Chapter 220: The Military Power of the United States

On May 6, 1882, the U.S. Congress passed the first act in U.S. history to restrict immigration, the Act on the Enforcement of the Provisions of the Chinese Treaty, commonly known as the American Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

And just after this bill was publicly written into the US national constitution and transmitted back to the Far East within three days, the Chinese People's Army immediately published its first newspaper "**" not long after its establishment It published the Chinese Exclusion Act just passed by the US Congress, as well as the anti-Chinese riots that have occurred in the United States again and again in the past ten years, exposing the bloody and tearful history of Chinese Americans and arousing the anger in the hearts of nearly 45 million people in more than a dozen provinces and cities within Huojiajun's territory through the statements of a large number of Chinese workers who have returned from the United States!

After nearly three years of Huo Jiajun's insistence on large-scale investment in education, although the number of middle and university education in Huojiajun is limited to the lack of qualified teachers, the number of middle and higher education institutions has never been too much! However, the illiteracy has been greatly reduced! Therefore, they can basically understand the content of the ** article! However, the content mentioned above has made everyone completely angry!

Under Huo Jiajun's long-term patriotic education, under the leadership of college students and retired soldiers who had already awakened, they had already opened up their wisdom and chose to take to the streets for the first time, waving slogans and shouting slogans, angrily demanding that the Americans compensate for the losses of Chinese workers, repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act, and formally apologize to all the Chinese workers who were victimized!

Looking at the growing number of Chinese on the street, Gwener couldn't help but shake his head. He waved his hand and closed the curtain, reflexively returned to his seat and sat down! Because Britain had not established diplomatic relations with the Chinese People's Army for too long. Therefore, their embassy in Machen is still under construction, so all the diplomatic staff of the British embassy in the Chinese People's Army are still living in the original hotel!

"Mr. Minister, it seems that those Chinese just now are heading towards the American embassy!" Owens said calmly after retracting his gaze from the window, looking at Gwener sitting in a chair.

"Well, I've found out!"

"Mr. Minister, do you think the Chinese and Americans will declare war on each other because of this matter?" Owens couldn't help but smile with excitement at the mention of war! As a true soldier, he was eager to prove his talent through war! Unfortunately, under the deterrence of the powerful Royal Navy. No country dared to brazenly provoke the British Empire! Therefore, as an officer in the British Army, Owens did not have much opportunity to participate in actual combat! Of course, in his eyes, those colonial wars against British rule were not major wars at all!

After listening to his words, Gwener thought for a while, and finally shook his head a little helplessly, "I don't know, as for whether the two sides can finally declare war on each other and really fight, we don't have any direct and strong evidence yet! The Sino-US conflict is certain! Now it depends on how determined the two sides are!"

"The military strength of the Chinese is strong, and both the navy and the army are far superior to the Americans! However, in contrast, the economic and industrial gap between the Chinese and the Americans is too far, and the war potential of the two sides is really not proportional! However, the Chinese have the advantage of human resources, and as long as the logistics can keep up, they can organize troops that far exceed the Americans several times or even more than ten times that are thrown into the war! I really don't want to say who will lose and who will win after the war breaks out!" Owens touched his chin, his eyes showing a strong sense of interest!

Looking at his appearance, Gwener couldn't help but shake his head helplessly, now the whole of Britain was worried about the affairs of Egypt. There is no time to care whether there is war or peace between the Americans and the Chinese People's Army! Anyway, these two guys, no British official will like them. It would be better if they could go to war at once, and fight hard for a few years, and fight each other to defeat each other!

"Okay, Owens! Stop worrying about the Chinese and the Americans! Let them toss themselves! The most important thing for us now is to force the Egyptians to submit!"

After listening to his words, Owens couldn't help but nodded, the current Britain also has its own big trouble!

"Is there any news from China?" asked Gwener!

"Not yet!" Owens shook his head! The Far East was too far away from Egypt, and the news they had received was too late! Now they did not know whether Britain had sent its own troops to Egypt except that Britain was preparing for armed intervention and at the same time sending diplomats to force Muhammad Arabi to abandon their previous anti-British claims!

