The main army of Grant besieging Vicksburg, with a total of more than 40,000 men, was about 25 miles away from the station of the Sherman Legion, which is about 40 kilometers.

This distance in the sixties of the nineteenth century is already a long way, the cavalry has to walk for half a day, the infantry march, the normal walk takes two days, the forced march takes one day, if you count the combat range, then at this distance, it can be counted as two battlefields.

It is precisely because the two places have been counted as two battlefields that Grant had to separate a Sherman Corps to guard it, so that it can be used as horns against Grant's Corps.

So why is the Grant Corps so far away from the Sherman Corps? After all, these were two battlefields, and with the position of the Sherman Corps, it was impossible to directly participate in the siege of Vicksburg.

This starts with where the Sherman Corps is stationed and Grant's combat intentions.

At the beginning, due to the difficult terrain of Vicksburg, in order to facilitate his own attack, Grant led 44,000 men, under the cover of Porter's fleet, along the west bank of the Mississippi River south, until he landed at Bruinsburg, nearly 30 miles southwest of Vicksburg.

Thereafter, he led his troops on a forced march, and the next day he captured Port Gibson, 10 miles east of Bruinsburg, and on the third day, he captured Grand Bay, north of Port Gibson.

In other words, the Sherman Corps stationed at Grand Bay is northeast of Bruinsburg and northwest of Port Gibson, forming a triangle with Bruinsburg and Port Gibson, of which Grand Bay is the apex of this triangle.

Grand Bay is strategically located at the intersection of the Mississippi River and the Big Black River, a famous tributary of the Mississippi River. The water depth is also very deep, and it is a fairly important shipping lane.

Therefore, the occupation of Grande Bay, with the help of the Mississippi River and the Great Black River, is equivalent to cutting off the east and west sides of Vicksburg, and at the same time can provide supplies to the Grant forces in the east at any time.

In the previous attack on Vicksburg, the reason why Grant did not attack Grande Bay first was because the geographical location here was too important, so Pemberton had set up a 5,000-strong force here to defend, so Grant had to land from Bruinsburg, south of Grande Bay. Then he went east to capture the port of Gibson and grab enough supplies before re-attacking Grande Bay, capturing the strategic point and using it as the main base of Grant's army.

It was because of the victory over Grand Gulf that Grant was able to make such an easy detour to the east and defeat Joseph. Johnston, the capital of the Mississippi River, Jackson, not only cut off the supply base of Vicksburg. He also received a large amount of supplies for himself.

After taking Jackson City, Grant led his troops westward, defeating Pemberton's army at Champion, and then later. With Pemberton's defeat, Grant led his troops westward, marched from the west, and directly besieged Vicksburg.

Other words. Grande Bay was originally an important outlying stronghold of Vicksburg, after Grant led his troops to occupy it. It became the main base of the Grant Legion, too

Although Grant later captured Jackson City, and supplies no longer needed to be transported completely from the rear, Grande Bay was a pivotal place between the Mississippi River and the Great Black River, and its strategic position was quite important, so it continued to send a force to garrison here.

Originally, the garrison of Grande Bay was not the Sherman Corps, but only 5,000 people, but when it was heard that the Chinese appeared in New Orleans, first, out of caution, second, the outlying strongholds of Vicksburg at that time had all been uprooted, leaving only a narrow main urban area, which did not require too many troops to participate in the attack, so the Sherman Corps was transferred to strengthen the defense of Grande Bay, so that the defenders here reached as many as 30,000.

It should be said that Grant's intention at that time was still quite obvious, that is, as long as he held Grande Bay, then this place would be impregnable, and even if the Chinese went up the Mississippi River, as long as they could not cross Grande Bay, they would not be able to have an impact on the siege of Vicksburg.

In fact, because of the very important geographical location of Grand Bay, there were originally many forts here, although a lot of them were later demolished by Grant, but there were still a lot of heavy guns that could not be removed.

