The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 522 A Trap

As the first gun was thrown to the ground, the other Texas Rangers soon did the same thing with an unwilling look on their faces.

Most of them had no idea what was happening. Now that their commander was away and they were surrounded by the Volunteer Corps and Chinese who were also part of the Texas Military Bureau, they had no choice but to surrender.

"I originally thought you were going to have a man-to-man gunfight with me!" Aaron raised one corner of his mouth, as if he was laughing, but also as if he was a little dissatisfied or disdainful.

"Keep them apart!"

"Everyone at the captain level come over here, let's talk!"

Soon, more than thirty captains walked out of the crowd. They were of different ages and expressions.

But they all carry some confusion, anxiety and anger.

The Texas Rangers operate in teams. A team consists of a dozen people led by a captain. They are usually responsible for combating smuggling, illegal immigration, hunting down fugitives, and dealing with matters related to Indians in Texas.

This operation was a rare one in which the entire Rangers acted together, but before they did anything, everything was over.

"We need to know what happened!" a captain spoke up.

"I will definitely let you know, come over here!" Aaron waved at them and walked aside.

Then two men in gentlemen's suits came over from the darkness and took out their ID cards.

"I'm the personnel officer for the State Military Bureau! You haven't seen me before, but you'll be familiar with me!"

"I am the inspector of the State Military Bureau!"

After the two people spoke, the captains looked at each other.

With the cooperation of the State Military Bureau, these people were quickly "persuaded".

They had no other choice unless they wanted to rebel, but that would also mean their death.

The captains then went back to appease the other team members.

The next day, the Military Bureau came up with a series of plans to disband these rangers and incorporate them into the Volunteer Corps.

At the same time, a part of the personnel were drawn from the Volunteer Corps and reorganized with the remaining Rangers to form a new Ranger Corps.

At the same time, Aaron controlled a group of officers and rangers of the volunteer corps through bribery and threats, ensuring that there would be no trouble in these two corps and that they would be under the control of Chen Zhengwei.

In just three days, the two corps were disbanded and reorganized. Although their combat effectiveness was greatly affected and there was some internal chaos, these were only minor problems.

Their fighting ability is not important.

Three days later, the candidate for acting governor was announced: Joseph D. Sayers.

Although Chen Zhengwei didn't like him at first, he was too enthusiastic and the Republican Party here was not doing well.

Chen Zhengwei had no objection, so Deputy Governor Joseph Sayers naturally became the acting governor and would be sworn in as the new governor in half a month.

……

In Pittsburgh, the sky is always a little dark, and even coal dust is floating in the air.

And the streets always look dirty.

In a small hotel, a middle-aged white man was sitting on the sofa smoking a cigarette, and a big cockroach crawled quickly in front of him.

The middle-aged man's eyebrows trembled twice, and then he looked away.

He hadn't expected to end up in a place like this, but it was safer here than a big hotel.

Even if this is Pittsburgh.

He was William King, a personnel officer of the Military Bureau. He ran away that night, but on the way he saw the news that Governor Roberts and his family were stabbed to death on the street.

He didn't know where was safe, so he had to hide his identity all the way to Pittsburgh, which is a big city. Many farmers come here every day to look for work.

In order to hide his identity, he even hid in a dirty little hotel.

At this time, on the first floor of the hotel, two tall and strong white thugs were lying in front of the counter.

"Have you seen these people?" One of them took out a stack of portraits from his arms and slapped them on the counter, while at the same time carefully examining every person coming in and out.

The boss picked up the stack of portraits and looked through them. After a moment, he asked, "What will it benefit me if I find it?"

"You will be exempted from the protection fee for the next six months, and you will also gain our friendship!"

To do business here, you have to be familiar with the gangs.

Even when someone caused trouble in the hotel, gangs had to be sent out to deal with it.

"It's the room at the end of the corridor on the second floor. It doesn't look like that person can live here! So I have a deep impression of it." The boss took out a portrait and put it on the top.

The identity was written on the back of the portrait: William King, personnel officer of the Texas Military Bureau.

