Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Second, do not get too involved in political matters, or things will turn out badly.

Back then, Hu Xueyan, relying on his political connections, amassed a fortune in just a few decades that was almost equivalent to the wealth accumulated by the Shu Prince's family over generations. While his business acumen might not have been particularly outstanding, his political acumen was far superior to that of ordinary businessmen.

But so what?

What became of Hu Xueyan after Emperor Yongning ascended the throne?

From immense wealth to death and bankruptcy, it only took a few short years.

This time, Liu Chang'an originally felt that there was not much risk in this trip. At the same time, he could win over the people who still had nostalgia and sympathy for the previous dynasty and present the image of the King of Shu as "loyal and righteous" and "a man of his word" in the general public opinion.

But now it seems that the situation is much more complicated than I originally expected.

How did this involve someone plotting to restore the previous dynasty? This is the most "untouchable slippery slope" right now. Moreover, these people are colluding with the Federation. Most importantly... Li Zongdi has never brought any of this to the forefront. Liu Chang'an has many personal connections in the court and can obtain a lot of information, yet he is completely unaware of this.

It now seems that one of the two purges carried out by Li Zongdi was related to this. It's just a mystery why this old fox has kept such a card hidden until now and hasn't played it publicly.

However, now that his own people are already here, there's no turning back. Regardless of Li Zongdi's plans, Liu Chang'an, who had previously been unwilling to take a political stance, now has to clearly state his position.

"Your Majesty, these are nothing more than some clowns with ulterior motives. It was Emperor Yongning of the Ming Dynasty who lost the hearts of the people and then faded from the stage of history. Your Majesty's actions in bearing the shame of the country have become a beautiful story, and I think other members of the Zhu Ming imperial family also agree with this." After Liu Chang'an finished speaking, he gave Zhu Guangyu a look, and Zhu Guangyu immediately cupped his hands and said, "This humble subject also thinks so."

"In my opinion, these people are not truly loyal to the former Ming Dynasty. What they are trying to emulate is nothing more than the trick of using the emperor to command the princes, which was played by many ambitious people in the past. But I didn't expect that they could use such a trick on Princess Yongning. I wonder if they think that since there are many queens and empresses in Europe, the same thing can be done in the East. In my opinion, the abilities of these clowns are laughable and not worth worrying about at all."

Zhu Guangyu cupped his hands in a gesture of respect again: "This humble one feels the same way."

"Most importantly, since Your Majesty took charge, we have finally reversed the tide on the battlefield and achieved successive victories on land and sea. At present, our country is in fact facing a situation where the whole world is against us. However, given our current military achievements and the gradually spreading epidemic, the Allied countries will tend to compromise and negotiate with us. Your Majesty's past military exploits and achievements over the past year are witnessed by the world. Now, only Your Majesty is qualified to be the emperor of peace in this country! These guys' actions are just making us a laughing stock."

"I also feel that way!"

“Hey—” Li Zongdi waved his hand: “Look at me, we agreed not to talk about state affairs today, but I accidentally brought it up again. It’s my fault. You two don’t need to be so nervous. I consider myself to be tolerant. I know the rights and wrongs of the past, and I won’t involve innocent people. Don’t worry, let’s talk about the children’s business.”

"Yes, yes, let's talk about things between the two children."

Zhu Guangyu felt his back was almost soaked with cold sweat. Before coming here, who would have thought that Princess Yongning was involved in a conspiracy to restore the previous dynasty? People can really scare each other to death. If such a thing happened in ancient times, the final result would probably be at least a case of the level of the four major cases of Hongwu.

“I like Princess Yongning very much, and my eldest son and his wife like her very much too. I am happy to see the two children finally get together and their love blossom. Princess Yongning will continue to hold the title of princess in the Tang Dynasty. After the war is over, the two children will get married as soon as possible. Our grandson really needs a grandson consort to keep him in check.”

Zhu Guangyu, who had just felt like he had fallen into an ice cellar, felt his whole body perk up when he heard the words "Crown Princess". It seemed that Li Zongdi had not held a grudge against them because of those things. Otherwise, would he have given Zhu Miaoyun the position of Crown Princess?

Making her a concubine would be enough!

Now she has actually become the future Crown Prince's consort. If the Li family inherits the throne as smoothly as the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, then Princess Yongning may become the Empress in the future! This is an incredible stroke of luck that they never dared to imagine before!

What Zhu Guangyu didn't know was that the easily understandable expression on his face was actually quite amusing to Liu Chang'an.

