Due to the speed of Stonewall Jackson's advance, there was not much time left for Lincoln and Mead to react, whether it was running or defending, they had to be fast enough.

Fortunately, Lincoln's government was already a semi-dictatorial centralized government, and many times only Lincoln was required to make decisions, while in the military field, it was even faster, and only President Lincoln and George Commander-in-Chief of the Union Army were needed. Mead and the two of them can discuss it, and in terms of efficiency, it is far higher than that of the Alliance Army.

So, in the morning, Lincoln had just discussed countermeasures with General Mead at the White House, and determined the policy of holding on to the reinforcements, and at noon, General Mead personally led his troops out of the city, and led his troops to Brydensburg in the evening, began to repair the fortifications, reorganized the army, and prepared to meet the enemy.

Then, two days later, one evening, a 30,000-strong Confederate force arrived, not in fear in Washington, but in Brydensburg, which was in full swing.

Although Stonewall Jackson's command ability is outstanding, in terms of comprehensive ability, it is even far superior to Robert. Lee, but he is not a god after all, and it is impossible to run sixty kilometers in three days with a total force of 300,000 people.

This is not to say that Jackson was not good at marching, in fact, he was strict in his army, his troops marched quickly, and he once led 17,000 men to march 1,000 kilometers in 48 days, and also won five wars.

In other words, for the 60-kilometer journey from Baltimore to Washington, it is not at all a matter of three days, but the problem is that when the number of people is small, once the number of people exceeds 30,000, the situation is completely different, and the speed of the march will be greatly reduced, and if it exceeds 50,000, the speed will be reduced again. If it is more than 100,000, it will be a more complex project, and it is not possible to make a decision to march with a single tap of the brain.

If nothing else, the number of traffic that can be accommodated on a single highway alone will not allow 300,000 people to walk 60 kilometers in three days.

In order to balance stability and speed, Jackson deliberately divided the troops into multiple units, and the 300,000 men were divided into ten columns, each with 30,000 people, and the columns were used as units to advance section by section.

And in the midst of this. In order to maximize the suddenness of the surprise attack on the capital and cause strong psychological oppression to the other side, Jackson specially formed a fast column of 30,000 people, also called the carriage column.

As the name suggests, the fast column, or carriage column, refers to the way the troops march in horse-drawn carriages, neither walking on two legs, nor pure cavalry or mounted infantry in the traditional sense. Rather, it refers to a four-wheeled caravan that uses horse-drawn horses, whether it is pulling people or equipment.

In fact, the use of horse-drawn carriages in the army has long been nothing new. Whether it is Europe, Asia, or America, horse-drawn carriages are an indispensable means of transportation when large armies march, but in the past. Most of the carriages were used to pull equipment and were used as logistics troops, and few were used to pull infantry.

This is not to say that it is not possible to pull infantry in horse-drawn carriages. It is purely determined by the way of warfare of this era.

In the sixties of the nineteenth century, the armies of European and American countries are still roughly divided into pure infantry, artillery and cavalry, although with the development of weapons, cavalry gradually withdrew from the main battlefield and became an auxiliary infantry and artillery branch, but the importance can not be ignored, but in any case, in the history of war in Europe and the United States, there has never been a separate carriage soldier.

The reason for this is due to traditional inertial thinking, and secondly, because of the imperfection of road conditions and technology.

You must know that although a horse-drawn carriage is stronger than simply riding a horse, the horse-drawn carriage has higher requirements for technology and road conditions, and is not suitable for field marching.

Because the carriage must have wheels, bearings, tires and other key technologies, even if these technologies are passed, the requirements for road conditions are also very high, leaving the road, the ability of the carriage is basically greatly reduced, in other words, the carriage can only be regarded as a strategic means of transport, can not become a tactical arms.

It is precisely because the carriage is too restricted, it cannot be separated from the road, the price is too expensive, and the speed of the carriage is not much faster than the forced march of the infantry, so in this way, the main forces of European and American countries have not set up a separate carriage unit, and there is no large-scale move to use the carriage to pull the infantry, but only to use the carriage to pull the baggage and artillery.

Of course, the significance of the carriage in strategic transportation is still very important, but unfortunately, when the carriage technology began to advance, such as the emergence of steel rod bearing technology, spring technology and rubber tire technology, etc., so that the carriage capacity was stronger, and at the same time, the scale of the war in Europe and the United States also began to expand, the demand for firepower was greater, and there was an urgent need for stronger transportation capacity to transport materials, a better transportation technology - the train appeared, which made the carriage a chicken rib.

Therefore, the carriage and the train, a bit like the crossbow and the musket of the contest, when the crossbow technology has not been fully developed, the musket appeared strongly, so that the crossbow technology has not been developed for a long time, or later into the modern society, due to special needs, the crossbow technology was developed in turn, but the crossbow can only be used as a special combat weapon at most, can not become a mainstream weapon.

In short, the reason why large-scale carriage troops did not appear in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was not because everyone thought of it, but because it was not necessary before, and there were better alternatives when needed, which made the carriage infantry, or the chariot soldiers, have been neglected for a long time.

