The Indians were extremely supportive of the Ming military campaign. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

There are many Indian reservations in California, there are twenty or thirty places, but the number of Indians here is not large, and there is no particularly large tribe, the Indians in California are relatively scattered, but they belong to an ethnic group, causing their language to be close, and they are basically able to communicate.

As the Ming army successively pulled out of the American strongholds and wiped out the American resistance, these Indians also became active, and they sent representatives willing to form an alliance with the Ming, as long as the Ming provided them with weapons and food, as well as some other supplies, they were willing to help the Ming fight.

Deng Shicai was not very optimistic about this active ally, the Indians in the first California area could only provide a maximum of 10,000 soldiers, and the second Deng Shicai seriously doubted the fighting ability of these indigenous people, because the most important material aid requested by the Indians was wine.

"Guns, rations, and wine can be given to them, but there is one point where we have to send officers to fight with them. Let's call it a liaison officer. ”

Deng Shicai thought of the liaison officer on the battlefield in Vietnam, nominally to coordinate the operations of the two sides, but in fact to directly command the Vietnamese army, and he hoped that these Indians would also be so obedient.

But Lu Yunqi told Deng Shicai that I am afraid it will not be so easy, the Indians are not such a tame people, and it is basically impossible to obey their words, and the liaison officer of their country can only convey suggestions to them, and it is their business whether to listen or not.

"So it seems completely uncoordinated? Well, aren't you planning to cross the Sierra Nevada, I allow you to assemble 10,000 Indian cavalry and march east across the mountains to the Rocky Mountains. Destroy all the railway bridges, blow up tunnels, and fill up wells along the way. ”

Lu Yunqi hesitated: "So we don't plan to go east from California?" ”

The destruction of all these transportation facilities means that Da Ming does not plan to use this place.

Deng Shicai said: "That's right. The area around Salt Lake City is an arid desert, and if the wells are filled, it is impossible for large troops to pass through, and the transportation facilities such as the railroad are destroyed, and the natural environment can help us defend against the American army. That way we'll be able to divert our forces and use them in other directions. ”

Lu Yunqi said: "Other directions? Is the Chief of the General Staff planning to go north or south? ”

"Go south!"

"For Mexico?"

"That's right!"

Lu Yunqi shook his head: "I'm afraid it's not easy to do, the Mexicans are frightened and don't have the courage to start a war with the Americans." ”

Deng Shicai said: "Then give them courage." No one can't become a warrior in the face of big profits. ”

Lu Yunqi sighed: "There are brave men under the heavy reward, I hope the appetite of the Mexicans is not too big, otherwise this battle will be in vain." ”

There has always been a rumor in the army that the war with France was fought in vain, and they all believed that it was a loss-making deal that too much effort was spent, and that the army should attack for the purpose of expanding the territory, not for survival, and that the lives of soldiers were more valuable than vanity.

Deng Shicai said: "That's not something you should care about. This first time, if you have an opinion, I can change people to command this battle, and then there is a second time, don't blame me for being ruthless, take your military law to do it! ”

Lu Yun got up and saluted: "Those who speak lowly have no intention!" ”

Deng Shicai waved his hand: "So I'll give you a chance to prepare a plan to go south." ”

As soon as Lu Yunqi left, Deng Shicai immediately met with Tang Shaoyi, the consul of San Francisco.

Although Tang Shaoyi is the minister of San Francisco, but the most important thing in the diplomatic mission of the Ming Dynasty in the United States is the San Francisco consulate, to a certain extent, the San Francisco consul is as important as the Ming minister to the United States, and Tang Shaoyi is the only Ming diplomat who did not leave the United States after the declaration of war, not only did he not leave the United States, but hid in the countryside and began to organize an uprising, but his uprising was very unsuccessful, and his military talent was far less sophisticated than Li Xiucheng.

Therefore, Deng Shicai somewhat disdains this diplomat who seems to be a weak scholar, but when it comes to understanding the situation in California, Tang Shaoyi is the best choice.

After casually exchanging ideas, he found that what Tang Shaoyi said was no different from what he had heard from other people.

"I want you to establish direct contact with the Mexican Legation immediately, I need first-hand information on Mexican diplomatic activities."

Tang Shaoyi was not very happy: "The military intervenes in diplomacy, is this to ask for instructions from the country?" ”

Deng Shicai said: "If you want to ask for instructions, you can ask for instructions, but I want you to contact me immediately, and you can do it at the same time." ”

Tang Shaoyi was not very happy to go.