Poor Zhu Guangyu was completely manipulated by His Majesty.

Chapter 233 The American people are foolish, yet undeniably naive.

"What kind of things are being sent from China? Can we please stop having those idiots in our country donate supplies to the front lines? If even our factories in the Colombian Federation can't produce enough supplies, what use are a few pieces of clothing donated by those ladies?"

Lieutenant General William Seibert angrily crumpled up a list in front of him and threw it on the ground. He had served as the first commander of the 1st Division of the Colombian Army and, after the Colombian Army decided to participate in the World War, became one of the first commanders of the European Expeditionary Force, leading the first Colombian troops to arrive in Europe in early battles such as the Battle of Cantigny.

Lieutenant General Seibert is currently the highest-ranking military officer of the Colombian forces in Taiwan, and his current volatile temper is likely due to his frustration with those unhelpful and disruptive individuals back home.

For example, the list just now was a collection of winter clothing donated by some citizens and social groups in the country for the soldiers on the front lines. This was mainly because the people in the Federation saw photos of those young men of the expeditionary force wearing thin clothes like piglets, or even only underwear, walking off the transport ship to Yingzhou. Such shocking images greatly touched the sympathy of the people in the Federation, so they launched a large-scale fundraising campaign in the country.

Then all sorts of thick winter clothes were loaded onto the ship and sent to Yingzhou.

This certainly seems to be a manifestation of the unity between the Colombian military and civilians, but Lieutenant General Cybert obviously doesn't think so. He feels that this is just causing him trouble, because he really wants to ask those ladies and wives who are most enthusiastic about donating clothes: although it is indeed winter now, do you know where our troops are fighting?

Borneo!

What is the temperature like in Borneo during winter?

Don't those idiots in China have brains? Don't they ever think about this?

Well, considering the geographical level of most Colombians, this doesn't seem surprising.

Winters are indeed colder in Yingzhou, but these soldiers had blankets on the ship. After they disembarked, we quickly distributed their clothes to them locally. Do we really lack winter uniforms here?

What we lack now is how to get the supplies that are piled up like small mountains in Yingzhou to Borneo!

Of course, besides the direct cause, the most fundamental reason was that Lieutenant General Cybert felt he was really unlucky. After all, as the former commander of the Colombian Army's 1st Division, he could be considered to have a bright future, since he was the first commander of the division.

Although the Federation in this timeline decided to join the war earlier than in the other timeline, and had more time to prepare its troops, ultimately, both Federations shared a common characteristic—before deciding to join the war, neither the Colombian Federation in either world possessed a sufficiently large regular army. They didn't even have a large-scale army combat unit, as the largest combat unit in their forces at that time was the battalion level.

After the Civil War ended, how did the Colombian army, which had been idle for so many years, reorganize its troops? It mobilized new recruits from all over the country to join the army, and then turned these troops into company and battalion-level units. Then, these units were put together. As for how the officers of the regimental and division-level units were selected after they were put together, how did they produce officers?

The brilliant Colombian has a method that no normal person could possibly come up with.

Democratic elections.

While it must be acknowledged that democracy is not a bad thing in many aspects, and even a certain degree of military democracy in the military is beneficial, universal democracy, which is based on subjective choices, is absolutely a recipe for disaster, because everyone knows that such elections will, in most cases, elect a nice guy.

Is it useful for the military to have nice guys? How many commanders who win every battle are nice guys?

Li Guang was more popular and respected by the soldiers than Huo Qubing, but when it came to actual combat, it was a different story.

Regardless of whether the Colombian military's officer selection system was reasonable or not, William Seibert was a beneficiary of it, which shows how popular he was. In the context of World War I, as long as he worked steadily, a smooth career path was within his grasp.

However, he was transferred midway to manage the Colombian army's chemical weapons unit. Although being assigned to manage such a unit could be seen as a sign of the higher-ups' trust in him, being away from the front lines would affect his promotion, at least that's what he thought.

Last year, he also brought his chemical weapons unit to Yingzhou, intending to use it alongside the biological weapons units previously deployed as a trump card for the Colombian army in subsequent operations to capture Dongdu City, which they had been struggling to conquer for so long.

But as we all know, the front lines suffered an avalanche of defeats, and these troops remained on the Yingzhou Islands, never getting the chance to go to the front lines and fight the enemy.

