1850 American Gold Tycoon

It is an old tradition that the American army and navy dislike each other.

In addition to the French Bourbon dynasty's navy playing the role of the U.S. Navy during the First War of Independence, from the Second War of Independence to the recent U.S.-Mexican War, the cooperation between the U.S. Army and Navy has been unsatisfactory. .

This expedition to Japan was thousands of miles away from the Pacific Ocean. In this era when there was no wireless telegraphy, Washington was unable to issue instructions to the expeditionary force, and it was unable to obtain the battle reports from the front line as soon as possible. The only thing Washington could do was to send messages to Washington Awaiting the results of this expedition.

In other words, the outcome of this expedition depends entirely on the performance of the frontline commanders and the soldiers of the expeditionary force.

If the expedition failed due to disagreements between the navy and army officers and soldiers, it would be a result that none of the cabinet members present were willing to see.

Everyone in the United States has high expectations for this expedition. If this expedition can achieve the expected results, President Fillmore and his cabinet will easily be re-elected in the next presidential election.

If the expedition to Japan fails to achieve the expected results, the result waiting for them is to step down amidst a scolding.

The Navy wanted the commander-in-chief to be a Navy officer, on the grounds that this unprecedented transoceanic expedition was led by the Navy, and a Navy officer should be responsible for coordinating and commanding the expeditionary force.

The War Department (the predecessor of the Army Department, on September 18, 1947, the American War Department was renamed the Army Department.) hopes that the commander-in-chief will be an officer of the Army. The reason is that the plan for this expedition to Japan was proposed by Army Colonel Liang Yao. He was also responsible for ensuring the logistics of this expeditionary military operation, and spent a lot of time on long-term preparations. For all these reasons, an army officer should be the overall commander of this expeditionary operation.

Fillmore thought for a long time and finally decided to appoint Commodore Perry, commander of the American East India Fleet, as commander-in-chief of the Japanese Expeditionary Force, and Army Colonel Liang Yao, commander of the California Army, as deputy commander-in-chief of the Japanese Expeditionary Force.

The United States is also a society that relies on seniority. Although Liang Yao's performance since he became an Army officer has been very impressive and he has shown outstanding military talents. Even Secretary of War Conrad and many senior Army officers have looked at Liang Yao with admiration.

He believed that this young colonel had a bright future and might become a pillar of the Army Department in the future.

But good news is good news. After all, Liang Yao's shortcomings are his shortcomings, and Liang Yao's military rank is not as high as Perry's. The mature and prudent Perry is obviously more suitable to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Japanese Expeditionary Force than Liang Yao.

Although Conrad and a few other cabinet ministers questioned President Fillmore's decision, they still wanted to fight for the Army.

However, most members of the cabinet still agreed with President Fillmore's decision and believed that Commodore Perry, who came from a naval family, was more suitable to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Japanese Expeditionary Force.

Three days later, the House and Senate of the U.S. Congress voted on an expedition to Japan to force the founding of Japan and free trade in the United States.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed this resolution with extremely high votes in favor.

Even though many congressmen did not know much about Japan, they still voted in favor.

In the eyes of most congressmen, Japan is just a smaller version of the Qing Dynasty.

In 11 years, Britain was able to defeat the Qing Dynasty and force Japan to found a country. Eleven years later, they, the United States, could also force Japan to found a country in the same way.

This was what these MPs were thinking when they voted in favor.

Anyway, across the Pacific Ocean, the war cannot burn the American mainland.

If you win, everyone is happy. If you lose, the president and his cabinet will be troubled, not the voting members.

"Due to Japan's repeated shameful detention and inhumane treatment of Chinese whaling ship crews for no reason, our repeated protests to Japan have turned a deaf ear. In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of our American citizens, I declare that since September 1851, the United States of America has We have been in a state of war with the Japanese Empire since January 18th and will remain in a state of war until the Japanese side.”

After the voting results were announced, Fillmore issued a declaration against Japan in Congress, which could also be understood as a declaration of war.

At this time, Japan had not yet become a country, and it was not accepted by mainstream Western society. Fillmore had no pressure to declare war on a marginal country that was not accepted by the international (Western) society.

After the dust settled on the Japanese expedition, the efficient national machinery of the United States began to operate rapidly.

Due to the current good economic situation in the United States and the trust of the American people in Perry and Liang Yao.

The first $8 million in war bonds issued by the Treasury Department quickly sold out.

The Admiralty was not idle either, allocating the best ships from each fleet to the American East India Fleet participating in the expedition to Japan.

After receiving these ships, Perry conducted careful maintenance on these ships to ensure that they were in good condition and capable of participating in transoceanic expeditions.

Ships in good condition were sent directly to the navy's major shipyards, where they were painted black.

What Perry regretted was that there were not many large steam ships in the American Navy. He had to bring a few sail warships to make up the number. Not all of his expedition fleet was steam warships.

The War Department also secured $600,000 in funding for Liang Yao to purchase updated equipment, provide subsidies to soldiers, and required all arsenals to give priority to providing equipment to the California Infantry Regiment and Militia Regiment.

Liang Yao was not polite to the major arsenals and directly ordered 5,000 Springfield M1842s, 2,000 of which were rifled versions, the remaining 3,000 were smoothbore versions, and 800 of the latest model Colt six-gun revolvers. 20 field guns, and some ammunition.

Liang Yao's own troops are preparing to re-equip with Dresser needle guns, and he also has sufficient Dresser needle guns for replacement.

Liang Yao naturally disliked these Springfield M1842s, but these guns could be used to train militiamen. Furthermore, the Taiping Rebellion in the Qing Dynasty was rampant and had the potential to sweep through half of the southeast.

The Chinese businessmen in Guangdong and Fujian felt insecure. After seeing the benefits of foreign guns, they entrusted Liang Yao to buy some foreign guns for them to equip them with as guards in their hometowns in Guangdong and Fujian to guard their homes for self-protection.

Liang Yao valued the gunsmiths and workers in these arsenals more than the equipment. Liang Yao took the opportunity to poach some people from various arsenals in the name of providing equipment maintenance for the expedition.

He plans to use these people to set up his own arsenal in California to replace the current small workshops in California that can only repair firearms.

Fillmore attached great importance to the military expedition to Japan and specially summoned Perry and Liang Yao, hoping that the officers and soldiers of the navy and army could unite sincerely and complete the expedition beautifully.

"If this expedition succeeds, the two of them will go down in American history as America's most outstanding generals and become heroes in the hearts of more than 20 million American citizens." Fillmore said to Perry and Liang Yao.

"If you still need any help from the government, you can ask it and I will do my best to solve your worries."

"All the officers and soldiers of the East India Fleet are ready! The ships can be set off after being painted. However, the naval officers and soldiers are not good at land warfare. I implore the President to assign another regiment of Marines to the expeditionary force." Perry put forward his proposal Require.

Fillmore frowned upon hearing this, and Liang Yao also felt unhappy.

The California Infantry Regiment was already in the Japanese Expeditionary Force, and Perry now asked for the Marine Corps, which was obviously a distrust of the Army.