1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 692 Hawke's Positioning

The telegraph office in Platte City soon received a distress message from Norton Town.

The telegraphs used in this era were still wired telegraphs. The Mexican militia brigade operating in the North Platte area, the 103nd and 2rd Infantry Regiments of the 3rd Brigade, were unable to receive the distress telegram sent by the town of Norton in time to track down this detachment of the Northern Union Army.

Pratt's garrison could only send signalmen to northern Kansas to find their own troops and inform them that the Union Army had arrived near the town of Norton.

Liang Shaoyu, who was in charge of immigration work in Pratt, moved from Denver to Pratt after the great victory of the Kearny Fort Group.

After receiving the distress telegram from Norton Town, Liang Shaoyu did not dare to be careless. He knew very well how important Pratt was.

If anything went wrong with Pratt, even if the main force of the Western Army on the front line was not defeated by the Northern Union Army on the battlefield, they would starve to death due to lack of food.

The troops responsible for garrisoning Platte City were the 101st Regiment of the 1st Brigade, known as the Mother City of the Western Army, which was previously the famous California Regiment.

Liang Yao's intention of leaving the most elite regiment in Pratt is self-evident.

In addition, there are two Guangxi regiments in the Pratt camp that have not yet been officially assigned numbers. Plus a regiment of marines brought by Sven a week ago. A total of four quasi-regular regiments are responsible for the security of the Pratt area.

Four regiments of regular troops may seem like a lot, but when spread across the entire Pratte area and the Kearny Fortress group, the force is stretched to the limit.

Fortunately, Liang Yao has been managing the Pratt area for five years. He has adopted militarized management of the Pratt area and established a relatively mature organizational mobilization system. Adult males in each village and community can serve as civilians in their spare time and as soldiers in wartime, which greatly reduces the pressure on regular troops.

Due to the special strategic location of the Pratt area, Pratt has even achieved telegraph access to every village, an innovation that even California, the most developed state in the West, has not yet achieved.

Liang Shaoyu telegraphed all villages and communities to remain vigilant, continue to stockpile supplies, dig trenches, and build fortifications in preparation for emergencies. Once any trace of the Northern Army was found, it was to be reported immediately without any mistakes. Violators would be severely punished.

Before Pratt's signalman found the Mexican militia brigade, Hawke, at the border of Kansas and Nebraska, found the town of Norton by following the movements of the Northern Union Army's reconnaissance cavalry and the billowing smoke from the town.

It was the early morning of the third day after the Northern Union Army withdrew from Norton when Hawke assembled the Mexican militia brigade and arrived at Norton.

The sun rose slowly from the east as usual, but this once peaceful and tranquil town had long since changed beyond all recognition. It had become deathly silent and lifeless.

The light from the morning sun could not dispel the burning sensation in the air.

The whole town had become a ruin, with wisps of smoke still rising from the ruins, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of burning wood and cloth.

The streets were covered with black ashes, and those once bustling shops, taverns, and blacksmith shops were now collapsed ruins.

The wooden pole that was once used to hang the sign is now just a charred stump, standing alone on the street corner.

The town's church originally stood in the central square, but now only the charred building frame remains. The bell tower has collapsed, and the bronze bell has fallen into the rubble, its surface covered with warm ashes.

The stone slabs on the street were blackened by the flames. The originally white walls of the houses were now blackened by smoke. The glass in the windows had long been shattered, and the remaining window frames were twisted and deformed, as if they had opened their mouths in pain, telling of the atrocities committed by the Northern Union Army four days ago.

"What a bunch of brutes those Yankees in the Maine Brigade are!"

After witnessing the "masterpiece" of the Northern Federal Army with his own eyes, Hawke's adjutant Zhang Zhaoyu didn't know what words to use to describe these inhumane beasts.

They could be so cruel to their compatriots of the same skin color as themselves. Zhang Zhaoyu didn't dare to think about what the consequences would be if these beasts were allowed to enter the core ruling area in the west.