"Don't kill anyone in my inn and don't disturb the other guests!"

"When will he come down?"

"At night, he has only been going out at night these past two days!"

That night, when William King went out to buy bread, he had not walked far from the hotel when he suddenly felt a pain in his lower back.

He didn't even dare to look back and tried to run forward, but the two men behind him kept stabbing him with daggers.

Half a minute later, the two men stuffed a portrait into his collar and walked away quickly.

William King's strength quickly disappeared, he fell to his knees, and then fell to the ground.

Blood flowed and spread beneath him.

The pedestrians around watched this scene numbly, and then walked past him numbly, only making a slight move aside when passing by his body.

After all, things like this happen every day.

Ordinary people in Pittsburgh have long been accustomed to it, and their lives are already difficult enough, so they have no mood to care about these things.

It was not until more than an hour later that the police came to take the body away, and at the same time they discovered the portrait stuffed into the collar and the identity on the back of the portrait.

William King, "former" personnel officer of the Texas Military Bureau.

On the same day, in a hotel in New Orleans, a wealthy man from Texas was stabbed to death in the elevator less than a day after he checked into the hotel.

After these two pieces of news appeared in the newspapers, some officials and wealthy people who had previously fled Austin became even more panicked.

Many people then realized that Chen Zhengwei's power was far greater than they had imagined.

In addition to the superficial forces, there are people working for him in major cities across the United States.

Even though they escaped Texas and were far away from the West, they were not safe.

……

White House.

Secretary of State William M. Everts, sitting opposite President Rutherford Hayes, said somewhat helplessly:

"The French President refused! They don't want to meddle in America's internal affairs!"

"Their focus is now on Southeast Asia. They don't have more resources to help us in the short term! It may take two or three years, until their interests in Southeast Asia are stabilized, before they will reconsider."

Both of them knew that it was not that the French did not want to intervene, but they simply did not have the extra energy and resources at the moment.

"It's too late!" Rutherford Hayes was a little disappointed.

Who knows what will happen in two or three years. "What about the Qing Dynasty? Has the telegram arrived?" Rutherford Hayes asked.

"We're using a commercial line this time, and it's almost time to arrive."

At this time, the Qing Dynasty had only one or two short-line telegraph lines, and the outbound telegraphs were laid by a Danish company in Shanghai and Hong Kong respectively.

It takes at least four days to send a telegram from Shanghai to the capital.

"Notify me if you have any news!" said Rutherford Hayes.

After the Secretary of State left, Rutherford Hayes took out a map from the table, looked at it, and did not speak for a long time.

California, Oregon, Washington Territory (there was no Washington state at that time, it was still Indian territory) and Texas were all marked on the map.

He has an idea.

The purpose is to find a way to persuade Chen Zhengwei to separate these states from the United States and establish a new country.

The most difficult thing for Chen Zhengwei now is that he is an American and always claims that he was born and raised in the United States.

Then continue to stir up chaos within the United States.

Yet in the eyes of most Americans, he is not an enemy.

He can go to any city at will, communicate with government officials in any state or city, bribe them, and participate in influencing the US election, all of which can be done openly.

The full name of the United States is the United States of America. Each state has certain state powers, and the federal government does not have strong internal control.

If Chen Zhengwei were to establish a country on his own, the situation would be completely different.

He will become an enemy of the United States, a clear, distinct, visible and tangible enemy.

It's much easier to deal with him.

He needed someone to carry out this plan... and continue to carry out this plan even after his death.

This person must be able to become Chen Zhengwei's friend, bring benefits to Chen Zhengwei, and make Chen Zhengwei trust him, only then will he have the opportunity to seduce Chen Zhengwei.

Or... a woman who is seductive enough...

Or... let someone persuade his subordinates, and let his subordinates persuade him!

This is not difficult. Human greed has no end and desires will continue to expand.

It's a trap... but it's a very clever trap and few people can refuse it.

Rutherford Hayes felt that there was a high possibility that Chen Zhengwei had been deceived.

