Chapter 717 Bleeding Coastline
In this era, the choice between airships and airplanes was obvious, considering the shock value and bomb load. Although Sheffield knew the potential of airplanes, he still chose airships as the tool to win contracts from the federal government. This was because as a monopoly capitalist, he wanted to squeeze out surplus value.
When the old industry is still valuable, if there are no other competitors, the new technology would rather be kept as a reserve than risk being introduced to the market. There are examples of this, such as the world's first jet airliner.
People in later generations will only think that Boeing is the world leader in the field of large passenger aircraft, but in fact, the world's first jet passenger aircraft, the De Havilland Comet, made its first test flight in Hatfield, England in 1949. The Comet, equipped with four jet engines, was Britain's attempt to take the lead in world aviation through a rapid advancement in air transport history. This aircraft will be put into use within three years, can carry 36 people in a sealed cabin, fly at an altitude of 40,000 feet, and a speed of 500 miles per hour, which is much faster than any aircraft currently in use.
At the same time, the United States also had the technical reserves for jet airliners. If the British had not taken the lead in launching jet airliners into the market, the United States would not have followed suit, but would have used old propeller airliners until the jet airliner technology was fully mature before considering launching them into the market.
Airships, which have far less potential than airplanes, are considered by Sheffield to be the most advanced technology in the world. The federal government can distrust itself, but it cannot distrust the Germans who always bomb London with airships. The Germans are the best advertisement.
After watching Minister of War Lindley leave, Sheffield also boarded the airship with the girls and left. He tilted his head and instructed the head bodyguard, "Before handing them over to the military, let these airships in our hands go to Toronto and Ottawa tomorrow. We must let Canadian citizens see them and let our pilots work hard. Canada's big cities are not very far away and are quite close to the border."
"Got it!" Jesla nodded and called two people over to the cabin door and asked them to go and notify. An excellent bodyguard leader is always by the boss' side to ensure that they can respond immediately if anything happens.
On this day with good visibility in the Dominion of Canada, citizens of major cities such as Ottawa, Vancouver, and Toronto saw, within a few hours, a huge group of Zeppelin airships gathering in the sky above the city. The shark patterns on their covers were so hideous and glaring that some simple-minded people thought they were German airships that frequently bombed London and had crossed the Atlantic to come here.
Some rational residents knew that this airship with a skin pattern did not belong to Germany on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, but to the United States of America, which was connected to the Dominion of Canada by mountains and rivers.
There is no doubt that the visit of the Zeppelin airship fleet to Canada gave the Canadian Dominion, which was currently participating in the war as a British dominion, an unfriendly impression. After the airship fleet visited the second Canadian city, the Governor General of Canada, William Patrick Albert, immediately contacted Washington, hoping that the United States could explain this sudden hostility.
We are now in the midst of a world war, and Canada is participating in the war as a dominion. The best men in the country are fighting in Europe. If the United States has any ill intentions at this time, it will be a huge matter.
The relationship between Canada and the United States is very delicate. There are separatists and royalists. Compared with these rebellious sons in the south, Canadians in the early 20th century had very sincere feelings towards the British Empire.
Not to mention that the United States has strong feelings about Canada's territory. This is no secret at all. From the president to the congressmen, they have expressed at different times that Canada should be annexed and British forces should be completely kicked out of America. As long as Canada is still in the hands of the British, it will always be a threat to the United States, which has successfully achieved independence.
The Monroe Doctrine, which states that America belongs to Americans, began with President Monroe's military invasion of Canada, but later they were unable to defeat the British and their White House was burned down.
Canadian soldiers are now fighting in Europe, and the airship invasion has caused headaches for officials in the Dominion of Canada. Many Canadians who know history can remember that the last invasion by the United States was when Britain was organizing an anti-French alliance. This time, the airship invasion is a sign that the United States wants to take advantage of the opportunity to launch another attack.
William Patrick Albert's protest left Secretary of State Robert Lansing confused. He said he would investigate the matter, and later found out that it was Sheffield who was behind it.
After knowing this, he had a headache. He had no way to communicate with Sheffield because President Wilson had suffered a stroke. This stroke happened after his re-election and was also quite serious. Like former President Alton Parker, President Wilson also had a speech disorder.
