If Chen Jianqiu was selling goods on both sides and the business was doing well, McKinley was worried about how to deal with Cuba.

Although the battle was won, how to deal with the aftermath in the future has become a difficult problem.

According to the Taylor Resolution, which was passed by Congress before the war, the United States Government would guarantee Cuba's independence after the war and would not establish permanent rule or annex the island.

In other words, on the face of it, the war was only to help the Cuban people overthrow the brutal rule of the Spanish government.

This resolution provides legitimacy for the United States to send troops to Cuba and at the same time has public opinion support.

But after the Spaniards were really kicked out, how could those in power, including McKinley, be willing to give up the results of the war to others.

Spent so much money, died so many people, and then said in a high-spirited manner, "We are just here to liberate you".

This is not in line with the style and interests of the United States.

And what if an elected government is formed in Cuba?

This seems to be the regular route.

Not to mention whether there is a democratically elected basis in this country, what if the elected government is a two-five-boy boy?

Indeed, during the war, Cubans and Americans fought side by side.

But it was a time of war, and the enemy of the enemy was a friend; Now that the enemy has fallen, who can guarantee that the Cubans will be able to accept the Americans' dictations?

"I don't think you need to worry about these issues at all, we still have troops in Cuba."

Hannah was somewhat unimpressed after the president expressed his confusion to him.

"But the garrison will eventually be withdrawn, what other troops do we have over there?" McKinley turned his head and asked the new Secretary of War, Root.

"Second Separate Cavalry Brigade, Mr. President." Rout replied.

"The 2nd Separate Cavalry Brigade? Why am I not impressed at all? McKinley looked confused.

He was involved in the command and planning of the Spanish-American War.

The temporary command of the war, right in the basement of the White House.

Although Mr. President did not go into every decision made in the war, he still knew the basic information about the troops participating in the war.

He really couldn't think of this 2nd Separate Cavalry Brigade.

"It was the original Second Volunteer Cavalry Brigade, which was mainly Chinese, with some blacks and whites." "They did a great job in Cuba. ”

McKinley's brow furrowed.

"Who are their commanders? Is it still Chen Jianqiu? ”

It is too dangerous to put a predominantly Chinese force overseas without checks and balances!

And Root, apparently seeing the president's worries, hastened to say:

"Mr. President, you don't have to worry about this, what you can take into account, we have also taken into account."

"First of all, the commander of that unit, Mr. Chen, has been honorably discharged." He said.

"Retired?" McKinley was a little confused.

"Well, yes, like Mr. Roosevelt, after the end of the war, he retired and transferred command to the War Department."

"In recognition of his contributions, we promoted him to the rank of lieutenant colonel, which should be impressive."

"Ah, yes, I remember. But I didn't expect him to retire directly. ”

McKinley remembered that there was such a thing.

"He is a businessman at all, Your Excellency the President." Rout said helplessly, "Personally, I think that compared with those chaebols hiding in China, Mr. Chen's courage to go to the front line really admires me." ”

"Moreover, he is at his own expense." Hannah interjected, "It didn't cost the U.S. government a penny." ”

McKinley didn't know what to say for a while.

"Second, we reorganized that force, and half of the Chinese soldiers were withdrawn from the country and returned to the militia in New Mexico and Oklahoma."

"We put some other soldiers into this team to dilute the proportion of Chinese soldiers, but in order to prevent friction, we still formed separate formations."

Rout continued to speak methodically, hearing McKinley nod his head repeatedly.

"Thirdly, as I said earlier, this unit is under the orders of the War Department for the time being, but not in the future."

"Oh?" McKinley didn't get it.

Root began to talk.

"As a matter of practice, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army does not have any command authority over the whole army in non-war times, and the troops are under the orders of the various chiefs of the War Department in peacetime."

"Since we didn't have many regular troops before, there was no problem with such an arrangement."

"But with the changing times, it's clear that such a model is no longer suitable."

"We need to expand abroad in the future, so we need more permanent soldiers. The chain of command should also be reorganized. ”

"According to the original plan, a general staff with officers as the main body will be established as the highest command system of the US army! This is also one of the contents of my military reform this time! ”

McKinley had actually seen the military reform plan proposed by Root.

But he only flipped through a few pages and placed them in the corner of the table.

The scheme is really too thick.

The president intends to take his time after dealing with a bunch of tricky things at hand.

After a thunderbolt bombardment from Root, McKinley understood something.

Cuba's military presence is under control.

"Let them choose, and choose what the sky can turn over." Hannah looked confident.

Seeing that Hannah was so confident, McKinley's uneasiness diminished considerably.

The last time he saw Hannah like this was when he was electing.

In fact, Hannah's initial reaction to the new Cuban government was the same as McKinley's.

He even felt that a military junta should be directly propped up to take control of Cuba.

But Hannah never had a reliable candidate.

If you want to blame, you can only blame the U.S. government for making up its mind too late and not having enough time to cultivate proxies.

Under such circumstances, he decided to go to Chen Jianqiu.

Not only because the two are now basically tied to a community of interests, but also because the latter has always been able to think of a solution to the problem.

If you don't decide something, ask Jianqiu.

Chen Jianqiu happened to have just returned from reselling arms in England, and as soon as he arrived in New York, Hanna rushed to his house without stopping.

The old man told Chen Jianqiu about his worries about Cuba, and he was worried that if he did not handle it well, it would affect the Republican Party and wipe out the gains made in the Spanish-American War.

Chen Jianqiu was boxing in the garden.

His movements are getting slower and slower the more he fights, but he can move easily between one move and the other.

Energetic retraction, that is the perfect fire, just right.

With the sound of friction between clothes, Chen Jianqiu closed and stood in place like a pine.

He took the towel from the servant.

When he was boxing just now, Chen Jianqiu didn't have a drop of sweat on his body, and only now, it seeped out from his forehead.

He wiped his sweat as he walked in front of Hannah.

"Mr. Hannah, why did the Cubans revolt to drive the Spaniards out?" Chen Jianqiu wiped his hands with a towel, "Let's go into the house and talk." ”

He made a "please" gesture.

The two of them sat down in the living room.

"The Spaniards were so greedy for plunder that the Cuban people were overwhelmed that they finally decided to fight for their freedom." Hannah said unhurriedly.

"Is the United States going to do this?" Chen Jianqiu asked again.

Hannah shook his head.

"Cuba has a lot of resources, but it's not worth it for the United States."

"Then why are we fighting the Spanish-American War?" Chen Jianqiu asked rhetorically.

Hanna thought for a moment: "We can't tolerate the presence of European powers on our doorstep, that's our bottom line. ”

"Yes." Chen Jianqiu picked up his own tea on the coffee table and took a sip, "For the United States, it doesn't matter whether Cuba is independent or not, it is more important that he does not belong to Europeans. ”

"Take 10,000 steps back, and if the Federation really wants to control Cuba, you don't have to worry."

"After years of war, Cuba is poor and white, and the people are living in misery, as long as the federal government is willing to allocate funds to support Cuba's construction, then I think the Cuban people have no reason to have ill will towards the United States."

Chen Jianqiu's words sounded very reasonable, but in fact, he was carrying private goods.

Hannah didn't care too much, though.

Thus, with the recognition of the Federation, Cuba began to hold the country's first-ever democratic elections.

(End of chapter)