Although the Confederate Army and the Chinese Expeditionary Force are now part of the Quad Alliance, and have also established a joint command as a general command body, in practice, that joint command is more like a consultative body or image project.

This is a bit like the United Nations in later generations, outsiders who don't know the inside story think that the joint command is very powerful, but those who know it know that the actual binding force of that thing on the armies of the four countries is quite limited.

For example, when the Joint Command was first established, Li Yongji once asked his people to unite with the representatives of the Union countries, in the name of the Joint Command, to push the French and British to fight Nashville, making it clear that they were making them cannon fodder.

Subsequently, as soon as the bombing of New Orleans came out, the 30,000 British and French troops found an excuse to stay in New Orleans in the name of maintaining vigilance.

Therefore, since the moment the British and French forces refused to obey the orders of the joint command, this department has existed in name only, at least it has no actual command power, and at most it can be a discussion body that communicates with the four parties, and will only play a role when they encounter contradictions with each other.

In this case, in fact, the position of the Chinese is quite embarrassing, after all, the three cities currently occupied by the Chinese Expeditionary Force, although they appear to have been taken from the hands of the Northern Union Army, but before that, they were actually all land belonging to the Southern Union State, and the Union Army was also forcibly taken from the Union Army.

Therefore, if everyone really does according to the terms of the allies, even if the Chinese conquer these three cities, they should return the jurisdiction of the cities to the alliance countries, but in fact, after the Chinese occupied these three cities, they did not hand over the jurisdiction of the cities.

Of course, it is not right to say that the Chinese continue to occupy the cities and do not leave, because after the Chinese occupied the three cities including New Orleans, they did not declare their sovereignty over these three cities, nor did they directly interfere in the management of these three cities, they just set aside a place in the city as a military restricted area, and all the military laws of the Chinese were implemented inside the military restricted area!

Nominally, the Chinese said they did this just in case, to prevent spying and sabotage by the Union Army, especially after the bombing of New Orleans, which seemed to make more sense.

If it were just like this, the allied countries would have endured, but the most speechless thing is that most of the military restricted areas of the Chinese are the most prosperous places in these three cities. In other words, the Chinese have designated the port areas of the three cities as military restricted areas, which is equivalent to firmly controlling the lower Mississippi River route between the three cities.

This feeling of being stuck in the main artery by the Chinese, the people of the allied countries are naturally unhappy, and what kind of military restricted areas the Chinese are engaged in, it is clear that it is no different from the concession, and the people of the allied countries are very familiar with this hand, after all, when they were still Americans, these methods were not uncommon.

Although annoyed, the Allied countries are now counting on the Chinese to help in many aspects, so they pretend not to know, but just send troops to these three places, clearly hoping that once something happens, they can quickly retake these three ports that have been designated as "military restricted areas".

Joseph. Although Johnston, as commander of the Western Theater, led troops here in the name of helping the Chinese attack Nashville, the main purpose of his trip was not to join forces with the Chinese to fight Nashville, but to find a way to control the strategic point of Memphis to avoid further penetration by the Chinese.

Of course, the idea of this infighting with the Chinese was not Joseph. Johnston's original intention was to be ordered by President Davis of the Confederate States.

Because in Davis's view, since the British and French have now put down their positions and invested huge forces to attack the United States of America, then their strategic security is much better, at least maintaining the independence of the Union should have a high chance of winning, so there is no need to hang on the tree of the Chinese.

Therefore, Davis had to think in advance about recovering land from the Chinese, so as to avoid these "military restricted areas" from becoming Chinese concessions after the war, if that really happens, then he will really be the president, because the whites of the Union will never agree to such humiliating conditions, even if the Chinese have helped them through the difficulties.

Davis can think like this, it is purely the old-fashioned thinking of the great powers at work, because if they are replaced, the meat to the mouth will definitely not be spit out lightly, even if they want to return it, they will definitely have to open their mouths, so it is not surprising that they think so much about the Chinese.

Another thing that also contributed to Davis's early dispatch of people to engage in friction with the Chinese was that the Chinese actually colluded directly with the local army, which also made Davis very annoyed.