Then, because his military rank was the highest among the Colombian troops in Yingzhou, while Pershing and other senior generals of the expeditionary force were currently trapped in Borneo, he was later appointed by the federal government to take charge of the Colombian troops in Yingzhou.

"Sir, these donations from within the country are also out of good intentions."

Several adjutants and staff officers standing nearby could only come forward to persuade Lieutenant General William Seibert to remain calm.

These officers also knew why their superiors' tempers had been getting worse lately.

Any manager who receives an unreasonable KPI from the chairman would probably not behave better than this general.

It is no longer a secret that at least some mid- to high-ranking officers in the military know that the Tang Empire and the Federation are holding ceasefire negotiations in Anchorage.

Although the content of the negotiations was classified, any military personnel of sound mind could guess where the disagreements lay that had prevented them from reaching an agreement after so long.

Because there are many things in this world that are as obvious as lice on a bald man's head.

Although President Wilson has lowered his stance considerably under the current situation and multiple pressures from public opinion, and has sought the help of the Victorians to further mediate the issue, there are still many people within the Union who are dissatisfied with this approach.

There are also some radicals within the Federation who are unwilling to stop the war. They refuse to acknowledge the defeats suffered by the Colombian army and believe that, given the Federation's massive industrial capacity, these are merely "technical adjustments" over the past two years. After all, some people have already invested heavily in this war, and if the war ends now, not only will much of their previous investment go down the drain, but their long-desired land will also be lost.

Of course, there are also some who simply profited from the war. For them, the outcome of the battle on the front lines is unimportant, as is whether the president is held responsible. After all, the front lines are far from the federal homeland, and as long as the war goes on, their industries, which are like money printing machines, can print money every day.

For these people, disrupting peace talks between the two countries would be entirely beneficial to them.

After all, whether it harms the interests of the Federation or the Tang Empire, whether it is Colombian soldiers or Tang soldiers who die, what loss is there for these people?

Never expect parasites to care about the health of their host.

During this period, William Seibert did not receive many explicit orders from home, but he received a lot of different and even contradictory "hints" from various parties.

Some hoped he would exercise absolute restraint and avoid causing trouble, emphasizing that the most important thing now was to maintain the stability of the current situation and await the final outcome of the negotiations.

Some argued that the federal government's national interests were being betrayed, and that he should take the initiative to use his secret weapons to reverse the tide on the battlefield and gain more leverage for those at the negotiating table.

Every hint seemed to be in the interest of the Colombian federal government, but William Seibert could no longer discern what the real considerations behind each case were.

Although these hints are not formal orders, and theoretically one could pretend not to notice and ignore them, those familiar with history know that many hints are simply impossible to ignore.

The pressure from all sides converged on him for two reasons. First, Pershing was already unconscious on the front lines, making it impossible to increase his strength. Second, he commanded a sensitive force. The Leitanians shocked the world when they first used chemical weapons, although their performance on the battlefield proved that chemical weapons could not effectively break the stalemate. After all, for a major industrial nation, equipping frontline troops with appropriate gas masks and protective equipment is not a particularly difficult task.

For the Tang Empire, this was even easier.

But after all, they were the Colombians who were able to launch the "Federal Southern Collective Warmth Campaign" back then. In terms of the use and tactical theory of these chemical weapons, the Colombians quickly elevated it to another dimension. The Colombians who put forward the corresponding ideas had a simple starting point - you can equip every soldier fighting on the front line with a gas mask, but can you equip so many people throughout the country with gas masks?

Therefore, as long as these chemical weapons are used on ordinary people without protective measures, these terrible reapers will truly show their aggression in front of people.

Chapter 234 Thank God He's finally dead

William Siebert was no fool. Although he was unfamiliar with Eastern history and did not know what had become of a certain Cheng Ji, William Siebert knew very well that many people now expected to use him as a pawn.

Indiscriminate attacks on civilians with chemical weapons are not technically difficult. The Colombian military's chemical weapons units have developed a set of mature attack methods, including using aircraft to spray chemical weapons and deploying "air explosive cannons," which were used on a small scale at the end of the last century, on some second-line naval cruisers to drop poison gas bombs on targets on shore.

However, the range of the "air explosive cannon" is only suitable for attacking coastal ports, and it is almost impossible to even bomb the city center of a coastal city. At that time, most of the aircraft that could be deployed on ships were seaplanes. In this era, there are two types of "aircraft carriers" that can be used to carry aircraft. One is the Royal Navy's HMS Furious, a large light cruiser. This large light cruiser has now had its main gun turrets removed from the stern, and flight decks have been installed in the stern hull and in front of the bridge. To a certain extent, it can be considered a "non-full-length flight deck aircraft carrier" or even an "aviation battlecruiser".

