After listening to Joseph. Johnston's explanation later, Li Yongji finally knew the other party's true intentions.

It turned out that this famous Joseph was not a pure patriot, he was just a politician with a lot of power, and in order to gain power, he even went to the point of betraying the interests of the country.

Joseph's request can be summed up very simply, nominally, you Chinese give the occupied territory to the Union government, but the actual control is to be given to him Joseph. Johnston; At the same time, the prisoners and weapons captured by you Chinese should also be given to Joseph. Johnston, don't give the Union government.

To put it bluntly, Joseph. Johnston is taking advantage of this national-level negotiation to his advantage!

As for the conditions he said at the beginning, the expression of righteous words is just a way of bargaining, trying to use the banner of national righteousness to see if he can get some cheap from the Chinese, and when he found that the other party is not so easy to fool, he immediately changed his method and put forward more operational suggestions.

"I see." Li Yongji nodded, "According to your plan, the money to redeem the land occupied by our side will be paid by your alliance government, and the loan will also be a loan from the alliance government, and at the same time, the double exemption policy for the goods sold by the Eastern Bloc will also be fulfilled by your alliance government."

None of this is true, but the point is that when we hand over control of the city, we have to hand it over to you personally, not to others, and finally, the prisoners we have taken in and the weapons we have captured will also be given to you for free, isn't it? ”

"Yes, that's it." Joseph. Johnston nodded, smiling slightly,

"What's in it for me?" Li Yongji raised his eyelids, "It doesn't matter if you hand over control of the city to you, but why should we give you the prisoners and weapons we worked so hard to get for free?" ”

Joseph. Johnston laughed, "Because those captives and weapons are useless for you. You can only find a way to cash it out, and if you give it to the Alliance Government, the Alliance Government has no money now, they won't give you a better price, and if you give it to me, you can get a greater benefit, to be exact, a closer, more powerful ally. ”

"A closer, more powerful ally?" Li Yongji smiled lightly. "What do you mean?"

"All sorts of things." Joseph. Johnston was just about to say something when he said this, but he suddenly paused and changed his words, "By the way, Mr. Li, how long do you think we can fight the war with the Northern Army under the current situation?" Or rather, how long will it take for this war to end? ”

"Huh?" Hearing that the other party suddenly diverted the topic, Li Yongji frowned slightly. "Well, it's hard to say...... Does this have anything to do with the topic we just discussed? ”

"I think that if you really leave it alone, you will fight for another half a year at most. The North and the South are about to cease fighting, because no one can fight anymore. "Joseph. Johnston said, "What does that mean, do you understand?" ”

Meaning. Your Confederate State of America is finally independent. Li Yongji shrugged.

"Well, on the surface. That's right. "Joseph. Johnston said, "After the armistice, our Union State did become independent and became a new country, but there is a question, after the armistice, we lost the external threat, so who should this new country listen to?" ”

“…… Do you want to play a military coup? Relying on the military to overthrow Davis? Li Yongji frowned, "It's not me who said, if you really want to do that, it's unlikely that you will succeed." ”

"Of course I understand that." Joseph. Johnston smiled and shook his head, "That's right, if I want to overthrow Davis by military means, it is neither realistic nor necessary. Because even if I don't do anything, Davis will step down then. After all, the term of office of the presidency of our Union government is only six years, and he cannot be re-elected, and Davis, he has not many days left in the presidency, and even if I don't move him, he himself will come down soon. ”

"And what do you mean?" Li Yongji asked.

"I mean, I don't want to be at the mercy of people anymore." Joseph. Johnston said, "Actually, you've been here for so long, and you know us in general. Our so-called Confederate nation is nothing more than a hastily formed coalition of rebels dissatisfied with the Lincoln administration.

Such a country, like the United States during the Revolutionary War, was always full of various centripetal forces at the beginning of the war, because everyone had a common enemy, but once the war ended, everyone would change from external to internal, and began to struggle for power and profit internally. ”

"What the hell are you trying to say, can you put it simply?" Li Yongji said.

"I mean, once there is a truce with Lincoln's Northern Army and there is peace outside, our country will be plunged into new problems. The biggest of these new problems is the balance between the central and local powers of the state. ”

"Or to put it another way, as soon as our war with the Northern Army ends, the situation in which we had to unite against the Northern Army will end, and the coalition government formed for this purpose will be useless.

At that time, the power of the central government of the Union State will inevitably be greatly reduced, but the power of the local state government will be greatly increased, and the Union government will really be only a superficial central government, I say so, do you understand? ”

"Oh, I guess I see." Li Yongji nodded, "You mean, once the war with the Northern Army is over, your alliance state will completely become a loose alliance, the power of the local states will override the central government, and the states below will only maintain a superficial respect for the central government of the alliance state, in fact, the central government can't control the lower levels at all, and the local states will do their own thing, isn't that so?" ”

"Yes." Joseph. Johnston nodded, "Actually, when they opposed Lincoln, most of the states went their own way, because there were many opponents, and everyone had similar goals, so they united and formed a Confederate State, so that it was convenient to concentrate their forces against the more powerful Washington government."

On the surface, the war between our Southern Government and the Northern Army is a bit similar to the War of Independence of those years, but if you look closely, it is fundamentally different from the situation during the War of Independence!

The biggest difference is that the so-called Allied Army, which we opposed the Northern Government this time, was much stronger than the Continental Army, which opposed the British Army in the past. ”

"Isn't it a good thing to be powerful?" Li Yongji asked.

"On the surface, it's a good thing, but it's actually not a good thing." Joseph. Johnston shook his head. "When we fought the British, our own strength was too weak, and we would not have been able to gain independence from British control without the help of the French.

