North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 176 A Crazy Variable!
At a time when the HMS Courage had already sunk to the bottom of the sea, the HMS Resolution was sinking rapidly, and countless sailors were jumping into the sea like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

Ah Zu slowly lowered his binoculars and said, "Old Ma, immediately send out our small boats to rescue people. Remember, rescue everyone who is still alive! Even retrieve all the bodies!"

"Huh...?" Old Martinez asked, puzzled. "Boss, why save them... even the corpses?"

Azu glared at him, exasperated, and said, "Use your mushy brain! These Pacific Fleet officers and soldiers, if they fall into our hands, they're hostages! Every single one of them is a bargaining chip in future negotiations... even their corpses!"

"I get it, I get it, hahaha...!" Old Ma slapped his forehead and grinned mischievously, "When it comes to being full of bad ideas, who can compare to you, BOSS...!"

"Hurry up and make the arrangements!"

"Good Le!"

At this moment, cheers that resounded throughout the fortress echoed through the sky.

This initial victory is an exciting and celebratory moment for the newly built coast guard fortress!
Especially when facing the Pacific Fleet, which had been rampant and unchallenged along the entire west coast, our side easily sank two armored gunboats without sustaining any damage.

It's like taking the virginity of a goddess who is high above and inviolable. This sense of satisfaction and accomplishment makes one's adrenaline and hormones surge, making one feel incredibly happy.

A successful first battle, sinking the enemy ship without a scratch, is the only way to repay the extremely arduous training these artillery officers and soldiers have undergone!

In contrast to the cheers and applause at the Coast Guard fortress, the Pacific Fleet was eerily silent!
Everyone silently put down their binoculars, unable to bear looking at the sinking "Resolution" ten thousand yards away, and the naval officers and soldiers struggling to survive on the sea.

The same was true of General Andrew Webber.

He silently put down the binoculars, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.

After a long silence, General Andrew Webber finally spoke slowly: "You are all senior staff officers in the Pacific Fleet. Can anyone tell me why this newly built coastal fortress has such strong firepower?"

"They only have fifteen cannons, which is less than the firepower of a frigate."

"But why did two salvos sink our two armored gunboats?"

"Our two fastest gunboats can't even get close to the strait. What kind of guns are they equipped with? And what kind of shells do they use?"

"Why have I never seen artillery with such a high rate of fire and such great power?"

"As far as I know, the Huamei naval gun factory has only been built for a little over a month. Why are their guns so powerful?"

Andrew Webber's gaze swept across the faces of the fleet staff officers one by one: "Right now, we are only facing a fortress battery!"

"In the future, when these cannons are deployed on California Coast Guard ships, how will we compete with them...?"

……

Faced with the general's series of questions, all the staff officers looked at each other in bewilderment!
It's understandable that General Andrew Webber was new to the area.

But these staff officers, who had served in the Pacific Fleet for a long time, were completely unaware that the Huamei Company had built such powerful artillery right under their noses...!
Seeing that no one answered, Andrew Webber lost interest in pressing the matter further, and simply sighed, "Faced with such a heavily fortified fortress, it is absolutely impossible for us to force our way into the Bay Area!"

"If we insist on forcing our way in, we will face total annihilation!"

"Alas...!" Andrew Webber sighed, "Raise the white flag and send our small boats to rescue them...!"

Before the general could finish speaking, an advisor said, "General, the other side is already rescuing people...!"

"Oh...?" Andrew Webber quickly raised his binoculars and, after a brief observation, indeed discovered that the coast guard fortress opposite had dispatched many small boats to quickly rescue the officers and soldiers struggling to survive on the sea.

"At least they followed the rules...!"

Andrew Webber then realized something was wrong!
If all the people are rescued by the other side, then they will have another card in their hand.

Faced with this situation, Andrew Webber was helpless and could only watch as his soldiers fell into the hands of the enemy.

"General, what should we do now?"

One of the advisors mustered his courage and asked.

General Andrew Webber was also at a loss as to what to do in this situation.

It is absolutely impossible to force our way into the Bay Area to carry out the next step of our plan!
But it doesn't seem right for our own fleet to be stationed at the entrance and exit of the strait for an extended period of time.

"Continue the blockade of the strait; no ships are allowed to enter or leave!"

Andrew Webber could only say in a deep voice, "As for what to do next, we need to wait for orders from Washington...!"

One of the staff officers couldn't help but ask, "General, if we have to wait for Washington's order, it will be at least two months later...!"

"Two months? Is that a long time?"

Andrew Webber glared at him: "We've blockaded the entire California coast and cut off Huamei Company's trade routes. I'd like to see who can't hold out in the end!"

"But what if their coast guard ships were equipped with such powerful cannons...!"

