On this battlefield in Texas, Turtledove laid out a total of four lines of defense.

The first line of defense was along the Rio Grande, from Sanderson in the north to Brownsville in the south. There were 30,000 Indians and slave legions scattered in the stinky ditches that crisscrossed them, ready to stick like leeches on the bodies of the American troops heading north.

The slave soldiers were brave and fearless, after all, for them, life and death were meaningless, and whoever captured them was their master.

Incentives and wages were far less useful to slaves than a whip. Slaves would pay with their lives in order to receive fewer lashes than others, and some of them even evolved the skill of 'Thanksgiving Dade'. What was later called 'Stockholm syndrome' was robbed of its credit by a group of sorcerers who summoned the gods with candles.

Turtledove did not object to this, and allocated a sum of money to the Witchcraft Academy, and the director of the Witchcraft Academy, Rope, was so confident that he dared to compete with the Catholic Patriarch of Texas for the faith.

In the fifteen-dollar plan, the Rio Grande Line might not have been able to defeat the Union forces of the Northern Expedition, but it would delay them for at least a month.

……

The second line of defense was from the Alamo in the north to Kopache in the south, which was also the most important defense of the army led by Fifteen Dollars.

If the American army of the Northern Expedition is to be defeated, a decisive battle must be fought near this line of defense.

The main force of the southbound Indians gathered 50,000 people, at least 30,000 of whom were Indian veterans who had fought bloodily in Oregon for many years.

Most of the weapons and ammunition that White Rock City has hoarded over the years have been invested in this line of defense.

The vast majority of the 100,000 slaves and manpower that had gathered from far and wide were also invested here. The trenches criss-cross each other, and in some areas even form a three-dimensional intersecting network of firepower.

Especially when the rainy season is coming, the harsh terrain and weather can greatly wipe out the US military's weapon superiority and pull the two sides to the level of cold weapons war as much as possible.

Horses and cannons may work, but it depends on when and where they are used.

……

The third line of defense was formed by the watermills after taking over the mountain tribes of Yannan and Yanba.

With the exception of a small number of elite soldiers from the Tonatiu Legion, the vast majority of those in charge of this line were 'barefoot troops' who had just escaped from the mountains and forests.

To be equipped without equipment, to be disciplined without discipline.

The only thing that is commendable is the unwavering support and blind faith of the turtledove. Without this awareness, we wouldn't be here.

They are fanatical believers in turtledoves and the most resolute and extreme force in this war.

Behind them was the roaring Colorado River, each of whom had carved his name into a stone and thrown into the river, which had been washed away as his own tombstone.

The will of this force is very simple, but the task is quite complicated - there are the 'Overseers' from the Justice Society, the 'Royalists' from the mountain tribes, and the 'Volunteers' who are coming from the north one after another......

But for the watermills that sit in the town, they are all reserves.

……

The fourth line of defense is the Brazos River, where the headquarters is located. The city of Choctaw to the north was garrisoned by turtledoves, and Houston to the south was the stronghold of the Republic of Texas.

This line of defense is not so much about defending the American army in the west as it is about defending the east.

No matter how the staff of White Rock City judged that there would be no American troops coming from the east within this year, it was impossible for Turtledove to abandon the defense of the eastern front because of this.

For Texas, perhaps, the enemy in the east is more terrible than the enemy in the west, which means that the American Federation is completely on the opposite side of his hostility - if the American army breaks through the Western Front, he can at least turn around, and then pull the guise of 'being coerced' and make some proper deals, it is not impossible! Lamar wants an independent Texas, but if this 'independence' will cost him his life, then this 'independence' is meaningless!

For turtledoves, the pressure is everywhere in the east, west, north and south.

The war is in Texas, but the battlefield doesn't have to be limited to that.

***

Laredo.

What was once a thriving western town has now become a barracks for the U.S. military.

The tavern had already been bulldozed by the Indians when they were digging trenches. A makeshift cabin has now been built on its original site, where Sherman's headquarters are located.

Just outside the cabin, a soldier fired a shot at a floating corpse floating from a stinking ditch.

The swollen corpse burst open after being shot, squirting out its contents like a ripe durian.

Another soldier took a long wooden stick and pushed the burst corpse away.

There are such stinky ditches all over the ground, and the place where the headquarters is located is already considered good.

A month ago, the Indians were building a lot of work here, and they didn't care about the people, and they left the ground full of corpses.

The flies and crows have their good days, and as the weather gets hotter, their days are only getting better.

"Henry, you can do it for me!" The soldier with the stick handed the tool to the other man, covered his stomach with one hand, unbuckled his belt with the other, and ran to the other side in a panic.

"Bill, you're going to have to run a little farther!" The soldier who was sent to do dirty work couldn't help but shout: "Lao Tzu even saw that you ate the golden needle yesterday!" ”

After a long time, the guy named Bill didn't come back.

So Henry knew that he would probably not come back.

In such a battlefield environment, those Indians were still alive and tenaciously. They bury themselves in the stinking gutter, leaving only one nostril to breathe, and sometimes look like floating corpses.

But if a soldier accidentally passes by them, they will suddenly jump up and slash several with the dagger in their hand. While they can all be killed quickly, for those unlucky ones who are hacked, being injured only means dying a few days later.

"I've never fought such a disgusting battle!" The soldiers all said so.

Whether it was the massacre of Indians in the east or the extermination of Mexicans in Mexico, they had never encountered such a hostile battlefield situation.

“fk！ What exactly is our enemy? "Major Joseph Egreston-Johnston was unlucky, his artillery regiment had been reduced by almost a tenth of its strength after leaving Monterrey!

If he loses to the enemy, he can still think about it, but—

"—Is it shit everywhere? Is it the ubiquitous flies and foul-smelling corpses? Is it a rat that pops out of the stinky gutter at any time? We're $3,000 Union servicemen, not the kind of slaves who can buy a dozen for $3! ”

In this regard, Sherman could only reassure the irascible artillery commander: "Come on, Joseph! The Alamo is in front of us, and tomorrow we will be able to get within range of our artillery! ”