Chapter 121: The President's Wrath

Fillmore was very angry.

The development of the situation had completely exceeded his expectations.

Before Colonel Mason set out, he and the War Department repeatedly emphasized in the order conveyed to Colonel Mason that he could not open fire.

But what was the result?

The little captain named Sherman under Colonel Mason not only opened fire, but also massacred civilians in Los Angeles, pushing the entire federal government to the opposite side of the people.

In the more than 70 years since the founding of the country, the image of the federal government has never been so bad. If this matter cannot be properly handled, Fillmore will not be re-elected, and I am afraid that Fillmore will be the worst president in the history of the United States.

Fillmore thought he was a person who was not surprised by changes. After all, over the years, from a tenant farmer to the president, he has walked step by step and down to earth. What storms and waves has he not seen?

It’s just that this time, he was at a loss in the face of a difficult situation.

"The War Department and Congress bypassed us and wrote several letters to Colonel Mason. Congressman Calhoun also wrote to Colonel Mason in his personal name."

In the presidential office of the White House, Secretary Conrad expressed his views to Fillmore.

He believed that the government and the War Department should not be responsible for this matter. Congress and the War Department bypassed the President and the War Department to send letters to Colonel Mason, which was the culprit of this tragedy.

Fillmore was very angry about the disregard of Congress. If Congress had not insisted on its own way, the situation would not have become so difficult to deal with.

"Arrest Sherman and hand him over to the military court for trial. We need to give an explanation to the victims in California and Los Angeles."

Fillmore took a puff of the pipe to ease his current bad mood.

Sherman, the culprit, must be dealt with seriously, even if he is sent to the gallows.

Fillmore has checked Sherman's information. He is an outstanding graduate of the West Point Military Academy and has made many military achievements during the Mexican-American War. He is a very promising young man.

However, his excellence and military achievements are not enough to offset the crimes he committed in Los Angeles.

There is also the Department of the Army, which is a traitor, and needs to be dealt with seriously, otherwise the ministers of other departments will not take him seriously as the president. Fillmore must kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.

"The Secretary and Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Army should be dismissed on the spot, and an investigation team should be set up to seriously investigate which other officials of the Department of the Army are involved in this matter." Fillmore said.

"What about Congressman Calhoun? Congressman Calhoun is already seriously ill and his mind is a little unclear. I don't think he is suitable to serve as a member of the Senate again."

Conrad has long had opinions about Congressman Calhoun who always takes advantage of his seniority. He hopes to take this opportunity to drive this old guy out of Congress.

Fillmore also wants to do so? Sometimes he even feels that these congressmen who take advantage of their seniority in Congress are stumbling blocks on the road to progress of this country and need to be removed.

But he is the president and cannot touch Congressman Calhoun.

And as a veteran congressman, Calhoun's impression in Congress is really too great.

So much so that his proposals are very absurd and there are young congressmen who support them. In the eyes of some young congressmen, their future is far more important than the future of the United States.

However, he believed that after this incident, Calhoun, who had already lost his reputation, would soon lose his Senate qualification and get out of the Senate.

"Let this old congressman who has lost his integrity go." Fillmore said calmly.

Calhoun, the old delivery man, was getting worse day by day, and he didn't have many days left.

He didn't need to bother with a dying man, so as not to cause trouble and have a negative impact on himself.

"Mr. Webster, I heard that Wall Street has sold all the land in California?"

Fillmore put down his pipe and looked at Secretary of State Webster beside him.

"Yes, Mr. President, all sold."

Webster was old and his health was not very good. He leaned on the soft sofa and answered Fillmore's question.

"They are really anxious. Do they really think that the California government does not exist?" Fillmore said with a sneer.

If California was a territorial area, it would be easy to say, after all, the land in the territorial area is nominally under federal jurisdiction.

But now California already has its own state government. Legally, these lands should belong to the California government.

Those people still ignore the existence of the California government and rush to buy California land on Wall Street. It is really too arrogant.

"This is the list of successful bidders. You can take a look."

Webster was not convenient to get up. He handed the unopened file bag in his hand to the assistant beside him and asked the assistant to pass it to Mr. President.

