Reality made Richard understand deeply; There is no such thing as a free lunch.

I always feel that this deal is a loss.

Now that I think about it

Looking at it from a higher angle, I found that the real winner is the British, no matter whether the Tang Kingdom wins or loses, the UK is always invincible.

Once they resisted the threat of the American Federation, the British not only retained the majesty of the British Empire, but also had the confidence to reject the United States' territorial claims to Oregon, and even supported a little brother on the West Coast to fight against the United States, and achieved a bumper political, economic, and military harvest.

In comparison, Britain's direct confrontation with the United States with money, troops, and forces may cost tens of millions of pounds in huge military spending and unacceptable casualties, and supporting the Tang Kingdom is undoubtedly a better choice.

If you lose the war

Even if the Tang Kingdom loses its underwear, it is unlikely that it will affect the substantive interests of the British Empire.

The unstoppable expansion of the American federal expansion continued to expand, and the Oregon region, which could not be held in the first place, still fell into the hands of the Yankees.

Well, for London, this is not an unacceptable result either.

As for the life and death of the Tang Kingdom after the defeat of the war or the plight of Chinese immigrants, it was not in the consideration of the British in the first place, and they did not have to bear any moral responsibility for it.

I have to say, it's really calculated.

Richard secretly gritted his steel teeth, he didn't want to be overly panicked in front of his subordinates, and after his expression recovered a little, he said in a deep voice;

"The prisoners continue to be interrogated severely, and I will pry more details out of their mouths, and all the supplies for the horses that are ready to be sent back are suspended. We need to be fully prepared to deal with more difficult situations. In addition, the news is strictly sealed and must not be leaked, and the officers involved in the interrogation are given gag orders, so let's go to work. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Lieutenant Colonel Mike Rabiot and Major Dai Changfu both clasped their fists and saluted deeply, turned and left.

Richard walked back and forth in the tent with his hands in his hands, feeling a little upset, he raised his head and closed his eyes, and took a few deep breaths, letting the turbulent heart slowly return to calm;

What to do?

The information confessed by the captives has been corroborated by each other, and the authenticity is irrefutable.

The order of the US side to gather in Denver has been as high as 5000~6000 people, and it is certain that;

These U.S. soldiers were not defending Denver, a coal mining town of more than 200 people, but from Denver north to the Great Lakes region, west to the Rocky Mountains, and east to Kansas City, there was no target for these troops.

The only possibility is to go south through Wagenmande, aiming directly at Rio Rancho, and from here turn west, successively conquering Gallup, Flagstaff, Las Vegas and other towns, until Los Angeles on the west coast of North America, to conquer the Tang Kingdom by force.

In the worst-case scenario, the U.S. military could reach tens of thousands of troops.

What worries people is the attitude of the American top brass towards this war,

After calming down

Richard carefully considered it for a long time, and came up with several highly targeted countermeasures, which were immediately put into practice after discussing them with a group of courtiers and officers.

There are a total of 6 core measures, namely;

Article 1;

Immediately inform the British side of the news of the large-scale attack by the US military, vigorously exaggerate the threat of the US military, frankly admit the huge gap between the two, and ask for stronger assistance.

This is mainly divided into 4 sub-items;

1. Request the British side to expand the scale of military assistance, with the ultimate goal of arming 25,000~30,000 people to resist the increasingly heavy military pressure of the United States.

2. The size of the population is the basis for winning the war, and the British side is requested to expand the scale of importing Chinese immigrants, from more than 3,000 people per month to 10,000 people, including direct immigration from the mainland of China, and the Tang Kingdom will do its best to pay part of the cost.

3. Request the Central American Detachment of the Royal Navy to be stationed in the bay ports of Los Angeles and St. Francesco to prevent the American fleet from invading the two port cities, and to request appropriate naval assistance.

4. Request the British side to unite with European countries that sympathize with the Tang Kingdom and Mexico in the international community, and take actions including but not limited to diplomacy and trade sanctions against the brazen invasion of the United States, so as to put substantial pressure on the United States to prevent the war from repeatedly escalating and falling into a long-term predicament.

Article 2;

Immediately reinforce the relevant defenses of Rio Rancho Town, call the Grape Valley Cement Plant to urgently deliver a batch of cement, load it from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and send it to the front line as soon as possible.

