June 14, 1846

Noon

Rio Rancho, one of the few oasis towns in New Mexico that is thousands of miles away, is home to the most precious source of water from the Holy Emperor River, giving birth to an oasis of abundant water and grass nearby. The river is a fountain of life in this vast land filled with Gobi, desert and dark red rocks.

New Mexico's only source of water comes from the Colorado River, a large river that flows south from Colorado through the central and eastern parts of New Mexico.

The Colorado River's tributary, the Holy Emperor, forks in the middle of the state and winds its way to the northwest, where it nourishes life and turns barren land into pasture and pastoral.

The unending flow of the Holy Emperor River through the dry land has created a series of towns along the river, such as Rio Rancho, Milan, Gallup, Flagstaff, Kingman, Las Vegas, etc., like an oasis strung together like a string of pearls, showing a geographical trend from east to west, which is consistent with the area through which the Holy Emperor River flows.

A winding dirt road along the town runs from east to west, passing through these towns until it reaches Los Angeles on the west coast of North America, and is the only land route from the United States to California.

From a military point of view

Going west along the line of Rio Rancho, Gallup, and Las Vegas until it reached Los Angeles, and then turning north to attack San Francisco and Sacramento, was the only viable route for the U.S. military.

Along this route, there were abundant water pastures and small western towns scattered like strings of pearls, which could provide the necessary supplies for the army along the way, especially the precious water source, which was an indispensable resource for the Union army of the continental United States, which was equipped with a large number of horses.

The 1,700-strong Western Route Army, led by Colonel Stephen Carney, initially took a train from Detroit to Kansas City and reached the terminus of the railroad line.

After a short rest in Kansas City, the U.S. military on the West Road traveled west through the vast Kansas Heath and Gobi Desert by horse and wagon maneuver, a journey of about 740 kilometers to Denver.

After a short break in this coal mining town, it turned north and crossed more than 600 kilometers of uninhabited land to approach the town of Rio Rancho.

Although the route taken by the U.S. military took a little detour, it was possible to take a train from Detroit to Kansas City for more than 1,300 kilometers, which greatly reduced the pain of travel.

Otherwise, the 2,043-kilometer journey from Detroit to Denver, with no modern transportation facilities and no 1-kilometer railroad between the two places, and only winding paths left behind by Native American tribes chasing bison herds, would have been a disaster for the army's logistics.

In the early 40s of the 19th century

There were more than 5,000 miles of railroads in the United States, and by 1846 there were more than 12,000 miles, densely distributed in the eastern and central regions of North America, forming a criss-crossing rail network.

The well-developed transportation conditions were conducive to the rapid deployment of large numbers of troops by the US Union Army to the southern state of Texas, but that was all.

In the vast Midwest

American capital has not yet touched this field, whether it is railways, roads, or bridges, all are blank, and the cavalry can only cross thousands of miles of grasslands, Gobi and deserts on horseback, and march in the direction of the Tang Kingdom.

With the development of railways, long-distance telegraph lines covered a wider area, and telegraphs made information that would otherwise take weeks accessible in an instant.

By 1846, the total length of telegraph lines in the United States had reached 17,000 miles, connecting the five major river regions with heavy industry in the east and center, and reaching Texas and Florida in the south, forming a dense long-distance telegraph network like a spider's web.

And in the vast and barren northwest, there is also a blank space.

Ricio Rancho Township

Captain James Kahn vigorously spat out the grass stalks he was chewing in his mouth, and looked at the ruined battlefield where the smoke of gunfire rose in front of him, and the two dozen or so corpses of American soldiers lying on the street in front of him, and the anger in his eyes flashed.

He shouted to his men to carry the wounded soldier into the house for treatment, and then shouted; "Lu, Lu, where are you?"

"Here...... Captain, are you looking for me? A lieutenant officer ran from the corner of the street behind him, and he ran over with a quick breath.

He is the leader of the musketeer squadron of the advance team, Lu Zhiran, who belongs to the first group of Central American immigrants, who has worked on Cuban plantations and Panama railways, and has been in the Americas for more than five years.

Lu Zhiran was promoted to the line of fire because of his strong organizational skills, and his ability to read and write and speak some English and Spanish, and after a short period of military training, he served as the leader of the musket squadron.

"Lu, we have to repair the place that has been bombarded by artillery to prevent the Yankees from rushing in, you quickly take people to see if there are any tables and door panels that can be dismantled, I will arrange for others to dig and fill in the earth, and we must strengthen the barricades again."

"TNND, these Yankees, who marched long distances with artillery, caught us off guard, damn it!"

"Don't complain, Lu, fortunately we are well prepared, now we must thwart the momentum of the Yankees' offensive, I don't think they will bring a lot of shells and gunpowder, provided we have to hold on."

"Okay, the musketeers on the position can't be withdrawn, I'll take those Mexicans to find them first."

Just do it

Lu Zhiran immediately took a few soldiers to greet the Mexican gunners, preparing to find door panels and bed boards in the town, and continue to strengthen the existing barricades that were bombarded by artillery.

Today is the fourth day of the arrival of the US troops, and from the afternoon of June 11, when the US vanguard cavalry unit was repulsed, to the arrival of the US cavalry on the 13th, there were only a few skirmishes.

