After returning the horse, Captain Dan had expected to leave immediately. To his surprise, the guard at the gate told him, "Captain Dan, the Colonel requests your presence inside."

Dan looked down at his clothes. He had rushed home and then straight back here with almost no rest. His uniform was filthy, hardly suitable for visiting distinguished guests.

The guard brushed aside his concerns and went inside to announce him. Before long, a butler appeared and extended a second invitation. With no other choice, Dan entered the grand mansion.

A number of people were seated in the hall, clearly guests of high standing. The Colonel stood prominently at the head of the room. Seeing Dan enter, he beckoned the travel-worn officer to his side.

As Dan approached somewhat hesitantly, Colonel Bourbon explained to the assembly: "Gentlemen, allow me to introduce Captain Dan. He was a prize pupil of General Matthew Ridgway, the current Army Chief of Staff, back when the General was an instructor at West Point."

Hearing this introduction, Dan finally understood. The Colonel had known exactly who he was all along, though he hadn't mentioned it during their first meeting. His connection to Ridgway was something Dan hadn't initially given much thought to, but after his sudden release, he had begun to suspect it might have played a role in his freedom.

The other guests looked at Dan with interest. Colonel Bourbon continued, "I would like to ask Captain Dan to share his thoughts, if you don't mind."

The guests offered no objection. Bourbon then briefed Dan on the Conscription Act and the Special Tax Law recently passed by the US Congress. As he listened, Dan felt many things clicking into place. Since the Colonel was being so polite, Dan summoned his courage to provide an analysis.

"Gentlemen," Dan began, "the objective of these laws is to fortify the northern border. Previously, the border between Canada and the United States was peaceful and largely ungarrisoned. The new Conscription Act mandates that the US military maintain a standing army of over 1.5 million men, supported by a special tax. If this were about expanding the Navy, one could argue it was to break the Chinese maritime blockade. But a federal army of 1.5 million can only have one possible target: China. These laws were amended specifically to sustain a long-term garrison in the North."

The guests’ eyes brightened; it was clear they found Dan’s analysis highly persuasive.

Dan continued his breakdown. The United States had originally been a two-ocean nation. Even when Canada was a British colony, Britain lacked the capability to defeat the US militarily, so a large standing army had been unnecessary.

Now, Canada had been replaced by five indigenous nations. Although the US did not recognize them, it was powerless to change the reality. The future United States had lost its "Pacific Barrier" and would face immense military pressure along its entire northern border, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The Special Tax existed precisely to fund such a massive deployment.

Several guests began to nod. One asked, "Captain, how do you think the federal government will resolve such a threat?"

Dan felt a certain confidence in his military knowledge. During his time at West Point, he had been an avid reader, particularly of He Rui’s military works: *An Introduction to Geopolitics*, *The Transformation of Time and Space on the Battlefield*, *Land-Air Integration*, *Wide Fronts and Great Depth*, and many others.

Among these works that had given him such great inspiration, his favorite was *Victory Without War: The Roots of National Strength*.

Much of what Dan had just said was drawn directly from that book. He Rui had proposed a methodology for the application of national strength, and that methodology provided the perfect answer to the guests' question.

"From a geopolitical perspective, the environment surrounding the United States has become extremely hostile," Dan explained. "If we cannot ease relations with China, the US will be forced to pour enormous resources into maintaining a defensive line in the North.

"China’s point of departure for deploying military force is right on the American border. From there, they can cause massive destruction to the northern industrial zones of the US. Even if the United States takes the initiative to attack, it can only damage a few key points in Canada. An army of 1.5 million cannot possibly retake the Canadian territories, let alone strike at China’s home industrial base.

"In this asymmetric mode of warfare, America’s defensive expenditures will far exceed China’s offensive costs. Maintaining such a drain means the United States will have a wound on its body that will never heal, and the Special Tax will be the lifeblood that constantly leaks from it."

A low sigh rippled through the guests. Colonel Bourbon chose this moment to cut in. "Gentlemen, the Captain borrowed my horse three days ago. He rushed here immediately after seeing his family. While the young man is in good health, as his elders, we should show him some consideration. Let us allow the Captain to rest for a while."

Once Dan had been shown out, Colonel Bourbon turned to the grim-faced guests. "Gentlemen, I think the Yankees' intentions are clearer than ever. It was they who provoked this war, yet it was our Southern sons whose blood was spilled. Now that the war is lost, the Yankees still expect the South to continue paying the price for the North. I believe such a practice is not only unfair, but fundamentally immoral."

The Southern elites nodded in unison. They had gathered at Bourbon’s estate specifically out of dissatisfaction with the new conscription and tax proposals. Dan’s briefing had provided the strategic framework that resolved their doubts.

The Southern states certainly hated China, but they had had little direct interaction with the country. Their primary connection to the conflict was the fact that their children had died for a war started by Northerners. Consequently, the Southern gentry had felt somewhat hesitant to openly oppose the new laws, given the context of national enmity.

But now, they understood that the Yankees actually had another choice. Though Dan hadn't said it explicitly, he had mentioned that the federal government could choose the path of peace. If the Special Tax could be avoided, the South could perfectly well continue to hate China while enjoying a peaceful life.

The Yankee proposals were clearly intended to drag the South into a hopeless state of hatred and war that the Northerners themselves had initiated. To the Southern guests, this was unacceptable.

Bourbon watched their reactions with inward delight. He and some of his Southern friends harbored a much deeper ambition: to restore the Confederacy and never again share a country with the "evil Yankees."

The new American Confederacy would be a pure white nation. Chinese, Indians, Black people, and Mexicans could all go North; as long as they left the Confederacy, those people of color could go wherever they pleased.

During his service in the federal army, Bourbon had seen enough of the greed, cowardice, evil, and deception of the federal government and the Northerners. To solve these problems, Bourbon believed it was necessary to establish a new America under a true confederal system, where each state possessed strong autonomy and the right to secede.

Only then could the evil deeds of the federal government be blocked by the democratic elections of the individual states.

If his ideal could be realized, then splitting the United States would not be a mistake, but a form of holy justice.