Time finally entered December 1863, in this era, although the world has just come out of the period of the Xiaoice River, began to fully warm, entered a moderate period, but because it has just entered the moderate period, plus the global population base is still relatively small, industry and agriculture are not developed, the global greenhouse effect is not strong, so the global average temperature is still relatively low.

Specific to Nashville in North America, the most important hub city in the central United States, at the end of November, the temperature dropped below 10 degrees Celsius, and in December, the cold air from the north immediately plummeted to below zero, coupled with the local humid climate, humidity, so soon snowflakes drifted.

Normally, the snow in Nashville is also a favorite thing for the local people, because the snow is good for the growth of crops and can bring a lot of romantic fun to the family, but this year, the citizens of Nashville have begun to hate snow, because the snow is a kind of nightmare for them who are already surrounded and trapped.

In fact, when it was heard that the Ohio River Corps in the Smithland area had been wiped out and that the train tracks had been cut off from the outside world, Nashville City's James Murphy had been cut off. McPherson realized that the city could not be defended.

For this reason, he immediately sent a telegram to the White House in the rear, demanding that he immediately lead troops to break through and abandon Nashville.

Judging from the situation at that time, the Chinese and ! The Confederates had just taken Smithland, and the nearby city of Memphis was under-defended, and Confederate reinforcements had not arrived. If McPherson had led his troops to break through immediately, it would have been possible to leave in time.

However, Lincoln did not agree to this approach, because if they retreated without a fight, they would throw the important town of Nashville to the other side for nothing, thus connecting the East and West sides of the Confederate States. This is an outcome that they absolutely do not want to see.

So, Lincoln ordered James. McPherson stayed where he was, standing by for help, and he would organize his forces to get in touch with Nashville.

James. McPherson's sharp eyes were sharp, but his mind was a little stiff, or rather, he was too accustomed to following orders from his superiors, so since the president said so, he did so. Even if he knew that the longer he stayed, the more dangerous the situation became.

Of course, Lincoln did not deceive him either, but really went to great lengths to resolve the matter in order to break the current unfavorable situation.

To this end, Lincoln first asked the Virginia Corps, which was recuperating, to stop recuperating and appointed Ambrose. Everett. Burnside, commander of the legion, led the new Virginia Legion to Smithland in the hope of reopening the river.

In order to cooperate with this force to recapture Smithland. Lincoln also concentrated three river fleets and sent a total of twenty-six ironclad ships down the Ohio River to fight the Chinese task force.

Other words. Lincoln's method was to attack together on the river and land, not counting on how much victory his ironclad fleet would achieve, but only hoping to contain the Chinese fleet. Just let them not devote themselves to ground support to Smithland.

As for the Virginia Legion, this legion was a defeated army earlier, and it was once beaten by the Northern Virginia Legion of the Union Army and could not find the north. However, the backbone is still there, there are still many experienced grassroots officers, and there are various objective reasons for the initial failure.

Of course, this reason alone cannot be a reason to expand the Virginia Legion, after all, this is a legion that has experienced heavy defeats.

The real reason is that the Virginia Regiment is located in Washington, and it is the only mobile force in Washington at present, plus there are many middle-level commanders in it, and most of their families are industrial capitalists who control a lot of arms production, so in order to take care of these industrial capitalists and get their help, Lincoln expanded the size of the Virginia Regiment.

After the expansion of the army, especially the replenishment of a large number of levies, the legion was once again a large army with a total number of more than 180,000 men.

However, Lincoln appointed Ambrose. Everett. Burnside was the commander of the Great Army, and he also worked with George Brown. Gordon. Mead.

After the death of General Grant, who was valued by Lincoln, Lincoln felt that the Union Army lacked a unified command structure and that the troops were fighting separately, so he decided to reorganize the army of the United States.

After the reorganization, whether it was the original regular army or the temporarily conscripted troops, it was unified and called the federal army, and began to form the wartime headquarters of the federal army.

In addition to being able to command and command all the troops in the United States, the most important feature of this Union Wartime General Headquarters is that it can bypass Congress, do not have to be questioned by Congress, and directly obey the president's orders, thus strengthening the prerogatives of President Lincoln and increasing the efficiency of the army's execution of orders.

In this way, the Department of Defense has become a department that can only manage logistics and training, and it is almost impossible to say that it exists in name only, and the authority of President Lincoln has been greatly enhanced.

After the reorganization, Lincoln did not personally serve as the wartime commander-in-chief of the newly established Union Army, but planned to find a professional general to serve as a general, and after looking for a long time, he finally found a suitable person, this person is currently leading the Potomac Corps and Robert Brown. Lee confronts George. Gordon. Mead!

In the current situation, the Federation Army can be said to have been defeated in successive battles on various battlefields. Lee played the sound and color of George. Gordon. Mead gradually became the hope and idol of the Federal Army.

To be precise, George. Gordon. Since Mead led his troops, he had not achieved any major victories, and compared to Grant and Sherman, who had already died, his achievements were not outstanding or dazzling.

