War

In 1901, the era of Pinkerton Detectives and imperialism came to an end, followed by Mr. Dutch Van der Linde's nationalization and the First World War.

A declaration by King Qi, Dutch Van der Linde, caused an uproar in America.

No one could understand why, at this point in time, Mr. Dutch Van der Linde didn't take advantage of America's chaos to occupy other states and become the new master of America, but instead directly confronted Europe and the Russian Empire?

Any ambitious warlord or capitalist with a desire for dominance would not bother with the thankless task of eradicating foreign forces at this point in time.

This was clearly creating new enemies for himself, while completely losing the opportunity to advance eastward.

It could be said that Mr. Dutch Van der Linde was gambling with his future.

At the same time, it left the East and even Europe extremely puzzled.

What does this mean?

Damn it, no normal person would even think of such a thing, right?

Easterners always like to occupy the moral high ground when doing things, and these old white devils in Europe and America also had similar behaviors before, but with years of slave trading and the rise of capitalism, they no longer paid attention to this reputation.

Fighting when they want to fight and colonizing when they want to colonize are also the most typical manifestations of imperialism.

So after Mr. Dutch Van der Linde issued his statement for the first time, this group of people did not immediately think about what he wanted to do.

Thus, another wave of climax-like public opinion was stirred up within America.

"Ah! Mr. Dutch Van der Linde is truly domineering! Look at what he said, damn it, I'm sure all the previous newspaper reports about Mr. Van der Linde were false! He didn't immediately invade more land, but instead resisted foreign invaders and protected the safety of us Americans. Is this a dictatorial terrorist warlord?

If even a great person like him is a terrifying dictatorial warlord, then what is the United States Government?"

"Hey, Binny, please sell our house for us, we are going to the American West to find Mr. Van der Linde.

America is about to go to war, and I think only with Mr. Van der Linde can I get true protection now."

"No no no! Billy, our whole family is also preparing to move, so we probably won't be able to help sell your house."

The eyes of Americans are sharp. Of course, perhaps not that sharp, but they are smart people nonetheless.

As long as a portion of smart people lead the way, the family members and relatives of these smart people will basically be affected.

Perhaps the influence of one or two people is not much, but if one-tenth of the people in a village set off to move, wanting to go to the American West to seek the protection of Mr. Van der Linde.

Those who want to stay in the village will themselves begin to feel uneasy and anxious.

And it was precisely at this time.

After the new United States Government, the Roosevelt Government, came to power.

Not only did it not issue a response or hostility towards foreign invaders, but it immediately issued a conscription order to draft soldiers, and released news that it would immediately take military suppression measures against Mr. Dutch Van der Linde in the American West.

Public opinion could no longer be suppressed.

Reports from major American newspapers were almost overwhelming.

Previously, newspapers were the voice and hands of the old United States Government, but now the old government has collapsed, and the new government has not yet had time to take over the old government's legacy. Most of the current newspapers are finally reporting actual news for money and reputation.

"The new President, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, issued a statement: 'Internal stability before external defense!' It is reported that Mr. President Roosevelt wants to immediately launch armed countermeasures against Mr. Dutch Van der Linde in the American West.

Whether a dictatorial warlord who occupies the American West but makes the American West prosper is more harmful to Americans, or the bombardment of the Russian Empire's artillery is more harmful to Americans, I believe everyone can have their own opinions..."

"Fleet of Leader Van der Linde has departed from Flatiron Lake in the American West and is expected to arrive in Washington State within a week.

Regarding Leader Van der Linde's strategic choice, the people of the American West still maintain a high degree of respect and admiration for him.

Some even claim: 'Mr. Van der Linde will be the great man who ends everything!'..."

Various tabloids spread wildly in cities or towns across America.

Mr. Van der Linde's attitude of resisting foreign enemies and his domineering remarks deeply impressed all Americans.

The previous United States Government's statements always demanded how the people should repay the United States Government, or what kind of troubles the people caused. Either it was condemnation from a high moral ground, or it was cold and unattainable gratitude education.

But now Mr. Dutch Van der Linde has given them a sense of security they had never experienced before.

Domestic public opinion in America exploded, even attracting worldwide discussion.

After noticing the chaos among Americans, the new United States Government finally realized Mr. Dutch Van der Linde's conspiracy.

This made Mr. Theodore Roosevelt extremely anxious.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Dutch Van der Linde, he is extremely cunning! He is just like a fox!" Mr. Roosevelt didn't smoke e-cigarettes or speak in riddles.

He could only express the anger in his heart with impoverished language.

The new officials standing beside him all frowned, some of them still didn't understand what Dutch Van der Linde's move was trying to achieve.

But some had already seen through the essence and even thought of countermeasures.

"Mr. President, you don't need to worry about what Dutch Van der Linde is doing. I think our current focus is not on Dutch Van der Linde, nor on this so-called public opinion conflict, and certainly not on resisting foreign enemies.

What we should do most now is to grasp our base, stabilize our internal management, and at the same time build a complete system and contact all states in America.

America is our base, Mr. President. We need to quickly take over the political resources and foundations left by the previous government. Only by bringing the major states back into our management can we truly contend with Van der Linde and Europe.

Since Dutch Van der Linde chose righteousness and did not seize the opportunity to advance, he has completely lost all initiative and given us the opportunity to regain power.

We should be even more delighted about this."

There is no capital in the American West, but there is plenty of capital in the East.

War is about logistics and money. As long as the East is re-stabilized and consolidated, why would the American West be able to show off its might!

The invasion of the Russian Empire and the forced leases by France and England only resulted in a hostile reaction from Mr. Dutch Van der Linde in the west.

