1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 658 Talking on Paper

"General Trommerin, it seems that you know the buyer of the Roland very well." Fauré began to expose Trommerin's shortcomings in front of Napoleon III, speaking sarcastically.

"You have made outstanding contributions to California's shipbuilding industry and its navy. It's a pity that Liang Yao has not awarded you a medal yet."

The Roland was a French active warship that Tromelin sold to Liang Yao. What Forey said was true. The Roland was the first large warship Liang Yao acquired.

The Roland not only trained a group of technicians who understood modern steam ships for the California shipyard, but now naval officers of the Pacific Fleet and Atlantic Fleet of the Republic of America have served on the Roland.

It is obvious that Faure used this incident to mock Tromelin. He was simply criticizing Tromelin for putting personal interests above national interests.

"Selling the Roland to Liang Yao was a necessary move after careful evaluation. Besides, the gold obtained from the sale of the Roland did not go into my pocket." Tromoran retorted righteously.

"My speech is entirely out of consideration for France's interests in the Americas. Mexico can only serve as our bridgehead in North America. If we want to further expand our French influence in North America and intervene in the American Civil War, the American Republic is our best choice.

In addition, maintaining good relations with the American Republics will also help consolidate our rule in Mexico and reduce the cost of maintaining the colony."

Among all the French admirals, Tromelin was the least greedy, not swallowing up all the money from the sale of the ship. Therefore, in the face of Forey's sarcasm, Tromelin still dared to respond positively. Forey himself did not hurry up, and Tromelin was not afraid of breaking up with Forey in front of Napoleon III.

Tromelin's words touched Napoleon III's heart. At that time, industrialization in France was in full swing, and the military expenses of the Crimean War needed to be repaid. France's finances were not very abundant.

Before the expedition set out, Napoleon III was already thinking about how to gain control of Mexico after the war at the lowest cost.

After comprehensively considering the current situation in Mexico, Napoleon III is now more inclined to win over the Mexican royalists and support a person from the European royal family who is recognized by the Mexican royalists, preferably a member of the Habsburg family, who is easy to control, to be the puppet emperor of Mexico. In this way, he can indirectly control Mexico, put on a layer of legitimate rule, avoid excessively angering European neighbors, and reduce public pressure.

As the second largest colonial power, France has many colonies, but compared with Britain, France has almost no colonies that can provide blood transfusions to its homeland.

The colonies need transfusions from mainland France, and the high maintenance costs have always been a headache for successive French governments.

"The American Republic? General Tromelin, I don't think the American Republic is our best choice. In terms of national strength and military power, the Confederate States of America is far stronger than the so-called American Republic."

On the issue of the American Civil War, Fauré was more inclined to support the Confederacy and was not optimistic about the prospects of the American Republic.

"Fore, you only see the surface. The American Republic is definitely not as weak as you think." Tromelin still stood firm in his position.

Although Tromelin and Forey disagreed on whether to support the American Republic or the American Confederation, they both tacitly stood on the opposite side of the American Confederation.

This is also a true reflection of the mentality of the French ruling class towards America at that time. They were afraid that their brothers would suffer, but also afraid that their brothers would drive a Land Rover.

To be fair, as a former British colony, the French ruling class hopes that America will become stronger and bigger to contain Britain. Although France and Britain are still allies, the ruling classes of both countries are well aware that there is no eternal friendship between the two countries. Once France's national strength recovers to a certain level, the British on the other side of the Channel will feel uneasy. The British will definitely resort to the continental balance policy and join other European powers to strangle France and weaken France's national strength.

Similarly, France does not want America to become too powerful and threaten its position as the second great power.

The rapid industrialization of America in the mid-19th century had made the French feel threatened from across the Atlantic. As the representative of American industrialization, the Northern regime naturally became the target of containment by the French ruling class.

"Okay, Forey, you take care of the aftermath in Mexico City, and Tromelin, you follow me north, and we will go together to meet our new neighbor." Napoleon III interrupted the two.

He had his own considerations on which side to support more in line with France's interests in North America. Mexico City and California were already connected by train, so it didn't take too much time to get to California from here.

Napoleon III decided to go to California for inspection before making a decision. Prior to this, Napoleon III's knowledge of California was almost entirely from reports by Le Goff and others, and he had never visited California in person.

North Platte City, General Staff of the Frontier Military District.

Liang Yao bent over his desk, carefully examining the battle plan drawn up by the staff officers of the General Staff.

The scale and complexity of this operation far exceeded any military operation Liang Yao had ever participated in. His energy was limited, and he could not personally handle all the complex large-scale battles, so he could only control the general direction.

The specific action arrangements can only be entrusted to these young and inexperienced staff officers.

The staff officers in the General Staff are all very young. Except for five staff officers who were educated young people promoted from the front-line troops, the remaining 5 staff officers are military cadets who graduated from West Point Military Academy and Virginia Military Institute.

To put it bluntly, most of his staff members are a group of young people with only paper experience.

"This battle plan can only be described as mediocre. There is nothing outstanding about it." Kruger, who also serves as the Chief of the General Staff, said to Liang Yao.

The battle plan presented to Liang Yao was already a revised and supplemented one by him, and the original plan was even more horrific.

"As long as the combat plan can be implemented, there is nothing wrong with a standard plan," said Liang Yao.

The strength of the American Republic's National Defense Forces participating in the war was only slightly smaller than that of the Federal Army in Omaha, but the quality of the American Republic's soldiers, combat experience, weapons and equipment, and logistical support were by no means something that the hastily mobilized conscripts in Omaha could match.

Therefore, Liang Yao judged that his own strength was currently inferior to that of the federal army that could participate in the war. As long as this battle plan was implemented without too many disconnections and omissions, he would definitely win the battle.

(End of this chapter)