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Volume 3 War in the Far East Chapter 12 We are practicing

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    Three years earlier, in 1908, Roosevelt refused to run for re-election. He supported Taft's candidacy for president. With Roosevelt's support, Taft won the Republican presidential nomination and defeated the then Democratic candidate Bryan  And became President of the United States.  1(1)

    Since Taft was not very willing to be president, his four years in the White House were not very pleasant, and he was less politically sensitive than Roosevelt, and he did not have a thorough understanding of the situation in Europe and the Far East.

    This is why Tang Jian chose to lead the Pacific Fleet into the Pacific at this time, preparing to seize Hawaii by force.  Tang Jian has always regarded Roosevelt as one of the two people who threatened him the most. The other was Churchill, the British Minister of Navy at this time.

    During Roosevelt's term, Roosevelt sensitively felt that China's power was too strong. Especially after Roosevelt saw the results of the Sino-Japanese War, he was very uneasy about China's strong strength. This is why he was fighting with Tang Dynasty.  Six months after the establishment of the military alliance treaty, Roosevelt unilaterally terminated cooperation with China. Roosevelt did not want China to become too powerful. He wanted the European countries to strangle the increasingly powerful China in the cradle.

    As the saying goes, killing someone with a borrowed knife!

    However, his plan failed because the development of the situation in Europe was beyond his expectation. Due to the increasing conflicts between European countries in the colonies, the European countries were unable to look eastward and could only allow China to continue its peaceful development.  Rise rapidly in a stable environment.

    Roosevelt¡¯s strategy is not without poison, but God seems to have always been on China¡¯s side. Since the end of the war with Japan, China¡¯s national power has grown rapidly.  Until Roosevelt left office, the United States was still unable to stop China's rise.

    After Roosevelt left office, he still wanted to find someone who could adhere to his political views to run for president. At this time, Roosevelt pushed Taft to the throne of the President of the United States.

    Although Roosevelt said that Taft was "the most suitable person to be president in the country," Taft was conservative, poor in rhetoric, incapable of controlling the Republican Party, and unable to tactfully reconcile the hostile factions within the party; he lacked political skills and was unable to  He will cleverly cover up his close relationship with the monopoly capitalists, and instead pursue a series of naked extreme and conservative policies; he does not have independent ideological and political lines. Although he completely obeys the old president's clich¨¦s, he  Lacking the talents of old Roosevelt.

    Therefore, every major decision of the Taft administration almost inevitably caused fierce disputes.  This was very detrimental to his rule.

    In terms of foreign policy, like Roosevelt, Taft was ambitious and planned to expand the United States' influence abroad.  With the help of Secretary of State Philander C. Knox, he replaced "guns and bullets" with "gold dollars."  This is "gold-dollar diplomacy."  But sometimes gold, dollars, and bullets were used interchangeably. Taft encouraged American bankers and entrepreneurs to invest abroad, and the government provided loans to entrepreneurs who built railroads and started businesses abroad.  All of this opens up markets for U.S. merchandise exports.

    All this is what Tang Jian wants to see. Taken together, Taft is a president with mediocre qualifications. Tang Jian feels that if Roosevelt were in office, he would seriously consider the plan to seize Hawaii. Now that Roosevelt is not here  Now, with such an incompetent president leading the United States, Tang Jian is sure to win Hawaii in one fell swoop.

    United States, Washington, White House.

    Feeling the changes in the international situation in the United States, Taft specially invited former President Theodore Roosevelt to the White House to discuss state affairs.

    At this time, Taft frowned. He was waiting for Roosevelt to arrive. However, after a while, Taft began to doze off. Taft weighed 150 kilograms, so he was very lethargic.

    After a while, Taft¡¯s presidential secretary knocked on the door of his office. After knocking for a while, Taft woke up from his nap.

    As soon as Roosevelt entered the office, he saw the sleepy Taft, and he felt a sense of displeasure in his heart. In fact, although Roosevelt pushed Taft to the high seat of the president, Taft's performance was really unsatisfactory.  As a result, some rifts developed between the two.

    Taft stepped forward and hugged Roosevelt cordially, then asked Roosevelt to sit down. Taft smiled and said: "Roosevelt, you seem to be a lot more haggard recently."

    Roosevelt nodded slightly. During this period, Roosevelt was not idle. He had been busy with the Cuban Rebel Army. The abnormal behavior of the Cuban Rebel Army in recent days has been a headache for Roosevelt.

    Just a few days ago, the Cuban rebels were uncharacteristically no longer hiding, but took the initiative to launch an attack. Now the US military in Cuba has been in a tense state, ready to respond to attacks by the Cuban rebels at any time.

    Roosevelt said straight to the point: "Taft, the United States should immediately send more troops to Cuba and send those who are asking for help to Cuba."All the rebels in ?? were wiped out!  "

    "What, my God, we need to increase our troops again. We have invested 50,000 troops in Cuba. Isn't that enough?" Taft said in surprise. What he was most concerned about now was not the Cuban issue, but the situation in Europe.

