America 1881: They Call Me Legend

Chapter 594 About Cuba
When Chen Jianqiu was selling goods on both sides and his business was booming, McKinley was worrying about how to deal with Cuba.

Although the battle was won, how to deal with the aftermath became a difficult problem.

According to the "Taylor Resolution" passed by Congress before the war, the US government will guarantee the independence of Cuba after the war and will not establish permanent rule or annex the island.

In other words, on the surface, this war was only to help the Cuban people overthrow the brutal Spanish government.

This resolution provided the legitimacy for the United States to send troops to Cuba, and at the same time gained the support of public opinion.

But after the Spaniards were really kicked out, how could those in power, including McKinley, be willing to just hand over the results of the battle to others.

So much money was spent, so many people died, and then they said "we are only here to liberate you".

This is not in line with the style and interests of the United States.

What if a democratically elected government is formed in Cuba?

This seems to be the usual route.

Let alone whether this country has a basis for popular elections, what if the elected government is a scumbag?
Indeed, Cubans and Americans fought shoulder to shoulder during the war.

But it was a time of war, and the enemy of the enemy is a friend; now that the enemy has fallen, who can guarantee that the Cubans can accept the American's instructions?
"I don't think you need to worry about these issues at all. We still have troops in Cuba."

Hanna was somewhat dismissive after the president expressed his confusion to him.

"But the garrison will be withdrawn anyway. What troops do we have over there?" McKinley turned his head and asked Root, the new Secretary of War.

"Second Independent Cavalry Brigade, Mr. President," Root replied.

"Second Independent Cavalry Brigade? Why don't I have any impression?" McKinley looked confused.

He participated in command and planning throughout the Spanish-American War.

The temporary headquarters of the war is in the basement of the White House.

Although Mr. President did not pay attention to every decision-making of the war in detail, he still knows the basic information of the troops participating in the war.

He really couldn't think of this second independent cavalry brigade.

"It was the original Second Volunteer Cavalry Brigade. It used to be mainly Chinese, and there were some blacks and whites." Root added, "They performed very well in Cuba."

McKinley frowned.

"Who is their commander? Or Chen Jianqiu?"

It is too dangerous to put a Chinese-dominated army overseas without checks and balances!

And Root obviously saw the president's worries, and said quickly:

"Mr. President, you don't have to worry about this. If you can consider it, we have also considered it."

"First of all, the commander of that unit, Mr. Chen, has been honorably discharged," he said.

"Retired?" McKinley was a little confused.

"Well, yes, like Mr. Roosevelt, he retired after the war and passed command to the War Department."

"In recognition of his contribution, we have promoted his original rank of lieutenant colonel to colonel. You should be impressed."

"Ah, yes, I remembered. But I didn't expect him to retire directly."

McKinley remembered something like this.

"He is a businessman, Your Excellency the President." Root said helplessly, "In my opinion, compared with those chaebols hiding in the country, Mr. Chen's courage to come to the front line really makes me admire."

"And he paid for it himself," Hannah interjected. "It didn't cost the U.S. government a penny."

McKinley didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Second, we reorganized that force, and half of the Chinese soldiers were withdrawn back to the country and returned to the militia in New Mexico and Oklahoma."

"We have incorporated some other soldiers into this team to dilute the proportion of Chinese soldiers, but in order to prevent friction, they are still in their own formations."

Root continued to speak in an orderly manner, and McKinley nodded repeatedly.

"Thirdly, as I said earlier, this force is temporarily under the command of the War Department, but it will not be in the future."

"Oh?" McKinley didn't understand.

Root began to talk eloquently.

"According to the usual practice, the commander-in-chief of the army does not have any command authority over the entire army during non-war periods, and the troops obey orders from the various bureau chiefs of the Ministry of War in peacetime."

"Since we didn't have many regular troops before, there is no problem with this arrangement."

"But with the changes of the times, such a model is obviously not suitable anymore."

"We need to expand abroad in the future, so we need more permanent soldiers. The command system should also be reorganized."

"According to the original plan, a general staff with officers as the main body will be established as the highest command system of the US military! This is also one of the contents of my military reform!"

McKinley has actually seen the military reform plan proposed by Root.

But he just flipped through a few pages and put them in the corner of the table.

The plan is really too thick.

The president intends to take his time after dealing with a bunch of difficult things at hand.

After a blast from Root, McKinley understood one thing.

The Cuban garrison is under control.

"Let them choose, what will happen if they choose." Hannah looked confident.

Seeing Hannah's self-confidence, McKinley felt less uneasy.

The last time he saw Hannah like this was during his own election.

In fact, Hanna's initial reaction to the question of the new Cuban government was the same as McKinley's.

He even felt that he should directly support a military government to come to power so as to control Cuba.

But Hannah never had a reliable candidate.

If you want to blame, you can only blame the US government for making up its mind too late and not having enough time to train agents.

Under such circumstances, he decided to go to Chen Jianqiu.

Not only because the two are now basically a community of interests bound together, but also because the latter has always been able to think of a solution to the problem.

When in doubt, ask Jianqiu.

Chen Jianqiu happened to have just returned from arms reselling in the UK. As soon as he arrived in New York, Hanna rushed to his house without stopping.

The old man told Chen Jianqiu his worries about Cuba. He was worried that if he didn't handle it well, it would affect the Republican Party's governance and wipe out the achievements of the Spanish-American War.

Chen Jianqiu was boxing in the garden.

His movements became slower and slower as he hit, but he was able to handle every move with ease.

The strength is retracted and released, which is perfect and just right.

Accompanied by the sound of rubbing between the clothes, Chen Jianqiu made a closing gesture and stood on the spot like a pine tree.

He took the towel from the servant.

When he punched just now, Chen Jianqiu didn't have a single drop of sweat on his body, but now it's leaking from his forehead.

While wiping his sweat, he walked up to Hannah.

"Mr. Hanna, why did the Cubans revolt and drive the Spaniards out?" Chen Jianqiu wiped his hands with a towel, "Let's go into the room and talk."

He made a "please" gesture.

The two sat down in the living room.

"The Spaniards' plunder was too greedy, and the Cuban people were overwhelmed, and finally decided to fight for freedom." Hannah said unhurriedly.

"Is the United States planning to do this?" Chen Jianqiu asked again.

Hannah shook his head.

"Cuba has a lot of resources, but it's not worth it for the United States to do this."

"Then why do we still fight the Spanish-American War?" Chen Jianqiu asked back.

Hanna thought for a moment: "We cannot tolerate the presence of European forces at our doorstep, this is our bottom line."

"That's right." Chen Jianqiu picked up his own tea on the coffee table and took a sip. "For the United States, it doesn't really matter whether Cuba is independent or not. It's more important that he does not belong to Europeans."

"Take a step back, if the Federation really wants to control Cuba, you don't have to worry."

"After years of war, Cuba is poor and white, and the people's lives are miserable. As long as the federal government is willing to allocate funds to support Cuba's construction, then I think the Cuban people have no reason to hold ill will against the United States."

Chen Jianqiu's eloquent remarks sounded very reasonable, but in fact they contained private goods.

But Hannah didn't care too much.

So, with federal sanction, Cuba began holding the first democratic elections in the country's history.

(End of this chapter)