Chapter 166: Prepare for a Rainy Day

"Colonel, you're looking for me?"

Deng Yan and Elvis walked into Liang Yao's study.

"Colonel Mason's infantry regiment has been severely damaged, and the War Department requires us in California to take charge of the defense of the Mexican border."

Liang Yao's eyes were fixed on the map of California on the wall, or more precisely, on an inconspicuous village in the south of Los Angeles: San Diego.

San Diego is the closest settlement to the US-Mexico border in California. The straight-line distance from San Diego to the Mexican border town of Tijuana is only about 22 kilometers.

In addition, San Diego is located on the coast, with convenient shipping and transportation. It is undoubtedly the most suitable place to station troops on the US-Mexico border.

The only drawback is that San Diego is too sparsely populated, and the total population of the entire village does not exceed 400.

But this is just a small problem. San Diego is located on the coast of Southern California, with a warm climate and fertile land. It can carry a large population and has the potential to become a big city.

In later generations, San Diego is the city in California with economic strength second only to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The power of the Loyalty Society has infiltrated the Mexican town of Tijuana on the US-Mexico border.

San Diego in California is naturally not immune. The person in charge of the Loyalty Society on the US-Mexico border is Deng Wenyao. Last year, Liang Yao manipulated Deng Wenyao to be elected as the village chief of San Diego Village.

Deng Wenyao was jealous of Los Angeles after learning that Liang Yao had sent 3,000 immigrants to Los Angeles at one time. Since San Diego received a telegram, he has called Liang Yao every few days to beg him to immigrate to San Diego.

Liang Yao knew that this guy felt that his younger brother Deng Wenshun had become the mayor, and it was really embarrassing for him, the eldest brother of the Deng family, to be the village chief.

California is responsible for its own defense, which is a good thing Liang Yao has been looking forward to.

"The Mexican military is weak and unable to invade the United States. They have many internal contradictions. It's good that they don't fight a civil war. They don't pose a threat to us."

Elvis served as an instructor and trained the Mexican government army. He knew exactly what the Mexican army was like. He made his judgment on this and did not think Mexico was a threat.

"We must prepare for everything. The relationship between the United States and Mexico is not harmonious, and California borders Mexico. We must be fully prepared." Liang Yao said.

The California army stationed in San Diego Village on the US-Mexico border was on the one hand to deal with the War Department and to show it to the War Department.

On the other hand, it was to put pressure on the Mexican government in the subsequent Gadsden Purchase.

The Gadsden Purchase was something that had already happened in history. Even if Liang Yao did not fan the flames and add fuel to the flames, this thing would have happened.

It is still necessary to send an armed force to the US-Mexico border to garrison and show friendly greetings to Mexico.

"You are the highest military commander in California, and I obey your command and arrangements."

Elvis stood at attention and spoke in a sonorous tone. He guessed that Liang Yao might want him to garrison San Diego.

"You are responsible for training the militia. The new equipment has arrived. Starting tomorrow, the militia will be equipped with rifles. I hope you can treat them equally and train them into real warriors." Liang Yao said, "You can select the instructors for the militia from the active officers of the infantry regiment."

Liang Yao had another candidate for San Diego, which is stationed on the US-Mexico border. He asked Elvis to come to inform Elvis to let him train the militia of the California Militia.

The reason why Liang Yao spent so much effort to train the militia was very simple, that is, there were not enough troops.

He wanted to participate in forcing Japan to open its country. One regiment of regular troops was obviously not enough, not to mention that the main responsibility of the California Infantry Regiment was to ensure the security of California's territory, and he could not take them all away.

Liang Yao's military rank was Army Colonel, and he could only have one regiment of regular troops.

If he wanted to control more troops, he could only take advantage of the militia. The American militia organization and volunteer troops existed as reserves of the regular army, and the states were responsible for training them.

As for the standards and requirements of militia, the militias of each state have no fixed standards, just like their various uniforms and strange military flags.

But these militias have one thing in common, that is, in all the wars in the United States, whether it is the War of Independence, the Second War of Independence in 1812, or the Mexican-American War and the subsequent Civil War, the performance of the militia is generally amateurish and lame.

Many militiamen who were temporarily recruited from rural areas could not even distinguish left from right. When training them, officers had to tie straw and hay, which farmers were very familiar with, to their left and right feet respectively to let them distinguish left from right in order to better train them.

There are also two types of militia in the United States, one is the standing militia and the other is the volunteer militia.

Although they are all militias, there is a world of difference between the two.