Therefore, if Sherman had been bent on defending the Grande Bay base, he might not have been defeated so quickly, at least he could last for half a day, but unfortunately after Sherman found out that the Porter fleet was completely destroyed, he was worried that the artillery of the battery would not be able to stop the opponent's fleet, so he took the initiative to attack the opponent's landing force, and as a result, he encountered the Dream Division near Grande Bay, and after the two sides fought an encounter, the whole army was wiped out at once, and after the main force was completely destroyed, The very few guards who remained in Rio Grande Bay immediately surrendered.

Of course, even if Sherman did not send troops at the beginning, the outcome would be the same, and it would have been possible to support it for a longer time, but in that case, Grand Bay would inevitably be heavily damaged, and it would not have retained relatively intact buildings as it is now.

Now, since the Sherman Corps has been completely wiped out, the so-called Tennessee Corps is actually only the main force of Grant's 40,000 men, and although there are still some troops in other places, they no longer pose a threat.

It was precisely because there was only one target in the future, that is, the main force of the Grant Army on the outskirts of Vicksburg, and there were no other strong reinforcements, so Li Yongji had the ability to let the troops stay in Grande Bay for a day to rest and recuperate, and he still had time to do a show to fool his own people and those American prisoners, and it was clear that he was in a posture of eating the other side.

This is not Li Yongjituo, but after occupying Grande Bay, the distance between his troops and the main city of Vicksburg in the north is a flat river, and there is no danger anymore, and the distance of 25 miles, that is, 40 kilometers, is only two hours at most in front of Li Yongji's motorized troops.

Even, since there is an improvised road between the northern ferry port of Grande Bay and Vicksburg, if you speed up a little, the troops can reach Vicksburg in an hour and attack the main force of the Grant Corps on the periphery.

It was the day after the Rio Grande Bay encounter. When Li Yongji led the energetic and high-morale Dream Division convoy to embark on the journey again, General Grant, who was outside the city of Vicksburg, finally got the news of the loss of Grand Bay.

I can't blame Grant for being so slow to receive the news, it's really a mistake.

In fact, there was originally a telegraph line between Grande Bay and Vicksburg, which was originally set up by the Confederate army to facilitate timely contact between the main city of Vicksburg and Grands Bay.

Afterward. After Grant's forces took Rio Grande Bay as a base, the route was preserved without much damage and even some renovations.

That is to say, normally speaking, if Grande Bay is taken down and the Guò telegraph line is connected, Grant outside Vicksburg should be the first to know the news.

But the problem is that in the Rio Grande Bay encounter. Sherman took the initiative to lead the main force of the whole army to attack, but the result was too fast and too miserably defeated, and when this force was completely annihilated, the Chinese army quickly played the characteristics of motorized mobility. Some of them were left to clean up the battlefield, while others continued to advance into Grand Bay.

As a result, due to the speed of the march of the Chinese army, it was time for the advance convoy of three thousand people to enter the Grande Bay base. The more than 100 defenders who remained in Rio Grande simply chose to surrender, not even resisting.

It was precisely because the troops remaining in Rio Grande Bay surrendered so quickly that the telegraphers who remained behind did not have the opportunity to send a message to the rear. Get the message out there. Of course, even if they were able to get to the telegraph room in time, it would be useless, because they would find that they could not get the message out.

The reason is simple, when the troops of the Dream Division advanced into Grande Bay, they also divided a small detachment and cut the telegraph line between Grande Bay and Vicksburg in advance at a faster speed.

At this time, the telegraph transmission in the Western world was all wired telegraphy, and copper wires had to be used to transmit information, and Morse code was used, so it was impossible to speak directly, so the telegraph operator was a very noble profession in this era.

In this kind of wired transmission, the mode of wooden pole and cable is used, and because the cable uses expensive copper, the number of telegraph lines is very small, such as between Vicksburg and Grand Bay, there is only one telegraph line.

Because there was only one line, and the target of the pole standing on the ground was too obvious, it was quite simple for the team to cut the telegraph line, just arrive early, then climb the pole, and cut it with special pliers.

