There are a large number of sturdy and warm modern color steel houses to shelter from the wind and snow, plus all kinds of cold-resistant materials such as modern heating stoves, modern warm clothing, and various high-calorie foods, so although the wind and snow are still raging wildly, the temperature is also continuing to drop, once dropped to minus 26 degrees Celsius, but the Chinese Expeditionary Force that remained in Smithland did not suffer much damage from this.

On the contrary, the New Virginia Legion and the James River Legion, which are still retreating, are not so lucky.

As mentioned earlier, when Li Yongji led his troops to break Smithland, Lincoln had strictly ordered General Burnside's New Virginia Regiment to move westward to recapture Smithland and open up the water communication line between Pittsburgh and Nashville.

Although General Mead, as the commander-in-chief of the Federation Army, disagreed with this order, due to Lincoln's insistence, Mead had no intention of refuting the confrontation, but carried out the order and let the New Virginia Legion attack.

However, although the New Virginia Legion was allowed to attack according to Lincoln's orders, Mead privately told Burnside that he should not really fight the Chinese in Smithland, go to the neighborhood to wander around, show the meaning of the zài, and after a while, after he persuaded the president, he quickly led the troops back.

After doing so, General Mead also removed the James River Corps from the Eastern Front as a reserve and marched west to ensure the safety of the New Virginia Corps.

The total number of the two legions together is more than 500,000, and because it is a newly established legion, it has been resting in the rear, not only the soldiers are quite good and trained, but the weapons and equipment are also the best in the federal army.

Although these two regiments were not heavily armed with Gatling guns, the Sharps rifle and 12-pounder Napoleon guns were the highest in the Union Army, and they were also equipped with many self-produced barbed wire and wooden fences, which is not an exaggeration to say that they were the ace regiments of the Union Army.

Therefore, although these two legions do not have enough actual combat experience, they are newly established legions after all. However, General Mead believed that with such a strong force, as long as he did not take the initiative to attack and provoke, it would be difficult to defeat such a light yì.

Burnside of the New Virginia Legion was very obedient, and after coming to the vicinity of Smithland, he always put on a firm attitude, and Li Yongji had no intention of attacking at that time, which made everyone safe.

Later, when he heard the news of the fall of Nashville, Burnside began to think about retreating. It's just that because he didn't receive the order to retreat, he didn't move for the time being.

But soon, a reconnaissance cavalry battalion of the New Virginia Regiment encountered a Chinese reconnaissance team, and finally the cavalry battalion with an absolute advantage in numbers was defeated, and since then, Burnside has understood that in the face of Chinese rapid-fire weapons and automatic vehicles, it is impossible to retreat.

At that time, the James River Corps had already arrived nearby. But the commander of this legion, Benjamin. Mr. Butler, on the other hand, was a bureaucratic commander, more like a politician than a general, and had always lacked the offensive spirit, so he heard that Burnside, the commander of the New Virginia Corps, wanted to retreat. I also quite agree.

Anyway, according to the plan, his James River Legion was only here to deal with the New Virginia Legion, and its main responsibility was to ensure that the New Virginia Legion was not lost, not to attack the Chinese in Smithland together. Therefore, it is the best thing for this Mr. Butler to not fight. At least not to fail.

In short, the two legions of them soon began to retreat, preparing to go directly to Evansville, and then rely on Evansville for defense.

Burnside's idea of retreating to Evansville is still very reliable, because although the city of Evansville is not large, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the river is narrow, the water is turbulent, and when the Ohio River flows here, it is exactly a "few" shape, which is very conducive to blocking the water, which is particularly important for the Union Army, which lacks surface warships and has lost the right to control the river in the lower reaches of the Ohio River.

To put it bluntly, Evansville is a place with a difficult terrain that can cut off the route of the Ohio River, and of course, in addition to this, there is also the fear of punishment from above.

After all, Burnside's retreat was on their own, and they did not receive orders from the White House or the Federal Command, so if they retreated too far, it would be difficult to explain to the higher-ups.

And Evansville is just right, far enough away from Smithland, but the strategy is not too far, in case of asking, it can also be said to be a tactical lure to the enemy to go deep or something.

Of course, it's actually a joke to say that tactically luring the enemy into the depths or something, after all, Evansville is a long way away from Smithland, at least four days by steamship, and twelve days by land, which is already two battlefields.

The New Virginia Regiment and the James River Regiment combined had 500,000 men, which was a large army group, and with the current road conditions in the United States, it was difficult to march by land with such a large force, so they had all come by ship along the Ohio River before.

It was only by ship that the New Virginia Legion and the James River Legion could reach the vicinity of Smithland so quickly, otherwise, just by walking, I don't know what year and month it was.

Isn't it possible to say that the Chinese task force mastered the water passage of the Ohio River? Then how dare the U.S. military take a boat on the Ohio River?

This is because the Chinese task force only mastered the lower reaches of the Ohio River, or only near Smithland, and according to the general understanding of the Americans, steam ironclad ships need to add coal and water along the way in order to run smoothly, but it is clear that the largest area east of Smithland, where coal and water can be added, the nearest is Evansville.

