Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 696 Crossing the River
(PS: My memory of the previous text was incorrect; it should be the Missouri River.)
Jaji acted swiftly, summoning all the tribal chiefs in just three days. During this time, he also deployed the main force of the Northern Province's 3rd Division to the Missouri River, preparing for a potential crossing. The tribal chiefs unanimously agreed to the joint defense agreement, and after its signing, Jaji declared NATO formally established.

The historical emphasis on having a legitimate reason for launching a military campaign is not just empty talk. Having a reason for sending troops that can be explained to the world is extremely important.

This reason wasn't meant for the enemy, but for our own people. Having a pretext for military action from a moral high ground boosts morale.

Morale is something invisible and intangible, but it really does affect the course of a war.

The natives who joined the alliance each brought their own armies, forming a native coalition of about 10,000 men.

Jia Zhi was initially unwilling to use the native army, but since they volunteered to fight and asked to be the vanguard, he had no choice but to agree to avoid hurting feelings.

The fact that the various units were not under each other's command meant that Jia Zhi had to spend time organizing them into three musketeer brigades and sending officers to assist in command.

This resulted in a delay of ten days. Because of the addition of the native army, Jia Zhi took the opportunity to change the crossing point, intending to teach the native army a lesson.

Therefore, the event was postponed for another five days, and the date has now reached the first day of the twelfth lunar month.

The crossing point was deliberately chosen at a point where the river runs north-south, and on the other side is a small town inhabited by Americans.

Upon discovering that an indigenous army had arrived on the opposite bank, the local militia sprang into action, with thousands of militiamen constructing positions along the riverbank in preparation for a fierce counterattack.

Native soldiers dressed in yellow cotton-padded coats camped by the roadside, watching with complex expressions the marching Donghua Kingdom regular army, clad in khaki woolen overcoats. Six horses pulled one cannon, and there were twenty-four cannons in total, making the column incredibly long. The natives didn't know how many soldiers there were, but they felt these Donghua soldiers were truly different.

Every native knew perfectly well what the Donghua Kingdom had brought to the indigenous people. Everything about them—clothing, food, housing, and transportation—had changed for the better.

Before the arrival of the Donghua people, it was common for indigenous soldiers to wear animal skins; now they wear thick cotton clothing and shoes. The diet has also changed drastically, with various cooking methods and seasonings, completely transforming the indigenous lifestyle. The biggest change, however, is in their lifestyle itself. The nomadic lifestyle has ended, and the indigenous people have to learn to farm. Not all the indigenous people have accepted these changes; many chose to leave, and many tribes have disappeared as a result.

Everyone desires a higher standard of living, and the indigenous people are no exception, hence their complex feelings. They were once the masters of this land, but not anymore. The land occupied by the East Asians is growing ever larger, leaving the indigenous people caught between the East Asians and the white devils.

Those indigenous people who submitted early are now almost unrecognizable, completely scattered and assimilated into the Donghua people. As indigenous people who joined later, they had to take up arms and fight alongside the Donghua people to fight for a piece of arable land on the other side of the river.

Because the railway did not reach this area, the Third Division had to march on foot for five days after disembarking to reach the west bank of the river.

Jia Quan followed the army because he wanted to see the fighting capabilities of the American troops firsthand. He was destined to be disappointed; the busy enemy soldiers in his binoculars were all local militia.

Due to frequent incidents involving the indigenous people, the preparations for the battle were not smooth, and all preparations for the attack were not completed until the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month.

Meanwhile, the high command in the small town across the river also spotted the Donghua army, especially their artillery. In response, one of the leaders of this small town called Bismarck, the local priest Lyndon Earl, decided to cross the river alone to negotiate. The native soldiers captured Priest Lyndon, intending to kill him, but were stopped by soldiers of the 3rd Division, who then took him to the temporary command post.

Here, Reverend Lyndon met two young officers who were sitting in makeshift chairs, leaning against a crudely made table, smoking cigarettes and smiling at him.

After making the sign of the cross, Lyndon stepped forward to negotiate. To Lyndon's surprise, both young officers understood English, and the translator he brought was of little use.

An officer named Jia Zhi handed over a document, which contained a joint defense agreement reached between the Northern Province of Donghua Kingdom and various indigenous tribes within its territory.

After reading the agreement, Reverend Lyndon felt like the sky had fallen. His first instinct was to ask, "How is this possible?"

