Washington, D.C., on a sunny day, is very beautiful with green grass.

President McKinley is coming out of the White House to attend a seminar on military reform.

He glanced at the sky.

Blue skies.

Mr. President instantly felt refreshed.

"Aha, what a nice weather!"

The carriage had already stopped at the door of the White House and was waiting for him.

McKinley straightened his clothes, walked down the steps, and headed for the carriage.

But just as he was about to board the carriage, his assistant suddenly came over with a large envelope.

"Mr. President, this is for you." The assistant handed the envelope to the president.

"Who sent it?" McKinley asked, turning his head.

The assistant shook his head.

"No, there is no signature on the envelope, sir."

One of McKinley's feet had already stepped into the carriage.

He suddenly wanted to laugh for no reason.

"Mike, as my assistant, you should know that there are hundreds of letters sent to me every day, and there is no shortage of neurotics and extremists in them. How did you pick out one anonymous letter from so many letters? ”

The assistant named Mike didn't speak, just turned the envelope over.

The envelope was sealed with wax, and the poke on it looked familiar.

Compasses and rulers.

Freemason coat of arms.

McKinley took the envelope and the letter opener handed by his assistant, looked left and right, and then bent over the carriage with the envelope.

In the carriage, McKinley opened the envelope.

A note floated out of the envelope and landed at McKinley's feet.

McKinley bent down, picked up the note, and unfolded it.

A few words were printed in ink on it:

Chen Jianqiu occupied the port of Guantanamo and is transforming it.

The president's brow furrowed.

Port Guantanamo? What does Chen Jianqiu want to do in that place.

That port has no advantage as a commercial port, because Cuba behind it is now poor, and if it needs to ship, the port of Havana to the north is even better, both geographically and topographically.

But Guantanamo Bay is a good haven.

It has a natural barrier between the inner and outer bays, and the city of Kemanera acts like a lock to lock enemies out.

In the previous war with the Spaniards, if it weren't for Chen Jianqiu, who took the lead in capturing the non-urban area of southern Cuba, and surrounded the city of Kaimanera with absolute strength and the fastest speed.

Plus Roberto coerced and the Spanish fleet pulled too much.

It is really difficult to say whether the US fleet will be able to enter the inner bay.

So, Guantanamo is an excellent military port.

What? Military port?

Thinking of this, McKinley was suddenly startled by himself.

Chen Jianqiu took advantage of the fact that Cuba's own government had not yet been formed, and he occupied a military port and was still renovating, what does this mean?

He felt for the envelope and found that there was something inside.

The president poured out the contents of the envelope.

It's a stack of black-and-white photos, a little blurry, but you can vaguely see workers renovating the port.

McKinley silently stuffed the photo and note into the envelope.

The carriage swayed along the way, and his heart swayed with it.

From the beginning of his contact with Chen Jianqiu, McKinley felt that this person was very capable, and he could even be called a cloud and a rain in the southwest region.

I was able to ascend to the presidency and received great help from him.

But that's what McKinley fears.

If this person is simply for his power and wealth, then it is not intimidating.

But he didn't.

McKinley deeply understands that Chen Jianqiu is not so easy to dismiss.

He wanted to repeal the PAI Hua Act himself.

This requirement in itself is not excessive, because the status of the Chinese in the United States is no longer what it used to be.

Because of this, McKinley is now in deep worry.

After a while, the carriage stopped.

"Mr. President, the quartermaster building has arrived." The coachman's voice came in from outside.

McKinley came back to his senses from his thoughts.

He resealed the envelope and tucked it into his clothes.

As if nothing had happened, the president got out of the carriage and walked into the quartermaster building.

Unlike Chen Jianqiu, a regular here, McKinley rarely comes here.

Normally, the Secretary of War would report back to the President the outcome of their discussions, and McKinley would just say yes or no.

However, McKinley said that he hoped that he would be able to participate in the whole meeting.

The President, without any entourage, walked up to the third floor and into the conference room.

In the conference room sat a group of soldiers in military uniforms.

These people came from the internal institutions of the War Department, such as the Administration Bureau, the Technical Bureau, the Supply Bureau, etc., and they were all experienced officers.

Their Minister of War, Rutte, was standing in front of him whispering something to an officer.

McKinley walked to the front row and sat down.

There was an empty seat there dedicated to him.

"Let's get started." Mr. President gestured to Root.

The assistant began to hand out documents to the crowd.

Root, who did not drag his feet, began to talk to everyone, including the president, about his military reform plan.

"Not long ago, we just went through a war."

"Although we won the war, the problems exposed in the war are shocking."

"Our Army is poorly prepared, its training is worrisome, its chain of command is in disarray, and there are serious logistical problems, all of which are costing us that we shouldn't have paid."

"After research and analysis, we believe that the lack of clarity of rights and responsibilities is the main cause of these phenomena."

"In this regard, I think it is appropriate to learn from Germany by appointing a General Staff and a Chief of Staff, who will replace the Commander-in-Chief as the principal military adviser to Mr. President, exercising the power of the Secretary of State to supervise the army."

"The former develops plans and ensures their implementation to support the chief of staff."

McKinley waited quietly for Rout to finish with his cheek in his hand, thought for a moment and asked:

"So where are these personnel of the General Staff selected from?"

