1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 682: The Battle of Omaha

"Fight for the President! Fight for the Republic!"

The senior Western Army officers in the special train were very excited.

"The war is imminent, everyone please return to your respective posts and prepare well."

Liang Yao felt very pleased to see that the brigadiers and colonels of the Western Army were in high spirits and morale.

Since 1850, he has spent nearly million yuan to fight all over the world to build this powerful North American army, all for today.

"Mr. President, this is the preliminary battle plan drawn up by the General Staff." Kruger handed the battle plan for Omaha to Liang Yao.

"I believe that you and the young people in the General Staff are all very motivated." Liang Yao asked Cai Si to accept the battle plan.

He would take a look at the battle plan, but if there was no problem with the general direction, Liang Yao had no intention of modifying the battle plan submitted by the General Staff.

He is already busy enough dealing with government affairs. Napoleon III will come here soon to watch the war and discuss the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. He has no time to micro-control the troops.

His main purpose of coming to the front line this time was to boost the morale of the entire army, not to micro-manipulate the troops.

"These guys are excellent, very motivated, and can endure hardships," Kruger said. "The same goes for the soldiers. If these soldiers had a higher level of education and received basic education, they would definitely be excellent soldiers comparable to the Prussian soldiers."

Kruger has served Liang Yao for more than ten years and has long lost his prejudice against people of color. Of course, he didn't dare to do that.

When he first started serving Liang Yao, Kruger condescended to serve Liang Yao purely for the sake of the gold.

Over the past decade, Kruger gradually discovered that Chinese soldiers were not as bad as the British said. Instead, they possessed excellent qualities that many European soldiers did not possess.

The only thing that Kruger regretted about these soldiers was their low cultural level. If their literacy rate was higher, the upper limit of this army would be higher.

"So my soldiers are not good enough." Liang Yao said with a smile.

Kruger was right. More than 75% of the soldiers in the Western Army were first-generation immigrants, and the illiteracy rate was very high. Although there were literacy classes in the army to help illiterate soldiers learn to read and improve their cultural level, up to now, the literacy rate of the entire army was only about 45%.

The native-born second-generation immigrants have received compulsory education in the American Republic since childhood, so their literacy rate is very high, reaching over 93%.

However, the number of second-generation immigrants is still relatively small. These high-quality soldiers are basically used by the navy, machine gun troops, artillery troops and other units that require a higher level of education. Many of the infantry, which account for the majority of the population, are still first-generation immigrants.

As Engels said in Anti-Dühring, modern warfare is first and foremost a war of clerks. The army’s literacy rate is not only related to the efficiency of command transmission, but also a bloody yardstick of a country’s degree of modernization.

Obviously, Liang Yao's army has not reached this standard yet.

During this period, the literacy rate of his opponent, the Northern Army, was 89~93%, while that of the Southern Army was slightly lower. The literacy rate of the plantation owner class was 95%, and that of the self-employed farmers was 65%. The overall literacy rate was 78-82%.

The French Army, the world's first army, had a literacy rate of 85% among urban soldiers and 45% among rural soldiers. The average literacy rate of the entire army was about 70%. Excluding the colonial army, the literacy rate of the British Army was roughly the same as that of the French Army.

The army with the highest literacy rate was the Prussian army, where Kruger served, with a literacy rate of 92-95%. Moreover, the literacy rate of the Prussian army was more valuable than that of the armies of other powers.

Prussian recruits had to pass a reading and writing test before they could officially serve in the army, rather than just being able to write their own names. Almost every Prussian artilleryman could basically understand trigonometric function firing tables. This was all thanks to the implementation of the Prussian Compulsory Education Law in 1825.

Compulsory education was implemented in the West through the Compulsory Education Act promulgated in 1851. Although the Compulsory Education Act achieved remarkable results, it would take another ten years or even longer for the literacy rate to reach the level of the French and British armies.

Of course, the literacy rate of the Western Army is not as good as that of the upper ones, but it is more than enough compared to the lower ones.

At least it is better than the 12-18% literacy rate of the gray cattle in Tsarist Russia.

As for which army had a higher literacy rate compared to another great power, the Austrian army, it is difficult to say. The literacy rate of the Austrian army was 35-40%, but the low literacy rate of the Austrian army was due to the fact that it was a multilingual empire with chaotic education standards.

"Our army is excellent, but it can be better." Kruger's emotional intelligence is still not low, and he quickly responded.

"Kruger, you are right, but improving their literacy rate is not something that can be done overnight." Liang Yao said, "I have read the briefings from a while ago. We must warn the troops not to be carried away by the victory of the Kani Fortress Group. The combat effectiveness and fighting will of the Northern Army's elite troops should not be underestimated."

Liang Yao had read all the battle briefings from recent times. He didn't know whether he had too high expectations for the Mongolian Cavalry Regiment and the Solon Cavalry Battalion, or because the Northern Army's cavalry and engineers were quite capable.

