Seven Seas Beacon Fire

"A one-night stand?! What kind of girl was it? Was she an old woman?"

"After I'm laid off today, I can have a good talk with you. I suggest you go back to your seat now. If the higher-ups find out we've been chatting here all this time, we'll probably be punished."

Mark was full of curiosity, but his good brother's suggestion was indeed reasonable. They had to get up at 4:00 every day and stay up until about 9:6 at night for the past six days. This kind of 496 surveillance was really exhausting. He never expected that this kid would still have the opportunity to have a one-night stand under such circumstances.

She's a few years younger than me, so she definitely has more energy.

Mark sighed inwardly, picked up his cup, and moved back to his monitoring post, while Mason Bushnell breathed a sigh of relief after Mark left.

Only he knew that when Mark said he "looked like he was in a good mood," his heart suddenly started racing.

For any undercover agent, the most dreaded thing every day is being exposed. Fortunately, it seems that today it was just me scaring myself.

What Mark said earlier is actually quite right. Although he didn't study psychology for very long, he seems to have a talent for it. Mason Bushnell was indeed in a good mood earlier. After all, as a Chinese person, he would be happy for the civil unrest in the Union.

Mason Bushnell, whose real name is Qiu Mingyang, has a Chinese father and an Iberian mother. He inherited more of his appearance from his mother, so he looks almost like a white person, or more accurately, a typical mixed-race white person from South America.

Therefore, after graduating from high school, he was recruited into the Imperial Guard. After a year of training, he came to the Federation. It has been seventeen or eighteen years since he graduated from high school. Sometimes he almost feels like he is a Colombian. His English is even more fluent than his Chinese. Every night, he tells himself that his name is Mason Bushnell.

He has his own identity and resume in the Federation, and he has successfully joined the Federal Army. In the Colombian army, he was recruited into the newly established Federal Army Intelligence Department because of his outstanding performance. For so long, he has been lying in the deep sea, silently waiting for the moment to be awakened.

Then came the outbreak of World War II. At the beginning of the war, he was even a little excited. He had been pretending for so long, living with a mask on every day, just so that he could contribute to his country at such a time.

However, day after day passed, and he never received the order to awaken himself. He was not awakened when the Federation declared war on the Ming Dynasty, nor when Yingzhou rebelled against the Federation and launched a large-scale landing on Yingzhou's mainland, nor after the battles of the Sulu Sea and the Java Sea.

Later, the Colombian army launched a massive southward campaign, and internal strife broke out within the Ming Empire. After Emperor Yongning's death, a provisional government was established and prepared to make peace with the Colombian Federation, ceding all overseas territories and fiefdoms. At that time, he was on the verge of collapse.

Watching his homeland fall to such a state, and being unable to do anything about it, no one can imagine how Qiu Mingyang has managed to get through all this time. For a while, a terrible thought even crossed his mind: should I just become a Colombian from now on?

I haven't been awakened by the domestic authorities. It's very likely that my connection with the domestic authorities has been severed. No one knows that I'm infiltrating, no one knows that I'm a spy for the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Perhaps I should just live on as Bushnell.

Just when he was at his most wavering, with Li Zongdi, the Prince of Jin, taking over Yingtian Prefecture and expelling the original provisional government, Qiu Mingyang, who had been lying low for 18 years, finally received the signal to awaken himself.

Over the past year, he has finally begun his activities as a spy. The changes in the war situation and the various news from home have delighted him. Whether it is the Ming Dynasty or the Tang Dynasty, different signs mean the same hometown and motherland to those who are abroad.

Now, Qiu Mingyang also knows that the situation is at a critical moment. The series of public opinion crises that the federal government is currently facing naturally originated from domestic factors.

That's why he unconsciously revealed a slight hint of pleasure just now.

However, from his heartfelt perspective, Qiu Mingyang felt that he hadn't done enough, or rather, he felt that things were too conservative in China.

He did do a lot of things this year, but in his opinion they were all trivial matters. He didn't think that the intelligence he passed on played a crucial role, because he knew what kind of intelligence he was sending out.

He had applied to his superior, with whom he had only one line of communication, to take the initiative to carry out the operation, but each time his superior rejected the application, requiring him to carry out the operation while keeping himself as concealed as possible.