The other one is the HMS Argus, the world's first aircraft carrier with a full flight deck. This aircraft carrier, which was converted from a passenger ship, has a full flight deck that runs through the hull. Its 172-meter length is also sufficient for aircraft of that era to take off from the carrier.

Although the Federal Navy has taken note of these actions by the Royal Victoria Navy, and has even selected a collier named HMAS Jupiter to be converted into an aircraft carrier with a full flight deck later this year, all of that is for the future. For the Colombian military at present, all they have are a few seaplane carriers converted from colliers. A seaplane carrier can only carry 5 to 6 seaplanes. And for aircraft of this era, which are already weak in power, how much load can they carry after adding the floats of seaplanes?

Expecting to win a chemical war using these methods? William Seibert says, "I'm a man with a brain too."

Furthermore, even if existing delivery methods were increased several times or even dozens of times, Cybert himself expressed strong doubts about whether these weapons could play a significant role in actual combat. After all, the lethality of chemical weapons these days isn't that high; to achieve a truly effective result in actual combat, large-scale deployment is required, and even if the delivery volume of current delivery methods were increased several times or even dozens of times, it would still be far from sufficient...

After all, poison gas itself has little weight, but the steel cylinders that store it are quite heavy.

However, this did not prevent these equipment from giving rise to great fantasies among some people in the rear.

This is quite normal. Some third-rate writer also thought that after he got his Strv122, he could easily win by just pressing W. However, the result is often that there are very few 122s left in the queue, while the opposing SU34 has an endless number of Kh38s.

William Seibert's gaze involuntarily turned south. To be honest, he wished General Pershing could be in charge of Yingzhou. If General Pershing were there, no one would notice him, a general with no military achievements, no ability, and nothing to offer except seniority.

If that's the case, then he only needs to follow orders. If General Pershing wants to appease those people and prevent the war from ending, then he will carry out General Pershing's orders to use chemical weapons to add fuel to the fire in the current situation.

If General Pershing is to comply with His Excellency the President's wishes and end the current war as soon as possible, then he should lead his personal chemical warfare unit to remain stationary and quietly await the Victorian mediation results. In the meantime, all the problems that arise for the besieged troops will be dealt with by the taller man.

If that's the case, then everything would be wonderful.

Unfortunately, General Pershing is not in Yingzhou, but in Borneo, and all the pressure is now on him, someone who was never prepared for this.

shit!

After learning of General Pershing's illness, William Seibert frequently sent telegrams requesting that General Pershing return to Yingzhou for treatment. He truly longed for General Pershing's return, but unfortunately, General Pershing stated that he would lead by example and would never abandon his troops. Therefore, he has been staying at the front-line command post despite his illness, leaving William Seibert waiting anxiously in Yingzhou.

However, just as William Siebert was missing General Pershing for what seemed like the umpteenth time, a messenger suddenly stumbled into his office. At that moment, Lieutenant General William Siebert had just finished venting his anger, and the atmosphere in the office was basically like the aftermath of the Führer's hysterical outburst after smashing his pencil. Naturally, the sudden intrusion into such a room drew the attention of both the Lieutenant General and the other "three of us" to the messenger.

"Didn't you know to knock and report before you came in?!" Before the lieutenant general could get angry, a perceptive staff officer had already stepped forward and reprimanded him. This wasn't because the staff officer was being mean or obsequious; he simply knew that although the lieutenant general had been in a bad mood these past few days, if he criticized the soldier first, the lieutenant general wouldn't punish him.

"General! We've received breaking news... The general is dead!"

"Explain yourself clearly, what general is dead?"

"A telegram from the Expeditionary Force Front Command: General Pan's condition worsened last night and he lost consciousness. Just now, General Pan Xing stopped breathing."

After he finished speaking, the messenger offered him a telegram. But no, as the staff officer next to him took the telegram and handed it to him, William Seibert had already walked around the table to stand in front of him while the messenger was speaking, and snatched the telegram away.

The telegram indeed recorded General Pershing's condition over the past two days in considerable detail. It turned out that last night, General Pershing's condition suddenly worsened and he lost consciousness. Although the doctors had tried everything they could, General Pershing's condition did not improve. In addition to a high fever again, the most serious problem was that General Pershing's respiratory system also developed problems.

