For the two conditions that Li Yongji has already proposed, Joseph. Although Johnston also bargained a few words, which seemed quite serious, in fact, it was all a smokescreen, not his fundamental purpose.

Because whether it is the ransom for the city, or the double exemption policy for any goods, in the final analysis, it is up to President Davis to make a decision, and he has little role as the commander-in-chief, at most he is a talker.

Really let Joseph. Johnston's concern, or the real purpose of his trip, was not the ownership of the cities, but the actual jurisdiction of the Chinese expeditionary force to occupy the cities, and the American prisoners and captured weapons!

That is to say, the actual control of the cities occupied by the Chinese, as well as the American prisoners and the weapons, is what Joseph values most, and the reason why he values it so much is not for the sake of national righteousness, but for the sake of the little ninety-nine in his heart.

In other words, his private meeting with Li Yongji was, in the final analysis, to gain benefits for himself and his family!

As mentioned earlier, this Joseph. Egreston. General Johnston was not only a strong leader of troops, but also a well-known family. Let's not talk about his command ability, it's obvious to all, so how awesome is this famous family? Just look at his family members.

His father, who fought in the Revolutionary War and retired as a jurist, was the most famous and wealthy lawyer in Virginia.

At the same time, his mother was also a noble woman, the famous politician Patrick Brown. Henry's own niece.

Patrick. Who is Henry? It is the famous orator in the American Revolutionary War, who is also the first governor of Virginia, and is known as the father of Virginia.

After the Revolutionary War, Patrick. Henry became the first in Virginia, and the Henry family became the undisputed first family in Virginia, and even in the entire United States of America. There is also a place for it.

After Johnston was born, with the help of his father's financial resources, ability and the strength of the Henry family, the Johnston family also became one of the most famous families in the local area, known as one of the three famous families in Virginia, and it is an existence that can affect the direction of the entire state of Virginia with a word, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a warlord in this state.

Among them, Joseph himself is the leader of this huge family, he is not only from a good background, but also with strong ability. While studying at West Point, he rose to prominence, and the school evaluated him as "cautious, calm, decisive and accurate."

It can be said that during his studies at West Point, his light may not be the most dazzling, but it is the most pragmatic, and his good background did not make him develop the bad habit of arrogance, but let him learn restraint and calmness. He is a very self-disciplined person.

After graduating from the military academy, he was awarded the rank of second lieutenant and sent to the 4th Artillery Regiment of the Army, which can be said to have started from the grassroots level. He has experienced many major wars, and has not only commanded artillery, such as cavalry and infantry. He personally commanded all the troops such as the baggage soldiers, and he was promoted step by step through the accumulation of merit.

Other words. Because he has served in many arms, this Joseph is a real all-rounder, familiar with any branch, which makes him very good at commanding mixed arms, and is a rare famous general with both tactics and strategy in this period.

He has a characteristic of commanding battles, that is, he does not take risks, does not fight uncertain battles, but first puts himself in an invincible position, and then fights the other side.

At the same time, he was different from most of the generals of this era, that is, he attached great importance to preserving his own vital forces, paid attention to concentrating superior forces, and defeated the enemy individually, and even gave up some strategic points in order to preserve his vital forces and concentrate his superior forces.

For example, in the previous Battle of Vicksburg, when Johnston was against Grant, he ordered Pemberton to abandon Vicksburg, take the initiative to abandon this seemingly important strategic fortress, and lead all the troops to Jackson City.

According to Joseph's plan, he wanted to concentrate all his troops in Jackson City, which was not so important in a strategic position, but had more adequate logistics supplies, so that his forces would be concentrated in one point, and Grant would come from afar and divide his troops to defend it, so he could wait for the opportunity and wait for Grant's army to show its flaws, and then concentrate his forces to turn the tables in one fell swoop.

It should be said that Joseph's plan at that time was the most feasible and perfect, once Pemberton listened to him, led the troops to retreat early, don't be attached to that Vicksburg, and led the troops to Jackson to join him, the Battle of Vicksburg could not be fought, and it would not be broken by Grant, and finally besieged in Vicksburg.

It's a pity that Joseph. Johnston has no talent and vision, and his position seems to be very high, but his actual power is limited, and he can't command the arrogant soldiers below him.

