A small town west of Chicago, Berwyn.

After reading the detailed information on Chicago submitted by the staff officer, Li Xiucheng, commander of the Special Division of the Second Field Corps, said to Deputy Division Commander Li Jinyang with a smile: "It is really enjoyable to wreak havoc on the territory of foreigners for more than ten days!" I can't imagine being a robber to burn and loot, and this kind of experience is unstoppable. The Chicago in front of you is the biggest piece of fat. However, it is better to be a little more restrained, not to be too brutal, and after defeating the defenders of Chicago, first warn the ordinary people among the foreigners, and then set fire to the city.

Alas, I am really afraid that if this continues, one day our soldiers will become demonic, intoxicated with the pleasure of this brutal burning, looting, and destroying. ”

Li Jinyang said directly: "Master, you are still too merciful. Unless they submit to our Chinese Empire and serve the empire like those Irish and Japanese people, other foreigners, whether they are soldiers or civilians, will be killed directly. Without the support of these so-called civilians, how could those foreign armies have the money and someone to form them? Therefore, they are not completely innocent either. ”

Li Xiucheng sighed and said, "Having said that, Your Majesty once said that if you can kill fewer innocent civilians, you should do as little harm as possible." The goal is to force the American Federation to an armistice and peace, not to actually burn how many lives will be killed. Don't talk about this for now, Deputy Division Commander Li, let's take a look at the information in Chicago first, I feel that the target this time is a little fat, and I am worried that many civilians will die this time. ”

Li Jinyang took a closer look at the relevant information in Chicago.

Since the formation of the special division, Li Xiucheng, who has always been a little idle, was activated, and partnered with Li Jinyang, the original Hunan army commander who returned to Shun, and the two families were combined together to become the commander and deputy division commander of the special division of the Second Field Corps. After a period of running-in, the two have a relatively tacit understanding, and after marching all the way from the western United States to the edge of Lake Michigan today, the two sides are even more familiar with each other and have become comrades-in-arms. Li Xiucheng is witty and brave and has excellent strategy, while Li Jinyang is brave and unparalleled, and the two are like tigers together, so that the special division wins battles one after another and the loss of manpower is extremely slight.

Starting from San Francisco, California, he first assisted the infantry division to capture Nevada and Oregon and other places, and then suddenly made a surprise attack, running thousands of miles, crossing the mountains and mountains of North America, crossing the Dakota region, diagonally through Minnesota and Wisconsin, and entering the current Chicago on the shore of Lake Michigan, where he engaged more than 20 American Union soldiers and militiamen along the way, and defeated a total of more than 40,000 troops, including more than 18,000 enemy casualties. Even without artillery and other equipment, the special division still captured and burned 3 cities with more than 10,000 people, a total of 14 cities with more than 1,000 people, and dozens of villages and manors that were burned down. The people and garrisons throughout the western region of America were terrified.

But Li Jinyang noticed that the Chicago in front of him was even more important than the entire central region of the United States, even more than the vast Dakota area.

According to intelligence from guides and local captives, the city of Chicago was built at the confluence of Lake Michigan with the Chicago River. More than ten years ago, the U.S. federal government rebuilt the Chicago River into a canal that could be navigated by large merchant ships, connecting Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River, and Chicago, which is at the intersection of the two, began to develop because of this convenient and cheap water transportation, and later with the construction of several railroads through Chicago, Chicago has become a center city for grain processing, animal husbandry processing, and some industrial manufacturing, with a population of less than 10,000 people ten years ago. It has grown to 110,000 today.

Chicago has deployed a Union Volunteer Infantry Brigade with a strength of less than 4,000 troops.

Overnight, Li Xiucheng led more than 9,500 soldiers of the special division to directly destroy several railroads on the east, north and south sides of Chicago, and built a railroad track and sleepers near the Chicago canal into the canal, forcing the railway driver to drive two trains to the canal, overturning the train and transferring it into the canal, and dismantling the railroad tracks for nearly 2 kilometers and throwing them into the canal, blocking the entire canal.

In this way, the railroad in Chicago and the canal to the Mississippi River were completely destroyed, cutting off the lines of supply, support, and escape.

It's such a big move, and the 4,000 federal forces still haven't moved, and they don't dare to send out to meet the battle.

And Li Xiucheng did not attack immediately, because all the way to the attack, the special division did not carry artillery, after checking that the enemy had pillboxes and fortifications and other fortifications, Li Xiucheng was worried that the forced attack would cause too many casualties, so he specially inquired that there was an arsenal in the town of Berwyn in the west of Chicago, so he ordered people to capture this place first.

Although the federal army was somewhat prepared, they still did not expect that the individual firepower of the special division would be so sharp.

On this day, when the day was just dawning, most of the federal soldiers guarding the weapons depot had not woken up, and they were wiped on the necks of the special forces soldiers who secretly entered the barracks in their sleep, and some of the remaining sergeants who were awakened were also quickly wiped out. More than 20 guns from the arsenal were assembled and quickly transported to the bunker set up by the Federal Volunteer Brigade in Chicago.

At this time, the residents of Chicago who heard the gunshots began to be in chaos, and many people began to go to the train station and canal pier, preparing to flee Chicago to escape the war. But at the moment in Chicago, except for some boats on the canal pier that could only go to Lake Michigan through a small section of the canal to the east, the rest of the railroad and the canal to the southwest have been cut off from traffic.

The entire train station in the city center and the canal wharf on the east side of the city were densely packed with people, and more than 30,000 residents crowded the train station and wharf, shouting and crying, and the situation was chaotic.

And the location of the federal garrison in the western suburbs of the city is already rumbling with cannons. The officers and men of the special divisions of the Chinese Empire began to fire artillery and attack the Union infantry brigades behind the fortifications.

Seeing the arrival of artillery, many people in the infantry brigade, who had already heard of the prestige of the special division, began to flee directly and join the crowd of people who had fled. The remaining 3,000 or so Federation troops, after half a day of fierce fighting, collapsed the bunkers, killed hundreds of people, and then fled to the south on a large scale. But this escape, except for some officers on horseback who escaped safely, how could the rest of the federal soldiers be the opponents of the soldiers of the Chinese Imperial Special Division in terms of marching?

Soon, in a small town less than twenty miles from Chicago, nearly 3,000 fleeing Union soldiers were caught up, and they tried to resist, but were quickly routed, killed or surrendered.

After defeating the Union defenders and clearing out some scattered enemy troops one after another, Li Xiucheng led the special division from the west of the city directly into the city of Chicago, which had no walls.

In addition to the nearly 20,000 people who had fled the city of Chicago and the more than 13,000 residents on the canal piers who fled into Lake Michigan on dozens of boats, the remaining nearly 30,000 residents crowded into the train station and docks in panic and helplessness, and countless residents fled from their homes.