After the war officially broke out in April 1861, the battlefield calmed down. This is mainly because the troops used to fight are not yet fully prepared. Now that the shaken states such as Virginia have completely turned to the Union, Lincoln can free his hands and feet to reorganize the army according to his ideas. So Lincoln issued a recruitment order, and the first batch of 42,000 volunteers was recruited for a three-year service period. And 18,000 of them were first supplemented by the Navy.

General Winfield Scott, the commander of the federal army, formulated a plan for President Lincoln to solve the South by force. According to his plan, the most prepared navies would be the first to blockade the Confederacy. The Confederates don't have many industries of their own. Once they are tightly sealed off, the cotton in their fields cannot be sold, and urgently needed supplies cannot be bought. In this way, the power of the Confederate States will quickly weaken, and the federal army will concentrate on capturing the Control of the Mississippi River. Seizing control of the Mississippi was entirely possible, given the enormous naval superiority, and the great shipbuilding capabilities of the Union. And once the Mississippi River is under control, the Confederacy will be split in two. More importantly, the federal army can rely on river water transportation to launch an attack at any point along the Mississippi River, and the defense of the alliance, which is not rich in manpower, will become more and more stretched. At the same time, he also emphasized that there should be no rush to attack the Confederate capital. Because he believed that the Northern Army was far from being ready for such an operation. Through this method of combat, the Union army would entangle the Confederates like a constrictor and suffocate them to death.

As far as the operation itself was concerned, General Winfield Scott's plan was excellent. As far as the balance of power between the North and the South is concerned, this method can indeed allow the North to defeat the South with less loss. However, this method of combat is indeed not desirable politically.

"Mr. MacDonald, I know that your Blackwater Company directly participated in the Italian War of Independence. I wonder what your experts think about the war?" At a reception at the White House, the new Secretary of the Army (Equivalent to the later Secretary of Defense) Stanton asked Scrooge this way.

Stanton, originally Buchanan's attorney general, was invited to serve as Secretary of War after Lincoln became president. Scrooge had heard this person mentioned by others. He was a man with a tough personality, a man with a strong personality, and a very sharp-tongued guy. The guy is said to have even frequently referred to Lincoln as "the ape-man of Illinois." Of course, if there is a guy with such a cheap mouth in a team who has been able to secure a high position all the time, then he must have the outstanding ability either because he has a deep background (harmony). Scrooge had also dealt with him before and knew that apart from his bad temper, he was an easy person to deal with. For example, he was quite cooperative when he added canned Spam luncheon meat to the US military's munitions purchase list. Of course, this may have something to do with one of his cousins working for and owning shares in McDonald's Foods.

"Ah, Secretary Stanton," said Scrooge, "I have discussed this issue with our experts. They all believe that the federal army is not prepared enough to deal with the rebels in the south in the short term. So our company has been They are all preparing for this war as a long war."

"But Lincoln doesn't seem to see it that way," Stanton said, shaking his head. "He's ready to send troops to attack the south. General McDowell will be in charge of commanding the attack. He assured Lincoln that the Southern army is vulnerable."

"Ah, Minister Stanton, you have to know that the Confederate Army is not necessarily vulnerable. You know, I have some sources of information in Europe. I heard that some Southerners bought a lot of aftermath in England and France. loaded rifles—well, basically not licensed imitations of the MacDonald 1857, but illegally produced versions of it—and shipped back south by sea. Probably in the tens of thousands (a figure entirely Scrooge, I'm exaggerating). Also, as you know, the McDonnell 1857 has been on sale in North America for a long time. During this period, I don't know how many Southerners bought this thing. And our army is still using a front-loading Rifle. My God, this is simply an era. In Italy, the Italians with breech-loading rifles have confirmed the huge advantages of breech-loading rifles over front-loading rifles. But our army still does not have such a rifle plan."

"Mr. Macdonald, I would very much like the Army to be equipped with more advanced breech-loading rifles. However, your rifles are too expensive, and Congress will not approve the purchase of such rifles, at least not yet. If your Rifles are as cheap as Spam, and I'm sure we'll buy them."

"How is this possible?" Scrooge said, "But I can understand President Lincoln very well. The war has been going on for so long. To suppress the rebellion, it is necessary to recruit troops and increase military spending. If there is no action at all, Congress can Yes? Those supporters of the Republican Party can say yes? Now that the money is invested, they always hope to hear something. Besides, the rebels moved the capital to Richmond, which is too close to Washington, D.C. A little. Don't you think? It's not American style to see the enemy right under your nose and not kill him. Also, many people will feel that even if it is for the safety of Washington, we should take advantage of the Southerners' foothold Take Richmond down first. Because the distance between these two cities is a little over 100 miles (the straight-line distance is less than 100 miles), it is really..." Speaking of this, Scrooge It suddenly occurred to me that whether it is Lincoln or Davis in the south, maybe they can be regarded as the emperor guarding the country.