After all, it's Joseph. Johnston had a dislike with President Davis, who did not trust him and disliked him, and was forced to appoint him as a senior commander only under pressure from the Johnston family.

As mentioned earlier, when the Civil War first broke out, the Northern Virginia Regiment of the Southern Army was almost all supported by the Johnston family and the Henry family, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they were the private soldiers of these two families.

This made President Davis, who was sitting in Richmond, quite jealous, so although Joseph was initially appointed commander of the Northern Virginia Regiment.

This Joseph was indeed ruthless enough to lead the Virginia Regiment (not called the Northern Virginia Regiment at the time, but later known as Robert Virginia). Lee's renamed) fought several big victories in a row, and many times won more with less, and the Union army could not find the north.

However, unfortunately, when Johnston personally rushed to the front line to inspect, he was hit by a Northern bullet in front of the battle, which was a rather serious wound, and the wound almost killed him on the spot.

It was that wound that Johnston was forced to withdraw to recuperate, and the troops were handed over to Robert Brown. Plum.

At that time, Robert. When Lee first took over the army, he was not well-known at all, and his improvement in the morale of the troops was quite limited, in fact, the morale of the troops was even weakened at that time.

However, Joseph. Johnston had already made a follow-up plan, so Robert. Lee only had to follow the original plan and only respond to specific tactics on the fly.

In fact, later generations commented on Robert. Li Gang's performance after taking over the troops, especially in the Seven-Day Campaign that followed. It is just that the performance of the Union Army is not particularly good, and the reason why it can win is that the opponent on the opposite side, that is, the commander of the Union Army, McClellan, is even more stupid.

In other words, Robert. Lee wasn't talented at first, he also slowly became familiar with the rhythm of the Union Army and the Union Army in battle, and then he opened and closed and wrote his own legend, but in the end, Joseph. Johnston's foundation and the opportunity to concede to him cannot be ignored.

Afterwards. Robert. Lee renamed the Virginia Legion the Northern Virginia Legion, and led this army to fight in the north and south, gradually making its own brand, and the chaos flourished.

And the real builder of this force, Joseph. Johnston, on the other hand, can only recuperate in the rear tragically, and can only obtain the battle report from the front through some rumors.

After more than half a year, he was finally able to get out of bed after recovering from a serious illness, and then, at his strong request. President Davis had to consider his feelings and the family behind him to reactivate the famous general, but he didn't want to put him back in the Northern Virginia Corps.

After all, the Northern Virginia Legion was brought out by him, and it was too dangerous to let him go back. Let's talk about Robert. Lee is doing a good job now, and with him leading this force, the federal army will not be able to defeat it, so there is no need for Joseph.

Opposite. At that time, the situation in the Western Theater was dangerous, the entire Western Theater was defeated by Grant's army, and Tennessee had been lost. Re-stabilization is urgently needed.

Since the western region really needs a famous general who can control the scene, and the western army has nothing to do with the Johnston family or the Henry family, out of various considerations, President Davis put Joseph Brown. Johnston was sent there and appointed commander-in-chief of the Western Theater of Operations for the defense of the Tennessee Front and the Mississippi and East Louisiana districts.

At the time, nominally it was for Joseph. Johnston was promoted and had considerable power, but he was only an empty commander, and he couldn't really control the troops below, and the regimental commander below either went his own way or bypassed Joseph and sent a direct report to President Davis.

In other words, Joseph. Johnston was nominally commander-in-chief of the Western Theater, but he commanded almost no one except for the recruits he had drafted in Jackson City.

After he parachuted in, every order he gave was not listened to by the people below at all, which eventually led to the erosion of the situation and the helplessness of Grant's aggression.

If it were not for the timely action of the Chinese expeditionary force, first landing in New Orleans, and then going against the current to completely annihilate the main force of the Grant Corps in Vicksburg, I am afraid that after the first battle of Vicksburg, the entire western theater of the Confederate state would have been lost.

After the Battle of Vicksburg, Joseph. Johnston thought about it for a long time, and he finally realized that if he still wanted to show his ambitions, he had to have real power!

How can you have real power? Obviously, you can only rely on the military power in your hands!

At that time, in the Western Theater of the Union Army, only the Pemberton Legion still had a little remaining strength, and the rest of the legions had long existed in name only, and Pemberton was obviously an ambitious and disobedient master, so Johnston never thought of counting on him.

