1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 651 Python Project

A protracted war is not only a result that Liang Shaoyu does not want to see, but also a result that Liang Yao cannot accept.

Although Liang Yao has achieved certain results in the construction of the central and western regions of North America, the operating time is limited after all. Once it falls into the quagmire of war and reaches the stalemate stage of competing and consuming national strength, the current American Republic will definitely not be able to outlast the Northern Federation.

"There is absolutely no such possibility." Liang Yao told Liang Shaoyu decisively and firmly, "You don't have to worry about military matters, just focus on your immigration work."

If it really came to a protracted war, Liang Yao would rather retreat to the North Platte Fortress Group and hold out, continuing to accumulate strength, rather than shed blood and fight with the Northern Federation for the Central Great Plains region.

"So, I can finally put my heart at ease." Liang Shaoyu nodded, feeling a little relieved. He continued, "We can still endure hardships in other aspects, but there is one thing that cannot be delayed, and that is machine tools. Machine tools are the most in need in border areas at present. Can you ship a batch of machine tools here first? At least ship a batch of mother machines and important spare parts here first."

It's not that there is no industry in the central border area, but Liang Yao has always focused on supporting the military industry in North Platte, transferring part of Sacramento's military production capacity to North Platte, in order to establish a relatively complete military industry in the North Platte area that can meet the needs of the front line and thus save future military expenditures on the eastern front.

In the field of civilian industry, the central border areas are relatively weak. Most of the factory machinery in the central border areas depends on the supply from the west coast, and even mechanical parts with slightly more complex processes and higher precision requirements cannot be manufactured.

Under the current situation where transport capacity is allocated first to military use, civilian factories in the central border areas dare not run their machines at high loads, and can only reduce production capacity to protect their machines. Insufficient production capacity further leads to insufficient local material supply, thus forming a vicious cycle.

"I'll give you a special approval for 150 train cars, but these 150 train cars can only be used to transport machine tools and mechanical parts. If I find out that the immigration officers are partial and use these train cars to transport or smuggle things that shouldn't be brought, don't blame me for turning my back on them."

Liang Yao was not an unreasonable person. After careful consideration of Liang Shaoyu's reasonable request, he still allocated some of his precious transportation capacity to Liang Shaoyu, and at the same time, he did not forget to give Liang Shaoyu a shot of prevention.

Having personally experienced the shortage of supplies in California during the early days of the gold rush, Liang Yao knew very well what transportation capacity meant to the central frontier region where almost all supplies were scarce.

"I will personally watch over these train cars. If there are any problems, I will be held accountable." Liang Shaoyu solemnly assured Liang Yao.

"The Pacific Railway is the lifeline of our American Republic. Have there been any spies from the East recently trying to destroy the Pacific Railway?" Liang Yao finally asked about railway security.

"Yes, since March, the railway police have arrested more than a dozen suspicious people while patrolling. The case is still under investigation and Pinkerton is in charge of it," Liang Shaoyu replied.

During the conversation, Liang Yao's special train unknowingly entered the South Platte Valley. The Platte Valley is the most densely populated area in the central frontier region except for Denver and Tianhu City.

Unlike Denver and Lake City, the river valley is long and narrow, with the widest part of the Platte River Valley being only eight or nine kilometers, so there are no particularly large cities in the Platte River Valley.

The local settlements are mainly small and medium-sized rural towns. There are 312 villages and towns of various sizes distributed along the river bank. Sailing boats with white sails and small steamers spewing black smoke are sailing on the river in an orderly manner.

Most of the flat land near the river banks has been reclaimed into rice fields and vegetable gardens for growing rice and vegetables.

Rice is the staple food with the highest unit price in the American Republic. As long as natural conditions permit, farmers in the American Republic, whether they are Chinese or a small number of white people from the east, generally give priority to growing rice.

"These rice fields and vegetable gardens were first cultivated two years ago. In addition to keeping part of the rice and vegetables produced as food, the rest were sold to the troops stationed in the Pratt Fortress Group.

The gentle slopes outside are used to grow corn, wheat, sweet potatoes and potatoes, and the steeper slopes can only be used to grow fruit trees."

Along the way, Liang Shaoyu kept introducing his work results to Liang Yao.

With West Virginia announcing its accession to the Union, the first batch of mobilized soldiers had arrived in Washington, and the navy had completed mobilization and was ready to go into combat.

The situation in the East gradually tilted towards the Northern Federation and became increasingly favorable to the North.

The person in charge of the Eastern Front command was Secretary of War Lieutenant General Scott, currently the highest-ranking general in the Northern Union.

The situation reversed. Scott was no longer satisfied with being trapped in a corner of Washington, but sought to take the initiative.