He harbored some resentment towards the domestic intelligence agencies. He was not afraid of death or sacrifice; if he were, he would not have chosen to cross the ocean to infiltrate the Federation and change his name from Qiu Mingyang to Bushnell.

While he was still in a daze, a passing carriage suddenly seemed to be startled by the protesters and began to run wildly, causing a commotion. This unexpected scene naturally caught Bushnell's attention.

As the police maintaining order on the perimeter struggled to control the carriage, the commotion caused by the carriage led to some physical clashes between the police forming a human wall and the protesters. However, both sides remained relatively restrained, and the conflict quickly subsided.

After seeing all this, Bushnell suddenly had an idea.

After thinking for a moment, he did not hesitate at all. He left his assigned surveillance position, quickly crossed a block, found a car at an intersection, and got in.

He had just climbed into the car when a man in a suit and top hat, sitting inside, said in a low voice while looking at a newspaper, "I hope you have something truly useful and urgent to report to me, rather than running over here for some trivial matter."

"I think I have a way to solve those problems in front of the White House."

As soon as Bushnell finished speaking, the man in the car looked up from his newspaper at Bushnell. This guy, who had joined the Federal Army Intelligence Service a few years ago, was the kind of person who would do what he was supposed to do but never attracted much attention. This was the first time he had taken the initiative to bring up an idea.

"Tell me."

Although resolving the current troubles outside the White House is not the primary responsibility of the Army Intelligence Service, those within the Service are well aware that their organization is currently only a temporary unit. This is especially true for the senior leadership of the Army Intelligence Service, who understand that only by achieving more remarkable results can they further enhance the Service's standing within the Colombian Federation in the future.

In fact, several high-ranking officers in the Army Intelligence Service were quite envious of their counterparts on the other side of the ocean.

If this guy can actually come up with some effective suggestions that would allow the Army Intelligence Service to make a good impression on the President, then it could further enhance the Army Intelligence Service's future standing.

"Just now, an out-of-control carriage caused a small disturbance. During the disturbance, there was a minor clash between the protesters and our police. Sir, I personally witnessed them hitting our officers."

"so what?"

"So this is no longer an ordinary mob; we have to take strong measures against these guys now."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man sitting in the car, who was reading a newspaper, shook his head in disappointment: "Isn't it just forced suppression? Why do you think His Excellency the President hasn't ordered a forced suppression yet?"

Bushnell clenched his fist heavily: "Simply sending military and police forces to suppress them is certainly not appropriate, so I think we can find a few people to change clothes and disguise themselves among the demonstrators, then deliberately provoke friction among the demonstrators, causing clashes between the demonstrators and our police. At that point, we can send in troops to suppress them."

These words clearly made the guy in the car waver a little.

This does sound like a good idea, since it would at least give the federal government a suitable reason to exert strong pressure. Although the reason might not be very strong, the government's propaganda machine could probably suppress most of the negative impact of this matter.

Of course, all of this ultimately depends on His Excellency the President's decision.

so..........

"Come with me to see the president."

Chapter 219 Anti-Loyalty (2) Fighting Tournament

"Has it come to the point where we need to deploy the army to suppress this?" President Wilson looked at the two men from the Army Intelligence Service. To be honest, given President Wilson's personality, he really didn't want the situation to have reached this point.

It's easy for the president to issue an order to deploy the military, just like Trump casually talked about Canada joining the federation, but the consequences and impacts that come with it must be carefully considered.

Especially for Wilson, the presidential image he had cultivated, which resembled that of a university professor, was likely to suffer a great blow by ordering the military to suppress the rebellion. It should be noted that some presidents who left office in the Colombian Federation still wielded considerable political power. It's not that your political career ends and you can retire after you've finished your term as president.

Wilson didn't want his current ill-considered choice to affect his future.

"Your Excellency, the situation is that over the past week, the number of people gathering outside the White House has only increased. If this continues..."

Bushnell found it somewhat amusing to watch his boss earnestly explaining the pros and cons before the president. Anyone who witnessed this scene would likely have thought that his boss was someone who cared deeply about national affairs.

But Bushnell, who had spent several years in the Army Intelligence Service, knew very well what the people in this relatively young professional intelligence agency had in mind—people who would solve problems if they had them, and even create problems to solve them if they didn't.

