The sudden and heavy cooling and snowfall lasted for seven days, and it was not until February 8, 1864 that the weather cleared again.

Although strictly speaking, the real strong wind and heavy snow blizzard weather only lasted for three days, and the remaining four days were mostly sparse and light snow, but because of the strong snowfall and strong wind intensity, not only caused the temperature to plummet to more than minus 20 degrees Celsius, causing a large area of ice in the middle and lower reaches of the Ohio River, cutting off the navigation of the waterway, but also because of the heavy snowfall, the land transportation between Indiana and Illinois also had a heavy impact, basically cutting off the land transportation between the two places.

If nothing else, let's talk about the area from Smithland to Evansville, the average snowfall thickness reached 0.2 meters, and the highest place, the snow cover even reached 0.4 meters!

"What? In this case, you still have to march troops? ”

At the usual meeting, Burnside's request for an immediate march was made to Benjamin Brown, who was the commander of the James River Corps. Butler was amazed.

"Do you know what's going on right now?" Butler pointed to the snow trail outside the tent, "Look at the damn snow, it's almost up to my knees, do you think our people can still move in this situation?" ”

"I don't think there's anything wrong with that, Benjamin." Burnside shook his head, "It's just up to your knees, and it doesn't get in the way of walking." Of course, I admit that walking in such a situation will definitely affect the speed of the march, but no matter how slow the march is, it will eventually lead to Evansville, right? ”

"Are you an idiot?" Benjamin. Butler raised his voice and said, "Now we still have a large number of sick numbers, and they ......."

"It's because there are so many patients that we need to act quickly." Burnside said in a deep voice, "General Butler." You have to understand that now the range of the flu in the army is expanding, and if we don't do something and continue to stay in this damn place, even if the Chinese don't catch up, we ourselves will be finished because of the flu!

So, the best thing to do is to get the troops moving again, to walk, and to march towards Evansville together. Because Evansville has the medicine we desperately need! ”

"But have you ever thought that in this kind of weather and road conditions, only healthy people can walk, and those who are already sick, especially those who are deeply infected, cannot walk to Evansville."

"Then let them stay." Burnside said lightly, "We can sue them and let them wait here in peace, as long as we go to Evansville." Once they have enough medicine, they will send someone to bring it to them.

Of course, if the Chinese come over at this time, I will allow them to surrender to the Chinese. Once surrendered, the Chinese will definitely not ignore them, will they?

As far as I know, the Chinese don't say anything else, but there are still many specific drugs to treat this flu. Aren't even our medicines in Evansville imported from China? ”

Hearing Burnside say that, Benjamin. Butler was silent for a moment. Only then did he continue: "I think I understand, you want to throw these patients to the Chinese?" ”

"Yes." Burnside lowered his eyelids and said expressionlessly, "You know, my friend, even if we can all arrive in Evansville safely, with the drug reserves there, it will not be able to treat so many people, and the effect is difficult to say, rather than gaining the resentment of the soldiers because of the lack of medicine at that time, it is better to leave these patients and leave them to the Chinese, so that the Chinese will have a headache." ”

Discover Benjamin. Butler didn't speak, Burnside sighed, and continued: "Benjamin, you should know that now the number of people infected with the flu in the two legions of you and me has exceeded 20,000, and although we have taken quarantine measures, it seems that there is no control of it, and there are still new people infected with the flu every day.

We don't have any cures for the flu right now, and even if we have one in Evansville, it's nowhere near enough for the patients here, and even I'm skeptical that the drugs that have gone through several rounds of mixing with too much mess will work for the flu.

So, since we can't save them, why not leave them behind and let the Chinese save them?

You see, letting the Chinese save them not only saves their lives, but also eases our troubles and increases the chances of winning for the defense of Evansville, don't you say? ”

"Don't say it so nicely, in fact, you're a hypocrite at all." Benjamin. Butler said, "Well, you just don't want to take responsibility." After all, if you continue to stay, if these patients die, it will all have to be counted on your head, but if you throw it to the Chinese, it has nothing to do with you.

