Outnumbered? I'll conquer America with an unlimited number of suicide soldiers.

Chapter 93 Fish into the Sea and Washington's Reaction

Jiujiang Town.

Hongwu took a deep breath and said quickly, "Except for Jianwen who stays here, everyone else, board the ship immediately. We should set sail!"

Rong Hong, who was carrying food, was taken aback: "But we haven't replenished our food and fresh water supplies yet—"

"There's no time!"

Hongwu interrupted him, his voice urgent: "Light the boiler, raise the sails, quick, quick, quick! Forget everything else, get on the ship first!"

Without the slightest hesitation, the assassins dropped everything they were carrying, jumped into the river, and swam with all their might towards the two boats in the middle of the river.

After climbing onto the boat, they quickly began their work.

Tang, who was on the ship, leaned out and shouted, "It will take several hours to pressurize the boilers, and until then we can only rely on the power of the sails."

"I know!"

Hongwu replied, "Let's light a fire first; that way, it'll still be usable for at least a few hours!"

Yung Wing and Hung Yan-kan looked puzzled: "Mr. Hung, what's wrong?"

Hongwu pushed the two men onto the small boat, then jumped on himself, grabbed the oars, and began to row.

"We've received word that the British Navy is coming to arrest us. We should leave."

He paused, then said apologetically, "Mr. Rong, I'm sorry, you probably won't be able to go back to see your mother this time."

Rong Hong shook his head and said, "That's alright, it's the same when I go back to see my mother next time."

Hong Rengan looked surprised: "Mr. Hong, where did you get this information? I didn't see anyone come to report it just now?"

"This needs to be kept secret."

Hongwu smiled slightly, saw the two onto the Chengfeng, and then began to calculate the time with Tang and the others while looking at the map.

"The Royal Navy will set sail in three hours, divided into three groups, with the target being the three outlets of the West River: Modaomen Channel, Hutiaomen Channel, and Yamen Channel, intending to block our way out."

"From Victoria Harbour, the distances to the three destinations are 40 nautical miles, 50 nautical miles, and 60 nautical miles respectively. With a warship speed of 10 knots, that means we only have a minimum of seven hours to travel."

""

Tang He frowned deeply and said, "From Jiujiang to the Modaomen waterway and then out to sea, it's a journey of over forty nautical miles. If the wind and current are favorable, it should take six and a half hours. But if we encounter headwinds and tides, it could take up to ten hours."

Moreover, according to the intelligence Harvey provided, the navy there will be the largest there, with level 5 ships stationed there. If we get caught, we'll all be fish food.

"How about we take the Tiger Leap Gate waterway?" one of the assassins suggested.

"Tiger Leap Gate is the same as Sharpening Knife Gate, which takes an extra hour." Tang He shook his head. "Moreover, Tiger Leap Gate is extremely dependent on the tides, so going through it is actually more troublesome."

"We'll take the Yamen Waterway!"

Hongwu pondered for a long time before making the final decision: "It takes about nine hours to get from here to Yamen. After dark, it will be easier to hide, and we can also take advantage of the low tide to go directly out to sea!"

"Besides, Cliff Gate is the furthest away, and it has the fewest troops stationed there. If we are discovered, we can simply fight those white devils again!"

late at night.

Yamen Waterway.

A Royal Hong Kong Navy frigate and several gunboats are patrolling the waters outside the estuary.

They strictly adhered to the night navigation instructions, extinguishing all lights, keeping the steam boilers at minimum pressure, and lowering the sails halfway down, like several lurking sharks, eyeing the estuary with predatory intent.

On the nearby Yamen Fortress, the Green Standard Army soldiers on night watch lit torches, listened to the movement of the ships, and kept cursing.

"Are these red-haired devils crazy? Wandering around here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping, a bunch of idiots!"

"Now that's great, we can't sleep either."

"I'm so sleepy right now, I really want to go to sleep."

The Green Standard Army soldier on the other side had already lay prone on the bluestone, his eyelids drooping. "Ah Sheng, keep watch for me, I'm going to take a nap."

"What the hell am I supposed to watch? I want to sleep too, why aren't you, you piece of trash, showing me?"

While the two men on the gun emplacement were arguing, the Wind Chaser and Wavebreaker were drifting silently downstream in the waterway below.

Both ships had lowered all their sails and shut down their steam boilers, drifting towards the ocean on the back of the tide.

Rong Hong looked around at the pitch-black surroundings, his expression tense, and asked in a low voice, "Can we really escape like this?"

"Without moonlight, lamplight, or any sound, if we can still be caught on a two-kilometer-wide estuary, it can only mean that even God isn't on our side."

Hongwu gripped the ship's rudder, looking completely calm.

"Mr. Rong, don't worry. Even if we get caught, it's just a matter of fighting again."

