"Can't we count on the fleet to help when we take care of New Orleans?" Li Weiren's tone was as calm as drinking cold water.
"Cuba is now in the hands of the UA. The battleship fleet is not willing to pass through such a narrow channel," Qi Rui answered straightforwardly.
Hearing this, some of the commanders of the Front Line Committee looked calm, and some only showed slight disappointment. But everyone's eyes fell on Cuba on the Caribbean map. The name Cuba came from the Taino word "coabana", which meant "fertile land" and "good place". Cuba was the largest island in the Greater Antilles Archipelago, known as the "key to the Gulf of Mexico". Cuba resembled a crocodile, and was also known as the "green crocodile of the Caribbean."
Since Cuba was so important, the colonists of this place would also play the role of the other side. At first, it was the Spanish who came here, and then it was occupied by the British for a while. In the Treaty of Paris, held in 1763 to end the Seven Years' War, in America, France ceded Canada, Cape Breton Island, and all land east of the Mississippi River (with the exception of New Orleans) to Great Britain. Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain, and received from France Louisiana, New Orleans, and some monetary compensation.
Ironically, 20 years later, in 1783, another peace conference was held, and a new Paris Agreement was secretly signed. This Paris Agreement was negotiated by the United States and the United Kingdom, and the United Kingdom recognized the independence of the United States. Then it began the expansion of the United States in North America. Louisiana and New Orleans continued to change ownership in the hands of Spain, Britain, and the United States. Then it was the rise of China.
In order to defend Luzon, Spain mobilized a large number of warships to Luzon in Asia before the battle. After the war, the Spanish navy was basically wiped out. The United States in North America took advantage of the naval power after the Civil War to take over Cuba. Spain, who lost its navy, could only pinch its nose and accept it.
"I don't know if the Americans will accept those captive women to Cuba," Li Weiren said slowly.
Qi Rui felt that the possibility of the United States accepting them was not high. Women were of limited use in the war. In places where there was a lack of animal power and agricultural tools, women probably could not do particularly heavy physical labor. From the information Qi Rui knew, Cuba was not a place with a developed industry. The area was famous for its sugar cane production and rum brewing.
However, among the senior commanders who were older than Qi Rui, two of them showed expressions of disgust, while the other two who were more lively showed expressions of malice. Looking at their expressions, Qi Rui quickly remembered that more than twenty years ago, the Min dynasty had once used a large number of captive foreign women as' support for the border 'and made them the wives of the single people in the mountainous areas. Wei Jianjun, whom Qi Rui had high hopes for, was the result of his border support at that time.
"What era are we living in? I object to sharing these women," Qi Rui immediately said.
"I also don't think it's appropriate to do this in this era. However, we can't keep these women in our hands. We have to kick them out as soon as possible. "Li Weiren said calmly.
"What do you mean by that?" Qi Rui asked in confusion.
"We publicly stated that we had captured a large number of American women and children. He hoped that the various countries could send these women to the United States in the spirit of humanitarianism. We can pay for the transportation. "Li Weiren's voice was calm.
Qi Rui frowned and asked in confusion, "Are those countries willing to get involved in this?"
The senior who had a disgusted expression frowned deeply. It seemed that he did not want to get involved in this matter. The senior who found it funny could not help but laugh out loud. It could be seen that Qi Rui was very amused.
"What's going on? Tell me! "Qi Rui said straightforwardly. He rarely encountered a situation on the battlefield that he did not know anything about. The only person who could make Qi Rui unable to keep up was probably Qi Rui's father, Vézé.
"Political Commissar Qi, why do you think that the purpose of the people who came to transport the people is to send our captive women and children to the remaining land of the United States?" The senior asked.
Qi Rui was stunned. His brain worked quickly for a few seconds before he came up with the answer. Then Qi Rui showed a sympathetic expression on his face. Everyone's meaning was clear. Some of the guys who came to transport the people, or even most of them, were likely to be human traffickers. The burden in the eyes of the Min dynasty was a very profitable wealth in the eyes of those people. The Min dynasty was looking forward to a complete purge of the North American continent to prepare for the possession of the Min dynasty. It was fine as long as the women and children could leave the coast alive.
