Salt Lake City

During the period when Marshal Li Shuangzhu was in charge of the Northern Federation, he spent eighty percent of his time in the military town of Salt Lake City, and the remaining two percent of the time would go to various places to inspect various places.

To ensure the safety of Salt Lake City, the Mi army can't fly the tall and steep Rocky Mountains even if they put on their wings, and the only way to invade the Northern Union is to go south from New Mexico, all the way through the Fuso occupied area, and from the south along the Colorado Canyon into the barren Gobi Desert, and into the territory of the Republic of California.

Then, only by engulfing the Republic of California will it be able to attack the Northern Union in a roundabout way.

The entire route of the march is equivalent to running around the Rocky Mountains, with a range of more than 3,400 kilometers, and it takes more than two months to march such a long way, let alone fight all the way.

Think back to the beginning

In order to build the Central Pacific Railway, almost every kilometer of sleepers has the blood and tears of Chinese workers, splitting mountains and opening stones, building bridges and roads, and the project is extremely difficult.

Building of the headquarters of the Expeditionary Forces

It is a majestic 12-storey edifice, with a Chinese-style glazed tile roof at the top and a bronze spine beast, but this looks like a roof of golden glazed tiles, but it is actually a shape made of concrete poured as a whole, and then painted with golden paint.

Because the top of the 12-story building is in autumn and winter, the cold wind howls through the valley, and there will be 9~10 strong winds in a short time.

In a large office at the top of the building

Marshal Li Xuanzhu was smiling and entertaining the special envoy Viscount Jia Donghe, and his words were very respectful.

Viscount Jia Donghe is one of the earliest fathers who followed the saint to fight the world, and served as the minister of communications, the minister of industry and the director of the leading group in charge of chemical engineering projects in the previous cabinets, and one of the famous "Hongmen Jiulang".

The 2nd secretary team personally cultivated by His Majesty today, the current Prime Minister Zhang Li, the deceased Earl Wu Xuewen, and the retired military bigwig Count Chi Shouzhuo are all the best in the "Hongmen Jiulang", all of whom are famous and moving.

Over the decades, marriages have woven a dense web of political and business relationships that have penetrated into every corner of the empire's upper echelons.

"Congratulations to Lord Lord for his success this time, and successfully won Alaska for the Empire. Marshal Li Xuanzhu made a "please" gesture, and took a sip of the teacup unhurriedly.

As soon as he talked about this, Viscount Jia Donghe smiled from ear to ear, and said with a smile; "Hehehe...... A little bit of credit is difficult to enter the eyes of the grandfather of the country, and things are going so smoothly, firstly, relying on the current saint Weijia at home and abroad, and the four seas are subdued, and secondly, it depends on the grandfather of the country to sit in Salt Lake City and look at North America, I just picked up a ready-made bargain. ”

"Your Excellency has been too modest."

The two looked at each other and smiled, and the atmosphere seemed very harmonious.

Viscount Jia Donghe was invited by the United States to negotiate the future ownership of Alaska, and the two sides negotiated the territorial transfer contract at a cost of $130 million and some tacit understanding.

The reason why it has not been made public now stems from the request of the US side, which hopes to give the Fuso people a big surprise.

With the benefits in hand, the empire is naturally indispensable.

In that sentence, the war is over, and the allies who organized groups to rob in order to maintain the fair trade order in North and South America in the past have been dispersed, and the benefits that should be taken are all hidden in their pockets.

The following is to go back to their own homes and find their own mothers.

Fusang is not a member of the Pacific Security Alliance, the Ocean Empire can't stand up for him, the promised benefits have already been given, whether they can hold it is their own business, and it has nothing to do with others.

The British also did not allow Fuso to step on two boats, so as not to affect the purity of the Anglo-Japanese alliance.

But why can the British do that?

On the one hand, it firmly grasped the Fuso state in order to maintain its superior strategic position in the Far East, and on the other hand, it formed an alliance with Tsarist Russia, the sworn enemy of the Fuso state, to encircle the Triple Alliance headed by Germany in Europe, forming a strategic pattern of balance of power on the European continent.

On the one hand, it allied with France to overtly and covertly curb the development of the power of the Ocean Empire in the Indochina Peninsula and squeeze out the existence of the capital of the Ocean Empire in the Indian subcontinent.

On the other hand, after beating the United States, Britain made a pretended gesture of sympathy and goodwill, strengthened its economic penetration and exports, encouraged immigration, and pursued a friendly policy.

This is a typical bandit logic of "only the governor is allowed to set fires, and the people are not allowed to light lamps", which stems from the strong and domineering strength of the world hegemon, and there is no reason to talk about it.

In February 1912, British Admiralty Secretary Winston Churchill made a public speech in which the German High Seas Fleet across the Channel was "the Emperor's toy" and that the Royal Navy was confident that in the event of war, it would wipe out this luxury fleet within hours.