The abnormal swelling in his throat almost blocked his trachea. During this process, the military doctor cut open General Pershing's trachea and inserted an oxygen tube directly to maintain his breathing. However, in this era without ECMO, current medical methods were simply unable to cope with the multiple organ failure and blood oxygen saturation in Pershing's body. Finally, this morning, General Pershing, who was destined to leave a strong mark on the history of the Union Army, stopped breathing forever.

For posterity, it is difficult to judge whether Pershing died on the battlefield or in a sickbed, but his death is destined to bring tremendous shock to the world situation.

Upon hearing the news of Pershing's death, William Seibert was first overwhelmed with indescribable grief and panic. His grief naturally stemmed from his feelings for the top leader of the Union Army, after all, he was his former superior, and General Pershing had indeed treated his subordinates well. To see such a man who had dedicated his life to the Union Army die on the front lines, not from gunfire, but from bacteria and viruses invisible to the naked eye, how could one not feel sorrow?

The panic stemmed from a deep anxiety about the uncertain future – the commander of the expeditionary force was dead, and they didn't want me to go and fill the hole.

Fortunately, he was still rational and quickly realized that given General Pershing's final condition, he was definitely not the one in actual command of the troops during this period, so he would not be the one to take over this hot potato responsibility.

After figuring this out, William Seibert quickly found himself with a breakthrough, because he suddenly felt that his current predicament seemed, possibly, perhaps... about to be resolved?

That's right, after General Pershing died, our side's situation improved.

Lieutenant General Seibert's military achievements were not particularly high. Although he was transferred to take charge of the chemical weapons unit due to his political reliability, he was not an expert in chemical warfare. Experts in chemical warfare stations must understand chemistry, while he only understood troop organization. Apart from that, his only achievement was that when he first led his troops to Europe, he "helped the troops adapt to trench warfare relatively quickly." Judging from the official evaluation, it can be seen that such content would not have been included unless there was really nothing else to praise.

However, despite his limited military achievements, Lieutenant General Seibert possesses a relatively keen political sense, or rather, he is forced to be sensitive in his current position and situation.

Lieutenant General Seibert was well aware of where President Wilson was stuck. President Wilson was ready to accept a ceasefire, but the problem was that the war had reached this point, and the Colombian Federation had lost so many people in the South Pacific. Who would take responsibility for this?

Although the Federation gained considerable benefits from the war before it broke out, especially the Yingzhou Islands, which were an unexpected windfall, the Federation's people felt that they were "almost" able to take over Borneo.

So who should be responsible for these parts that are to be discarded? No one could answer this question before. Who should be thrown out to the public as a scapegoat?

Now the problem is solved. Although General Pershing made many contributions while he was alive, his contributions after his death were even greater!

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"Oh my God, although I know I shouldn't treat a general with such a distinguished record like this, I have to say, thank God he's finally dead."

Upon hearing the news of General Pershing's death, President Wilson appeared even more relieved than William Seibert.

Two days ago, the Victorians conveyed to the Federation the results of their negotiations with the Tang Empire. The Tang Empire agreed in principle to designate these islands, including Ryukyu and the Philippines, as demilitarized zones in the future. In these areas, they would not set up fortresses, coastal artillery, or naval ports, except for some supply points for refueling and coal replenishment.

Meanwhile, the Tang Empire demanded that the Colombian army immediately and unconditionally withdraw all its combat troops and armed personnel from Ryukyu, Luzon, and Borneo. After the United States and China formally signed all ceasefire agreements with Anchorage, the Tang Empire would lift the naval blockade to allow the besieged federal troops to retreat safely.

President Wilson found these conditions acceptable. The initial decision to move south was partly due to the fact that everyone in the Union was stunned by the unexpected arrival of the Yingzhou Islands. Now it seems that the Union will be lucky to fully understand the Yingzhou Islands in the next one or two decades. Where would they find the extra energy to covet the South China Sea?

After all, the Yingzhou Islands are home to a total of 50 million people. Although Yingzhou's area is only a tiny place compared to the Federation, its population is not insignificant to the Federation, since the current population of Colombia is only 100 million.

This small island is home to half the population of the Federation. Anyone with a basic understanding of these numbers knows that governing Yingzhou is no easy task for the Federation. Since those areas are indeed beyond the Federation's current capabilities, President Wilson would find it acceptable as long as the Tang Empire cannot use them to launch a counterattack against Yingzhou.