Wild North America 1846

Chapter 351 Just drag it on

Winning a complete victory in the Second Battle of Detroit means that this important industrial city in the Great Lakes region is not far away from its final fall. It is just a matter of time.

The complete occupation of Michigan and its capital Detroit meant that the second phase of the Tang Kingdom's military operations came to a perfect end.

In this stage, the goal was to capture the important industrial cities of the Great Lakes, including Chicago and Detroit, and the vast surrounding areas. It carried out large-scale operations to clear out the countryside and suppress bandits, and implemented the "vacate the cage and replace the bird policy" to achieve the goal of permanent occupation.

The Tang Kingdom will immigrate more than one million people to the Great Lakes region and the surrounding seven states in 2 to 3 years, with the intention of firmly controlling the region.

Swallowed and thoroughly digested, it transformed into the strong national heritage and territory of the Tang Kingdom.

As an important industrial city on the Great Lakes, Detroit is endowed with favorable conditions for the development of heavy industry, machinery and equipment manufacturing, and is an excellent channel for exporting agricultural products to Europe.

Leaving the port of Detroit and heading northeast for more than 300 kilometers, you enter the Toronto Canal. After crossing the canal, you enter the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic voyage from Vancouver Prince Island to Europe only takes more than 10 days. Maritime transportation is extremely convenient.

Of course, if you want unimpeded trade with Europe, you must maintain close and friendly relations with London.

The entire canal shipping channel exporting to Europe is in the hands of British Canada, and the propriety in this process is worthy of careful consideration.

Richard has made up his mind that such an important canal trade agreement will not be negotiated in the next few years. With the current British Prime Minister Lord Henry John Temple's hostile attitude towards the Tang Kingdom and the rise of Eastern forces in North America, it is impossible to negotiate.

What good results are coming.

Anyway, the term of this British cabinet has already passed for a year and a half. If it doesn't work, we can wait for another two and a half years until Prime Minister Temple steps down. This is not a matter of urgency.

The canal trade treaty between Tang and Britain will involve many sensitive and complex political issues, including the signing of the war treaty with the United States, the recognition of occupied territories, and whether the Great Lakes states occupied by the Tang Kingdom are applicable to the treaty signed by Britain and Tang.

reciprocal trade agreements, preferential tariff arrangements, canal tolls and a series of other issues.

Without a good political environment, it is difficult to achieve ideal results.

Once a similar important treaty is signed, it will be implemented for 50 years, 100 years or even longer. Unless there is a subversive change in the relationship between the two countries, such as becoming a hostile country, it will continue to be implemented for a long time and will not change easily.

So this involves the principle of collecting canal tolls. Is it based on voyage or deadweight tonnage? Or is it based on gross tonnage, empty or half-loaded? How to set the rate, and whether to charge an additional entry and exit fee?

Customs tax?

Therefore, this is a troublesome problem that must be solved.

Standing on the classic European balcony

Richard had a thick Cuban cigar in his mouth. He took it off after taking a deep breath. The strong smell of tobacco lingered around him, mixed with the cold winter breeze, which made people feel refreshed.

The remaining snow in the manor has melted away, leaving only a hint of white snow in the shady areas, and the weather is getting warmer again.

Hearing the footsteps behind him, Richard turned around and saw that it was Viscount Dong Jie, the head of the Royal Secretariat, accompanied by Liu Xianjun, the newly appointed Prime Minister in July.

Seeing His Majesty turn around and look over, Prime Minister Ryu Xianjun immediately stopped and bowed respectfully with both hands clasped in his fists. He said with excitement, "Congratulations to Your Majesty, congratulations to the Kingdom of the Tang Dynasty. The great victory in the Battle of Detroit has been reported. We wiped out more than 270,000 enemy troops and lost less than 63,000 of our own. One battle determined the outcome of the battle. Our army of the Tang Kingdom is so powerful!"

"We are all happy together, Liu Aiqing is exempt from the ceremony."

Richard stretched out his hand to help him slightly, and couldn't help but reveal a confident smile on his face.

This battle killed more than 148,000 enemies and captured more than 123,000 people. It was another glorious victory after the Battle of Des Moines County, the Battle of Kansas, the complete annihilation of Sherman's Corps, and the Battle of Chicago.

From the beginning of the war in 1860 to the present, the powerful army of the Tang Kingdom has brought victory after victory, which has greatly inspired the people across the country to have high morale and confidence, enhanced national cohesion, and made the Chinese national pride unprecedentedly high, not to mention There is a lot to gain from opening up territory for the kingdom!

"Give me a seat and watch tea. Today, I will sit down with Liu Aiqing and discuss the affairs of the world."

"I thank the Lord for his kindness, but I feel ashamed to deserve it."

"You and I have known each other very well for a long time, so Liu Aiqing doesn't need to be humble."

Richard sat down with a calm expression. Next to him was the palace maid Liu Shui, who served him fragrant tea, exquisite refreshments and hot towels. Viscount Dong Jie stood aside politely. As a domestic servant, he had no seat in front of His Majesty. .

