Chapter 203: Protest in the Oval Office (First update, please subscribe)

On July 4, the news of the great victory in the Battle of Vicksburg reached Washington via radio waves. At this time, it was the Independence Day of the United States. The holiday and the victory news immediately immersed Washington in a sea of ​​joy.

The wave of optimism caused the price of gold to fall against paper money. Everyone knew that the victory of this battle completely reversed the situation of the Civil War and became a turning point in the Civil War.

"Mr. President, just two hours ago, Pemberton surrendered his army and the Confederate state of Gibraltar to General Grant."

Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton said with a smile in the Oval Office of the White House.

"After this victory, we not only controlled the entire Mississippi River, that is, we dismembered the Confederacy into two completely isolated parts, the east and the west. The Southern Alliance lost contact with states such as Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana, and lost the supply of materials from the west. At the same time, it also fundamentally cut off the South's channels for importing and smuggling weapons and ammunition from Europe through the Gulf of Mexico. These are undoubtedly worse for the Confederacy, which has extremely tight material supplies. It is tantamount to cutting off the firewood from the bottom of the pot, strangling the throat of the Southern Alliance from the economic and foreign aid aspects. With this victory, we can move our troops eastward without any worries. Mr. President, I think we will soon win the final victory of this war, even faster than we thought!"

"Yes, Edwin, it is true. I think victory will come sooner than we think!"

However, Lincoln's excitement was different from Edwin's. The victory of the Battle of Vicksburg allowed him to finally find a wise and brave commander who could lead the Northern Army to victory. Since the outbreak of the Civil War, Lincoln had been searching for a commander who could win the war and end the Civil War as soon as possible, facing the reality that all the outstanding generals had gone to the South.

From Scott to McDowell, from McClellan to Halleck, all of these people disappointed Lincoln. They were either anticlimactic, ambitious but incompetent, or cautious, timid, and incompetent. They either considered their own political future or showed off their courage for a while, bringing endless disasters to the North.

The victory in the Battle of Vicksburg made Lincoln unable to help but carefully weigh the commander of the battle, Grant. He found that General Grant was completely different from other generals. He adopted active, flexible and proactive means, which not only effectively attacked the Confederate Army and forced the enemy to surrender, but also fundamentally reversed the situation of the war.

"It has been proven that General Grant's choice was correct. Now that we have captured Vicksburg, we have taken the initiative on the battlefield, which is bound to reverse the situation in this war!"

When Lincoln said this, he valued Grant even more in his heart and believed that he was a talented general who could lead the federal army to victory.

This is exactly the general he was looking for!

"It would be even better if there was more good news from Gettysburg..."

"Yes, Mr. President, I think General Meade will bring us good news soon."

Seeing that the President was in a good mood, Secretary of State William Henry Seward spoke from the side.

"Mr. President, there is one more thing I think you need to know."

"What is it?"

"Do you remember the American company?"

"Is that the company that smuggled arms to the South?"

Lincoln raised his eyebrows slightly, showing a little dissatisfaction on his face.

"What weapons are they sending south?"

"Mr. President, it's Mr. Zuo from the American company delegation. He's currently in Washington. Perhaps you should meet with him."

Secretary of State Seward said.

"To show him our dissatisfaction!"

…

Meeting with the President of the United States.

It wasn't until he walked into the Oval Office that Zuo Zongtang believed this was real.

The United States was his last stop before he left America for Europe. In the past few months, he had been visiting various parts of the United States. After leaving Nanhua, he visited several countries along the way, including Brazil and Cuba, but he never met the emperors or presidents of those countries.

But in Washington, after his attendant Hikozo Hamada introduced his identity in Seward, the Secretary of State took the initiative to suggest that he meet with the President.

The president... the leader of a country. Although he is not the emperor, in some countries he is not much different from the emperor.

When Zuo Zongtang walked into the office, Lincoln took the initiative to greet him, stretched out his hands, and said to Zuo Zongtang:

"Welcome to come from afar, Mr. Zuo."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. President."

After a brief exchange of politeness, Lincoln of course first asked Zuo Zongtang about the gains from his visit. Zuo Zongtang naturally gave him some polite compliments, and soon Lincoln got to the point.

"Mr. Zuo, first of all, I hope you know that we have great respect for the American Company, but we have noticed that since the outbreak of the war in our country, the American Company has exported a large amount of arms to the South. On the battlefield, your explosives, your muskets, and your cannons are constantly killing and injuring American soldiers. Those weapons have boosted the separatist forces in the South. Our diplomats have protested against this many times, but our protests have been ignored by you."

Although he could roughly understand what Lincoln said, Zuo Zongtang still waited until Hamada Hikozo translated it before he spoke.

"What the President said is surprising. America Corporation is a commercial company. According to the principle of free trade, we cannot prevent merchants from buying goods from us. Arms are just a commodity!"

Before coming to the White House, Zuo Zongtang had already guessed that the Americans would definitely mention the issue of arms. When he first arrived in New York, he even read in the newspapers about the American company exporting arms to the South. There was nothing he could do about it. The company had spent money to buy some weapons patents from Spencer and others, and those weapons had long been "lost" in the South.

"After the merchants buy the goods, we cannot control who they sell them to. After all, those merchants may sell the goods to any place in the world. But please rest assured, Mr. President, since your ambassador in Buenos Aires protested to us, we have issued a strict order prohibiting enterprises in our territory from exporting arms to the South."

This was of course just an excuse. The prohibition and strict order were just for others to hear. Of course, the business had to continue. Besides, Zuo Zongtang also agreed with his master's opinion - we had to make money from the foreign devils!

Doing business and making money is not shameful! It just means more foreigners will die.

(End of this chapter)