Truth be told, Franz was not interested in John Taylor, who had always been a staunch believer in "America First" and was not concerned about anything other than American interests.

But for Lewis Cass as a person, Franz's past life is really unremembered.

Intelligence, he had an unusual penchant for massacring Indians, and as a result, he was once given the "good name" of "hero" (the evaluation of the Americans). In foreign policy, he was awarded the title of "uncompromising man" for his advocacy of being tough on Britain.

It's just that militarily, this seems to be contrary to the thinking of the former Democratic war maniac. Cass advocated cutting military spending and eliminating militias, citing the fact that Texas had fewer than 20,000 French troops.

While relying on this force to maintain law and order in a large area, it was necessary to guard against the Indians in the territory at all times, and unless the French had a broken head for a while, they would never have the intention of rashly attacking the United States.

In fact, earlier, in order not to pin their hopes for border security on their opponents, the Americans and Mexicans signed a defensive alliance agreement to counter the threat of the French.

Therefore, Lewis Cass believed that 100,000 troops were a complete waste, and as long as 30,000 standing troops were maintained, it would be enough to deal with the threat of Britain, France, and Mexico.

He also believed that the British were too arrogant, and that the Canadian colonial army was vulnerable and could be easily eliminated by cutting off British naval support.

The fact that the US Navy was able to defeat the British at sea was also based on it.

Historically, the U.S. Navy once beat the Royal Navy with an absolute disadvantage of a quarter of its strength. Not only that, but they have broken their blockade many times, and there have even been cases of capturing their merchant ships. It can be said that at this time, the only country in the world that has fought a naval battle with England and won the final victory is none other than the United States.

However, most of these naval battles were small-scale firefights, and most of the ships involved in the war were frigates and cruisers, such as the legendary "Constitution" of the United States in this war at that time, for example, it was only equipped with 28 24-pounder guns and 10 12-pounder guns, and this kind of firepower was really a bit unacceptable on the European battlefield.

Franz didn't think that the Americans would be able to beat the British at this time, and he didn't know what direction history would go if Lewis Cass became the president of the United States.

But he didn't want France to continue to grow big in North America, nor did he want to see the United States carved up by Britain and France, so he needed a strong man to control the whole situation, and even if there was a war, it would not be quickly defeated.

But Lewis Cass was obviously a little unscrupulous, and it was too whimsical to rely on a standing army of 30,000 to deal with a European power like Britain and France.

And Franz needed to intervene in the Civil War for the future, and he needed to find someone with enough influence to do it.

John Taylor was a typical Virginian (a large plantation owner), and he genuinely liked and enjoyed the life of a slave owner, otherwise he would not have taken the initiative to stand up for the South in his later years, for which he even lost all his family business in the North, and was even more infamous on his back.

As for the old guy Harrison, he is in very bad physical condition, and he died after only one month as president in history, and it is not even the slightest possibility to survive until the Civil War starts, but because of the vast influence of his family, it is worth a little wooing.

The U.S. election at this time was like a big reality show of the 19th century, and of course, because it did not have the developed Internet and social networks and media and television broadcasts like later generations, the presidential candidates at this time traveled tirelessly to visit each state in person, to actively canvass votes and debate with their opponents' supporters.

The first scolding war between the two sides began in the newspapers.

The Democrats accused the Whigs of providing cover for slave traders, and even went so far as to deal with idiots who kidnapped members of the Austrian royal family, nearly causing a serious international scandal.

The Whigs repeatedly made a big fuss about the Democrats' multiple frauds, especially the "Samuel theft." They accused a Democratic official of stealing $1 million in state assets and absconding, and what was even more terrifying was that lawyer William, who had been sent to investigate, had absconded with the money again. Therefore, the Democrats must accept public investigation without reservation.

In order to deflect the accusations against them, the Democrats instead accused the Whigs of repeatedly participating in smuggling operations and profiting from them.

What is the credibility of a party full of such scum that the Whigs angrily scolded the head of the Democratic Customs Administration, Jesse Hoyth, who was Martin Van Buren's dogleg who abused his power for personal gain, appointed and dismissed officials at will, and collected the people's fat and ointment?

The Democrats changed the subject again and poured dirty water on each other, "The Whigs supported slavery, they supported the abuse of black slaves, they were inhumane!" ”

The Whigs ridiculed the fact that in the workshops of the pro-Democratic factory owners, the working conditions and treatment of the workers were a hundred times worse than those of the black slaves, and that they allowed the sick and unemployed workers to die of illness, a bunch of unconscionable brutes!

"We don't have slaves in the North!"

"We are not unemployed in the South!"

During the debate between Lewis Scar and Harrison, due to the long-term disadvantage, he actually threw the water glass at the other party, and the other side did not show weakness and directly took off his shoes to fight back.

In the end, it even went so far that a duel between one side raising a cane and the other pulling out a belt in front of thousands of Americans, although finally stopped, still made politicians in other countries find ridiculous.

Lewis Cass ridiculed Harrison as a hillbilly and dirt bun who didn't know how to respect others and wore a tattered general's uniform.

Harrison ridiculed Lewis Cass as a colonel, and like the extravagant and corrupt officials in Martin Van Buren's government, he used the country's taxes to buy himself elaborate clothes, just like the hypocritical aristocrats in the European courts, and even jokingly called the current White House "Little Versailles".

"Our country is suffering, and his ruler is rejoicing in time, and I want to share the weal and woe with the people of my country!" It almost became Harrison's mantra.

Clearly, this is a resonant tactic, and as Americans' lives have gotten worse in recent years, many people have begun to miss the tyrant they ousted, Andrew Jackson.

So John Taylor took the opportunity to package Harrison as a "candidate for the people" and a "combat hero", intending to create a "Hero of Deepcanu" alongside Jackson, the "Hero of New Orleans".

Although both men were called heroes, they were only because of the massacres they had committed against the Indians in both places.

The campaign was so fierce that John Quincy Adams (the sixth president of the United States) even commented.

"The country is in the midst of unprecedented turmoil, and thousands of people listen to the incendiary speeches every day and then spread them further through themselves."

"What is the future of this movement? We have no way of knowing, but according to the laws of history, these movements initiated by political parties, if left unchecked, will sooner or later turn into a revolution, as was the case with the French Revolution. ”

But in fact, this presidential campaign is more like an entertainment show than a previous political campaign.

And Franz is one of the directors behind the screen of this entertainment show, and he and special people manipulate and bribe money behind the scenes. For example, one day the Whigs went to hand out candy to the speakers, and the next day the Democrats started delivering bread.

Later, a lottery was developed to send black slaves, and the Democratic Party immediately followed suit and said that it would draw a lottery to send sewing machines.

The Whigs invited Johann Strauss Sr.'s orchestra to play a waltz, and the Democrats invited Broadway to perform an opera, and the scene was chaotic for a while.

The two sides also choreographed a lot of ballads to discredit each other, but it was the money ability that decided the final outcome.

After a lot of bribery, many of Franz's electors switched to Harrison, who narrowly defeated the Democrats' Lewis Cass.

As a result of Martin Van Buren's loss of power, John Taylor set out to clean up the U.S. government of corruption. Friedrich Liszt, the secretary of state who once covered the sky with one hand, was naturally the first to bear the brunt.

But when the U.S. government investigators arrived, the building was empty.

(End of chapter)