"Will there really be people who will buy … transport it?" Qi Rui tried to express some objections.
"For more than two hundred years, the United States has captured hundreds of millions of people from Africa. From Europe, to Africa to catch people, put them in human beings, and then transport them to the United States. These guys have to travel tens of thousands of miles by sea to reach their destination. Now they can reach their goal by taking a very short route on a safe sea route. Why wouldn't they do it? " Li Weiren had been to many more places than Qi Rui, and he had also been to the European part of the Osman Empire. It was very helpful for him to understand the world.
Li Weiren could not help but add when he saw his "nephew" showing the mindset of a literary youth, "Capital avoids turmoil and disputes. Its nature is timid. That was true, but not the whole truth. Capital fears no profit or too little profit, just as nature fears a vacuum. Once there was an appropriate amount of profit, the capital would become bolder. If it had a 10% profit, it would be used everywhere. If it had a 20% profit, it would be active. If it had a 50% profit, it would take risks. If it had a 100% profit, it would dare to trample all human laws. If it had a 300% profit, it would dare to commit any crime, even at the risk of being hanged. If chaos and strife could bring profit, it would encourage chaos and strife. Smuggling and the slave trade are proof of that. "
This is a footnote quoted by Uncle Ma in Das Kapital. The original text is from Tolstoy A date? Dunning. Trade Unions and Strikes. London, 1860. 35-36. As a political commissar, Qi Rui had carefully read Das Kapital. He did not expect Li Weiren to also carefully read this tome.
However, this surprise was far less than the impact of these words on Qi Rui. Qi Rui always thought that many of the words in Das Kapital were closer to metaphors, which were Uncle Ma's wise mind's explanation of the world. Now, Li Weiren was putting these words into practice. And it could be said to be a perfect application. Qi Rui did not know whether this was a follower of Uncle Ma's theory or a blasphemy of Uncle Ma's theory.
With disgust, Qi Rui closed his mouth and decided to just silently vote yes. Now Qi Rui was full of the desire for the war to end as soon as possible. The horror of war was not only about life and death. In a fierce battle, life and death were easily ruled out by strong emotions. Qi Rui himself had experienced the flames of war. He would feel fear countless times after a battle, but it was very easy to overcome such emotions on the battlefield. The horror of war was that the behavior in war would challenge the moral bottom line of human beings. If a human accepted this new bottom line and enjoyed it, such a human could probably be called a monster.
Fortunately, the frontline headquarters did not enjoy it. Everyone's smile was more like a wry smile. The killing of men was probably within the acceptable range, but these people really could not make the decision to kill women and children. Even if it was to deceive themselves, letting these people leave the coast of North America alive was a very important comfort.
After talking about the recent off-battlefield problems that needed to be solved immediately, Li Weiren mentioned one more thing. "The amount of rocket ammunition is probably enough to destroy New Orleans' defensive buildings, but I don't know if it can destroy New Orleans' defense system. The people from the research department are ready. They have shipped a large amount of film. We must not miss this research. "
As an expert in position defense, Li Weiren wanted to see what kind of firepower could destroy a solid modern fortress defense system. It was the Military Governor Of Vaize who created this fortress defense system. Li Weiren was just a practitioner and perfectionist. Now, the Military Governor Of Vaize provided weapons such as rocket launchers that could deliver hundreds of kilograms of high explosives into the fortress. Was the shield stronger or the spear sharper? This game was really worth watching. A large number of photos were taken to carefully record everything that happened.
"The attack speed you made was very slow. Did you just want to see the effect?" Zhou Xinhua asked.
