Everything was just as Li expected, the weather covered their safe retreat, and the northern army did not even pursue, although the northern army had actually lost the ability to pursue at this time. The battle of Gettysburg cost not only the Confederate forces heavy casualties, but also the Union forces.

After the troops had retreated overnight, crossed the river, and marched for several hours, the exhausted men had to rest. While the troops were resting, Longstreet, as commander of the Second Army, rode alone on horseback, and walked in this dark night, although it was almost dawn, but at this time it was darker, and a fire was started in the field.

A boy by the fire was playing a harmonica, which was delicate and melodious. The boys were not very old, about fourteen or fifteen years old, and there were many such children in the Union Army, and although the war had faded away their innocence, the childishness of their appearance could not be concealed.

Listening to the harmonica and looking at the boy, Longstreet thought of how many children like him died in Gettysburg, in this damned war, and before it was all over, I don't know how many people would die!

Thinking of this, Longstreet shuddered, he thought of the dead on the battlefield, the scene of the mountain of corpses and the sea of blood, and at this moment, as a believer, he thought of praying to God and praying for the end of all this, but suddenly, he realized that his prayer was not actually heard.

In fact, it can't change this hair!

Don't think about that.

Be clear-headed...... These ideas are heresy!

At this time, everything in the world seemed quieter, the air seemed warm and moist, and the mountains were filled with that soft and peaceful atmosphere. Longstreet's brain stopped for a moment, and he passed the fires in the fields along the way. night

The soldiers did not recognize him. Some of the soldiers in the camp were telling jokes to each other, and even after a setback, they were still optimistic and happy. There's music, there's faith, there's pride.

Every single one of them is always proud!

But they got the victory they deserved!

After their sacrifices, blood and sweat, the goddess of victory not only did not favor them, but left them far away!

When Longstreet was almost to his barracks, he could hear the laughter ahead, where there were many bonfires, and at each of them there were soldiers gathered, and at this time he deliberately slowed down his pace and let his mount eat the grass by the roadside, and at this moment a strong sense of shame rose in his heart: he should not think about those things.

But he couldn't control himself.

After entering the camp, quietly sitting under a big tree, now Longstreet even wanted to avoid it all, he was also tired, he felt very tired, he just wanted to rest for a while, but obviously this was impossible. Soon a subordinate found him and handed him the collected numbers.

Oops!

But in just one night, hundreds more wounded died! There will continue to be casualties in the future......

Longstreet sat there with his back to the stone tree, silently thinking about the wives who had lost their husbands and their sons, how sad they would be.

There seemed to be a party going on in the open space in front of it, and there would be laughter from time to time. An officer appears to be telling a story there.

The officer stood by the fire, his hair disheveled, and his expression was vividly illustrated as how to stab something with his sword, and on closer inspection, it was Sorrell. He is very good at talking about changing things, and the people around him are gathered in a circle to watch him perform.

Longstreet saw the smiling faces, and saw one of his bottles passing among them. A young man sings in the shadows, a distinctly Irish-style tenor.

Longstreet felt that he was far away from them, and they seemed to have come out of the shadow of their frustration, but he still had no way to get out of it himself. After making a gesture, Sorrell then bent over with his hands on his knees and laughed, looking very interested.

Looking at the smiles of the soldiers, Longstreet suddenly felt the urge to have a drink.

No, not right now.

The ensuing denial made him think that it would be better to wait until later.

In a few days. Maybe you can have a big bottle and get drunk.

Thinking of this, Longstreet hung his head.

Once again, he had a mountain of corpses like Gettysburg in his mind, and the sea of corpses and blood seemed to be a lingering shadow in his mind forever, and he would never be able to get rid of it, at least in the short term. And even he thought of that death charge again, thought of Lewis? Amistide, thinking of this tall brigade commander who was loved and even adored by the soldiers, thought of him raising his hat high with his sword on the battlefield and shouting: "Come on, guys! Stick a knife in them! Who wants to come with me? Inspired by him, thousands of valiant soldiers accompanied him in the death charge, and by the middle of the charge, only a few hundred people remained, and Amistide was killed, all of them dead......

"Good evening, General!"

Longstreet looked up and saw a tall man standing in front of him with a long cup, with iron-gray hair and a smile on his face, it was Sorrell.

"How's that, General."

"It's okay, it's okay."

Longstreet smiled reluctantly, in front of him, he wanted to hide his vulnerable side, as Lee said, now their performance directly affected the entire army. So he has to behave in front of others as he used to be.

"Why don't you come and join us? General, the Pennsylvania whiskey we seized last time is not much left now, and we are taking advantage of it to drink two glasses now. ”

Longstreet shook his head, now he wasn't in the mood to drink at all.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Sorrell crouched down and knelt on his heels, his glass resting on his lap.

"How's the morale of the big guys now?"

"General, the morale of the big guys is not bad, although we suffered setbacks there, but General, after all, we have taught the Yankees a hard lesson, I dare to say, their losses are definitely not much less than ours."

Sorrell's words made Longstreet nod, and he fell silent again.

At this time, Sorrell took a sip of wine and was silent for a while, before he said:

"But quite a few of us were wounded, and some of the soldiers could barely walk."