More than 1,000 American prisoners were immediately sent to the camp, and the main work was to mine large rocks and transport them to the town of Rio Rancho by horse-drawn wagon, and to build a vertical slope protection on the perimeter of the existing adobe wall, mixed with mountain stone and cement masonry, which would greatly enhance the defense.

in order of priority;

The fortress surrounding the town of Rio Rancho will be first masonry, requiring a cement stone wall with a width of two feet, an adobe wall with a width of 4 feet, a total height of 2.8 meters, a city gate and two bastions, forming a solid fortress building.

In the case of sufficient rocks and cement materials, 1,800 coolies were mobilized for emergency repairs, and the project was completed within 4 weeks.

The secondary construction is the original US military camp, which is located on a gentle hill, the highest point is about 62 feet, that is, a little more than 20 meters, the surrounding view is good, the control range is large, and it is a very good place to build a defensive fortress.

The site is named Fort Highland, which is located next to the Santa Emperor River, 4.2 km from the town of Rio Rancho, and will also be widened, reinforced and masonry with concrete gables to form a fortress-like fortress.

And build a fort on it, which will form a horn with the Rio Rancho Fortress, further increase the depth and strength of the defense, and become an out-and-out front-line military town of the Tang Kingdom.

If the confrontation becomes protracted and intensified in the future, the third phase of the project will build a 4.2-kilometer wall connecting the town of Riorancho with the "Fort of the Highlands", thus forming a large defensive facility.

preliminary estimates;

It took more than 50 days to mobilize more than 800 laborers in the rear towns of Gallup and Rio Rancho, plus more than 1,000 American prisoners, to complete the "Rio Rancho" fortress and the "Fort Highland" fortress.

Article 3;

Immediately carry out an urgent mobilization within the kingdom to further expand the army. In addition to the more than 1,600 soldiers in Los Angeles who are undergoing military training, more than 2,400 will be selected from the subsequent Chinese immigrants, and the number of soldiers in the training camp will be expanded to 4,000.

meanwhile

2,000 laborers, including whites and Mexicans, will be forcibly conscripted and transported to Gallup as soon as possible, and the town of Gallup will be fortified according to the standards of Rio Rancho Town, so as to increase the depth of military defense.

Article 4;

The British were asked to assist artillery production factories, technicians and equipment, naval equipment including sail ships, and successively built the Los Angeles Battery Fortress, the San Francisco Bay Battery Fortress, and gradually formed the fortress garrison corps to deal with a possible attack by the U.S. Navy fleet.

Article 5;

According to the configuration of one man, two horses, or even one man and three horses, King Richard will personally lead 1,400 cavalry to attack Denver, extend the burning war to the north for 740 kilometers, strike at the concentration of American troops, material cantonment and logistics transport convoys, delay the pace of American troops moving south, and win the necessary precious time for the construction of rear fortresses.

Article 6;

Establish a secret storage of supplies to support the northern war.

It is planned to set up two storage and transportation points, one is located in the Wagenmande Valley, about 240 kilometers northeast of the town of Rio Nancho, where there are many bare rocky mountains and complex geographical environment, which is suitable for hiding wagons and supplies.

Another storage and transportation point is located near Pueblo, more than 330 kilometers north of the Wagenmande Valley, and more than 570 kilometers from the town of Rio Rancho in the south.

Located in the Colorado Plateau, a fertile place where mountains and rivers converge, the region is a rare large oasis in the vast highland desert Gobi region, where hundreds of rivers of all sizes pass through it, forming dense forests and shrublands, as well as lush pastures that are half a man high.

It is only more than 170 kilometers away from Denver in the north, and it is the best base for the cavalry of the brigade, with abundant forage and water, and the cavalry only needs to carry 150 pounds of oats or black bean essence on the auxiliary horse, which can provide two horses for half a month's combat needs.

Therefore, the rear only needs to supply the front with a sufficient amount of concentrate, and with the carrying capacity of a horse-drawn cart of 2,000 pounds, at least 1,400 pounds of black beans can be delivered to the front line from the town of Milan.

On the way back, the wagons harvested a sufficient amount of forage in Pueblo, returned with a full load, and as they traveled through the Wagenmande Valley, they stored the fodder in place at a secret logistics base and returned empty.

This comes and goes, if it is properly funded, only more than 100 horse-drawn carriages are needed to supply the needs of front-line operations.

Now that a highly targeted response plan has been determined, all aspects of the Tang Kingdom immediately took action, steadily implemented relevant measures, and began to prepare for the expedition.

