I have to say that Lincoln's new idea is indeed a very bold and radical idea, and in such an unfavorable situation of the war, he still has to think about taking the initiative to attack and invading Canada.

But if you think about it carefully, Lincoln's idea of abandoning the South and attacking the North with all its might is still very feasible, and in this regard, Lincoln's previous explanations have been enough, and the only question is whether he dares to take risks.

Normally, with Lincoln's current status, he was already tied to the government of the United States of America, and it was very deep, once the northern government was destroyed by the southern government, then perhaps others, including George . Mead didn't have any life problems, but Lincoln was a different story.

Without him, Lincoln's personal prestige in the United States of America was too high, and he was the main person in charge of the abolition of slavery before, so it is conceivable that once the Northern government was overthrown by the Southern army through military action, then others would at least be safe and secure, but Lincoln must die.

Westerners, especially Americans, seem to be generous, but that is on the premise that the other side is not influential enough to affect their own interests, and if someone's personal prestige is too high and poses too much threat to everyone, especially the new politicians, then they do not mind inflicting humane destruction on the other side.

In Western politics throughout the ages, the kind of people with high personal prestige have mostly ended up badly, Caesar, Napoleon, are living examples, and it is clear that Lincoln also belongs to this category of people.

For the current Lincoln, he is already in a state of being able to go up and down, and once the Northern government is down, or even his dictatorship is over, it will also mean the end of Lincoln's personal life.

So, under normal circumstances, anyone in the present United States of America might agree to the Southerners coming over and reunite the North and the South, but Lincoln alone could not agree. After all, the price to pay is too great.

But who knows, President Lincoln is really willing to make such a sacrifice, knowing that it is very risky to do so, and he may lose himself, but he still chooses to do so.

There is only one explanation, and that is that Lincoln did put the interests of the United States first, even higher than his own life, and that everything he did was indeed giving everything for the interests of the United States.

It is indeed noble enough, and it is indeed worthy of admiration.

Of course. It's easy to come up with a bold and original idea, but it's not easy to turn it into a more viable plan and into a tangible action.

In particular, this was not only a large-scale plan, but also a plan that needed to be absolutely secretive, because Lincoln's idea, in order to be realized, had to move the troops in place in a short time, and also to launch an offensive in a short time. Before all parties react, completely defeat the British and create a fait accompli, so as to prevent accidents to the greatest extent.

Thus. In this plan, large-scale troop movements are not a problem, but a matter of concealment, among other things. The offensive against the Boston area must also be resolute and effective, and the winner must be decided in a short period of time, and once it has fallen into a state of delay and seesaw. It's likely to be a complete loss.

Therefore, this operation can be said to be a national battle, although I dare not say that it is a war to determine the fate, but it is almost the same.

But perhaps because of the risky and difficult nature of the plan, and the fact that I admired President Lincoln's determination, George was a little more admirable. Gordon. General Mead was very interested in this plan, and after receiving the supreme authorization of the president, he immediately threw himself into the work and began to refine this large-scale counterattack, or invasion plan.

After considering all parties, it was not long before George. General Mead gave a plan for the safest attack in three directions.

In George. In Mead's vision, although Boston was the key to this offensive operation, it could be said that as long as the British army in Boston was annihilated, everything else would be easy.

But the problem is that the British army is not all concentrated in Boston now, and for the need for logistical supplies, the gathering of 500,000 people will not be of much benefit to attacking Boston, but will cause a huge burden on their own logistics and transportation.

Therefore, the best way is to divide the troops into three ways, all the way from Detroit, directly to the empty Canada, while seizing the land, it can also shake the morale of the Canadian defenders and improve the morale of our army.

For the sake of the principle of proximity, the task of the First Route Army will be handed over to the James River Corps, which is fully organized and relatively safe in combat, and because it was once a unit defending the Western Front, it has been strengthened to a certain extent, and the current total strength has reached 100,000 troops.

As long as you act resolutely and quickly, you will definitely be able to win Ottawa, and then Montreal, Quebec and other cities will also have a great deal of certainty.

In any case, Quebec can be released first, but Ottawa and Montreal must be won, which are the two most important goals of this army.

The reason is very simple, only by taking Montreal can it have a great impact on Canada and shake the morale of the Canadian army and the British army in the Boston area, otherwise if it is just an Ottawa, it will obviously not be able to play this role.

The Second Route Army, which began its offensive at Albany, aimed directly at the city of Worcester, Boston's outer defense.

Albany was originally the base of the Shenandoah River Corps, and was the main defensive base of the British army in Boston, so it made sense to attack from here.

