1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 676 Cavalry

"America is a new country in North America. Its ancestors took advantage of the chaos in Europe to open up the wilderness and establish the country, inherited the Puritan spirit, and advocated the covenant of freedom. When it was first established, the thirteen states swore an oath of blood, abolished the monarchy based on the Declaration of Independence, opened up democratic elections and established constitutional government, improved industry and commerce at home, and connected with other countries abroad. Over the past hundred years, the country has gradually become stronger."

At the Grand Camp of the Western Army, Liang Yao was reading by the light of a kerosene lamp the manuscript of "Atlas of the United States of America" ​​sent to him by his grandfather Liang Weiming. The book was full of words and had approximately one million words.

Liang Yao could vaguely smell some flavor of public intellectuals' writing between the lines. Even so, this set of books still had more merits than flaws. It was a rare good book introducing the United States in the Qing Dynasty.

Compared with Wei Yuan's "Illustrated Gazetteer of Maritime Countries" written seventeen or eighteen years ago, Liang Weiming's "Illustrated Gazetteer of the American Countries" is more detailed. After all, Mr. Liang personally traveled in the United States for seven or eight years and came into contact with many Americans.

"Atlas of the United States of America" ​​is not only divided into the Northern and Southern chapters, but also goes into detail about each state, introducing the customs and culture of each state in detail.

The literati of this era were not stupid. If they were given a window to contact the outside world, they would still be able to get a glimpse of the whole picture, see some clues, and draw some conclusions.

"Sir, General Kruger requests to see you." Zeiss tiptoed to Liang Yao and said.

"Please invite General Kruger in." Liang Yao closed the manuscript and signaled Zeiss to invite Kruger in.

"In the past five days, we have killed or captured more than 700 Northern soldiers who were destroying the railways and harassing the engineers. However, those Northerners are still unwilling to give up and continue to send troops to destroy the railways." Kruger reported to Liang Yao.

"How many cavalry are there among them? What are our casualties?" Liang Yao asked.

"Two-thirds of them are cavalry, and the remaining one-third are Union Army engineers. We have seized 325 high-quality war horses alone, and half of these cavalrymen are from the Second Cavalry Regiment before the war," Kruger replied. "Compared with the Union Army, our cavalry suffered relatively few casualties, less than one company. The Union Army's cavalry is no match for our cavalry."

"More than 400 cavalrymen, more than 200 cavalrymen from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment. McClellan is really willing to spend a lot of money." Liang Yao said.

Before the war, the size of the U.S. cavalry was very small. Including the 3rd Cavalry Regiment of the Western Brigade, the U.S. Army had only three standing cavalry regiments. McClellan was willing to spend a lot of money to buy time by using the 2nd Cavalry Regiment to destroy the railway regardless of casualties.

You must know that the three standing cavalry regiments before the war were all real elite cavalry, and their combat effectiveness was not at the same level as the cavalry expanded after the war.

Although Liang Yao felt very painful because of the casualties of nearly an entire company of cavalry, considering that the opponent was the Second Cavalry Regiment, such an exchange was not unacceptable to Liang Yao.

"The Bison's First Cavalry Regiment has been carrying out missions for five consecutive days. Let them withdraw and rest, and let the Mongolian Cavalry Regiment and the Solon Cavalry Battalion go up to practice. They have no experience fighting against the Yankees." Liang Yao said.

The 1st Cavalry Regiment was the 3rd Cavalry Regiment during the Western Brigade period. After seceding from the Union, the 3rd Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army was renamed the 1st Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the Republic of America.

"The Engineer Corps is asking for more people," Kruger said. "We don't lack people, but what we lack now are soldiers with experience in railway construction and who are from a working class background."

"The railway workers recruited from various railway companies are already on their way and will arrive in Kani tomorrow." Liang Yao looked up and asked, "How long will it take for the Engineering Corps to repair the road?"

"According to the report from the Engineer Corps, it will take twelve days." Kruger blurted out.

"No! Twelve days is enough for McClellan to reorganize several regiments." Liang Yao shook his head. He was very dissatisfied with this time. "Six days, I will give him six days at most. All 1200 railway workers recruited from the West Coast will be assigned to him for dispatch and command. If the railway cannot be restored after six days, Wu Dakun will have to resign as the head of the engineering corps."