Although Davis did not think that the local officers would collude with the Chinese to betray the interests of the Confederate powers, it was clear that the officers who helped the local troops Chinese would increase the power of these local officers, and there was nothing during the war, and he was afraid that after the war, these people would compete with him for power.

For example, Pemberton, who was praised as one of the heroes by the Confederate countries, outsiders thought that Davis valued him very much and wanted to promote him, but in fact, what they didn't know was that President Davis was most concerned about this Pemberton now, because Pemberton's Mississippi River Army, because it was stationed in Vicksburg, had the deepest contact with the Chinese, so his strength expanded the fastest, and it was also the closest relationship with the Chinese in the Confederate army.

Because of this, Davis has always wanted to remove Pemberton and no longer let Pemberton control the Mississippi River Army, but unfortunately after the Battle of Vicksburg, his reputation and status are too high, and it is difficult to remove him for no valid reason, so Davis thought of a way to promote him to the deputy commander of the Western Theater of Operations, so that he can slowly break away from the Mississippi River Army.

However, Pemberton is not a fool, he knows very well that his current qiē is brought to him by his army, especially the Mississippi River Corps is expanding, weapons and equipment are directly obtained from the Chinese in a bartering way, in terms of equipment, it can definitely be said that the best in the whole Union army, even the most valued by the Union Robert. Lee's Northern Virginia Legion, in terms of the quality of equipment, was also inferior to his Mississippi River Legion.

As a result, the Mississippi River Regiment had now become Pemberton's private regiment, and even the central government in Richmond could not be mobilized lightly.

For example, this time to lead troops to Memphis, originally Davis wanted to let Pemberton go, and then let Joseph. Johnston went to Vicksburg to take over the Mississippi River Army, but Pemberton excused that the troops had not been put in order, but he didn't go. Johnston arrived with his men and part of the Tennessee Army.

Originally, according to President Davis's intentions, Joseph. After Johnston led his troops to Memphis, first, he wanted to find a way to control the strategic point of Memphis City and prevent the entire city from falling into the hands of the Chinese, and second, he wanted to try to find a way to obtain weapons and equipment from the Chinese and pull out a powerful army again.

President Davis has spoken to Joseph in advance. Johnston said hello, according to his meaning, the Mississippi River Army does not listen to orders now, so he will forget it first, and then talk about it later, although the Tennessee Army has suffered a lot of losses, but its strength is still there, so he is asked to rebuild the Tennessee Front, and the establishment for him is 100,000.

That is, Joseph. Johnston can raise an army of up to 100,000 troops, and the salaries of this army are all paid by the Union government, and the procurement of weapons and equipment is also paid by the Union government. Johnston himself only needs to be responsible for pulling people up and receiving weapons from the Chinese nearby.

Of course, if Joseph. Johnston can pull out more people to serve as soldiers, that's okay, but the Confederate government can only pay 100,000 people and equip them with weapons, and the extra people are not responsible, you have to take care of it yourself.

It can be seen that Joseph. Johnston did not lose trust at all, as the outside world said, on the contrary, it was he, the defeated general in the Battle of Vicksburg, who really gained Davis's full trust.

Well, now Joseph came with a mission. As soon as Johnston arrived in Memphis, the Chinese commander said that he wanted to send troops to cooperate, and asked to open Roe and Smithland to cut off the logistical supply of the Union army.

To tell the truth, for this program of the Chinese, Joseph. Johnston himself felt that it was too bold and not feasible, at least if it was the Union army led by him, he would never dare to implement this plan of going deep into the enemy line and jumping behind enemy lines.

The reason is simple, Joseph. Although Johnston was a famous general, he was not the kind of risky general with a wit, but rather a general with a reputation for caution.

Joseph. The troops led by Johnston are well organized, even if the troops are weak, they rarely show flaws, and the defense can be said to be watertight. In addition, when he leads his troops to fight, he will try to avoid taking risks and try not to confront the enemy, so the troops he leads have the smallest losses, but they are also the most difficult.

When Grant attacked Jackson City, to fight more and fight less, Joseph. Although Johnston was defeated, the troops he led did not suffer much losses, on the contrary, although Grant on the attacking side took Jackson City, if you only look at the troop losses, it was actually much higher than Joseph. Johnston's army.