"I will order as many carriages as possible to be drawn out and let them sit in the carriages, and some men will be sent to look after them."

That's the only thing Longstreet can do.

Later, Longstreet did not continue to speak.

"I think this battle, perhaps, we did not lose, after all, the north also suffered heavy losses!"

There was hope in Sorell's eyes, and he could have said those words with optimism, but he was equally clear about the loss of this force and what it all meant for the South.

Longstreet shook his head, but he didn't speak.

"The losses of the Yankees are also huge!"

Sorrell said, looking at the fire in the distance.

"But we don't have as many people as theirs, alas, what a trouble."

After that, he took a sip of the sprinkling of the cup, yes, the population of the north is much greater than that of the south, and the north can bear more heavy losses, but the south cannot, the population of the south is too small.

"It's a great wine! These Yankees make a lot of whiskey! ”

Longstreet's gaze was on the fire in the distance. He didn't speak, just did it quietly, as Sorrell said.

"I talked to the Frenchman!"

The French in his mouth were the French officers who had been accompanying them in this attack, and he had been observing, observing, observing, observing the war.

"What did he say?"

"He didn't say anything!"

The answer made Longstreet smile slightly, and then he said.

"We once asked him why the French hadn't come to our aid. Say it's good for them too! Obviously, we all know that it is good for the French, they should help us, they are trying to annex Mexico, and if the North wins, it will definitely support the Mexicans when the time comes! But do you know what he says? The problem, he said, was "slavery"! What do you think? “

Sorrell shook his head. He didn't think about it.

Longstreet said with some indignation.

"They think we're here to keep slavery. Well, he said that's how most Europeans see this war. Now, what do we do? ”

Longstreet didn't go on. This war is about slavery, yes. While this is not a reason for Longstreet to go to war, the war revolves around it, and there is no point in discussing this now.

"Actually, I think it's time for us to ask for Chinese's help......

Sorrell continued:

"Chinese...... They don't care about that. While I was in Richmond, I met a Chinese diplomat who said that he had never heard the word "slave" since he came to the South. He said, "We all call them "servants." You know, it's true. I never thought of that, but it is. ”

Longstreet remembered the "...... he heard in a speech In a country where slaves are servants and servants are slaves, democracy no longer exists...... is a wonderful sentence, but it does not stand up to scrutiny.

And Sorrell was still there to continue.

"That Chinese is quite funny. He said that of all the Americans he had ever met, we Southerners were the most polite, like natural aristocrats, and he noticed that we carried our guns with us wherever we went, and said that he had finally figured out why we were so polite......"

Sorrell laughed out loud, and in his opinion, it seemed like it was the funniest time, and of course he just wanted to use the joke to set the mood up. Then, he said.

"But we feel that maybe the Chinese can help us more than the French, they don't pay much attention to the problem of slaves, in their eyes, it seems acceptable, it has nothing to do with them, but the French, unlike the French, think that the reason we fight is for slavery." They don't know at all, what we're fighting for......"

The Chinese did not attach much importance to the issue of slaves, and even the diplomat asked them about their thoughts on reviving the slave trade, which was naturally rejected, because for the southerners, slaves symbolized wealth, and slaves were expensive precisely because the slave trade was restricted, and if the slave trade was opened, it would undoubtedly be a disaster for those plantation owners who owned a large number of slaves.

The Chinese are not as hypocritical as the British, of course, this also has a lot to do with their control of almost all of Africa, for the Chinese, they need blacks to cultivate land and farms for them, and they need blacks to build railways there, but in order to make their "indentured labor" appear more "noble", so they need to use slaves to set off, as long as slaves in the south and Brazil and other places still exist, no one will care about "indentured labor", no one will care about this "civilized means", Of course, they didn't mind resuming the slave trade if they could.

"But we all know that Chinese are more greedy than the French, they are even as greedy for land as the Russians, they can challenge Britain for the land, they can go to war with the whole world, if ......"

After a moment of silence, Longstreet looked at Sorrell and said.

"If we want China's help, then there is a good chance that China will rush down from the north, and when the time comes, they will most likely claim land from the United States......"

It's an inescapable fact, and Longstreet knows that even France will probably have ambitions for places like Texas and New Mexico, and that the South doesn't have much leverage. It is precisely because he understands the rules of the game that Longstreet is far less enthusiastic about asking for foreign help.

"But if we fail, we'll lose everything!"

Sorrell looked at Longstreet and said in a deep voice.

"We all know that Lincoln didn't just want to give freedom to blacks, and if they won this war, they would destroy everything in the South, what we were used to, what we depended on, everything we had would be destroyed by them, if ...... In order to guarantee the future of the South, I think, appropriate sacrifices are acceptable! ”

As Sorrell said these words, Longstreet looked into the distance, and then thought silently...... Can China really help them?

And is this help gratuitous? Apparently not! If not gratuitous, then what will China ask for while they are helping?

Recommend a science fiction "The Rise of Interstellar Human Civilization", a good one, friends who like science fiction can support it! Well, if nothing else, the new book of Silent will be released soon, and I hope you will be able to support it a lot at that time

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