Chapter 595 You May Be a Little Too Extreme

Chapter 588 You are a bit too extreme

"Secretary Scott, in your opinion, which crack of this house do you plan to repair first? And how do you plan to repair this crack?" Treasury Secretary Howell Cobb asked Scott coldly.

"Of course, from easy to difficult, we will repair the smaller crack first." Scott said in a very tough attitude, "Mr. President, I suggest that Liang Yao be relieved of his post as commander of the Western Brigade and his rank of brigadier general. Liang Yao's core team is the Western Brigade. As long as we can get the Western Brigade out of Liang Yao's control, we can slowly dismantle and divide this armed force."

Scott's idea is to slowly dismantle the Western Brigade to eliminate the most threatening armed force in the West.

When Kruger, the head of the Arizona Regiment of the Western Brigade, built a group of fortresses in North Platte, Scott had a premonition of the secession tendency in the West.

Even if Scott had a premonition, given the tense situation between the north and south in the east, which could lead to an accidental conflict at any time, Scott could do nothing and could not mobilize enough military forces to solve the separatist tendency in the west.

"Minister Sturt, you seem a bit too extreme. We currently do not have a strong enough reason to remove Liang Yao's rank and position. Moreover, even if we remove Liang Yao's rank and position, will he obediently hand over the command and control of the Western Brigade?" Secretary of State Lewis Cass disagreed with Scott's proposal, believing that Scott's proposal was too radical and risky, even absurd.

"In addition, Liang Yao's post as the commander of the Western Brigade has been revoked. Do you plan to let that general take over this elite brigade of the United States? You know, most of the soldiers and officers of the Western Brigade are Chinese. Do you plan to send a general who can't even speak Chinese to be the commander of the Western Brigade?"

"If Liang Yao refuses to obey the orders of the War Department, it will be great. We can justifiably cut off the military pay and weapons supply of the Western Brigade! He will also become a rebel despised by the people of the United States."

Scott still insisted on his own opinion. One of the divisions between the East and the West and between the North and the South must be resolved first, otherwise the situation in the United States will deteriorate to a point where it is difficult to deal with.

"Minister Scott, I have to remind you that the federal government pays the soldiers of the standing regiment $8 per month, and it is difficult to exceed $10 including various allowances. The soldiers of the Western Brigade can actually get more than $20 per month. Do you think that with the economic strength of the Western Consortium, they will not be able to pay this money?"

Howell Cobb was relatively rational, and he refuted Scott's radical suggestions one by one. Howell Cobb believed that Scott was desperate and directly dismissed Liang Yao from the Western Brigade. It was a bad move that could not be worse.

"Minister Scott, don't you know that the arms of the Western Brigade are completely independent of our supply?"

Howell Cobb did not forget to add that he believed that Scott and other hawks really did not know the cost of firewood, rice, oil and salt, based on his understanding of the economic and financial conditions of the three states on the west coast, especially California.

After the tax-free preferential policies for industrial and mining enterprises were gradually cancelled, the financial pressure on the three states on the west coast, especially California, has gradually eased.

With the financial resources of the three states on the west coast, they may not be able to afford an armed force of 50,000 or 100,000 people, but they are more than enough to supply a regular armed force of 30,000 people.

Even so, the Umbrella Company's mercenary group and the private armed forces of other chaebols in the west have not been counted.

The west has a complete military-industrial system, and the materials needed for the war can be self-sufficient. The core area of ​​the west, the three states on the west coast, is far away from the core area of ​​the eastern United States, and is only connected to each other by a fragile Pacific Railway. Moreover, the section of the Pacific west of Omaha is still completely controlled by the Western Consortium.

Obviously, the East cannot send enough troops to the West in a short period of time to form an effective military deterrence to the West, force Liang Yao to resign, and gradually disarm the Western Brigade.

Furthermore, although the current Western Brigade claims to be the Western Brigade, only three regiments are recognized by the Ministry of War. In fact, the Western Brigade should be called the Western Army, or even the Western Army Group.

The current standing regiments of the United States, including the three regiments of the Western Brigade, do not exceed 20, and most of the elites in these standing regiments come from the South.

As for the recent preparations for the North and the South, the number of their regularized militias is large, but these forces are not military forces that the federal government can directly mobilize, but also private armed forces of the states. They identify much more with their own states than with the federal government.

After weighing the pros and cons, Secretary of State Lewis Cass did not forget to add a knife and said to the cabinet members of the Buchanan government in the office: "I have to remind you that the tariff revenue of the West accounts for nearly one-third of the total tariff revenue, second only to the tariff revenue created by the southern cotton for the federal government, and is one of our main sources of fiscal revenue. If we completely tear our faces with the West, it means that we are likely to lose the tariff revenue of the West."

As soon as Lewis Cass said this, the office fell into silence again.

Previously, the West had never obstructed the federal government from imposing tariffs on the western region, and even cooperated quite well. Once the table is turned with the West, it is hard to say whether the West will cut off this part of the federal government's tariff revenue.

In fact, it is not only the West that has regularized the militias of various states. The eastern states regularized the militias much earlier than the West.

After the West began to regularize the militias, the reaction inside and outside Washington was so intense. In the final analysis, the Yankees and Dixies in Washington did not recognize the Chinese in the West.

It’s just that there are more important conflicts to be resolved at the moment. The politicians in Washington have suppressed this matter in their hearts, and they are tacitly aware of it and have not put it on the table.

Buchanan had a flash of the idea of ​​taking this opportunity to let the North and the South temporarily put aside the dispute and solve the problem in the West first.

But soon, Buchanan gave up this idea.

First of all, all states are regularizing the militias. It is difficult to convince the public to rashly attack the West on this ground.

Secondly, now is not like 20 or 30 years ago, when the North and the South could sit in the parliament and discuss things calmly. At most, they would quarrel and greet each other with genitals and excrement. Instead, the members of the North and the South, regardless of their status, directly fought in the parliament.

The grievances and hatreds accumulated by the North and the South for decades cannot be put down just by saying so. Buchanan does not have such great charm to make the representatives of the North and the South shake hands and make peace, and persuade them to divide the big cake of the West like dividing the territory of Mexico. Moreover, the West is not a weak Mexico that can be manipulated by anyone.

In the past ten years, there are not a few elite families in the North and the South who have married with the Western elites for economic interests. On the contrary, the hatred between the North and the South has become deeper and deeper, and they have no contact with each other.

These big families in the East that have married with the Western elite families are unlikely to give up their vested interests because of a bill of Buchanan. If the elites of the states of the United States really had this awareness, they would not have argued over the issue of the existence of slavery for more than 80 years without a result. In the face of real interests, no one is willing to make concessions.

Thirdly, Buchanan has never been a president with courage. His term is about to end, and there is no hope for re-election. Buchanan also does not want to be accused of triggering the civil war at the end of his term, be nailed to the pillar of shame in American history, bear the infamy himself, and pave the way for the next president.

Scott covered his face and rubbed his temples hard, trying to think of a better way to solve the current problem of the secession tendency in the West.

After a long time, Scott suddenly had an idea, and it seemed that he had thought of a better way.