1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 588 You seem to be a little too extreme

"Minister Scott, as you see it, which crack in this house do you plan to repair first? And how do you plan to repair this crack?" Finance Minister Howell Cobb asked Scott coldly.

"Of course, starting from the easy to the difficult, let's repair the smaller cracks first." Scott said with a very strong attitude, "Your Excellency, President, I recommend that Liang Yao be relieved of his position as commander of the Western Brigade and that Liang Yao be relieved of the rank of brigadier general. The core team of Liang Yao's army is the Western Brigade. As long as the Western Brigade can be separated from Liang Yao's control, we can slowly dismantle and divide this armed force. "

Scott's idea was to slowly dismember the Western Brigade to eliminate the greatest threat to the West.

When Krueger, commander of the Arizona regiment of the Western Brigade, was building a group of forts in North Platte, Scott had a premonition of the secessionist tendency in the West.

However, even if Scott had already had a premonition, given that the situation between the north and the south in the east was already tense and a gunfire could occur at any time, Scott was helpless and could not mobilize enough military power to solve the problem of separatist tendencies in the west.

"Minister Stett, you seem to be a bit too extreme. We currently do not have strong enough reasons to remove Liang Yao from his military rank and position. Furthermore, even if we remove Liang Yao from his military rank and position, will he obediently hand over the western region? Command and control of the brigade?" Secretary of State Lewis Cass disagreed with Scott's proposition, believing that Scott's proposition was too radical and risky, and even ridiculous.

"In addition, you have removed Liang Yao from his position as commander of the Western Brigade. 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 Chinese-speaking general? A general who doesn’t know how to speak becomes the brigade commander of the Western Brigade?”

"If Liang Yao refuses to obey the orders of the Ministry of War, then the best thing is that we can justifiably cut off the Western Brigade's military pay and weapons supply! He will also become a rebel despised by the people of the United States."

Scott still insisted on his opinion that one of the issues of division between East and West and North and South must be resolved first, otherwise the domestic situation in the United States will deteriorate to the point where it is difficult to deal with.

"Minister Scott, I have to remind you that the salary paid by the federal government to the soldiers of the standing regiment is 8 US dollars per month. Counting various allowances and subsidies, it is difficult to exceed 10 US dollars. And the soldiers of the Western Brigade pay 8 US dollars per month. The actual salary they can get is more than 20 US dollars. Do you think that with the financial strength of the Western Consortium, they will not be able to afford this money? "

Howell Cobb was relatively rational, and he refuted Scott's radical suggestions one by one. Howell Cobb believed that Scott was seeking medical treatment because of his illness, and directly dismissing Liang Yao from his post in the Western Brigade would be an extremely stinky move.

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

Howell Cobb did not forget to add that he believed that hawks like Scott really did not know the price of food, rice, oil and salt, based on his understanding of the economic and fiscal conditions of the three West Coast states, especially California.

After successively canceling tax exemption policies for industrial and mining enterprises, the financial pressure on the three West Coast states, 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 it is more than enough to supply a regular armed force of 30,000 people.

This does not include the mercenary group of Umbrella Company and the private armed forces of other conglomerates in the west.

The West has a complete military-industrial system and can be self-sufficient in the materials needed for the war. 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 Ocean west of Omaha is still completely in the hands of the Western Consortium.

Obviously, the east was unable to send enough troops to the western region in a short period of time to form an effective military deterrent to the west, coerce 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 Group Army, which is more appropriate.

The United States currently has no more than 20 standing regiments, including the three regiments of the Western Brigade, and most of the elites in these standing regiments come from the South.

As for the North and the South, which have been gearing up recently, they have a large number of regularized militias. However, these forces are not military forces that the federal government can directly mobilize. They are also private armed forces of the states. They identify with their states much more than they identify with the federal government. degree.

After weighing the pros and cons, Secretary of State Lewis Cass did not forget to make up for it and said to the Buchanan government ministers in the office: "I have to remind you that the tariff revenue from the West accounts for nearly one-third of the total tariff revenue. One, second only to the tariff revenue generated by southern cotton for the federal government, is one of the main sources of our fiscal revenue. If we completely break up with the West, it means that we will probably lose the tariff revenue from the West."

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

The West has never obstructed the federal government from imposing tariffs on the Western region before, and has even cooperated quite a bit. Once the conflict with the West breaks out, it is difficult 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 formalized the militia of various states. The eastern states have formalized the militia much earlier than the west.

After the western part of the country began to formalize the militia, the reaction inside and outside Washington was so intense. In the final analysis, the Yankees and Dixie guys in Washington had a relatively low level of identification with the Chinese in the west.

It's just that there are more important conflicts to resolve at the moment. Politicians in Washington have kept this matter in their hearts and have tacitly understood it with each other without putting it on the table.

The idea of ​​using this opportunity to let the North and the South put aside their disputes temporarily and solve the western issue flashed through Buchanan's mind.

But Buchanan soon gave up on the idea.

First, each state is formalizing its militia and using this as an excuse to launch attacks on the West. This reason is difficult to convince the public.

Secondly, it is no different now than 20 or 30 years ago, when the North and the South could sit calmly in the parliament and have a good discussion. At most, they would get red-faced and greet each other with their genitals and excrement. Instead, the members of the North and the South did not care about their status. The government directly took action in the parliament.

The grievances and hatreds accumulated by the North and the South for decades cannot be put down simply by letting go. Buchanan also does not have such great charisma to make the representatives of the North and the South shake hands and persuade them to work together to carve up the territory of the West just like the territory of Mexico. This big cake. Furthermore, the West is not a weak Mexico that can be manipulated by others.

In addition, in the past ten years, there have been many elite families from the north and the south who have entered into marriages with western elites for economic gain. On the contrary, the hatred between the north and the south has become deeper and deeper, and they have stopped communicating with each other.

It is impossible for these large eastern families who have married into western elite families to give up their vested interests just because of Buchanan's bill. If the elites of every state in the United States really had this consciousness, they would not have been arguing over the issue of the survival or abolition of slavery for more than eighty years without any resolution. In the face of real interests, no one is willing to make concessions.

Thirdly, Buchanan has never been a courageous president. His term is coming to an end and there is no hope of re-election. Buchanan also did not want to be accused of triggering the Civil War at the end of his term and be nailed to the pillar of shame in American history. He would bear the infamy and pave the way for the next president.

Scott covered his face and rubbed his temples vigorously, trying to think of a better way to solve the current problem of Western secession.

After a long time, Scott suddenly had an idea and seemed to have thought of a better way.