"With this in mind, fast attacks are useless against the fortress defense system. During the construction, we began to consider repeatedly to prevent a complete collapse after one point was broken. If I were the one building it, I would never allow such a problem to happen. "Li Weiren could not help but show the seriousness and caution unique to a professional when he explained.
"Maybe …" Zhou Xinhua had been in the offensive faction of mobile warfare from the beginning and was not familiar with many things in the defensive faction.
"Report!" The communications staff officer shouted from outside.
"Come in," Zhou Xinhua shouted.
The communications staff officer ran in quickly and handed a telegram to Zhou Xinhua. Zhou Xinhua opened it and only took two glances before he was stunned. Wei Kun did not understand what kind of news could make Zhou Xinhua lose his composure like that. After a moment, Zhou Xinhua said in an overly excited and off-key voice, "The Americans in New Orleans are requesting to leave New Orleans. They hope we can let them go to Cuba."
For a moment, the other members of the Front Committee were silent. Everyone was confused by the news. How could the seemingly tenacious New Orleans garrison be so cowardly? At this moment, Li Weiren said, "How can we be sure that this isn't the enemy's stalling tactic?"
On May 10, 1891, the port of New Orleans was packed with people. There were a large number of people wearing US military uniforms and a small number of people wearing Liberation Army uniforms. In addition to the people on both sides, there were also many soldiers in British uniforms. They stood between the troops on both sides and looked like they were maintaining order, creating a buffer zone between the two sides that were incompatible with each other.
There were all kinds of men and women, old and young, who evacuated the city. The ratio of women to children was unprecedentedly high. Watching the people slowly move toward the port from a distance, Qi Rui could not help but let out a long sigh of relief. It was Qi Rui's idea to force the Americans to leave with the women. He firmly believed that it was better to leave with his compatriots than to be sold by human traffickers. Although Li Weiren had laughed at Qi Rui's ridiculous idea, no one objected. Not only did the Min dynasty agree to the agreement, but they also pulled the British in. The British Fleet that evacuated the expeditionary force from South Africa happened to be not far from here. At the request of the Min dynasty, the ship changed direction and headed straight for New Orleans, finally providing "international intervention."
Seeing that the operation was proceeding normally, Qi Rui felt that a big stone in his heart had been lifted. He now felt that the Min dynasty did not need to completely destroy the United States. It might be a good choice to leave Cuba to the United States. The complete destruction of the United States seemed mighty, but in fact, there were countless headache-inducing follow-up problems, such as what to do with the women and children. Qi Rui could see that sending away the women and children had a very positive impact on the soldiers of the Liberation Army. Humans did have the urge to kill, but humans also had the emotion of mercy and compassion. According to Qi Rui's father, Vézé, this was all in the "neuronal connection."
Qi Rui actually did not like the "scientific hypothesis" of his father, Vézé, because these scientific hypotheses were too materialistic. When faced with a problem, of course, everyone hoped to get a theory that could accurately explain the world. But in many cases, this kind of absolute materialism was not what everyone needed. Even if they knew that it was wrong, what everyone needed was a sense of psychological satisfaction.
After the news of New Orleans' surrender reached Washington, a small number of people flew into a rage. They were extremely angry that New Orleans had not been able to fight to the last man, but most of the upper echelons of the United States were not particularly shocked by this. The situation in the United States was so desperate that Washington felt that it did not matter anymore.
As a federal country, the states of the United States had great power. The Federal Army had been crazily consumed in the war with China, and the remaining National Guard was under the control of the governors. No matter how the president threatened or begged, the governors controlled this military force in their own hands and would never send troops to the federal government.
At this time, the streets of Washington were empty. There were originally troops enforcing military control everywhere, but these troops were now nowhere to be seen. During the Civil War, the northern part of the United States had relied on forced conscription in the cities and a large number of immigrants to replenish their troops. Now the northern part of the United States was repeating the same trick, resulting in a mass exodus of people from the big cities in the north. Those who could be used as cannon fodder had all been pulled out, and those who were unwilling to be soldiers had chosen to escape.