    At this time, the European war was about to break out. What he was thinking about was how the United States could take care of itself and develop its domestic economy after the European war broke out.

    Roosevelt frowned, raised his voice, and said, "Taft, don't you feel it? Now that the Cuban rebels are getting stronger and stronger, the U.S. military in Cuba simply does not have the ability to wipe out the Cuban rebels.  We should increase our troops immediately.¡±

    "However, you also see that the European war is about to break out. We should put all our troops on the East Coast to prevent the European war from spreading to the United States." Taft shook his head resolutely.

    Roosevelt sighed and said: "Taft, it is right to prevent the spread of war in Europe, but we cannot relax our control on Cuba. After all, Cuba is located at the door of the United States. Such an important strategic location must not have any  Lost! However, we should not put all our troops on the east coast, but pay more attention to the west coast!"

    "The West Coast? Are there our enemies on the Pacific Ocean? My God, the eyes of the world are now focused on the Western European continent!" Taft said with some confusion.

    "No! Yes, it is still a potentially powerful enemy!" Roosevelt said.

    "That country?" Taft asked.

    "China! Don't forget that China's navy is not inferior to that of the United States. On the west coast, we have only placed four battleships. While suppressing the Cuban rebels, I think we should deploy more troops on the west coast of the Pacific.  , to put it more directly, it is to send the U.S. Pacific Fleet to station in Hawaii. In Hawaii, we only have a small force of 2,000 people. We should regard Hawaii as the most important strategic location in the Pacific. We must not make any mistakes, otherwise we will  We will lose our advantage over the Pacific!" Roosevelt said earnestly.

    Taft hesitated for a while. He always felt that China was nothing to worry about. After all, it was an Eastern country that had only recently been founded. They did not have the courage to challenge the authority of the United States in the Pacific.

    Unless they are crazy!

    Moreover, Taft only wanted to spend his presidential term smoothly. He did not want the United States to fall into war during his term. It would be best to avoid war. His focus was still on economic development, and his  The president only has one year left in his term.

    At this time, Taft also felt a little dissatisfied with Roosevelt. Roosevelt always emphasized the use of "absolute force" to make other countries submit. What is the difference between this and militants.

    Tasif shook his head and said: "Judging from the situation in the Far East in recent years, China has always focused on domestic economic development and has not shown too strong expansion**, so I think Hawaii is still safe now. If we wantonly  Sending troops to Hawaii may arouse China's suspicion. At that time, friction between the two countries is about to break out in Europe, which is extremely detrimental to the United States."

    Roosevelt stood up angrily and said: "In this era, force is everything. If we don't take action, I am afraid that the U.S. colonies in the Far East will fall into the hands of China. Our biggest enemy now is China, and China understands  What? The European War is still far away from us! And the Cuban rebels suddenly took the initiative on a large scale at this time, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange?¡±

    Although Taft was promoted to the position of president by Roosevelt, he is still the president now, and Roosevelt is not!  Obviously Roosevelt did not realize this from his tone at this time.

    Seeing that Taft and Roosevelt were not in agreement, Taft lost interest in continuing the conversation.  Of course Roosevelt could see this, so he stood up and walked away!

    Taft looked at Roosevelt's retreating back and sneered: "Wars, there are so many damn wars! Not everyone is a militant!"

    After Roosevelt walked out of the White House, he clenched his fists hard. He was so disappointed with Taft's performance that he decided to formally break with Taft and prepare to compete for the Republican candidate and participate in the 1912 presidential election!

    "While the top leaders of the United States were arguing about Cuba and the European War and ignoring Hawaii, Tang Jian's Pacific Fleet had already sailed to a position twenty nautical miles away from the western waters of the Big Island of Hawaii.

    "President, we are going to Hawaii soon!" Ye Zugui walked to Tang Jian's side. At this time, the sky and sea were blue. After Tang Jian's arrival, the huge Pacific Fleet seemed to be in a blue curtain, above the vast Pacific Ocean.  The Pacific Fleet, with hundreds of warships of various types, appears unusually small.

    Tang Jian stood on the deck of the Oriental, bathing in the oncoming waves.In the salty sea breeze, seeing Ye Zugui step forward, Tang Jian smiled and said, "We're finally here!"

    "Immediately order the fleet to advance at full speed, surround Pearl Harbor, and trap the U.S. Hawaiian Fleet in Pearl Harbor!" Tang Jian ordered.

    "However, we may encounter American maritime patrol ships soon, and they will tip off!" Ye Zugui reminded.

    "Then send out high-speed destroyers to intercept all these American patrol ships and say that we are conducting exercises and that we have commandeered the waters here!" Tang Jian showed a pair of big white teeth and said righteously.

    PS: Today¡¯s second update, please continue to ask for votes to be on the list!
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