As a veteran general in the North, Scott knew what the federal army was like, the combat effectiveness of the southern rebels, and the quality of their generals. Scott knew that with the current motley crowd of the federal army, it would be impossible to achieve a quick victory over the southern rebels on land in the short term.

He was very sure that the Northern Army's current breakthrough point was at sea, not on land.

The Northern Union Army did not have an absolute advantage over the Southern rebel army, but their navy had an overwhelming advantage over the Southern rebel navy.

In such a vast South, the only naval force that caught Scott's eye was a medium-sized shallow-water heavy artillery fleet controlled by the Texans.

However, this fleet that the Texans spent a lot of money to build was an out-and-out green water fleet, which was only used to defend the Port of Houston and could not be used for ocean-going operations. Therefore, the Texan fleet could not pose a threat to the federal navy.

In the War Department office in Washington, the federal capital, Winfield Scott was standing in front of a table covered with maps, his eyes focused and determined.

Scott was wearing a neat blue general's uniform, the gold thread on his shoulders sparkling in the setting sun. His right hand firmly held a long feather pen, while his left hand trembled slightly as he supported the edge of the table, drawing on the spread-out map.

Behind Scott stood two generals, both of whom had their hands raised and looked nervous. They were worried that the old federal general would collapse from overwork. Of course, they also hoped that Scott would collapse in their hearts, after all, there was only one position for the Secretary of War.

The two generals behind Scott were General Henry Halleck, who had just been promoted by Lincoln to Army Chief of Staff, and Republican General Gideon Wells, Secretary of the Navy and an important member of Lincoln's cabinet.

The map drawn by Scott detailed the topography and transportation routes of the southern states, including the southern rivers, ports and railways.

Scott slowly pointed his quill toward the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast, where the Confederacy relied on for its supply lines. Scott frowned and whispered to himself, "To win this war, we must cut off all lifelines in the South, isolate them, and prevent them from receiving aid and supplies from the outside world."

He continued to move his pen northward along the Mississippi River, which was like a natural barrier between the north and the south. Scott knew that the Mississippi River would be the most important part of the northern strategy.

"We need to control the Mississippi River," Scott muttered, "to cut off the connection between the South and the West from the inside, to divide the South and the West, to gradually weaken their resistance, and to defeat them one by one. I want to cut off not only the connection between the South and Europe, but also the connection between the South and the West, although the two rebel forces have not yet formed an alliance."

Scott's thoughts gradually became clear, and he drew a series of blockade lines on the map, surrounding the major ports and main transportation routes in the south. Finally, his eyes fell on the map of the entire south surrounded by the blockade, as if a huge python was tightly wrapping around its prey, gradually tightening.

"This is my plan. I call it the Python Plan." Scott finally put down the pen in his hand and looked out the window. It seemed that there was a python wriggling in the distant sky.

"It is difficult for us to win a quick victory, but we can strangle the enemy slowly like a python, suffocating them until they completely lose the power to resist."

"Whether your plan can be successfully implemented depends on whether McClellan can stabilize the situation in the central frontier region." Henry Halleck pointed his finger at Omaha on the map, and then his finger slowly moved westward.

"In the past two years, Liang Yao has been immigrating to these places on a large scale, and has even won the support of Indian tribes, mainly the Cheyenne tribe. The local situation is not optimistic for us."

The fact that much of the Platte River, a tributary of the Mississippi, was under the control of western rebels was a source of concern to the three high-ranking Union generals present.

"Mason reported these situations to me many times two years ago. He is a competent officer." Scott couldn't help but frowned when he mentioned this. "It's a pity that if Mr. Lincoln could have become president earlier, the situation in the central border area might not be as bad as it is today."

Although the previous president Buchanan was a terrible person, he was not unkind to Scott. Thinking of this, Scott subconsciously controlled himself, swallowed the word "incompetent" back into his stomach, and replaced it with a relatively more euphemistic statement.

"General Mason is very dissatisfied with McClellan, and I am worried that this will affect the overall situation in the central frontier region." Henry Halleck said worriedly.

"I can understand Mason's dissatisfaction. I will find a way to appease him. I believe Mason is a sensible person." Scott put down the quill in his hand.

"As for McClellan, we can't say that he did anything wrong. If he gave the new soldiers to Mason, it would not be of any benefit to the defense of the Kearny Fortress Group, but would only cause trouble for Mason. If he reluctantly gave the old soldiers to Mason, it would not only weaken the defense of Omaha, but also delay the training of the second round of mobilized soldiers. In the final analysis, this is because we were not fully prepared and the mobilization came too late."

(End of this chapter)