Standing militia belongs to the kind that men who can carry a gun can join, while the threshold of volunteer militia is much higher. Even the officers are officers who have attended military academies and served in the state’s wealthy businessmen.

In addition, volunteer militias are not mixed with standing militias. Therefore, although the scale of the volunteer militia is small, its combat effectiveness is amazing.

The volunteer militia even has special cavalry and hunting units. Some volunteer militia units are even more luxuriously equipped than regular troops, such as the military academy cadets during the Civil War.

The name of the California Militia was made up by Liang Yao himself. In fact, the United States has no strict requirements for the number and personnel of the militia, nor for the number of people, because the militia does not cost the federal government money and is borne by the states themselves.

As long as you have money, you can organize a militia brigade and a militia division for fun.

However, for now, it is enough for California to train one militia group; any more will only increase the state's financial burden.

California's current focus is on economic development rather than military affairs.

"Yes, Colonel!"

Elvis took over this task from Liang Yao.

After assigning tasks to Elvis, the next step is to assign tasks to Deng Yan.

"Lieutenant Colonel Deng, you will lead half a regiment of regular troops to garrison San Diego and build military fortresses."

Liang Yao pointed to San Diego Village on the map and said.

"Yes, sir!"

Deng Yan took over the garrison task.

After handling the military affairs in California, Liang Yao went back to his room to rest.

The next day, he went to the middle school to inspect his school, Jinshan Middle School.

The principal of Jinshan Middle School is Reverend Willis, the vice-principal is Reverend Joseph, and the teachers are monks and nuns who are proficient in Chinese studies. The teaching staff is quite luxurious.

In addition to the two principals and deputy principals, Jinshan Middle School also has an honorary principal, Liang Yao.

When Liang Yao came to school, the students immediately stood up and bowed to him.

"Hello, principal."

Liang Yao looked at these students who were only slightly younger than him, or even about the same age, and motioned for them to sit down.

"Continue to listen to the teacher."

Forty-five students who had received secondary education and 15 young people with good physical health and adequate cultural background carefully selected by Liang Yao from the immigrants were gathered together and taught by monks and nuns from the church.

These people are the hope of future Chinese immigrants in California and are also his future team.

According to Liang Yao's arrangement, 45 students who have received secondary education will find a good middle school for them to prepare for American universities.

He paid all the tuition fees, and the requirement was that he could only work in the Americas Group after completing his studies.

These students are children from poor families. In the Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination was the right path. People with better family conditions sent their children to pursue official careers and would not let them learn from foreigners.

These poor students just wanted to have enough food and clothing. They had no idea about the contract they signed with Liang Yao. They were just grateful to Liang Yao for providing them with food and accommodation and training them.

In fact, even during the Westernization Movement, the mainstream concept in society still believed that Westernization was a sideline with no future, and that only those who were desperate and had no future would engage in Westernization.

In many places, "foreignization" is not even a neutral term, but a derogatory term. People are often scolded by words such as "you are doing Westernization", "What kind of Westernization are you doing", and so on.

These young people carefully selected by the church and foreign companies are all good, talented, intelligent, and fluent in English. Liang Yao is relatively confident about them.

The 15 young people carefully selected from immigrants are more troublesome. Their educational levels vary, and none of them have received systematic formal education.

These people, Liang Yao, asked them to prepare for the military academy.

Officers such as staff officers, commanders, artillery, surveying and mapping engineering corps, and highly professional technical arms are best still required to receive formal and systematic military school education.

Liang Yao allowed his infantry regiment to use ready-made white officers, but for an infantry regiment composed mainly of Chinese soldiers, it would not be a good thing if the proportion of white officers was too high.

In order to ensure that enough students could be admitted to the military academy, Liang Yao selected 5 students from 45 students who had received secondary education to join the team preparing for the military academy.

The selection criteria are also very simple, that is to select the 5 people with the best physical fitness.

"Pauline, please take the time to teach me English again tonight. I have never learned these things before. These words are the same as bean sprouts. It gives me a headache to learn them. I'm afraid that if I don't learn well, I will have to be taught by my grandma again tomorrow. "

After the bell rang for the end of get out of class, Liang Yao's cousin Liang Xu pestered Pan Baolin and said.

Pan Baolin was born in a business family in Guangzhou, and her English skills are much better than Liang Xu, who received a traditional private school education since childhood.

Liang Yao heard that Pan Zhengwei's two grandsons not only knew English, but also French.

Liang Xu and Pan Baolin, like other students, all cut off their braids and put on Western clothes.

