Wild North America 1846

Chapter 264

In December, the sky on the Colorado Plateau is high and cloudy, the sun is shining brightly, and the lowest temperature at night is still above 12 degrees Celsius.

Look into the distance

You can see the endless snow-capped mountains, the howling wind in winter passing by the villages and fields, and the withered and yellow leaves sprinkled on the roads, creating a cold and bleak scene.

The towering Phoenix Castle has been reinforced and upgraded in the later stage. The city walls generally reach 8 meters high. The towering minarets around the fortress echo the main tower in the middle of the fortress, which is very European style.

Phoenix Fortress is located at the confluence of the south east bank of the South Peret River and Cherry Creek, occupying a huge Sancha river bend, consisting of two tall military bastions and a long and tall city wall between them.

A military bastion is called "Fort Denver", and the other is called "Fort Cherry" on the edge of Cherry Creek. Large barracks, the pillar of defense facing the east.

There are moats, ditches and parapets on the periphery of Phoenix Fortress, all of which are made of solid rock or reinforced concrete. They are permanent fortress buildings with strong defense.

After the end of the US-Tang War in 1849, the Phoenix Fortress, as the primary defense facility against US aggression on the Colorado Plateau, has undergone continuous repairs, reinforcements and heightening over the years, and many small and medium-sized military facilities have been added around the fortress.

Extending eastward from the Phoenix Castle, more than 20 kilometers away is the Red Rock Valley Fortress, with continuous mountains on one side and a large desolate area transitioning from the desert to the Gobi Desert on the other, reaching the green Nanperet River all the way along the coast.

Along the side of the road leading to the Red Rock Valley Fortress, the military built large and small bunkers, separated by deep trenches and parapets outside, and set up multiple layers of barbed wire to prevent crossing.

Actually

The Phoenix Fortress and the Red Rock Valley Fortress have been combined into a super-large permanent comprehensive defense line, blocking any military threats from the east.

Even if this fortress is breached by the U.S. military, there are still two lines of defense behind it, one is a river defense line based on three wide rivers, and the other is a permanent fortification based on the Taoyuan Mountain Pass Fortress.

If the U.S. military wants to break through these three solid lines of defense without paying the price of heavy casualties of more than 10 people, the possibility is very slim.

It is the slack season after winter, and the bustling streets of Taoyuan City are crowded with people. The city's famous "Ginseng Stewed Pigeon Soup" is fragrant and tempting.

Whether it is men, women or children, a bowl of "Ginseng Stewed Pigeon Soup" is nutritious and warms the stomach. Served with bread and side dishes, it is a nutritious breakfast, which is well-known in the region.

The northern provinces were originally plagued by "North American passenger pigeons", with as many as billions of them. Once they took off, they would be overwhelming like dark clouds. This big battle was extremely alarming.

But after the Chinese migrated here, it was really a mouse that fell into the rice bowl ~ very happy, and developed a variety of ways to eat this delicious poultry, which greatly curbed the number of "North American Passenger Pigeon" and reduced Harm crops.

Not long
The smart Chinese figured out the best way to catch "North American passenger pigeons" on a large scale, which is to get off the net.

Set traps during the day and use lights to lure them at night, luring a surprising number of "passenger pigeons" into the trap.

Often in a day's work, farmers can catch a wagon of "North American Passenger Pigeon" and send it to a restaurant. They are slaughtered and stewed now, and the taste is extremely delicious.

But "North American Passenger Pigeons" are not worth much. There are at least seven or eight hundred pigeons in a carriage, and it costs 10 yuan to deliver them to the hotel. Basically, if the number is not enough, you can only get seven or eight yuan.

Fortunately, there are enough of these things, and the income is good. Many quick-thinking Chinese farmers on the Colorado plateau have started the business of "planting wheat to attract passenger pigeons, setting up nets to catch them, and selling them in the city with enough horse-drawn carts".

Not to mention, doing it for a few months every year can earn thousands of yuan, which is more profitable than farming and selling grain.

To say that North America is really a good place, there is no shortage of antler American ginseng. In the rolling mountains and hills in the north, North American wild ginseng can be easily found. Sika antler is rare, but red deer antler is so abundant.