In another time and space, the American academic community evaluated the famous general of the Civil War, Joseph. Johnston was always in the top five and even thought he was more talented than Robert. Li is still stronger, if it weren't for his bad luck and never held any actual power, let him be the commander-in-chief of the Allied Army from the beginning, the outcome of the war would probably have to be rewritten.

In short, whether it was to fulfill President Davis's orders or for strategic reasons, Joseph . Johnston didn't quite agree with Li Yongji's plan, so he originally wanted to stay on his ground and not go with the Chinese.

However, Li Yongji made it clear that he wanted to do this, and he also said that if the alliance army did not cooperate, the expeditionary force would have to do it alone, and at that time, there would not be many Chinese troops in Memphis to help garrison it, and I am afraid that the defense of Memphis would have to be handed over to Joseph. Johnston.

This makes Joseph. Johnston was a little embarrassed, because he knew very well that there were 150,000 Union troops in Nashville, not far away, and if there was no Chinese deterrence, they would probably come and attack.

Joseph. Johnston came to Memphis with only 40,000 men, half of whom were soldiers he had recruited in Jackson City, and the other half were defeated by the Tennessee Legion, which had been defeated by the Grant Legion.

It can be said that Joseph. Johnston's soldiers and horses are almost all a group of remnants of the defeated army, although under his tutelage, they have initially recovered their morale and have some combat effectiveness, but if they face the 150,000 Federation army alone, it is still a little difficult.

Even if Joseph. Johnston could continue to recruit troops in Memphis, but that would take time, and the defending general in Nashville was James. McPherson, for this general, James. McPherson is more familiar, after all, everyone is alumni, and they are all from West Point. McPherson and James. McPherson is of different ranks, and there is no substantive interaction.

However, James. McPherson was very attentive to gathering information about the enemy, so when he heard that the general of the Nashville garrison was James. After McPherson, he inquired about him in many ways, and this synthesis soon came to the conclusion that that James in Nashville was also a difficult guy.

In fact, the two have fought once before, and that was last year, and that battle was the famous Battle of Charlotte.

In that battle, a fierce battle broke out between the North and the South near the Tennessee River, commanded by Grant of the Northern Army and Joseph of the Southern Army. Johnston.

At that time, Joseph. Johnston was already the commander-in-chief of the Western Theater of the Southern Army, and in order to reverse the unfavorable situation, he launched an active offensive against the Northern Army, but in the end, because of the lack of training of the Southern Army, Su zhì was too poor, and finally ended in the defeat of the Southern Army.

However, although the Southern Army was the losing side at that time, it was not the same as Joseph. Johnston's flexible command also dealt a heavy blow to the Northern Army, so that the victorious Northern Army still suffered heavy losses and had no way to take advantage of the victory to pursue.

In that battle, more than 100,000 soldiers on both sides took part in the battle, and more than a quarter were killed, captured and wounded, so it was the first large-scale battle between the North and the South since the beginning of the war, and the tragedy also exceeded all previous battles.

It was after that battle that the central and eastern parts of Tennessee were under the control of the Union Army, and the cities of Memphis and Kosling surrendered almost without resistance, and from then on, the two important transportation hubs of Vicksburg on the Mississippi River and Chattanooga on the Tennessee River were also opened to the Union Army, directly guiding the Union Army in the later rapid advance.

In short, that war was Joseph. Johnston led his troops to the first major defeat, although he can't be blamed for this failure, after all, the difference in strength between the two sides is still not small, and in terms of tactics, he actually did a good job, but he still failed in the end.

James. It was in that battle that McPherson first came to prominence, when he was still under Sherman's command, commanding a regiment, but the combat was quite brilliant, not only defended properly, but also attacked very sharply, which can be said to be a typical example of being able to attack and defend.

Later, he also performed well in the Battle of Corinth, and eventually became a major general of the volunteer army and a colonel of the regular army. (The military rank of the U.S. military at that time was directly linked to the military rank, and usually the military rank also means the military rank.) In addition, the U.S. military was divided into volunteers and regular troops at that time, and the volunteers were soldiers recruited after the war, and the regular army was the regular army of the United States of America. ）

In short, in Joseph's opinion, that James is a very sensitive guy, there are Chinese here, even if there is only one regiment, he does not dare to act rashly, after all, the Chinese's firepower is too perverted, if it is simply defensive, no one can stand it.