On the contrary, before the gunpowder age, in the early days of the cold weapon era, there were many chariot soldiers, but that was also because the technology was not up to par, and when the cavalry appeared on a large scale, the ineffective chariot soldiers were eliminated.

However, in this time and space, due to the appearance of Li Yongji and the introduction of a motorized chariot unit that could not have appeared in this time and space, the combat effectiveness and results of this unit have amazed the alliance forces that are close at hand, and also made the alliance army troops begin to pay attention to the chariot troops again.

In fact, at this time, the four-wheeled carriage technology in the United States was quite advanced, the kind of thing called the caravan, only two horses, can pull six people, with a lot of equipment and materials, although it is said that it is inseparable from the road, but the cost performance is still quite good.

Others don't mention it, at least Robert is very sensitive to new technologies and new tactics, and has a soft spot for sports warfare. Li said that he was fascinated by the superiority of the chariot unit, so when he heard about the style of the Chinese ironclad chariot. As soon as he used his power, he began to send people to contact the Chinese Expeditionary Force, wanting to purchase a part of the ironclad vehicles, and the other move was to ask the Union government for horse-drawn carriages, a large number of horse-drawn carriages, and prepare to form a pure carriage army.

Although the Chinese ironclad cars could not be bought, after the efforts of the Union government, a large number of four-wheeled carriages using Chinese steel as bearings were produced, and then Roberto Brown. Lee threw it directly at his most valued subordinate, Jackson. Put Jackson in charge of forming a carriage unit in the rear.

That is, at that time, that is, last year, Robert. Lee was already planning to launch a large-scale surprise attack on the north, otherwise he would not have made so many preparations.

Jackson lived up to expectations and trained a mixed force of cavalry and carriages, with a total number of 30,000 men. Evel. Brown. Stuart personally led the team.

This time, Jackson led his troops to raid Baltimore. This force was also brought over, but because of the peculiarities of this force, it was time to attack Baltimore. This wagon column did not have much to offer.

On the contrary, after taking Baltimore, this force was regarded as a vanguard force, and was sent out by Jackson as the first choice for a quick attack on Washington.

As Jackson thought. The army had just landed, and it was very difficult for it to continue to attack Washington, which was 60 kilometers away, without resting. That would result in a lot of non-war attrition.

But the raid on Baltimore is a clever move, but the most important thing is a quick word, once they react, there are still more than 300,000 troops in Philadelphia not far away, although most of them are new soldiers, but they are not a decoration.

Therefore, after Jackson took Baltimore, he immediately led his troops out of the city with great fanfare, ostensibly to attack Washington, creating a posture of going straight to the heart of the capital of the United States, but in fact, the troops had walked less than five miles out of the city before they stopped in the woods by a small stream and began to rest in place.

Jackson's idea is very simple, he just wants to deceive the enemy, so that everyone thinks that he is stunned, and he will lead a large army to attack Washington regardless of fatigue, and he will not care about Baltimore in the rear, and he will have the meaning that as long as Washington is taken, Baltimore is nothing at all.

The benefits of this approach are numerous.

First, it can put more pressure on Washington, if it can force Lincoln and the central government team to flee in a hurry because of this, leaving an empty city, then he can grasp more strategic initiative, and he can confidently and boldly chase after the other side, completely capture or kill Lincoln, and end this damn war as soon as possible.

Second, if the other party is not fooled and wants to defend Washington, then he can also use this method as a bait to lure the 300,000 troops in Philadelphia to come and attack Baltimore, once the other party dares to leave Philadelphia to fight, he can come by surprise and give the other party a head-on blow, even if it can't be completely annihilated, it will be a big victory if it can be defeated.

All in all, Jackson just took the troops out of Baltimore City, but in fact, the troops did not go far, they stayed in the woods on the outskirts, and Jackson did not intend to abandon Baltimore lightly, and led all the main forces to Washington, which was too dangerous.

Why? The reason is that Baltimore is located between Washington and Philadelphia, and these cities are connected to railroads, and both Washington and Philadelphia have a large number of locomotives and ropes, and the transportation capacity is undoubted.

Not to mention Washington, Philadelphia is a large city in the United States of America, and there are several main corps stationed here, including the Delaware River Corps, the Grand Bay Corps (also known as the Chesapeake Bay Corps), and the Philadelphia Guard Corps (a militia corps), with a total strength of more than 350,000.

This unit was part of the Pennsylvania theater of operations, and the commander-in-chief was General George? Henry? Thomas, who has quite good combat effectiveness and a strong offensive spirit, is an enemy that must not be ignored.

Therefore, once Jackson led the main force of 300,000 troops, regardless of the attack into the inland Washington, it was good to be able to take it smoothly, but once the attack was not smooth and was strongly blocked, Philadelphia in the rear would go south with a large army and recapture the empty Baltimore in one fell swoop.

At that time, Jackson's 300,000 troops were in a situation where they were caught between Washington's troops and Philadelphia's troops.

