America 1869: A Doppelganger Every Day

"General, if you want to completely control the Far East and safeguard this foundation, besides the serious matter of harboring bandits, there are two other things you must do."

"First: You need to have your own loyal troops."

"You must gain complete control over all the army and navy in the Far East."

"Only by completely controlling these troops can you guarantee your own safety. Otherwise, if something happens to you, all your efforts will be for the benefit of others."

"Secondly, if you only rely on your subordinates to obey you, there is still a possibility of unexpected problems."

"If one of your lieutenants or subordinates gathers a large number of men or gains the support of others, they may replace you."

"Therefore, in this situation, you must have a community of shared interests and control over the economic resources of these soldiers and their subordinates."

"Only a community of shared interests can help you develop the Far East!"

"Only when you control the financial resources of these absolutely loyal subordinates and soldiers can you ensure their unwavering loyalty in protecting you."

"To give a simple example."

"Once you have complete control of the Far East, you can choose to develop coal with others, or even fish with others."

"And you can stipulate that a portion of your share of the profits belongs to your soldiers."

"In this situation, if your soldiers overthrow you, their gains will be reduced, so even if a few have ulterior motives, they will be dealt with by the others."

"Or we can use the American method."

"General, you can divide the Far East into dozens of districts, or even hundreds of districts just in case."

"Each district has a certain degree of autonomy, and you control personal income tax, land tax, import and export tax, and other taxes that are similar to those in the United States."

"The other rights are left to the individual autonomous regions."

"The rulers of these autonomous regions will become your staunch supporters."

"They understand very well that if the country falls into chaos, they will lose their position."

"By the same token, you are responsible for the treatment of all the military personnel in the entire country."

"If something happens to you, the country will be in turmoil, and the soldiers will not have a good life."

"Doing this may sound like delegating a lot of power, but in fact it creates a balance."

"This balance is primarily aimed at you, General."

"As long as the Far East is unified, as long as you, General, remain in this position, the people of each autonomous region will benefit, and the soldiers will be able to live a peaceful life."

"If anything happens to you, the various autonomous regions will fall into chaos, and your soldiers will not only lose their good treatment, but may even be in danger."

"Therefore, the people of the autonomous region need peace so that they can benefit, and the soldiers need peace so that they can live well."

"This ensures your absolute safety. In this environment, you will grow rapidly in just eight to ten years. If it takes longer, your family will become increasingly powerful."

"Before you pass away, if possible, pass it on to your next generation. This will allow your family to accumulate more wealth. Even if it is passed down to the next generation, your family will have already risen to prominence."

"What will you have to worry about then?"

The general who still doesn't have a name, let's just call him the Far East General for now.

At this moment, I was completely smitten.

Next, he discussed things with Li Changsheng's clone, Bickley, for three days and three nights.

After the plan was finalized, the two of them decided to tackle the first issue together.

First, bind everyone together as a community of shared interests.

The Far East General briefed Bickley on the current situation in the Far East.

Besides the general, there were several deputies and several key figures in the Pacific Fleet.

Once these people are convinced, they can begin the first step of the Far East plan.

Thus, a military conference in the Far East began.

When the Far East General presented the tax revenue data for that period during the meeting, everyone present stared wide-eyed.

Seeing everyone's reaction, the Far East General spoke directly.

"No one in China is willing to immigrate to this part of the Far East, so developing the Far East is impossible."

He had no idea that in the future, a hundred or so people would gradually gather here, and that after the war ended, the number of people here would exceed 800 million.

Given the current situation, it's highly unlikely that anyone would be willing to come.

Others shared the same idea.

However, before they could speak, the Far East General continued.

"We've been in the Far East for so long, and we haven't had a single good day. We don't even know when we'll have another one."

"at the same time."

"Even if we leave the Far East one day, we won't have made any contributions. If we go back, we'll just be waiting to retire."

"We can see the end of our lives from the very beginning."

"But now I've discovered a completely new possibility."

"Follow Victor's method."

"We don't need Han Chinese to settle in our Far East. We only need Han Chinese to work, and that will bring us a lot of tax revenue."

"At the same time, it can make our Far East more prosperous and attract more people from within the country to come here."

"With more people, the Far East will develop better. We will collect more tax revenue, and both the army and navy will benefit greatly."

"Let's not talk about the glory and potential rewards later on, let's just talk about what's in front of us."

"If we can increase our tax revenue by tens or hundreds of times, then the extra money can make us rich, allow our families to live a good life, and even develop into a large family."

"If only we could enable their soldiers to live a good life and become rich."

"In the long run, as long as this place develops well and more people from China come here, we will send these Han people back again."

"Not only will this have no impact on the Far East, it will also help the Far East develop. They will all benefit from it. When the country finds out that we have developed the Far East, they will reward us."

"Money, status, and honor are all ours."

"I only tried it once before, and now I want to put it into practice."

"If you all agree, then let's do this together."

"If you all disagree, I will have those Han people sent back right now, and we can pretend this never happened. But I can't guarantee that there won't be another good opportunity like this in the future."

This was the first idea that Li Changsheng's clone, Bickley, gave to the Far East General: to deceive everyone.