"Of course I'm sober!"

As she screamed so loudly, Rachel was glaring at her poor husband with murderous eyes, looking furious. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Info Yi Shui seemed to be taken aback by her expression, or remembered when Rachel taught him English and French a few years ago, anyway, he opened his mouth, but didn't say anything.

This is uncommon...... More precisely, when their relationship became closer, nothing like that happened. This time, however, Rachel was indeed by Yi Shui: he questioned her plan for an anonymous letter, not because it lacked feasibility, but because he did not exchange views with Qin Lang. Yi Shui's rebuttal was tantamount to doubting her abilities, which was intolerable for Rachel.

Of course, Rachel knew that Yi Shui was just out of kindness: she had already put her hand into Qin Lang's power. Qin Lang has always been in charge of the company's strategic decision-making, and she is responsible for the day-to-day management and operation, and the current plan is undoubtedly challenging Qin Lang's authority - but Qin Lang is not a leader who can tolerate others challenging his authority. Even though he had given her permission to do everything before leaving, some of the actions were still too risky.

But Rachel is adventurous. And, a wonderful opportunity was right in front of her, and she would never let it slip away. Regardless of whether it violated Qin Lang's power or not, she had to do that.

"You can't stop me, Yi Shui." She said. Slowed down the sound a bit.

"Rachel ......"

"Don't worry, my plan won't make Qin Lang angry—only Duncan can do this."

"I'm not worried about Qin Lang." Yi Shui muttered to himself. There was no doubt that Rachel had no idea what he was worried about: she thought he was worried that she would offend Qin Lang's authority, but in reality, Qin Lang didn't care about such a trivial matter at all; His concern was that her plan could turn into a headache -- like the crisis she had created in Canton Bay. Unfortunately, they are now not facing a weak governor of Liangguang, but the Chicago consortium. If her luck isn't good enough, the results will be disastrous.

But now, no matter what he says, it won't do anything other than make her more angry, and Yi Shui can only throw the ball to Qin Lang on the other side of the Pacific, and let him decide whether he needs to stop Rachel's plan or not.

"No matter what," he said cautiously, "at least you should inform Qin Lang and let him know what you're doing." ”

"Thank you for the reminder, but I've already informed him." Rachel found that her anger was rising again—and she had tried to lower it as best she could. Obviously, continuing to discuss this topic will only make the situation worse, and since that is the case, the most appropriate thing to do is to change the subject.

"Tell me, then," she thought for a moment, "how is O'Connor doing in Cuba?" ”

Before answering this question, Yi Shui was thinking about another thing: why Qin Lang had half-jokingly said a few years ago that Rachel would never be suitable for him. Now the answer has become very obvious, if the two of them are together, the control and exact toughness that both of them possess will only lead them to frequent heated arguments and eventually ruin their relationship completely. So Qin Lang chose Elizabeth, so that when he wanted to be quiet, a simple new idea of chemistry could make Elizabeth happily rush into the laboratory and stay there for a few months; And the only one who is suitable for Rachel is the one with a weak personality......

Yi Shui shook his head first, banishing those strange thoughts from his mind, and then shrugged. "Not bad. There's not much to complain about other than mosquitoes, bush diseases, and food, and great performances are seen every day. ”

"Brilliant show?"

He sighed reluctantly and explained: "Major General Shafft and General Wood were directing the Union Army and the Volunteers to attack the Spanish garrison of Mont San Juan, and the battle was as comical as a farce. ”

"Huh?" Rachel raised an eyebrow. She needed a more detailed explanation.

"If you put it more closely, it's ......"

That is, after Sampson and Schleier had lost face with the U.S. Navy, Shafter and Wood also began to make a big appearance for the U.S. Army: they were supposed to attack the Spaniards' coastal batteries to clear the way for the Navy's minesweeping operations, but the two generals violated the orders of the War Department and the agreement with the Navy and took their troops into the jungle and launched an attack on the city of San Diego, which had 22,000 defenders.

To make matters worse, neither Shafter nor Wood had the thought of informing the Navy - or they thought Sampson and Schleih knew of their plans, but the reality was that the Navy fleet was still waiting outside the harbor for the Army to attack the coastal batteries and be ready to provide fire support, unaware that the American GIs led by Shafter and Wood had run headlong into the Spaniards' carefully constructed iron plate: San Juan Hill.