"I hope that the war in Egypt can end smoothly without any accidents, and there will be no more such huge variables like the Chinese People's Army in the Far East!" Gwener listened to the increasingly loud anti-American slogans outside the window, and silently said in his heart!

――――――

"Mr. Minister, our telegram has been sent! It is expected that it will be transmitted from the British Straits Settlements to Washington in four to five days!" Now the only way to contact the United States and the Chinese People's Army in the South Sea territory is through the submarine cable laid in the Atlantic, and to contact Washington by mechanical telegraph! As for the vast Pacific Ocean, no one would want to lay expensive submarine cables in the sea area where there are no industrial countries around, and the east and west are tens of thousands of nautical miles away, to facilitate communication between the two sides!

Listening to the report of the embassy staff, Jefferson tightened his eyebrows and nodded slowly and solemnly! Just now, the personnel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese People's Army have come over to convey the latest decision of the People's Army, and they have a time limit of 10 days, if within 10 days the United States can promise the People's Army to punish the murderers, compensate the Chinese workers for their losses, and solemnly apologize to all the Chinese workers who have been victimized, then the relations between the two sides will return to normal! If the United States rejects these conditions, then the Chinese People's Army will take military action to express its determination to defend the safety of its citizens!

"General Douglas, do you think the Chinese will really take military action as they say, and even finally declare war on us?" Jefferson asked a little nervously as he looked at the middle-aged soldier sitting not far away wearing the uniform of a US Army colonel!

As a veteran who participated in the Civil War, Douglas Scott has a wealth of war experience, so he has a good judgment on the combat effectiveness of the current Huojia Army, of course, this is why the US War Department sent him as the military attache of the US Embassy in the Chinese People's Army!

"Mr. Minister, I don't have the ability to predict the outbreak of war! But looking at the current situation, if both sides do not back down, then the outbreak of war may not be too far away!"

After listening to his words, Jefferson nodded with a heavy face, although he is not good at predicting the final attitude of the Chinese People's Army, but the politicians in his own country will never bow their heads to the yellow people they look down on! Thinking of this, Jefferson couldn't help but shake his head with a sigh on his face, and secretly thought in his heart: "I hope that the country can make preparations, the military strength of the Chinese is really strong!"

Seeing his appearance, Daglas was also a little worried in his heart, as a colonel officer of the US Army! He knew the current situation of the US Navy and Army best!

After the end of the Civil War, the United States began to pursue a policy of arms reduction. Due to the influence of the Monroe Doctrine, many in the United States believed that the United States did not need a strong army and navy. Because, since the United States has no intention of competing with the European powers, the country does not have to have a strong army and navy to challenge them.

Under these circumstances, the United States has carried out large-scale reductions in both the army and navy. The 10,000 Army volunteers recruited during the Civil War were reduced to just 10,000. In 1866, Congress approved a peacetime regular army of 54,302 men, but it was soon greatly reduced, and by 1876 the maximum strength of the army was 27,442. This scale was maintained until the eve of the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. During this period, the main task given to the army by zhèngfǔ was to help the country develop the west and fight against the Indians. In addition, the army is also stationed in Haiphong.

At the same time, the U.S. Navy was drastically reduced after the Civil War. In five years, the number of warships was reduced from 700 to only 52. Moreover, according to the standards of European Britain and other countries during this period, the 52 ships retained were also outdated, because they were all wooden sailing ships with breech-loading guns in the bow.

Of course, these are not the most important things, since the end of the Civil War, a large number of experienced soldiers have retired from active service, and in the past nearly 20 years, they have gradually grown old, and it is no longer possible for them to join the army to contribute to the country!

If it only relies on such a navy and army to defeat the Chinese people's army, which now has nearly 400,000 troops and has advanced ironclad ships! and has accumulated rich experience in actual combat through the naval and land wars of Portugal and the Netherlands! Then even if the United States itself can win in the end, it will pay a really heavy price!

Thinking of this, Douglas was somewhat helpless in his heart, now he is just a small colonel, and he is not the secretary of the US War Department, let alone the president who controls the entire United States! Therefore, he is powerless to change this status quo! Now he only hopes that the report on the military strength of the Chinese People's Army that he handed over to China can really attract the attention of the domestic navy and army, especially the president, and the parliament!