Then, Evansville strengthened its defense as early as the period when Grant led the troops westward, set up many batteries, and there were many hidden piles in the river, so theoretically speaking, it was impossible for the Chinese fleet to attack this place alone without the company of the army, if that was the case, the Americans felt that the batteries along the river in Evansville would definitely teach the Chinese fleet a lesson.

In other words, the river east of Evansville is still in the hands of the Union Army, so as long as Evansville is not lost, the Ohio River east of this place. It's safe for the federal army.

That is to say, whether it was the New Virginia Regiment or the later James River Legion, they first felt Evansville by boat, and then walked along the Ohio River to a place called Shawnetown, and used this town as the center of the legion's defense, and the town of Golkunda in the southwest of this town as the forward position, and confronted Smithland.

It can be seen that the Union Army is actually very dependent on the Ohio River. Without the capacity of the Ohio River, they would not have been able to send so many troops over in such a short period of time.

It is precisely because Yan zhòng relies on the capacity of the Ohio River that Burnside walks along the Ohio River, that is, the officers and soldiers of the troops walk on the riverbank, and the river is floating with supply boats and running boats, and in front of the big front are reconnaissance boats, once the Chinese ironclad fleet is found, they will immediately evacuate the supply ships back, and then the infantry along the shore will arrange artillery positions. It is necessary to use a large number of land artillery to fight the Chinese task force.

It should be that Burnside's move is also a helpless move. Because everyone knows that naval artillery is more powerful than land artillery, and if the two sides fire at each other, the land infantry will definitely suffer heavy losses.

Relatively, though. Because of the large number of infantry and artillery of the New Virginia Legion, and the narrowness of the Ohio River in this section. The ships are not flexible enough to operate on it, so if they are not afraid of sacrifice and bombard each other, they can still pose a serious threat to the Chinese ironclad fleet, at least Burnside is convinced of this.

That is to say, when the current US army faces the Chinese army, it basically has to rely on numbers to win, and rely on desperate lives to win victory, which is very similar to the Chinese Sichuan army that resisted the elite Japanese army during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in another time and space, at least the strength of the weapon and equipment is about the same.

It's a pity that Burnside was careful and cautious, and even came up with various local methods to deal with the Chinese ironclad fleet, such as the water ghost team and a batch of training, but in the end it was useless, because Li Yongji, who was in Smithland at the time, was not interested in taking the initiative at all.

It is also thanks to Li Yongji's lack of interest in them and his lack of initiative to attack, which has made the two sides peaceful, and so far, except for the scouts who have fought each other for a while, there has been no large-scale battle on other sides, which means that both sides are not hurting.

Now that he can retreat without hurting his vitality, it is the best way, and this time he not only did not hurt the vitality of the troops, but even fought a local battle with the Chinese, so he somewhat touched the actual combat effectiveness of some Chinese troops. This made Burnside more worried, but also somewhat relieved.

Because the Chinese in the past were mysterious to Burnside, they only heard about the various achievements and legends of the Chinese, but it was not clear what they actually were. And now, everyone has actually fought each other, which makes Burnside no longer rely on guesswork as in the past to guess the combat methods and combat effectiveness of the Chinese, but have a clearer understanding, at least you don't have to feel the stones to cross the river.

The most terrifying thing is the unknown, knowing the actual combat strength of the other party, even if this combat power is very terrifying, you can also respond in a targeted manner, and no longer have a black eye.

You must know that this era is not the information age of later generations, but an era when communication is not yet developed. During this period, information was not transparent between countries and between armies, and it was difficult to know the actual combat effectiveness of the other side if there was no actual fight.

Moreover, this is not like the European army, because of the long time, everyone still knows the roots, Chinese to Europeans and Americans, in the past because of little contact, has always been mysterious, although the British once opened the door of the Chinese in 1840, let the world understand China's weakness, but because China did not completely fail at that time, unlike India, still maintained a great closedness, so the world is still mysterious to China.

Later, China changed with each passing day, and suddenly a mysterious force appeared, overthrowing the original regime in one fell swoop and establishing a new government, and this new government was bursting with combat effectiveness, not only overthrowing the ruling party and the largest opposition in the country one after another, but even defeating the powerful Russians, and twice in a row, once on land and once at sea.

In particular, the war at sea still makes most Western countries feel incredible, after all, the Russians sent a very powerful expeditionary fleet at that time, and even Britain and France sent troops to join in the form of volunteer mercenaries, who knows that in the end it was defeated.

It was at that time that the world powers began to face up to the new Chinese government. And because of the combat effectiveness of the Chinese government in that naval battle, as well as the Chinese army's army table, such as the size of the army, as well as the advanced process of weapons and equipment, etc., China was upgraded to a great power country, and China was treated with the specifications of a great power, even if it was the least desirable to China, it was believed that China's strength was at least about the same as that of Ottoman Turkey.