Cutting off the telegraph line was an established strategy, the purpose of which was to slow down the time for information transmission and give the Chinese Expeditionary Force more buffer.

Because without the telegram notification, Grant would not have been able to know that Grande Bay was occupied in the first place, so he could only use traditional methods such as personnel transmission to obtain accurate information.

Since in the Battle of Grande Bay, it was not 100% annihilated, there were always some fish that slipped through the net, and almost all of these fish slipped through the net were cavalry, so Li Yongji did not expect to hide how much time Grant could have, and he could hide it for a day.

Even if he can't hide it in time, it doesn't matter, even if Grant knows the news here in time and can lead his troops to retreat in time, it is estimated that he will not be able to outrun his motorized troops, at most the other party will retreat to the mountains and cause more trouble to himself.

But in any case, it is necessary to cut off the other party's external ties in a timely manner, and it must be a common practice. Doing so will train the commanders of the army, give them an example to learn from, and form command inertia, so that in future operations, this method of cutting off the enemy's communications will be rooted in their bones.

You must know that Li Yongji's energy is limited, and it is impossible for him to do everything himself, and he will inevitably rely on his subordinates to fight wars in the future, and it will be very beneficial for them to learn the thinking of modern warfare in advance.

It is precisely in order to train qualified officers that the Chinese army has an iron law, that is, every battle must be recorded, and after the battle, all officers above the rank of second lieutenant must make a centralized discussion on the battle record, and each officer must write down his experience and experience as an officer's homework.

This kind of homework with the same experience is not just writing, it is to be included in the personal file and accompany you for a lifetime, and your promotion in the army in the future should also refer to these experiences.

For example. If you are an ordinary officer and a logistics officer, although you don't have much opportunity to fight on the front line and get actual combat achievements, as long as you follow the troops once, write a beautiful experience based on the battle record, and get a high score, then you also have the opportunity to be promoted to a higher rank.

Not only were the officers of the combat units able to write their experiences based on the records of the battles and were therefore eligible for promotions, but even the officers in the rear who did not personally participate in the battle. There is also a chance to be promoted because of this.

Because these battle records are to be sent back to the military academies in the rear and to the correspondence classes of the troops at all levels after the battle is over, because they are actual combat experience, they should be distributed as soon as possible like the officers below and used as their homework, so that even if they are not personally on the front line, they can figure it out and make their own experiences based on the combat records.

If the experience they write has something to say. It is also possible to get a high score, which will stay with you for a lifetime and become an accumulation condition for promotion, when the total score they accumulate is high enough. When it was enough to advance to a higher rank, the General Staff would give them a promotion and make them a more senior officer.

That is, in the military system of the Chinese Empire. There is a system of examinations, which are mainly for officers, and a kind of digitization and standardization has been implemented.

The so-called digitalization and standardization. It refers to the promotion between lieutenants and colonels, and there are clear standards, and each level has a comprehensive score, which is called military merit value.

There are many ways to obtain military merit points, such as studying in military schools or military correspondence classes, passing guò related exams, and obtaining corresponding scores, and the score of this exam can be counted as military merit points.

In addition, when you usually train, everyone has a basic discipline score, if you can always abide by the discipline and not be deducted points during the period, then after a year, this basic discipline score will become your military merit value, if you are deducted points during the period, then the value after removing the deducted points is your military merit value.

If you are too bad and your disciplinary base score is negative, you will be demoted or expelled.

In addition, if you work very hard during training, or if you have a particularly good achievement, such as a particularly good target shooting score, a particularly good shooting score, etc., there will be a bonus score, and this reward score is also a military merit value.

And if you usually have righteous and courageous behaviors, or do some behaviors that are conducive to promoting the image of the Chinese army, or have inventions and creations, you can also add points, and these points are military merit points.

These are all ways to obtain military merit value in peacetime, and during the war, there are also related military merit points or ways, such as how many enemies are killed, such as a person who has not been killed, but has been to the front line, has actually experienced the battlefield atmosphere, etc., there are corresponding reward points, and these reward points are military merit points.

