Oregon and Snow Mountain are important industrial towns under the jurisdiction of the Northern Governor's Office, and they are also the new industrial forces of the empire, mainly in the steel, chemical, weapons, large-scale complete sets of equipment and electrical industries, with an industrialization coefficient of 132 (based on the British 100 standard), second only to the 141 industrial index of the Australian royal territory.

Compared with the first two, the Iowa industrial index is 79 and the Utah industrial index is 46, these two states are relatively poor in geographical conditions, with smaller populations, weaker industrial development, and more developed agriculture and animal husbandry.

The Governor's Office of North America produced a large number of industrial products that were exported to Europe, and to meet the needs of the wars between the Republic of California and the Republic of Virginia and the United States and Japan.

At the end of the first quarter of '16

The population under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Office in North America reached more than 8.63 million, of which more than 2.9 million were whites (about 124,000 went to Europe to participate in the war, about 230,000 were lost to the southern Republic of California, and 163,000 new white European immigrants), more than 5.51 million Chinese, and more than 200,000 in Central and South America.

The empire has ruled the four states of North America for more than eight years, with an average annual inflow of 40~550,000 Chinese immigrants, and the peak occurred last year, with a net inflow of 543,000 Chinese immigrants throughout the year, mainly immigrants within the empire, accounting for the vast majority.

The empire did not provide subsidies for direct immigration to North America from the mainland, which led to the direct immigration to North America from the mainland of China, all of whom were quite wealthy immigrant families, many of whom were old and young of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, as well as some official eunuchs of the old dynasty.

After Li Xiaozu took up the post of governor of North America, he vigorously strengthened the power of culture, education, and the dissemination of traditional Chinese thought, integrated the scattered democratic public opinion, established a high threshold and norms for entry, and devoted great energy to promoting the education of traditional Chinese medicine, Taoism, Buddhism, and the Zhengyin of the Chinese language, and achieved remarkable results.

Under the jurisdiction of the North American Governor's Office, a total of more than 730 Chinese schools and Chinese-English bilingual schools have been established, and more than 10 colleges and universities led by the American University of Technology, Oregon Normal College, and Snow Mountain Medical College have been established, popularizing Mandarin Zhengyin education to the four northern states, the Republic of California, the Republic of Virginia, and the Republic of Arizona, becoming the mainstream of social education.

In the city and countryside, it is common to see Caucasian people speaking in stiff Chinese; "Hey, boss, give me a bowl of tofu brain, soy sauce, no coriander."

"Fried fried old fritters, I like to eat crispy."

New Mexico, Gallup Fort Line Front

Marshal Oyama Iwa, the North American Command of the Japanese Army, held a telescope with a stern expression, carefully observing the precipitous US fort battery in front of him, and the surrounding atmosphere was so solemn that people were breathless, and no one dared to make any noise.

The precipitous fort in front of everyone is located on both sides of the valley, composed of more than ten highlands of all sizes, completely locking the railway line in the valley and the road winding along the mountain, cutting off the main artery of east-west traffic.

The bloody battle lasted for more than a month

The Japanese broke through one battery fortress after another built by the U.S. Army on the Colorado Plateau, and the fortress in front of them, known as the 550 Highlands Group, was the last barrier.

After passing here, the remaining veins of the Rocky Mountains in front will become scattered hilly terrain, and there will be no more steep mountains up to more than 1,000 meters, most of them are low hills from two or three hundred meters high to tens of meters high, and the artillery fire can be easily covered, and the difficulty of conquering will drop by more than an order of magnitude.

The 550 highlands in front of you, the most important is the 533, 554 and 557 three dangerous peaks, the most important of which is the 1137-meter 553 highland, he is not the highest nor the most precipitous highland, but because the mountain is majestic, there is a relatively gentle open land at the top of the mountain, the US army has set up two artillery battalions on the top of the mountain, all of which are 105mm and 122mm heavy artillery, which can cover the surrounding valley terrain of more than ten kilometers.

Moreover, the U.S. military set up a large number of heavy machine gun and small-caliber artillery positions in the center and at the foot of the mountain, forming a dense fire network and forming crossfire with other hilltop positions to prevent the Japanese army from breaking through the area and becoming the biggest roadblock.

Admiral Fred C. Ainsworth, the top commander of the U.S. Army in charge of defending Gallup Fortress, quickly rose through the baptism of the brutal war, relying on the favorable terrain to build layers of defensive fortifications, causing great problems for the Japanese army.

His role alone is worth two US infantry divisions.

Marshal Oyama Yan didn't expect this old opponent to be so difficult, and he gnawed hard for half a year intermittently, and he didn't conquer the Gallup fortress, but broke the Japanese army's offensive spirit.

Originally in his battle plan;

Trying to use a swift attack to fully recover Arizona, he took advantage of the sharp spirit of the attack to sweep Colorado in one fell swoop, forming a full-scale threat to the Great Plains in the central part of the country.

Until then

The U.S. military has lost its advantageous geographical location, and the Japanese army, with its skilled combat skills and strong combat effectiveness, will be able to defeat the Mi militia in a timely manner, which is very self-confident in the Japanese army, and the situation will be very good.

Whether it is war or peace, the right to speak will be firmly in the hands of the Japanese army.

Who knows that people are not as good as heaven

The Japanese army suffered greatly in the Gallup fortress area, and the main communication artery between Arizona and central New Mexico could not be opened, and the troops were forced to divide into two theaters, east and west, and the east and west could not echo each other, and the battle was extremely difficult.

It's like a fish bone stuck in your throat, you can't swallow it, you can't spit it out.