However, he has very good organizational skills and tactical skills, so although he is cautious in leading troops and not very brilliant, who makes his opponent Robert. What about Lee.

Robert. Li is now not only a hero of the Southern Army, but also considered a rare commander of the Northern Army, so being able to fight with this genius general shows that he is also a master.

In addition, almost all the generals have suffered heavy defeats at present, and only George. Gordon. Mead didn't make any mistakes, and the two were in contrast. The dwarf pulls the general, George. Gordon. Mead was regarded as a great savior by the Federal Army, and he was blown into the genius general of the Federal Army, and if you look at it this way, appointing him as the wartime commander-in-chief of the Federal Army seems to be the best choice at the moment.

Although in Lincoln's view, the promotion of George. Gordon. Mead was helpless, after all, he didn't choose him at the beginning, but Grant, but he chose the right person by mistake.

True. If combined with the previous examples, Grant was indeed more brilliant at the beginning, and his strategic and tactical abilities seemed to be better than Mead, but in fact, the strategic and tactical abilities of the two were not much different, and in terms of organizational ability, Mead was even better than Grant.

Grant was able to quickly become famous because his original battlefield was the Western Front, before the Chinese were out. The Allied Army on the Western Front was much weaker than the Eastern Front in terms of both the level of command of the soldiers and the commanders, and the territory was vast and the personnel relations were simple. It's very good for Grant's play, allowing him to make big strides on offense.

Mead, on the contrary, served on the more brutal Eastern Front from the very beginning. He faced the elite units of the Union Army, and the commanders were all like Robert Brown. Plum. There are also famous generals such as Stonewall Jackson, and in addition, the scope of movement in the eastern battlefield is smaller, it is difficult to engage in sports warfare, more positional warfare, coupled with the complexity of personnel relations, which also makes it impossible for Mead to play.

However, despite the absence of Grant's conditions, Mead still relied on his prudence and meticulousness to gradually make a name for himself.

Not only did he complete a beautiful defense in the Battle of Gettysburg, but after leading the Potomac legion, he also allowed this legion to completely block Robert on the basis of smaller personnel losses. Lee's Northern Virginia Regiment made it impossible for the elite southern troops to attack the federal government again, and could only continue to retreat to Fort Frederick.

Strictly speaking, if Grant is likened to the kind of active attacker who only wants to achieve tactical and strategic intentions, but does not care about the lives of soldiers, no matter how many sacrifices, then General Mead is the kind of defensive counterattacker who can take care of both tactical and strategic intentions and care about the lives of soldiers.

It's hard to say which of these two styles is better, because both of them are excellent generals, and it's estimated that the two of them are really right, and the result depends on luck.

However, from another point of view, Grant's command style is more suitable for leading troops stronger than the enemy, that is, he is good at commanding strong armies and is more conducive to exerting his ability in strength, while General Mead is different, he is more suitable for playing in weakness.

If you think about it carefully, being able to take the initiative to attack generally means that you are stronger than your opponent, and historically, if it were not for the intervention of the Chinese and the British and the French, the Northern Union Army was indeed stronger than the Southern Army in all respects, except for the initial preparation.

Therefore, if there is no external force to intervene, then it is indeed the best choice for someone like Grant to lead the Northern Army, because he can end this large-scale war between the North and the South in the shortest possible time, so as to reduce greater losses and retain more vitality for the country.

However, from the time the Chinese began to intervene, the nature of the war changed, from a simple civil war due to differences in ideas and economic systems, to a patriotic war with an anti-aggression nature.

True, at least from the point of view of the United States of America, their war was indeed a just patriotic war, while the Chinese, British and French were invaders, and the southerners were rebels or American traitors and puppet soldiers.

However, it is a pity that this is an era of great powers competing for hegemony, and although the justice of war is also important, it is not as important as that of later generations, so in the final analysis, it still depends on combat effectiveness.

Purely from the point of view of the balance of forces, although the north still has advantages over the south in terms of population, transportation convenience, total agricultural and industrial output, and the number of troops, the actual results of the war are quite unsatisfactory, and in the face of the rebellious southern army and foreign invaders, it has always been in a situation of more defeats and fewer victories, and there is hardly a single strategic victory that can inspire the people.

Of course, it cannot be said that there were no inspiring heavy victories, such as the Battle of Charlotte, which was previously called the opening of the door of the Confederate army on the Western Front, Grant once defeated the Confederate army on the Western Front, and thus officially emerged to the outside world, but unfortunately when Grant later failed and died in the Battle of Vicksburg, those once inspiring results have been overshadowed in the face of more defeats.

In other words, although the United States of America is still full of stamina, it still has a strong war background, as Scar said to Li Yongji before. If you destroy one of my legions, I will be able to form ten hundred or more legions in return.

However, judging from the current overall battlefield situation, the federal army has changed from the original strategic offensive stage to the strategic stalemate stage, and is still continuing to change to the strategic defensive stage.

The reason for this is that the losses of the Federation Army are too fast and too great, after all, they have lost four or five strategic-level legions in succession, even if they are as strong as the United States of America, they can't breathe for a while.

