the United Kingdom, and the age of the ships is very new, the design is the most advanced, and the artillery is more powerful, so it can be said that the Northern Navy is already the second navy in the world in fact. With the help of a superior navy, the North firmly controlled the sea supremacy, and the southern seas from Virginia to Puerto Rico were blocked.

And the basis of all this is the strong economic and industrial strength of the north. The iron ore of Lake Superior and the coal fields of Alabachia combined with a huge heavy industry provided the United States with a steady stream of war power. They are basically able to produce all war materials on their own, and although they are also importing a large number of them, they have an absolute advantage over the south, because imports are only a supplement to the north, but they are the main source of the south.

The financial industry in the United States has always been more developed than other industries, thanks to the commercial culture that New York inherited from the Dutch era, and then the British rule continued. New York's financiers may not be as sophisticated as British bankers and less well-capitalized than Chinese financial groups, but they are extremely nimble.

Although the Northern Federation, like the South, did everything possible to finance the war, the rich could not serve in the military as long as they were willing to spend money, and the green-backed banknotes were printed without gold support, but the financial stability of the North was still stable, and the exchange rate of the green-backed banknotes still had half of the face value, while the gray-backed dollars printed in the South without gold guarantee were only one percent of the face value, correspondingly, the prices in the North rose by only 60%, while the prices in the South rose by 4,000%.

The biggest reason for this is that New York belongs to the North, and the New York bankers used to serve mainly trade, and the largest trade was cotton in the South, after the war, their business contracted, and they soon found an alternative to the Treasury business, and the most powerful financier, Jay Cook, pioneered the issuance of small bonds, and he made 5% of the North buy federal bonds, and as a result, he sold Treasury bonds even faster than Lincoln could spend money.

From an economic point of view, the failure of the South was doomed.

However, under the overall advantage, Lincoln is becoming more and more worried, and the external hidden dangers are getting bigger and bigger.

Before the war, the influence of the South in Europe was greater than that of the North, because the South supplied Europe with raw materials and markets, while the North tried to raise tariffs to protect industry. Britain and France were naturally friendly to the South, but on the issue of slavery, the mainstream public opinion in Europe was in favor of the North, and Lincoln also won the support of public opinion by abolishing the Slavery Act. In addition, it was publicized in the newspapers of various countries, and the first officer page was purchased to conduct public opinion warfare, and it can be said that Lincoln also won a complete victory on the battlefield of public opinion.

But he found that as the advantages of the North became more apparent, the diplomatic environment became more and more deteriorating. The rapid expansion of the northern navy caused unease in Britain. The British navy and shipping forces began to issue the theory of American threat, believing that the real strength of the US Navy had surpassed that of Britain, and forcing the British government to continue to pursue a large-scale naval expansion policy in the face of a bad economic environment. The French cotton textile industry was in a state of collapse, it was increasingly dissatisfied with the blockade of the federal navy, its contacts with the representatives of the South were becoming more and more frequent, and France was the main provider of foreign funds from the South, and in the event of the defeat of the South, the French financial community suffered huge losses.

Needless to say, Germany cannot have any common interests with the United States on the issue of Mexico.

Other European countries, whether they are big countries like Russia and Austria, or weak countries like Greece and Italy, but all those who have textile industries are in mourning, and European public opinion has become more and more unable to support the North by relying on a slavery issue. People of insight have begun to call on Europe to intervene in the American civil war and restore peace to the United States as soon as possible. Because for most countries, U.S. cotton is irreplaceable.

Lincoln had received information that Britain and France had begun to make contact and had discussed the American question many times.

Lincoln's biggest concern has always been China, and even fools can see that maintaining the division of the United States is in the best interest of China, the largest force in North America. Therefore, Lincoln has carried out a lot of public relations in China before, and the public relations expenditure alone is as high as one million. China's official stance has also been ambiguous, with a high voice of hope for peace and public pressure on the South to abolish slavery. China, which does not seem to lack cotton supply channels, cares more about moral victory. This gave Lincoln some reassurance, but once China intervened, the problem would become tricky.

