1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 665: The Western Army's Artillery Fire is Fierce and Accurate

"4600 yards!"

"It must be more than 4600 yards. It's already past that lime tree. It must be at least 4700 yards!"

"Five thousand yards at least! The shells fell right into the middle of the Platte."

A few seconds later, the shell landed. A group of officers on the fort wall discussed the distance of the shell's landing point based on reference objects. Although there were different opinions on the specific distance, they all reached a consensus on one point, that is, the distance of the shell's landing point must be far beyond the 4500 yards that Parrott had advertised to them.

Mason smiled too, his smile as bright as a chrysanthemum blooming in autumn.

Except for its slower firing rate, the performance of the Parrot gun in other aspects has exceeded Mason's psychological expectations. He is very satisfied with the performance of the Parrot gun.

"Sir, a telegram from Major Alex."

Mason's smile didn't last long, as the signalman who came from the telegraph station handed Mason a telegram from Major Alex of Goshenburg.

After seeing the contents of the telegram clearly, Mason's chrysanthemum-like smile suddenly disappeared without a trace.

  A field gun with a range of 5000 yards and a rate of fire of at least 4 rounds per minute? Are you kidding me?

Parrott was the first to notice the change in Mason's expression. Thinking that Mason was dissatisfied with his gun, Parrott stepped forward and asked, "Your Excellency, please let us know if you have any suggestions. We can make improvements in the next batch. After all, this is a new product, so it is inevitable that there will be flaws."

Parrot really hoped that the artillery he designed and supervised could replace the Napoleon cannon and become the standard artillery of the Federal Army. He was very willing to accept the opinions of frontline officers and soldiers.

"Look, Your Excellency. You are an expert in artillery. Do you think this is possible?"

Mason handed the telegram to Parrott.

After reading the telegram, Parrot was stunned, his mouth was open wide enough to fit a whole goose egg.

"No way, absolutely impossible."

Parrot was unwilling to believe that the cannon he had spent many years of hard work to build was not as good as the old cannon that had been put into service by the Western Army a few years ago.

"Perhaps Major Alex is dazzled by nervousness? You know, people are most likely to make mistakes when they are nervous, even if they are obvious and low-level mistakes."

Parrott came up with this reason, not because he was unwilling to accept the reality, but because the Sacramento artillery data provided in the telegram was too horrifying to be believed.

Parrot had always wanted to disassemble a Sacramento gun for research, but the Spanish Army had always kept the Sacramento gun strictly confidential. In addition, the price quoted by the Sacramento Arsenal was also very high. The War Department, which even found the Napoleon gun too expensive, naturally had little interest in the expensive Sacramento gun.

Therefore, Parrot has never been able to see the true appearance of the Sacramento gun with his own eyes. He only knows that the Sacramento gun is a breech-loading rifled gun, and he knows nothing else.

“Do other countries have similar artillery?”

Mason's mood was complicated at this time. He was unwilling to believe that the Western Army's field artillery could reach an exaggerated range of 5000 yards, but Mason knew Alex's character. Alex was a relatively upright professional soldier and would never lie to him about such an important matter.

"I haven't heard of it." Parrott thought for a long time and said, "The British seem to have developed a breech-loading rifled cannon with good performance last year, but the data circulated is not as exaggerated as the Sacramento cannon.

If the field gun produced by the Sacramento Arsenal could reach a range of 5000 yards while maintaining a rate of fire of four minutes per minute, it would undoubtedly be the most advanced artillery in the world.

The Sacramento Arsenal’s artillery designs and metallurgy will reach a level that we cannot even begin to match.”

Parrott did not say anything definite. Emotionally, he did not want his opponent to have such a powerful weapon, but technically speaking, it was not completely impossible.

The progress of America's smelting technology in the past 20 years is obvious to all. Under such circumstances, the United States' weapon updating and research and development is still stagnant. To a large extent, it is not a technical problem, but a lack of demand and motivation to develop more advanced weapons. After all, the United States does not have much defense pressure, and the military expenditure provided by the War Department is also very limited.

Of course, the exception is the West, which has been a breath of fresh air in America over the past decade, with a seemingly endless thirst for new weapons and new technologies, regardless of cost.

"That means this possibility cannot be ruled out." Mason muttered to himself.

"Sir, I have a request. If you can capture a Sacramento cannon, please let me know and I will send someone to get it." Parrot made a request to Mason.