This statement finally hit the nail on the head, and it's exactly what General Andrew Webber is most worried about right now.

"Hmph...!" Andrew Webber grunted. "Even so, so what? Is building a powerful navy that easy?"

"The California Coast Guard is just a bunch of greenhorns. Do they know how to command a fleet? Do they understand naval tactics? Do they know naval gunnery...?"

“Report…!” An officer couldn’t help but interject, “General, a few months ago, under General Paparo King’s arrangement, many of our fleet’s senior officers retired early and became instructors at the California Coast Guard School…!”

"What the fuck...!"

Upon hearing this, General Andrew Webber's eyes widened in fury, and he was fuming with rage: "How come I've never heard of this before?"

General Andrew Webber couldn't help but jump up and curse, "You son of a bitch Paparo, you damned bastard, you've dug a huge hole for me...!!!"

……

After a brief but intense exchange of fire, the coast guard's small boats pulled more than a hundred surviving naval officers and soldiers, along with dozens of corpses, from the sea.

Some bodies, along with the sunken ship, sank to the bottom of the sea, never to see the light of day again.

Azu sent people to treat the wounded, and then imprisoned all the prisoners in California's newly built state prison.

Without waiting for the other party to negotiate, Azu directly boarded a special bulletproof carriage and, under the protection of a group of guards, returned directly to the Huamei headquarters.

Now, whenever Azu goes out, in addition to his heavily armed and vigilant guards, he is accompanied by at least five identical bulletproof carriages. No one can guess which carriage he is in.

The long convoy drove through downtown San Francisco. The roads along the way had been cleared by the California Police Department and the San Francisco Police Department, leaving no chance for bystanders to get close to the convoy.

After surviving a series of assassination attempts, although he escaped danger each time, it is absolutely false to say that Ah Zu was not afraid of being assassinated or dying.

Under the threat of the Hidden Knights of Solomon's Temple, no amount of security measures is excessive.

As the grand convoy roared past on Market Avenue, in a dark alley unnoticed by anyone, a hunched figure was sweeping the street with a long broom, doing so intermittently.

As the governor's motorcade passed by, the streets were blocked off and cleared. The old sanitation worker, who had a limp, silently scrutinized every detail of the motorcade with indifferent eyes, through the police cordon.

Once the convoy had disappeared into the distance and the street blockade was lifted, restoring the bustling scene of people coming and going, the elderly sanitation worker continued to bend over, diligently sweeping the dirty street, stroke after stroke.

"Hey, old man sweeping the floor...!"

The police chief, patrolling the street, walked towards you with two auxiliary police officers: "Old man, we're talking to you!"

"Boss, this old man is deaf, he can't hear!"

"Boss, he's not only deaf, he's also lame... He's so old, and he still has to sweep the floor to earn a living... It's pitiful!"

"Oh...!" The sheriff walked up to the old sanitation worker, looked him up and down, and then patted him on the shoulder: "Old man, stop sweeping, I have some good news for you...!"

"what……?"

The old cleaner looked up, his cloudy eyes finally focusing on the police chief in front of him.

"Officer, is there something you need?"

The old man mumbled incoherently, "Yes, I have good news for you...!"

The sheriff leaned close to the old man's ear and shouted, "Our state police department happens to be short a cleaner...!"

"Someone mentioned you to me, saying that you're a pitiful old man, even when you're sweeping, you keep the floor spotless...!"

"What did you say...?" The old man waved his hands and said, "Sir, I can't hear you...!"

"That's for the best, lest you overhear some secrets and leak them out...!"

The old man was still waving his hand blankly.

The sheriff grew impatient, grabbed the old man's sleeve, and started to walk away: "It's such a hassle to talk to a deaf person like you... Never mind him, come with me! I'll take pity on you and give you a stable job...!"

On that very day, a diligent and meticulous old man began sweeping the floors at the California Police Department headquarters.
-
Washington, D.C., White House, Oval Office.

President Fillmore and Vice President Lincoln met again in the Oval Office.

"Abraham, why are you in such a hurry? What important thing has happened this time?"

When faced with President Fillmore's question, Lincoln didn't waste any words and directly produced the handwritten letter that Azu had written to him.

“Mr. President, I have just received a letter from the young governor of California.”

Lincoln said urgently, "After reading it, I felt it was of great importance and needed to reach an agreement with the President as soon as possible!"

With that, Lincoln placed the letter directly in front of President Fillmore.

"Oh? What important thing did that young governor's personal letter say...?" President Fillmore picked up the letter with great interest and read it word by word.

The more President Fillmore read the letter, the more his eyebrows furrowed and his expression grew increasingly grim!

"Bang!!" After reading the letter, President Fillmore slammed it heavily onto his desk.