In short, in order to train qualified officers in the shortest possible time, Li Yongji can be regarded as painstaking, of course, there is also a lot of credit for Zhang Xinda, because the military merit upgrade system in this Li Yongji only put forward a general idea, and the specific drumming up still depends on Zhang Xinda.

In fact, this kind of promotion system of military merit value is similar to the university evaluation in modern society, which is also to score grades, test scores, etc., and then do different weights according to important programs.

For example, the army of the Chinese Empire attaches great importance to discipline and obedience, so the discipline score is more important, and it is the basic score.

For another example, the Imperial Army pays attention to the achievement of the campaign goal and cooperation, and does not pay attention to the ability of individual soldiers to kill the enemy, so although the score of killing the enemy is also a lot, it is less than the score of achieving the campaign goal, unless you are particularly against the sky, and one person kills dozens or hundreds of people, it will be higher than the score of achieving the campaign goal.

This is actually a bit similar to playing games, discipline and the like, it is the basic score, and the highest value is certain, which is nothing more than who deducts more and who deducts less; Exam scores and the like are bonus points, which were originally not available, but when you participate, it's like making a copy and you can get extra points; Participate in the battle and achieve the campaign goal, that is, to get mission points for doing tasks, and the biggest score is not the small point you kill the enemy, but the reward points for completing the mission.

Such a complex rating and promotion system, because each person has to make a separate file, when the number of people is large, and then summarized, it is actually a large number system. Therefore, in the face of such a large number system, in order to make a complete and accurate assessment, it is difficult to run smoothly without the help of a computer, because if it is purely human. That's definitely going to be a huge department.

However, with the computer, with the modern social system of large numbers and mathematical models, as long as you enter the personal file, you can call it out at any time at that time, and then at the end of each year, the computer will automatically calculate everyone's scores, you just need to see who is qualified to upgrade, directly select people, and give the other party a medal upgrade.

So. This kind of promotion system within the army is a pure large number system, which is basically decided by the computer, and the promotion number in it basically depends on your ability, not your background, and it is basically a meritocracy. Therefore, at least in this era, this system is definitely the fairest and most accurate system for the promotion of officers.

Of course, it's not appropriate to look at the background at all. Otherwise, there will be no personal family background information recorded in the file, but these family background information are for people to see, but the point upgrade system of military merit value does not look at family background.

This system is in the hands of Li Yongji, so Li Yongji can easily query information. According to their own needs and requirements, they can inquire about the talents in the army, so as to avoid missing talents due to limited energy, and find those available talents in the army in time.

It is precisely because of this system. In order to cooperate with this system, Li Yongji issued magnetic card ID cards to all officers, and each of them re-established their files. These archival materials are both paper archives and digital archives to facilitate access at any time.

With this thing, not to mention anything else, at least it makes it difficult for the officers of the Chinese army to be faked, and the internal competition is stronger, after all, if you want to be promoted, you have to earn points, and how to earn points, the methods and ways are obvious, and there is no need to pat the superiors.

This is because the main right for the promotion of officers is not in your direct supervision, but in the fact that the computer periodically gives candidates and transmits the relevant numbers directly to the Military Merit Archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is responsible for the promotion of officers.

These numbers will be displayed in the computer, at the beginning only count the data, the archivist only has the right to read, that is, to record the data into paper materials, and file them in different categories, but do not have the right to modify or delete.

The right to delete and modify can only be done by the highest administrator, and the only top administrator of this system is His Majesty the Emperor Li Yongji.

In addition to the highest authority, there are also some people who have the secondary authority, that is, the right to punish, the right to delete, the right to freeze, and the right to special promotion.

Needless to say, the power of punishment is the power to punish officers, which includes punishments such as demotion, dismissal, change of position, and even shooting.