To know. The population base is only the population base, and it takes a certain amount of reaction time to transform into a huge force, and this reaction time, although there are many related indexes specifically, generally speaking, refers to the time it takes to train an ordinary person into a qualified soldier, and the time for the arsenal to produce a sufficient number of weapons.

Therefore, at least for the time being, the federal army as a whole is showing weakness. Grant's aggressive style is not suitable, and if he were still alive and made him commander-in-chief of the Union Army, he would surely continue to fight the enemy regardless of casualties. That would only cause more damage to your own side, making the overall situation of the Federation Army even more unfavorable.

On the contrary, General Mead's defensive and counter-attacking style of elastic defense is more suitable for the current Federation Army. Because this will give the Federation Army a breather and give them more time to train their troops in anticipation of their rise to prominence.

In layman's terms. Grant is like straightening his fist and rushing forward, colliding with the opponent, using the method of exchanging injuries for injuries, hitting the opponent without respite, so as to quickly take the opponent down with brute force, while General Mead will put his fist away first, and can take the initiative to retreat, in anticipation of a stronger explosion.

Obviously, under the circumstances, it is quite appropriate for General Mead to be the wartime commander-in-chief of the Union Army.

In order to justify General Mead's wartime commander-in-chief, Lincoln first awarded him the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor in the United States in the absence of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

After awarding the Congressional Gold Medal, Lincoln, in his capacity as President, promoted General Mead to lieutenant general in the regular army of the United States of America, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the United States of America, which was the highest rank in the military system of the United States of America, which did not yet hold the rank of general.

After being awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and becoming a lieutenant general, Mead was already above other generals in terms of honor and status, and it was at this time that Lincoln appointed him to the post of wartime commander-in-chief of the Union Forces of the United States of America.

In this way, honors are given first, then military ranks, and finally positions, which can be regarded as justifiable, and it is a matter of course.

General Mead also lived up to expectations, and after becoming the commander-in-chief of the Federation Army, he quickly mobilized his troops and began to launch a comprehensive contraction defense in all directions.

Not only did he continue to confront the Confederate forces on the Eastern Front with the Potomac Corps, but he also stopped the attacking Boston troops, telling them to just confront the Anglo-French forces in Boston and not take the initiative to attack, so as to maintain their own vitality.

At the same time, he intensified the reorganization of troops in various localities, demanded that they become troops as quickly as possible, and even established a system of compulsory military service in major cities in the United States.

There is no doubt that he was quite right and necessary in doing so, but only with Smithland could he not fully implement his purpose of abandonment.

In fact, in Mead's view, Nashville had become an isolated city, and there was no point in continuing to garrison there, but Lincoln did not think so, and he felt that it could still be a nail in the nail deep into the South, and he could not give up.

So, in the end, Mead compromised with President Lincoln and agreed to transfer the Virginia Legion to Smithland to relieve the siege, but Mead also had a request, that is, if Smithland's counterattack was frustrated, Nashville's troops should be allowed to break through immediately.

To this end, Mead also deliberately mobilized the James River Legion to the vicinity of Nashville, not to attack the Union Army in Virginia, but to meet the breakthrough Nashville Legion - yes, the Nashville Legion, which was a newly formed legion, and the commander of the regiment was James. Major General McPherson.

Now that General Mead had compromised with him, Lincoln became magnanimous and asked Mead to recommend the commander of the Virginia Legion, and Mead immediately chose Ambrose. Everett. Burnside.

Although Lincoln didn't trust this person so much, after all, in his opinion, this guy's previous appearance was not very good, but he couldn't bear General Mead's insistence, so he agreed to let him continue to be the commander of this Virginia regiment.

As for General Mead's reason for choosing him, it was because Burnside, although not very tactical, was very organised, and he was good at using new weapons.

For example, the linen shell fixed ammunition used by the federal army today, as well as the rear-loading six-pounder cannon and the kind of kerosene burning/burning/bottle, were all designed by him personally, and he also strongly built yì columns, although these things have not yet achieved substantial results on the Western Front, but they are good on the Eastern Front, and the Union Army is miserable.

Moreover, Mead also knew that the fundamental reason why Bernside was passive when he led the troops before was because he did not want to go to war with his compatriots in the South and belonged to the more radical idealist type.

However, now it is no longer the original time, but the Great Patriotic War with foreign invasion, so Bernside's patriotic fervor has also been ignited, and he is no longer the deserter who always wanted to shirk his position as a commander.

During Mead's leadership of the Potomac Army, Burnside served as a corps commander under him, and often stayed up all night when directing battles, and played quite well, especially the meticulous defense, which made Mead even more admired.

Because of this, Mead strongly recommended Burnside to be the commander of the Virginia Legion, and in his opinion, he was the most suitable for the current situation.

Obviously, letting this defensive-minded man command the counterattack force shows that Mead is not optimistic about the tactical arrangement of counterattacking Smithland, but he can't bear the president's expectations, so he just reluctantly trys.

Unfortunately, later facts quickly proved the theory that when you think things tend to be bad, then the results tend to be worse! (To be continued......) R1292