It's important to understand that before the Colombian Federation decided to join the world war, the Federation did not have any dedicated intelligence agency. The Army Intelligence Service, which was hastily established less than a week before the outbreak of war, was not only one level lower than the Navy's intelligence agency, but also significantly inferior in terms of organizational maturity and intelligence gathering capabilities.

After all, compared to the army, which only began its hasty expansion a few years before the outbreak of this world war, the navy's large-scale construction began in the 90s. Since then, the federal navy has had an increasing need to collect intelligence on other countries' warships under construction. Therefore, although the Federal Naval Intelligence Bureau was officially established around the same time as the Army Intelligence Bureau, it is one level higher in terms of organization and is more proficient in its operations.

In this situation, the clever people in the Army Intelligence Service quickly found a shortcut to growth and advancement—your actual abilities were not the most important thing; what mattered most was making your superiors see your achievements and think you were important.

For example, right now, the top brass of the Army Intelligence Service is clearly more enthusiastic and concerned than His Majesty the President about the forceful suppression of demonstrators outside.

After all, doing this kind of thing is a very profitable business for the Army Intelligence Service, demonstrating its capabilities to those in power, its privileges to its colleagues in the Army, and its violence and intimidation to the general public.

Moreover, even if things go wrong, when it comes to settling scores later, the Army Intelligence Service can naturally produce documents without any procedural problems to prove that they were merely "acting under orders." In a sense, this can be considered a form of "being dismissed and promoted." However, compared to those guys on the islands of Yingzhou on the other side of the ocean, the Colombian's insubordination is more "mild."

After all, looking back, the Colombian military was a force that, during the Spanish-American War, when the US was not determined to take military action against the Philippines, the federal navy was able to organize and supply the Philippine fleet that attacked Iberia using merchant ships.

To put it more simply, when a high-ranking Colombian government official was making empty threats to a hypothetical enemy, the military leadership directly informed the enemy via hotline that "if we were to launch a military operation, the Colombian military would definitely inform us in advance." Isn't this also a form of subversion?

President Wilson could more or less guess what this incessantly chattering fellow was thinking, but one point he made was crucial: the number of people outside the White House had been steadily increasing. If public opinion continued to escalate and the protests spread from the White House to the entire city of Washington, with large numbers of citizens joining in, then the situation would truly be beyond repair.

"We have never used such violence against white people before..." President Wilson clearly still harbored some lingering restraint. The federal government had used violence against civilians before, but that was against Black people, Mexicans, and other vulnerable people of color. Against these groups, federal police and military could simply storm into entire Black towns, drag all the Black people out, beat them mercilessly, confiscate their property and homes, and destroy their businesses and schools...

But those were Black people.

Black lives are worthless; how can they be compared to white lives?

A life of luxury is precious!

“Your Excellency, it’s not that we haven’t used violence against white people.” Bushnell, who had been silent until now, found President Wilson’s current demeanor somewhat hypocritical and disgusting, so he bluntly pointed out an example that President Wilson and his colleagues might have subconsciously avoided: “During the Civil War, what General Sherman did in the South was far more excessive than what we are doing today, but that doesn’t prevent General Sherman from being a war hero, nor does it prevent President Lincoln from being one of the greatest presidents in American history. As long as our actions and our starting point are for the Commonwealth of Columbia, history will give us a fair evaluation.”

After he said this, Bushnell's superior turned to look at him in surprise. To be honest, he had never known that his subordinate could say something so insightful.

This guy had always been the quiet type, so he was actually quite surprised when he received this suggestion today, because it was almost like Dian Wei offering advice to Cao Cao.

Hearing him say these words now is even more surprising. Is this really the Mason I know? What's even more astonishing than Dian Wei's strategy is that Dian Wei can actually cite classical texts!

"What's your name?" President Wilson asked, a question that clearly made the chattering, nameless nobody boss feel a great sense of crisis.

“My name is Mason, Your Excellency President, Mason Bushnell.”

"Did you come up with that idea just now?"

"Yes."

"Whom do you plan to find to blend into the crowd?"

“There are plenty of thugs on the street. Give them some money and they’ll do anything. Afterwards, these thugs won’t reveal who ordered them because they themselves don’t know.”

"Then which military unit do you think should be sent to suppress the rebellion?"

"There happened to be an armored cavalry unit stationed in the western suburbs of Washington, equipped with Ford machine gun vehicles."

