The Holy Capital of the Chinese Empire, inside the Imperial Palace.

Feng Yunshan looked at the letter in his hand.

The letter is that Peng Yulin sent people to report the situation of the expeditionary force in Mexico to Shengjing on the same day after the capture of Mexico City and the signing of the "Four-Power Treaty" in the fastest small clippers.

I miss the phone and the Internet in the future. Feng Yunshan couldn't help but sigh in his heart, but his heart moved, when he could also lay communication cables across the Pacific Ocean, he could directly send a telegram to deliver the news.

However, Feng Yunshan just thought about it, at present, the empire has just begun to hoard rubber and produce cables on a large scale, and the laying of cables on land has been greatly accelerated, but it is still not satisfied, let alone at sea. What's more, he knows that in history, Britain laid submarine cables across the Atlantic to the United States, driven by the efforts of an American tycoon named Sellers Westfield, from the beginning of the previous year to last year, it has been tried three times, costing millions of pounds, and still failed. The first two times I couldn't find the cable before I finished it, and the last attempt in August last year was a temporary success. With the help of two giant warships, Ireland and New York were connected by cable, and Queen Victoria's congratulatory message to U.S. President Buchanan was transmitted to the United States through an undersea cable, and President Buchanan of the United States also successfully called back to the Queen of England. But within a few days, for some reason, which section of the submarine cable was completely broken, and the entire cable was scrapped from then on. Therefore, even now there is no telegraph between Europe and the United States to transmit information, and communication is carried out by means of letters transmitted by the fastest clippers.

Seeing that Peng Yulin's letter said that he had captured Mexico City, and that he had signed a four-nation treaty with France and Spain with the newly established Mexican Empire, Feng Yunshan felt a little guilty, but more of a sour feeling in his heart. The Chinese Empire finally stepped out of the circle of history and ushered in the era of expanded colonization, which also marked the rise of the empire and the official entry of the Chinese Empire into the ranks of the great powers. It has only been more than 6 years since I came to this world, and it is obvious that I have completely changed the world and changed the destiny of China.

After reading it, Feng Yunshan was still silent for a long time, and did not come back to his senses until he was half-ringing, handed the letter in his hand to the ministers under him, and waited for them to circulate it before he said calmly: "The war in Mexico is basically over. Zhong Aiqing let's talk about it, what should be the next step? ”

Present at the hall were Zeng Guanlan, vice premier of the cabinet, Luo Xuan, concurrently minister of the navy, Zuo Zongtang, chief of the general staff of the General Staff, Mao Qi, deputy chief of the general staff and director of the Operations Division, Wu Ruxiao, minister of foreign affairs, and Fan Ruzeng, director of the Special Services Department, all of whom were among them, their faces full of excitement.

First of all, the deputy chief of the general staff, Moltke, saw him say very excitedly: "Your Majesty, the expeditionary force has achieved a great victory!" The occupation of the northern Mexican states and the suzerainty of Mexico along with France and Spain were largely established in Mexico as long as the United States and Britain did not do their best to intervene in the affairs of Central America. Moreover, the most important next step is the Isthmus of Panama, and it is not known whether the expeditionary force will be able to take this place, and if it is occupied, this expedition will be perfect. ”

Zuo Zongtang also followed: "Your Majesty, according to the analysis of Deputy Chief of Staff Mao and other staff officers of our General Staff, the General Staff has come to the conclusion that Britain and the United States may protest or exert pressure in other diplomatic and trade aspects, but because France and Spain are involved, and Britain is now busy suppressing the rebellion in India and has insufficient troops, and the United States is even more because of the fierce domestic contradictions, it is estimated that neither side will directly send troops to intervene in Mexico." However, the possibility of the United States or Britain sending troops in extreme cases cannot be completely ruled out. As for the Isthmus of Panama, it is indeed a vital strategic point. Your Majesty, judging from the map, this place is indeed very suitable for building a canal, a canal connecting two oceans, and then heavily guarded, just by setting up a card to collect taxes, you can make a huge profit! ”