The wild wind from Nebraska blew in the smell of scorched earth. The aroma of burnt bean soup wafted through the makeshift camp of the Third Company of the Second Cavalry Regiment of the Union Army. Captain Jonas, the commander of the Third Company, squatted by the campfire, boiling some suspicious brown liquid in a chipped tinplate cup.

On the distant horizon, the tracks of the New York Central Railroad glowed coldly like snake scales under the scorching sun. The No. 15 culvert, which was half-destroyed by Union engineers last night, was still emitting a faint black smoke, like a giant python with its belly ripped open.

Captain Jonas's mission this time was to blow up the entire No. 15 culvert to slow down the Western Army's advance. Normally, this mission should have been completed yesterday, but the fifth company responsible for blowing up the No. 15 culvert was discovered by the enemy cavalry, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides near the No. 15 culvert.

After a fierce battle, only 76 people from the 42th Company, which had 16 people when they set out, successfully retreated to Omaha, of whom were injured.

"Fuck, they are all Indians, all inferior colored people. Why are those Indians in the West so good at fighting?!"

"Who says it's not true? When I served in South Dakota, one cavalry company could easily wipe out two Indian tribes. The Indians were just a group of deer waiting to be slaughtered in front of us."

"The war with the Indian tribes was more of a hunt than a war. The war with the Western Indian cavalry was the real war."

"I hope I don't run into those damn Indian cavalry today!" "Hey, George, I heard that the long rifles in the hands of Western Indians can fire several shots in a row. Is that true?"

"Really? Then aren't these things in our hands just fire sticks in front of them?!"

A group of Union cavalrymen in dark blue cavalry smocks were talking to each other, but they did not forget their work.

Some of these Northern cavalrymen stuffed pickled pork into their mouths, some drank various unknown liquids of different colors, some chewed tobacco leaves to refresh themselves, some stuffed plaques of saints into their breast pockets, and some stuffed a handful of wormwood into the horses' mouths. This was a folk remedy they learned from the prostitutes in Omaha - it could prevent old horses from kicking during a charge.

Only half of the First Cavalry Regiment of the Western Army were Native Americans. However, because Native Americans accounted for a large proportion of the population when it was first established, these Yankee cavalrymen habitually called the First Cavalry Regiment of the Western Army the Indian Cavalry.

The Yankee 2nd Cavalry Regiment was exhausted and suffered heavy casualties due to the intense fighting for several days, which caused their morale to be low.

Their biggest wish now is to blow up the damn No. 15 culvert three miles away as soon as possible, leave this troubled place as soon as possible, and then return to Omaha to drink a few glasses of cheap potato-brewed liquor, and use the money saved to go to the brothel opened by the government specifically for them to find a decent woman to relieve their sexual desire.

Jonathan looked at the 92 soldiers under his command with great concern. This was the third time that the rd Company had carried out the mission of destroying the railway. In the first two missions, the rd Company did not escape unscathed and suffered heavy casualties.

Of the 92 soldiers now, 37 were new recruits. Jonathan knew that he could not trust these new recruits as much as he trusted the old guys who had served in the cavalry regiment during the Fillmore era.

At this time, Jonathan prayed silently to God in his heart, hoping that God would protect them from encountering the Westerner's cavalry.

Jonathan finished drinking the unappetizing brown liquid in the tinplate cup, stood up and checked whether the felt wrapped around the wheels of the wagon was tight, and shouted to the soldiers who were chatting: "Put out the charcoal fire! Head for the target!"

Jonathan learned to wrap the wagon wheels with felt to reduce noise from the South Dakota Indians, because the Indians would do everything they could to reduce noise and get closer to them when they attacked them.

The soldiers who heard the order reluctantly stood up. One of the new recruits was about to mount his horse, but was quickly pulled down by the veteran beside him: "You're still riding for the last three miles. Are you afraid that the Westerners won't see you? Do you think you'll die?"

"If you want to survive, keep your backs bent and walk forward! No one is allowed to shout! No lights are allowed! No birds are allowed to be scared!" Jonathan glared at the helpless recruits and ordered.

"The Indians in the West have sharp eyes!"

(End of this chapter)