On the other hand, Hawke, who was over 40 and had rich life experience, behaved rather calmly. He just asked the photographer accompanying the army to take pictures to record the atrocities of the Northern Army and accumulate materials for the war of public opinion.

Zhang Zhaoyu was a member of the first batch of Virginia Military Academy graduates trained by Liang Yao. After returning from his studies, he spent only four years in the army and rose from captain to colonel.

The five years he spent studying at the Virginia Military Institute were the most tense period between the North and the South. His classmates and instructors were mostly from the South, and as far as personal feelings were concerned, Zhang Zhaoyu was definitely more sympathetic to the South and disgusted with the North.

"Let's leave town. This is not a place for people." Hawke said, covering his mouth and nose.

The Yankees were very ruthless. The town was littered with slaughtered corpses. The bodies had not been processed at all and were completely exposed to the air.

It was mid-July, the hottest season in Kansas. The corpse was decaying quickly, and the smell was so foul that it was unbearable.

On the way out of the town, the soldier in charge of searching the town told Hawke that the Yankees had thrown corpses into all the wells in the town before withdrawing, and the water sources had been completely contaminated.

The soldiers who had just returned from the flour mill also brought bad news. They did not find even a bag of extra flour in the flour mill. All the flour in the flour mill was looted by the Northern Army, and even the machines were blown up.

Hawke then asked if any survivors were found?

The survivors in Horton had direct contact with the federal army, and we should be able to get some useful information from them.

The soldiers shook their heads, indicating that they had not found a single survivor so far.

Hawke was very unhappy and ordered another search. He didn't believe that there would be no one alive in a town of more than a thousand people.

Walking out of the town, the situation outside is better than inside the town. At least the air is not as polluted as inside the town.

Zhang Zhaoyu found a suitable place outside the town for the soldiers to set up camp. Zhang Zhaoyu was a professional who participated in the Second Mexican-American War. In terms of marching and fighting, he was much more professional than William Hawke, whose main job was the Governor of Western Mexico.

As the commander of the militia brigade, Hawke holds the rank of brigadier general, but the rank of brigadier general in the Western Army is mostly an honorary title of a consolation nature. At this stage, those who hold the rank of brigadier general in the Western Army are basically provincial governors and central government officials of the Republic, with strong political backgrounds but weak military backgrounds.

For example, Connie from the Jinshan Militia Brigade, Sutter from the Sacramento Militia Brigade, Stanford from the Utah Militia Brigade, Zeng Jinsong from the Oregon Militia Brigade, Strauss from the Liangzhou Militia Brigade, etc.

The purpose of these people coming to the front line is similar to Hawke's. They basically come to gild their resumes, show their faces in front of Liang Yao, and show their loyalty, so as to lay a solid foundation for future progress.

The orderly cleared a clean space and spread a straw mat. Hawke, who had been thirsty for a long time, sat down on the mat, opened a bottle of fruit wine, and invited Zhang Zhaoyu to drink with him.

It's not that Hawke is addicted to alcohol, but the Prairie Dog River outside the town has been polluted by the corpses thrown by the Northern Union Army. If you want to get clean water, you have to go further and get water from the unpolluted upstream. Drinking water is not as convenient as drinking alcohol directly.

Liang Yao arranged Zhang Zhaoyu to be Hawke's adjutant in order to strengthen his control over the Mexican militia brigade. However, Hawke did not dislike this young man who was only 26 years old. Instead, the two got along very well.

Hawke is a person with a relatively clear self-awareness. He knows that what Liang Yao hates most is the appearance of another person like him under his command, who likes to keep the military power firmly in his hands.

He also knew his position in the power structure of the American Republic.

The racial policy implemented by Liang Yao was relatively tolerant, and he himself treated the Chinese, Native Americans, Yankees, Dixies, and Mexicans equally.