"Are you going to start a fire?"

"The purpose of deploying armored cavalry is to avoid firing. Those Ford Jettas weigh over three tons. They can simply line up and slowly drive forward to disperse the people gathered in front of the White House. If mounted police or cavalry were deployed, they would have to accelerate and run into the crowd, which could potentially cause casualties."

President Wilson nodded, clearly satisfied with the answer. This guy named Mason had obviously grasped the crux of the problem: he wanted to resolve the issue but didn't want to escalate the conflict further, and under no circumstances should guns be used.

"What if some of the protesters are brave enough to refuse to back down even when facing our armored cavalry?" President Wilson asked as his final question.

"Several soldiers can ride on top of the Ford machine gun vehicle. We can select a group of tall, strong soldiers, equip them with wooden sticks and helmets, and let them solve the problem if this happens."

President Wilson nodded in satisfaction, then his gaze swept over the two men in front of him, his eyes seeing right through Bushnell's thoughts. President Wilson's choice to take this risky move was somewhat out of necessity, but he didn't like being used by others.

"Mason, since you came up with the solution, then this matter is entrusted to you." President Wilson directly bypassed his superior and handed the task over to Mason. Mason could feel the coldness in his superior's eyes as he turned around. If he had known it would turn out like this, he would not have brought Mason to see the president; he would have come to see the president himself.

However, such a fierce look was obviously ineffective. Bushnell simply saluted and said, "I understand. Please wait for my good news, Your Excellency."

-------------------------------------

"I never imagined that Washington would be able to host an unrestricted fighting tournament."

Later that day, Li Che looked at the secret telegram sent back from Washington. Perhaps the contents of the telegram were too much for him to bear, reminding him of a certain young general who believed that "glory should not be enjoyed alone." So he couldn't help but vent his frustrations.

He usually doesn't complain uncontrollably like this unless he can't help it.

The telegram detailed the “unrestricted fighting tournament” that took place in Washington yesterday. Faced with the growing number of demonstrators, the federal government finally decided to forcibly clear the area. The Colombian armored cavalry unit had never been deployed to the battlefield since its formation because these Ford machine gun vehicles were simply too small as pocket tanks. They would have difficulty crossing trenches in the western front, and in the east, their reliability was poor in tropical regions. As a result, thousands of machine gun vehicles were left behind in the country.

These Colombian armored cavalrymen, who had no chance to go to the battlefield, successfully demonstrated their bravery on the streets of Washington. President Wilson was not some humorous president who was unaware that his wife had cheated on him and then flew into a rage for her. Although President Wilson was not a military man, he knew very well that the soldiers who performed such missions must be treated well.

Therefore, all Colombian officers and soldiers involved in the operation received a special allowance, which was so generous that it was equivalent to 10 to 15 months of their allowance. In addition, the President waived all their housing costs during their service. That's right, in the United States, soldiers have to buy their own uniforms and pay their own rent after enlisting in the military. The barracks you live in in the military are not free.

The telegram didn't provide further details about whether these soldiers could strike six blows per second, but even if they couldn't, they probably wouldn't be far off.

"An unrestricted fighting tournament?" Li Zongdi was amused by the name. He looked at the director of the Military Intelligence Bureau, who was trying hard to keep his face from laughing out loud: "Was this promoted by your Military Intelligence Bureau's Deep Sea? Well done."

“It’s a deep-sea vessel left over from the Jinyiwei era. We didn’t expect it to bring us such a big surprise. However, it didn’t inform us of this operation beforehand. Even we were caught off guard after it happened.”

The head of the Military Intelligence Bureau was Bai Xiuren, the former head of the Northwest Special Branch. After Li Zongdi took control of Yingtian Prefecture, he quickly merged the Special Branch into the Embroidered Uniform Guard. As the deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he took over this largest intelligence agency in the world left by the Ming Dynasty. It took him several months to sort out a lot of information and processes. Although the Embroidered Uniform Guard's attitude was clearly biased towards Prince Jin during the Jingnan Rebellion, the intelligence agency of the new dynasty must be in the hands of an absolutely reliable person.

