Hear Aaron. Pinkerton's exclamation, George. Gordon. Mead also nodded sincerely: "Yes, Mr. President is indeed not easy, we all know this, but ......"

"By the way, General, you are so aggressive, could it be for General Burnside's business?" Alan. Pinkerton said suddenly.

"Yes." George. Gordon. Mead nodded generously, and didn't bother Aaron for speaking. Pinkerton interrupted, annoyed. Of course, if it was before, he must have been angry, but after seeing President Lincoln sleeping in his office and hearing that he hadn't slept for the last three days and three nights, I don't know why, the original angry love has disappeared, so I am even angry with Allen. Pinkerton isn't that annoying anymore.

"Burnside was not at fault, so why should he be relieved of his position as Legion Commander? And you have to bring him before a military tribunal...... This, this is an insult to an officer, especially one who has not made a mistake, I can never agree! "George. Gordon. Mead said in a deep voice.

"Hey, General, why don't you understand?" Alan. Pinkerton sighed, "It's true that Nashville's defeat can't be blamed on General Burnside's head from the direct cause, but it is undeniable that he is indirectly responsible, right?" If he can take Smithland in time and restore the supply line to Nashville, he will not let the Nashville defenders break through in such a hurry that they will run into a tornado...... In short, in the big picture, General Burnside! There is no escaping responsibility. ”

"Are you kidding me?" George. Gordon. Mead glanced at Aaron. Pinkerton glanced at it, "We all know that Smithland has the main force of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, and the number is unknown, but at least one army of the Alliance Army, plus the Chinese task force is also there, they control the river, and the firepower is not at all." In this case, what was the possibility of Burnside's newly formed Virginia Legion taking there?

In fact, I was not in favor of sending troops to attack Smithland, but I agreed to send the Virginia Regiment because I had to react to it, at least to block further attacks along the Ohio River. In other words, Burnside's mission was not to capture Smithland, but to defend on the spot. Blocking or delaying the attack of the Chinese, that's all.

Now, Burnside did a good job, with no casualties, but it held back the Chinese and the Allied army, built quite good fortifications, and trained the troops more elite.

To put it bluntly, Burnside is meritorious, and no one would do better than him in that situation. If we don't reward him, how can we punish him? This is unjust! ”

"Perhaps." Alan. Pinkerton said in a calm tone, "But those who have lost their loved ones don't think so. Those ordinary citizens who lost loved ones in the Nashville fiasco. They have to have an outlet and the government has to have a goal for them to vent their anger. Originally James. McPherson was the best candidate, but unfortunately he was missing, most likely dead. Then he will not carry enough weight to bear the wrath of the people.

In other words, there is only one missing James. Mcpherson. It is not enough to calm everyone's anger, and one more person, one more person, one more person, so that he can be arrested and tried accordingly, so that everyone can feel better. ”

"Just to appease the anger of those people, are we going to do this to a general who has nothing wrong with doing so? Not to mention the question of justice, can you have a good conscience when you do this? Hmph, Mr. President will never agree, it must be you, you must have provoked the President to do this, right? ”

"Yes, it was I who built it." Alan. Pinkerton nodded and admitted, "To tell you the truth, Mr. President didn't approve of this at first, but after my repeated persuasion, he finally agreed to remove the commander of the Burnside Regiment from his position, arrest him immediately, and then bring him to court-martial, which I also ......"

"Bastard!" George. Gordon. Mead couldn't help but choke the other party's neck. "I knew it was you, why did you do this, why!" ”

After being choked by the neck, Aaron. Pinkerton was immediately speechless, and his face began to turn red, and he couldn't do it anymore.

Alan. Pinkerton is not as big as George. Gordon. Mead, the strength is even less than that, so he can't get rid of the anger of George. Gordon. Meade's, however, it wasn't just the two of them here, there were also many servants and servants, and although they didn't dare to approach it, so that they heard something they shouldn't hear, it was hard not to attract their attention when it was so loud.

Soon, the servants who saw it from a distance informed the guards outside, and when the guards saw this, they also hurried over and separated them in time.

After separating the two, a guard officer with the rank of second lieutenant who looked like a small leader glanced at George, who was being held by two guards. Gordon. Meade, then turned back to Aaron. Pinkerton said cautiously, "Mr. Advisor, are you okay?" ”

Alan. Although Pinkerton is now very powerful, the title that can be officially made public is only a presidential adviser, so everyone calls him Mr. Advisor. In Washington, the only person who can be called Mr. Consultant is Aaron. Pinkerton is alone, and as such, over time this has become an honorific title.