Of course, considering that the Albany direction is the main defensive direction of the British army in Worcester, the offensive in this direction will not be the main force, but will be mainly contained, so as to facilitate the offensive of the Third Route Army.

As for the final Third Route Army, it attacked from New Haven, also aimed at Boston.

New Haven was originally the station of the newly built New York Corps, only about 80,000 people, and the combat effectiveness was weak, most of them were temporary conscripted militia, because the threat was small, so the main goal of the British army in Boston was not placed on them, so the troops here were mainly to defend the British army in the direction of Boston.

Once the 300,000 troops drawn from the Potomac Corps arrived in New Haven, they could launch a resolute and effective attack in the direction of Boston, breaking through the Providence defense line on the outskirts of Boston and taking Providence City in one fell swoop.

After taking Providence City, according to the plan, the Third Route Army will not stay here for long. It will not attack Boston directly, but will advance the whole army to the city of Worcester, where it will cooperate with the Shenandoah River Corps in the direction of Albany to capture Worcester in one fell swoop, and eliminate Worcester, the largest outlying fortress of the British army in Boston.

After the capture of Providence and Worcester, there will be no obstacles to Boston City, and the next thing to do is to concentrate forces to attack Boston and strive to take Boston as soon as possible.

Throughout the plan, the task of the First Route Army was to fight alone. It seems that it has nothing to do directly with the attack on Boston, the purpose is mainly to affect the morale of the British army and the Canadian army on the front line, and it does not matter how much Canadian land and cities it occupies, so the most important thing is to take Montreal in the fastest time and hit the morale of the British army and the Canadian army in the Boston area on the front line.

The reason is very simple, that is, before the main force of the British army in Boston is eliminated, it is meaningless to take more land in the Canadian area, and only if the main force of the British army is completely eliminated in the Boston area, then Canada is a ripe peach. You can take it off at any time, after all, a country that does not have enough troops to defend is not a threat.

The rest, the ones who really launched an attack on Boston. There was only the Second Route Army and the Third Route Army. Among them, the Shenandoah River Army of the Second Route Army mainly played a leading role, with the purpose of attracting the attention of the enemy. Let the other side make a miscalculation to facilitate the rapid attack of your own Third Route Army.

As soon as the British troops in the Boston direction were attracted by the battle in the Worcester direction, the defense in the direction of New Haven was necessarily empty. At this time, the attack of the Potomac River Army, which is currently the most effective in the Union Army, will definitely be able to take Providence in a short time.

Providence is a small city, but at present, it is strategically important, not only as an important seaport in the Narragansett Bay on the Atlantic coast, but also as one of the important defensive strongholds on the outskirts of Boston.

It can be said that taking Providence will be able to pose a direct threat to Boston, and it will already be possible to launch an attack on Boston directly.

But at the same time, the land distance between Providence and Worcester is also very close, and there are no difficulties and dangers between the two, and if it is a forced march, even with artillery, it will take less than two days to arrive.

Therefore, taking Providence is equivalent to grasping the initiative in the campaign, and when the time comes, the Union Army from New Haven can attack both Boston and Worcester. Mead chose Worcester.

Because Worcester City was the forefront of Boston's British defense of Albany, after the original victory in Starlight Town, the British Army in Boston recognized the combat effectiveness of the Shenandoah River Corps, and began to no longer seek to take the initiative to attack the west, but entered a state of all-out defense.

In view of the relatively sharp combat effectiveness of the US troops in the Shenandoah River, and the relatively large number of people, a full of 150,000 people, for the safety of Boston City, the two cities of Worcester and Providence on the outskirts of Boston were specially set up with peripheral defense bases.

Among them, Worcester is the top priority of defense because it is facing Albany and is an inland city, and it is built as a fortress, not to mention various fortifications, and the defenders here alone have as many as 100,000 people.

You must know that the British army in the entire Boston area has a total of less than 300,000 people, of which about 100,000 are from Canada, and less than 200,000 troops are transferred from the British mainland.

Of these troops, 50,000 were located in Maine and other New England cities, while the remaining 250,000 were basically concentrated in the Boston area.

In the Boston area, the British army, or the Anglo-French army, had 100,000 men in Boston, 100,000 in Worcester, and then 50,000 in Providence, exactly 250,000 men.

In this three-legged defensive circle, the city of Boston is undoubtedly the real center of defense, while Worcester and Providence are two fists to defend against threats from both directions of the US military.

Judging from the defensive arrangement of the British army, this method of dividing the defensive site into three cities can not only effectively deploy troops and avoid the logistical pressure caused by excessive concentration of troops, but also form an elastic defense. The cities of Worcester and Providence could be turned into real forward defensive positions, while Boston would complement each other as the rear support.