In the face of the army of the Tang Kingdom, the Yankees exchanged fire tentatively several times, leaving more than 30 corpses before and after and retreating, and never came to die again.

Colonel Stephen Carney of the U.S. Federal Army arrived and personally inspected the front line of Rio Rancho, and found that the town had formed a strong defense, like a small fortress, and his brow was furrowed.

For any cavalry unit, attacking fortifications is not a strong point.

He didn't expect that the small Tang Kingdom army would dare to go forward so far to defend?

In Colonel Stephen Carney's plan, did he think that it would be possible to meet the stubborn resistance of the enemy in Los Angeles or San Francisco, after all, it was only a small armed force, said to have only a thousand men?

Due to the lack of information, the information that Mr. Colonel received was already more than two months ago, which was very different from the facts.

Mr. Colonel Stephen Carney tried to persuade him to surrender, but before he could enter the opposing position, he was forced back by a few strong warnings.

The attitude of the defenders is obvious, that is, to defend the town of Rio Rancho.

In the two days after the arrival of more than 300 cavalry of the American advance force, the defenders of the town never tried to go out of the town to counterattack, but kept reinforcing the barricades, building the barricades to a height of more than two meters and a thickness of more than one meter, like a strong small city wall.

The real battle began on the morning of the 14th, when Colonel Stephen Carney took out his treasured killer weapon, seven six-pounder Napoleonic cannons brought from thousands of miles away, and bombarded them in turn to cover the dismounted cavalry attack.

Cast bronze Napoleonic cannons mounted on sturdy axles, these front-loading smoothbore guns fired prototype cast-iron cannonballs, blasting shells or shrapnel shells, which were made according to French drawings and were armed with 6-pounder and 12-pounder calibers in the U.S. army, mainly for attacking enemy fortified targets.

Colonel Stephen Carney brought a lighter 6-pounder gun, caliber 93mm, caliber 117mm, which could fire at a rate of two rounds per minute, with a barrel length of 1.68 meters and a total weight of more than 550 kilograms, mounted on a Type 1841 light field gun mount.

After a morning of fierce fighting, about 110 shells were fired, but only a few large gaps were blasted into the barricades, killing and wounding more than 20 enemy soldiers.

Stephen Carney's cavalry was forced to dismount and fight on foot, and during the attack they were subjected to a dense volley of gunfire, killing and wounding more than 170 men, of whom less than 60 were wounded.

Because the soldiers of the Tang Kingdom had a strong barricade defense, and they could hide in the window and shoot condescendingly, the number of dead and wounded in the battle was much less than that of the American army, and the number of dead and wounded was thirty or forty people, and more than half of the dead and wounded were caused by heavy shelling.

Such a tricky battle situation made Colonel Stephen Carney's heart swell with rage, this damn barricade, damn Orientals, and this damn rotten place, everything is terrible!

The U.S. military camp is located on the banks of the San Yellow River, consisting of neat tents one after another, about 6 kilometers away from the town of Rio Rancho, where patrols and cavalry with guns on their backs often pass by, and there is a wartime atmosphere of slaughter.

In the barracks

The howls and moans of the wounded came from time to time, and in this era of lack of medical treatment, once injured, sixty percent had to rely on the resistance of the soldiers, thirty percent relied on God to bless, and only one percent came from simple to crude treatment.

New Mexico has a typical desert climate, the sun is scorching and rainy, and in mid-June, the temperature at noon has exceeded 35 degrees, and the heavily armed soldiers have soaked their clothes with sweat, and can only hold the water bottle desperately to pour it.

During the attack in the morning, seven or eight soldiers had already fainted from heat stroke.

Colonel Stephen Carney was now in a state of irritability, and he knew;

The further back you go to this ghost place, the temperature gets higher, and the hottest time in July and August is as high as 47 degrees, and in some places it is more than that.

The situation will get worse if you don't take the small town in front of you as soon as possible and quickly cross more than 1,260 kilometers of the western wilderness to Los Angeles.

Starting from Kansas City, the westward advance led by Colonel Stephen Carney now has a logistics line of more than 1,300 kilometers, which is completely supported by a fleet of horses, which was loaded with 50 wagons of supplies at the time of departure, and finally arrived in Rio Rancho Less than 15 vehicles, and a large amount of other supplies were consumed halfway.

Of this, the black beans and other essential materials needed by the horses alone accounted for more than half, plus ammunition, guns and other necessities, which was only enough for a week's worth of his troops.

If you can't conquer this damn town in front of you, this lone army led by Colonel Stephen Carney continues to go deeper, and the enemy may cut off the logistics line at any time, then it is really doomed.

The situation ahead has been clarified, and the town of Gallup, about 190 kilometers away, has recently arrived with a large number of reinforcements, totaling more than 1,000 troops, which makes the current situation extremely serious.

Colonel Stephen Carney sighed deeply, spread out the letter, picked up a quill, and began to write a letter for help, in which he stated;

All efforts will be made to conquer and occupy the current town of Rio Rancho, but a large number of supplies and reinforcements will be requested to carry on the difficult westward crusade......