1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 661: Don’t Talk If You Can’t Agree

"Mr. Blair, you keep saying that you came to negotiate with us with full sincerity. Sincerity is not as simple as just lip service."

The negotiators from the West and the North have been negotiating for some time, but have not made any substantial progress. Liang Yao is tired of haggling with the representatives of the Northern Federation. In other words, he is now ready.

If the Lincoln government is truly sincere about peace talks and is willing to cede South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska, Liang Yao is also willing to temporarily resolve the disputes in the central frontier region through peace talks and use the saved military expenditures to develop the central frontier region.

Unfortunately, both he and Lincoln were aware of the importance of the Middle Frontier region, and neither was willing to compromise on the issue of its ownership. This was a core interest and was not negotiable.

Since we can't reach an agreement at the negotiation table, let's fight and talk at the same time.

The situation currently faced by the American Republic is much better than that of the Northern Federation. The battlefield in the central frontier is far away from the west coast and the supply line is too long. This is a disadvantage but also an advantage. At least at present, no force can threaten the core area of ​​the American Republic.

In comparison, the situation Lincoln is facing now is much worse. 7 Confederate troops led by three Confederate generals, Joseph E. Johnston, Pierre G. T. Beauregard, and Robert Lee, have gathered near Manassas, and it is only a matter of time before they launch an attack on the Northern Army.

The Southern Army is currently sitting still, most likely waiting to see the situation in the central frontier region, hoping that Liang Yao and McClellan will start fighting first. Once the fighting in the central frontier region begins, Liang Yao will contain McClellan's second batch of 100,000 mobilized troops, and the Southern Army will definitely take action.

Although Davis was more indecisive than Lincoln, he was a political elite in the South after all. He was not stupid, but he lacked courage and decisiveness. He could not be considered an outstanding politician. As an ordinary politician, Davis was still qualified.

"Our president and you have established a deep friendship very early on. I think you should understand his character." After being personally received by Liang Yao, Montgomery Blair seemed to see hope and played the emotional card with Liang Yao.

The love between politicians is even less reliable than the love between a client and a prostitute.

Liang Yao and Lincoln had a good personal relationship. If they were not in different camps, Liang Yao would be happy to make friends with Lincoln. He and Lincoln had many similar political ideas and views, and they had a lot in common. It is not easy to find a confidant in this era.

Unfortunately, now that each of them has millions of people supporting them, the personal friendship between them can only give way to political stance.

"It is precisely because I know Lincoln's character that I know there is nothing to talk about between us." Liang Yao sighed and murmured, "Politics is politics, and friendship is friendship. If Lincoln was really sincere about resolving the dispute through negotiation, he would not have allowed McClellan to go south to occupy Kansas and Missouri and raid my flank."

It's not that McClellan failed to support Mason's Brigade guarding the Kearny Fort Group. It's just that McClellan did not support the forts by directly sending reinforcements. Instead, he led his troops into Kansas and Missouri, where the Confederate Army was relatively weak, and used his superior numbers to defeat the weaker ones. He occupied most of the areas north of Kansas and Missouri, and threatened the Confederate Army on its flank.

"Then why did you let your negotiators contact us for so long?" Blair couldn't help but mutter. The feeling of being seen through and used as a tool was not pleasant.

"Lincoln knew there was nothing to discuss between us, but he still sent you here, didn't he?" Liang Yao pointed out Blair's purpose. "Go back and tell Lincoln that I hope we can have a chance to watch an opera together in the future. This is a personal gift from me to Lincoln. I'd like to trouble you, the Postmaster General, to give it to Lincoln on the way."

Chase brought a gift box that had been prepared long ago and handed it to Blair.

Blair did not refuse. He was the Postmaster General. However, he never expected that there would be a day when he, as the Postmaster General, would have to deliver mail himself.

After Blair took the gift box, Zeiss ordered someone to bring out several customized Dehua white porcelains and said to Blair, "Mr. Blair, we can't let you and your assistants make a wasted trip. These are gifts for you and your assistants. They are just small gifts, not a token of my respect." "It seems that my job as a postman is not in vain. I get paid for my errands." Blair laughed at himself, accepted the gift from Liang Yao, said goodbye and left, and boarded the special train to Washington.

When he first met Liang Yao, Blair felt that he had underestimated Liang Yao before. Although Liang Yao was young, only 32 years old, he behaved more calmly than some politicians in their fifties and sixties.

Lincoln's concerns were not unfounded. Perhaps the West was a more formidable opponent than the South.

Blair boarded his special train with gifts and returned to Washington to report. His train had just left the Union outpost and was closest to Fort Goshen on North Platte when he heard a loud noise behind him.

Blair and his companions leaned out of the window to check the situation, and saw that a section of the railroad track behind them had been blown away by a team of Union soldiers in blue uniforms.

Blair's assistant was puzzled: "Why did Gosenberg's troops blow up the railroad tracks?"

Blair couldn't help but twitch his lips a few times and asked, "Which company does this railway belong to?"

"The section of the Pacific Railway west of Omaha belongs to the California Railway Company." The assistant thought for a moment and said.

The Pacific Railroad was divided by Omaha. The section east of Omaha belonged to Vanderbilt's New York Central Railroad Company, and the section west of Omaha belonged to the California Railroad Company.

"That is to say, what was destroyed just now were the assets of the West." Blair retracted his head, and he seemed to have figured something out. "Those people were just wearing the uniforms of the federal army. They might not be our federal army."

Although Nebraska was the focal point of the confrontation between the West and the North, telegraph lines in the Nebraska region remained open.

Mason and McClellan knew very well that Liang Yao did this on purpose. Liang Yao had enough cavalry and there were also pro-Western Chinese people in the local area. As long as Liang Yao was willing, he could completely destroy the local telegraph lines and cut off the Northern Army's communications.

The news of the destruction of the Pacific Railroad quickly reached Mason at Fort Kearny and McClellan at Omaha through the well-developed telegraph lines in Nebraska.

McClellan looked solemn when he heard the news, and ordered all units to step up their vigilance to prevent infiltration by the Western Army.

When Mason heard the news, he felt like the sky was falling.

As for the mysterious Union cavalry unit that was rumored to have destroyed the railroad, neither McClellan nor Mason wasted time tracing the origins of this unit.

Although the Union Army had poor military discipline, no cavalry unit was bold enough to openly destroy the Pacific Railway section belonging to the California Railroad Company at this critical juncture.

(End of this chapter)