Chapter 592: Prepare for War
Chapter 585: Prepare for War
Once the announcement of the governors and the finance ministers of the three states on the west coast was issued, the entire western region was shocked.
It's not that the people in the west have never come into contact with paper money.
It's just that the so-called paper money they have come into contact with before is banknotes, which can only be exchanged by the bank that issued the banknotes, and it takes a long time to proofread and review, which is not very convenient to use.
The circulation of banknotes is also limited to the middle and upper class people in the business community, because only these people are the main customers of the bank. Ordinary people still use metal coins for transactions.
This issuance can be freely exchanged in the state banks of the three states on the west coast and the five traditional banks in the west without any personal proof, which means that holding these banknotes can be cashed in almost all cities and major settlements in the west.
Its liquidity is not comparable to the banknotes of any private bank, and even the most powerful Bank of America cannot do this.
At first, people were skeptical about the announcement of the governors and finance ministers of the three states on the west coast.
However, many people still took metal coins to the state banks of various states to exchange some small red banknotes.
Many of those who exchanged red banknotes came for compensation of ten times the amount of the rejection.
But to their regret, they did not get compensation of ten times the amount of the rejection. Because they could freely exchange these red banknotes for metal coins of the same amount across banks or even across states as they wished.
Gradually, more and more Westerners began to use these beautiful and exquisite red banknotes directly in daily transactions, and were too lazy to go to the bank to exchange them for metal coins immediately after receiving the red banknotes.
First, you have to queue up at the bank, and second, the price of these red banknotes is very strong. There is no essential difference between holding these red banknotes and directly holding gold and silver coins, and it is more convenient.
After all, you can put $1,000 worth of red banknotes in your crotch, but you can't put the equivalent amount of gold in your crotch.
Later, after hearing that these newly issued red banknotes could be exchanged for equivalent metal coins and gold and silver at the member banks of the Western Reserve Committee, some bold European, Qing Dynasty, and Japanese merchants also began to try to use this banknote in small quantities and exchange it for metal coins and gold and silver at the five major ports of the Qing Dynasty, Xiangshan, Hong Kong, Nagasaki, as well as the Bank of America in London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and even St. Petersburg.
At first, these merchants were just trying it out, but they didn't expect to have a smooth exchange process.
These cross-border merchants saw that using the red banknotes of the Western Reserve Committee was so convenient, and their acceptance of using red banknotes in transactions became higher and higher.
At the end of 1859, taking advantage of the good financial situation of California and the increase in the production of new standard weapons, General Liang M1857 rifles, 6-pound and 12-pound Sacramento field guns, and Thunder M60 machine guns, Liang Yao began to formally reform and reorganize the militia forces under the jurisdiction of the entire western region.
Since 1851, Liang Yao has attached great importance to the training of militias in various places, and often dispatched non-commissioned officers of active standing forces to various places to train militias. Even the military training in middle schools is taught by retired or even active non-commissioned officers.
Therefore, the reserve forces in the western region are very abundant, and the process of regularizing and reorganizing the militias is very smooth.
In terms of infantry, this reorganization is based on the original three standing regiments, and the regiment is expanded from a regiment to a brigade.
The California Infantry Regiment was reorganized into the 101st Brigade, the Oregon Infantry Regiment was reorganized into the 102nd Brigade, and the Arizona Infantry Regiment was reorganized into the 103rd Brigade.
The non-commissioned officers required for the reorganization were selected from the original outstanding active veterans and promoted to non-commissioned officers. The required company commanders, battalion commanders, and regiment commanders were also selected and promoted from the active officers in the original standing regiments.
The three infantry brigades have the same organization. Each brigade has three infantry regiments, a brigade artillery battalion equipped with 24 12-pound Sacramento guns, a brigade machine gun battalion equipped with 36 Thunder M60 machine guns, a brigade cavalry battalion, an engineering battalion, a guard company responsible for ensuring the safety of the brigade headquarters, and a baggage regiment responsible for logistics.
Each brigade has 7,500 personnel at full strength.
The regiment is the basic combat unit. At full strength, each regiment has three infantry battalions, an artillery company equipped with 8 6-pound Sacramento guns, a machine gun company equipped with 12 Thunder M60 machine guns, and a logistics company responsible for logistics. Each regiment has 1,500 personnel at full strength.
In addition to the three basic infantry brigades, Liang Yaoshang has an independent artillery regiment, a cavalry regiment mainly composed of Indians, and the Mongolian cavalry regiment and the Solon cavalry battalion that are being trained and have not yet fully formed combat effectiveness.
After the militia was formalized and reorganized, the number of regular armed forces in the entire West reached 27,400, which was the limit of the current financial support of the entire West.
During the process of formalizing the militia, Liang Yao also took the opportunity to build the Sacramento Military Academy in Sacramento to train younger officers, especially artillery officers and cavalry officers.
At the same time, Liang Yao asked the Sacramento Arsenal to produce guns and ammunition at full capacity, and to stockpile a large amount of strategic materials such as food, medical supplies, sugar, blankets, cloth, etc.
These materials were continuously transported to major cities and settlements along the Pacific Railway via the Pacific Railway.
For example, Reno and Carson in the Nevada District, Salt Lake City and Provo in the Utah Territory, Denver in the Colorado Territory, and North Platte in the Nebraska Territory.
Liang Yao spent the entire second half of 1859 reorganizing troops, stockpiling strategic materials, and establishing a complete wartime storage and logistics system.
During this period, Liang Yao and the elites in the West also kept an eye on the political situation in the East, that is, the upcoming 16th presidential election.
Unlike other people, Liang Yao's focus is mainly on the Republican Party.
Although he has the ability to know more than 160 years later, he has been in this time and space for ten years, which has had an impact on the original world line of this world.
Therefore, although Liang Yao knows that Lincoln is the 16th president of the United States, he dare not guarantee whether there will be any accidents.
After all, this time the British and French coalition forces did not enter the capital city, and his fifth uncle Liang Shaoqiong became the governor of Liangjiang. God knows if there will be any moths in this American presidential election.
On November 10, 1859, a seemingly insignificant political news was published in a western newspaper: Simon Cameron, one of the Republican Party's strong presidential nominee contenders, was investigated for suspected massive corruption.
After internal discussions and research, the Republican Party also cancelled Simon Cameron's presidential nomination in order to calm public pressure and restore the Republican Party's image as a new and promising political party in the minds of the people, or more precisely, the northern people.