The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 883 The American Civil War has actually never stopped!

The carriage rolled through the muddy streets of San Francisco, and the dirty water kicked up by the wheels splashed on the newly painted recruitment posters on the roadside. The posters showed three figures standing side by side: a Chinese worker holding a hammer, a Mongolian American herdsman, and a black farmer holding a sickle, with a bold slogan below: "Black, red, and yellow are united, everyone holds a gun to defend our homeland!"
Luo Xinhua looked through the foggy car window and saw the winding line in front of the militia registration station. There were Chinese-looking teenagers and "American" (actually Mexican) teenagers mixed together, and occasionally some yellow and white mixed-race teenagers. Suddenly, there was a neat sound of footsteps at the corner of the street. Twenty young soldiers walked by carrying the newly made 1875-style rifles from the San Francisco Arsenal. The bayonets on the barrels flashed coldly in the San Francisco sun.

"These guys just turned fourteen last month." Hong Tiangui lifted the carriage curtain with his whip. "After the Texas militia massacred the New Mexico settlement area last year, the service age of the California militia was lowered to fourteen."

"Fourteen years old," Luo Xinhua sighed, "Isn't that the same as the Taiping Boy Soldiers of the early years?"

"That's still different. Except for a small number of basic militiamen, the California militia is all reserve forces, and they only train for three weeks a year." Hong Tiangui pointed to the factory in the distance that was emitting black smoke. The pungent smell of sulfur drifted in the wind. "The ammunition factory is also working in three shifts, trying to store more ammunition before that day comes."

When the carriage passed the State Capitol Square, a granite monument suddenly came into view. The words "In Memory of the Rio Grande Massacre of 1876" were engraved in both Chinese and English on the monument. The flowers piled in front of the pedestal had long withered, but the newly added bunches of wild chrysanthemums were still trembling in the rain. Three women in mourning - Chinese, black and Indian - were kneeling in the mud and water to wipe the inscriptions on the monument.

"The Rio Grande River is on the border of Texas and New Mexico," Hong Tiangui's voice suddenly became hoarse. "Those thrown into the river that day included Chinese merchants from California, black serfs who escaped from Texas, and American herdsmen from New Mexico. That river and the Pecos River, which is also located on the border of New Mexico and Texas, are now like battlefields, with militias from both sides fighting each other every day. This civil war has not yet started in full swing, but it has never stopped in several border states!"

A long whistle sounded from the naval port in the distance. Luo Xinhua turned around and saw six armed merchant ships flying black, red and yellow tricolor flags weighing anchor. These six ships were so-called "Jiangnan-type" 10,000-ton grain transport ships. They transported grain out of San Francisco and brought back immigrants and military parts. Therefore, they would be attacked by "white pirates" or "inspected" by the US Federal Navy from time to time!
California's response measures include arranging destroyers and frigates of the militia navy to escort them, and installing artillery on these ships!

Hong Tiangui is right. The American Civil War has never actually stopped.
The oak door of the State Militia Headquarters conference room slammed shut behind him, and bamboo-filament electric lights suddenly lit up, illuminating the giant sand table that filled the entire room. On the plaster model of the Rocky Mountains, six black, red, and yellow flags stuck like fangs on the winding ridgeline.

"The concrete at South Pass is five meters thick." Hong Tiangui poked his whip at the black, red and yellow flag at the northernmost end. A piece of the gypsum mountain was missing here, revealing the honeycomb-shaped gun positions inside. "The 75mm rapid-fire gun is hidden in the interlayer of the mountain, and the firing port is camouflaged with quartzite." He flicked his wrist and swept the tip of the whip across the copper railway model on the edge of the sand table. "Last month, the Nebraska cavalry blew up a section of railway in Wyoming. This month, our people also went over and blew up their railway!"

An officer of the California militia suddenly lifted the cover of Denver Heights, revealing the densely packed tunnel sections like dissected blood vessels. Luo Xinhua saw miniature elevator tracks, ammunition storage rooms and even underground hospitals, all of which were connected by narrow-gauge railways.

"This was designed by French engineers." Hong Tiangui pointed proudly at the central fort. "It's stronger than the forts on the Moore Line! The main battery is equipped with eight 150mm howitzers made by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The range just covers the railway to Wyoming. As long as we have the Denver Fort, we can maintain our presence on the Great Plains east of the Rocky Mountains!"

Suddenly, there was a metallic collision sound at the edge of the sand table. Luo Xinhua turned around and saw two staff officers adjusting the railway model. The copper rails under their hands extended into a dazzling array of branches, and the end of each branch was marked with numbers - "7 days", "5 days", "3 days".

"The fastest supply line from the Port of San Francisco to the front line." Hong Tiangui explained, "Our people have been building railways in the West for more than ten years. Now our troops can rush from San Francisco to the frontier fortresses in Montana, New Mexico, and West Taco within 7 days!"

He then grinned at Luo Xinhua and Luo Zhongtian and said, "It's getting late now. Let me arrange for you to rest first. Tomorrow I will take you to see the biggest trump card of our Western American Militia Army!

