1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 648: What a Perfect Rival

The gentry and wealthy businessmen in West Virginia were still loyal to the Union.

The economic base determines the superstructure. With the instigation of the federal government and the persuasion of local figure Francis Pierpont, representatives of West Virginia gathered in Wellington for a convention on April 1861, 4, and announced on the same day that West Virginia had decided to separate from the secessionist front and join the Confederacy as an independent state.

Francis Pierpont, who made great contributions to West Virginia's reentry into the Union, finally became the first governor of West Virginia.

The addition of West Virginia greatly alleviated the security anxieties of Washingtonians. From the congressmen in Washington to ordinary citizens, everyone took to the streets to celebrate.

This was the greatest political victory the Union had achieved since suppressing the Maryland Rebellion. The Union Army successfully dismembered Virginia, the strongest state in the South, without firing a single shot.

West Virginia's secession made Richmond furious. In order to prevent the remaining southern swing states from falling into the arms of the North, the president of the Confederate States deployed troops on the border of Kentucky and Missouri, despite the opposition of Robert Lee, Beauregard and others, and demanded that Kentucky, which had an ambiguous attitude, make a statement immediately, either secede from the Union or go to war.

This move angered the dignitaries of Kentucky. Kentucky, which had originally held the attitude of neither forming an alliance with the Union nor with those states that had seceded from the Union, quickly decided to join the Union.

Although the situation in Missouri, the last swing state in the South, is not as bad as Kentucky and it has directly expressed its intention to join the Union, the situation is not much better.

The Confederate invasion ignited the powder keg that had been suppressed in Missouri for decades, and Union supporters and Confederate supporters in Missouri fought each other.

Davis' move was undoubtedly a terrible one, as it forced Kentucky, a potential ally, into the federal government.

Even if Davis does nothing, the worst that can happen to Kentucky is that it remains neutral.

Now, Kentucky has sided with the North, Missouri is in turmoil and its future is uncertain. The South has not won any of the swing states in the South so far.

The strategic plan of the Confederacy to control the Ohio River from Kentucky and then threaten Ohio through the Ohio waterway was thus shattered, unless the Southern Army could really divide its troops and occupy Kentucky by force, instead of just putting two or three second-line militias on the border that could not even stand in a neat line.

In the west, steam trains were running one after another on the Pacific Railway, following the winding rails. As the sky darkened, the afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled on the vast wilderness, dyeing the earth golden. The steam locomotive in front of the train spewed out thick black smoke, which gradually dispersed in the air, forming a light and long tail.

On both sides of the train are magnificent views of the west, and the steep mountains make people feel a little depressed. Looking up, you can vaguely see the tops of the mountains in the clouds, and the mountaintops are dyed orange by the setting sun. Occasionally, a few birds fly across the sky, embellishing the somewhat monotonous scenery.

Passing through the eastern foothills of California, the wooden bridges that were originally assumed to be in dangerous places have been replaced by more sturdy and load-bearing cast iron and steel bridges.

This scene deeply shocked the Taiping prisoners who were riding a train for the first time. How much steel was used to build this road and bridge? Where did they get so much steel? If they used this steel to make weapons, how many swords could they make? How many cannons could they cast?

And the train they are riding now, carrying so many people and goods, can run faster than a horse. It is truly a miracle.

"I heard from the guards that the distance from where we started to that city of Bu Lale is more than 3,000 miles, and it takes less than three days. According to this calculation, this iron ox can travel a thousand miles a day." Zhu Yi counted with his fingers and said in amazement, "Could this iron ox be a gift from heaven given to them by God?"

Zhu Yidian was a senior general of the Taiping Army who followed Shi Dakai in fighting in various places. Long-term marching and mobile warfare made him more sensitive to distance.

"Even Heavenly Father himself may not possess such a thing." Peng Dashun, who was standing by, said with disdain when he heard the word Heavenly Father.

The catastrophe that happened in Tianjing five years ago is still vivid in his mind. He has long been disillusioned with the so-called Heavenly Father and has seen through the tricks of Hong Xiuquan and the high-ranking officials of Little Heaven. Otherwise, he would not have chosen to work for Liang Shaoqiong after being captured by the Guangdong Braves. "I heard that we are going to fight there, and we have to fight against foreigners, who are not easy to fight. Do you think that Master Liang is going to let our old Guangxi brothers be cannon fodder for them?" Zhu Yidian said worriedly.

Zhu Yidian was not afraid of fighting or death, but many of the brothers brought here this time were old brothers from Guangxi. Zhu Yidian felt it was a pity to let these old brothers from Guangxi be cannon fodder.

If the Qing Dynasty were to pull these old brothers from Guangxi out, as long as they did not engage in a head-on conflict with the elite Guangdong Brave Battalion, they would be a capable military force wherever they were placed.

"Aren't we just cannon fodder in Master Liang's place?" Peng Dashun said lightly, with a look of seeing through the world.

Although Liang Shaoqiong was much better than Zeng Guofan and was willing to accept the surrendered Taiping soldiers, they were surrendered soldiers and generals after all, and there were grudges between their hometowns. Liang Shaoqiong naturally could not give them full trust. Therefore, Peng Dashun was not very happy working under Liang Shaoqiong.

At least it is not as satisfying as when they just started the rebellion. Thinking of this, Peng Dashun couldn't help but sigh: Why did the once great Heavenly Kingdom become such a mess today?

"The Union and the Confederacy were a perfect match."

In the special train, Liang Yao couldn't help but sigh after receiving the telegram that Kentucky joined the Northern Confederacy and civil unrest broke out in Missouri.

"Davis and his men can't make up their minds? Are the tens of thousands of troops in Richmond going to celebrate Christmas?" Sartre, who was traveling with them, shook his head after reading the telegram. "If someone in the South had made up their minds, they could have sent troops to Washington a month ago, even if they only sent one or two brigades and tolerated the casualties of one or two regiments. They could have taken this tiny city of Washington without any hesitation."

Although Washington is the capital of the United States, it is just a pure administrative center. It is not a big city, but a small city with a population of only 30,000 to 40,000.

What Sutter said was not without reason. The top leaders of the Southern Confederacy were too indecisive and timid. They wanted to secede from the Union, but were unwilling to kill the Union.

The North and the South have come to this point, where it's either life or death. Is there any possibility of a peaceful separation?

"There seems to be no brigade in the South that can continue to fight street battles after suffering one regiment's casualties." Liang Yao counted the numbers of various units of the Southern Army. It seemed that the Southern Army did not have such a powerful brigade at present.

"As for Davis, I think he has not yet completely taken control of the Southern political arena. Perhaps the moderates in the South still have a relatively large say. They want to fight, but they are afraid that the war will spread to their state and affect their own industries, so they are hesitant."

"Do we have such a force?" Sartre asked back with interest.

"Hard to say."

Liang Yao didn't have a definite answer in his mind. Since he joined the military, he had never fought in a battle with extremely heavy casualties, nor had he ever fought in a serious street fight.

Of course, the siege battles against Mexico during the Second Mexican-American War do not count. At that time, the Mexican army surrendered as soon as his troops entered the city, and his troops had no opportunity to train in street fighting.

(End of this chapter)