At a time when France and Prussia were struggling for a common goal - a desperate fight, a new presidential election in the United States was underway. To be honest, this round of elections was not fierce. Because of the drag of the Civil War, the Democratic Party, which is traditionally the most powerful party in the United States, is, or at least seems to be dying, and they are almost completely unable to compete with the Republican Party in the whole of the United States, except for a few southern states. As for the current President Andrew Johnson, the Democrat who became president by luck thanks to the assassination of Lincoln, from his first day in office, he was dissatisfied with the Cabinet members who were jealous because they thought he was too lucky, and he was almost impeached. Although with the help of Scrooge, he is six votes away from being impeached, which is much safer than the original historical one, but his lame Cheng Dù has not changed much, and everyone, even himself, and other Democrats know that he is absolutely useless in this round of elections, and even the Democratic Party is also useless. Even if the Republican Party leads a dog to run, it will not be the turn of the Democrats to take the presidency. So President Johnson did not continue to run, and the Democrats nominated Horashaw Seymour, who had served as governor of New York, as their presidential candidate.

So what really matters in this year's presidential election is not the confrontation between the Republicans and the Democrats, but the competition within the Republican Party. Eventually, after a visit to Scrooge and Morgan, and a series of policy commitments, General Grant, the hero of the Civil War, received a large amount of campaign money, which enabled General Grant to have his own pictures on the front pages of the newspapers, and his own voice and his own stories on the radio. In the North, people can always hear on the radio how General Grant fought the rebels with determination and tenacity, and finally forced the rebels to surrender; In the South, however, it is common to see on the radio or in the newspapers that General Grant had laid down their arms and magnanimously proclaimed, "The war is over, and now the former rebels are our countrymen again." And generously agreed to let the soldiers of the Southern Army bring their horses home to prepare for the spring ploughing.

Historically, when Grant was running for president, there was an obvious problem, that is, first, he did not have any experience in government, and second, he did not have a decent and clear governing program, that is, Grant's political views were unclear. This has also been a weakness for Grant in later presidency. Because there is no long-term plan, Grant's governance has always been where he goes. But this is nothing compared to Grant's other weakness, which is corruption.

In general, Grant is a very soft-hearted good person, and the people around him have made something wrong, and he is always reluctant to pursue it. Well, a famous general, if he really has such a character, it can be regarded as wonderful, and the result is that a lot of people around him use his identity to engage in corruption. What's even worse is that every time a corruption case breaks out, Grant always says indignantly that he will investigate to the end and will not be soft, but every time he really checks, it turns out that when he finds his relatives and friends, Grant immediately relents again, emphasizing that everyone makes mistakes, and people who make mistakes should be given a chance to reform themselves.

However, Grant was a complete fool when it came to financial management, and he failed to invest after leaving office, and ended up almost destitute. But now, President Grant will not make these mistakes that almost no one will make in later generations, because thanks to Scrooge, the monster of monopoly consortium appeared in the United States earlier than the original history, and now, there is no need for the president's governance program, and serving the monopoly consortium is the most fundamental governance program. As for the problem of corruption, it is better to solve it, and Scrooge already has a package of legal corruption solutions. In his conversation with Grant, Scott told Sù Grant that he was committed to promoting the development of American railroads, to maintaining American hegemony in the American market, and to actively developing the Asian market, and to strengthening the navy for this purpose. Then he will prepare a position in the MacDonald consortium for him, as well as his family and relatives, where he can get paid for not working. Of course, the MacDonald Consortium is not a charity, and even if it is a charity under the MacDonald Consortium, it is meant to serve the profits of the consortium. So if you want to have a good position, at least in the past four years, Grant's watch has to be a little stronger.

……

The reaction of Prussia was very much in line with Emperor Napoleon III's expectations, and they immediately rejected Napoleon III's request, and even published a reply in the newspaper, not only categorically rejecting Emperor Napoleon III's request, but also saying that "His Majesty the King refused to meet with the French Ambassador in the future, and ordered the adjutant on duty to convey to the French Ambassador that His Majesty had nothing to talk about anymore." This attitude of not taking France in their eyes immediately stirred up the emotions of the French people. Taking advantage of this opportunity, on February 12, 1869, Emperor Napoleon III declared war on Prussia.

Emperor Napoleon III had already begun to mobilize his army a month before the declaration of war, and unlike Prussia, which had universal military service, the French army was all professional soldiers, so there were fewer of them, and even after mobilization, those who joined the army were retired veterans. Therefore, the French generally believed that their own army would be overwhelmed by the Prussian army on the suzhì, so that although they were smaller in number, they could definitely easily defeat those Prussian barbarians. Like Colonel Juffer in The Siege of Berlin, almost all of them were confident that the French army would finally defeat the Prussian barbarians.