But this does not mean that the status of all white representatives is equal. Different white representatives are divided into different levels in the power system constructed by Liang Yao and occupy different ecological niches.

The first category is the white allies, subordinates and partners who followed Liang Yao and made outstanding contributions during the founding of California, such as Fremont, Sutter, Robinson, Gwen, Strauss, Coney and others.

This class of white people have basically married into Liang Yao's family or Chinese noble families such as Wu and Pan, and this class of white people is in the core ruling class in the West.

The second category is white people who are far away from politics but shine in other fields and are still trusted by Liang Yao. These people may not have a high political status, but their social status and reputation are not necessarily inferior to those of the first category of white people.

Among the representatives were Walter, Noble, Martin, Garrett, chairman of the Atlantic Railroad Company who was active in the political and business circles of the East, and Jones, head of the eastern region of Bank of America.

The third category was those who, on the eve of the Civil War, did not want to take sides between the North and the South and joined the white political families in the West, such as the Corwin family, a political family in Ohio.

The fourth category is white people who have been serving Liang Yao since the gold rush period, but due to their corrupt moral character and other stains, they find it difficult to gain Liang Yao's absolute trust.

The representatives of this class are Hawke himself and Stanford.

The fifth category is the Mexican nobles who incorporated the territory during the Second Mexican-American War.

The thing Hawke regretted most in his life and the thing he could not let go of the most was that when the Boston Company was frustrated in the gold rush and in the most difficult time, he stole the company's gold and joined Brandon's robbery team. This was the biggest stain on him.

Hawke's other gold-mining partner, Martin, left the Boston Company almost at the same time as him and went to Gold Lake in Nevada to pan for gold.

The difference is that Martin left with dignity and did not take any company property. Therefore, although there were rumors later that Martin was able to survive the severe winter in Nevada because he ate the corpses of his companions.

But these groundless and difficult to verify rumors did not affect Liang Yao's trust in him.

This time Liang Yao gave him the opportunity to contain and find the Union Army's detachment in North Kansas. Hawke was grateful. He was eager to prove himself, wash away the shame of the past, and carve out a place for himself with an open mind.

Mexicans are not a very high-quality source of soldiers. Although many of the militiamen in the Mexican Militia Brigade are carefully selected from the former Mexican government army, they can hardly be called a powerful force.

If there were no Chinese officers transferred from the regular army, it would have been difficult to lead the Mexican militia brigade from Pratt to Norton intact relying only on those unsightly Mexican officers.

"General Hawke, based on the clues left by those Yankees, the number of federal troops who massacred and looted the town of Horton would be no less than five thousand. They not only had a large number of cavalry, but also carried heavy artillery." Zhang Zhaoyu said after taking a sip of fruit wine to moisten his throat.

"It is difficult for our militia brigade to deal with such a large Yankee army. We should inform the friendly forces of the 103nd and 2rd Regiments of the 3rd Brigade of this news as soon as possible and ask them for support."

Based on the situation in Norton Town and the traces left by the Northern Army nearby, Zhang Zhaoyu had a clearer understanding of the Northern Army's detachment that they were about to face.

The number of more than 5,000 people was very different from the enemy information provided to them by the Intelligence Bureau and scouts. Zhang Zhaoyu had a very bad feeling.

They were able to deceive their scouts and intelligence networks and appear at the border of Kansas and Nebraska in an organized manner with heavy artillery.

This Northern Army detachment was not simply cruel. Cruelty and inhumanity were just one aspect of this army.

But apart from the Maine Brigade provided by the intelligence, which other volunteer brigade would appear here in the Union Army's combat sequence?

Zhang Zhaoyu sat cross-legged on a straw mat. He put down his wine glass, took out his notebook, and compared the federal army unit numbers recorded in the notebook one by one.

But after comparing from beginning to end, Zhang Zhaoyu still didn't find anything.

(End of this chapter)