In fact, President Wilson had suffered a stroke before his re-election. However, due to the precedent of President Alton Parker's failure to be re-elected, the White House chose to conceal the matter. In addition, the president's first stroke was mild and it was easily concealed.
As Secretary of State Robert Lansing, who was also a lawyer, certainly understood what a behemoth Sheffield and the United Company behind him were. Moreover, as a comprehensive business company, during this war, the United Company became increasingly powerful and its financial strength increased.
The president of this conglomerate always brings Edith Rockefeller and Louisa Morgan with him wherever he goes, and is inseparable from members of the Rockefeller and Morgan families. His blatant corruption of social morals is in itself a reflection of his strength.
"I am just showing the strength of the United States, Mr. Secretary of State. Your work in the past two years is respectable. Thank you for fighting for the country's navigation rights and protesting the British naval blockade of Europe. But protests cannot solve all problems. It would be better to use more actionable means to deter when necessary." Sheffield smiled while holding the microphone. "It's a good thing that William Patrick Albert is protesting to the federal government now. At least your next diplomatic work may be much smoother, isn't it?"
"But what the United States also needs to do is to avoid joining the war." Robert Lansing lowered his voice and said, "In fact, although the Persian Gulf incident seems to be a relief, it is also very embarrassing for the United States. No matter what, you are indeed fighting the British, even if you are forming a mercenary army in your private name."
"Even after all this, the British still separate my personal behavior from the position of the United States. It shows that when facing the Allied Powers, the British have no intention of causing trouble for us again." Sheffield replied with a smile, "Do you really think the British are omnipotent? If they want to be hostile to us outside the Allied camp, they must immediately announce the merger of Britain and India, and all Indians will receive the same treatment as British people, and use the huge manpower of British India. Can the British do it? No! So this is a misunderstanding. As long as we say it is a misunderstanding, London will accept it immediately."
Political matters are so dirty. If the United States and the Soviet Union had fought a war without nuclear bombs, the two countries would have shown unprecedented goodwill and lowered their stance to treat all countries equally, regardless of whether they were strong or weak.
On the American continent, both sides were explaining the misunderstanding, one side expressed apologies and the other side expressed understanding.
At the Eighth Army Headquarters in Kuwait, Brown held the telegram and asked in confusion, "What does this sentence mean? The boss's words are becoming more and more difficult to understand."
"Let me see? The theory of evolution is real?" John Connor took a look at the telegram and understood what it meant. "This sentence is the motto that the boss wrote for Lockheed after he acquired Lockheed. The strong prey on the weak, and only the fittest survive. The response to Japan is no, then treat them all like Indians. There are a total of 280,000 prisoners. Find all the British prisoners, and expose the rest to the sun in an open-air camp for three days. After three days, all of them will be shot."
"It's obvious that we'd better make some explanation for the killing of prisoners. Otherwise, I believe the boss will never give up Black Gold Company, but we can't cause trouble for the head office, right? I think we should think of a solution from a religious perspective. If this is an uncontrollable religious vendetta, it's much better than killing prisoners." Brown pinched his chin and said, "In this way, even in the future, European countries will be embarrassed to do anything to us. We can learn from the Spanish Inquisition back then."
"Where is the time to burn them all at the stake?" John Connor frowned and smiled bitterly. "If we burn them one by one, won't the prisoners resist? It's faster to use bullets."
"We just need a name!" Brown tilted his head and said, "Anyway, the responsibility for this matter cannot be ours. It was a spontaneous action by Christians in the Middle East, but the Indians just caught up with them."
At the end of January 1916, after a long period of torture and identification, nearly 200,000 British Indian Army prisoners were shot by Christian militia who suddenly broke into dozens of open-air prisoner-of-war camps on the west coast of the Persian Gulf. All the prisoners, except the British soldiers, fell in a pool of blood under the hail of bullets.
Faced with this kind of killing, countless captives wanted to escape but were unable to do so. Under the secret order that a life was worth ten dollars, the Christians who took action showed no mercy.
Corpses were pulled out one after another, and crosses were erected on the coastline. Corpses were nailed to the crosses, forming road signs for hundreds of kilometers. This religious feud with a strong color shocked the whole warring world.
(End of this chapter)
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