Jia Zhi politely retorted, "Why not? In our eyes, they are exactly the same people as us, living on this continent. To avoid conflict, we, who love peace, decided to sign a peace treaty with them. Isn't that a perfectly normal thing?"

Pastor Lyndon couldn't even find a reason to criticize; he'd probably never seen such hypocrisy before. Everyone's here to colonize and seize territory, so why pretend to be so noble?

Even cultured pastors knew that the immigrants to Donghua Kingdom came from the Zhou Empire across the ocean, a true pinnacle of world civilization. The Zhou Empire, which had always been content to remain on the East Asian continent, had only begun colonizing North America for twenty years. Now it seemed their methods of colonization were far more lenient.

"Our country has signed a friendly agreement with the Zhou Empire. As a branch of the Zhou Empire, why has your country taken aggressive actions against our country?" Reverend Lyndon still found a way to get in.

Jia Zhi completely ignored this question and simply bypassed it: "Donghua Kingdom is only nominally part of the Zhou Empire. This is the fiefdom of the younger brother of His Majesty the Emperor of the Zhou Empire. Donghua Kingdom respects the treaty. Since you have launched an attack on the natives and driven them from the east bank of the Missouri River to the west bank, as allies, we have an obligation to help them fight back."

Reverend Lyndon became agitated: "The natives settled downstream without notifying us, which is why they were driven out."

Jia Quan was so angry that he laughed. He said calmly, "Before the Mayflower came to America, the natives had existed on this land for thousands of years or even longer. You are the foreign invaders."

Lyndon retorted angrily, "Aren't you invaders too?"

Jia Zhi smiled and replied, "Sorry, we are really not invaders. Every inch of land we acquired was obtained through trade with the natives."

"Fuck!" Lyndon was speechless. He wanted to say that these infidels, these barbaric, backward natives, weren't human. But he didn't dare, because the Donghua people opposite him were not easy to bully.

Jia Zhi wasn't angry at all. Instead, she said calmly, "Go back and tell your people that good and evil will be rewarded in the end. You can invade the natives and drive them away, so you should be prepared for the same fate."

Lyndon tried to speak again, but was chased away by the soldiers. With a heavy heart, Lyndon returned to the other side of the river and relayed the details to the mayor. The mayor, judge, sheriff, and others decided to keep the news under wraps and fight to the end.

Reverend Lyndon did not stay behind to fight, but instead took on the important task of delivering the news to Minneapolis. In doing so, he also took dozens of children with him.

Before the battle, the officers sent by the Donghua Army kept lecturing the natives about discipline and demanding that they obey. The native soldiers were very dissatisfied, but they all kept quiet.

Every native who manages to stay here is repeatedly taught the same principle: do not try to violate the laws of the Donghua people, or they will turn against you.

Fortunately, this is just one battle, and the Donghua people will leave after it's over. The tribal leaders repeatedly urged everyone to be patient and get through this period.

The Donghua side rarely raised any issues with the indigenous people; they only made three demands: prohibiting the possession of spoils of war (all spoils must be handed over and distributed uniformly), prohibiting the rape of women, and prohibiting the torture and killing of prisoners of war.

The Donghua officers knew the natives were resentful of discipline, but they patiently reasoned with them. Whether the natives accepted the reasoning was irrelevant; the rule against violation was absolute. Frankly, the natives respected the Donghua people in these matters, given that many tribes had fought against them. Even when defeated and taken prisoner, the Donghua didn't kill the prisoners; at most, they were forced to mine for a year or two before being released and paid. Many prisoners returned as completely different people, unable to stay in the native tribes, and eventually returned to the Donghua.

In short, it was terrifying. Fighting the Donghua people was terrifying, being captured as a prisoner was even more terrifying, and being in contact with them for a long time would unconsciously influence all your habits, which was even more terrifying.

"One minute of shelling!" Donghua is unable to produce new types of shells, and transporting them to this location is not easy, so every shell is precious, and Jia Zhizhen is reluctant to bombard it indiscriminately.

Even though it was already quite deep, once the shelling began, the American militiamen on the other side of the river were plunged into a doomsday scenario.

Many people have witnessed shells exploding upon landing, and those who are unlucky enough to hide in trenches may be killed or injured by the explosion.