"Ahem, ahem." Coughing a few times in a row, Aaron. Pinkerton waved his hand, "It's okay, ahem...... Stand down, and don't come. ”

"But......" the guard hesitated as he looked at George, who had regained his composure. Gordon. Mead.

"No, but." Alan. Pinkerton shook his head, "There was a misunderstanding before, the general was joking with me, what are you doing here?" Hurry up and get me away, don't go near here! ”

"Yes, Mr. Advisor!" The guard said to Aaron. Pinkerton saluted, and then led the others out of the place.

"It's so majestic." George, who watched this qiē with a cold eye. Gordon. Mead said lightly, "It seems that the entire White House is going to listen to you now." ”

"General." Alan. Pinkerton straightened his clothes and said neatly, "Revoke the order of the commander of General Burnside's corps, the president has signed, the person escorting Burnside is already on the way, things have happened, you don't want the president to go back on his word, right?" That would be a serious blow to the prestige of Mr. President. Do you really want to see that happen? ”

"Since it is a wrong order, of course it should be corrected!" George. Gordon. Meade said, "Mr. President is not an unreasonable, unclear person, when he wakes up, I will persuade him well." ”

"You don't know how grim the shape is now, do you?" Alan. Pinkerton said, "With the loss of Nashville, we have lost the offensive power against the Southern rebels, both superficially and in reality, and can only retreat to the defense. We have shifted from a strategic offensive posture to a strategic defensive posture, and more importantly, we have made the world see our weakness, which will attract more enemies and more greed.

As far as I know, the British and French have already begun to move troops from home, and are now on their way to Boston, and once their reinforcements arrive, the total number of Anglo-French troops in Boston will exceed 300,000.

300,000 people. Never before in the history of the United States have Britain and France sent so many troops against us, and it is clear that they are going to do it this time. It's not just our Maine, there's a bigger attempt!

In short, a big offensive is about to happen, and the time comes. We are in a situation where we are suffering from the enemy, and we are an enemy who has never been stronger, and we cannot resist it. That's what happened to the country...... In this case, do you really think it's a good thing to damage the president's prestige? ”

Hearing him say that, George. Gordon. Mead was silent for a moment, and then asked, "You just said that the British and French are planning to increase their troops?" Is the information reliable? ”

"Very reliable." Alan. Pinkerton nodded, "I have an informant in Boston, and he can get information from the Anglo-French command, and I got this news from their headquarters."

As a matter of fact, the Anglo-French coalition army's attempt to increase troops was not only now, but had been made early on, otherwise, the transfer of hundreds of thousands of troops, even if it was mainly French, would not have been decided so quickly.

According to the information I received, Britain and France felt that we had lost consecutive battles on the battlefield and felt that we were bullying, and in addition, the Chinese had achieved too many results and had a big appetite, and they wanted to share more benefits, so they hoped to expand the results of the war by increasing the number of troops.

If I'm not mistaken, as soon as their reinforcements arrive, they will march towards our Washington, and at that time, we will really be passive, even if it is the Shenandoya River Corps, it will be difficult to trap Boston, and once the situation deteriorates, I am afraid that it will ....... ”

The rest of the words, Aaron. Pinkerton didn't say, but George. Gordon. Mead's cleverness is not difficult to guess what he means.

In Mead's position, war is no longer a bloody affair, but has completely become a sober arithmetic problem.

To put it simply, it is to compare who has more soldiers, whose weapons are better, whose training level is better, and whose supplies are more adequate, and so on, and the calculation is about the same, and start to move these only numerical troops to a predetermined place and confront the opponent's troops, in other words, it is the same as playing chess, using one army after another as chess pieces, and then swapping with the other side, and finally seeing who has more remaining chess pieces, who wins.

Now, due to the factors of successive defeats, except for a very small number of elites such as the Potomac Legion, there is no major attrition, and most of the other elite troops have been lost, and they are basically in confrontation with the Southern Alliance Army and the Chinese.

In other words, the main forces of the Union Army are now in the southeast and southwest directions, mainly defending against the Union Army and the Chinese Expeditionary Force, relatively speaking, the defense of the rear, that is, the northeast direction, is relatively weak, which is one of the reasons why Boston was quickly lost.

However, because the number of Anglo-French troops who took Boston was not large, and they had just arrived, they did not attack hastily, but with the help of the fleet, they held Boston. The main purpose of the James River Corps led by General Butler was to trap the British and French forces in Boston, and did not expect them to actually recover Boston.