"No problem, I'll cover it. We are classmates, and classmates should help each other." Pan Baolin happily agreed, patting her chest.

"Pan Baolin? You enrolled in school so soon?"

Liang Yao was a little surprised that Pan Baolin enrolled in school so quickly.

"headmaster."

Pan Baolin bowed deeply to Liang Yao: "Grandpa asked me to come to school early to get acquainted with my classmates, so I came. Principal Willis also agreed. From now on, Paulin will eat and live with her classmates."

Liang Yao looked at Pan Baolin, who was still childish, and his eyes revealed a maturity that only adults can have.

"Third Principal."

Liang Xu habitually wanted to call Liang Yao third brother, but as soon as he said it, he realized that it was inappropriate to call Liang Yao third brother in front of others, so he hurriedly changed his words.

"Yes." Liang Yao nodded slightly, and then said to Liang Xu, "Study hard. If you want to gain a foothold in the United States, you must study these things seriously and don't embarrass the Liang family. You are just an ordinary student in school. I don't I will favor you because you are my blood relative."

"Remember the principal's church." Liang Xu agreed.

He knew that the third brother was no longer the same third brother in Xiangshan.

"Your brother Pan Baohuang also enrolled in school?"

Liang Yao turned to look at Pan Baolin.

"Well, my brother and I went to school together, but my brother studied military and I studied law." Pan Baolin replied.

One of the two brothers went to a military school to join the army, and the other studied law and participated in politics. This was Liang Yao's original suggestion to Pan Zhengwei.

This Pan Zhengwei acted decisively, sending both his grandchildren to school so quickly.

"Study hard. Studying the Fa has a bright future in America."

Liang Yao patted Pan Baolin on the shoulder and said.

"Principal, I have a heartfelt request."

Pan Baolin hesitated for a moment and then spoke.

"explain."

"I have asked Principal Willis and Vice Principal Joseph to borrow books of law. However, the laws that the two principals know are British laws, and the books of law they have are all British laws. Grandpa said that I will pursue an official career in the United States in the future. How can I follow the laws of Great Britain and pursue an official career in the United States?"

Pan Baolin said rationally.

"I would like to borrow some books on American law from sir."

California is a frontier area of ​​the United States, and books are a very luxury item in the frontier areas, let alone legal books.

Throughout California, people with rich collections of books can be counted on their fingers, and Liang Yao is one of them.

There is a private library in his manor, which contains books and newspapers that he bought from the east at a large price.

"Did your grandfather teach you these words?"

Liang Yao asked, staring into Pan Baolin's eyes.

"These words are my own thoughts, but the matter of borrowing books from the collection was told to me by Mr. Leland Stanford. I asked him about American law." Pan Baolin said, "Mr. Stanford said that in California, your The collection of books is the richest.”

This kid is very clever and wild in his ways.

"I don't lend out books in my collection," Liang Yao said.

Pan Baolin felt very disappointed when she heard that Liang Yao said that the books in the collection were not available for loan. She was about to say goodbye to Liang Yao, but Liang Yao spoke again.

"But I allow you to read in my library. Liang Xu has never learned English before. Please help me more when you have time."

"I have to go to school during the day and live on campus at night. I'm afraid I won't have time to read in your library."

Liang Yao allowed Pan Baolin to read in his private library, which made Pan Baolin very excited. However, thinking that she could not leave school, her mood instantly fell to the bottom.

"Pauline, the school can't teach you anything anymore. I allow you to go to Speaker Liang's private library to read during the day and go back to school at night."

Just when Pan Baolin was in trouble, Willis came over and said to Pan Baolin and Liang Xu, "You go and play for a while. Speaker Liang and I have something to talk about."

After Liang Xu and Pan Baolin left, Willis said to Liang Yao: "This child is very smart. When the Pan family was in Guangzhou, they hired a Western teacher for their child.

According to what you call him, he is a Western-style private school teacher. Jinshan Middle School can no longer teach him anything, so let him study on his own. Did you come to the school specifically to see these students? "

Liang Yao nodded: "In addition to watching these students, I am also here to tell you that I will leave for the east in a few days. I will take these students with me and find a suitable middle school for them in the east."

Willis also agreed with this: "If you want to prepare for American universities, it is indeed more appropriate to send them to high schools in the east. With the things I teach them now, they are more suitable for universities in the British Empire. I hope you come back." I can bring back some teaching materials from eastern schools.”

"You don't have to wait for me to come back. I have already sent people to the east to buy textbooks. If nothing happens, they will be delivered to California in two months." Liang Yao said.

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