Chapter 579: Limit

Chapter 572 Limits

After arranging matters in Utah Territory, Colorado Territory, and Fort Platte in Nebraska Territory, Liang Yao no longer had the idea of ​​continuing eastward.

Further east was the endless Central Great Plains, covering an area of ​​more than 1.5 million square kilometers.

The Mississippi River and its tributaries flowed through this area, with sufficient water, fertile land, low terrain, and a suitable climate, which was very suitable for farming. In later generations, it became a major agricultural area and was called the breadbasket of America.

More importantly, at this time, the population of America was mainly concentrated along the Atlantic coast and around the Great Lakes. The population of the Central Great Plains was extremely sparse, and due to the existence of plains Indian tribes such as the Sioux, Crow, Chetinka, and Blackfitt.

Before the Civil War, and even during the Civil War, America's control over the Central Great Plains was quite weak.

The Nebraska Territory is an example. If the local militia armed groups were not really unable to protect themselves, they would not have asked the federal government to send standing troops to the Nebraska Territory.

It stands to reason that the Central Plains, a place of Feng Shui with such superior natural endowments and sparse population, is the best choice for immigration.

But for now, the Central Plains has two fatal shortcomings that Liang Yao cannot accept.

The first is that it is too flat and has no strategic location to defend.

The second is that it is too far away from the three states on the west coast, his base.

Of course, the last reason is that the civil war is imminent, and it is still unknown what attitude the next government will have towards the West.

Even if the Central Plains is developed now, the end result will either be destroyed in the civil war or be a wedding dress for the federal government. He will naturally not do such a loss-making business.

What he lacks now is not land, but population. There is still a lot of land to be developed west of the Rocky Mountains. He does not need to go far away and develop the Central Plains region at great risk and great uncertainty.

He has the idea of ​​developing the Central Plains, but not now.

Extending his tentacles to North Platte along the Pacific Railway is already the limit of his current expansion of power.

Without the idea of ​​continuing to head east, Liang Yao, who was exhausted from the journey, decided to rest for two days near North Platte and then take the train back to California.

Unexpectedly, William Alexander Richardson, the governor of Nebraska Territory, complained quickly. During the rest period, he received a telegram from the War Department.

The sender was Scott, the Secretary of War.

Scott called Liang Yao and asked him why he did not inform the War Department in advance and report to the War Department about such an important matter as building a fort in North Platte.

Before the Civil War, the federal government's management of the army in the United States was quite lax and casual, otherwise Liang Yao would not have been able to become a colonel so easily nine years ago.

At this time, the United States is not so much a unified great power as an alliance of more than 30 small and medium-sized countries. The two lines that maintain this fragile unity, the constitution and tariffs, are now at risk of breaking at any time.

As early as the founding of the country, the armies of the various states of the United States had already acted on their own, otherwise even the White House would not have been burned down by the Canadian colonial army.

It is not new for the armies of various states to build forts in the week and even in the territories.

Liang Yao knew that building a fort in North Platte without reporting to the War Department was not the real reason why Scott questioned him.

The focus of the second half of the question was why Scott called to question him.

The Secretary of War asked Liang Yao where the large number of muskets and even cannons of the Plains Indians came from.

There is no impenetrable wall in the world. In the past few years, the news that Liang Yao had made friends with many Indian tribes had spread to the east.

The Plains Indians, who had no industrial capacity, suddenly obtained so many advanced weapons that they were able to suppress the armed immigrants from the east.

Scott naturally would not believe that the guns and cannons used by the Plains Indians to drive away the armed immigrants who attacked the east were gifts from nature.

Scott had begun to suspect that Liang Yao was raising the enemy and secretly subsidizing the Plains Indians to prevent white immigrants from the east from entering the Central Great Plains and the West.

To be honest, these were indeed done by Liang Yao.

His army's standard rifles underwent two large-scale replacements in 10 years.

The Springfield M1842 rifle and its modifications were eliminated in the first replacement, and the Walter M1851 rifle and its modifications were eliminated in the second replacement.

These retired second-hand rifles and the ammunition in stock were basically used by Liang Yao to support the Indian tribes that were friendly to him at a relatively low cost for the fight against genocide.

Not only the retired standard rifles, but since last year, Liang Yao even agreed to sell the Napoleon cannon to the Indians and began to train gunners for the Indians.

Facing Scott's accountability, Liang Yao personally drafted telegrams to reply one by one and explained the reasons to Scott.

Dear Secretary of War General Scott:

The Plains Indian tribes are very brave, skilled in riding, and come and go without a trace, making it difficult to find their traces. They are quite good at guerrilla warfare. Our Arizona Regiment was overwhelmed by them, so we had to build a fortress to protect the Pacific Railway. The war was urgent, and I didn't get the report in time, so I hope you will forgive me.

As for where the Plains Indians' guns and cannons came from, I am also very puzzled. We also ask the War Department to thoroughly investigate the source of the firearms to cut off the arms supply to the Plains Indian tribes, and help our army to eliminate the unfriendly Indian tribes in Nebraska as soon as possible.

Liang Yao, commander of the Western Brigade.

Although various types of Walter M1851 rifles were manufactured by the Sacramento Arsenal, the brand-new General Liang M1857 rifle entered the mass production stage in 1858.

Liang Yao has allowed the sale of various types of Walter M1851 rifles to the private sector. In addition, the Sacramento Arsenal has also received orders from other armies in the east and sold modified rifles to other armies.

This rifle has a large number of possessions among civilians and the military. Therefore, Liang Yao was not worried about the War Department investigating the source of Plains Indian arms.

Even if Scott captured Indian prisoners using Walter M1851 rifles, he would not be able to directly prove that these rifles were sold to the Indians by someone like him.

As for the Napoleon cannon, it was also used by the military and civil groups in the east, and there was no reason why it should all depend on him alone. As long as Liang Yao refuses to admit it, Scott will be helpless with him.

The general election is approaching, and the struggle between the slaveholders and the abolitionists has entered a fierce stage, and the support rate of the Buchanan government has already fallen to the bottom.

Liang Yao did not believe that at this juncture the Buchanan government still had the energy to worry about the source of arms for the Plains Indians.

Furthermore, when checking the arms of the standing forces at this time, no matter which unit is checked, the troops being checked will think that they are being targeted and wonder whether the federal government is looking for an excuse to disarm them.

Doing so is tantamount to taking a match and lighting the fuse of the explosive barrel directly.

"Zeiss! Zeiss! Take this telegram to the telegraph room and send it out." Liang Yao shouted to Zeiss for a while before he quickly ran into Liang Yao's office.

"Boss, this is the telegram I just received." Zeiss ran in panting and said to Liang Yao, "Mr. Lincoln of the Republican Party heard that you were in North Platte and called to invite you to meet in Omaha. He is visiting Omaha Speech.”

After speaking, Zeiss placed the just-translated message on Liang Yao's desk, then picked up the message Liang Yao had drafted and headed to the telegraph room.