America 1881: Legend of the West

Washington, D.C., is very beautiful on a sunny day with green grass.

President McKinley was walking out of the White House, preparing to attend a discussion on military reform.

He glanced at the sky.

Clear skies.

Mr. President felt refreshed instantly.

"Aha, what a nice weather!"

The carriage had stopped at the door of the White House, waiting for him.

McKinley straightened his clothes, walked down the steps, and walked toward the carriage.

But just as he was about to board the carriage, his assistant suddenly came over with a large envelope.

"Mr. President, this is for you." The assistant handed the envelope to the president.

"Who sent it?" McKinley turned around and asked.

The assistant shook his head.

"I don't know. There's no signature on the envelope, sir."

McKinley already had one foot on the wagon.

He suddenly felt like laughing for no reason.

"Mike, as my assistant, you should know that there are hundreds of letters sent to me every day, including some psychopaths and extremists. How did you pick out an anonymous letter from so many letters to What about mine?"

The assistant named Mike said nothing and just turned the envelope over.

The envelope was sealed with wax, and the stamp on it looked familiar to McKinley.

Compass and square ruler.

Masonic emblem.

McKinley took the envelope and the letter opener handed by his assistant, looked around, then bent down and got into the carriage with the envelope.

In the carriage, McKinley opened the envelope.

A note floated from the envelope and landed at McKinley's feet.

McKinley bent down, picked up the note, and unfolded it.

There are a few words printed in ink on it:

Chen Jianqiu occupied the port of Guantánamo and is transforming it.

The president's brow furrowed.

Guantanamo port? What does Chen Jianqiu want with that place?

That port has no advantages as a commercial port, because Cuba behind it is now poor, and if shipments need to be made, the Havana Port in the north is better in terms of geography and topography.

But Guantanamo Bay is a good haven.

It has natural inner and outer bay barriers, and Caimanera City is like a lock that can lock out enemies.

In the previous war with the Spaniards, if it weren't for Chen Jianqiu, he took the lead in conquering the non-urban areas of southern Cuba and surrounded the city of Caimanera as quickly as possible with absolute force.

In addition, Roberto is timid and the Spanish fleet is too stretched.

It's hard to say whether the US fleet can enter the inner bay.

Therefore, Guantánamo is an excellent military port.

What? naval port?

Thinking of this, McKinley was suddenly startled by himself.

Chen Jianqiu took advantage of Cuba's own government to occupy a military port and is still renovating it. What does this mean?

He touched the envelope and found that there was something else inside.

The president poured out the contents of the envelope.

It's a stack of black and white photos, a bit blurry, but you can vaguely see workers renovating the port.

McKinley silently stuffed the photo and note into the envelope.

The carriage swayed along the way, and his heart also swayed.

From the moment he first came into contact with Chen Jianqiu, McKinley felt that this person was very capable and could even be said to be able to turn his hands into clouds and rain in the southwest region.

He was able to ascend to the throne of president because of his great help.

But this was also something McKinley feared.

If this person is purely for his own power and wealth, it is not actually scary.

But he didn't.

McKinley deeply understood that Chen Jianqiu was not so easy to get rid of.

He wants to repeal the China Act himself.

This request itself is actually not too much, because the status of Chinese in the United States is no longer what it used to be.

Because of this, McKinley is now deeply worried.

After driving for a while, the carriage stopped.

"Mr. President, the munitions building has arrived." The coachman's voice came from outside.

McKinley snapped out of his thoughts.

He resealed the envelope and stuffed it into his clothes.

As if nothing had happened, the president got off the carriage and walked into the munitions building.

Unlike Chen Jianqiu, a frequent visitor here, McKinley rarely comes here.

Under normal circumstances, the Secretary of War would report the results of their discussion to the President, and McKinley would just say yes or no.

But regarding the meeting on military reform, McKinley expressed his hope that he could participate in the whole process.

The President walked up to the third floor without any entourage and entered the conference room.

There were a group of soldiers in military uniforms sitting in the conference room.

These people come from the administrative bureau, technical bureau, supply bureau and other internal agencies of the Army Department, and they are all experienced officers.

And their Minister of War, Root, was standing in front quietly communicating with an officer.

McKinley went to the front row and sat down.

There was an empty seat there just for him.

"Let's begin." Mr. President motioned to Root.

The assistant began to distribute documents to the crowd.

Root did not hesitate and began to talk about his military reform plan to everyone, including the president.

"Not long ago, we just experienced a war."

"Although we won the war, the various problems exposed during the war were shocking."

"Our army is poorly prepared, its training level is worrisome, its chain of command is chaotic, and there are serious problems with its logistics supply, all of which have cost us a price we should not have paid."

"After research and analysis, we believe that unclear rights and responsibilities are the main reason for these phenomena."

"At this point, I think we should learn from Germany and set up a general staff and a chief of staff. The latter will replace the commander-in-chief and serve as the main military adviser to the president, exercising the supervision power of the secretary of state over the military."

“The former develops plans and ensures their implementation, providing support to the chief of staff.”

McKinley held his cheek in his hand and waited quietly for Root to finish speaking, then thought for a moment and asked:

"So where do these people for the staff come from?"

"I think these people should all be experienced front-line officers. Professional people do professional things. Only they understand the situation faced by the front-line troops best, and only they can make the most reliable plan."

McKinley nodded and motioned for Root to continue.

"Second, in order to cope with the current and future international situation, we need more troops to consolidate the rights and interests of the United States overseas. Therefore, we recommend increasing the number of conventional troops."

After hearing what Root said, the officers below became excited.