However, the situation of the war was completely different from what the French imagined, and it seemed that professional soldiers should be more trained than conscripts, but in fact, because of the better economic development, the Prussian army was more trained. And although the French mobilized in advance, the Prussians prepared for a much longer time, and from the defeat of Austria, the Prussians began to prepare for war against the French. And relying on the more developed railway network in the country, the Prussians were able to mobilize their troops more quickly.

As a result, after the declaration of war on the two sides, until the end of February, the French army had concentrated more than 200,000 troops, and on the opposite side of them, 470,000 Prussian troops had been concentrated.

Originally, the French intended to launch a preemptive attack, advance to Frankfurt, cut off the connection between North and South Germany, force the South German states to remain neutral, and then defeat Prussia with all their might. However, the Prussian army gathered much faster than they expected, and at the very beginning of the war the situation fell into the hands of the Prussians.

The plan of the Prussians was this: they would take advantage of the superiority of their forces, relying on the convenience brought by radio, to divide into three large armies to attack Alsace and Lorraine in France, to fight the French army on the German-French border or in France, and to annihilate the French heavy army groups as much as possible.

When the war began, the French found that the way they fought on the battlefield today was completely different from the way they were used to it. They had just gathered their troops and were about to attack in the direction of the enemy, when they saw a huge balloon rise from the opposite side, and then countless shells rained down on it. What's even more terrifying is that when these shells fall, they will explode violently, well, just like the grenades that the French army has just been equipped with before, but the power is much greater. Under such artillery fire, any direct mass-assembly attack would almost turn into a massacre.

Even the defense has become extremely difficult, the French have learned to build trenches, barbed wire, mines, but in the face of such shelling, the mines are detonated, the barbed wire is blown away, and the people hiding in the trenches are also from time to time falling from the sky, and the shells that fall directly into the trenches are killed, and many people lose control of their spirits in the shelling, rush out of the trenches and try to escape, but naturally they are torn to pieces by the shells. Many more people did not die after the heavy shelling, but because the shock was too great, the vestibular function of the guide was temporarily lost, so that they could not maintain their balance and make normal shooting movements, and as a result, when the Prussians attacked the French positions, they were as relaxed as an outing, and the French soldiers who were stunned by the shells did not make any effective counterattack.

Under such a blow, the French army collapsed rapidly, and the speed of the rout caught even the Prussian commanders off guard. In the original history, it took several months for the Prussian army to finally defeat the French army in several battles, and in this time and space, relying on the large killer weapons such as tube retreat artillery and high-explosive bombs, within a week, the Prussian army completely defeated the French army, and then in a series of pursuits, they not only captured hundreds of thousands of French soldiers, but also captured the French Emperor Napoleon III alive.

In such a favorable situation, it is said that King Wilhelm I, who had always been obedient to Bismarck, had a rare dispute with Prime Minister Bismarck. Prime Minister Bismarck was ready to accept it as soon as he saw it, but King Wilhelm I felt that it would be a good idea not to take advantage of the collapse of the French army and take advantage of the victory to pursue and occupy Paris in one go...... For hundreds of years, the French army has flaunted its might on the Linden more than once, and now it is finally the Prussians' turn to take to the Champs-Élysées to shake off their might. Think about it, how beautiful it is to lead a lion through the Arc de Triomphe that was dedicated to Emperor Napoleon I and march on the Champs-Élysées. What the? Will this irritate the French harshly, and will they become feuds with Germany in the future? What's in it? There can only be one great power on the European continent, and the contradictions between France and Germany are not so easy to resolve, so it is better to let me be refreshed and show off. Besides, Napoleon was so bad that I couldn't do it?

Although the war took place earlier than the original history, it was more or less the same as the original history, and there was still a revolution in Paris, the imperial government was overthrown, a new republican government was established, and then the Prussian army entered Paris, and they circled along the Champs-Élysées to satisfy the vanity of King Wilhelm I and withdrew. Then came the peace talks, which ended up with the same results as in history: France paid 5 billion francs in compensation and ceded Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. By the way, Emperor Wilhelm I also ascended the throne at the Palace of Versailles and was crowned Emperor of Germany. For the Germans, this was a revenge for the Napoleonic Emperor who forced the Holy Roman Empire to renounce the title of Emperor, and for the French, it was another handful of salt in their wounds.

"The war is finally over." When Scrooge got the news, he was waiting outside Dorothea's delivery room. "Well, a new era has begun, in which our allies of yesterday will become the enemies of tomorrow."