Wild North America 1846

Chapter 172 Hawaii and Midway Island
After nibbling a large piece of fat from the United States, Li Cha let the Yankees go for the time being. If he couldn't catch a sheep, it was time to change his target.

After the signing of the "Ottawa Treaty", the heavy troops stationed on the Colorado Plateau were replaced with new blood. More than 2 Chinese recruits who rushed to the plateau by train have gradually become the main force of the Cavalry Corps and Musketeers Corps.

From the Denver Musketeers 6000st Regiment to the Denver Musketeers 60th Regiment, except for a few outstanding officers and soldiers who were rewarded for their meritorious service and were awarded titles of nobility, nearly [-] others were all retired, granted legal citizenship to the Empire, and granted [-] Acres of meritorious land reward, go home to marry a wife and have children, and make a stable living.

These retired soldiers of the white servant army have a blood feud with the Yankees. They are more loyal and stubborn than the retired Chinese soldiers. They cling to the kingdom's thigh tightly and don't relax. Maybe this is their only way of life.

In the Plateau Mobile Cavalry Corps and the Northern Front Cavalry Corps, there are also large-scale retired soldiers. Most of them are arranged in the six northwestern states based on the principle of local resettlement.

A large number of nobles newly awarded by the kingdom, most of the fiefdoms are located in the six northwestern states, a few are located in Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Northern Province (formerly Washington State), Iowa Province , the seven provinces of Arizona and New Mexico do not have a single noble fiefdom, and they are completely blank.

Richard himself is the Grand Duke of California. This top aristocratic title is like the Prince of Wales in the United Kingdom. In the future, it will be the title of the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty and will be passed down from generation to generation.

Territories within the scope of California, naturally, cannot be divided, and can only belong to the royal family.

in the study

With his hands behind his back in a leisurely expression, Li Cha scanned the vast territory of the Datang Kingdom one by one, and then looked at the fertile black land of the Great Plains in the central United States, and the southern state of Texas, Montenegro. Leizhou, Tijuana, smacked their lips with a little regret.

They are all good places!

It's a pity that it's not easy to start in the past ten years. What's more, we have to wait until the outbreak of the American Civil War. At that time, we must unite with the forces of the southern slave states and have a good fight with the Yankees.

The strategic purpose is simple;
That is, the American South must be divided, and by the way, a large piece of fat will be bitten off...

Now, don't worry.

Li Cha's eyes left the North American continent and entered the Pacific Ocean, lingered on the Hawaiian Islands for a while, then turned to Midway Island, and continued to look forward, the Aleutian Islands and the Fusang Islands, and of course the mouth-watering Alaska Peninsula.

Among other things, Li Cha already regards Alaska, a large ice-covered and extremely cold land, as his own. As long as he buys this ice-cold land with an area of ​​more than 171.8 million square kilometers, the territory of the Tang Kingdom It will surpass the United States and become the second largest country in the Americas, second only to Brazil.

Access since 1848

The ocean shipping industry of Datang Kingdom has made great progress, and more than a dozen companies involved in ocean shipping have sprung up. The number of iron ships over 86 tons has reached [-], and the rapid growth is still doubling every year.

these months
The Kingdom's largest Pacific Shipping Company has successively received seven imported large-tonnage ships, some made in Britain, some made in Prussia and France, with a displacement ranging from 7 tons to 4500 tons. They are the main ships that can be used for passenger and cargo transportation on the North Pacific route. Further enhanced the company's transportation capabilities.

Non-governmental shipping companies dominated by Chinese capital are also investing huge sums of money in building large transoceanic ships, which have met the huge transportation needs of personnel and materials on the golden route in the North Pacific Ocean, and have taken a share of the current immigration boom.

Li Cha's eyes flicked across the map, and finally tapped on Midway Island and Hawaii with his fingers. These two places should be included in the bag as soon as possible, as a transit point on the trans-Pacific northern route, providing coal, fresh water, and vegetables. and other necessary logistics services.

Midway Island is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 1200 nautical miles northwest of Honolulu. It belongs to the Polynesian Islands. Now it is just a deserted island that no one cares about. Just send a ship to occupy it without any trouble.

中途岛为珊瑚环礁，地理位置为28°12'25“N、西经177°22'34“，周长24公里。陆地面积5平方公里，由桑德岛、东岛和斯皮特岛组成，属于亚热带气候。

In the original history, it was first discovered and occupied by the United States in 1867, and now there are no Yankees, and it must be under the control of the Datang Kingdom.

The situation in the Hawaiian Islands is a little more troublesome. At the end of the 18th century, the Hawaiian chief Kemehameha conquered other islands with cannons, established the Hawaiian dynasty, and became King Kamehame I.

After the death of King Kamehame I, the Kingdom of Hawaii began to split, partly ruled by his beloved wife, Queen Kayahumanu.