However, if the Chinese leave Memphis, then the situation is uncertain, and it is not clear that James will lead troops to attack.

You know, Memphis is now quite prosperous after such a toss by the Chinese, not to mention those temporary factories built by the Chinese, it is also quite good to say that the trade distribution center engaged by the Chinese.

Therefore, if the Chinese are really willing to leave here, then James will come over and take advantage of it.

In this way, after Johnston's hard persuasion of Li Yongji failed, he finally reached a compromise with Li Yongji, that is, Johnston agreed to lead half, that is, 20,000 Allied troops, to attack Kailuo. Of course, the attack on Kairo was only a diversion attack, the purpose of which was to contain the city of Cairo for the Chinese, so that the Chinese could bypass Cairo and attack Smithland.

However, the Chinese must also leave at least one main regiment in Memphis and cooperate with the other 20,000 Union troops to hold Memphis, and must not abandon Memphis lightly and let the Union army fight alone.

In this regard, Li Yongji naturally agreed, saying that he would leave behind two main regiments and one division of non-main forces, and left the most capable generals to ensure that there would be no problems.

Besides, Memphis is close to the Mississippi River, and the Chinese have a strong naval fleet in addition to the army, and the task force is still undefeated.

So, in case something happens, the task force can drive back at any time and provide support to Memphis with naval guns to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

In addition, Li Yongji also said that the Chinese have a radio communication system, which can be very convenient to contact each other, and with the help of the canal, they can come back to support at any time in the shortest time, plus Vicksburg and General Pemberton's Mississippi River Army, that force currently has 50,000 people, and can also be transported to Memphis by ship in time, in short, the defense of Memphis City is actually no problem at all.

Johnston knew all these things, and he knew that if this battle was successful, he would gain a lot of prestige, but after all, he still felt that this battle was too risky.

However, how to say, the risky thing is done by the Chinese, and he only needs to take 20,000 people to contain the other party under the city of Cairo, and this job is still very easy.

Also, on the contrary, the Chinese promised to provide his Tennessee regiment with a batch of artillery, although it was only a front-loading rifled gun imitating a Napoleonic gun, not the kind of mortar or rocket artillery used by the Chinese themselves, and the power was much worse, but the quality was still quite good, and it was better than nothing.

In this way, the two sides bargained and finally reached a cooperation agreement, and then the next day, Li Yongji led the three regiments of the Dream Division's guard regiment, the first regiment and the second regiment, to take the troop transport ship of the task force fleet north along the Mississippi River.

As for the task of defense, Li Yongji handed over the first division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, that is, the third regiment of the Dream Division, plus the troops of the second division of the expeditionary force.

Needless to say, the First Division of the Expeditionary Force is the motorized dream division, and as for the Second Division of the Expeditionary Force, although it is not well-known in the United States, its strength is actually quite good, and its reputation in other places is also quite large.

The backbone of the Second Division of the Expeditionary Force was the 6,000 troops who followed Shi Dakai to kill all sides in Japan. The 6,000 troops were divided into three regiments, the commanders of which were Li Hezhang, Chen Yucheng and Peng Yulin, and even the source of soldiers was almost from these three forces.

After this unit became famous in Japan, it left Japan, first went to Hawaii, scared the Hawaiian king, and then went directly to Los Angeles, that is, the Red Fort in Hollywood, to begin a new reorganization and adaptation training.

After reorganization, these 6,000 people were reorganized into the second division, of which in addition to their 6,000 headquarters, they also joined the local 6,000 volunteers of the Red Fort in Hollywood, a total of 12,000 people.

The 2nd Division, which had 12,000 men, was divided into four regiments in imitation of the establishment of the 1st Division, and in addition to the addition of a guard regiment in which Shi Dakai personally served as the head of the regiment, the commanders of the other three regiments remained unchanged, and they were still Li Hezhang, Chen Yucheng, and Peng Yulin.