The United States was a very individualistic immigration country, and the industry of smuggling people made a lot of money for a while. Originally, the government also used the navy to carry out attacks. After the ships carrying the fleeing people were intercepted, the ships were confiscated, and the personnel were forced to serve. However, more and more people ran away. Not only the army, but the navy also began to run. There was even a lack of manpower to operate warships. Recently, the Chinese fleet suddenly arrived on the East Coast of the United States, and the United States Navy was wiped out. According to the reports of the navy soldiers who managed to escape with their lives, the American warships were destroyed by the fierce artillery fire of the Chinese warships at a distance of tens of thousands of meters. The shells fired by the United States Navy could not hit the Chinese warships at all. The naval battle had become a one-sided massacre.
At this point in the war, Washington had no response measures. Should they call on all the people of the United States to fight to the death with the evil Chinese? This call had been issued many times, and the actual effect was that the evil Chinese used the method that the United States used to deal with the Native Americans, killing all along the way. The Americans did cause a lot of losses to the Chinese in the war, but these losses had no impact on the millions of Chinese troops. The states of the United States fell one after another.
"Mr. President, does the United Kingdom still have no plans to mediate?" asked the acting Minister of War, Lincoln Jr. If the war was not going well, of course there would be a scapegoat. So Minister Lincoln Jr. was relieved of his post under strong pressure. However, after being relieved of his post, a ridiculous thing happened. No one was willing to take over the position of Minister of War. Just when the president was begging for someone to step up, the Chinese launched a major offensive in the South. The countryside was flattened, and the towns were destroyed. The remaining big cities were filled with a large number of refugees without food or water. They were quickly annihilated by the Chinese troops that surrounded them. Faced with such a tragic situation, no one was willing to take the position of Minister of War. As a last resort, the dismissed Minister Lincoln Jr. continued to take charge of the Ministry of War as the 'acting Minister'.
"The British said that they are willing to provide humanitarian support. But they are not going to participate in the mediation work. "President Garfield replied nonchalantly while wiping his beautiful pistol. "By the way, Minister Lincoln, do you think this gun looks good?"
Minister Lincoln Jr. took the pistol from the president's hand. This Colt revolver was very exquisite, and the handle was made of ivory. It felt good. This reminded Minister Lincoln Jr. of the pistol he prepared for himself. Now that the country was about to be destroyed, Minister Lincoln Jr. felt that bravely committing suicide was also a very good choice. Because the time for him to let go had passed. If only he had decisively 'taken the blame and resigned' when they were defeated in the Great Lakes Battle two years ago. In that case, he still had a reason to convince himself to continue living. Now that the United States was destroyed, Minister Lincoln Jr. no longer wanted to live.
With this mentality, Minister Lincoln Jr. handed the pistol back to President Garfield and said, "Sir, this gun is very good."
President Garfield spun the revolver a few times on his finger, then opened the nose and aimed at Minister Lincoln Jr. "Minister Lincoln, do you think there is any reason for me not to pull the trigger?"
Seeing that death was so close to him, Minister Lincoln Jr. showed a relieved smile. However, he thought that if he simply wanted to die, he would only be a coward. So Minister Lincoln Jr. sat more comfortably in the round chair and replied, "Sir, I think before this war broke out, we did not think that we were so much weaker than China. Our whole country thought that China was not that great. We all thought that as long as a federal country was in the name of a unified country, it would be able to exert the power that China, a unitary country, could exert. Since we didn't see the difference in power clearly, our failure was inevitable. "
Hearing such an evaluation, President Garfield put away his pistol. His resolute face showed a pained expression. "What I hate the most now is why I didn't immediately make the decision to cede the three northwestern states. Even though we were exterminating the Native Americans at that time, I was so naive to think that war was just war. "
"Sir, this is not your fault. If you had done that, would Congress have complied? You're not the only one who saw it wrong, everyone saw it wrong. "Minister Lincoln Jr. quickly tried to persuade him.
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