Queen Kayahumanu is a powerful figure in the style of Wu Zetian. She leads the indigenous islanders to get familiar with the advanced western civilization, and tries her best to get rid of the bad habits of wearing animal skins and showing her breasts. She is a more enlightened queen.

Oahu, the third largest island in Hawaii, is owned by the Spaniards, but the Spaniards did not invest much energy in the management of Oahu, and did not pay much attention to this island.

Li Cha is going to take a two-pronged approach to take Hawaii Island in one fell swoop and make it the 15th province of the Tang Kingdom.

To deal with the native queen directly is to send 500 fully armed soldiers to the island, and everything will be OK.

As for Oahu, which was occupied by the Spaniards, it adopted the method of crowding out, vigorously introducing Chinese immigrants locally, and gradually reducing the privileges of the Spaniards until they were finally squeezed out.

If it really doesn't work, you can buy it for $20 million, and you won't have to worry about it.

Datang Kingdom is still willing to spend this small amount of money.

After they are all taken, Midway Island and the Hawaiian Islands will become two large transit points on the North Pacific golden immigration route, safe harbors for migrant ships to and from.

With these two ports of call, the survival rate of immigrants on the North Pacific route will be greatly improved, and it will be of great significance to provide stable and reliable fresh water and fresh food supplies for ships.

Today's Datang Kingdom's government's primary job is immigration. It provides a stable and reliable support port for the North Pacific immigration route. From a large scale, it is related to the strategic issue of the kingdom's long-term development. From a small scale, it is related to the lives, health and safety of immigrants. Actual benevolence.

Today's ocean immigrants have a relatively high death rate. One reason is that the narrow space on board the ship is harsh and full of diseases.

Second, because there was no reliable supply of fresh water and fresh food, during the long voyage of more than a month, the crew and passengers had to eat some spoiled food, which caused massive diarrhea and severe dehydration symptoms, leading to death.

Midway Island is located in the heart of the Pacific Ocean. It is 4100 kilometers away from the Fusang Islands to the west, and it takes 9 to 10 days to sail.

Such a geographical location allows the ocean-going immigrant ships departing from the Jiaodong Peninsula to berth at Midway Island after sailing for 11 to 12 days. Some passengers who get sick midway can disembark here and get good recuperation and treatment, so as not to die on the way. .

After adding coal, fresh water, and fresh fruits and vegetables, the immigrant ship set sail again. After more than 4 days of travel, it will arrive at the Hawaiian Islands, where it can berth again. After a short rest, it will set sail again and head to the cities on the east coast of the Pacific Ocean of the Tang Kingdom. .

This kind of journey is not only much easier than before, but also the ocean-going immigrant ships can be replenished midway, so they can load less coal, fresh water and food, which can be used to load more immigrants and goods, reducing the passenger casualty rate and directly increasing the Shipping earnings.

After thinking for a moment, Li Cha quickly made up his mind that this matter must be done as soon as possible.

"Come here, quickly summon Lieutenant Colonel Pan Hengchen, commander of the fleet, into the palace."

"The minister obeys the order."

over an hour later

Lieutenant Colonel Pan Hengchen, commander of the Tang Kingdom Fleet in full military uniform, hurriedly arrived on horseback. He was a dark-faced burly man in his thirties, from the Mawei family in Fujian Province.

Because of his wealthy family, Lieutenant Colonel Pan Hengchen has received a good education since he was a child. He is good at reading and writing, and can speak some English and Dutch. He is an alert and courageous sailor at sea.

He made his mark in the newly established navy of the Tang Kingdom, and was appreciated by Li Cha, so he was able to take on the important task.

Since the navy of the Tang Kingdom did not make any merit, it was a pity that none of the more than 1360 members of the navy were awarded the title of nobility because they were absent from the ceremony of conferring nobles.

Today, the Datang Kingdom Navy has a total of seven old sailing battleships donated by the United Kingdom. The two three-level sailing battleships exceeding 7 tons are the "King Quan" and "Dignity". The "King Quan" is the seat of Lieutenant Colonel Pan Hengchen The remaining five ships are two-masted sail frigates of 1000 to 5 tons, and there are more than a dozen whistle ships of about 260 tons. This is all the naval equipment.

"Qizou Your Majesty, Pan Hengchen of the navy has the courage to have an audience, please give your Majesty instructions."

"Oh, Heng Chen is here."

Li Cha was sitting behind the imperial case reviewing the report at the moment, when he heard this, he raised his head and greeted him warmly.

Lieutenant Colonel Pan Hengchen was excited. Although he was the commander of the navy, he was only a lieutenant colonel. Not to mention that he hadn't made any achievements. He had only met His Majesty three or four times in the past two years. Compared with the army, he felt out of thin air. He was a head short, and seemed to be left out in the cold.

His Majesty's cordial greeting melted into the cold heart like a warm current, and Lieutenant Colonel Pan Hengchen couldn't help being excited. He raised his hand in a standard military salute, and his eyes were full of eagerness.

"The Navy is always at your Majesty's call, please instruct."

(End of this chapter)