"So you are also a supporter of the Republican Party? Would you like to hear something?"

"No, the sound is not enough for me, what I want to hear is a roar," Scrooge said, raising the glass in his hand at the same time.

...

Scrooge did wait for that roar, and he didn't wait too long. In July, General McDowell announced that his army would begin to march south. He told reporters that he was leading a full 35,000 fully armed Union soldiers, while the rebels facing him were only about 10,000. There are only people (actually 22,000 people), and they are all militiamen. He told reporters that his army would easily crush the rebels, thereby removing the threat of the South to the capital Washington. The general even told the reporters about the time of dispatching troops and the location of the battle. As a result, the reporters naturally published all these in the newspapers. Since General McDowell promised that the battle would be won more easily than hunting, reporters from various newspaper offices rented a carriage and brought dry food when McDowell dispatched troops and planned to report on the federal army on the spot. victory.

Not only reporters, but even some boring citizens regarded this battle as a hunting party. They took their wives, put on costumes, parasols, and folding seats, and set off with the army in their carriages. , going to have a picnic while watching a play.

However, a day later, General McDowell's troops came back from Virginia with a heavy defeat. According to the descriptions of those reporters who went with them, the Union army and the rebels met at the Bull River. The Union army attacked the stone bridge on the Bull River and forced the Bull River downstream to attack the enemy's flank. But there, they were hit hard by southern rebels. The southern rebels dug some trenches on the ground extremely cunningly, hid in them, only their heads were exposed, and then used the McDonnell 1857 rifles and the federal troops who were still using the backward Springfield 1855 front-loading rifles. shoot. The Confederate troops lined up in neat formation and launched a heroic and fearless attack on the enemy's position five times in a row, but for well-known reasons-the range and rate of fire of the McDonnell 1857 rifle far exceeded any front-loading rifle, So they're going under bullets. Every step forward, countless soldiers will be killed. The troops who launched the attack in batches were exhausted without even being able to approach the enemy's position. The federal army left nearly a thousand corpses in front of the enemy's defensive positions, but still could not make any progress. In the afternoon, the Confederate reinforcements arrived, and the balance of numbers between the two sides was suddenly reversed. Confederate reinforcements launched an attack from the side. Many of these rebels were also equipped with the advanced MacDonald in 1857. The power of their volley made the federal army completely unstoppable. If there is heavy rain, if it is not done well, the federal army will even be surrounded by rebels.

This defeat immediately caused an uproar in public opinion. Various media in Washington asked why the federal army lost so badly.

"Hello, Diana, do you have today's newspaper?" Scrooge came to his office early in the morning, and the female secretary Diana immediately made him a cup of black tea.

Compared with coffee, perhaps because of the legacy of his previous life, Scrooge still prefers tea. And under the influence of Queen Victoria, in this era, drinking black tea is more noble than drinking coffee.

"Ah, yes, Mr. MacDonald, I'll get it for you right away." Diana put down her teacup, turned around, and went out. After a while, she came in with a lot of newspapers in her arms.

"Mr. MacDonald, these papers have reports of the battle. I have put all the references to our rifles."

"Okay, thank you, Diana, you're careful." Scrooge flipped through a newspaper with the headline: "Who is to blame for the huge superiority of the rebel weapons?"

After reading several newspapers, Scrooge found that there were not many newspapers accusing his company of selling a large number of weapons to the southern rebels, and not many even accused his guns of being too expensive for the federal army to equip them. And this is not much to blame the newspapers of the McDonnell Infantry Weapons Company, which are all inconspicuous small newspapers with little influence at all.

"Well, it seems that the work done in the media before is still very effective." Scrooge nodded, thinking so.

Since Scrooge's company was not the object of scolding, Lincoln's government was naturally the main target. Looking at the content of these articles, some questions like this are indispensable in the end:

"Why do the rebels know to prepare the best weapons for their soldiers, but our government only gives soldiers the cheapest weapons? Could it be that the lives of our soldiers are not worth the price difference? Why do all major countries in the world Our state-run gun factory is still producing obsolete old guns when they switch to reloading rifles? Why do those fools who should have been sent to the mental hospital become generals after giving up treatment? Isn't it Is there a problem with the system? (Oh, there is no such question. Scrooge is completely wrong. In the United States, there is absolutely no problem with the system. If you don’t believe me, look at various Hollywood movies in the United States, no matter how bad the villains are. Well, that's all their problem, the tall system in the United States has always been correct. Even "Grapes of Wrath", a work that fiercely opposes capitalists and elites, believes that the US federal government is the last hope of mankind. ) Where did the tax money we handed over go? What happened to this country? I couldn’t help but fall into deep thinking.”