Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 740 I'm not leaving this time.

During the last war, the Southern Army of the Eastern Nation blocked the mouth of the Mississippi River and occupied Little Rock. With its north-south transportation via the river, it posed a great threat to the southern states.

After careful preparation, the Southern Army launched a surprise attack on Baton Rouge, a small town at the port of Baton Rouge, using a stealth tactic.

The Southern army had many Mexicans and indigenous soldiers, resulting in a mixed quality of soldiers and a motley collection of equipment. The defense of this area was handled by a group of indigenous soldiers who, being on holiday, had all drunk themselves into a stupor the previous night. Many were still asleep when the American troops stormed in.

The unsuspecting native army suffered a crushing defeat, with a large number of soldiers killed. The U.S. military had a rule of cutting off heads in exchange for bounties, and none of the native soldiers killed survived.

After the loss of Baton Rouge downstream, Little Rock upstream was surrounded by thousands of troops. Defending the town was a regiment mainly composed of Mexican soldiers, who fought a tenacious defensive battle under the command of East China officers.

Despite prior preparations, the U.S. military did not bring artillery in order to conceal its operations, which meant that the initial U.S. attack was only scratching the surface.

Three days later, the American troops brought in cannons and bombarded the outer walls of Little Rock. The defenders, who were not equipped with cannons, could only pile sandbags on the walls to absorb the impact of the solid shot.

The U.S. military continued to bolster its forces, launching twenty attacks within a week, all of which were stubbornly repelled by the defending forces.

The Donghua Southern Army, as if waking from a dream, only realized a week into the war that the troops defending the front lines were all ragtag units, and that all the towns along the Mississippi River had already been lost.

Donghua King Li Yu urgently called Jia Zhi to inform him of the situation and request his cooperation in the operation. Jia Zhi replied decisively that at least ten days of preparation were needed before a full-scale attack could be launched.

Donghua King Li Yu expressed his understanding, but still hoped that Jia Zhi would act faster. The Mississippi River defense line had already been effectively breached, and the main force of the Donghua Southern Army was gathering and would launch a counterattack in a week.

Thanks to the existence of the telegram, Jia Zhi and Li Yu communicated quickly and reached an agreement. Jia Zhi agreed to launch the attack a week later.

Compared to the proactive offensive by the Southern American forces, the Northern American forces did not dare to launch an offensive. The last large-scale field battle had resulted in a disastrous outcome.

The American forces in the north remained primarily defensive, constructing numerous fortified strongholds around the Great Lakes in hopes of wearing down the Donghua Army. Their main force, however, awaited an opportunity to counterattack.
Mobilization was not difficult for the North, which had long been in a state of semi-military, semi-civilian coexistence. Adult men underwent regular annual training to ensure rapid mobilization when necessary. This was a system designed for warfare.

Through telegram, Jia Zhi issued a mobilization order to his jurisdiction, and upon receiving the telegram, all prefectures and counties immediately launched a full-scale mobilization.

Since the last war, Jia Zhi had been preparing for the next. His regular army consisted of six infantry divisions, totaling 100,000 men, plus one standing indigenous division, one Japanese division, and one Korean division. Upon receiving the mobilization order, the six regular divisions and three ethnic divisions were immediately placed on standby. Three days after receiving the order, they completed all preparations and traveled by train to the eastern front. The nine standing divisions totaled 150,000 men, and their equipment was largely the same, except for the number of artillery pieces.

In addition, the border garrison also has three cavalry guard divisions that conduct daily patrols and inspections, with a total strength of about 20,000.

Except for leaving a standing division to guard against Canada in the north, Jacques transferred all his main forces to the east.

Emergency conscription of reserve soldiers was carried out in all provinces, prefectures and counties, with one reserve regiment in each county.

The situation is somewhat worse for the reserves; after assembling, they need a month of training before they can go to the battlefield. The reserves total nearly 200,000, and that's not even a full mobilization. Based on the current population of northern Donghua, a full mobilization would require at least three million troops. If that day ever comes, it could be a battle for survival.

Warehouses across the country were opened, and weapons, ammunition, and easily stored food such as biscuits and canned goods were taken out and transported to various supply depots at the front.

War is never just a matter of words; once war breaks out, all sorts of costs that are invisible during peacetime come into play.

If you want to fight a war, first ask yourself if your logistics can hold up.

