The wheat field on the ground moved slightly, and a telescope crept out of the dense wheat stalks. Swinging from side to side, the situation on the north bank of the Shenandoah River was all in view. It was the position of the Union Army, and after a dozen days, a line along the Shenandoah River, with the Potomac River at each end and the small city of Winchester, had begun to take shape. The Federation built a series of trenches where they could shoot from a standing position, a large number of deer barricades and horses on the embankment, and of course thick barbed wire fences around wooden stakes. Stretching across into a complete front. Several of the commanding heights were reinforced and converted into well-armed firing positions, and a replica of the Westworth hexagonal cannon was set up - a very primitive front-loading rifled gun, and the inner chamber was hexagonal from the muzzle, hence the name hexagonal gun. The gun was incapable of firing explosive shells, and could only use a solid hexagonal cannonball that looked a bit twisted, but the range was satisfactory enough to suppress the Confederate machine guns, so it was placed by Sherman on a vantage point behind his own position that could cross-fire the entire front.

Although there is no current machine gun position, according to intelligence, the north is going all out to find machine guns that can be connected, and it should not take long to make progress, and then the war will become even more tragic! There were only a few figures on this front, and there were occasional cavalry passing behind, all of which seemed to be in the ...... of passing orders, and like the Confederates on the north bank, they began to build a defensive line as soon as they were deployed. Prepared for the long last. The two sides tried several times, but they all launched local offensives on a regimental scale at night, and the results were all misastrous defeats for the attackers without exception. At the same time, the message of the mobile corps of the Southern Army. 66 continued to come from the north. After crossing the Appalachian Mountains, the main force of the powerful Confederate army first put on a posture of preparing to attack Pittsburgh, and then flicked a shot around Pittsburgh and invaded Ohio. Raided the weakly armed Cleveland. After the raid, Boregard did not dare to stay in Cleveland for long. Instead, after burning down all public buildings and factories, he immediately marched westward in the direction of Indiana.

In order to deal with the Union army that had invaded the Great Lakes region to burn, kill and loot, the federal side also formed the Great Lakes Army Corps under the command of General McClellan to command the Union forces in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. And the total strength of the legion is said to be as high as 250,000 people! After several months of continuous mobilization, both the United States of America and the Confederate States of America have now completed the first wave of mobilization. Relying on the advantages of population and industry, the north has expanded their army to more than 1oo thousand!

Although most of the army needs to go through a period of training before it can be put into service. But the numbers are staggering enough. The Confederate states in the south also mobilized 4o thousand troops, which is a little more than in history, and because of the storage of the Richmond Arsenal and the Birmingham Iron Works, their weapons and equipment are much better than in history, in addition to the expensive Jason rifles and machine guns and Bessemai cannons, the rear-loading guns that can only be converted with front-loading rifled guns have also begun to equip troops in large quantities.

But there is no doubt that the superiority in numbers and industry that the North has is gradually being transformed into combat effectiveness! The "reasoning in the north", which was originally pinned on by President Davis, has somehow become "sabotage in the north"! The houses were burned, and the wives and daughters were raped. The northerners whose property was destroyed were already so angry that they were about to explode. The newspapers of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia are now all about war! Obviously. The North has been thoroughly enraged, and even those who did not support unification by force have now turned into fanatical supporters of the war.

Under these circumstances, how can President Davis still sit in Richmond? In mid-August, after learning that the Northern Virginia front was likely to be plunged into a protracted war, he finally couldn't sit still and personally came to inspect the front of the Shenan Erdo River. The president of the Confederate States now looks thinner and pale, as if he is worried about the increasingly dire situation. A group of high-ranking officers of the Southern Army, guarding their president. It's within range of the hexagon cannon on the other side! If they were sent to the door by so many of the big southern people they already have. A cannon is coming, and you will have fun and see!

"Robert. Are we at an impasse? "President Davis put down his binoculars. He came from a military family. I graduated from West Point and participated in the Anglo-American War and the Mexican-American War of 1812. Of course, he had already read the book "Defensive Omnipotence".

"Yes, Mr. President." "Both we and Sherman organized several tentative attacks, and the results were all disaster! He took a deep breath and whispered, "President, it looks like we need to build a long, strong line of defense along the Potomac, Shenandow and Allegheny Mountains." ”

"How long will the line of defense be?" President Davis asked.

"There will be more than 3oo miles, stretching from near Baltimore and Washington all the way into Kentucky." "Of course, parts of this line of defense are quite dangerous and do not require much troops, but more than 100 miles to the east of it require heavy troops...... There should be 2 regiments per mile to defend, in addition to a mobile force of about 1o men. In addition, we need a fleet that can guard the near seas, possibly including several ironclad ships......"

"That is, 3oo to 4oo regiments?" "Robert, are you going to defend this line of defense with the strength of the entire alliance?" ”

"President, this line of defense must face more than 1oo thousand enemies!" ”

"But what about west of Kentucky? How many people are needed there? Davis asked in a low voice.

"President...... I think we can put the Chinese, French, and Mexican armies in charge of the Mississippi River Valley. "It's the only way!" In addition, we need a Mexican navy, otherwise our coastal areas will be attacked from the north! ”

"Is there no way we can defeat the North on our own? Isn't Borlegad doing a good job now? ”

"It's good to infuriate the North!". Let the peace talks become impossible, and the factories of the Yankees did not suffer much damage! ”

Although he believed that the destruction of industrial facilities in the north would benefit the Confederates, Beaugaard's mobile corps went too far. Moreover, according to the intelligence provided by the British, their destruction of northern industry was far from fatal - Pittsburgh, the largest center of heavy industry in the North, was almost undamaged, and although some of the nearby coal mines were destroyed, a little further away, the mines outside the route of the Mobile Corps were intact. Moreover, the water transportation system throughout the northeastern United States has not been damaged (the amount of work to be destroyed is too large), and even if the rail network is temporarily unable to function, Pittsburgh's steel mills have been able to get iron ore and coal in a timely manner, and steel production in the North has remained high.

"Such a line of defense is simply impossible to break through without 3 times the superior forces!" And even if it does, it doesn't make much sense, Sherman will rebuild a new line of defense in the mountains of West Virginia, which will not end the war anytime soon. Mr. President, a battle is no longer possible...... We have to fight a protracted defensive war, and to ensure victory, we must have the help of China, France and Mexico! ”

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