"I agreed."

See Joseph again. Johnston, Li Yongji didn't say much nonsense: "The jurisdiction of the cities occupied by our army can be handed over to you, the captured weapons can be given to you free of charge, and at the same time, I can also provide you with a low-interest loan totaling 500,000 Chinese yuan, only the captives can't give it, but we also have the conditions to ......."

Speaking of this, Li Yongji deliberately paused, while Joseph. Johnston followed suit and asked, "What conditions?" ”

With a slight smile, Li Yongji stretched out his finger and pointed at a certain location on the curtain map: "See, the land between here and here will all be assigned to us as a concession!" Concessions of the Eastern Bloc! ”

"Oh?" Joseph. Johnston looked at it and saw that the places Li Yongji was referring to were two place names, and although he was not familiar with these two place names, they were not unfamiliar.

"If I'm not mistaken, the place you ordered is Houston?" Joseph asked uncertainly.

"That's right." Li Yongji nodded, "To be exact, Harris County and Dallas County, the places in these two counties must be classified as the concessions of the Eastern Bloc. ”

"Harris County vs. Dallas County?" Hearing Li Yongji say this, and looking at the map again, Joseph. Johnston immediately frowned.

In the United States, counties are administrative areas one level larger than cities, such as Houston, which is the county seat of Harris County, and Dallas City is the county seat of Dallas County.

At this time, whether it was the United States in the North or the United States in the South, the urbanization process was quite weak, not to mention the North, but in the case of the Confederate States of the South, more than 50 percent of the population of the entire country were farmers, more than 30 percent were slaves, and the rest were workers, soldiers, officials, businessmen, and other occupations.

Therefore, the Union State at this time. A county tends to have a large population, but the county-governed urban population is very small, in other words, the urban population is much smaller than the rural population.

If Li Yongji wants one city as a concession, Joseph will not be surprised, but Li Yongji wants two counties as a concession, which is a little different.

Because the county is a fairly large administrative division in the Union State, much larger than the city, not to mention, it is still Texas land. It's not under his control.

"Ahem." After figuring it out, Joseph. Johnston immediately said, "Frankly, these two places you want are too big, and most importantly, these are Texas land, and I can't control them." ”

"That's your business." Li Yongji said, "In short, Harris County and Dallas County. I have to do it, this place must become a direct concession of the Eastern Bloc, and it must be donated to me by you yourself free of charge. As long as you agree to this condition, everything I said before will be given to you. ”

"Hmm......" I heard Li Yongji say. Joseph. Johnston thought for a moment, "If I help you get these two places, you'll agree to give me the city's jurisdiction, as well as the weapons you have captured." And also provide me with 500,000 Chinese dollars of assistance? ”

"It's not aid, it's a low-interest loan, and it has to be repaid." Li Yongji said. "But everything else is right, as long as you give me these two places, I will give you the lower Mississippi River, and also give you the weapons we have captured, so to speak, to give money and guns to give territory, what this means, you should know better than anyone else."

"May I ask, why do you want these two places?" Joseph. Johnston continued to frown, "Harris County is fine, it's a big plain, animal husbandry is developed, and there is a Port of Houston, but that Dallas is a barren land, why this place?" ”

"I'm just a talker, I don't know how." Li Yongji smiled, "But the group headquarters took a fancy to these two places and ordered me to get these two places, so I can't help it."

In short, this is our condition, and if you don't agree, then our previous agreement will be null and void. ”

"It's hard for me." Joseph. Johnston shook his head, "As I said, the two places you fancy are not under my jurisdiction, they are both Texas territory, and I don't have the money to buy ......"

"If you don't have the money to buy it, go grab it!" Li Yongji interrupted him, "With our support, it shouldn't be a problem to sweep the Mississippi River in the short term, and then march to Texas and ask for two pieces of land from Chengsheng, that is also a very simple matter." ”

"But what excuse do I have to attack Texas?" Joseph. Johnston said, "Texas is also a member of the Confederate States, and it makes no sense for me to attack them privately, and if I do that, it will cause public anger!" Fortunately for Texas, their forces are not a threat to me, but the Union government will not allow it, and it will definitely intervene, and if it does, the situation will be complicated. ”

"Then I don't care, we have made a request, whether we can do it or not, it depends on your ability."