Interestingly, Li Heng's Latin American alliance has been all talk and no action so far. While Mexico and other countries outwardly agreed after receiving the notification and their troops were indeed assembling, it's true that mobilization takes time. A major characteristic of Latin American countries is their negligible standing armies. Even a large country like Mexico only has 50,000 standing troops since independence. It's not that they don't want more troops; they simply can't afford it.

Mexico's economy was relatively good; it had a share of the profits from silver mines, and with the silver standard system of the Central Empire, the mined silver could be used directly as money.

Years of wars of independence depleted the nation's resources, and none of the Latin American countries that gained independence experienced significant economic development.

Li Yu probably didn't expect these allies to do anything; a simple notification and a few shouts would suffice. Did he really expect these countries to send troops?

Like Jia Zhi, Li Yu's army was primarily composed of soldiers of East Asian descent. The Korean forces might be slightly weaker, given that their country has a history of relying on powerful allies for over a thousand years.

Fortunately, the large-scale procurement had already arrived, allowing Li Yu to quickly arm his troops. The situation in the Donghua Southern Army was significantly worse than in the North; while the standing army had six divisions, the reserves were nonexistent. Full mobilization would be very difficult, as the new recruits were truly new recruits and would have to be trained from scratch.

Fortunately, Li Yu was not short of money at the moment and could spend money to recruit soldiers as soon as possible. After learning about the reserve system in the north, he had always wanted to learn it, but he was unable to do so before the war broke out.

The US military has fully transitioned to rifled rifles, and although they are still muzzle-loading, their power and range are not much different. Li Yu ordered Jia Zhi to launch a counterattack within a week, but in reality, his Southern Army's counterattack was scheduled for half a month later. It wasn't that he deliberately broke his promise, but rather that he only realized, once the operation began, that apart from the six regular divisions, nothing else could be launched quickly.

It can only be said that the South still follows the emperor's mindset, while Jia Zhi in the North is already playing with something more advanced, a very hybrid and bizarre system.

They agreed to launch the attack within a week, and Jia Zhi kept his word. He deployed seven standing divisions, dividing them into two routes. One route, consisting of two divisions, would launch an attack along the central route, while the other five divisions, personally commanded by Jia Zhi in São Paulo, would advance southeast, targeting the Great Lakes region. This time, Jia Zhi was determined not to return.

Originally, Jia Zhi wanted to lead the troops into battle himself, but his subordinates stopped him. As the de facto king of the north, there was no need for him to personally lead the expedition. Otherwise, what would be the use of the staff or the orders of the generals at all levels?
Jia Zhi also had to coordinate various departments and issue orders, as this war was much larger in scale. As of now, the number of troops that had been dispatched or mobilized had reached 400,000.

There were countless things to do, and hundreds of documents needed Jia Zhi's signature every day. Again, thanks to the invention of the telegraph, communication between different places was much faster—a world of difference compared to the United States.

The First Corps, departing from St. Paul, consisted of five infantry divisions, each with two 105mm heavy artillery regiments. Each division comprised four infantry regiments, one artillery regiment, one supply regiment, and one cavalry battalion, plus other units, totaling approximately 15,000 men. The Second Corps, operating in the central region, comprised three ethnic divisions, departing from Salt Lake City with the objective of destroying Denver, a stronghold deep in the mountains.

The army launched an attack along both banks of the Mississippi River, with two divisions on the left flank heading towards Rochester and three divisions on the right flank surrounding O'Clair.

Because they were close to São Paulo, and the two towns were small with almost no defenses, the civilians didn't flee when the army arrived, but the American reconnaissance troops just wandered around for a bit and then ran away.

As a vital transportation route, the Mississippi River required control of all the towns along its course; otherwise, the army's logistics would be disastrous.

This time is different from the last. The General Staff's operational plan is to come and not leave, so it is necessary to clear out the towns and strongholds along the Mississippi River and ensure the army's supply lines remain open.

The last one was a raid and sabotage operation; the destination and tactics were different.

The General Staff's plan was to capture a location, which would then be taken over by reserve troops. This time, the priority was to secure the Mississippi River waterway, establish contact with the Confederate army, and then turn around to seize American territory west of the river. In comparison, cities like Madison, Chicago, and Detroit were not priority targets. Of course, they would still be captured and occupied permanently, but with this limited force, capturing them wouldn't be a problem, but occupying them would be difficult and would require reinforcements.