Suddenly, Hongwu's expression turned serious, and he said in a low voice, "Shut your mouth, there's a gunboat not far ahead."

Yung Wing shut his mouth, widened his eyes, and tried to make out the shadow of the gunboat in the pitch-black darkness, but to no avail.

The rudder of the Wind Chaser turned slightly to the left, and the ship drifted a little to the left.

A few minutes later, Yung Wing finally heard a sound – the roar of a steam boiler heading towards the sea to his right.

Really?

Rong Hong's eyes widened even more.

Under Hongwu's command, the Chengfeng ship veered left and right for two hours.

At the most dangerous moment, a gust of wind suddenly rose on the sea, blowing away the clouds and revealing a corner of the moon.

By the dim light, Rong Hong could even see the sailors moving about on the deck of a nearby naval warship, see the dark muzzles of the cannons, and hear their voices.

But the Wind Chaser and the Wavebreaker were like two ghost ships, slipping out of the encirclement before attracting the attention of the warships.

"Raise the sails and preheat the boiler!"

Hongwu let out a sigh of relief and said, "The tide will be high soon, it's almost dawn. Let's make a quick getaway while we have this time."

"Destination: Shanghai!"

Meanwhile, in Washington.

Four o'clock in the afternoon.

Inside the White House, President Franklin Pierce convened his cabinet members.

"Gentlemen, an urgent military intelligence report."

Inside the president's office, Pierce sat at the head of the oval desk, holding a letter in his hand.

"Our dear Brigadier General John Ellis Wool, Commander of the Union Army Pacific Command, wrote a letter to Washington requesting assistance."

"The letter mainly mentioned two things. First, Governor John Bigler was assassinated. The assassin was shot dead on the spot and was identified as a member of the American Party."

This incident directly sparked a war between Southern and Northern California, with militias from both sides clashing and causing numerous casualties.

"Another Kansas City War?"

The man sitting to the left of the oval desk, Jefferson Hamilton Davis, frowned.

He is no longer the Confederate president during the Civil War, but the Secretary of War in Pierce's cabinet.

"Yes, Davis, another Kansas City War. And that's not even the worst part."

President Pierce's expression grew increasingly serious as he read the rest of the letter.

"The second thing is the California Indian riots. Southern California cities such as Los Angeles and Stockton suffered devastating attacks from Indians, with direct and indirect losses exceeding millions of dollars."

Two Union Dragoon regiments sent to quell the rebellion were defeated in direct combat with the Native Americans, with less than one in ten surviving.

"Wait a minute, Mr. President, you're not playing an April Fool's joke on us, are you? Those are two dragoon regiments!"

Davis jumped to his feet, his face filled with disbelief. He stared at Pierce, trying to find a trace of a joke on the president's face.

"Two regiments, wiped out by Native Americans to the point of less than one-tenth? Even the British couldn't have done that, could they?"

The other cabinet members in the meeting room nodded in agreement.

The news was so shocking that they couldn't believe it at all.

If true, this would be even more horrific than the "Riverside Massacre" that occurred during the Second War of Independence in 1812.

On that occasion, it was the British and eight hundred Native Americans who launched a surprise attack and successfully captured two infantry regiments.

Now, decades later, the Native Americans themselves have this power.

"They're British."

Pierce's expression was serious, showing no hint of joking. "The letter said that the Indian troops were equipped with three large-caliber new cannons, ten rapid-fire weapons, and all rifles were breech-loading, so the two dragoons quickly scattered."

"Besides the British, what other countries could possess such a weapon?"

He paused, then said, "Alright, gentlemen, now give me a plan. The British have their eyes on our land again, and we must retaliate!"

There was a moment of silence in the conference room.

Davis spoke first, walking to the huge map hanging on the wall and pointing to California.

"Mr. President, colleagues."

According to Brigadier General Wool's letter, the situation in California is now extremely critical: Northern and Southern California are engulfed in civil war, the government is incompetent, Native Americans are taking advantage of the chaos to rise up, and the entire Pacific coast is virtually undefended.

He turned to Pierce: "I suggest we immediately transfer four infantry regiments from the eastern states to California. Adding those to Brigadier General Wool's remaining two regiments, that's a total of six regiments. First, we'll encircle and annihilate that Indian force, then head north to be wary of any potential British troops in Canada!"

"Draw four regiments?"

Treasury Secretary James Guthrie immediately shook his head. "Davis, do you know how much it would cost to send four regiments to California? Pay, supplies, transportation, ammunition—it would add up to at least five million dollars. Those people in Congress will never approve it."

"So we're just going to watch America lose territory?" Davis retorted.

Guthrie didn't answer directly, but looked at Pierce: "Mr. President, I'm not saying we won't save California."