In contrast, the old government remained silent, and the United States New Government, after issuing a protest speech, also quietly subsided.

This reaction undoubtedly greatly disappointed the American public; those who had previously supported the new government completely lost their remaining affection.

The number of people migrating to the west increased again.

However, the new government and various states had already begun to respond.

On the third day of Mr. Van der Linde's troop deployment, facing the increasing number of people migrating westward, the states, in order to ensure their own development, successively issued orders to blockade ports and railways.

There was no other way; if people kept leaving, everyone would go to the west, then what would they do?

Although the blockade of trains and ships forced most people to return to their homes, there were still some who desperately found ways to get out and head to the west.

Of course, there's nothing more to say about that.

January 13, 1901, Spring.

The ten improved British warships purchased by Mr. Van der Linde and the eight warships built by his own shipyard, along with various smaller battleships, had arrived near the waters of Washington State, carrying soldiers and full loads of artillery.

However, the naval offensive was only one part; the real offensive was the land offensive.

Mr. Van der Linde started late after all, and the number of his warships was far incomparable to these established powers.

However, their strength was much higher. The warships were equipped with Venice Giant Cannons as their main battle cannons, which were like Germany's Tiger Tanks; they could hit others from super long distances, while others couldn't hit them.

But the disparity in numbers still prevented them from forming a significant naval combat capability in a short period.

However, the existence of airplanes compensated for this shortcoming.

Of course, at this stage, Mr. Dutch Van der Linde had not brought over airplanes, nor even Tanks; he only brought armored soldiers, various howitzers and artillery, and armored trains.

Now is the time to provoke a world war; he couldn't just play his trump card right away and scare these countries into going back to isolation and researching airplanes and Tanks. That wouldn't be good.

Now, he should use strong hostile methods, but ones where the technological lead is not obviously high, to provoke them.

"Choo Choo Choo..."

Four armored trains roared along the railways of the major states, heading towards the westernmost Washington State.

After Mr. Van der Linde issued his hostile statement, he sent requests to the various states to borrow their roads.

At this stage, the American states only sought to protect themselves, and no one wanted to provoke this madman from the west. So, facing Mr. Van der Linde's mighty armored trains, no one dared to speak out and stop them.

At the end of the armored train.

"Sh*t!"

Arthur reached out and struck a match on his shoe, then lit the cigarette in his mouth.

He was no longer wearing cowboy clothes, but a sturdy VDL Party general's uniform, specifically a combat uniform with bulletproof armor.

John stood beside him and also took out a cigarette and lit it. Xiao Ma Ge (Little Ma) had clearly been doing well lately; he was noticeably sturdier than before.

He was also a bit more talkative.

The armored train sped along the railway. It was winter now, and although the climate in the west was temperate oceanic, at this coldest point, there was still some wind and snow bringing biting cold.

Of course, it was much better than the harsh environment in Russia.

The cold wind scraped John's chapped face, making his nose red from the cold.

"Sh*t! Arthur, why aren't we going back inside the carriage?" John angrily pinched his nose, then flung his snot into the cold wind.

"No! John, we're about to reach the battlefield, and I think we need to maintain sharp thinking at all times!

Listen, John, this battle isn't our previous small skirmishes. According to our information, the Russian Empire army's scale this time is as high as twenty thousand people!

Oh, damn it, I've never fought a battle of this scale, and we only have fifteen thousand soldiers.

So, this battle might be extremely dangerous, John.

You need to keep your head sharp at all times." Arthur threw away the cigarette in his hand, which had burned out after only a couple of puffs due to the wind, then patted John's shoulder hard.

Dutch deployed a force of fifty thousand, fifteen thousand of whom are here, another fifteen thousand are led by Davey and Mac to the east to strike England, and another fifteen thousand are led by Charles and others to strike France.

The remaining five thousand are on the naval fleet.

So, while the number of personnel sounds like a lot, it's actually still a bit insufficient.

However, this battle is not a direct confrontation, but rather to incite the anger of these three countries and make them send more troops to the field.

Therefore, the scale of the frontal war will not be too large, and it will mostly involve long-range bombardment with various artillery, so no more soldiers were sent.

After all, the more troops, the greater the logistical pressure. Now that the war has just begun, it's not good to be too wasteful.

"I don't know if Dutch's plan will succeed, but, Marston, I don't want you to die on the battlefield.

Jack is still waiting for you to come back, and Abigail can't lose you.

So, John, you'll be responsible for small-scale battles; the frontal battlefield is up to me!"

Although Arthur had not been weakened by illness or made emotional by the approach of death, this large-scale war still stirred his inner unease.

This made him uncharacteristically say a few sensible words.

John looked at him in surprise and said, "Sh*t, Arthur, I didn't expect to hear such... such human-like words from your mouth.

You know, your previous pronunciation wasn't very human-like."

"Sh*t! Marston, I knew you were only fit to be beaten to death on the battlefield!"

Arthur was enraged by John's words.

He turned his head away angrily, ignoring John.

John looked at him puzzled, not knowing why he suddenly got so angry.

"Good heavens, your mind is even harder to guess than my wife's."

John shook his head and sighed, then turned to enter the carriage.

Arthur, hearing the movement behind him, finally let out a long sigh and turned back to John's retreating figure, saying, "Marston, I don't know if Dutch's plan will succeed, but I don't want you to die because of this war."

If someone were to die because of this war, they might as well have continued to be outlaws.

This was Arthur's final thought, but he didn't voice it.

John waved his hand and said, "Sure, Arthur, I know. But I believe in Dutch's plan! He's always led us to this point, hasn't he?"