Chapter 620 The General’s Dilemma
August 1901, 8, on the border of Texas and Arkansas, in the town of Texarkana.
Not only is it very close to Kansas, it's also very close to Oklahoma.
Major General Charles P. Summerall stood beside the tracks at the station, looking anxiously at the distant horizon.
Logically speaking, a general like him should be sitting in the camp studying battle plans and troop deployment.
But of the 4000 militiamen the federation promised him to mobilize, less than have come so far.
According to Root, the remaining soldiers will arrive within half a month.
Major General Summerall really wanted to curse.
Whether in the Philippines or earlier, he had never fought such a useless battle.
The order given to him from above was to assemble here.
The President is in the final round of communication with the state government regarding the Texas independence referendum.
McKinley had issued an ultimatum.
If the people of Texas do not give up this idea, Major General Summerall's 35,000 men will immediately enter Texas and march towards Austin.
The Marine Corps, which has been repairing in Texas for more than a month, will also advance eastward and attack Austin with the Major General's troops.
Brigadier General Kent, who was passive in his work, was directly dismissed from his post and replaced by Brigadier General Mills.
After the latter came, he reorganized the army and ordered all officers and soldiers who were unwilling to fight the Chinese to get out.
The number was less than half.
Brigadier General Mills stationed this force on the border of Oklahoma, always monitoring the movements of the Chinese army.
He waited for Major General Summerall and the others to deal with the Texas gang first, and then attack the Chinese together.
"Damn it, why hasn't the troop train arrived yet?"
Major General Summerall took out his pocket watch and glanced at the time.
"Could Chen be up to something?" The adjutant on the side looked at the horizon and scratched his head.
"Probably not. He just had a fight with Texas and lost. He won't help those Texas guys."
The major general put his hands on his hips and stroked the beard on his chin.
He remembered the telegram sent to him by the president.
"Mr. Hanna has stabilized them, and Chen said he would consider continuing to attack the Texas militia."
The major general turned his head and looked at his adjutant:
"And if he was planning to do something evil, why did he agree to use his company's train to send our soldiers here?"
The adjutant thought about what the chief said and felt that it made sense.
You know, most of the four thousand soldiers gathered so far came on Chen Jianqiu's train.
"Let's go, let's go, it looks like we can't wait today." The major general turned around and prepared to lead people back to the camp.
However, at this moment, a fast horse galloped from a distance.
The major general stopped.
The horse soon came to him, and the man on the horse jumped down.
The major general could clearly see the appearance of the person coming.
Was an employee of the railroad company.
"Sir! The train, the train won't come today!" he gasped.
The major general pointed to his pocket watch and said nothing, roughly saying, "Do you need to tell me this?"
The employee continued: "Because, because the tracks were stripped."
The major general looked at him in bewilderment:
"The rails have been stripped? Can't we just reconnect them? Is it difficult?"
He simply couldn't understand this logic.
Is this the reason?
absurd!
"It's not just that one section of the railway was demolished. On the way here, every other section of the railway was demolished!" The employee said with a sad face, "We repaired one section, and another section of the railway was demolished. How can we repair it as quickly as the others? ?”
The major general was silent.
His face was very ugly.
"Let's go back to camp!"
After returning to the main camp, Major General Summerall sent a telegram to Root, telling the Minister of War what happened here.
"If there is no solution to this matter! Then this battle cannot be fought!" the major general said.
Root told Mr. President the matter step by step, saying that he had no good solution.
McKinley was no fool, he had a clear mind.
He knew that it was most likely Chen Jianqiu's fault again.
However, he had no evidence.
The major general is right. If the army's material and troop transportation are still in the hands of an opponent with a Schrödinger attitude, this war will not be fought at all.
Enemies who have rebelled can still openly do business in the country, make money, and disgust the government.
This is shocking in other countries, even feudal empires.
But the president had no idea what to do.
The United States at the end of the 19th century was a country where capitalists had the final say.
Even if you declare war on capital, it must be reasonable and legal, and you must not use state machinery!
Once the federal government uses administrative orders to interfere with company operations, such as forced confiscation of assets or the like, other shareholders and vested interests will never agree.
If your government dares to deal with Chen Jianqiu today, won't it deal with me tomorrow?
The president could not touch the behemoth Western Railway Company.
He tried to get prosecutors to prosecute Chen Jianqiu in various states.
But the Chinese leader's "I Have a Dream" speech "live across the United States" has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Coupled with the image of "American hero" established by Chen Jianqiu during the Spanish-American War.
A considerable number of people expressed support and sympathy for the Chinese people's experiences.
They didn't declare independence at all, they were just acting in self-defense!
And the weight of legitimate defense in the hearts of Americans is too heavy.
Therefore, prosecution for treason will definitely not work.
What about throwing dirty water?
Eh, no, it seems that Boss Chen is better at this.
No one understands the power of a mop dipped in shit better than he does.
As for finding some business reasons, it is even more difficult.
The person in charge of the IRS is obviously lying on the ground now, "he is in the business but his mind is in trouble". The most useful method in the past is to find loopholes in taxation.
To put it bluntly, even if we can find it, we still need to collect evidence, right?
Sometimes, McKinley even thought that it would have been better if Chen Jianqiu's people had broken into the parliament and tied him up.
That would give him a reason to arrest him directly.
You are a hero after all, why do you do things so sloppily?
Chen Jianqiu lives in Washington in such a grand manner.
He thought about it and decided to ask Rockefeller and Morgan for help.
Since it is all about capital, let them face off in the capital market.
Let heroes fight heroes! Let the good guys deal with the good guys!
Morgan decided to take action.
Big Nose has long coveted control of the Western Railway Company.
The original agreement with Chen Jianqiu to rule the east and west was done out of necessity.
Morgan dreamed of taking the entire country's railway system into his own hands.
After learning that Chen Jianqiu had been staying in Washington recently, he rushed there from New York and wanted to talk to Chen Jianqiu.
"Boss, there is news from Inspector Holiday that the federal frontline troops are complaining about the railroad lines being cut off."
In Chen Jianqiu's house, his personal attendant A Niu reported to him.
Chen Jianqiu put one hand behind his back and played with a white ivory ornament on the table with the other.
He snorted.
"If I were that general, I would send my own people to lay the railway tracks. A good army should dig mountains and build bridges when encountering water. If you can't do this, why fight?"
At this time, a Border Detective Agency detective in charge of security suddenly appeared at the door of the study.
"Mr. Chen, there is a Morgan from New York who first said that he would come in to see you if he has something to do!" he said.
"Let him come in." Chen Jianqiu nodded.
The detective responded and was about to turn around and leave.
Chen Jianqiu suddenly remembered something and stopped him.
"Are those plainclothes Secret Service agents still at the door?" he asked.
"Yes, sir, as you ordered, we did not expel them." The detective said respectfully.
He raised his head with a hint of chill in his eyes: "If you think they are too much trouble, we can"
Chen Jianqiu smiled and waved his hand:
"No, I just want to give them some sandwiches and hot coffee. It's not easy for them, and they work part-time."
The detective took the order, turned and left.
After a while, crisp footsteps came in from outside the door.
Chen Jianqiu knew without even looking that it was the American tycoon who was racing on Wall Street.
I didn't finish it last night, and then I forgot about it, so I just finished it in the morning.