Of course, although the establishment is similar, it is actually very different from the first division. For example, in terms of numbers, the first division has 30,000 men, and a regiment has 7,500 men, while the second division has only 12,000 men, and a regiment has only 3,000 men.

The weapons and equipment are also quite different, the first division is a fully motorized unit, and even the light weapons are automatic assault rifles, which can be said to be a quasi-modern unit.

Although the Second Division later changed its weapons, its light weapons were mainly based on 56 semi-automatic rifles, and only at the company level was it equipped with a Type 56 machine gun squad.

As for the heavy firepower artillery, the second division was not equipped with any heavy weapons, but only a Type 93 60-mm mortar because it was not motorized and still a pure infantry that walked on two legs. As for the specific configuration, each regiment is equipped with a direct artillery company.

The 60 mortar unit of the 2nd Division of the Expeditionary Force is organized on a squad basis, one of which is composed of 10 people, equipped with 2 PP93 type 60 mortars and 120 rounds of ammunition. It is divided into two combat groups, and the personnel are the squad leader (deputy squad leader), the shooter, the deputy shooter, the ammunition man, and the rifleman.

As for a regiment belonging to a 60 mortar fire company, the total establishment is 120 people, including 6 officers, and a total of 18 PP93 type 60 mortars are armed.

Mortars are the main heavy firepower of the 2nd Division, and in order to increase the ability to attack fortifications, this unit is also equipped with a lot of rocket launchers, but this unit is even smaller in number, just a bazooka platoon directly under the command of the regimental headquarters.

It can be seen from this that although the Second Division of the Expeditionary Force is small in number and weak in firepower, it is only relative to the Dream Division, and if it is taken out alone, this unit can still sweep any unit of the same era.

Maybe I have to say, why hasn't the Second Division heard of it before? For example, in the previous battle against the Federation Army, why didn't you see this second division?

The reason is very simple, in the previous battle, the Second Division did not participate in the battle at all, or in other words, when Li Yongji led his troops to land in New Orleans, this Second Division was not under Li Yongji's command at all and was not in the combat sequence.

So where was the 2nd Division before? The answer is that this unit was sent to Mexico before, and cooperated with the French to fight the Mexicans.

When Li Yongji led his troops from the Red Fort in Hollywood, he took the 1st Division and the 2nd Division together, and then they landed the 2nd Division in Acapulco City in western Mexico, and when the 2nd Division gained a firm foothold in the local area, Li Yongji continued to sail south with the 1st Division, bypassing Cape Horn and coming to the port of Havana, Cuba.

Due to the lack of information and traffic, and the fact that the Second Division was fighting from western Mexico, it was not the main front in Mexico's view, so the Second Division's fighting in Mexico was not well known to outsiders.

In fact, after the 2nd Division landed in Acapulco, it fought only two skirmishes with the Mexicans, both of which ended in a complete victory with zero casualties, and since then this unit has been holding the city of Acapulco and has not gone anywhere.

As for the Mexican government army, seeing that the Chinese are too difficult to fight, and the Chinese are more honest, not as aggressive as the French, so they no longer take the initiative to attack the Chinese, but just sent a force to confront the Chinese.

All in all, the 2nd Division had been inactive in Acapulco except for two battles with Mexico at the beginning.

Later, when Li Yongji led his troops to defeat Grant and fought until Memphis, he felt that the troops were insufficient, so he radioized Guò and transferred the second division, and as for the gap in the second division, the 20,000 National Guard sent by the Red Fort Hollywood was in charge.

Anyway, now the Mexican government army has been beaten by the French and lost their temper, even Mexico City has been lost, and it is too late to deal with the French, and there is no time to pay attention to the Chinese staying in Acapulco.

It was also the arrival of the Second Division that gave Li Yongji great confidence, allowing him to confidently and boldly carry out further strategic plans.

Otherwise, with Li Yongji's prudence, it would be impossible to rely on the 30,000 people of the Dream Division to ignore it and blindly play some frog jumping tactics.

It can be said that with the addition of the Second Division, coupled with the convenience of the Mississippi River and the escort of the task force, even without the help of the Alliance Army, Li Yongji can confidently and boldly engage in his frog jumping tactics without any worries. R1152