The Japanese army had previously tried to solve the US artillery positions with aerial bombardment, but who knew that the US troops were equipped with a large number of 20mm Habekaisi fast guns and heavy machine guns, forming a dense death net in the air near the hilltop position, and destroying a total of 17 Japanese "shrew" light bombers and 11 "spindle" fighters, forcing the Japanese army to abandon this plan.

This shows that the Japanese army is overstretched in terms of weapons and equipment, and if it is replaced by the US army, it will inevitably increase the intensity of air attacks, and even if it loses 100 light bombers, it will have to blow up the artillery position on the top of the mountain.

"Kono-kun, where is the commando team sent before?" Marshal Oyama put down the telescope in his hand and asked out loud.

Major General Yurokuro Kono replied with his legs folded together and bowed 45 degrees; "Report to Your Excellency Marshal, a 233-man commando team led by Watanabe Nakasa, equipped with the most skilled Hokkaido soldiers who are skilled in mountain climbing, set out the night before yesterday, and has now crossed the 550 heights, between the 551 and 552 heights, and it is expected that sometime tomorrow morning, it will appear at the top of the 553 heights like heavenly soldiers and generals, and carry out a decisive attack on the US artillery positions and uproot them in one fell swoop.

"Yo Xi, well done." Marshal Oyama Iwa nodded in satisfaction, and then said to Lieutenant General Hiroshi Yamamoto, the chief of staff beside him; "After the attack was launched, the artillery unit was ordered to immediately carry out a fierce artillery bombardment on the three heights of 533, 554 and 557, the barrage slowly advanced, and the infantry followed the explosive point of the shells to charge, only allowed to advance, not allowed to retreat, regardless of casualties, I was killed and held on, the success or failure of the imperial battle was in one fell swoop, and the monarchs must fight bravely to kill the enemy."

"Hey, fight bravely to kill the enemy, there is no advance or retreat."

"Please rest assured, Lord Marshal, our Second Division will launch a resolute attack with the main force, and all the officers and men will fight bravely to be the first, looking forward to meeting at the shrine."

"Shuffle, big drops." Marshal Oyama Yan is an iron-blooded general who has been in war for a long time, and he knows that this is not the time to feel sorry for the troops, and only by pulling out the thorn in the eye and thorn in the flesh in front of him can the war situation in North America be greatly improved and sufficient advantages can be established.

In order to conquer the 550 highland group, even 10,000 Imperial warriors were worth sacrificing.

Behind the all-important 553 Highlands is the endless Colorado Plateau mountain range, which is difficult to cross, including the 2,162-meter peak, code-named 550, and the northern slope is steep at 76 degrees, which is made by the end of the snow in March, which adds to the difficulty of climbing.

The ridge between 550 and 551 highlands, and then to 552 highlands, presents a stepped terrain that descends from peak to peak, which is the only way to the 553 highlands.

If there is a big noise during the climb, or if the soldier falls off the cliff and screams, it will lead to failure.

Therefore, every Japanese warrior who assaulted had 2 walnuts tied to his mouth, just so as not to make any screams.

In order to win, the Japanese army also fought hard.

Between the valleys surrounded by the 550 Highlands is a meandering valley passage of 3.2 kilometers at its widest point and 760 meters at its narrowest point, from which the well-flowing tributaries of the Colorado River extend deep into the valley, and the railroad and road are built on the high rocky beach on the south side of the river, in line with the course of the river.

The U.S. military dug two long trenches here, and there were also communication trenches to connect the rear, setting up dense barbed wire and mine arrays to cut off the passage from the middle.

After the start of the battle

The Japanese were to destroy exposed firing points and barbed wire with intensive artillery fire, detonating most of the mines, and opening a way forward for the attacking Japanese troops.

The only thing left is a bloody battle.

The premise of the Japanese artillery to exert firepower is; It was necessary to uproot the two condescending artillery battalion positions on the 553 heights.

Otherwise, the Japanese artillery positions will be live targets, and the US troops will be condescending to hit one by one.

On the opposite side of the Japanese position, on the American fortification

Admiral Fred C. Ainsworth, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, stood in the sturdy reinforced concrete headquarters of the 553 Heights in the rear, scanning the valley through the lookout, his face was also solemn.

As the supreme commander of the U.S. Army in the Gallup Fortress, he knew that it could not be defended, and the fact that one more dangerous fortress after another in front of him had been conquered, which already showed the danger of the U.S. army, and it was only a matter of time before the entire fortress area fell.

After more than half a year of hard fighting, there was a sense of war-weariness and defeat among the middle and lower-ranking officers of the US military.

Had it not been for Admiral Fred C. Ainsworth's decisive arrest of more than two dozen officers who spread the word of defeat and their execution on the battlefield, it would probably have collapsed by now.

A 600-meter-long runway had been built between the valley flats behind the 550 Heights, in order to force the landing of shrew light bombers and take away a handful of senior commanders, led by Admiral Fred C. Ainsworth, after the loss of the Gallup fort position.

Admiral Fred C. Ainsworth knew very well that the important thing about Gallup Fortress was how long it lasted.

If the U.S. Army can hold out until the U.S. Army breaks through the front line of Pueblo and Fort Watson, penetrates deep into the weak rear of the Japanese army, and rekindles the flames of war into New Mexico, then the U.S. Army will have the advantage on the battlefield and can quickly enter Las Vegas and other hinterlands along the railway line to carry out strategic encirclement of the Japanese army.

By then, even if the Gallup Fort area had fallen, the sacrifice of the 150,000 American officers and soldiers would have been worth it.

Judging from the current state of the battle, Gallup Fortress will hold out for two to three weeks to buy enough time for the American army to attack in the north.

The question is, can it hold on?