"This document is the Secretary of the Treasury who asked me to pass it to you. The Treasury is now raising compensation for Texas. I hope Texas can withdraw its troops from New Mexico after receiving the compensation."

"It's too late to raise compensation for Texas now. Let the Treasury save money."

Fillmore opened the file bag, took out the documents inside and read them.

The names on it are all old faces. Most of the bidders for these lands are old nobles in New York State. Some families in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington DC and Virginia also participated in this matter.

However, there were not many families and consortiums involved in this matter in other states. The combined land obtained by the families and consortiums in these states in this land bidding was not as much as that of the old aristocrats in New York.

This shows that it was the old aristocrats of New York State who took the lead in this matter.

Fillmore continued reading, and when he reached the last line, he could no longer control his anger.

$8.76 million!

In the eyes of these people, the land in California where gold is buried is only worth $8.76 million!

That means selling all of California to these people wouldn't be enough to pay Texas compensation! The government promised Texas $10 million in compensation for ceding the land.

These nobles are so generous.

"These guys who wrote about it in the newspapers for giving New York City slums a 15-cent rent reduction never disappoint. They were willing to pay $8.76 million for land in California that could There’s gold buried there!”

Fillmore angrily slapped the document in his hand on the desk.

It is now rumored that among the gold diggers in California, Liang Yao alone is now worth more than 10 million US dollars, becoming the first multimillionaire in the West. This does not include other gold diggers.

What is the concept of tens of millions of dollars? At present, there are only two people in the United States who can be confirmed to be worth more than ten million dollars.

One was Backhouse, also known as Little Astor, of the Astor family, a large New York landowner, and the other was the New York shipping king, Vanderbilt, known as the Commodore.

If the rumors are true, Liang Yao will be the third multi-millionaire in American history, but considering that Liang Yao holds a large amount of gold.

Liang Yao may have more liquid capital than the two established multi-millionaires.

After all, land was the Astor family's main asset, and Backhouse would not keep large sums of money in the bank, but would exchange his money for land.

Vanderbilt also has a large part of his assets in ships and shares in investment companies, and his cash on hand will never exceed tens of millions.

Although these two people are not multi-millionaires, they have relatively large fixed assets. It is very troublesome to realize fixed assets into cash.

"Fuck!"

Webster, who has always been mature and prudent and pays great attention to his image, couldn't help but curse when he learned the figure of US$8.76 million.

He had known that reclaiming the land in California would not go smoothly, and he was too sensible to get involved.

Webster had expected that the land in California would not fetch much, but the fact that it did not sell for even $10 million was a surprise to him.

"If Congress continues to make trouble, let them make trouble. I choose to stand on the side of California. According to the Constitution, we should also stand on the side of California. The government of the United States respects and protects the legitimate private property of citizens."

The image of the president and the government was very bad. Outside the Capitol, bursts of protests and vulgar words reached Fillmore's ears.

He decided to risk his life to convey his point of view to these protestors and speak to them.

Perhaps today's adventure can win him some votes in the re-election campaign.

"Mr. Webster, with all due respect, I think it's time to calm down the people's anger. I need to draft a speech and deliver it to the protesting crowd outside the Capitol."

"Indeed, the situation needs to be calmed down quickly, even if it requires paying a relatively large price." Webster agreed with Fillmore's view.

"The ambassadors of the UK and France are particularly concerned about what happened in California. I heard that they have sent people to contact California. This is a very dangerous signal."

Things in California are a family matter of the United States, but if the British Empire, which is afraid of chaos, gets involved, it will be a big trouble.

"I heard about it too. Two bankers from Barings and the Banque de France visited San Francisco and I heard they brought two shiploads of arms to California. My God, I hope these arms don't come in handy. ." Fillmore said with a worried expression.

He worked hard to promote the passage of the Compromise Act in order to avoid the occurrence of civil war. He did not want a civil war or division in the United States during his term of office.

Once Britain and France get involved in California, a series of chain reactions will occur.

By then, with California as a model, other states with ideas will be ready to take action, and they will also flirt with Britain and France.

This matter must be resolved as quickly as possible without allowing Britain and France to take advantage of it. This is President Fillmore's current thinking.

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