Of course, if they can really reclaim Boston, it will be a big achievement, but alas, Benjamin . General Butler didn't have a clever plan, and he was helpless in the face of a well-defended Boston.

Later, after the transfer of the Shenandoya River Corps, it took over the task of the James River Corps, and the attack, nay, should be said to be the task of defending Boston. It was handed over to the Shenandoya River Corps, and as for the James River Corps, it was transferred to western Virginia by train, with the aim of receiving the Virginia Corps attacking Smithland.

In short, after Mead became the commander-in-chief of the Federal Army, the strategy and tactics formulated tended to be conservative in an all-round way, that is, based on defense first, and then looking for opportunities to counterattack, which belonged to the routine of defensive counterattack.

Under this routine. Burnside did nothing wrong, the fault was that the Nashville Legion did not retreat in time, and if he had to be held responsible, it would have been President Lincoln, because it was President Lincoln who insisted on keeping Nashville in the first place, otherwise the Nashville Legion would have fled long before the enemy encircled.

"If the Anglo-French army can really put 300,000 troops in Boston, it will be a big problem." Meade nodded, "Although we have activated the emergency mobilization order. But it will take a certain amount of time for these people to form combat effectiveness, so, if what you say is true. Then I will immediately move the capital, abandon Washington, and go to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I will regroup. It's still possible to fight.

It would be rather unwise to keep the capital on the front line, after all, Washington has nothing to defend it for. We don't have the strength to face both the North and the South at the same time, and even if the president has an accident, we're going to be in a bigger crisis, so we have to get the president out of here. ”

As soon as he said this, he heard a familiar voice ringing next to him: "I will not leave Washington!" Absolutely not! ”

Mead turned his head to look, and sure enough, the person who spoke was President Lincoln, who had just opened the door.

At this time, Lincoln's eyes were red and his face was full of tiredness, but his eyes were quite firm, indicating that he had a very strong will.

"Mr. President." Subconsciously, Mead nodded and bowed to the other party before replying, "Sir, if the news is true, then it will be quite dangerous for you to continue here, it is better to leave here immediately and go to Pittsburgh." ”

"What, you're scared?" Lincoln smiled slightly, "You're worried that you won't be able to hold Washington?" ”

"It's not that I'm afraid, as long as I still have a breath, I won't let the enemy step here!" Meade immediately replied, "But ......"

"No but!" Lincoln shook his head, "Since you've promised that you won't let the enemy step here, what else do I have to worry about?" ”

"But there's a case for everything." Mead was a little anxious, "If you are here, I can't defend with peace of mind, and I have to worry about your safety." Besides, if you are the president, the other side will definitely attack this side, on the contrary, if you go to Pittsburgh, they will probably attack Washington much less. ”

"I see what you mean, Meade." Lincoln sighed, "If I could, or if I had before, I could have retreated, but at this point, I can't retreat." ”

"Why?" Mead asked, puzzled.

"Because of the people's hearts, Meade." Lincoln said softly, "We have suffered a lot of defeats in the previous battles, and the morale of the people has suffered a great setback, but the reason why we can still hold on is because we are the side that has suffered aggression, and everyone can still work together to protect the family and defend the country." But if at this time, I, the president, lose the capital and run away......"

"It's not an escape, it's just a transfer!" Mead immediately said, "We're just moving the command center to a safer place, which is strategically quite normal behavior, after all, no one will expose the command to danger." ”

"Well, it's a transfer." Lincoln nodded, "But the people don't think so, if we leave at this most severe moment, they will think that we have escaped, and they are abandoned, after all, ordinary people can't abandon this place and follow us to Pittsburgh like we do."

Once they think that they have been abandoned, they will lose the will to resist, and this sentiment will be contagious, and at that time, the United States, which has no will to resist, will really be defeated and surrendered.

On the contrary, if I continue here, everyone knows that I am not leaving, and I will defend my homeland desperately. As long as we show our heroic and unyielding will to fight, and let the other side understand that the United States cannot be conquered, then we will have a glimmer of life and a decent armistice! ”

"A decent armistice? Could it be that you mean...... Agree to the independence of the South? Mead asked.

"Yes." Lincoln nodded, "If you continue to fight, the country can't afford it, and in the future, you can only recognize the independence of the South first." However, this is all temporary, and when we recover and are more prepared, there will still be a chance to make a comeback sooner or later. (To be continued......) R1292