A week later

May 1, 1846, at about 4 p.m

Washington, D.C

White House, Oval Office

President Polk signed the memorandum of mobilization of the Union Army with great ambition, and then put down his pen and admired it, a satisfied smile on the corner of his mouth.

This is a memorandum submitted by the War Department, the standing strength of the US military is more than 8,600 people, and in times of emergency, volunteers can be recruited for a short period of time to expand the army.

According to the plan

In wartime, the Army will be expanded to 30,000, the Marine Corps to 50,000, and the United States will have a naval force strong enough to overwhelm Mexico on land and sea theaters, greatly expanding its northwest and southwest borders.

And all that

All of them will forever be recorded in the annals of history as the great achievements of this administration, and the first hero is President Polk of the United States, and no one can erase the great glory of opening up the territory.

Just a week ago, April 25th

The U.S. military, which had been repeatedly provoked, finally engaged in an exchange of fire with Mexican troops, was the new situation that President Polk and the expansionist hardliners in this administration had hoped for, and the American war machine was immediately set in motion.

With the propaganda of public opinion, the border dispute further ignited the anger in the hearts of the American people.

The bill to start a war has reached Capitol Hill, and in the midst of shouting and killing, the bill will not be hindered and will soon be passed smoothly.

According to the relevant procedures of the Congress, it is expected that the Congress will consider and vote on May 9, and the passage of the bill to wage war with Mexico is almost a certainty.

Everything was going according to plan, and President Polk happily took out his pipe and lit it, took two deep puffs, and enjoyed the refreshing feeling of being surrounded by the strong smell of tobacco, his eyes narrowing into a slit unconsciously.

At this time

The door knocked twice, then was pushed open, and Susanna, the senior secretary of the White House, came in with her hand on the doorknob and spoke; "Mr. President, Secretary of State Slim-Raff has said there is an urgent matter and he wants to see you immediately."

"Let him in, Susanna, and see what good news it has for us?"

"As you wish, Mr. President." Suzanne retracted her head and closed the door.

It didn't take a few minutes

The door was opened again, and Slim Raff, a medium-sized, somewhat fat Secretary of State, pushed the door in with a document in his hand, closed it with his backhand, took a few steps forward, and dropped the file on his desk with a "snap".

Instead of looking at the document, President Polk looked up at Secretary of State Slim-Ruff and asked; "What's wrong? Slim, you don't seem to be very happy. ”

"Look, Mr. President, the British are doing it again. On May 1, they instigated a western force called the Tang Society to establish the Tang Kingdom in California, which included the province of Upper California, Arizona, and New Mexico. It's all the areas we plan to occupy, damn the British, and they're clearly trying to cut it off. ”

"Wow...... It doesn't sound good, can you tell me about this Datang? I've never heard that name. ”

"Me too, Mr. President, but before I came, I learned through other channels that this Datang Society is a western power established by the Orientals, and it is rising rapidly, and I heard that there are more than 1,000 armed people who have occupied important towns in San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles, which seems to be a big trouble."

"Orientals? More than a thousand local armed men? Hehehe......" President Polk laughed contemptuously.

He walked over to the table and flipped through a few pages of papers, glanced at them at a glance, and then stopped to read; "Her Royal Highness Queen Victoria, the Honourable of Great Britain, made Richard Duke of California, King of the Tang Kingdom, and St. Fernandez a 300-mile radius for his fiefdom. The Tang Kingdom has been officially recognized by the British government for diplomacy, and will send diplomatic envoys to the Tang Kingdom as soon as possible to carry out mutually beneficial trade cooperation and enhance overseas exchanges......"

As he read it, the smile on President Volcker's face vanished, replaced by a solemn application.

Then he sat down and carefully flipped through the document, and after a while he read it from cover to cover.

Closing the last page, President Polk remained silent for a long time, as if pondering what was at stake.

This so-called Tang Society or Tang Kingdom has not been put in his heart, and the weak ones can be ignored and wiped out.

What matters is London's attitude, that of Her Majesty the Queen, who was crowned crown in 1837 and has been in power for 10 years.

Her Majesty the Queen, who was the Whig Prime Minister and William Nanm, Viscount of Melbourne, cooperated with the Whig Prime Minister to carry out severe repression at home, support the capitalist business class in expanding trade, pursue an active global colonial policy abroad, and launch a series of expansion wars.

President Polk knew it in his heart;

Compared to the British Empire, the global hegemon in its thriving period, the United States is not even a hair.

The key reason why he dared to threaten to solve the Oregon problem by force was that Britain did not pay attention to the North American colonies, but expanded everywhere like pepper noodles around the world, and used very little power in the British Canadian colonies.

Britain's primary global interests in Europe lie in the Crimea to contain the Tsarist Empire, and in Europe it pursues the support of the Kingdom of Prussia to counterbalance the land hegemony of France and implement the policy of "continental equilibrium".

Secondly, in the Indian subcontinent of South Asia, the British army is planning to invade Burma, attack Afghanistan, attack the French Indian colonies, and intend to unify the entire Indian subcontinent into the colonial category.

In addition, Britain established the British Channel Governor's Office in Penang and Malaysia in South Asia, operated the Weihaiwei Concession and the Hong Kong Island Concession in the Eastern Shenzhou mainland, and suppressed the local indigenous people in Australia and New Zealand.

meanwhile

Britain pursued an expansionist policy in South Africa and planned to strengthen its influence in Egypt, the Kingdom of Iran and the Arabian Peninsula in order to realize the dream of an empire on which the sun never set.

This period

It was a period of rapid expansion of the British Empire's global colonies, which further strengthened its global hegemony, and the French could no longer compete with it, and was forced to be reduced to a subordinate position.

At best, the United States can only be called a North American hegemon, taking advantage of the fact that Britain is not paying attention, and that's it.

A tiger is a tiger after all, and a proper attitude of reverence must be there.

The problem is that the US-Mexico war is on the verge of being launched.

President Polk looked up irritably, looked at Secretary of State Slim-Raf, and asked in an inquiring tone;

"Dear Slim, you were present during the recent meeting with the Chief of Staff of the Federal Army, Bob Wingraub, and he promised me that the Union Army would defeat the Mexicans with a devastating victory and bring us a victory, right?"

"Yes, Mr. President, our Continental Union Army is confident enough to defeat the Mexicans, there is no doubt about it."

"Well, add a ...... Belch...... What about the Tang Kingdom? ”

"It's as easy as swatting a fly to death, I don't think Bob would be embarrassed to ask for an extra reward, and in the face of absolute strength, all intrigues and tricks are hidden."

"So, what about a Canadian militia or an Englishman?"

"Uh...... That's not a good thing to say. ”

"Alas, it seems that our previous estimate was too optimistic, the British were unwilling to lose the Oregon region, this Tang Kingdom may be a warning, inform this document to the War Department, the corresponding military preparations are going according to plan, and now we can only take one step at a time."

President Polk signed the document, then pushed it aside with some headache, and said as he tightened the cap of his pen; "Tell Bob that the corresponding military action must be restrained, not to make too much trouble, I don't want to provoke the British too much, it will not benefit us."

"I'll talk to Bob about it personally, Mr. President."

"Alright, let me be quiet."

"As you wish, Mr. President." Secretary of State Slim-Raff took the papers on the table, then bowed slightly before turning and leaving the Oval Office.

President Polk let out a long sigh, leaned back in his chair a little tiredly, and pinched his eyebrows with his fingers to ease his overthinking.

He had a hunch; America's westward expansion will not be smooth sailing and may be put to severe trials.