Well, thinking about it this way, your idea is really good, hehe, leave the isolated patient number, tell them, we left to get them medicine, but in fact, we took the opportunity to give them up and slipped away by ourselves, and didn't really think about sending them medicine...... Well, you're really kind enough, why didn't you find out that you were so insidious and hypocritical before? I always thought you were a slightly dull upright person, who knew you were a hypocrite! ”

"Say whatever you want, Benjamin." Burnside continued, "But let me remind you, my friend, that these are times of war, and that we should consider things in a way that takes precedence over strategic and tactical principles, not moral benevolence.

For example, now than ever, our most important task is to bring back a healthy and capable army safely, and then strengthen the defense of Evansville, so that the Chinese and the Yankees do not drive straight into our rear, as long as this goal can be achieved, even if I am called hypocritical, what does it matter? ”

After a pause, Burnside looked at Benjamin, who also looked stern. Butler, the corners of his mouth twitched: "Or, you don't agree with my advice and want to stay?" ”

"But have you thought about it, the soldiers are not stupid." Benjamin. Butler deliberately ignored Burnside's final question, and instead of answering, he asked rhetorically, "What if everyone doesn't agree?" Especially those who have the flu, what if they make a fuss? ”

"What else can I do?" Burnside's eyes narrowed, "It's an extraordinary time, it's wartime, so it's for those who don't obey orders." Even those who dare to make trouble will naturally be punished for the crime of wartime resistance. ”

"You're ruthless." Benjamin. Butler shook his head.

The crime of wartime disobedience is one of the new military laws personally promulgated by Mr. Lincoln, the current president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the United States of America, in response to the low morale of the officers and men in the Union army, the lack of resistance, and the large number of deserters.

To put it simply, all Union soldiers, from the moment they enlist, must strictly abide by the new military law in the army. Any violation of any article must be strictly enforced in accordance with the provisions of the new military law.

For example, the crime of disobedience in wartime is actually a detailed rule in disobeying military orders, which simply means that once a unit is in a state of wartime, any disobedience and disrespect can be subject to the highest level of wartime discipline.

The so-called wartime discipline is without trial and without sentencing. The highest punishment was ordered directly by the commander of the corps, and this maximum punishment was to be shot.

In other words, in wartime conditions. Any charge will be magnified, and it will not give you any chance to plead, if you dare to disobey the order, you will be arrested and shot immediately. This is a way to deter others.

There is no doubt that this new system is at odds with the traditions of the Union Army, but this is the time of the Lincoln dictatorship. Even parliament was a puppet of President Lincoln, so it would be a piece of cake to amend military law.

In practice, these new federal military laws, which are called the strictest military laws in history, have also proved to be quite effective.

For example, in the victory of Starlight Town that just ended, the reason why the Federal Army was able to defeat the Anglo-French army that outnumbered them was that in addition to some new weapons, such as Gatling guns, and the use of tactics correctly, the heroic fighting of the Union soldiers was the fundamental reason.

In the victory of Starlight Town, the federal army came with the intention of defending the country, and secondly, because according to the new military law, the commander did not order the retreat, and the people below fled without permission, all of them were counted as deserters, and the deserters were caught, and all of them would be executed, if they were not caught, in addition to issuing a wanted warrant, they would also implicate the family of the deserter, so that the family would have a bad reputation, and the federal government would call on everyone in the society to resist the family of the deserter!

Running for one's life is also a death, or a dishonorable death, and even the family members can't hold their heads up in society, so the soldiers of the federal army charged forward with a block of a hundred, and finally relied on this crazy energy, coupled with reasonable tactics and cutting-edge weapons, to win a rare victory.

Although the New Virginia Regiment and the James River Regiment are newly established legions, it is precisely because they are newly established legions that they have undergone sufficient training, so if nothing else, at least the officers and men still have a thorough understanding of the new military law.

If it weren't for the soldiers of the New Virginia Regiment who implemented the new military law and their morale improved, when the cavalry battalion of that battalion encountered a reconnaissance team of the Chinese, they would not have lost so much to retreat, but should have fled in a swarm long ago.