But then again, it was precisely because the Continental Army was too weak and the financial resources of the U.S. government were limited, so once the war ended, each local state could not afford to support a large force on its own for a long time, and the British threat did not disappear at that time, which gave the federal government the power to override the local government. A strong country was truly formed.

If it weren't for this reason, in order to make the power of the federal central government override the localities, the overpowered position of the president would not have been set up in the first place, and the presidential throne of executive power and military power was fundamentally to be able to concentrate resources at any time and confront external enemies.

In such a situation, the power of the central government can always be above the localities, and this overriding is embodied in the law, which can increase the difficulties of the localities in confronting the central authorities to the greatest extent.

Conversely. It is precisely because of this that we, the Union States, which were formed because of our opposition to the North, from the very beginning, legally denied the power of the central government over the localities, that is to say, the jurisdiction of the central government was not de jure in theory. Rather, it is given locally.

What does this mean? It shows that there is no legal provision for the central government, and the following states must listen, that is, the central government cannot actually govern the localities!

In fact, just look at our war with the Northern Army, the real elite. It's all in the Eastern Theater, and what about the main forces of the army in the Eastern Theater? In fact, they were all formed by the local armies of Virginia and other wealthy states.

In other words, our Union government did not have a strong Central Army. The so-called coalition army is nothing more than a group of local armies, and everyone who nominally listens to the coalition government actually goes their own way.

If I hadn't gone my own way, I would not have listened to me if I had been sent here as a commander in the first place, because in the final analysis, the corps in the Western Theater were all local troops, and they were not willing to listen to the central authorities' dispatch at all, unless the central authorities' orders were in their favor.

To put it bluntly, the current Union government, which can really be said to be the Central Army, is only the Northern Virginia Legion, because this force is from Virginia, and the current seat of the Union government is also in Virginia, so the Union government can also be regarded as the Virginia government.

It is true that the current Northern Virginia Legion is already a supernumerary behemoth, but this behemoth is the result of the contribution of all local states.

Once the war is over and the threat of the Northern Army disappears, the other states will certainly not continue to pay taxes to the central government to buy peace, and at that time, the Northern Virginia Army will naturally be reduced and will no longer be able to form its current size.

And once the Northern Virginia Legion, which belonged to the Central Army, was downsized due to lack of funds, then the deterrent effect on the other states was also reduced, so that the other states would not obey the orders of the center.

Therefore, to put it bluntly, once the war is over, the Allied States will form a situation of local autonomy, and you will find that the agreements signed with the central government of the Allied States will not work at the local level, and you will have to sign separate agreements with different local governments to get local convenience.

Then the question is, with my current strength, plus the situation of the entire Western Theater, if you are willing to support me, I am confident that I can unify the resources of the entire Western Theater in a short period of time, and take the entire Western Theater, at least the places along the Mississippi River, into my hands, and at that time, I will be the king of the West!

Therefore, if you support me now, you are paving the way for your future, with my support, your interests here will be protected and continued, on the contrary, if you change someone, they will not protect your interests, it will be a huge loss for you! ”

"Having said so much, you just want to rebel, don't you?" Li Yongji smiled.

"It's not a rebellion, it's reasonable control!" Joseph immediately said, "Because of the invasion of the Northern Army, coupled with your rule in those days, the region along the Mississippi River is already a vacuum, and Richmond's control over this place is about zero, and my power, well, and Pemberton's power, is the biggest power here, so if you want to continue to maintain your interests here after leaving, you must choose a helper between me and Pemberton."

Pemberton is a greedy fool, as you know, and I am the only one who can choose but that fool.

However, for now, my strength is still quite weak, not comparable to Pemberton's stupid army, so I need your support to support me, give me weapons, funds, and territory so that I can develop smoothly, only then can I quickly defeat Pemberton and completely control this place.

Once I take control of this place, I can assure you that your Eastern Bloc goods can be completely exempted here, and I can even create a concession for you in New Orleans, where you Chinese will manage it, make your own laws, and give you some preferential treatment in trade, and then everyone will live in harmony and get rich together, wouldn't it be better? ”

"Well, that's a good point." Li Yongji nodded and looked at Joseph with a smile. Johnston, "But how can you be sure that I have your back?" You also said that your strength is not as good as Pemberton now, isn't it easier for me to support Pemberton? The same conditions, such as the control of the territory, the weapons, the prisoners, and the handing over to Pemberton, will not allow him to control this place more quickly and protect our rights and interests faster? ”

"I said, Pemberton is an idiot." Joseph. Johnston smiled slightly, "The biggest problem with an idiot like him is that there are too many variables to control. As soon as you give him too much help, he will be self-aggrandizing and will not continue to look you in the eye, and may even lean towards the Union government.

The reason is very simple, that Pemberton is not only stupid, but also a very patriotic fellow, and he is obedient to Davis, and if you support him, hehe, you will definitely find out that it is your biggest mistake in the future.

This is like investment, although I seem to be the worst now, but because I am the worst, I am more dependent on you, and it is easier to be at your mercy, and if you invest in me, I will definitely maximize the benefits. ”

"I see, you want me to support you." Li Yongji narrowed his eyes, "But the matter is big, I still need to observe and think more, I can't give you an answer now." ”

"It's okay." Joseph. Johnston smiled, "We still have a lot of time, I can wait slowly, and you can check slowly." It won't be long before you discover the fact that if you want to continue to gain more benefits here, you have no better choice than to invest in me and support me to become the de facto ruler of this place. (To be continued......)