Chapter 326: Chapter 13, An Unconventional Plan
Washington

Secretary of State Saffar calmly said, “Mr. President, here are the quotes from various international arms dealers as well as our domestic capitalists.”

“Of course, this doesn’t mean much to us. The federal government was too hasty in its preparations for this war, and both the government forces and the state militias are now short on weapons.”

“At present, many of our troops are still using their own shotguns. In terms of armament, we simply can’t compare with the Southern Army.”

“Even if we purchase all the current stock from these arms dealers, it won’t satisfy our needs. Hence, choice is but an illusion.”

President Lincoln rubbed his forehead; he was quite skeptical that the Secretary of State had come specifically to pick a fight. Since there was no choice, they might as well settle for whatever was available. What more was there to discuss?

“Send someone to negotiate with them. Try to push the price down as much as possible and eliminate the highest bidder.”

Saffar shook his head and said, “I’m afraid that won’t do. The Austrians, who have given the highest quote, produce breech-loading rifles, which are somewhat superior in performance.

“The most critical point is that they have the largest amount of stock on hand. They could provide us with one hundred thousand breech-loading rifles, one hundred and fifty thousand muzzle-loading rifles, and eight hundred artillery pieces in one go.

“They just recently sold two hundred thousand breech-loading rifles, a thousand cannons, and various ammunition to the Southern Government. If those southerners weren’t so foolish, we wouldn’t even have a chance at these weapons.”

In Mr. Secretary of State’s view, the Southern Government was simply too foolish.

In times of war, not taking immediate advantage of good relationships with various countries to sweep up goods, allowing arms to fall into enemy hands, is anything but stupid?

As for the cost, no matter how much money is spent on purchasing arms and equipment, it’s nothing compared to the losses on the battlefield.

If the Southern Government had swept up the inventory immediately, then for at least the next half-year, the Northern government would not have been able to obtain sufficient armament.”

This advantage results from unchanging communications, allowing the creation of a time difference. Don’t assume that just because international arms dealers are swarming to North America, they actually have plenty of stock on hand.

Tens of thousands of rifles, hundreds of cannons, and thousands of tons of ammunition—that would already be a huge deal. Anyone else, unless they were a transmigrator like Franz with cheats enabled, who would have realized how large the scale of the Civil War would be?

If one stockpiled too much and the North and South suddenly made peace, all that inventory would be stuck, and one couldn’t even recoup the costs.

Apart from Americans, no one else in the world would be such an easy mark to take on such burden.

Even if we swept clean the warehouses of the arms dealers active in America, it would not cost ten million British pounds. For ten million pounds, buying half a year’s worth of the enemy’s arms shortage is an absolute bargain.”

Upon hearing Saffar’s explanation, President Lincoln nearly broke out in a cold sweat.

Half a year’s time is enough to decide the outcome of a war. Thankfully, the Southern Government hadn’t done that, or the Northern government would have been in dire straits.

Gathering himself, Lincoln asked, “Mr. Secretary of State, you didn’t come to me just to say these things, did you?”

Secretary of State Saffar explained unhurriedly, “Of course not. Now, with the four great powers of England, France, Austria, and Spain supporting the Southern Government, under their influence, most European countries stand on the side of the South.

“These arms dealers almost all have political backgrounds, and under similar conditions, they would certainly prefer to do business with the Southern Government.

“If we offer a higher price, the situation would be different. In the face of interests, arms dealers will not care about the governments’ wishes.

“Therefore, I plan to raise the prices of armaments, especially the advanced weapons. The Southern states are weak in industrial strength and have limited production capacity; they can only follow us and raise prices.”

“Unlike those Southern traitors, our own industrial capabilities are not weak, and our lack of armaments is only temporary.”

“If nothing unexpected happens, starting from next year our self-sufficiency in weapons could exceed eighty-five percent, while the Southern Government will probably not even reach thirty percent.”

“Since we can’t win militarily, then economically we will drag them down.”

That’s the Northern government’s advantage, but President Lincoln couldn’t muster any sense of joy; it looked like the Secretary of State was planning for a war of attrition.

Lincoln frowned and asked, “You have so little confidence in our army?”

Saffar answered seriously, “Mr. President, the war has been raging for more than three months now, and the federal government has already lost over eighty thousand troops.

“I admit the military has worked hard and they have achieved notable results, but we are still at a disadvantage.

“If any mishap occurs on the Maryland battlefield, the federal government will immediately face a battle to defend Washington. In my opinion, in the short term, the federal government doesn’t have the potential to win the war.”

The Secretary of State’s attitude, to a certain extent, also represents the stance of the internal officials of the federal government. If they were preparing for a prolonged war, it meant that everyone had lost faith in quelling the rebellion in the short term.

That wasn’t the worst of it; if the war drags on, the voice of the Peace Party within the country will grow louder.

As a qualified politician, Lincoln knew that internal enemies were the most terrifying; these people lurked in the shadows, and he didn’t even know who all of them were.

After hesitating for a moment, Lincoln said, “Alright, proceed with your plan! But first, we have to solve the financial issue. The Southern Government has been using cotton as collateral to issue bonds overseas, whereas we don’t have any collateral.”