Therefore, the safest way is to learn from the British and French forces and take Baltimore. In the future, as long as Baltimore is firmly held, Baltimore is used as a fulcrum, cutting off the connection between Washington and Philadelphia direction, and slowly expanding its advantage, it will be able to achieve a complete victory sooner or later.

However, that was too slow, so slow that it would take years to calculate, after all, on the whole, the strength of the Northern Army was not weaker than that of the Southern Army, they were just caught off guard. Once we recover from this, we will still have to enter the stage of strategic stalemate, which is nothing more than to see who makes more mistakes and who has more initiative.

During this period of strategic stalemate, whether it is the South or the North, the people will continue to suffer from the war, and the longer the war drags on, the greater the benefits that foreign intervention forces can achieve in the United States, which Jackson cannot bear.

Jackson was an important general of the Union Army. And he has a brilliant record, but as far as he intended, he also did not want to see the United States split into two countries.

It's just a negative Robert in contrast to politics. Lee, Jackson's offense is stronger. The self-discipline is stricter, and it is also a strong opposition to the right of freedom to blacks, and advocates the continuation of slavery.

Therefore, Jackson's proposition is to unify the north from the south. The war overthrew the Lincoln government, formed a new federal government, and restored the original United States.

Other words. As a devout Christian, Jackson opposed the Lincoln administration and Lincoln's decisions, believing that Lincoln's approach was the main cause of the division between the North and the South, and that even if black slaves were to be freed, they should not be achieved overnight, but should be done slowly, and the traditions of the states must be respected, and there should be no dictatorship.

In Jackson's view, as long as the northern government continues to be attacked, when the northern people are disgusted with Lincoln and let the Lincoln administration collapse, then the North and the South can be reunited, and at that time, the United States will still be a complete United States, all outdated policies will be overturned, and all foreign intervention forces that take advantage of the benefits will have no reason, let alone the ability to continue to stay in the United States, and the people (mainly referring to white people) can live a peaceful and happy life again.

Because of this thinking, Jackson believed that Lincoln was the culprit, and that as long as Lincoln was defeated, it would have a great impact on both political and military affairs, and quickly speed up the process of ending the war, so that more people would not be displaced by the war.

In short, because of his love for peace, Jackson was more eager for a quick victory, so he knew that holding Baltimore was victory. Lee's original order to him was only to take Baltimore and hold Baltimore, but Jackson preferred to continue the march, to expand his gains, and march to Washington.

In this way, Jackson quietly hid the main force while sending out James? Ever? Brown? The fast wagon column led by Stuart made a rapid attack on Washington with great fanfare all the way.

In Jackson's mind, Washington was outnumbered, and once he heard that the 300,000 troops were pressing, he would definitely flee to the rear in a hurry, just like during the Second Revolutionary War, and once Lincoln and the others ran away, not to mention the blow to their prestige, it would be quite a good bargaining chip to say that Washington had so many materials and personnel, as well as those locomotives.

In fact, he almost succeeded, because after hearing the news that Jackson had led his troops to raid Baltimore and quickly marched on Washington, even George . Mead demanded that Lincoln move immediately, but one can imagine what the others would think.

But it's a pity that this time Jackson's tactics miscalculated, and the reason for the miscalculation was that he ignored Lincoln's stubbornness, and even misestimated Washington's value to Lincoln!

Therefore, although the fast column was fast enough, numerous, strong and powerful enough, and powerful enough, they were completely dumbfounded when they faced the 50,000 Federation troops who hastily set up defensive positions at Bradensburg.

This shows that Washington was not frightened, did not become an undefended city because of fear, and they chose the method that Jackson was most unhappy to encounter - to defend it to the death!

"What to do? Checkmate? A young adjutant asked his commander, Brigadier General Stuart, "They seem to have been prepared and there are quite a few of them, so in this case, should we continue to attack?" ”

"Of course!" Stuart waved his horsewhip fiercely, "Give me my orders at once, get out of the car for me, and prepare for the siege!" By the way, remember to pull up all the cannons, no matter what caliber they are, pull them all to the front line, and at the farthest range, give me a hard bang first. ”

"Don't we need to report to the Commander-in-Chief first?" The adjutant hesitated, "They occupy a good position and wait for work, while we come from a long distance, and everyone is tired. Besides, we don't have an advantage in numbers, and we don't have much siege artillery, so relying on those field artillery alone may not be their opponents. Why don't we retreat one after another, set up camp, rest first, and then take our time? ”

"No, you can't do that, at least not yet!" Stuart waved his hand, "They looked like they were in a hurry to build this fortification, which shows that we did catch them off guard."

Therefore, we must fight to see if they can really fight, or if they are fake tigers that are about to collapse at the touch of a button! Hmph, whether it's hard bones or soft bones, you will know in one fight! After playing, find out the reality of the other party, and then make a decision according to the other party's table, it's not too late!

After all, we have the initiative on the battlefield, and our mobility is far superior to that of the other party, we can fight whenever we want, and we can go when we want!

In short, let's fight first, in case the other party is just bluffing people and doesn't have much strength at all, and I am bluffed by the other party casually and loses the battle that I could have won, then I am an idiot. (To be continued......)