Wild North America 1846

Chapter 153 Construction
After inspecting the defense system of "Red Rock Valley", Li Cha led a group of people to inspect the defense system between Phoenix Castle (Denver) and Taoyuan City the next morning, a total length of more than 50 kilometers.

to prepare for war
The forests about seven or eight kilometers around Phoenix Castle (Denver) have all been cut down. Within a radius of 20 kilometers, no farms or plantations have been developed, and all are original grassland pastures.

The wide South Peret River flows through the pristine grasslands and forests here, and its tributaries stretch out criss-cross, without bridges or roads.

The only road is the wide avenue from Phoenix Castle to Taoyuan City. This road is close to Cherry Creek. More than a dozen bridges have been built along the 50-kilometer road.

The defense system is built on bridges. There are three military bastions in total, all of which are located on the side of the river where the river is wider and the current is faster. They mainly control the bridges.

Extending from Phoenix Castle all the way to the southwest, the three military bastions are Dasuo Fort, Ersuo Fort and Sansuo Fort. From Sansuo Fort along the wide road, continue to the southwest for more than ten kilometers, which is Taoyuan Railway Station Fortress, continue along the road for 4 to 5 kilometers and you will arrive at Taniguchi Fortress (Indian Valley) in Taoyuan City.

Adhering to the policy of layer-by-layer defense, the Tang Kingdom worked together to set up a complete defense system for the Colorado Plateau. The secrecy was done quite well, the cost was low, and the defense was high. It was bound to be a big headache for the US military.

Standing on the high fortress of the Great Bastion, Li Cha overlooked the Great Bastion Bridge spanning tens of meters of rivers, and had a panoramic view of all the scenes.

城堡顶端的炮台上架设着6门20磅火炮，12门九磅火炮，宽阔的射界基本上将方圆2~3公里全部涵盖在内。

The shooting port on the second floor of the fortress is equipped with 12 tripod-style storm heavy machine guns, which can completely block the bridge with fierce firepower and make the attack on the US military pay a heavy price.

The scope of the Great Bastion Fortress is not large, and it can support more than 800 defenders to fight. With the parapet and barbed wire outside the military fortress, the defense is not weak at all.

This is the wisdom of teamwork, Li Cha has nothing to guide, but he came up with a bad idea, said;
"Everyone, wooden brackets can be placed at the bottom of the stone bridge to store a large amount of black powder. If necessary, the bridge will be blown up to prevent the US military from attacking."

When Li Cha said this, he swiped his hand to include the area around the bridge and the Great Bastion Fortress, and continued with a serious expression;

"Imagine that!

When the U.S. military paid a heavy price, densely packed soldiers broke through the fire defense line of the bridge, broke through the barbed wire and the parapet defense line and rushed in, and the Great Bastion Fortress was facing the crisis of falling from the enemy.

At this moment

With a "bang", the violent explosion broke the entire bridge, and gravel was scattered everywhere.

After the gunpowder smoke passes, the US military commander will find that the US soldiers passing through the stone bridge have been blocked on the other side of the river bank, out of reach.

Soldiers from the Tang Kingdom coming from the rear continued to arrive, forming an anti-siege on the American soldiers crossing the river..."

Li Cha made a gesture of making dumplings, and his tone revealed an invisible and cruel meaning; "With the fire support of the Great Bastion Fortress, we can easily achieve a plan to wipe out the enemy army. At that time, I really want to see the US military Commander's wonderful face, what should it look like?"

After hearing this, everyone gasped in a breath of air-conditioning, feeling a chill down their backs.

This trick is really a trick!
Thinking about it, everyone became excited again. Once this "extreme trick" is implemented, it will definitely leave a deep shadow in the hearts of US military commanders, and it will be of great benefit to defensive operations.

Once the U.S. military breaks through the Great Bastion Fortress, there will be endless irrigated farmland and plantations on the Colorado Plateau ahead. If they suffer the baptism of war, these hard-working farmlands will be destroyed.

It might be a good thing to be able to block the advance of the US military here.

It's the end of March when spring blossoms
The clear river is gurgling, and the green seedlings in the farmland can't be seen at a glance. After a distance, you can see the "Tun Village" surrounded by dozens of hundreds of horse-drawn carriages. There must be a large number of land nests near the Tun Village. It is the winter residence for Chinese military and civilian families who reclaimed farmland.

Most of the babies who fell to the ground last winter and this spring were born in the ground nest.

Because of the need for war preparations, no cottages were allowed on the Colorado Plateau, and most of the "villages" were movable carriages and caravans.

If the U.S. forces attack, they can retreat into Taoyuan City to avoid the flames of war.

Therefore, in order to survive the harsh winter on the Colorado Plateau, the soldiers who were short on cash often used the method of "digging a nest" to deal with it and live first.

The conditions in the early stage of starting a business are difficult, which is a very common thing.

It’s different now. At the beginning of the year, the soldiers who followed His Majesty to participate in the second battle on the northern front, almost everyone made a lot of money. These Chinese soldiers are very honest. The first thing they do when they come back without prostitution or gambling is to buy a house and land.

Massive capital injections have led to the rise of large areas of newly-built housing in Taoyuan City. More streets, residential areas, and villa areas have sprung up, and most of them are large-scale townhouses.

Housing prices in Taoyuan City have also risen accordingly. A four-bedroom apartment that originally cost US$1800 has now risen to US$4-2400, which is still in short supply.

The more popular ones are 6-bedroom and 7-bedroom townhouses, with separate front yards and backyards, where carriages can be parked in the front yard, horses can be raised in the back yard, and many wives and concubines can live in the family.

As the army returned one after another, the real estate market in Taoyuan City became more and more heated.

Statistics up to the end of March;
Not counting the houses that have been delivered, there are as many as 1.17 new orders that have not yet been completed. Among the total of more than 3.8 white convicts, 3.1 are in Taoyuan City, investing in the increasingly prosperous real estate construction projects.

The remaining 7000 people are in Fenghuang City, engaged in the laying of municipal sewage pipe network, road and bridge construction, housing construction and other work. These engineering technical requirements are slightly higher, and the white convicts can complete them better.

The native Indian convicts can only do some clumsy men, such as iron mines, coal mines, quarries, etc. The labor is boring, high-intensity, and the general environment is even worse.

When it comes to mines, we have to mention a major resource discovery, the Molench Copper Mine located in the eastern part of the Arizona region, about 77 kilometers southwest of Gallup Township.

Once discovered, it caused great repercussions. This is the largest copper mine in North America, and its resource reserves are extremely amazing.

Since the discovery in the middle of last year

Datang Kingdom ordered several sets of mine steam equipment from Europe, which have already arrived at the Morenz Copper Mine, and the railway line entering the mine has also been laid, requiring a large amount of labor to carry out excavation and mining operations.

Therefore, since the second half of last year, all the captured Indian convicts have been sent to the Morenz copper mine, including the Colorado Plateau, and there are very few Indian convicts outside.

Richard attaches great importance to the Morenzi Copper Mine, and its construction priority is second only to the Pacific Railway, ranking second. It is expected that after it is put into operation, it will become one of the pillar industries of the Datang Kingdom.

(End of this chapter)