Therefore, wild deer antler, deer blood, deer penis, deer tendon, deer skin, and venison are all very cheap. As long as you are not afraid of nosebleeds, you can add whatever you want to the restaurant, all for three cents a bowl.

After a breakfast, even pigeon soup, side dishes and bread only cost 5 cents. This price is almost purely labor costs. Whether it is pigeons, velvet antlers or wild ginseng, it is almost free. Really cheap and delicious.

In today's Taoyuan City and surrounding Fenghuang City and its towns and cities with a population of nearly one million, people have developed the habit of drinking pigeon soup in the morning. Children and young people who do not need tonic drink "clear pigeon soup" with flatbread or bread. People with a strong taste eat "spicy pigeon stew" or "five-spice stewed pigeon meat", which really makes the face sweat and cheer up.

At noon and evening, all kinds of game restaurants with "North American Passenger Pigeon", "North American Moose", "Red Deer", "Bison" and "Brown Bear" are particularly popular. Various methods of frying, frying and cooking are available, and the price is sufficient. It is not expensive, and it is the favorite of people at the bottom of society.

Over the years

The flood of "North American Passenger Pigeon" has been greatly curbed, and it is much more difficult to catch than before. The price of nourishing pigeon soup has also quietly increased, from three cents to five cents.

after every winter
The men on the Colorado plateau began to call for friends, take hunting dogs, and go hunting every three to five times. Their main hunting targets were wild wolves, black and brown bears, bison, North American moose and beavers, and turned a blind eye to flocks of passenger pigeons. .

This is because the "Passenger Pigeon" is of such low value that it is not worth wasting bullets.

But no matter any hunter, he must shoot and kill wild wolves when he encounters them. This is the most hated wild animal by manor and ranchers in the Colorado plateau and northern provinces, and he must kill it quickly.

Generally, after shooting wild wolves, most of them are discarded. A very small number of people will spend time peeling off the wolf skin and tanning it to make hunting leather clothing for hunting in the mountains in winter, which is warm and wear-resistant.

The most valuable wild animal is the brown bear. The brown bear paws before winter are big, thick, and extremely fat. One can be sold for 5 yuan on the street, and 4 yuan for four. You can sell as many as you like.

The most valuable thing is bear bile. The freshly killed bear bile can be sold for 70-100 yuan depending on the size and color after processing. There are special local product stores to buy it.

This thing can be used as medicine, and it can also be exported to the Eastern Shenzhou Continent, so it is very popular.

Comparison
Smaller black bear bile and bear paws are much cheaper, generally less than half of brown bears, and the best black bear bile does not exceed 50 yuan.

Over the past 10 years since the development of the Colorado Plateau, the population of the entire province of Colorado has grown to more than 96. The vast plateau is full of towns, ditches, and thousands of large and small estates, farms and ranches, and more than [-] towns. .

The large town has tens of thousands of people, while the small town has only three to four hundred people. The scale varies greatly.

Today's Colorado is the most populous and economically developed province among the twelve southern and northern provinces. It has the reputation of "the granary of the kingdom" and "the pearl of the plateau". It is famous for its rich grain and wine, delicious ham and cheese.

Due to the long development time, wild wolves have basically disappeared on the Colorado Plateau, and large herds of bison are rarely seen. Although North American brown bears and wild bears often come and go, the difficulty of hunting has also greatly increased.

In areas such as Helena in Montana, Great Falls, and Casper in Wyoming in the far north, due to the late migration of the Chinese population, the development is not sufficient, and the urban population is small, so you can often see Large swarms of wild animals invaded farms, and "passenger pigeons" ravaged crops overwhelmingly.

This kind of scene is rarely seen in the Colorado Plateau.

at the end of July this year
It was reported in Great Falls, Montana that a herd of bison with a population of about 1265 bison migrated chasing tender grass. The city organized 50 volunteer cavalry for hunting, killing about More than 1.3 bison were mobilized, and more than 2 people in the city were mobilized to produce 2600 tons of beef jerky, of which about 1500 tons went into the strategic reserve for low-temperature storage, and the rest was sold.

This income is also a lucrative income for Great Rapids City every year. The value of 1100 tons of beef jerky is nearly 300 million yuan, which is not a small income for a city with a population of only 4.7.

Every summer and autumn are hunting seasons in Great Rapids.