Prime Minister Ryu Hyun-jun sat on his buttocks in an orderly manner, with his upper body straight and his lower body sitting sideways. He first talked about the gratifying current war situation for a while, and finally talked about the troubles caused by the British government's repeated pressure.

"...

His Majesty's reply to Her Majesty Queen Victoria's letter did not alleviate the concerns of the British Cabinet.

Prime Minister Temple and Lord Admiralty Lord Heinkel, the British Foreign Secretary, the Secretary of State for the Colonies and many other heavyweight members of the cabinet expressed serious concern about the situation in North America through different channels.

His Majesty the French Emperor Napoleon III has sent Count Santis as a special envoy and is expected to arrive in the near future. The French seem to have the same misgivings.

In addition, European countries such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of Prussia, the Kingdom of Belgium, and the Kingdom of Greece have sent letters expressing their concern about the situation in North America.

Internationally

The Royal Government has been under great pressure and has done a lot of persuasive and explanatory work, explaining that the Kingdom, in conjunction with the Confederate States of America (South), is committed to resisting the invasion war of the United States of America, to the independence of the Southern United States, and to reshaping the peace and stability of North America. The policy still cannot make many European countries feel relieved.

Among them, London is the most difficult to deal with. It unilaterally requires the coalition forces to accept international mediation to stop the further spread of war in North America and devastate lives. It also takes a tough stance.

Prime Minister Temple warned me in a personal letter to me..."

Prime Minister Ryu Hyun-jun was rambling on about the mess that the Royal Government had encountered. Richard listened to it with one ear and passed it over without taking it to heart at all.

He drank tea leisurely, smoked a cigar, and looked at the graceful figure of the bald eagle soaring in the sky in the distance. His thoughts no longer knew where he was going.

The function of the royal government is a firewall, which isolates some trivial things that Richard doesn't want to pay attention to. It is basically difficult to put them on the imperial court, and he has no time to pay attention to them.

If international affairs could be solved through joint pressure from European countries, and if many European countries could rely on their attention and serious dissatisfaction to resolve international affairs, then the world would be much simpler.

This thing worked well in the decadent Manchu Qing Dynasty, and it worked well in the Fusang Kingdom, the Kingdom of Iran, or the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it wouldn't do anything stupid in front of Richard.

This is because the Tang Kingdom itself is a second-rate international power, with strong military and economic strength, especially in North America, which has unquestionable advantages. This is the confidence for Richard to say "no".

The United States, which has long adhered to the "Monroe Doctrine", is an outlier in the eyes of Europe. Due to differences in democratic systems and trade barriers, its relationship with the old Europe, which is dominated by the feudal system, is quite alienated.

even so

The successive victories achieved by the Tang Kingdom and the United States still attracted great attention from European countries.

Of course, this is indispensable without the "European troublemaker" London jumping up and down, which has made the North American issue a lot more heated.

The reason

The United States is still a white country, and its immigrants are mainly Anglo-Saxon whites, Germanic whites, and Central and Southern European whites. In this 19th century, when white Europeans dominated the world, it was easy to win sympathy and attention.

The propaganda strategy adopted by the Tang Kingdom was to highlight the identity of an immigrant country. It was a country that integrated a large number of white immigrants. It was also an alternative white immigrant country. The difference was that the population in the East was larger, in order to confuse the public.

The North American War was a war in which the three North American countries competed for the right to speak. It was an internal conflict. No matter who won or lost, it would not affect the interests of European countries in North America.

Nowadays, a Tang version of the "Monroe Doctrine" has been launched, called the "Ryu Xianjun Declaration", the core of which is: "American affairs should be handled by Americans, American problems should be solved by Americans, American affairs should be independent, and we should refuse to rely on international

Interference in name..."

After listening to Prime Minister Liu Xianjun chattering for a while, Richard said pleasantly;

“I am fully aware of the concerns of European countries, which are just the white world’s unwarranted moans.

In a nutshell, it's enough to be imaginary and conciliatory.

The most important thing is to adhere to the long-term immigration policy and attach importance to the development of economy and trade. The glorious victory of the kingdom's army is the strong backing of the government, and it also has confidence in its words.

Just continue to practice Tai Chi for them in London. Now that the new year is very close, it is estimated that in another six months to eight or nine months, the situation of the war will be further clear.

At that time, it will be convenient to discuss any issue. In short, let’s put aside the concerns of European countries for now.”

Yes, His Majesty the King can decide the future policy direction with just one sentence.

Prime Minister Ryu Hyun-jun is the biggest policy executor, so of course he would not have any objections and immediately complied.

The reason why I am nagging so much is to let His Majesty know that the Royal Government does not take advantage of others, and that everyone who is busy every day is doing business. This impression is very important.

In a monarchical autocratic system like the Tang Dynasty, the so-called constitutional democracy was just a decoration. What was really implemented was feudal state capitalism. This system was very suitable for concentrating efforts on big things, reducing internal friction, and was very efficient.

The Royal Government is just a larger royal secretariat. If we don't understand this, the throne of the Prime Minister will be unstable.

(End of chapter)