The next afternoon, the hot air from a stable outside San Francisco, carrying the smell of hay and leather, hit Luo Xinhua and Luo Zhongtian in the face. More than a hundred chestnut horses with shoulder heights of more than 1.7 meters were being shoed, and the crisp sound of hammers hitting horseshoes sounded like some strange war drums.

The biggest trump card of the American West militia mentioned by Hong Tiangui is actually the cavalry, or more precisely, the cavalry is one of the biggest trump cards of the American West militia.
"Look at this horse's shoulder muscles!" Hong Tiangui pulled the reins of a stallion with a white star on its forehead. An American horse boy immediately flipped through the pedigree book. "Morgan horse pedigree of 1860, grandfather was General Lee's mount during the Civil War." The stallion suddenly stood up, and its front hooves drew a perfect arc in the air. "Right now in the entire West, there are no more than purebred war horses that can charge into battle."

Luo Xinhua noticed that there were a dozen American youths dressed like Mongolians standing deep in the stable. They were trimming the horse's mane with knives, and their technique was very skillful.

"Americans herd, blacks farm, whites mine, and yellows do business." Hong Tiangui said with a smile, "This is the rule set by Zhao Si for the seven states other than California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and Utah. So most of the cavalry of the American-Western coalition are Americans, but there are also blacks. The Colorado Black Knights are famous!" Another trump card of the twelve western states is the arsenal under the Tiger's Mouth Fortress in Kinmen. The scale of this underground arsenal made Luo Xinhua's pupils shrink suddenly. Twenty granite warehouses extend like a maze, and each door is marked with a bilingual nameplate in Chinese and English - "Rifle Warehouse No. 3: Capacity 10" and "Artillery Warehouse No. 1: 75mm rapid-fire guns × 200".

"It's only a quarter full now." Hong Tiangui's cane knocked on the empty warehouse's steel beams, and the echo rolled like thunder in the cave. "But wait until 1881." He suddenly opened the nearest wooden box, and the smell of gun oil from the newly made Tianli nd rifles of the Jiangnan Factory immediately filled the air. "Tell King Wu that we need to stockpile at least enough weapons and ammunition to sustain a three-year war."

"Dang Dang Dang"

Before Hong Tiangui finished speaking, the alarm in the armory below rang, and then a young staff officer ran in and saluted: "Commander, the lookout has spotted the Federation and British naval formations."

Luo Xinhua's expression tensed, but Hong Tiangui smiled and said, "Let's go and see who is here today."

"Do they come here often?" Luo Xinhua asked as they walked.

"They come here every week," Hong Tiangui said with a smile, "and sometimes they try to break into the Golden Gate Strait. They call this asserting sovereignty! After all, this is still the territory of the United States!"

The bronze telescope of the observation tower of the Tiger's Mouth Fortress slowly turned, and the crosshairs in the tube locked onto two black dots on the horizon. When Luo Xinhua adjusted the focus, the rusted rivets of the British ironclad ship Warrior and the new paint of the federal cruiser Maine became clear almost at the same time.

"It turns out to be an old antique from the Royal Navy." Hong Tiangui sneered and handed over the naval intelligence booklet, "But its armor is 450 mm thick. Our 200 mm guns can only leave dents at 5000 yards." He suddenly turned his head and asked, "When can you get the 240 mm and 305 mm rapid-fire guns? There is news that the British have completed the 254 mm rapid-fire guns and are planning to sell them to the Federal Navy. It is said that the Federal Navy's latest modification of the 'Constitution' will be equipped with 254 mm rapid-fire guns!"

At the same time, New York, on the Hudson River.

The huge silhouette of the USS Constitution, a battleship of the Federal Navy, slowly left the dock. The barrels of the twin 305mm main guns on the bow were still stained with oil, shining coldly in the sunset.

On the viewing platform, Navy Secretary Richard W. Thompson's hand was shaking as he held up a bottle of champagne. "Gentlemen, this 1.5-ton ship took only months from keel laying to launching." He glanced at the Secretary of War and several Republican leaders beside him, "But compared to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's shipbuilding speed, we are still half a beat slower."

"The Shipbuilding Act of 1877 must be passed." John Rogers, a member of the Navy Committee, slammed his fist on the railing. "We must build 15 Constitution-class ships or their improved versions and 30 fast cruisers within five years to completely blockade the West Coast."

Secretary of War McClary suddenly sneered: "Do you know what statement the leader of the California militia made yesterday?" He pulled out a leaflet from his briefcase with a photo of Hong Tiangui at the Hukou Fort in Kinmen printed on it. "He said that for every Constitution-class ship built by the federal government, California will build a California-class ship."

"Haha, isn't that the Zhenyuan class?" laughed Benjamin Franklin Isherwood, director of the Naval Shipbuilding Bureau.

Suddenly, a shrill whistle sounded on the river. The Constitution was conducting a full-speed turn test, and the huge ship plowed muddy waves on the river. A Republican leader from Pennsylvania suddenly lowered his voice: "Some southern Democrats have already relented as long as we agree to further reduce tariffs. But Senator Nicholas Zhaosi from Colorado is always a problem."

(End of this chapter)