Feng Yunshan waved his hand: "This, it should be no problem to occupy the Isthmus of Panama!" Two and a half years ago, the United States sent only two small ships and 160 Marines to run rampant in Panama. However, the Isthmus of Panama was too important to be compared to the Imperial-occupied province of New Mexico. For the United States in particular, it is very important to be able to build a canal that can connect its eastern and western regions by water, so the United States will not give up easily. I am worried that the United States will not let us occupy Panama easily, but it is difficult to say, after all, France is here, and the current French power is far greater than that of the United States. ”

But in fact, Feng Yunshan knew that as early as a few years ago, the United States had made many arrangements in the Panama region, and even built a railway to prepare for the future digging of the canal, but with the watermelon conflict that occurred in the Panama railway station by American soldiers the year before last, coupled with the fact that the United States has not been able to dig the canal since then because of the civil war, and later it was even won by France first, and won the right to dig the canal, if it were not for the malicious disruption of the Panama Railway Company operated by the United States, What's more, the French canal company collapsed due to serious corruption and mismanagement, and the canal was directly dug by France. It wasn't until the next century that the United States eventually financed the construction of the canal. On the one hand, this shows that the United States is jealous and afraid of France, and on the other hand, it also shows that the canal is very important to the United States.

"When I sent the troops, I had already explained to Peng Aiqing that the French would take the lead, and they would follow the French army to occupy Panama, so that even if we are still allies of the United States, they will not be able to say anything. In addition, the United States recruited a large number of Chinese laborers from the Manchu Qing Dynasty when building the Panama Railway, and there must be many compatriots who remain in the local area to live together, hoping that through their help, Panama can be controlled in the hands of the Empire. After Feng Yunshan finished speaking, he turned his head to Wu Ruxiao and said: "Through the new US Ambassador to China, Levi Weilian, I will send my credentials to US President Buchanan, saying that I have established the New Mexico Province to strengthen trade with them, facilitate the transit of trade goods and the safety of shipping routes, and I am ready to increase the trade volume by more than 0.5 times next year. If they don't accept it, they can't help it, and they will pull France in, and he, the United States, will not dare to act rashly. ”

Wu Ruxiao hurriedly replied to obey the order.

Feng Yunshan said to Zeng Guanlan again: "Zeng Aiqing, now that the expeditionary force has opened up New Mexico Province according to the plan, you immediately arrange it, and there are still a few months left in this year, first organize two groups of immigrants to New Mexico Province." Peng Aiqing said that the indigenous people there should be around 500,000 if they stabilize and so on. If you want to completely control this New Mexico province, you need at least more than 1 million Chinese compatriots, and when do you think it will be done? ”

Zeng Guanlan thought for a while, and then said: "Your Majesty, the sea is stormy, and because the transportation time is as long as two months, and there are many immigrants, it takes many batches, and it needs to be carefully and fully prepared, at least it will take more than a year and a half. ”

Feng Yunshan waved his hand: "It's too long, I will only give you a year, you don't have to think about how much it costs, but there is one point, you can't die a single person during transportation." After speaking, he said to Fan Ruzeng, director of the Department of Special Affairs: "I asked you to set up an intelligence station in the United States, what happened?" Can we send people to Central America in Mexico and Panama, especially Panama, to develop and use the Chinese labor there, and secretly control the Panama Railway? In addition, the development of more Indians and blacks to serve as intelligence agents may be of great use in the near future. ”

Fan Ruzeng hurriedly responded, and reported by the way: "Your Majesty, on the US side, the Secret Service Department has set up four major intelligence stations, namely New York, Washington, Richmond, and San Francisco, and three intelligence stations are under construction. Moreover, except for the San Francisco intelligence station, which is mostly Chinese, the rest of the places are mostly black, and even a small number of foreigners. ”

Feng Yunshan nodded, but his mind was thinking about the upcoming American Civil War.

The time has come to the second half of 1859, and in another year, the new presidential election of the United States is about to begin, when Lincoln, who favored the northern states and advocated the abolition of slavery, will become president, and the civil war between the North and the South is inevitable.