The city of Nashville is a humid climate with subtropical depression, to put it simply, the latitude is relatively low, the moisture in the air is relatively large, and it is located in the Great Plains, so in winter, it is easy to have snowstorms. ◎Top Novel,www.

However, generally speaking, the intensity of the blizzard in this place is not too strong, but if it is a once-in-a-century blizzard, it is much more powerful, and the best thing to do at this time is to hide in the house, if it is in the suburbs, it is easy to have an accident.

James. McPherson is this kind of unlucky guy, he finally used various deception tactics to quietly withdraw with the main force of the Nashville Legion, but within a day of leaving, he encountered a once-in-a-century blizzard.

This catastrophic blizzard began at nightfall, and it was windy, goose feathers, and James. When McPherson led his troops to retreat, in order to achieve suddenness, he did not prepare too many tents to protect himself from the cold in advance, so after suddenly encountering this kind of snowstorm, nearly 8,000 people froze to death overnight, and more than 30,000 people suffered frostbite, and almost immediately lost their combat effectiveness.

What's even more terrifying is that this snowstorm lasted for three days, and the thickness of the snow was almost as thick as the calves of ordinary people, which made the entire army slow down, and it was impossible to retreat forward at all.

At this time, it is said that retreating back to Nashville is the best way to allow James to retreat. McPherson was angry and speechless, not long after they left with their troops, the local militia forces in Nashville found out about the situation and immediately took the initiative to surrender to the Union forces and the Chinese. Two days after McPherson left with his troops, Nashville was already under Chinese control.

So, James. The situation McPherson faced was that he couldn't move forward, and he couldn't go backward, so he could only continue to stay where he was. Endure the tragic situation of people freezing to death every day.

The end result is, James. McPherson took the main force of the entire Nashville regiment and stayed in place for fifteen days, during which it was difficult to move an inch, because of cold and hunger, and in the end less than 10,000 people escaped from Ascension, which only appeared when the Chinese in Nashville had no intention of pursuing.

This large-scale attrition (more than 110,000 losses) due to weather factors has been called the "Nashville Winter", in terms of the number of losses and the brutality of the process. More than all wars.

In short, the main culprit of the tragedy in Nashville was actually due to weather factors, but because the dead and wounded were all foreign soldiers, and many of these family members were in Washington, New York and other places, so after the news was transmitted, the repercussions caused were extraordinarily large, and most of the family members could not accept it. You have to find an outlet.

The weather can't be a scapegoat, so Commander James. McPherson became the scapegoat, and everyone believed that it was because of his hasty leading his troops out of town. This is when a once-in-a-century snowstorm occurred and caused such heavy damage.

It's a pity that James. McPherson himself couldn't fully take on that responsibility, so everyone later began to dig deeper. Dig and dig, and dig out Burnside, the commander of the Virginia Legion.

Many public opinion believes that it is because of Burnside's negative offense. The connection between the Ohio River and the Cumberland River was not opened in time, and supplies could not be delivered to Nashville in time. McPherson took a desperate step to lead his troops to retreat, so if it is said that James . . . McPherson is primarily responsible, and Burnside is also jointly and severally liable.

Although the loss of personnel in this disaster is very large, and many American people are in grief, for the White House, this is not unacceptable or unmanageable, for them, the most unacceptable is the loss of Nashville.

After all, if the troops are lost, they can continue to be recruited, anyway, there are many Americans, and there are a large number of blacks, as long as you give some benefits, the soldiers are not a problem.

But Nashville is different, it is a strategic location, and if it is lost, the east and west sides of the Union State can be connected, which makes the Union more stable, and on the contrary, it is quite a bad thing for the Northern Federal Government.

To add insult to injury, the Georgian Corps attacking Boston made no progress, not only did not recover Boston, but instead allowed the Anglo-French forces to capture the area north of Boston, almost connecting with the New England region of Canada.

In short, after entering December, there is little good news for the federal government, and the news of Lincoln's contact, except for failure or failure.

So many defeats had begun to discontent the popular atmosphere in the United States, and many capitalists were skeptical of continuing the fight, and there were already calls for an end to the war, even if the independence of the Union was recognized.

The common people of the United States are now thinking about it, and it is indeed right to oppose the independence of the South, but if in order to maintain such territorial independence, it is necessary to sacrifice the lives and family property of their relatives, then this kind of patriotism is not necessary. 、

After all, Americans in this era do not travel everywhere, and many people live in the place where they were born all their lives, so they can support reunification without hindering themselves in the affairs of the southern region, but if the consumption is too great and they need to send their relatives to death, then everyone will not agree.

Now the problem is that the United States is increasingly calling for a truce because the people at the bottom have suffered greater losses and lower incomes.

However, the middle class in the United States did not lose much, after all, many people could be redeemed with money even if they were captured as soldiers, so they hoped to continue to fight in order to maintain the unity of the North and the South.

However, the middle class in the United States at this time was a minority after all, and American society was not like a spindle-shaped structure like later generations, but a pyramid structure, and the number of people at the bottom was the largest, not the so-called middle class.

Therefore, when the tragedy of the harsh winter in Nashville came back, many low-level people in the United States began to find ways to avoid military service, and even those who had already served in the military were also trying to escape from the barracks, not wanting to continue to fight with the southerners.

As a result, the U.S. government is becoming less and less efficient, the law and order environment is getting worse and worse, and inflation is getting worse.

It is clear that, as a result of the series of defeats of the United States, the people are tired of this hopeless war. Under these circumstances, even if a very small number of middle-class and upper class continue to clamore for fighting to the end, it will be difficult for the war to continue.