The original command center and comrades of the Embroidered Uniform Guard were also very reasonable. Most of them took the initiative to resign or transfer after the handover of their work was completed. Although the current intelligence agency still likes to call them "Embroidered Uniform Guard" in the public and abroad, and even the Embroidered Uniform Guard flying fish relief on the intelligence agency building has not been removed, the current military intelligence agency and the former Embroidered Uniform Guard are two completely different institutions.

“Given the current state of the North American intelligence network, they can’t possibly consult you on everything before taking action; otherwise, they’d miss every opportunity.” Li Zongdi was quite philosophical about it: “I know you’re worried that these lurking deep-sea agents will get out of control in the long run, but that’s a matter for the future. Right now, he’s doing a great job, and I’m sure President Wilson is very satisfied with his performance. And while it seems like he’s solved the problem for President Wilson, it’s ultimately just treating the symptoms, not the root cause.”

“Yes,” Li Che agreed wholeheartedly. “Wilson’s troubles ultimately boil down to problems on the front lines. Unless he can actually summon God to come down and lead the Colombian officers and soldiers out of the encirclement, even if he puts out the fire this time, it will still burn again next time, and it will only burn more fiercely.”

Wilson may seem to have extinguished the fire in front of him, but in reality, his escape route has been burned out. Wilson should now be well aware that he has no cards to play in terms of military means in the short term, so I think he probably wants to try to influence the Victorians on a diplomatic level... or on the issue of loans.

Chapter 220 Prime Minister, are you awake?

Prime Minister Lloyd George laughed heartily when he saw the diplomatic note from the Colombians.

Prior to this, the Colombians were quite dissatisfied with the Victorian government's perfunctory attitude on the Asian battlefield. The Federation had often brought up the wartime loans they had given to the Victorian government. The Colombians' attitude at that time was still fresh in the minds of these officials of the proud and arrogant Victorian Empire.

How long has it been? Why are you talking so nicely now?

Actually, we still prefer your previous rebellious self.

For European countries, the duration and intensity of this world war were beyond anything they had anticipated before its outbreak. After all, more than a decade before the war began, no country had ever used such a massive amount of ammunition in actual combat.

For example, during the Russo-Japanese War in 904, the Russian army consumed approximately 87,000 rounds of ammunition per month. In the entire Battle of Port Arthur, which lasted for five months from the start of the offensive to the end of the battle, the Japanese army fired a total of 289,580 shells.

It's not that the countries had no idea that the consumption of artillery shells would increase in the future war. The French General Staff calculated the standard for artillery shell consumption before the war to be 1.3 rounds per day. In other words, the French army had already taken into account that the amount of ammunition consumed when this world war broke out would be 7 to 8 times higher than 10 years ago.

For the generals at the time, this was generally considered to be a rather lenient figure, considering the enemy's strength.

After all, this number is even more than the amount of artillery shells that NATO can provide to Ukraine every day (it's hard to tell who this is insulting), which is why the University of Tokyo directly refuted the federal accusations – "If we had provided armed assistance to the Russians, the war situation would definitely not be what it is today."

If I were to provide aid to Russia and they only fired a few shells a day, I would feel ashamed!

事实上，在马恩河会战中炮弹的实际消耗量是每天24万发。高卢75毫米火炮炮弹的储备量只能支撑到914年9月份，步枪储备量可以支持到11月份。

At that time, the production of 75mm artillery shells in Gaul could only meet 7% of the demand. In other words, starting in November, the French army's ammunition reserves were already insufficient. By February 1915, the entire French army was short of 700,000 rifles and 1500 75mm artillery pieces. This was Gaul, whose military construction was relatively focused on the army, and which had been advocating offensive operations since the Franco-Prussian War and was always thinking about recovering Alsace and Lorraine.

The predicament faced by the Victorian Empire was only worse than that of the Gallic army. Although people always talked about the heavy howitzers that the British army was equipped with, which were converted from naval guns, why did the British army use those bulky naval guns that were actually not suitable for army use?

Do you really think the British Army prefers its own 9.2-inch gun and doesn't want the Gallic Army's 155mm gun?

In order to win this war and ensure the defeat of the Allied powers, the Victorian Empire nearly emptied its treasury. London, which was the financial center of Europe before the war, was almost destroyed by the war, and the entire country was burdened with huge debts.

A significant portion of these debts can now be forgiven, and all the Victorian Empire needs to do is give a little bit of face—really, just a little bit.