However, once the right to punish is made, it is generally not immediately enforced, but the file is frozen and sent to the Judge Advocate General's Office, where the military court of the Judge Advocate General's Department will first conduct a trial, and the trial process will be fine, and then the punishment will be carried out, and if it is wronged, then it will be done again.

The right to erasure, that is, to delete personal information, means that the person will no longer exist in the army, at most there may be a retention in the paper file, so as to be reinstated later, this method is generally prepared for intelligence officers such as lurking.

The right to freeze means that once the person is frozen, no matter what the person does in the future, the computer will no longer automatically make points statistics for him on military merit, and he will lose the opportunity to continue to be promoted, and will not be screened out by the computer, which can be regarded as a hidden punishment.

For example, the personnel who go to the military court for trial, during the investigation, will be frozen, and all the points will be frozen, even if the statistics time is up, your previous points should be accumulated into your military merit system, and there will be no more chance to accumulate. Only when you are unfrozen and declared innocent, your accumulated points that have not entered the military merit system will be re-accumulated and will not be lost.

The right to special promotion means that when you see the person's file, the computer doesn't think that he can be promoted, but you think that he is promoted enough, or should be promoted to a higher level, then you can use this special promotion right to directly promote the opponent's rank and position to the position you want.

It can be seen that this special promotion right is a kind of humanized operation, for example, for some heroes, some objects that need to be taken care of, or for some reason, the computer cannot notarize and reflect the value of the other party, you can use this method to promote.

The three people who hold the secondary authority are the chief of the imperial general staff, the minister of defense, and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, plus the most powerful emperor, His Majesty, these four people are the final decision-makers for the promotion of officers.

However, the issue of promotion is very complicated after all, so in the absence of arbitrariness of the emperor, the three people who have the secondary authority can also make decisions.

In the absence of a clear decision by the emperor, the three people can have a discussion, and after the discussion, all three people must agree, that is, after the joint use of secondary authority, the final punishment such as promotion, demotion or expulsion can be given to the selected person in the computer data, that is, the change of military rank, if one person does not agree, it will not be successful, and it must be ruled by His Majesty.

Although the specific military commanders below also have the right to establish the promotion of individual officers, it is only a weighted score of military merit value, and it does not play a decisive role, and it is the computer and the four people who master the system that determine the promotion of officers.

That is to say, with this system, except for the four people who are high up and have the right to decide your promotion, the others actually have little effect, at most there is a weighted score, so you don't have to bother patting on the back, you just need to upgrade with your heart.

Of course, this system only facilitates the selection of talents by the chief officers above, omits most of the links in the middle, and saves manpower. However, the statistics of the usual data, including the amount of military merit you have obtained, still need to be operated manually.

That is to say, the amount of military merit points obtained for specific items is up to the assessment officers of each specific department, but because the supervision system is also relatively good, it is still relatively fair in general.

In addition, although the system is dead, but people are alive, and the relationship is also alive, the highest master of this system is four people, if you have the ability to get in touch with the emperor's majesty, the minister of defense, the chief of the general staff, and the director of the CIA, so that they pay attention to you, then you can bypass this system and be promoted directly.

After all, the system is just a standard, a reference, and in the end, it is still people who have the final say, but the level is higher, the number of people is smaller, and there will be fewer ways to corrupt and so on, thus reducing some corruption links.

In short, whether to cut off the telegraph line between Grande Bay and Vicksburg is actually of little effect on the Dream Master led by Li Yongji, after all, the difference in strength between the two is too great, and the other party knows a moment earlier and knows a moment later, but the difference is not very big.

However, cutting off the opponent's communication line in advance during combat operations is a revised rule in the infantry drill code, that is, a rule added later, so it is necessary to cut off the telegraph line in advance.

Moreover, cutting off the telegraph line in advance, as far as the tactical situation is concerned, it is possible to let the other side know the situation on this side of Grande Bay later, and there is a certain chance that he can achieve the suddenness of the battle for his own battle, so that he can reduce his own losses and make his attack easier, so why not. (To be continued......)