"Outrageous! Outrageous! This is too much! Absolutely too much!"

President Fillmore roared furiously, "What the hell are those damned Freemasons trying to do?!"

"These sons of bitches, are they really going to start a civil war?!"

Faced with the angry president, Vice President Lincoln replied in a deep voice, "That's right, they want to start a civil war!"

“Aside from a civil war, those Freemasons have no other way to deal with that young governor!”

"Therefore, they must use the power of the entire nation to deal with California and that young governor!"

President Fillmore puffed furiously on his pipe, saying with intense resentment, "They've gone completely mad to achieve their goals!"

"Destroying a legitimate arms factory, assassinating the universally elected governor of California...!"

"Using family members to threaten a U.S. Navy commodore...!"

"Disguised as an armed merchant ship, they launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet...!"

"By blatantly blocking the California coast without my and Congress's authorization...!"

“These conspiracies, one after another, are all acts of treason. They are committing treason…!”

President Fillmore pointed his pipe at the letter, his anger blazing, and said, "If everything this young governor says is true, then the Freemasons have gone completely mad, absolutely mad...!"

Lincoln said, "That young Chinese governor has been assassinated and seriously wounded by the Freemasons! This is an indisputable fact!"

"Fortunately, they captured the murderer alive!"

"From the murderer, we learned about all of the Freemasons' plans."

"After being out of danger, the young governor, despite his serious injuries, wrote me this handwritten letter!"

“I believe everything he said is true. He has no reason to fabricate this to deceive us; it would do him no good.”

President Fillmore took a few deep breaths, barely suppressing his anger: "Abraham, if all of this is true, what do you think we should do?"

Lincoln’s voice was firm and powerful: “Mr. President, this time, we must again take control of public opinion and absolutely not allow the Freemasons to lead us into an unfavorable situation.”

"Once a public opinion tsunami forms, it's extremely difficult to reverse it!"

Fillmore nodded: "Abraham, you're right! And then?"

Lincoln continued, "Rear Admiral Paparo King personally witnessed the destruction of the China Armory and the assassination of that young governor."

"General Kim is on his way back to Washington and should arrive in a few days."

"At that time, we will need General Kim to personally testify in the National Assembly and in the newspapers."

“Yes!” Fillmore nodded again. “Although I haven’t had much interaction with Paparo King, I know he is an upright soldier! I believe the public and members of Congress will also believe General King’s testimony!”

Lincoln added, "We must send a presidential envoy as quickly as possible to the West to bring the situation under control. We absolutely cannot allow the situation to deteriorate further!"

"Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy...!" Fillmore pondered, "Abraham, who do you think is the right person?"

"This plenipotentiary envoy absolutely cannot be a Freemason!"

"Moreover, he must possess absolute prestige and ability to immediately take control of the Pacific Fleet, as well as any other restless individuals!"

Fillmore puffed on his pipe and pondered, "Not a Freemason, but someone with absolute prestige and ability... Abraham, would you mind making the trip yourself?"

After a moment's thought, Lincoln nodded and said, "Of course! Mr. President, I do need to personally make another trip to the West!"

“Very good!” Fillmore breathed a sigh of relief: “Abraham, I can only be completely at ease if you go in person!”

"But you must be very careful on your journey! The Freemasons are out of control now, and I'm not sure what crazy things they might do next!"

Fillmore's words have made themselves very clear.

To achieve their goals, the Freemasons might even assassinate Vice President Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln nodded calmly: "I will do my best to ensure my safety!"

Fillmore shook his head: "That's not enough! I'll send a presidential guard to protect you personally."

Lincoln did not refuse, but continued, "Mr. President, I think it is necessary for you to invite all thirteen Round Table Masters of the Freemasons to Washington and have a personal talk with them!"

"They must be warned that a completely out-of-control Freemasonry will only become an enemy of America!"

“Thirteen round table masters… warn them…!” President Fillmore replied, “That’s almost impossible! Abraham, you know, the current Grand Master is that old man…!”

"I know a little bit about it...!"

Even Lincoln found the old man a formidable opponent.

"Mr. President, in any case, we need to arrange a meeting with the Freemasons as soon as possible, preferably directly with that old man, to have a proper talk...!"

Fillmore nodded: "Exactly! If we let them continue like this, those Freemasons will really get completely out of control and become enemies of America!"

"Abraham, do you have any other suggestions?"

Lincoln pondered for a moment: "That's all I can think of right now!"

"Mr. President, after I went to the West, all the burdens fell on your shoulders. Faced with a potentially turbulent situation, you must, at all costs, prevent America from sliding into civil war!"

"We must never allow the entire United States to become a tool for any organization to pursue its own selfish interests!"

"If this precedent is set, America will slide into an incurable abyss!"

(End of this chapter)