He was not satisfied with the performance of the Mongolian Cavalry Regiment and the Solon Cavalry Battalion, as their performance did not meet Liang Yao's expectations.

"A proud army will be easily defeated. This is also the problem I am most worried about. So this time, I plan to let the troops that have not yet participated in the battle, such as the machine gun regiment, take the lead, let the Northern Army see our secret weapons, and attack them by surprise." "You are the highest commander on the front line. You have the final say on how to fight. I will not interfere too much. I only have one request. Omaha can only win and not lose. We must win a beautiful victory!"

"I promise to win a glorious victory!"

Liang Yao and Kruger were talking when Zeiss walked in holding a telegram. Zeiss's tone was full of excitement: "Sir! Good news! Good news! General Robert Lee won a great victory in Manassas!"

"The Confederate Army won a great victory?" Upon hearing that the Confederate Army had won a great victory, Kruger was as excited as Zeiss.

The Southern Army achieved a great victory on the Eastern Front, so they will undoubtedly face less pressure on the Western Front.

Although the Northern Army's data on paper was very strong and its troop numbers were greater than the sum of the Western and Confederate armies, it was difficult for the Northern Army to concentrate its forces to defeat the Western and Confederate armies one by one as it was fighting on two fronts.

The top leaders in the West and the South are not stupid either. Although the two sides have not formed an alliance, they have a tacit understanding of their attitudes towards the North. The top leaders of both sides have not shown any intention to negotiate peace with the North.

Liang Yao, on the other hand, was very calm and composed when he learned that Robert Lee had led the Confederate Army to a great victory in Manassas, as if he had expected it.

This confused Kruger: "Did the President already know about the victory of the Southern Army in advance?"

"The Confederate Army was better prepared than the Union Army. The Union Army had no military advantage on the Bull Run line. Besides, General Robert Lee was one of the most famous generals in North America. It would be strange if he couldn't defeat the Union Army in Manassas," said Liang Yao.

In the early stages of the war, the Confederate troops were basically composed of veterans who had participated in actual combat, while the Union troops were mostly recruits. At this time, most capable officers chose to join the Southern camp. The quality of Union officers, especially senior Union officers, was far inferior to that of the Confederates.

It would have been strange if the Union Army had won the Battle of Manassas.

"Too."

Kruger felt that what Liang Yao said made sense, so he didn't think about it any further.

One family is happy while another is sad. While Kruger was excited about the Confederate victory in Manassas, McClellan in Omaha was worried.

The exhausted McClellan leaned against his walnut desk, the top of which was piled with maps and long-pile of unopened letters. The pressure of pre-war command almost made him breathless.

The Union Army on the Eastern Front suffered a disastrous defeat in Manassas, and the capital Washington was in danger, which meant that the war resources he could obtain from the federal government would become less and less.

The federal government will inevitably invest more resources in the eastern front to ensure the security of the capital.

After all, if Washington fell, it would be a fatal blow to the morale of the Northern people, and the legitimacy of the Lincoln government would be questioned or even overthrown.

McClellan was well aware that in the minds of Lincoln administration cabinet members, the Eastern Front was more important than the Western Front.

As for Lincoln himself, perhaps because of his understanding of Liang Yao and the West, he attached great importance to the Western Front.

However, due to the dangerous situation on the Eastern Front, the support Lincoln could provide to McClellan was becoming increasingly limited.

What upset McClellan was not only the Union Army's defeat on the Eastern Front, but also the paunchy and talkative senators in front of him.

Stevens was dressed in a well-tailored suit, with the self-confidence of a short-sighted politician. Stevens walked straight up to McClellan and questioned him, or even tortured him.

"General McClellan, what are you waiting for? The Yankee rebels are gathering before our eyes. Are you going to just sit there and wait for death?"

McClellan, exhausted physically and mentally, looked up at the eager northern politician, and an indescribable sense of powerlessness rose in his heart. He had heard enough of the empty words of these short-sighted politicians, but he still had to face them patiently.

McClellan had heard of the past of Mr. Stevens in front of him. Stevens was born into a prominent family in New York State. He had been pampered since childhood and had no military background. He was able to enter the Senate entirely because of his family's influence and his father's political legacy.

McClellan also knew that Mr. Stevens had dug gold in Sacramento for more than a month during the California Gold Rush, and that the gold was eventually confiscated by Liang Yao.

Stevens came to Omaha this time simply to watch the Northern Army defeat the Western Army in order to avenge Liang Yao's gold medal victory in Sacramento.

"Mr. Stevens, our troops are not fully ready. You can't just take a look at the map and think that attacking is the simplest solution." McClellan said in a very low voice, tired and helpless.

"Our soldiers are poorly trained, short of supplies, and even less well equipped with weapons and equipment. If we attack rashly, the consequences will be disastrous."

(End of this chapter)