"You can't do that!"

"No, we can!" Li Yongji waved his hand and interrupted him, "In fact, now that you have a request for me, we have other options than to support you, for example, give up the support given to you and support Texas instead."

I think that with the current situation in Texas, as long as we are willing to give them weapons and money, they will be willing to sell us a face and give us a piece of land.

It's like Harris County and Dallas County, which are not important places, and do you think if we transfer those terms to the state of Texas, will they agree to our request and give us the land in those two counties? ”

"How about exchanging with New Orleans?" Joseph. Johnston suddenly said, "New Orleans is much better than the two places you mentioned, and you have occupied it for a long time, so why don't I exchange this place for you?" ”

"Nope." Li Yongji shook his head, "It can only be these two counties, not anywhere else!" If you can't, then I'm sorry. ”

"I see." Hear here Joseph. Johnston nodded, "Okay, I can agree to your terms, but you have to give me the jurisdiction of the city first, weapons, prisoners, and 500,000 Chinese dollars, only then can I have enough strength to get those two places for you." ”

"It should be fine." Li Yongji smiled, "We can pay first." I'll give you everything I've said, and you don't have to sign any agreement, just a verbal agreement...... I don't think you will, and you wouldn't dare to pay the bills, am I right? ”

"Of course." Joseph said expressionlessly, "You are so capable of fighting, if I repay the debt, what if you go back to me to settle the account." ”

"Good." Li Yongji nodded and took the initiative to stretch out his hand. "It looks like we reached an agreement."

After reaching out and shaking hands with Li Yongji, Joseph. Johnston said, "Can you ask another question?" ”

"What's the problem?"

"Those federal prisoners." Joseph. Johnston said, "Those 500,000 people, are you really going to take them?" All to China? ”

"No, we're not going to take it to China." Li Yongji shook his head.

"Is that to California?"

"Who said that?" Li Yongji smiled, "We don't plan to take them to California either." ”

"And what about them...... Can't you really give it to me? "Joseph. Johnston asked unrelentingly.

"If you have the money to redeem it, and buy it as we ask, then it can be given to you." Li Yongji smiled.

"Forget it then." Joseph shook his head, "I don't have any money. ”

"Actually......" Li Yongji looked at Joseph. Johnston. "Well, forget it, in that case, I'll be honest with you. I'm going to take this group to Colombia. Dig the Panama Canal! ”

"Digging the Panama Canal?" Joseph. Johnston was dumbfounded, "You mean, you're going, you're going to the Isthmus of Panama?" ”

"Yes." Li Yongji nodded.

"Then these prisoners of the Union Army...... "Joseph. Johnston Road. "The laborers who dug the canal?"

"That's right." Li Yongji smiled.

Hearing Li Yongji say this, Joseph. Johnston gasped immediately.

After being a famous family, Joseph. Johnston, of course, knew about the Isthmus of Panama and the canals.

Actually, a long time ago. The Isthmus of Panama is an important transportation hub, and the idea of a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans has been proposed for a long time, but for various reasons, the canal has been a mere idea.

As early as 1838, a French company had gone to Panama to explore the terrain, but because there was no support from the local government at the time, the project failed.

Later, in 1845, New Granada, the controller of Panama at the time, formally proposed that Britain, France, the United States, and Jose jointly build the canal, but at that time, except for the United States, which was interested, all countries ignored the opening of the Panama Canal.

Since then, the United States has been bent on digging the Panama Canal and taking control of this important transportation hub.

Later, after the discovery of gold mines in western California, the proposal to dig the Panama Canal was mentioned by the United States many times, but in the end, due to financial problems and the actual difficulties it faced, it was never implemented, and it was only a bill.

In April 1856, the Americans clashed with the locals of Panama, and then in September, 160 American Marines suddenly landed on the Isthmus of Panama and quickly occupied the local Panama railway station, thus effectively occupying Panama and making the Isthmus of Panama under the de facto control of the Americans.

Since then, the United States has begun negotiations with the New Granada Government, demanding that the New Granada Government and the United States Government jointly administer the Isthmus of Panama, and Panama City and Colón City will become autonomous free ports, which are essentially to be controlled by the Americans.