Chen Zhengwei is a criminal, a gang leader, and a warlord, but he lacks sufficient political vision and the ability to govern a country.

He is like a leech, burrowing into America's body and sucking blood to strengthen himself.

As long as you cut off the meat and pick out the leech, it will be much easier to deal with.

He could even kill himself and take his Chinese compatriots with him.

After a moment, Rutherford Hayes wrote down two names.

Greater Poland, Schulz.

Then he called his staff and said in a serious tone: "I need you to help me find a few women who are young, beautiful, attractive enough, and most importantly, loyal to this country! Willing to sacrifice for this country!"

……

"Next, the entire state of Texas will crack down on the KKK. These social cancers should have been cleared out long ago. Texas does not welcome such destabilizing elements!" At the banquet where the lieutenant governor took over as acting governor, Lieutenant Governor Joseph D. Sayers promised again.

"We will do our best to push this forward! There is no place for them in cities or villages. At the same time, the parliament will propose to increase the sentencing for KKK members."

The KKK caused a lot of damage and losses to Texas...even the previous governor died, and the mayor of Houston also died.

Moreover, former Military Bureau personnel officer William King died on the streets of Pittsburgh, and Austin tycoon and land investor Moses L. Morris died in a hotel elevator in New Orleans.

As soon as these two pieces of news appeared in the newspaper, they reached Austin.

This also made people in Austin realize that Chen Zhengwei's "power" is not only in the West, Texas, Chicago, and New York.

There are also many people working for Chen Zhengwei in other cities in the United States, so it is not safe even if he escapes to other cities.

"I'm very happy that you have such an understanding!" Chen Zhengwei held up the wine glass, clinked it with Sayers, and said with a smile.

"In addition, I have raised some donations in other cities that will be used to fight the KKK in the long term."

After a moment, Chen Zhengwei casually placed the wine glass on the table and left the state government building with his men.

When Chen Zhengwei saw Green at the hotel, he waved to him and said, "I asked you to arrange for someone to do something in Washington before, but why didn't you do anything?"

"Boss, Charles Deves and Hayes... they haven't appeared in public recently, not even attending banquets. We can't find an opportunity to attack them."

"Or maybe we can mobilize the FBI to take out Deves directly in the Department of Justice?" Green suggested.

You have to know that this is about murdering the Attorney General and the President, so there must be a suitable opportunity to do it.

But he knew that Chen Zhengwei had never been a patient person.

"It's a pity that the person I managed to get in here is exposed like this!" Chen Zhengwei rejected the proposal directly, tapping his fingers lightly on the armrest of the sofa, and after thinking for a moment, he said:

"Notify the members of the Disciplinary Committee that this year's meeting will be held in a month and a half in New York!"

Green was stunned for a moment, then nodded and made note of it.

"Let them submit a list of recommendations to recruit new members to the committee!"

Chen Zhengwei raised his hand and signaled Green to go to work.

He has a few things to do recently, so he plans to go to Washington in person.

It only takes a little over a week to travel from Houston to Washington by boat.

After a trip to Washington, he will meet with Republican candidate, James Garfield, and his club in New York will also be opened.

Once you've done all this, you can head back to California.

Then another trip to Oregon.

Recently, Chen Zhengwei's ship has been conducting exercises on the sea near Portland, the largest city in Oregon.

It can be said that after the news of Chen Zhengwei being ambushed in Austin came out, the most nervous state was Oregon.

As long as the infantry stationed in Oregon saw the battleships loaded with cannons on the sea, they lost all desire to fight.

Then he asked someone to call Aaron and said, "Have someone get me a boat in Galveston!"

"The speed must be the fastest and the conditions must be the best!"

"Brother Wei, where do we want the boat to go?" Aaron asked.

"Washington!"

"Brother Wei, how about we wait a few months and bring our ship over?"

"By the time the ship gets around South America, Hayes will be damn old!"

Green was right about Chen Zhengwei.

Chen Zhengwei really has no patience.

(End of this chapter)