July 4, 1846

As Richard prepared to lead his army north, two pieces of good news came;

The first good news was that the telegraph line had been repaired to the town of Rio Rancho, and from then on, news from all regions of the kingdom could reach the front line as soon as possible, which was undoubtedly a great benefit.

According to Richard's instructions, the long-distance telegraph line should continue to extend to the northeast, and the first target was the 240-kilometer Wagenmande valley in the town of Rio Rancho, which was planned to be completed in half a month.

The second piece of good news was that three light cavalry brigades (missing two cavalry squads) searched along the way north, intercepted two convoys of American logistics transport horses in the Gobi Desert and the Wagen-Mande Valley, and after skirmishes, the enemy gave up resistance.

A total of 126 four-wheeled heavy carriages, 289 mules and horses, a number of food, concentrate and weapons were seized, and more than 330 prisoners were taken and were being escorted back.

Richard was overjoyed when he heard this, and he immediately ordered the herald to gallop quickly, and informed the three light cavalry brigades going north to escort the convoy to the Wagenmande valley to wait for the arrival of the main cavalry force.

These food, weapons, and forage materials do not need to be transported back, and they will be stored in the secret advance base in the Wagenmander Valley on the spot, even if it is the first batch of supplies.

On the Gobi Desert in summer, the sun is scorching.

It was past four o'clock in the afternoon

Banners are displayed, people are like tigers, and horses are like dragons.

Amid the majestic military music, Richard led a total of 821 cavalry of the San Francisco Cuirassier Regiment to form a long cavalry queue and leave the town of Rio Rancho and embark on a long journey north.

This cavalry corps was small in number, but it was equipped with a great number of horses, three hundred and twenty cuirassiers, equipped with one man and three horses, and the horses were strapped with bulging supplies.

The 200 light cavalry and 300 novice cavalry of the cuirassier regiment were all one man and two horses, and the cavalrymen wore gray-and-white light cowboy hats to protect themselves from the scorching sun and gray scarves around their necks, which were essential items used to cover their mouths and noses in the desert Gobi region.

Blankets, jugs, knives, ropes, a flintlock lance and a Colt 1846 cavalry-style revolver were all securely fastened to the leather strap at the front of the saddle.

Most of the cavalry were equipped with a revolver musket, because of its light weight, it hung directly on a cowhide belt, and there was a difference between 5-barreled, 6-barreled, and 7-barreled revolver.

In order to gather enough horses, Richard filled in all the 1,476 captured American horses, and more than 800 people were equipped with more than 2,700 horses, some of which were auxiliary horses for the three light cavalry brigades, and some spare pack horses.

The expedition was accompanied by 77 four-wheeled heavy wagons, each of which was 240 kilometres away in the Wagenmande Valley, each loaded with grass and concentrate piled like a hill, and was scheduled to arrive in two days.

"Okay, send you a thousand miles, there will be a farewell, you can stop here." Richard, who was dressed in full uniform, stopped, and his eyes fell on the new commander of the Rio Rancho Fortress, Lieutenant Colonel Kahn Sr., Deputy Commander Major Duan Debiao, and Major Wu Degao, and said earnestly;

"I can't take care of my home with my troops, and the nest will be handed over to you to guard, remember to hurry up the construction period, and quickly build the town fortress and the highland fort, only they can resist the bombardment of field heavy artillery, remember, remember!"

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, we will mobilize half of the officers and soldiers to work in the near future, thicken and raise the earthen wall, and ensure that the construction task is completed ahead of schedule."

"Well, the white and Mexican coolies who have been conscripted are arriving one after another, so don't be too harsh on the food, and try to keep them well fed and worked, so as not to provoke civil unrest."

"Obey Your Majesty's orders, and the ministers dare not disobey."

"That's good, everything that should be explained has been explained, and you should keep your duties and don't mess up. If there is an important matter, report it quickly, and there must be no mistakes! ”

"Remember, Ministers."

A group of military and political officials bowed their hands in unison, Richard nodded and turned over on his horse, waved his big hand and said; "The army is on the march."

The procession of the send-off instantly rang out with drums and watched the long cavalry march farther and farther under the scorching July sun......

The expedition will march at night, avoiding the hot daylight of the Colorado Plateau desert, and after giving three light cavalry brigades at the front, the total number of troops will reach 1,400.

So many cavalry concentrated most of Richard's family base, and even 300 recruits were included in it. The remaining more than 1,000 musketeers stayed in the south to defend the fortress of Rio Rancho and build a strong defensive line for the Tang Kingdom