The Spanish army had built a system of trenches and fortified pillboxes on that hill, and three thousand absolutely loyal and brave soldiers with sixteen Maxim machine guns and a large amount of ammunition were stationed there, ready to impress the invading Americans.

It must be said that they have done it very successfully.

"The army's offensive was completely halted, and not a single trench had been captured so far - the only one that came close to success was also driven back with bayonets by Spanish soldiers. And the number of killed and wounded Union soldiers has already reached four hundred. ”

"What an amazing loss." Rachel didn't hide her sarcasm at all, "It looks like our Federal Army is almost on the verge of collapse. ”

"That's true, Rachel." Yi Shui nodded and admitted the embarrassing fact, "The army launched a total of eleven attacks, and the average loss was less than forty people. Most of the time, O'Connor said, whenever the Spaniards fired, the soldiers ran back to their positions like ghosts. And those Maxims have not joined the fighting, and without the intelligence of the Cuban resistance, we would still be in the dark. ”

"So, farce." Rachel laughed, "Now I see what O'Connor means." Farce! She repeated the word, "It's funny." ”

"I don't think it's funny at all, Rachel." "If the Army behaves too badly, the burden will fall on our troops," Yi said. But the Spanish defense of Monte San Juan was indeed very strong......"

"And our troops will suffer serious losses, so I need to pay a large pension for this." The smile on her face disappeared in an instant, replaced by anger and gnashing of teeth. "Those idiots!"

Rachel wasn't the only one who called the Army "stupid," but also Algiers and other War Department officials, and McKinley called his Army as he did — Mr. President was slapping the table in a frustrated manner in the White House, throwing tantrums at the bitter-looking Secretary of the Army. "What exactly does Major General Schaffert want to do? Acting in burlesque comedy? Where are the federal troops who still bravely assaulted in the face of enemy artillery fire in the civil war! ”

"It's all cut by Congress." Algiers would love to answer. After the end of the Civil War, the size of the Union Army was reduced to 27,000 men, half of what it was before the war, a large number of good soldiers were unemployed, the few who remained in the army were not promoted for a long time, and the treatment of ordinary soldiers was as bad as ever. Thus, for the past thirty years, Army officers and enlisted men have loved nothing more than to emulate their predecessors in 1782 and 1790, mutiny after mutiny, demanding better treatment – but Congress has never fulfilled these reasonable demands.

Congress's approach has led to only one result: few real people want to stay in the military, and good American youth rarely join the Army, and daily training is difficult. So, the obvious answer to the question is: after 30 years of evolution, how much combat strength will the army have?

Hardly. In fact, in 1876, Lieutenant Colonel Custer of the 7th Cavalry Regiment proved with his own life that it was not surprising that the Army could not even defeat the well-prepared and superior Indian warriors, and that it was on the verge of collapse before the Spanish army.

Algiers, however, was unable to articulate these complaints, and could only cite a reason submitted by Shaft. "Mr. President, I am very sorry for the Army's performance in San Diego. But I must stress that the main culprit for this phenomenon is the inferior canned food made by unscrupulous merchants, and not the poor quality or cowardice of our soldiers. ”

"Canned?" McKinley apparently didn't expect the answer, "What's going on?" ”

"After careful analysis, the War Department believes that most of the canned beef and luncheon meat purchased by the logistics department have spoiled, and these canned food have caused severe diarrhea and vomiting among our soldiers, as a result of which they have become hors de combat and even die. So far, it can be confirmed that the non-combat attrition caused by cans far exceeds the damage inflicted on us by the Spanish army. ”

McKinley's eyebrows immediately furrowed. "Is the problem so serious?"

"Yes, Mr. President." Algiers replied, "All troops were affected, with the exception of mercenaries, whose cans were made by the Khomel company and had no quality problems." ”

"Then replace the other cans with the cans from the Khomel company. But time is ...... Mr. Minister, immediately let the mercenaries take over the combat duty of the Army. McKinley ordered, "We must end the war as soon as possible." ”

"As you wish, Mr. President." The Secretary of War breathed a sigh of relief.

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Note: Lieutenant Colonel Custer was killed at the Battle of the Lesser Horn River in June 1876 - the greatest defeat in the history of the Seventh Cavalry Regiment, not because of the highest number of casualties, but because of the Indians. But there is also information that the Indians were armed with a large number of Spencer repeaters that were withdrawn and sold after the Civil War - so the defeat of the 7th Cavalry Regiment was still the result of a large-scale disarmament by Congress. (To be continued.) )