So who can he count on without Pemberton or from the Davis government for great support? The answer is the Chinese!

Sure enough, later the Chinese continued to advance north, until they broke Memphis, Joseph simply took the new army to Memphis, and then, with the support of the Chinese and the local population base, recruited troops locally, and rebuilt the Mississippi River Army and the Tennessee Army.

This time, Joseph. Johnston was also ruthless, he got in touch with his family in Virginia early, and with the help of his family, he obtained a number of powerful assistants, and then installed these people in two new legions, making it clear that he wanted to make these two legions his own personal legions.

Among them, the Tennessee Regiment is just that, after all, many of the officers in it were sent by President Davis, and he actually can't control too much, but the Mississippi River Regiment was established from scratch. Johnston's real private corps is also his trump card for his comeback.

But the problem is that it is not so easy to recruit troops, and it is good to say that after so many wars, you can recruit people by giving food, but weapons are not so easy to solve.

The Chinese do have good weapons, but the price is too expensive for the Johnston family to afford.

So, in order to raise money to raise soldiers, Joseph. Johnston went to great lengths to turn a blind eye to what the Chinese were doing, and as long as the Chinese were willing to give him a share of the dividends when they occupied these cities, so that he could have the money to support the gradually forming Mississippi River Legion, he would not care about anything.

Because of this, the Tennessee Regiment stationed in Memphis was so free and loose, because Joseph . Johnston poured all his resources and experience into the Mississippi River Regiments, also stationed in Memphis.

Even, in order to divide the power of the Tennessee Army and make them not a threat to themselves, when the Chinese army was bloodless in Nashville, he decisively set up the headquarters of the Tennessee Army there, and only kept one army of Tennessee troops on the Memphis side, out of sight and out of mind.

Therefore, some time ago, the Confederate army attacked the city hall of Memphis without authorization, which almost caused the two sides of the Zoomlion to misfire, and the soldiers of the Tennessee Regiment stationed here caused trouble, and the real henchmen, that is, Joseph's heart, the Mississippi River Regiment, were all outside Memphis and did not participate in that operation.

To put it bluntly, Joseph. Johnston understood that the Civil War should end soon, and once the war ended, the current situation of the Confederates would likely face an internal reshuffle, and a new struggle for power would occur.

Therefore, whether it is for himself or his family, he must have a strong army, only in this way can he have a place in the new political map in the future, not to be eaten and wiped clean by Davis's people, and then ruthlessly yin!

However, it is not enough to have soldiers, but also to have territory, otherwise once he falls out with Davis, the central government will not give money, what will he use to raise the proud soldiers below?

Therefore, when he heard that the Chinese were leaving, he immediately felt that the opportunity had come, because the cities occupied by the Chinese were either strategically important or very rich, and if he took these places, his strength would definitely rise a lot.

However, in order to control these places, there must be strong force, so the American prisoners and captured weapons in the hands of the Chinese became Joseph. Johnston's must-haves!

I heard that there are more than 500,000 US prisoners, and even if they can't all be used as soldiers, they should still be good as laborers, and they can greatly alleviate the hidden danger of labor shortage in the western theater because of the war.

Not to mention the weapons of the federal army that exchanged fire, the Chinese have completely annihilated more than 700,000 federal troops, and they are all elite troops of the federal army, and the weapons captured are countless, if they can fall into their own hands, whether it is takeaway or for their own use, they can obtain huge power, so that the Davis government does not dare to underestimate.

In short, he wanted the territory occupied by the Chinese, and he was even more determined to obtain prisoners and weapons.

Among them, the ransom of the territory is trivial, anyway, the federal government pays for it, he only needs to leave prisoners and weapons, and he can instantly become a decisive force, so that his commander-in-chief of the Western Theater is no longer an empty commander in name.

"So." Said a lot of Joseph. Johnston smiled at Li Yongji, "If you want to really make a big deal before leaving, it's useless to count on talking to that Davis guy, or it's better to work with me."

I promise you, as long as you are willing to hand over control of those cities to me, and then give me the captives and captured weapons that you don't need, your demands will be met as long as they are within my power, or within my control, and even if you want to find a place to be a concession, it will be no problem at all! (To be continued......)