From Fort Goshen to Fort Lexington, the American Republic had already launched an artillery attack on the Union Army that refused to surrender, and the sound of artillery shook the earth. The First Artillery Brigade was divided into three regiments, each responsible for bombarding a Union fort.

Fort Gossen, Fort Zuckoder, and Fort Lexington are all small forts. Whether they are strong or not is not the point given the limited funds they were built on.

In terms of firepower, the three small forts, Fort Gossen, Fort Zaccord and Fort Lexington, were relatively weak, and the number of fortress artillery positions in the three forts did not exceed 40.

The 12st Artillery Brigade was the only brigade-level artillery unit in the Western Army. It had three artillery regiments under its command, and each regiment had four battalions. Two of the battalions were field artillery battalions equipped with 20-pound Sacramento field guns, while the other two heavy artillery battalions were mainly equipped with 30-pound and -pound Sacramento heavy guns.

The unit below the artillery battalion is the artillery company, and each battalion has four artillery companies.

Like the Union Army and the Confederate Army, the basic combat unit of the Western Army's artillery was also the artillery company. The difference was that the Western Army's artillery company had more people and equipment than the artillery companies of the Union Army and the Confederate Army.

  Generally, each artillery company of the Union Army had 6 gun crews. Due to the shortage of artillery, the Confederate Army reduced it to 4 gun crews per company. The Western Army's artillery company was the most lavishly equipped, with 8 gun crews, which was exactly twice as many as that of the Confederate Army's artillery company!

In Fort Goshen, the tattered American flag fluttered in the wind, swaying precariously.

"Major! The Western Army's artillery fire is too damn fierce!"

A Union Army second lieutenant covered his ears, which were almost broken, and shouted to Major Alex, the military director of Goshenburg.

"Not only is it powerful, it's also powerful and accurate! We have 37 gun positions in total, and 16 of them were destroyed by the Western Army!"

A Union lieutenant crawled into the cellar and found Major Alex curled up in the cellar. After seven hours of continuous artillery bombardment by the Western Army, their uniforms had been smoked black and gray by the smoke.

"Go to the warehouse and drag out the spare artillery! Lift it up! Fire back after it's installed!" Major Alex yelled orders to the lieutenant.

As a front-line fortress, Fort Gosen had done sufficient preparations for war and had spare artillery in the warehouse.

After being bombarded for seven hours, Alex was a little dazed.

What kind of fucking artillery is the Western Army equipped with? This is the first time since the founding of the country that field artillery can suppress fortress artillery bombardment.

When Alex's father participated in the Second War of Independence, the British Army was very powerful, but there was no sight that the British field artillery could bomb American fortresses.

"We can't fight back, Major. Our crappy Napoleon cannons can't reach the Spanish cannons!"

The Union lieutenant who answered had a face full of fatigue and fear, and his eyes were unfocused. He no longer had the determination to continue fighting, only endless fatigue and confusion.

The Western Army's artillery bombardment showed no signs of abating. What echoed in the ears of these officers was not only the rumbling of artillery fire, but also the painful cries of their comrades and the muffled sound of soldiers falling to the ground beside them.

The Western Army's rain of artillery fire had shattered their will to resist. All the officers present had realized that any resistance would be futile and there was no need to make any more fearless sacrifices.

Even if they chose to carry out Alex's orders at this time, no soldier was willing to risk the Western Army's artillery fire to hoist the spare artillery in the warehouse to the gun positions on the wall.

  Besides, what good would it be to hoist those Napoleon cannons up there?

Fire two shots to make the Western Army feel good, and then wait to be destroyed by the Western Army?

"Wait a little longer. It will be dark in an hour. After dark, the Western Army will definitely stop the shelling. Then we can take a breath and hoist the guns up." Alex opened his pocket watch, looked at the time displayed on it and said.

"According to the Western Army's bombardment method, even if the people can bear it, the artillery can't."

Alex's only hope now is to hold out until dark and wait for the Western Army to stop shelling after dark, or it can be said to be a luxury.

Alex didn't want to surrender and live and die with Gosenberg.

Even if he had this idea, the group of soldiers under his command who were paid $9 a month would not follow him to the end, even though many of these soldiers were from his hometown.

Alex never considered whether to surrender or not, but when to surrender.

Of course, the time of surrender cannot possibly be today. It would be too shameful to surrender on the first day of the war. At least we have to hold on until the next day before surrendering.

(End of this chapter)