"I think that these people should be experienced front-line officers, professional people do professional things, only they know the situation faced by the front-line troops best, and only they can make the most reliable plans."

McKinley nodded, motioning for Rutter to continue.

"Second, in order to cope with the current and future international situation, we need more troops to consolidate the rights and interests of the United States overseas, so we propose to increase the number of conventional troops."

After hearing Root's words, the officers below became excited.

The larger size of the Federation's army means more officer positions, which is good news for them.

But McKinley's face was still calm:

"So what is the Army's current plan for the selection of the regular army?"

"Priority is given to those units that performed well in the Spanish-American War, such as the 2nd Separate Cavalry Brigade, which was formed by the integration of the 1st and 2nd Volunteer Cavalry Brigades." Rutter replied, "They are also stationed in Cuba at the moment. ”

"We propose to keep two or three standing divisions for training and exercises."

McKinley was lost in thought again.

According to Root's plan, at least nearly 10,000 of the next 30,000 to 40,000 regular troops in the United States will be Chinese soldiers.

Didn't the War Department find a problem in it?

But Mr. President, as a qualified politician, did not immediately ask a sharp question, but waited until Root finished his plan.

Experience and intuition told him that this plan would be difficult to pass in Congress.

"Mr. President, do you have any other comments on the military reform plan?" Rout consulted the president with great respect.

The president shook his head:

"Very good, let's talk to the Congress."

After the meeting, McKinley walked out the door.

Instead of going downstairs, he went straight upstairs to the Admiralty.

The Secretary of the Navy's office remained closed with a sick sign alofted, so the President walked to the Deputy Secretary's office.

Of course, all the officers of the navy knew the president and greeted him.

Since his election, McKinley has always felt like a spring breeze.

But today his smile seemed a little hasty.

It didn't take long for him to come to the door of the deputy minister's office.

The door didn't close, and McKinley walked straight inside.

Replacing Theodore Roosevelt as Deputy Secretary of the Navy was a middle-aged officer named Brandon Miller, who also had a mustache.

This man studied under Mahan, served as deputy commander of the North Pacific Fleet, and could even be said to be from the same school as Roosevelt.

The evaluation of him in the naval industry is that his ability is indeed not comparable to that of Roosevelt, but he is quite diligent.

When McKinley walked into the office, Secretary Miller was working hard to revise his plan for the second half of the year.

When he heard someone coming in, he looked up, and when he saw that it was the president, he immediately stood up.

Although he was not nominated by McKinley, he agreed and approved it.

It cannot be denied that Miller was a member of the Cabinet government and was subordinate to the president.

In theory, he is also McKinley's man.

"President McKinley, why are you here?" Miller asked.

McKinley didn't reply, instead slamming the door to his office.

He walked over to Miller's desk and asked in a low voice:

"Do you know the news of the capture of the port of Guantanamo?"

When Miller heard this, his expression became a little strange.

He opened his mouth, but he didn't seem to organize the language, so he closed it again.

Seeing this, McKinley took the envelope out of his clothes and pushed it from the table to Miller.

The wax envelope with the stamp on the envelope had been torn off by the president, but Miller didn't pay much attention to this detail and took out the contents of the envelope.

After he looked at it twice, he actually said to himself with a happy face:

"I didn't expect it to move so fast!"

"What did you say?" McKinley didn't hear it.

"Oh, Mr. President, forgive me for not understanding what you mean at first." Miller let out a long sigh of relief, "I thought the Spaniards were coming back." ”

Mr. President almost couldn't hold back.

"Looks like you know this, don't you want to explain it?" He stared at the Deputy Minister of the Admiralty.

However, Miller looked disapproving:

"Mr. President, Mr. Chen is not seizing the port, but doing the renovation of the port at Guantanamo, and the Admiralty has signed a contract with him, which will serve as a military port for the Atlantic Fleet."

"He will contract the follow-up ship maintenance work, port logistics, transportation and so on."

"What? Don't you bid for this kind of thing? McKinley asked, holding back his anger.

Miller shrugged:

"At present, in addition to Mr. Chen in Cuba, we can't find a second kilogram four with this ability, how to bid, not to mention that he still has so many labor, and he can be guaranteed both in terms of construction period and quality."

McKinley was unable to refute for a moment.

Yes, in Cuba, there is no one else who can take on this project.

The maintenance and logistics in the back are considered to be included.

He walked out of the office without saying a word.

When the president returned to the second floor, he happened to run into Rutter, who was handling things.

"Mr. President, are you here alone? Do you want me to find a car to take you? ”

He pointed to a four-wheeled cart parked in the backyard of the quartermaster building, which looked a bit like a horse-drawn carriage, but with rubber pneumatic tires on the edges of the wheels.

"Fresh goods, the two cars that the War Department just purchased, are much more comfortable than horse-drawn carriages."

"Cars?" The president was a little confused.

He had heard that there was such a thing in Germany, but it was obvious that the car outside the window could not have come from Germany.

The president's worries deepened.

"Yes, I heard that the two we got are already improved models, and now they are faster than horse-drawn carriages, and they also have a shock-absorbing design." Rout said.

"Which company makes it?" McKinley asked eagerly.

"Well, Ford, yes, it's called Ford." Rout thought for a moment and replied.

McKinley breathed a sigh of relief.

Oh my God, it seems that there is finally something in the army that is not produced by Chen Jianqiu.