North American bison is full of treasures. Compared with other beef, bison has lower cholesterol, lower fat, and better taste. It is a rare delicacy.

Because of the long-term migration of North American bison, they live by water and grass, and their fat dissolves into the beef, showing the beautiful stripes and spots of snowflake beef. It is especially suitable for pan-fried steaks, and it is delicious with just a little salt and black pepper.

Great Falls is famous for its delicious beef offal soup. A large number of North American bison hunted every year are made into corned beef jerky and spiced beef jerky, or made into canned beef, which is exported to all over the world and the provinces of the kingdom. This is a very special local delicacy .

What to do with so many cows going into the water?
Smart and industrious Chinese immigrants will not throw away tens of thousands of cattle offal for nothing, so the beef louvers, beef brisket, beef lungs, beef liver, beef intestines, beef double strings, beef head meat and cowhide products produced here are very famous. In particular, beef offal soup is almost the favorite breakfast food of the residents of Great Falls, and it is a must to eat with steamed buns. This is also a typical example of relying on mountains to eat mountains.

In the military mobilization system of the Tang Kingdom, corned beef jerky was an essential food for the cavalry. It is not only small in size, high in calories, but also easy to carry and store. A certain amount enters the reserve every year.

Because Montana is located in the northernmost province with a high latitude and a cold climate, the lowest temperature is below 0 degrees for eight months a year, so the beef jerky made in summer is stored in an ice cellar, which is the best place.

Therefore, the province of Montana has always been responsible for the production and storage of beef jerky for the cavalry of the kingdom. The production and storage of beef jerky with high quality and quantity is a political task of the provincial government and must be completed without compromise.

Normally, a cavalry regiment of more than a thousand men would need to consume 15 tons of corned beef jerky in one month to carry out combat missions, which can keep the soldiers' physical strength and combat effectiveness, the most important military supplies.

The provinces of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming in the north are all important pastoral production areas in the kingdom. They mainly rely on grazing cattle and sheep and mining forests. The population is relatively small. Industry is underdeveloped.

The population of these provinces ranges from 10,000+ to more than 40. The most populous is South Dakota. The wheat planting industry here is very developed. It is a place rich in flour and one of the important grain producing areas.

South Dakota's wheat-growing areas are concentrated near the capital, Peel City. The population here accounts for more than 8% of the province's population. The surrounding towns of Peel City are densely populated, and it is close to the fertile black land of the Missouri River Basin. The natural conditions are very favorable.

It is well known that the black soil on the earth is very precious. It is a natural treasure soil for planting food crops. The humus layer is rich in nutrients. As long as the crops are planted, they will grow up. This is extremely precious in the era without chemical fertilizers. The guarantee of a good harvest.

There are only three large areas of black land in the world, and the largest one is the Central Plains of North America, with a total area of ​​121 million square kilometers.

The second piece is the Dnieper River Basin on the Ukrainian Plain, with a total area of ​​about 2 million square kilometers. It is called the "European granary" and is famous for its rich grain and fruits.

The third piece is the Northeast Plain of Huaxia Shenzhou, with a total area of ​​about one million square kilometers. The famous Northeast rice in China is produced here. Unfortunately, it is now regarded as the ancestral land by the Qing government, and the migration of Han people in the pass is strictly prohibited, and development is strictly prohibited.

The flames of the Guannei Uprising spread all over China, and the shortage of food has always been the biggest problem. The peasants who could not survive were starving everywhere, so they had to raise their flags to rebel and fight for a way to survive.

The best black land in the world lies in foreign countries, and it would be the biggest waste if it is not developed to beat roe deer and ladle fish.

The Central Great Plains of North America has the largest black land in the world, including about 1.07 million hectares in the territory of the United States, 0.04 million hectares in Canada, and 0.03 million hectares in the Datang Kingdom.

Areas such as Peel City and Omaha in the south are located within the range of 0.03 billion hectares of black soil. The black soil here is really sizzling and oily, and any crops can be harvested.

The area around Peel City is located in the extreme northwest of the black soil belt of the Central Great Plains of North America, just touching a narrow side of the Great Plains of North America, so it is not surprising that it is rich in wheat.

Really, what grows on the fertile black soil does not need fertilizer at all.

All in all, these are great places.