The federal government wasn’t without collateral; the problem was that they simply didn’t dare to use it as such. Otherwise, the domestic populace would erupt first.

…

Papua New Guinea Island has now been renamed New Bavaria. Taking names at will seems to be a habit of Europeans, and Franz had grown accustomed to it.

This second-largest island in the world now belongs to the Habsburg dynasty, but Franz did not feel any surprise.

In terms of resources, New Bavaria could also be considered rich, with numerous mineral resources. The delta plains in the south are some of the most fertile lands in the world.

There were no powerful indigenous kingdoms on the island, and a rough estimate put the native population at no more than one million, even potentially less than three hundred thousand.

However, this land had not been favored by colonialists from various European countries. Obviously, this was quite abnormal.

In the past, Austrian colonial activities started by seizing islands around New Bavaria, such as the Micronesia Islands, Real Gem Islands, Aru Islands…

This was a way to demarcate the sphere of influence and declare sovereignty. If I own all the surrounding areas, you naturally can’t come and snatch the central region; otherwise, it would break the rules.

Now, with the acceleration of the colonization pace, when colonial teams poured into the island of New Bavaria in large numbers, problems arose.

1. The island has a tropical rainforest climate with high annual precipitation;

2. The downstream terrain is low-lying with poor drainage;

3. The rivers have long flood seasons, likely to inundate the surrounding area;

4. The coasts are affected by tides, with sea water intrusion and many mudflats;

5. The whole island is mountainous with many swamps, sparsely populated.

In summary, to develop this island, one must spend a lot of money.

At least the drainage problem must be solved, to turn swampland into farmland, and it would be best to build seawalls to ensure coastal areas are not affected by the tides.

Franz asked, “What does the Colonial Department plan to do?”

Colonial Minister József Jelacic answered, “Your Majesty, we plan to temporarily shelve the development of New Bavaria Island and only develop certain areas, establishing a few cities in suitable regions to declare sovereignty.

The focus is still on developing the surrounding islands. The Southeast Asia region is truly very prosperous. The natives here do not engage in agricultural production at all; they rely solely on gifts from nature for subsistence.

These islands produce an abundance of tropical fruits and are suitable for cultivating cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, copra, palm oil, tea, and rubber.”

That was the wisest choice. Colonization is for profit, and blind investments would be very unwise.

After all, the island’s population is sparse and not engaged in agricultural production; if it remained uninfluenced by external forces, it would stay the same even after a hundred years.

The island isn’t going anywhere, so after the world’s colonies have been divided, it wouldn’t be too late for the Vienna Government to develop it then.

Franz nodded and said, “Let’s handle New Bavaria that way. What about the Lanfang Republic?”

If the documents hadn’t mentioned the Lanfang Republic, Franz would have almost forgotten about the existence of a Chinese republic in the Southeast Asia region.

József Jelacic explained, “Your Majesty, Kalimantan Island is rich in gold mines, which is why a group of Chinese established the Lanfang Republic.

Not long ago, the Ocean-going Fleet visited this nation, and Count Hummel even signed a friendly agreement; we can’t just turn our back on them.

The small country is very weak; the colonial government is looking for a pretext for war, and it shouldn’t take long before we can annihilate them.”

Franz hesitated for a moment, but his heart softened.

“Let’s not rush to take action. Send an eloquent person to cheat them into joining the New Holy Roman Empire.

We can grant them autonomy; they can be treated with the same standards as the kingdoms within the Empire, or even more leniently.

The Southeast Asia region is too far away. We have a limited number of immigrants we can provide, and it’s very difficult to develop so many places.

If we use force to eliminate the Lanfang Republic, it would not only increase our military expenditures but also be difficult to gain much profit in the short term.

It would be better to directly incorporate the Lanfang Company, from which we could make profits immediately, without even having to pay the cost of ruling.”

In Franz’s view, the Lanfang Republic was synonymous with the Lanfang Company, and its rulers never really considered it a nation.

Historically, it was because the rulers of the Lanfang Company submitted to the Dutch for their own interests that the country perished.

Franz had little respect for Dutch military power; it was indeed unimpressive.

Being situated in Southeast Asia, the Lanfang Republic had access to enough immigrants and sufficient land for development. If the ruling class were not corrupt and diligently developed their strength, even unifying the Southeast Asia region wasn’t an unreachable dream.

If they could submit to the Dutch, they naturally could also submit to the Austrians. A few noble titles thrown their way would likely be too tempting for them to resist.

This could be considered a mutual need: the Lanfang Republic could receive Austria’s protection, and the Vienna Government would have an addition to its revenue.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Although József Jelacic felt that Franz’s approach differed from his usual methods, he did not object, as it was in Austria’s interest.

The essence of overseas colonization is to make a profit; the method of achieving profit is not important.

This was different from the African Continent. The Vienna government was preparing to build the Second Home of Germany in Africa, and naturally could not rule arbitrarily.

Franz’s plans might have seemed far-fetched, but the cost was very low, so it was worth a try.

If successful, the Vienna Government wouldn’t have to do anything and would gain an increase in revenue, and Austrian industry and commerce would gain a new market.

Should it fail, at worst, it would have been a waste of a little time.