1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 572 Limit

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

Further east is the endless Central Plain, covering an area of ​​more than 150 million square kilometers.

The Mississippi River and its tributaries flow through this area, with abundant water, fertile land, low and flat terrain, and a suitable climate, making it very suitable for farming. In later generations, it became a major agricultural area and was known as the bread basket of America.

More importantly, the population of the United States at this time was mainly concentrated along the Atlantic coast and around the Great Lakes. The population of the Central Plains is extremely sparse, due to the presence of Plains Indian tribes such as the Sioux, Crow, Chetinka, and Blackfield Indians.

The United States' control over the Central Plains before and even during the Civil War was very weak.

The Nebraska Territory is an example. If the local militia armed groups had not been able to defend themselves, they would not have requested the federal government to send standing troops to the Nebraska Territory.

It stands to reason that the Central Plains, a geomantic treasure land with such superior natural endowments and a vast area and sparse population, is the best choice for immigrants.

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

One is that it is too flat and there is no danger to defend.

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

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

Even if the Central Plains is developed now, it will end up either being destroyed in the civil war or being used as a wedding dress for the federal government. Naturally, he would not do such a loss-making business.

What he lacks now is not land, but population. There is still a large amount of land that can be developed west of the Rocky Mountains. He cannot afford to look far away and take huge risks and great uncertainties to develop the Central Plains.

He has ideas about developing the Central Plains, but not now.

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

No longer thinking about heading east, Liang Yaosui, who was tired from traveling all the way, decided to rest near North Platte for two days before taking the train back to California.

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

The sender was Secretary of War Scott.

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

In the United States before the Civil War, the federal government's management of the military was quite lax and haphazard. 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 big country, but an alliance of more than thirty small and medium-sized countries living together. The two threads that maintain this fragile unity, the constitution and tariffs, are now at risk of breaking apart at any time.

As early as the founding of the country, the armies of each state in the United States had already gone their own way, otherwise the White House would not have been burned down by Canadian colonial troops.

It is nothing new for the armies of various states to build fortresses during the week and even in the prefectures.

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

The reason why Scott called specifically to ask questions lies in the second half.

The Secretary of War asked Liangyao Plains Indians where they got their large number of muskets and even artillery.

There is no airtight wall in the world. In the past few years, news of Liang Yao's friendship with many Indian tribes has spread to the east.

The Plains Indians, who had no industrial capabilities, suddenly acquired so many advanced weapons that they were once able to suppress the armed immigrants heading west from the east. Scott naturally did not believe that the guns used by Plains Indians to drive away armed settlers who attacked the east were gifts from nature.

Scott had begun to suspect that Liang Yao was self-respecting the invaders and secretly funded the Plains Indians to prevent white immigrants from the east from entering the Central Plains and entering the west.

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

His army's standard rifle underwent two large-scale changes in 10 years.

The Springfield M1842 rifle and its modifications were eliminated in the first change of equipment, and the standard rifles eliminated in the second change of equipment were the Walter M1851 rifle and its modifications.

These retired second-hand rifles and ammunition in stock were basically used by Liang Yao to support the Indian tribes he was friendly with at a relatively low cost and used in the anti-genocide struggle.

Not only the retired standard rifles, but starting last year, Liang Yao even agreed to sell Napoleon cannons to the Indians and began training gunners for the Indians.

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

Dear Secretary of War, General Scott:

The plains Indian tribes are very brave, skilled in horsemanship, come and go without a trace and are difficult to find, and are quite good at guerrilla techniques. Our Arizona regiment was overwhelmed by them, so we had to build forts to protect the Pacific Railroad. The war is urgent, and I hope you will forgive me for not being able to get revenge in time.

I am also puzzled as to where the Plains Indians' guns came from. We also request the War Department to thoroughly investigate their sources in order to cut off the arms supply to the plains Indian tribes and help our department eliminate 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 M1858 rifle entered the mass production stage in 1857.

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.

With the general election approaching, 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.

(End of this chapter)