Winston-Churchill's undisguised hostility and provocation stemmed from its great strength, and the Royal Navy, due to its abundant financial resources, built more warships and more powerful ships than it had in history, and in 1912 the Home Fleet already had 74 battleships of capital ship size (including 6 new ships under construction and not in service).

The mighty 35,000-ton battle cruisers Tiger, Lion, Princess Royal, and Queen Mary all belonged to the First Squadron of Battle Cruisers of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, and in this fleet, the famous "Hood" was also under construction.

Four Iron Duke-class battleships equipped with 434 mm guns were launched and outfitted, which further strengthened the Royal Navy's self-confidence.

But Admiralty Secretary Winston Churchill was not satisfied, pointing to three key improvements;

First, all warships of the Royal Navy should use single kinetic energy of fuel oil, dismantle coal kinetic energy, and obsolete old warships should be eliminated in time so as not to occupy valuable naval establishment and financial allocation.

Second, the 343mm caliber gun of the super dreadnought is still too small, and the 381mm large-caliber heavy gun should be used, and the 406mm large-caliber heavy gun should be developed.

Third, the construction of the navy cannot be stopped, and it is necessary to ensure that the construction of more than six battleships a year can be started, so as to maintain absolute superiority over Germany and the oceanic empire.

Look at it, it's really a strong face with a lot of money.

As for why the British Royal Navy in its development strategy also ranked the oceanic empire with Germany, and vaguely regarded it as an enemy?

London's official answer was that the Admiralty's unilateral action did not represent London's serious attitude, and its purpose was to obtain a higher budget, and if a German high seas fleet was not enough, then the addition of a large ocean empire, the Royal Navy, would be full of weight.

The Royal Navy fleet must have the strength to subdue the second and third naval powers at once, which is the so-called "two-power strategy".

This situation is not uncommon in the world of the dominance of the United States in later generations, the United States not only guards against traditional competitors, but also against friends around them, this kind of prevention mentality is not concealed at all, anyway, you can't do anything! No matter how uncomfortable it is, I can only pinch my nose and endure it.

The atmosphere in the room was very harmonious, and in order to show favor to the Duke, Jia Donghe didn't mind revealing some secret transactions in the negotiations in advance, anyway, the Duke would know sooner or later, and he also had to cooperate with the expeditionary force.

"Don't hide it from my grandfather, this time the Mi people did not ask for cash when they sold Alaska, but mainly discounted materials, the purpose was to prepare for the war between the United States and Japan."

"Well, that's not strange."

Marshal Li Zhuzhu nodded, the Mi people lost a lot of miscellaneous equipment in the war, and even the famous Colt weapons factory was relocated to Salt Lake City, and almost all the factories in the Great Lakes region capable of manufacturing artillery were in Salt Lake City, which was a heavy blow to the military capability of the United States, and it could not be recovered for a while.

The countless weapons that were seized at the beginning, some of which were all in warehouses, enough to equip a million troops, were piled up like a hill, and almost all of them went into the furnaces of the steel mills.

Jia Donghe twisted his beard and smiled, and said; "During the negotiations, our side promised that 8 percent would be mainly war materials, and 20 percent would be discounted with weapons, but not tanks. After the old man goes back, he will present his face to the saint, and after the saint's grace is approved, the marshal will have to ask for the marshal's great help in this weapon trading part! ”

This is an obvious gesture of favor, the weapons piled up in the warehouse are doubled several times and then sold back, no matter how to fool more than 26 million US dollars in supplies, the expeditionary force is cheaper.

It's a pity that in front of a loyal and pure minister like Marshal Li Xuanzhu, he is destined to flatter the blind man.

Marshal Li smiled lightly, clasped his hands into fists and saluted; "As long as Your Majesty has a will, we will obey everything."

Marshal Li Shunzhu was in a high position, and he was loyal and upright, and he did not bother to make any monetary transactions at all, and it was impossible to be bought.

After being awarded the title of duke, he was more cautious in his words and deeds, and adhered to the way of courtiers, and some of the original family's businesses were all sold, and he was able to live a dignified life by guarding the fief.

He fought all his life, in Shangri-La, in Victoria in the southern part of Australia, in the Palawi region of Mozambique, and now in the Northern Federation, there are large fiefdoms, and there is no end to food and clothing.

When Jia Donghe heard the marshal's answer, he was obviously stunned for a moment, and then smiled a little embarrassedly and said; "Grandpa Guo is noble and loyal, I am ashamed."

"Jia Gong laughed, the glory of Li's body is given by His Majesty, he keeps the minister's festival, and he doesn't dare to go beyond Lei Chi, it's just his duty."

He smiled tolerantly, knowing that such a big list, if he didn't rub some oil and water, it was inevitable that others would not get started, anyway, no one had a psychological burden on the country, as long as the goods sent out could be recognized, money was not a problem at all.

Marshal Li Zhuzhu could only manage his own expeditionary force, but he could not manage the intricate interest groups in the localities.

Do not do what you do not want.