Therefore, this three-point defense mode is quite tight and effective, attacking any point will get a great counterattack, and can be timely and effectively supported in the direction of Boston.

Among the three defense points, Worcester and Boston are not mentioned, and there are many strong soldiers, but as for the city of Providence, although there are not many troops. The city defense is not strong enough, and it seems to be relatively weak, but this is a harbor city, and it can be supported by the naval fleet of the British and French forces, so the defense is also quite strong, and if you attack here, even if you can win for a while, once the other side reacts, send troops from Boston to support. Add to this the shelling of the naval fleet, and sooner or later Providence will fall back into the hands of the British.

Therefore, the reason why the British army did not place too many troops in Providence was because the city was easy to attack and difficult to defend. So it's more of a bait here.

If there are not many troops attacking Providence, then 50,000 British troops will be enough to defend it, but if there are too many attacking troops, then the British army will retreat. Together with Boston's reinforcements, the naval fleet from Boston launched a new counterattack here. In one fell swoop, he wiped out the troops here with fierce naval artillery and a huge army.

Therefore, when the navy could not gain an advantage, this was a nightmare for the attackers, so the British army was relieved to deploy only 50,000 men here, and did not bother to build a fortress, but concentrated all resources in the city of Worcester.

After all, unlike Boston and Providence, Worcester is a truly inland city that cannot be supported by a naval fleet, so the need for land defenses is higher.

So, it makes sense to concentrate all your energy on Worcester, build a fortress here, and then increase the number of troops. Mead was the commander of the British army, and he would do the same.

It can be said that the British army's defensive measures are quite meticulous, and if they want to take advantage of it, it is basically unlikely.

George. Mead's approach was just a slight tactical trick, such as letting the Shenandoah River Army launch a frontal attack on Worcester to divert the opponent's attention, and then using the Potomac River Army to attack Providence in one fell swoop from the direction of New Haven.

However, Providence could be supported by the naval fleet, so it was not possible to stay here for long, and it had to be transferred quickly, which is why Mead wanted the Potomac Army to transfer the entire army to Worcester immediately after taking Providence.

It can be said that the fundamental purpose of attacking Providence was to mobilize the enemy forces in Boston, so that the British army could not accurately grasp their campaign intentions, so as to buy themselves a little time.

Once the British found out that Providence had been captured, the first thing they would definitely consider was the defense of Boston, and then how to counterattack and retake Providence, so that they could not consider the British army in the direction of Worcester in the first place.

This gave the Union Army a time lag, allowing them to concentrate their main forces and launch an all-out attack on Worcester from both the front and rear, striving to take Worcester within three days and annihilate the defenders here.

For three days, it was George. Mead set a key point for himself, because he estimated that it would take at least three days for the British to fully understand their campaign intentions and resend heavy troops to support Worcester.

In other words, three days is the time of life and death, if you can take Worcester within three days and annihilate the 100,000 British troops here, then the plan to attack Boston this time is equivalent to more than half of the success, and then attack the British troops in Boston in their early 100,000s, it will be much easier.

On the contrary, if it is impossible to take Worcester in three days, so that the British army can react and send reinforcements in time, then the purpose of concentrating forces to break through each will be bankrupt, and in the end everyone can only have a hard-fought attack.

Once caught in that kind of hard-to-head offensive situation, it is not enough to rely on the Shenandoah River Army and the Potomac River Army, and the James River Army that is attacking in Canada must also be transferred, in which case, the time will drag on more and more, and it is very likely that there will be great variables.

"Speed and time are the fundamental points of this military action plan." George. Mead said to Lincoln, "Whether it is the movement of troops during the period or the actual attack, everything else is secondary, and only speed and time are the most critical factors in the success of this operation."

In order to succeed, all troops must act strictly according to my timetable, even if they do not hesitate to sacrifice during the period, let alone one to one, even if they achieve a five-to-one exchange ratio, as long as they can move in a timely and effective manner according to my timetable, we will win this battle.

Once this battle is fully won, then your strategic intentions will be achieved, not counting Canada, at least New England will return to the arms of the United States. ”

"Very well, let's do it." Lincoln nodded, put down the draft plan in his hand, and looked up at George. Mead, "So, what do you need me to do in order to successfully implement this plan?" ”

"Power, absolute power." George. Meade said, "I must have absolute right to transfer troops, and material and logistics must also be prioritized. ”

"No problem, your request will be met." Lincoln smiled lightly, "By the way, you don't have a name for this project yet, right?" ”

"It's our national fortune battle and speed is key, so ...... How about the Bald Eagle Project? ”

"Project Bald Eagle?" Lincoln nodded, "Okay, let's call it Project Baldeagle, and may God continue to bless America." (To be continued......)