I mean, four groups are too many.

We can send two regular army corps there, while simultaneously recruiting volunteers locally in California. This will save on military spending and also motivate the local population, since they are defending their homeland.

"Recruiting volunteers? Gentlemen, those of you who have never fought in a war should not meddle in it!"

Davis scoffed. "These volunteers haven't received proper training. They'll scatter as soon as they charge. Sending them out is a waste of money; they might even disrupt the regular army's formation when they break up!"

The two were locked in a heated argument, and other cabinet members joined the discussion.

Some supported Davis, believing that an overwhelming force must be used to achieve a swift victory; others supported Guthrie, feeling that they should act according to their capabilities.

The debate lasted for nearly an hour, but in the end, Guthrie's plan was adopted: two regular corps were to be dispatched to California immediately, while three thousand volunteers were to be recruited in California, Oregon and other places, under the unified command of Brigadier General Wool.

On the Congress side, the president personally stepped in to secure emergency funding and war authorization.

Cabinet members got up and left one after another.

Davis walked at the back, looking displeased, but Pierce called him back.

"Davis, stay behind."

Davis walked back and sat down opposite Pierce.

"Mr. President, you have made the wrong choice!"

He bluntly stated, "Those Native Americans have repeating weapons supported by the British. Sending them out piecemeal without several times the military strength would only be suicide!"

"I know, but your proposal will absolutely not pass Congress."

Pierce rubbed his temples and said, "It's too expensive, and those congressmen don't like you as a Southerner."

"Hmph, I don't like them either."

Davis curled his lip and said, "And why do we have to go through Congress? With the California civil war, we can just invoke the Insurrection Act and skip Congress to mobilize troops."

Pierce poured himself and Davis a cup of black tea and said with a wry smile, "Spare me, the members of Congress will go crazy. I'm not ready to go to war with the entire Congress."

He paused, then said, "Davis, you can say what you didn't say at the meeting earlier."

Davis paused for a moment, then said, "Mr. President, I do have some doubts."

He carefully chose his words and slowly said, "The intelligence we have now is all from Brigadier General Wool of Oregon, and that is the biggest problem."

What about California? No plea for help from the state government, no reports from local officials, and no response from California's senators and representatives in Washington. Nothing at all; it's as if someone officially severed ties between California and Washington.

Pierce remained silent for a long time, then said, "You mean, the British orchestrated all of this in California?"

Davis took a sip of his black tea: "I'm not sure, but that possibility can't be ruled out."

After all, those British were a bunch of troublemakers. They allied with the Netherlands to contain Spain, with France to contain Russia, stirred up internal strife, supported rebels, and planted spies—they were capable of anything.

"I will add this to my speech to Congress."

Pierce nodded and said, "Hopefully this won't be the spark that ignites the Third War of Independence."

The next day, inside the House of Representatives.

Beneath the enormous dome, hundreds of seats were filled. Members whispered and murmured among themselves, filling the hall with a buzzing sound.

President Pierce stood at the podium, having just finished reading his emergency address on the situation in California. His voice still echoed under the dome, but the legislators were already buzzing with discussion.

"Silence! Silence!" The speaker banged his gavel, bang bang bang, bang bang bang, finally managing to quiet the scene.

A congressman from the South stood up and exclaimed, “Mr. President, you said those Indians were equipped with breech-loading rifles and rapid-fire weapons? Two regular regiments were wiped out by the Indians to the point that not even one-tenth survived?”

This sounds like a complete fantasy, a story made up to scam funding!

Pierce calmly took out a letter from his person: "Sir, this is a letter from Brigadier General Wool. He is a professional soldier with thirty years of service, who participated in the Mexican War and commanded many anti-bandit campaigns. He is not a politician who likes to exaggerate."

Another legislator stood up: "Even if this were true, we disagree with allocating millions of dollars to fight a war three thousand miles away! California's problems should be solved by Californians themselves!"

"The Californians themselves?" someone immediately retorted. "The American Party idiots openly assassinated the Democratic governor, and California is now in civil war. How are they supposed to solve the Native American problem?"

Upon hearing this, the American party members couldn't sit still and stood up, launching into a tirade of insults, which escalated into a full-blown brawl.

The scene grew increasingly intense, with supporters and opponents each sticking to their own arguments and attacking each other. The speaker's gavel pounded loudly, but it was no match for the situation.

The debate lasted from afternoon into evening, and ultimately, considering that the British might be behind this, the House of Representatives passed the emergency authorization bill.

The bill was sent to the Senate, where it sparked another heated debate.

The Senate finally passed the bill in the early hours of the following day.

Three million dollars were allocated to send two regular regiments and recruit three thousand volunteers to quell the Native American rebellion and to prevent a possible subsequent invasion by the British in Canada.