The new Granada government certainly could not agree to such a request, but they were too weak to recapture it, nor would they dare to recapture Panama City, even if that city had less than 300 American troops in total.

After the new Granada changed its name to the Republic of Colombia, it hoped to resolve this issue with the United States as soon as possible, but because the U.S. government at that time, or the federal government representing the United States, was fighting the Civil War, it had no time to deal with it at all, and even the 300 U.S. Marines stationed in Panama City were not available.

The fact that the U.S. government didn't have time to deal with it doesn't mean that Li Yongji didn't pay attention to it either, in fact, he was interested in the Panama Canal at a very early age, but the conditions were not ripe, so he didn't act rashly.

Originally, Li Yongji still wanted to continue to drag it out, anyway, looking at the current appearance, he wanted to dig the Panama Canal, and he didn't want to think about it for one or two decades.

After all, comparatively. In addition to the United States, other countries, especially the old European powers, are not interested in the Panama Canal, which connects the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, and European countries prefer to dig the Suez Canal rather than the Panama Canal, which is much more valuable than the Panama Canal in the eyes of Europeans.

Therefore, if the United States does not have the strength to dig this canal, then the strength of the countries of North and South America at this time. No country in the Americas can afford to dig this vital canal on its own.

As for Li Yongji, he didn't pay much attention to the Panama Canal at first, after all, he had already obtained the land along the Pacific Ocean in western North America, and if the Panama Canal was not opened, he would actually have an advantage.

But soon, Li Yongji changed his mind and regained his heart about the Panama Canal, and if you want it, it is the oil of Dallas!

Oil in Dallas. It is currently the easiest oil area in the Chinese Empire to exploit, and he originally planned to colonize California first, and then build a railroad from Hollywood to Dallas, but he did the math. The cost of building a railroad is much greater than the cost of digging a Panama Canal, plus building a city of Houston and Dallas.

Moreover, not only is it costly. The efficiency is also low, because the capacity of the train is not comparable to the capacity of the ship.

Just in terms of transporting oil. If you want to compare with shipping, unless you build an oil pipeline, but the technical difficulty of building an oil pipeline is too great, at least for the time being, it is impossible to build, it is not just a matter of cost or not cost.

In addition, the construction of the Panama Canal and the use of Houston and Dallas as Chinese concessions also have very important strategic value, because in that way, it is equivalent to allowing the Chinese to control the entire Gulf of Mexico and greatly speed up the traffic between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which can be said to have more advantages than disadvantages for the Chinese Empire, which has technological and demographic advantages.

Since the Panama Canal is now more useful for China and technically not difficult, there is no problem with digging it, and then there is a question of cost.

The difficulty of digging the Panama Canal is actually more difficult than the Suez Canal, because the Panama Isthmus is a tropical rainforest climate, humid and sultry, dense jungles, and lacks the necessary infrastructure.

Now that he knows, Li Yongji certainly does not want the Chinese to go to construction, it just so happens that he now has a large number of American prisoners, these American prisoners are all white soldiers, not to mention strong, but also good at civil engineering, digging trenches and so on is not troublesome.

As long as they are given enough tools and a batch of medicines to prevent the plague, it will not be long before the 500,000 construction team can dig out the Panama Canal.

Perhaps, why did Li Yongji want to say to Joseph. What does Johnston say about this? The reason is the reason for the war.

Originally, Li Yongji wanted to directly lead troops to attack Panama City regardless of it, after all, it was already under the control of the U.S. military, or the United States of America.

However, the United States of America and the Chinese Empire had already ceased war, so Li Yongji did not have too legitimate reasons to fight Panama City, which was controlled by the United States, so his original idea was to fight in the name of mercenaries without declaring war.

However, Li Yongji suddenly thought that although China had ceased war with the United States in the north, there was no truce between the Allied States and the United States, so if Panama City was fought in the name of the Allied State, it would be a battle between the North and the South, and it seemed to be justified.

In this way, in the name of the Confederate Army, to fight Panama City, Li Yongji will then turn to take over control of Panama from the hands of the occupying forces, so that he will have no moral problems, and it can be said that it is quite perfect.

"How's it going, General Johnston." Li Yongji asked with a smile, "Are you interested in cooperating?" By the way, I almost forgot, this is also one of the conditions for us to support you. (To be continued......)