"No, no!" Hearing President Lincoln's reiteration of wanting to end the war as much as possible, and even agreeing to recognize the independence of the Confederate states, Vice President Stephen Brown. Douglas was as vehemently opposed as ever.

"We still have strength, great power!" Stephen. Douglas said to Lincoln, "It's true that we're in a difficult situation right now, and we're facing a lot of failures. But these things will pass, but once we recognize the Union Powers, it will be difficult to take them back later! So, for the sake of the territorial integrity of the United States of America, we must continue to fight, and for the sake of territorial integrity, all the qiē is not a problem, so. I can't agree to an early truce. In other words, if there is to be an armistice, it must also be the South that renounces independence and slavery. Otherwise, we'll fight to the end! ”

"My friend." Lincoln sighed, "I don't want the country to be divided, and I want to keep fighting." In the end, we defeated the alliance state, but now we have no power to continue fighting. It's not that you don't know. Recently, we have been under increasing financial pressure, and we are running out of money to buy weapons, and the voices of the people have begun to demand a truce, and the number of them is increasing, and we are also encountering more and more resistance from those who go down to conscription. In other words, our compulsory military service system can no longer be implemented smoothly, and violent confrontation has even occurred in many places in order not to join the army. ”

"The difficulties are temporary." Stephen. Douglas said, "Those who are short-sighted and poor, they need not be polite, these are extraordinary times, and extraordinary policies must be implemented." Therefore, compulsory military service must be continued, and we must let them know that any violent confrontation can only be dealt with by devastation, and that as long as we are tough enough, those poor people will not dare to confront us. ”

"But if it goes on like this, when will it be a head?" Finding that he couldn't persuade this guy, Lincoln was also a little angry, and raised his voice and said, "Do you know that the longer this war lasts, the greater our losses, and in the western region, the Chinese are going all out to migrate to this side." According to the estimates given by the intelligence agencies, if the war lasts for one year, the Chinese will increase to one million in the west, and if it lasts for two years, it will increase to two million...... Do you know what that means? ”

"Of course I do!" Stephen. "But the question is, even if we truce war with the South in advance, will you be able to stop the Chinese from immigrating?" Or, even if we now have a truce with the South, how do you deal with the immigration policy of the Chinese? Is it through diplomatic channels? It's funny, what would you do if the Chinese government ignored our diplomatic complaints and continued to emigrate to our west? Do you want to continue to fight with the Chinese? ”

"The land of the West is the future of America." Lincoln said, "For the sake of this future, I will not hesitate to fight with the Chinese." Moreover, if there is a truce with the South, at least the British and the French will not look for trouble anymore, and our opponents will go from facing the Chinese alone, the British, the French and the Allied States, no, the Yankees, to only facing the Chinese, so that our chances of victory are relatively high.

Moreover, the British and the French are also very wary of China, and now they continue to fight with us because everyone has benefits, once we compromise with them and make a truce with them, I believe that with the situation of the British and the French, we also do not want to see China occupy our western land, at that time, the British and the French will become our allies, and everyone will put pressure together, it is very likely to curb the expansion of the Chinese, is this not good? ”

"You're taking this for granted!" Stephen. Douglas shook his head, "I admit that the British and French should be more jealous of the Chinese, but after all, China is only in Asia and cannot affect Europe, so even if the French and British are jealous of the Chinese, they will be quite limited." On the contrary, if there is a truce with them, we will face it alone Chinese...... That was the beginning of disaster for us.

Don't forget, now the Chinese are fighting with us, it is moral, and the number of troops they send is also very small, not even a regular army, just a group of mercenaries.

Once we start to fight with the Chinese and start fighting for the western land, then the Chinese will definitely send more troops.

Don't forget, most of the western region is deserted, and if we go there, we will take the sea route, bypass Cape Horn, and there is no guarantee that our navy will be able to beat the Chinese. By land, because there is no railway, it will take a month or two to transfer troops from the east to the west, while the Chinese, although separated by the Pacific Ocean, can rely on ship transportation, and can also transport troops within a month or two.

In this way, the Chinese can wait for work in the west, and we are on an expedition of laborers, plus the Chinese have a larger population and more troops, and once a full-scale war starts with them, it will only be us who will suffer. ”

"But the land in the west was hard for us to conquer, can you just watch the Chinese occupy it?" Lincoln said unconvinced.

"The problem is that now the Chinese have more of an advantage when it comes to land in the west." Stephen. Douglas shook his head and said, "We are now very weak because of the war, and if we stop the war early, we will fight with the Chinese again, and the result will be too unpredictable."

Therefore, instead of expecting to keep the land in the west where the land is vast and sparsely populated, we should first keep the land in the south, after all, everyone has the same roots, and the land in the south is much better than the west, so I don't understand, why don't you care about the land in the south, you have to care about the west? ”

"It's not that I don't care about the land in the south, and I don't care about territorial integrity." "The problem is, if we continue, we will probably not be able to support it, after all, we are under increasing financial pressure, we have begun to run massive deficits, and the willingness of the people to join the army is getting lower and lower, and I am afraid that if we continue, we will not get anything!" ”

"No, it won't." Stephen. Douglas said, "We are difficult, so the South is far inferior to us, and they are not difficult?" As for the Chinese, the British and the French, they are the same, it is impossible to spend with us for a long time, so as long as we continue to persevere, at most three years, victory will definitely belong to us! ”

"But ......"

"No, but!" Stephen. Douglas waved his hand, "I must warn you, if you dare to truce war with the South privately, I will definitely do my best to stop you, definitely!" (To be continued......) R527