Chapter 594: The Unfathomable General Liang

Chapter 587 The Unfathomable General Liang

There is no impenetrable wall in the world. Liang Yao made drastic changes in the West to regularize the militia, establish military schools, expand warehouses in major settlements along the Pacific Railway, and stockpile military supplies and strategic materials. It is impossible to hide it from the eyes of the East.

Of course, Liang Yao did not expect to completely hide it from everyone in the East.

Time waits for no one. Liang Yao can't just avoid the eyes of the East and make no preparations for the upcoming big changes, or make preparations at a slow pace.

On Christmas Day in 1859, Buchanan and his cabinet members were like standing under a shaky house that was about to crack. All the cabinet members and ministers looked anxious and uneasy.

They seemed to be worried that the cracked house of America would collapse at any time, burying the worst American government in history in the eyes of the media and the public.

Liang Yao suddenly carried out large-scale military preparations in the western region. For the Buchanan government, which was already exhausted from controlling the scale of the Kansas Civil War, easing the situation between the North and the South, and trying to save the sluggish economic situation in the east, it was like a house leaking and raining all night, and this rain was a downpour.

Many media outlets have begun to speculate how many troops this youngest American general in the west has under his command.

Some newspapers speculated that the number was 30,000, some were 50,000, and some bold and radical newspapers speculated that Liang Yao had 100,000 troops under his command.

Of course, some media people who are familiar with the inside story of the Liang family believe that the number of troops controlled by Liang Yao is difficult to estimate, and the strength of the Western Consortium is unfathomable.

The overseas colonial troops nominally and actually controlled by the United States also directly or indirectly obeyed Liang Yao's command.

These colonial troops include troops stationed in Hawaii, troops stationed in the Nagasaki Concession in Japan, troops stationed in Ezo Island in Japan, and troops stationed in Hong Kong and Borneo.

Most of these colonial armies belong to Liang Yao's Umbrella Company's mercenary forces, which are private armed forces. The equipment of these private armed forces is even better than that of most of the American regular army. It is also an armed force that cannot be underestimated.

In addition, Umbrella not only has a strong land force, but also a private fleet that once defeated the Dutch East India Company.

This private fleet is equipped with several new steam ironclad ships of the Julang class with a displacement of more than 3,000 tons, which are envied by the admirals of the United States Navy.

Before the Civil War, the main expansion direction of the United States was on the land of the North American continent. Before Liang Yao extended his tentacles to the Pacific region, the United States had almost no overseas interests to maintain and protect.

Therefore, there is naturally no motivation to raise a strong navy to protect overseas interests. Of course, the federal government's pitiful fiscal revenue and military expenditure before the Civil War could not support a strong modern navy.

Not to mention the new Julang-class steam ironclad ships with a displacement of more than 3,000 tons, the United States Navy could not even produce a few sailing warships with a displacement of more than 3,000 tons at this time.

Not to mention that the United States Navy has been facing a serious loss of talent in recent years.

Since the salary of the crew of the Umbrella Fleet is more than twice that of the sailors of the United States Navy, the monthly salary of ordinary sailors in the United States Navy is 8 US dollars, while the monthly salary of the crew of the Umbrella Fleet is 20 US dollars. As for technical crew members and senior crew members such as the chief engineer, navigator, gunner, first mate, and second mate, the salary gap is even greater.

Therefore, many retired or even active United States Navy soldiers and officers have chosen to join the Umbrella Fleet. After all, joining the Umbrella Fleet can not only enjoy better treatment, but also drive more advanced warships.

Even many recruits who have just joined the United States Navy are holding the idea of ​​gilding in the United States Navy and going directly to the Umbrella Fleet to get a high salary after retirement.

The Umbrella fleet was also very happy to give the green light to these former soldiers and officers of the United States Navy.

There are many rumors about this mysterious fleet in the American folk. It is said that this fleet not only defeated the powerful Dutch East India Company fleet in the war for Borneo Island.

Even in the recent trade war between the Qing Dynasty and Britain and France, the Umbrella fleet was employed by the Qing Dynasty and fought the British and French fleet at the mouth of the Pearl River to a draw (a more exaggerated statement is that it defeated the British and French fleet.)

This rumor once inspired the American people and made them feel excited.

As for whether the Umbrella fleet was employed by the Qing Dynasty, and whether it really tied or even defeated the British and French fleet, only those who experienced this war know.

Of course, a small number of senior officials of the Buchanan government also know. After all, the United States is also the winner of this so-called trade war, and the newly acquired Hong Kong Island was not given away by the generous British.

America replaced Britain as the new owner of Hong Kong Island. The Qing government also expressed gratitude to America and even invited America to assist the Qing government in shipbuilding. America took this opportunity to further expand its influence in the Far East. This was the most impressive diplomatic achievement of the Buchanan government during its administration. Apart from this, the Buchanan government had no further achievements in the field of diplomacy.

Liang Yao's uncle Liang Shaoqiong was the governor-general of Liangjiang in the Qing Dynasty. He not only controlled the most prosperous Liangjiang region in the Qing Dynasty, whose population even exceeded that of America, but also controlled the most elite armed forces of the Qing Empire.

Many American conspirators boldly speculated that this armed force was likely one of the armed forces that Liang Yao could dispatch.

Although Buchanan thought that it was ridiculous that Liang Yao could dispatch the Qing Empire army, it was indeed an ironclad fact that Liang Yao controlled almost all of America's overseas colonial armies and had a private fleet.

Thinking of the Western consortiums represented by Liang Yao controlling such a powerful elite armed force. Buchanan couldn't help but feel like a thorn in his back.

At this time, Buchanan had already greeted his predecessor Fillmore cordially with the most vicious language in his heart.

The Western consortium headed by Liang Yao grew rapidly during the two terms of former President Fillmore, who had a close personal relationship with Liang Yao.

By the time he took office, the West had already shown a trend of being too big to be lost, becoming a major problem for the United States.

It's just that the West had always been very obedient to the arrangements of the federal government before, and even cooperated with the tariff inspection, and was not as noisy as those slave states in the South.

In addition, Buchanan himself also needed to rely on the power of the West to expand America's influence in the Far East and eradicate the power of Mormonism. Therefore, Buchanan did not have a strong sense of defense against the West when he first took office.

Of course, Buchanan also had his own difficulties. He was able to become the president because of the votes of the three states on the West Coast. He could not interfere in the internal affairs of the West without any unconstitutional behavior in the West.

When the West suddenly showed its true face and showed its fangs in public, Buchanan was caught off guard. Buchanan and his cabinet members had never considered the problem of the West before.

"A year ago, Republican Lincoln compared America to a big house that was about to crack in his speech." The solemn Secretary of War Scott spoke first, breaking the extremely dull and depressing atmosphere in the office.

"It now appears that the great house of America has not only a crack between the north and south, but also a big crack between the east and west. A house with one crack can still barely hold on for a while, but a house with two cracks may collapse at any time if one of the cracks is not repaired. By then, we will all be buried in this house."