However, before the Chinese officially intervened in the American Civil War, although the United States had greatly overestimated China's strength, it still did not think that the Chinese could be so powerful. Or I didn't think that the Chinese would dare to fight the Americans.

Later, even if the Chinese declared war on the United States, most Americans heard the news and mostly laughed at the Chinese, thinking that the Chinese were just a group of monkeys who did not know the height of the sky, or simply had a good face, and never thought that the Chinese would really send troops to attack the United States.

Later, the Chinese really attacked the United States, and as soon as they came, they came ruthlessly, taking New Orleans one after another. In Vicksburg and other places, they even wiped out the most powerful ironclad fleet on the Mississippi River, and by the way, completely annihilated the main force of the Western Theater led by General Grant, and then occupied Memphis, the most important city in the lower reaches of the Mississippi River. In the end, the total collapse of the western front of the Federal Army.

This series of failures and facts makes Americans angry and at the same time feels very incredible, and most of them find it impossible. Then I felt that this was a joke, and felt that no matter how I said it, the Americans would not be able to beat the Chinese. Those are all yellow people, and they are inferior people like black people.

That's right, this is actually the mainstream thinking of American society at that time, they heard that the US army was defeated one after another, more because they thought that they were defeated by the group of alliance troops of the southerners, after all, according to the war report, every time the Chinese fought, there was the shadow of the alliance army, and the number was also large, so they took it for granted that the Chinese were at most auxiliary attacks, and it was the southerners who really defeated the American army!

This kind of thinking even affected Lincoln's judgment, so that although there were many rumors about the combat effectiveness of the Chinese from the front, such as how sharp rapid-fire weapons were and how fierce the ironclad chariots were, they still did not think that the Chinese were awesome, but that the southern Yankees had become stronger after receiving support from the Chinese.

It was because of this realization that Lincoln refused to give up Nashville, wanting to keep the city, keep Tennessee, or at least let Tennessee serve as a strategic buffer and become the front line of the tug-of-war with the Confederate Army.

Only a few people such as General Mead seriously analyzed the situation and felt that Nashville could not be defended, but limited by the problem of intelligence transmission, Mead also felt that the Chinese were only auxiliary in this series of defeats in the western battlefield, and the Southern Army was the main one.

The reason why everyone thinks this is also very simple, first of all, every time the Chinese fight, there are often alliance troops participating in the war, and after the war, the Chinese often give credit to the alliance army, and they don't want to be famous, as long as they are inside, and strive to earn benefits.

Coupled with the fact that every time the Chinese fight, they are basically playing full annihilation, and there are very few American troops who can run back, and the number of these people is small, or the identity of the rout, so the confession is often not credible, and everyone will think that what they say is so outrageous, just to cover up their own failures and incompetence.

In addition, the coalition army in the eastern battlefield has always been very strong, which makes many ordinary people form an illusion that the southern army in the western battlefield is very powerful, and it is precisely because of the heroic battles of those southern Yankees that the federal army has failed again and again.

Of course, Lincoln's intelligence agencies later found out a lot of information about the defeat of the Western Front, so that Lincoln knew a lot about the war, at least knowing that the Chinese played a great role in the war. However, the information is still very vague, especially in terms of the combat effectiveness of the Chinese, because the Chinese have a strong sense of secrecy and the racial differences are too great, so there is still little improvement in the intelligence collection of the Chinese.

In short, for the Chinese government that is rampaging in the United States, but the Chinese government claims that it is not a Chinese regular army, but just a Chinese mercenary army composed of Chinese volunteers, although the Americans hate it very much, but they know their actual combat effectiveness quite vaguely, only know that their weapons and equipment are very good, equipped with a large number of rapid-fire weapons, but how good it is, how effective rapid-fire weapons are, but it is still not very clear.

Well, now that Bernside's troops have actually fought with the Chinese, although the casualties are huge, there are also many fugitives, so that Bernside has a sufficient number of providers to at least roughly know where the Chinese are strong.

As the saying goes, how to come when you come, how to go when you go, Burnside's New Virginia Regiment, and Butler's James River Regiment, still follow the old road, along the Ohio River to the east, but who knows that the road is only halfway through, and it is still in the wilderness, about twenty kilometers away from Mount Vernon, but the snowstorm and severe cold suddenly came.

The blizzard not only trapped the Chinese in Smithland, but also made it difficult for the New Virginia Regiment and the James River Regiment marching in the field, because the cold made the river freeze and the ships could not move, and the blizzard blocked the roads and prevented the soldiers from moving normally.

However, although the blizzard and the cold blocked the roads, they were not the biggest threat to these two legions, because most of these Americans were equipped with cotton clothes, after all, they also came in winter, and the supplies were quite complete.

The biggest problem is that this cooling came too suddenly, so that many soldiers got colds, but a few people got colds, but this cooling made many people catch colds and caused a large area of infections in the army.

That's right, because of this sudden cooling, the flu began to break out in the army, and due to the lack of medical treatment and medicine, it is difficult to cure the flu, so the flu is the biggest killer that makes the two legions stop advancing, and it is also the biggest disaster faced by this army! (To be continued......)