The room was silent, some shrugged their shoulders in private, and most were just silent.

President Theodore Roosevelt was never a broad-minded man, known in Washington as "Mr. Cowboy with a smiling face and a big stick," and was known for being soft on the surface and tough on the back.

At this time, no one is stupid enough to come out.

Secretary of the Army William Howard Taft was a social activist and large rancher before taking office, adept at defusing conflicts.

He glanced at the Chief of Staff, Major General Fred C. Ainsworth, and seeing that he had no intention of speaking, he coughed twice to attract the attention of those around him, and spoke;

"It is indeed a shame that Mr. President, the current manpower and scale of the Army Staff cannot cope with a war of 100,000 people, you must know that before this year, the Federation Army only had 3~4 divisions, and it was not yet full.

The Union Army has only 942 officers on active duty, and after the war mobilization, we had to urgently recruit more than 1,000 volunteer officers during the Spanish-American War.

We couldn't even organize a decent front-line general command, so we had to leave the West Coast states to fight separately for the time being.

The difficulties are all-encompassing

Although the War Department was briefly increased to more than 70 people, in addition to the Chief of Staff, Major General Fred, we had two Union Brigadier Generals and five Colonels, and a group of captains and majors over the age of 40, but this was not enough to command 50, or even 100 divisions.

We need a certain amount of time to deal with a war of this magnitude, and this is exactly the time that is lacking.

Mr. President, what kind of opponent have you found for us? ”

With a long sigh, Secretary of War Taftto sat in his position with a depressed expression, originally thinking that it was a relaxed and comfortable journey to his post, but he was unaware that Mr. President put two mountains on his burden, which was going to kill people!

All the federal army officers present here are concerned, and if they beat soft persimmons like the Spaniards and Mexicans, the army generals present can pat their chests and make bold statements; Didn't say it...... Definitely pinch out all their egg yolks.

But against the ruthless character Ocean Empire, the cowboys really have no bottom in their hearts!

It is false to say that they are not afraid, the rumors that the fierce soldiers of the Ocean Empire will kill people and set fire everywhere once they land, like demons, and the powerful ship formation led by Rear Admiral Schroeder was completely wiped out and wiped out, which made this rumor even more terrifying.

Some priests in the society are bewitching that Li Fushou, the monarch of the Ocean Empire, is the incarnation of the Hell Lord Satan, and his army is the Old Satan Army, which has caused great fear among the people in the society.

"God bless America!"

President Roosevelt reverently drew a cross on his chest, he knew that he could not let the panic spread now, what he needed most now was to be in the same boat, the previous anger was a little out of line, and he had to make up for it, so he softened his tone and said;

"Guys, our country needs you, our people need you to stand up, and I will lead you against the mighty demon legions, believing that the light of democracy and freedom will break through the darkness, and this is our sacred mission.

Behind us, the National Guards of Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas are boarding the West Coast, with a strong industrial economy, the full support of 90 million people, and Europe on our backs, ready to win in a war that is destined to be hard.

Now all we have to do is get it right away, and I've got a lot of good news from the team visiting Europe, that there are a number of experienced German and French officers who will be returning to North America with the delegation to join the volunteers.

Our just war will surely be supported by the whole of Europe, and ships laden with arms are constantly sailing across the Atlantic from the major ports of Europe, and now we have to do ...... It is to make full use of these favorable conditions, to train and organize troops, and to send them to the west coast to be ready for battle.

Gentlemen, I beseech you to fight with me until the day when victory in the war is won.

I firmly believe that God bless America, Amen. ”

President Roosevelt deserved to be one of the outstanding orators of the millions, and his impassioned promises and encouragement finally made the faces of the federal officers look better and the resistance was less serious.

Seeing this opportunity, White House Chief of Staff Dawn lost no time in echoing the words; "Mr. Root, the former Secretary of State, after his resignation, sold his farm and invested in the formation of the 2nd Cavalry Division of the North Carolina National Guard, and he became the commander of the Colonel's Division, and has led a cavalry division of up to 8,300 men to the West Coast by train, let us give him some applause and encouragement."

After speaking, he clapped vigorously.

There was sparse applause in the office, which eased the atmosphere of Fang Cai.

Dawn then said; "So let the War Department report continue, and I want to remind Lieutenant Colonel Mike that the President's time is extremely precious, and you try to cut out all the irrelevant stuff and focus on some specific numbers, like how many troops do we plan to send to the West? How many gaps are left? What difficulties do you need the president to help solve, whether it is a lack of materials, personnel or funds, please try to use the specific numbers as much as possible, and don't talk about some vague concepts, thank you! ”

Lieutenant Colonel Mack looked at President Roosevelt with a stiff face, and when he saw that he reached out and made a gesture of please, he said stiffly; "Okay, I'll try to do it."