This was the first time they had encountered such a situation. Militiamen kept jumping out of the trenches, trying to escape with all their might. Most of them were killed or wounded in the process.

As the shelling began, engineers started erecting a pontoon bridge across the river. Some native soldiers helped move logs and drive in piles.

It took about three hours to build the pontoon bridge, during which the artillery would bombard it for one minute every half hour.

As the pontoon bridge approached the other side, Jia Zhi ordered a five-minute artillery barrage. Under the continuous bombardment, no matter how much the officers on the other side tried to boost morale, the militiamen mostly fled.

After all, these people are afraid of death; they are even more worried about what will happen to their families if they die. This is clearly a battle with no hope in sight.

Along the pontoon bridge, the natives, who had been itching to get going, rushed forward. They charged toward the enemy positions with bayonets at their hands. Sporadic gunfire rang out from behind the fortifications, and natives were constantly being hit and falling to the ground.

The charging natives were in a disorganized but courageous formation, charging forward without any strategy. In this situation, the artillery had little room to maneuver.

As the commander-in-chief, Jia Zhi had no choice but to let the natives rush forward first.

The natives overwhelmed the positions near the riverbank like a tidal wave, killing the militia who continued to resist. Without any prior notice or command, the natives spontaneously charged towards the town.

At this point, the vanguard regiment of the Third Division began to cross the river.

"Pass down the order that all units should not rush forward. After crossing the river, the vanguard should deploy on the spot to prevent the natives from being repelled and then impacting our formation."

Jia Zhi's worries were not unfounded. That's how the natives fight, especially in siege battles. They charge forward in huge numbers and then retreat like a tide.

After crossing the river, the advance regiment did not rush forward, but instead took the time to set up defenses and cover the subsequent troops to continue crossing the river.

The battle against the natives lasted about two hours, and only two regiments of the Third Division completed the crossing of the river, while the second pontoon bridge had just been built.

The sight of the screaming natives rushing densely into the city was still quite frightening.

But how could this situation frighten the city's militia? They found their familiar rhythm: artillery at a distance, and shotgun shells and volleys at close range.

So, did the indigenous people make no progress at all? That's nonsense. They did make progress, but in this particular situation, they were blinded by rage. The underlying reason was that they didn't want to be looked down upon by the East Chinese.

Although the city had very few artillery pieces, only eight small-caliber muzzle-loading guns, they were still a terrifying weapon for the natives.

After the shotgun blasts felled swarms of native soldiers, they calmed down, began to seek cover, and spread out to advance.

Many more continued to charge forward, falling to volleys of gunfire and artillery shells.

As the leaders of the various indigenous tribes successively called for a halt, the natives slowly retreated, ending the siege.

Jia Quan put down his binoculars and asked softly, "Didn't you teach the natives how to fight?"

Jia Zhi said calmly, "Whether or not to teach depends on the target group. These indigenous tribes have all chosen autonomy, and we are already doing our utmost by giving them smoothbore guns or exchanging them."

Jia Quan was indeed a little reluctant, because punishing someone without teaching them was not a good reputation. Considering that it wouldn't be easy to win over the natives completely, Jia Quan didn't waste any more words.

After all, they're all adults; they've walked their own paths. If the indigenous tribes had chosen to submit, this situation probably wouldn't have happened, and they wouldn't be on the battlefield.

The battlefield is at least 2,000 kilometers away from Kaiyuan City. North America is indeed very large, especially the northern region, which spans more than 4,000 kilometers.

Judging from the current situation, Donghua seems to be aiming to divide North America with the United States, occupying half of the territory on each side. As of now, Donghua does not possess the strength to destroy the other side.

Americans today are quite different; they are truly hardworking and resilient, reaching a peak of perseverance. The entire nation is also in an era of high spirits and progress.

However, one thing the United States has never changed is that as long as internal conflicts are intense, it will always launch external wars to divert attention from those conflicts.

These are all path dependencies.

With the completion of the second and third pontoon bridges, the main force, supply train, and artillery of the Third Division began crossing the river.

Before nightfall, the crossing of the river was completed. During this time, the various units of the Third Division ignored the defeated natives. Jia Zhi refused to meet with the native chiefs, citing his busy schedule.

After settling in for the night, Jia Zhi met with the tribal chiefs and said only one thing: "Tomorrow you all stay put and watch how we fight!"

(End of this chapter)