The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 734: Nicholas Zhao Si, the King of Pingxi in the United States

The meeting room of the Prime Minister's Office in Tianjing was lit up by gas lamps. Luo Yaoguo's fingers gently tapped the edge of a North American map spread on the conference table. Zhang Sanxiang, the dark master in charge of intelligence, was introducing the situation of the American Civil War in his Hunan accent: "The Northern Army currently has 1861 regular troops, and the Southern Army has . The North has just passed the " Conscription Act" to recruit one million new soldiers, and the South plans to use the "Eight Banners Law" and "Three Feudatories Law" to recruit troops." He shook the intelligence transcript, "But the arsenals in the northern industrial centers such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago, etc. have produced more than rifles per month, while the arsenals in the South can't even get !"

Xiao Chaogui, who had just been retrained as the Minister of the Army, tapped his pipe on the edge of the table and produced a few sparks. He shook his head and said, "The production of foreign guns is ten times less. How can the South fight? There is a shortage of 45,000 guns a month, which is more than 500,000 a year. I don't think it will work!"

"The cotton from the South can be exchanged for pounds. You can buy it with pounds!" Feng Yunshan suddenly interrupted, the goatee of the True Contract Sect leader trembling slightly. "The British textile factories cannot do without the cotton from the South. French bankers are also betting on Davis and have lent a large sum of money to the American South. If the South really can't pay it back, Napoleon III will probably be the first one to be upset, right?"

Luo Yaoguo glanced at Zhu Ba, who replaced Shi Dakai as the Chief of the General Staff, and asked, "What does the General Staff think of the next military action of the North and South?"

Zhu Ba's pencil drew two red lines on the map: "The General Staff believes that the South cannot fight a protracted war, and will definitely use the false fire incited by the Eight Banners Law and the Three Feudatories Law to launch a quick attack.

If they want to achieve a decisive victory, they must first capture Fort Harrisburg and Fort Yorktown. In this way, they can control the strategic location of Blue Mountain-Susquehanna River, and then they can attack or defend. But the Northern Army has strategic locations to rely on, fortresses to defend, and railroads to transport supplies, as well as weapons and ammunition supplied by northern arsenals. If the Southern Army attacks by force," he shook his head, "I'm afraid they will have to pay 300,000 or 400,000 lives!"

"What does the navy think?" Luo Yaoguo turned his gaze to Wang Yan again.

Wang Yan wore the emblem of the Tianjing-class ironclad warship on his navy blue uniform: "The northerners have many more docks than we do! Ten 1864-ton ships, ten -ton ships." He glanced at Luo Yaoguo's gloomy face and his voice gradually lowered. "Minister Xu estimated that by , the number of the Northern Army's ironclad ships will exceed !"

Xu Shou adjusted his glasses and said, "The steel production in the North of America has surpassed that of France, and the production capacity of steam engines is ten times that of ours. If they run at full capacity," he swallowed, "they can build thirty 'Oriental-class' ironclad ships in a year!"

Thirty ships a year, how can we produce so many ships? Luo Yaoguo thought to himself: "The United States in 2024 can't build so many ironclad ships, right? The United States in the second half of the 19th century is really hard to deal with!"

Navy Chief of Staff Ding Ruchang also showed a worried look: "We can only build five Tianjing-class ships in three years if we can only build 30 ships a year. Are the Americans going to go to the sky?"

"The Americans have already gone to hell!" Luo Yaoguo smiled bitterly, "The United States is currently the world's second largest industrial country. If nothing unexpected happens, they will become the world's number one in 30 years." He grabbed the tea bowl and took a sip of tea, "And we are that accident!"

When Feng Yunshan, the Patriarch of the True Covenant sect, heard what Luo Yaoguo said, his brows tightened: "Ninth brother, if the United States is really that strong, then what should we do with the bureaus in the three states on the west coast and Tianwang City?"

Luo Yaoguo thought for a moment and said, "I think this great America needs a Pingxi King!"

"King of Pingxi?" Xiao Chaogui asked, "Ninth brother, who do you want to be the King of Pingxi of America? Hong Daquan?"

"Not Hong Daquan," Luo Yaoguo waved his hand, "Let Zhao Si go west!"

The fireplace in Xianfeng's newly purchased mansion in Charleston was crackling. Xianfeng was sitting on a soft sofa, holding a telegram that Chiyoko had just translated word by word from a secret book, drinking whiskey and looking at the snow scene outside.

Suddenly, a gust of snow blew in from outside, and O'Hara, Sushun, Linshu, Yuanbao, Zengke and Tupolev came in one after another. "Nicholas, what's the matter? Why did you call us here in the heavy snow?" O'Hara breathed a sigh of relief, took a glass of whiskey from the tray brought by Chiyoko, drank a large glass, warmed himself up, and then sat down on a big sofa.

Sushun, Linshu, Yuanbao, Zengke and Tupolev also took a glass of wine each, found a seat and sat down, then looked at Xianfeng.

Xianfeng waved the telegram in his hand: "Secret telegram from Tianjing. We are going west of the Mississippi River!"