After speaking, he flipped through the speech in his hand, and after skipping 7~8 pages, he said with a long sigh of relief;

"West Coast Pacific Barrier Defense Plan...... It is a set of in-depth defense system built with the support of major coastal cities and coastal towns as the backbone, and strives to create a set of impregnable ......

Ahem...... This paragraph is skipped.

Well, start here......

With Seattle, the capital of Oregon, in the north as the core of the defensive fortress, and San Francisco as the core of the defensive fortress in the south, forming a pattern of echoing the north and south, dotting important cities such as Newport, Salem, Portland, etc., forming an impregnable Pacific barrier.

It is planned to build 11 bay forts, 7,700 reinforced concrete pillboxes, 37,000 kilometers of barbed wire, and 22,000 mines to form a dense defense line of thousands of kilometers from north to south, with a depth of 50 kilometers.

To this end, it is planned to set up 55 divisions with a strong army of 613,000 people, together with the militia on the west coast, to guard the Pacific barrier, and strive to achieve the operational objectives of discovering and destroying the enemy first, networking the entire line, and rapidly reinforcing the enemy.

As of now

The National Guard has formed 37 divisions in the state, 11 of which have reached the West Coast front by various means of transport, and six more are expected to be transported by rail for the remainder of October.

By the end of the year, 30 infantry divisions are expected to arrive at the Pacific Barrier front, forming a defensive force with a total of 350,000 men.

The remaining troops will arrive on the west coast of North America as planned before April ~ May next year.

Among them, there are 8 cavalry divisions, 42 infantry divisions, 5 artillery divisions, and a total of 850,000 logistics support personnel, forming three heavy army groups in the north, center, and south.

At present, we are facing many difficulties in forming our troops, the vast majority of soldiers are holding their own guns, the arms ships snapped up from Europe have not yet arrived, the arms companies are still preparing new production lines, there are many models of rifles of various standards from Britain, Germany, France, and Austria, and there are many brands, and it is difficult to supply special ammunition.

We don't have enough standard leather boots, uniforms, the troops lack tents, kettle belts, soldiers' underwear and tights, and even rice bowls for eating.

The cavalry lacked a supply of hay and black beans, a blacksmith to repair horseshoes and a leatherman to repair leather goods, and there was no shortage of professional grooms, but the cavalry did not have uniform knives, standard saddle harnesses, and cavalry guns, so the vast majority of cavalry still used the 1873 Winchester lever rifle.

The best cavalry rifle in the world today is the Zero semi-automatic rifle of the Ocean Empire, apparently they will not sell it to us, we can only buy the 1871 type cavalry rifle of the German Mauser company to equip the troops.

Thankfully, this is a modified Mauser magazine rifle, the best of which is the 7.62mm Grenathan Cavalry Gun from Azure Arms, which not only carries a lot of ammunition, but also shoots accurately with low recoil.

Obviously, this is another rifle that we can't buy.

The German Mauser 1871 rifle we could buy used heavy 11mm rounds, and the recoil of this gun allowed inexperienced cavalrymen to fall off their horses, and the cavalrymen called it the "Württemberg Oscillator" ......

"I'm sorry for the interruption, but why don't we buy the latest German-made Type 98 rifle, which also uses 7.62mm bullets, which is said to be a very good rifle." Someone suddenly interjected and asked.

Lieutenant Colonel Mike pursed his lips and replied somewhat reluctantly; "Because the German-made Mauser Type 98 has not yet produced a carbine with a shortened barrel, and we do not have the ability and time to improve it for the time being, what can only be used for something, are you satisfied with this answer?"

"Okay, I'm fine."

After a drastically reduced content, Lieutenant Colonel Michael finally completed all his introductory speeches after an hour and a half, so that the dignitaries present could have a preliminary understanding of the progress of the realization of the Pacific Barrier Project, the great difficulties encountered and the problems they faced.

In general, the idea is very good, and the future is very good, but in reality, there are many difficulties, especially the limited transportation capacity of a Pacific railway that runs between the east and the west, and the contradictions are very prominent.

If 300,000 troops arrive on the West Coast front by the end of the year, as planned, then simply maintaining the logistical supply of this huge army will be enough to collapse the Pacific Railroad.

There is a huge amount of materials piled up in the west coast area, from steel and cement to bedding, but it cannot be quickly delivered to the west coast, which is the biggest difficulty after the loss of the Pacific sea supremacy.

President Roosevelt made an incendiary closing remarks, incendiary in which he encouraged the people to fight, strengthened their belief in victory, and personally promised to resolve a series of current difficulties.

In his mouth, it doesn't matter.

From start to finish

Vice Admiral Doug Smith, Secretary of the Navy, sat at the table with a pale face, looking like a wanderer, and he didn't know what he was thinking?

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