Recently, however, some different voices have begun to emerge in China, which makes Lincoln feel the trend of change. The main problem is caused by refugees. As the Northern Army fully entered the territory of the South, problems of military discipline in the Northern Army began to arise. The hatred between the North and the South was not like a country at all before the war, but more like a feud. This hatred, combined with the variety of sources of soldiers, led to a chaotic mix of military discipline.

When the Northern Army entered the South, their officers liberated the slave estates, which was a good thing. However, the looting behavior of the soldiers, and the venting of the emotions after the release of the slaves, caused the order of the south to disappear in an instant. The Northern Army systematically burned down all the slave owners' estates and houses that supported slavery, and took away the property inside, some of which were directly confiscated as federal property, and more were used to enrich their own pockets. It was the 1860s, a time when soldier looting was still legal, and it was hard to stop it. Not to mention the Northern Army, in which a large number of poor European immigrants participated, and a large number of Northern soldiers with prejudice and hatred.

And those black slaves who lost their financial resources and old way of life after liberation were even more confused, and the lucky ones among them could find a job in the Northern Army to help transport supplies, and the more fortunate ones could be recruited to serve in the army, but despite the lack of soldiers, the army was generally reluctant to accept blacks, not because blacks could not fight, but because of racial prejudice. It is ironic that the Northern Union entered the war under the banner of emancipation of slavery, but the North was no less friendly to blacks than the South. It is strange that they acknowledge that slavery is a sin, but they also discriminate against blacks. Therefore, there are very few southern black slaves who can really find a livelihood in the northern army, most of them still remain in the manor, but the manor was destroyed, and the economic link of the manor itself collapsed, they could not produce cotton in exchange for food, and the black people could not starve to death, plus the new hatred of the slave owners, they hated the slave owners even more, so the army destroyed the manor, and they began to take revenge on the manor owners.

The chaos of order is a hotbed for refugees, and the closest safe haven to the South is, naturally, the Chinese territory on the other side of the Mississippi River. Large numbers of slave owners or wealthy whites fled westward, some with their own slaves, before the arrival of the Northern army, or quickly after the occupation.

China has a wealth of experience in rehousing refugees, thanks to the southern states, which have long pursued policies of deporting Indians, and the local government has extensive experience in resettlement. Although it is usually only briefly resettled, it is eventually deported. The experience of resettlement was indeed very rich, and these refugees were resettled. Once resettled, it will lead to an influx of refugees. It is no longer limited to the rich, a large number of bankrupt middle classes, and even the white people at the bottom have fled here.

First of all, the provinces of China and the Americas began to report on this situation of war, and they put the blame on the discipline of the northern army, and began to criticize the military discipline of the north. Reports from the Americas quickly reached China, and China's influence was enormous, acting as a megaphone to spread these bad practices around the world. Criticism of the North has increased, as have calls for peace.

In May, a war report arrived in front of Lincoln, and the main forces of the Western Front of the Northern Army captured Atlanta, the southern transportation hub, almost dividing the south east and west, which was an important victory, but Lincoln was not happy, because according to Chinese reports, there were as many as half a million refugees fleeing the Chinese side. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent a note asking the U.S. federal government to restrain military discipline.

This gave Lincoln a great headache, if he started to rectify military discipline now, would it affect combat effectiveness, cause dissatisfaction among the army, and cause military operations to stagnate, and if it was not restrained, would it be possible for the army to continue to maintain a high will to fight and achieve victory more quickly.

Lincoln had a difficult choice between the public opinion of the outside world and the general principle of ending the war as soon as possible.

With the capture of Atlanta by the North, slaves fled from the South, and the plantation economy was on the verge of collapse. The naval blockade imposed by the northern navy cut off trade with the south. Opposition began to emerge within the South, and many yeoman farmers joined the Federalists in their anti-war activities. Deserters from the south are on the rise. Food and daily necessities are scarce.

The defeat of the South may come within a year, but the general situation has not yet completely collapsed, because the capital Richmond is still in the hands of the South, and there is still time for rescue.

At this time, someone finally couldn't help but do it.

The Inca king Juyon contacted King Leopold of Mexico to discuss how to prevent the tragedy of the American Civil War from continuing to spread.

This was a signal, and after this signal was given, Bismarck took action, and he openly appealed to European countries to mediate the war with the United States.

There are reasons why Bismarck waited for such a signal to be sent before he did it.