"What?" O'Hara was stunned. "To the west of the Mississippi River? But why?"

Zeng Ke also followed his former master and asked, "Bishop Zhao, is Tianjing the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? Why should we listen to Tianjing when we are going there?"

Sushun, Linshu and Yuanbao had nothing to ask, but just looked at Xianfeng, as if waiting for his order.

Xianfeng looked solemn, shook his head and said, "No reason. The telegram didn't say it, but you just need to know who sent it."

Tupolev seemed to have thought of something. After taking a big sip of whiskey, he asked, "Bishop Zhao, is this telegram sent by His Majesty the Prophet?" Xianfeng nodded and drank the whiskey in his hand.

Snow and wind were blowing in Washington, and O'Hara's carriage had already rolled over the muddy Pennsylvania Avenue. Through the gaps in the curtains, Xianfeng caught a glimpse of large groups of new soldiers lined up in neat rows, carrying all kinds of rifles and heading towards the train station.

"When you meet the president later," O'Hara tugged at his collar, "please don't mention the prophet's telegram. Many people in the federal government and Congress already dislike you."

"I won't be Tian Feng!" Xianfeng's pockmarked face was hidden in the cigar smoke.

"Tian Feng?" O'Hara asked. "Is he a man? What did he do?"

Xianfeng laughed and said, "He's a bad guy!" He lifted the curtain of the carriage and pointed at the troops passing by Pennsylvania Avenue, "Look at these warriors of our South. More than half of them are still using muskets, right?"

In the Oval Office of the White House, President Davis sat upright behind his desk, on which was spread the Union Army's latest battle report - the Union Army's two major field groups, the Army of Pennsylvania and the Army of the Potomac, had completed reorganization in Harrisburg and West Virginia respectively, and the total strength had risen to three hundred thousand!
"Mr. President," Xianfeng's boots made a crisp sound on the floor, and he saluted Davis, "I'm worried that the war on the eastern front will drag on." He walked straight to the map, and his nails scratched a long mark on the west bank of the Mississippi River. "If we can make a name for ourselves here, we may be able to take advantage of the stalemate on the eastern front and catch the Yankees off guard on the western front. If we can rush all the way to the Great Lakes region, we can greatly reduce the territory of the Northern Army."

Breckinridge was also in the Oval Office at the time. When he heard what Xianfeng said, he frowned and said, "Nicholas, our troops are not enough to begin with. Do we still need to send troops west of the Mississippi River?"

"I can't allocate many troops," Xianfeng said with a smile, "I'll use my black division as the main force, and randomly add some other second-line troops to make two divisions. I'll call it an army and I'll take two divisions to the West. As long as we can attract the Indians over there, the Yankees will have to send ten divisions west of the Mississippi River to deal with them!"

Davis seemed to be interested. He took off his glasses and wiped them while saying to Xianfeng, "Nicholas, tell me more about it."

"I plan to do it in three steps!" Xianfeng first spread a map on Davis' desk, then poked three red dots on the map with a pencil, "First, send people to unite the Comanche tribe and cut off the Union Army's land transportation line to California within half a year." He threw out a yellowed letter paper, "This is a letter sent to me by Amur, a True Covenant priest who preaches on the western prairie."

The American president frowned even more tightly: "The True Covenant faction is also involved with those Indian savages?"

"Don't the barbarians need God's salvation more?" Xianfeng narrowed his eyes.

"Second," Xianfeng continued, moving his pencil to the Rocky Mountains, "build a 'Red Fortress' in Denver to house Indians and poor white people from the north. Incorporate them into the Eight Banners, allocate land to them, and strive to double the army!"

Vice President Stephenson's pipe was choking with sparks: "Red City? Do you want the Indians to be king there?"

"It's better than them joining the Yankees!" O'Hara suddenly interrupted, "and the Red City can also control the roads leading to the three states on the west coast."

"Step three," Xianfeng poked San Francisco with his pencil, "There are already hundreds of thousands of Chinese in the three states on the West Coast. If we can attract them over, we can increase the number of people by tens of thousands. By then, the number of people in the Western Army is expected to exceed 10!"

Breckenridge frowned and asked, "How are we going to raise the salaries, rations, and equipment for 10 men? Have you ever thought about it?"

"We can buy food and equipment from the Chinese," Xianfeng pointed to California. "They have opened up a lot of good farmland on the west coast in the past two years. There is more food than we can eat. As for munitions, there are plenty on the other side of the Pacific Ocean!"

"There are plenty?" Breckenridge asked. "But where does the money come from?"

"I'll find a way," Xianfeng said with a smile, "As long as the federal government can authorize me to prepare to establish a new special state west of the Mississippi River, I will be able to raise a large amount of military funds!"

"Okay!" Davis finally nodded and agreed when he heard that the federal government didn't have to pay for it. "Nicholas, I can authorize you to prepare for the establishment of a new western state, but only for preparation!"

Xianfeng nodded: "That's enough. It's enough to have a name for preparation."

(End of this chapter)