The reason is very simple, when fighting with the Chinese reconnaissance team, it was clear that many people already knew that the Chinese had strong firepower, but because they were afraid of military punishment, they forced their heads until the losses were too large, and the fear of killing the Chinese exceeded the fear of the new military law, and then finally fled.

On the contrary, if it is still the federal army with low morale at the beginning, then after seeing the Chinese reconnaissance team, I am afraid that it will not send so many people in the first wave of tentative attacks, and after losses, it will also run spontaneously, and it is likely to scatter and flee, rather than fleeing in crowds, in that case, it will not be chased by the Chinese and killed so badly.

All in all, although the New Virginia Regiment and the James River Regiment are two new regiments, the morale of the officers and men is still quite high, and we cannot look down on this unit because of Burnside's voluntary retreat, plus a cavalry battalion can not defeat a reconnaissance team of the Chinese.

In short, once Burnside labels the flu-infected who are not happy to stay as a wartime protester, then the fate of those who are infected is to be shot immediately, and no one will sympathize with them because they are sick.

This is one of the changes brought about by Lincoln's New Deal, especially in the military, which has almost completely abandoned the atmosphere of democracy, and has changed to a dictatorship with clear upper and lower classes, and the superiors cannot tolerate the slightest resistance and disobedience from the subordinates.

"No, no." Hear Benjamin. Butler's words, Burnside also sighed, "If we don't do this, continue to stay here, we all have to finish together, you know, with a group of infected people, how can we fight with the Southerners and the Chinese?" ”

"But aren't you afraid that it will backfire and let the soldiers riot?"

"How is that possible?" "After all, the infected are a minority, and to be honest, most people who are in good health are also afraid of being infected, so as long as we explain the reason clearly and tell them, we are not giving up on them, but just for the good of everyone, let them stay and wait for help."

We want to tell those who have not yet been infected, that if we stay together, we will all die together, and if we leave those who are infected, we can move lightly, speed up the march, and be able to get to Evansville in advance, and get local supplies in time, especially the special medicine for the flu, and then send them to these people, so that we can all live together.

Of course, if Chinese and the Yankees had arrived earlier than us, they would have surrendered to the Yankees and Chinese, as far as I know, the Yankees and Chinese are both enemies, but they also abide by the basic principles of engagement, especially Chinese, they have more special drugs on them, which can completely heal them.

Well, in short, as long as you tell them well and give them a reason to abandon the infected, then they will not object, after all, who is not afraid of infection? ”

"Anyway, even if you arrive in Evansville with someone, you won't send someone to bring medicine, will you?" Benjamin. Butler said, "Your fundamental purpose is to throw this burden to the Chinese and the Southerners, right?" ”

"Yes, exactly." Burnside painfully admitted, "That's why I'm going to talk to you alone." ”

"Then have you thought about what if the Chinese don't arrive in time?" Benjamin. Butler continued, "Most of those infected people are not in good health, they can't support for long, if you keep refusing to send people to rescue, and the Chinese and Nankees are slow to come, they can't stay here and leave, can't stay or stay, isn't that waiting for death?" ”

"If that's the case, then there's nothing I can do." Burnside sighed, "For the sake of more people's survival, I can only do this, even if I go to hell because of this, I will admit it."

Of course, in order to give them more opportunities, I will leave more supplies so that they can support a little longer.

Moreover, once we start to choose to leave with healthy people, I will also send people to pretend to be surrenderers and quietly go to places where Chinese and southerners are staying, and then this person will say that we have been trapped here by Blizzard, lack of food and clothing, especially Yan zhòng's lack of ammunition, let them hurry over, as long as people come, they can annihilate us in one fell swoop.

Well, I think the Chinese and the Yankees will not give up this opportunity, and as long as they can rush over, they will see that the people here are just a group of infected patients, and they should not watch them die of illness, do you say?

On the contrary, if they really don't care about them, then we also have the rhetoric, let's say that we don't ignore those infected people, but the Chinese and the southerners are too bad, and they killed those people.

In short, as long as the Chinese and the southerners come to this place and see these infected people, whether they save it or not, it will be a big trouble in the end, and we will lose a big trouble, and we may also gain a good reputation because of it, you talk about it, change you, what will you do? (To be continued......)