Upon learning that Little Rock was besieged, Jazhi specially dispatched a standing division, in coordination with a cavalry garrison division and a "navy" consisting of thirty small steamships, to advance south along the Mississippi River.

This move, "Black Tiger Steals the Heart," caught the US military completely off guard. Their main defensive focus had always been the Great Lakes region, as they were still recovering from the previous defeat.

The surprise attack proved highly effective, and the towns along the river were captured with minimal effort, and casualties were all in the single digits.

Two weeks later, the Southern Army of Donghua had just launched a counterattack while the Northern Army was still besieging Fort Madison. The 10,000 American troops surrounding Little Rock were caught off guard by this surprise attack.

The Little Stone City army, which had held out for half a month, had suffered more than half its casualties but did not surrender, which was truly unexpected.

Of course, this was also related to the limited effectiveness of the American attack. The American's new hexagonal cannons still fired solid shot, and Little Rock was extremely sturdy, with sandbag fortifications preventing splash damage. The defenders had ample food and ammunition reserves, enough for two months of combat, and they managed to hold out thanks to their strong fortifications.

In contrast, the Union First Corps found Madison to be a tough nut to crack after besieging it. The U.S. forces had built a large number of strong fortifications and stockpiled a large amount of military supplies. After two unsuccessful attempts, the First Corps abandoned the idea of ​​a quick victory and decided to besiege it first.

After surrounding Madison's First Army and preparing for two days, they decided to move their artillery forward and fire directly at fortified targets from a distance of several hundred meters.

The effect was only so-so, because they were all high-explosive shells and shotgun shells, which were not very effective at damaging sturdy fortifications.

Nevertheless, it still played a significant role, destroying a large number of weak fortifications and clearing out the US military outposts on the outskirts of Madison.

The Northern Army's tactics were still to surround three sides and leave one side open, hoping that the American troops would run away, but this time the American troops were very tough and refused to run.

There were 10,000 American soldiers holding the line inside the city. These were not militia, but regular U.S. Army troops. Their equipment had been upgraded from smoothbore muskets to rifled percussion caps, firing Minié rounds.

Although it was a muzzle-loading gun, it still inflicted some casualties on the First Army thanks to the fortifications.

Before launching the siege, the General Staff prepared a contingency plan and consulted with Jia Zhi, asking whether to consider bypassing the city and accelerating the attack into the American heartland. With the Mississippi River providing logistical support, the pressure was not significant.

Jia Zhi felt they should try fighting first; they couldn't expect to always fight easy battles. There were so many cities in America; they couldn't keep going around them, could they?

Besides, the 10,000 American troops inside the city could harass the logistics at any time. Even if we can't fight, we still need to guard our rear.

The commander of the First Army ordered the 105mm guns to be moved to the front line and fired at close range.

This risky approach yielded amazing results; the 105mm mortar fired at close range, and almost no sturdy bunker could withstand a single shot.

The siege lasted for five days. After losing half of the city, the American troops decided to withdraw.

Their withdrawal was bizarre; they simply abandoned the wounded and only allowed those who could move to run.

All the abandoned wounded soldiers were taken prisoner, and Jia Zhi even ordered them to be treated. It was infuriating!

After capturing Madison, the First Army rested for several days to debrief their campaign. They unanimously agreed that the next city could not be treated with mercy; they should simply drop kerosene jars from hot air balloons and set the city ablaze.

Jia Zhi laughed in anger. How much weight can a hot air balloon carry? How could throwing a few kerosene jars cause a fire?
Furthermore, fire prevention tactics are morally reprehensible; Jazhi failed to prevent fires last time. Most houses in the United States are wooden structures, making fire prevention easy, and burning civilians to death is an unforgivable tragedy.

When Li Yu learned of this, he secretly mocked Jia Zhi, saying that he was sometimes too soft-hearted.

The Great Lakes region is densely populated with numerous towns. Since the plan had been implemented, Jacques ordered a slowdown after capturing Madison, awaiting the arrival of reserve troops to fill the occupied area. The US military then boasted to the media that their tactics were effective, resulting in heavy casualties for the East China Army at Madison, forcing them to halt their offensive.

In reality, the First Army suffered just over a thousand casualties, with no more than three hundred killed in action. The halt was due to the presence of many small towns in the surrounding area, which needed to be cleared out over time; otherwise, there was no point in discussing occupation!
(End of this chapter)