Deng Shicai doesn't care about the attitude of these civil officials, he only needs Mexico, the Indians are not very good allies, the Mexicans are.

To be honest, he doesn't look down on Mexicans, but Mexico's geographical location is too important, and now Mexico is the only neighbor that is likely to be hostile to the United States, and this is the only place where Ming can find a local ally, not that Mexico has a request for Daming, but that Daming has a request for Mexico.

Because the Ming Dynasty occupied the whole of California, so the telegraph line between Mexico and Mexico was also connected, although it would be cut off by the American resistance from time to time, but the Ming army could be repaired quickly, most of the time it was still able to ensure that it was unblocked, and the navy was already rushing to repair an undersea line, once it was repaired, there was no need to worry about being cut off.

News also came from Mexico, where diplomacy was still not going well, and Mexico was now governed by Porfirio Díaz, a Napoleonic poisoner by Western standards, but unfortunately he was far from Napoleon's grandeur.

During his reign, he adopted a great deal of pacification measures, and the limited development of freedom of opinion and the independence of the judiciary in the country was temporarily maintained, giving certain benefits to the various political factions, maintaining their detached status, limiting the power of military officers, and maintaining political stability for a long time.

The revolutionaries who later overthrew him admitted that if it had been a regular election, Díaz would not have been ousted from the presidency, because, like Napoleon, Mexico's large peasants supported Dias, and Díaz could easily win the election without even political mobilization.

Diplomatically, this slippery head is also doing well, he is actively repairing with the United States, extending the railroad beyond the border to connect with the United States, and giving special preferential treatment to the Americans. American businessmen came to Mexico in large numbers to invest and became Mexican guests. The U.S. government was very pleased with Dias's proximity and praised him. U.S. Secretary of State Elihu Ruth called Dias "the hero of humanity" and "a great man." As a result of the protection of the United States, the armed threat of other powers to Mexico was ruled out. The French invasion of Mexico in the 1860s was avoided.

At the same time, a large amount of American capital also poured into Mexico, and because of the political and social stability that was rare in South America, the influx of American capital led to the rapid development of industry. By the end of the nineteen-nineties, there were more than 9,000 miles of railways in Mexico. Including the Mexico City to Veracruz railway, during his tenure Mexico's railroad expanded tenfold and its industrial strength increased considerably.

But the fact that Díaz is friendly with the United States does not mean that he likes the United States, on the contrary, he is just afraid of the United States, and he has a clear saying, "Mexico is too far from heaven and too close to the United States", in fact, Cubans also like to say this sentence.

A slippery politician like Dias, he will never dare to take risks, unless he can see the risk-free gains, he will never bet easily, he is not the kind of gambler who is willing to gamble on everything, although it can't be a big deal, he often can't do any big evil.

To face such a person, Deng Shicai felt that it was still very big, but he felt that it was not to the worst extent, the worst was the kind of idealistic and pro-American characters, those people would not be moved by interests, that was the trouble.

As for Dias, although it is troublesome, he feels that this kind of person can deal with, because this kind of person is realistic, and realistic people are good at calculation, but as long as they calculate, they have price, ideals are priceless, and he can't buy priceless things, but valuable things can still be bought.

He asked the Mexican envoy to communicate with other politicians, and sure enough, news soon came that those politicians expressed their "personal" attitude, believing that if the Ming could help Mexico recover the territory occupied by the United States, Mexico would not be unable to form an alliance with the Ming.

Deng Shicai believes that this is Dias's attitude, he asked the diplomats to continue to communicate, and found that the other party must help the Ming first help them recover the territory, and then think that it is necessary to form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty, because Mexico is a peaceful country, and the Mexican people love peace, and it is difficult for the people to accept a war.

This is not a rabbit and an eagle.

Fortunately, Deng Shicai had already calculated it, so he asked Lu Yunqi to formulate a plan to develop southward, he was to attack all the way to the Mexican border along the South Taiping Railway, and advance along the US-Mexico border, so that Mexico could see the strength of the Ming army, he didn't believe that once the Ming occupied all the US-Mexico border areas, Mexico would not be moved.

Lu Yunqi originally wanted to go east, he was a young officer, he was just thirty years old this year, according to his age, it was impossible to sit in the position of army commander.

However, a few years ago, the military department purged a large number of young Zhuang faction officers, and the banner figures among the senior officers, such as Wen Yuan, of course, could not be cleaned, but a large number of middle and high-ranking officers of the foreign faction at the rank of army commander were delegated, most of them went to military academies to teach, and some were transferred to the logistics department and reserve units.