Li Cha took a special train all the way to inspect, stopped and stopped in various provinces, inspected defense and urban construction, cared about the local economic development and residents' lives, and often went into residents' families to ask about their health and listen to the most real thoughts of the public.

free time
I will also lead the cavalry guards to hunt on the plains, and relive the happy mood of leading a large cavalry to gallop thousands of miles down the Colorado Plateau for the second time, and feel suddenly enlightened.

The seventh day of the first month of 1847

King Richard arrived at the last stop of his inspection - Fort Omaha.

The reason why Fort Omaha was put at the end of the inspection was that Richard considered that it was a severe winter and the Missouri River was in the period of drying up the upstream water, so he could see the most real situation in the border area.

The Missouri River is a well-known large river in North America, with a length of more than 3600 kilometers. It is a seasonal river with great changes in water volume.

其最小流量120立方米/秒（4，200立方呎/秒），最大流量25500立方米/秒（90万立方呎/秒），相差210多倍。

Standing on the bank of the river on one side of Fort Omaha, even Richard's sharp eyes could not see the other end of the river bank. According to the person accompanying him, during the wet season, there is a vast ocean in front of him, and the river is 8-9 kilometers wide.

In today's dry season, a large area of ​​the riverbank is exposed, and the wild and unruly Missouri River has become an ordinary river meandering to the distance. The width of the river is about 60 meters, and the flow is calm and slow.

Li Cha has rich experience in swimming across rivers on horseback, and he knows that crossing such a river can be safely crossed in less than 10 minutes with proper organization.

Of course, since the weather is quite cold, you must light a fire to keep warm immediately after crossing the river, put on dry clothes, drink a large bowl of hot ginger tea to keep the cold out, and put a blanket on your soaked horse to keep warm. Things will be busy for most of the day.

After crossing the river on horseback, the most taboo thing is to ride the horse and run wildly.

In that way, not only war horses are prone to get sick, but also people can’t bear it. After a few minutes, their complexion will be frozen and pale, their upper and lower teeth will tremble uncontrollably, and they can’t even hold the horse’s reins.

"How about organizing militia training and patrols in winter?" Looking at the situation in front of him, Li Cha asked with a frown.

The current Commander of Fort Omaha is Major General Tian Mantun, who has only been in his new position for more than four months. However, as a senior commander, he has a sense of responsibility and mission, and he has already grasped the situation in the fort's defense zone very clearly, so the answer is straightforward. .

"Return to Your Majesty;

Omaha and its surrounding towns have a population of 13.3, with a total of 3.85 young men of the right age, 3.54 militia and reserve personnel, and more than 6600 troops under the Fort Garrison Command, with an available force of 4.2.

Since taking up his duties, Wei Chen has thoroughly inspected weapons and equipment and organized militia training. At present, the army and militia are fully equipped with weapons and equipment, and the supplies including tents and food are in good condition, which can support three and a half months of high-intensity fighting.

Since the beginning of winter
Without affecting normal social life and economic development, our ministry organizes rotation training for militia and reservists. The standard is that each person spends no less than three weeks.

To date
A total of 4 militiamen and reservists have participated in four rounds of rotation training. It is expected that there will be two more rounds of rotation training, which will be completed by the end of February.

During the rotation training period, all militiamen and reservists are equipped with two guns, one long and one short, and a short knife in accordance with actual combat requirements. They participate in guard patrols along the river bank and cavalry patrols in the jurisdiction, organize offensive and defensive drills, and organize long-distance raids for two days and one night. , organize shooting and marching subjects, and implement them in strict accordance with the training outline.

Due to the large number of pastures in this area, more than 2/3 of the militia and reservists are cavalry when they bring their own horses and guns. Therefore, the consumption of food and grass is relatively large, and the stock can only last for one and a half months.

Regarding the shortage of logistics materials, Weichen has sent three telegrams to the Army Staff Headquarters, imploring Shangfeng to strengthen the allocation of fine materials including black beans, so as to keep the horses from losing weight, which is the guarantee of the combat effectiveness of the cavalry.

According to the call back from Shangfeng, a special train will arrive this week, bringing in the corresponding supplies and equipment that the fortress urgently needs to make up for the shortage. "

"Um……"

Li Cha replied without comment, and looked at the other side of the river with his deep eyes, wondering what he was thinking.

(End of this chapter)