1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 669 Mason's Choice

The news of the fall of Grand Fort was transmitted to Fort Kearny via wire telegraph. Mason calmly put down the telegram in his hand and accepted the fact that Grand Fort had fallen.

The fact that a regiment of defenders in Grandburg were able to hold out for four full days under the fierce artillery fire of the Western Army without any external assistance was a display of tenacity.

"Sir, would you please ask Commander McClellan for help while the telegraph lines are still open?"

The speaker was Mason's new adjutant, Colonel McCock. As for Mason's original adjutant, Colonel John, he was killed by Western artillery in the artillery battle on the second day, becoming the highest-ranking federal officer killed since the war began.

The Civil War between the North and the West was the most intense war McCock had ever experienced, far surpassing the Mexican-American War that McCock had participated in. After all, the Mexican artillery could not keep them bombarded for four days without running out of ammunition.

"Do you know why the Western Army still hasn't cut off Fort Kearny's telegraph lines?" Mason asked McCock.

"The Western Army wants to surround the point and attack the reinforcements." McCock blurted out without much thought.

Cutting off a few telegraph lines was an easy task for the Western Army. The Western Army did not cut the telegraph lines and still kept Fort Kearny in contact with the outside world. The intention was obvious. Not to mention him, a colonel, even an ordinary non-commissioned officer could guess the intention of the Western Army.

"So there is no point in asking for help. McClellan has already sent two regiments of militia to us before the war. He will not take the risk of sending reinforcements to Fort Kearny." Mason asked with a wry smile, "How many Parrott guns can still fire?"

Mason was prepared for the loss of Fort Kearny, but the intensity of the Western Army's artillery bombardment far exceeded Mason's expectations.

Mason really wanted to know how many artillery shells the Western Army had prepared for this battle. The Western Army's artillery shells were fired into the fort as if they were free, and they did not stop even at night.

Mason and his soldiers hadn't had a good night's sleep for four days and four nights, and everyone in the fort was extremely exhausted.

"There are only 13 Parrott guns that can be used normally." McCock said with a frown, "The problem we are facing now is not only that the number of usable Parrott guns is seriously insufficient, but also that the casualties of the artillery are very serious. The artillery has been reduced by nearly two-thirds. At this intensity of the artillery battle, I am afraid that in two days, facing the artillery attack of the Western Army, we will not be able to fight back."

The defenders of Fort Kearny were able to fight back against the Sacramento cannons of the Western Army because of the Parrott cannons. However, since the raw material of the Parrott cannons was mainly cast iron, which was relatively brittle, the Parrott cannons wore out faster than ordinary artillery barrels and were more prone to cracks. Therefore, the life of the Parrott cannons was very short, with only a pitiful 300 rounds.

After four days of high-intensity artillery battles, the batch of Parrott guns at Fort Kearny have basically exceeded their service life. Yesterday, there were four incidents of Parrott guns exploding, which directly destroyed four of his gun crews.

The casualties of the four gun crews were minor. The most serious was the blow to the morale of the artillerymen caused by the burst of the gun barrels. Many Parrot gun crews refused to operate the Parrot guns whose service life had expired. This trend even spread to the gun crews of the Napoleon fortress guns.

"13, what an unlucky number." Mason frowned and asked, "What are the casualties today?"

"So far, the death toll has exceeded 370, and the number of seriously injured is equal to the number of deaths. The military doctors are already overwhelmed." McCock reported truthfully, "Today, 46 militia soldiers tried to escape the fort and surrender to the Western Army but were caught. What should we do with these people?"

"Let's put them all in the dungeon first."

Mason hesitated for a moment, but still took out a letter from the drawer and handed it to McCock, intending to leave himself a relatively decent ending. However, he was not sure whether Liang Yao was willing to give him a decent ending.

"After dark, take this letter to the Western Army's camp and hand it over to the Western Army's supreme commander."

At night, the generals of the Western Army began to review today's battle. They also keenly noticed that the intensity of the counterattack of the defenders of Fort Kearny was getting weaker day by day. Several infantry brigade commanders even argued about which brigade was responsible for the main attack on Fort Kearny, and were scolded by Liang Yao.

Liang Yao was not thinking about taking Fort Kani, but how to take Fort Kani at the lowest cost.

Liang Yao felt that the casualties were a bit high after taking Grandburg at the cost of two companies' casualties.

The garrison of Fort Kearny was four times that of Fort Grande, the fort was more solid, and the firepower was more fierce. An attack on Fort Grande would inevitably result in greater casualties.

After the review of the battle was over, Liang Yao left behind a few senior generals and handed the letter Mason gave him to everyone for reading.

Perhaps he thought that he had done his duty to the War Department and Lincoln by holding Fort Kearny for four days. Or perhaps Mason had lost hope.

Mason took the initiative to contact Liang Yao and discussed the conditions.

In the letter, Mason stated that he was willing to give up Fort Kearny if the Western Army would allow him and his subordinates to retreat safely to Omaha.

"Could this be Mason's conspiracy? Mason is a rather cunning man." Sartre suspected that Mason was cheating after reading his letter.

"Mason doesn't have the capital to cheat us now. In the face of absolute strength, any conspiracy is invalid." Kruger didn't think Mason would cheat.

As long as the main force of the Union Army under McClellan did not rush to rescue Fort Kearny, the Western Army had an overwhelming advantage over Mason's Brigade, and Mason could not break out of their encirclement no matter how hard he tried. Kruger believed that Mason really wanted to negotiate with them.

"We can pretend to agree to Mason, and after Mason leads his troops to withdraw from Fort Kearny, we can surround Mason. Field battles can better utilize our firepower advantage, and Mason's troops are in very low morale now, so it won't be difficult to defeat and capture them," Elvis suggested.

"If Mason is willing to hand over Fort Kearny voluntarily, there is no problem in letting him go back to Omaha." Liang Yao stated his decision.

"Mason's Brigade is already in our pocket. We are fully capable of defeating it! This is the elite standing brigade of the Northern Army!" Sutter did not agree to let Mason go. He hoped to wipe out Mason's Brigade.

"Our target is McClellan, not Mason." Liang Yao gave his reasons. "McClellan and Mason have always been at odds. Let Mason go back to Omaha and argue with McClellan. I already captured Mason once twelve years ago. There's no point in capturing him again."

As for Elvis' proposal, Liang Yao had also considered it. Doing so would naturally allow the Mason Brigade to be wiped out at the lowest cost, but doing so would undoubtedly increase the difficulty of persuading the Northern Army to surrender in the future, which would not be worth the cost.

Moreover, four of the Kearny Forts had been lost, and the remaining Kearny Fort garrison had also suffered heavy casualties. Mason's Brigade had been basically crippled, and it would be difficult to recover its combat effectiveness in a short period of time. Sending these remnants of Mason's Brigade back would not affect the war situation.

Liang Yao's strategic goal this time was to at least cripple the main force of the Northern Army in Omaha, so that the Northern Army would not be able to recover for at least a year. It was worthwhile to exchange a crippled Mason Brigade for less casualties and more time to prepare for a decisive battle.

"I also agree that the fighting in the Kani Fortress Group should be ended as soon as possible." Kruger said worriedly, pointing at the map.

"According to the information Maquik obtained in Kansas, the Maine Brigade and an unknown number of Union cavalry have bypassed northern Kansas. The vanguard is less than 100 kilometers away from us. I don't know the intention of this unit yet, but we need to free up our hands to deal with this Union unit that has bypassed our flank."

(End of this chapter)