It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 255 | The Reason for the Foreshadowing Crisis
From Midway to Hawaii, then from Hawaii to the West Coast, and finally to the East Coast, the two-day, one-night journey left Mr. Shang exhausted.

But the situation left him no time to rest, and he rushed to the embassy immediately after landing.

The chaotic scene along the way made him feel as if he had returned to Budapest more than half a year ago. Who would have thought that less than a year later, the flames of war would cross the sea and spread to the American continent?

Wu Jiu, who came with him, couldn't help but sigh: "This military strength is really as fragile as paper. More than 400,000 troops were defeated by only a few hundred thousand. It's absurd."

Shang Ke casually remarked, "There are too few standing troops and not enough professional officers, so that's why things are like this."

Mr. Shang's advance arrival in Washington was directly under the highest order, and he was entrusted with a heavy responsibility: to assess the war situation and to provide necessary guidance to the American army.

To facilitate Shang's activities, the Grand Commander made an exception and specially granted him a promotion order to brigadier general.

This was mainly for the sake of appearances; after all, dealing with the core of a country's power structure, the rank of colonel was still too low.

After meeting up with Liu Zhaowen, China's ambassador to America, the group immediately headed to the White House.

When the familiar white mansion came into view, a strange premonition arose in Shang Ke's heart, as if the building was going to be burned down again.

During the Second Revolutionary War in the early 19th century, British troops captured the poorly defended Washington, D.C. Given the atrocities committed by American troops in Canada, British commander Robert Ross ordered the city to be set on fire as retaliation and to humiliate the Yankees. The British not only burned down the White House, the presidential residence, but also destroyed the Capitol Building and the Treasury Building!
This history is a great disgrace to the United States, so much so that it has been handled in a low-key manner in textbooks and propaganda, and is mentioned as little as possible.

Shang Ke personally adopted a "watch the show" mentality, enjoying the spectacle.

On his way here, he pondered deeply, almost to the point of enlightenment, and finally understood why Demeter, the riddle-maker deity, had foretold a vision of 'the whole world, including his own country, being engulfed in war'.

The gist is that if left unchecked, the dilapidated America would be unable to hold out on its own, and there's a high probability that the combined forces of Britain and Ivan Ross would overwhelm Roosevelt.

It would be awkward if the federal government of America surrendered or established a puppet regime.

First, America's oil exports will be interrupted, and the Great Unified Federation will suddenly fall into a predicament of oil shortage. Even if they rush to develop the Daqing Oilfield at the last minute, it will take at least two or three years. Oil is the black blood of industrial countries, and that is no joke. How will they survive these few years?
Even more frightening is the navy. If the Pacific Fleet is captured by the enemy, then naval power will be completely out of balance.

Based on the surface combat order of the Federal Defence Navy, it is currently fully capable of repelling an attack by the Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy alone isn't enough... so what about adding the Italian Navy? Or the Ivanos Navy? Or the American Navy?

From this perspective, the worst-case scenario is quite frightening: the Federal Navy would be forced to abandon the South Pacific region and retreat to the mainland.

If we abandon Southeast Asia, we will also lose the two large oil fields, Old Port and Borneo, which together have an annual output of over ten million tons.

That would only exacerbate the oil shortage problem!

If such a dire situation were to occur, the Great Unified Federation would have no choice but to retreat to its homeland for the time being, focusing solely on self-preservation and having no time to attend to the outside world...

To be honest, Shank broke out in a cold sweat after deducing this possibility during the flight.

He had to admit that "seizing the opportunity to fight the United States early" was indeed a high-risk, high-reward decision.

However, he quickly realized that with him there, such a dire situation was nothing to fear. Conversely, as long as California remained under control and the Pacific Fleet was prevented from surrendering, the fate of the American federal government was irrelevant, and the worst-case scenario would not occur.

If things go wrong, we can simply replicate "Operation Ballista" to nip the danger in the bud.

Really? Surely no one actually thinks the old man is kind-hearted?
Anyway, at least I, Shang, am a bad guy, full of wicked ideas.

That morning, after a brief wait, Shank, who was lost in thought, was brought back to reality by the calls of White House staff, and then met with the president.

Hey! Isn't this Master Luo? I didn't expect him to be so broke after just a few days!

Shank saw that the president looked worried and not in good health, much worse than in the old photos.

Logically speaking, he should have been in excellent health in 1940, but his health deteriorated rapidly a few years later, leading to his death.

Good morning, Mr. President.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Brigadier General Shang. As far as I know, you are the most hated tactician by the Ivanros, which is the most pleasing thing about Black Friday today.”

In his previous life, Shang Ke's spoken English was passable, but in this life after transmigrating, he had no opportunity to use English, so it went to waste.

We greeted each other in English upon meeting, and then the entire conversation was handled by the translator present.

It is said that those in lower positions will show their fear when they meet those in higher positions. For example, the bold and ruthless Qin Wuyang would be stunned when he met the King of Qin. But Shang Ke really doesn't take the President of America seriously. He went straight to the point and asked sensitive questions without any hesitation.

"Mr. President, has the battleship Washington been moved? Where is she now? We must not allow the battleship to be captured by the enemy."

George Marshall, who was also present, answered quickly: "The Washington has been urgently dispatched and will sail south along the coastline, passing through the Panama Canal to the west coast."

Shang Ke nodded and said, "Then I'm relieved. One less troublesome thing to do."

After discovering that the United Kingdom was secretly and illegally constructing the Lion-class battleships, America began construction of the North Carolina-class battleships ahead of schedule.

Last month, the lead ship, the USS North Carolina, was completed and began sea trials. However, the lead ship, the USS Washington, is not yet fully outfitted and will take at least another month.

With the USS North Carolina having already fled to San Francisco on the West Coast, Shank's focus shifted to the USS Washington, a battleship built by the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where invaders were already at the gates.

Before coming here, Shank had already made preparations to rush to Philadelphia.

If the Washington cannot be started, then destroy it and sink it; it must not fall into enemy hands.

Fortunately, the Washington's propulsion system was already operational, allowing it to evacuate before the fall of Philadelphia, thus saving it a lot of trouble.

(End of this chapter)