In a secret camp

"Well done, guys, I'm proud of your excellent performance, hahahaha......"

Richard stood in the middle of a dense clearing and laughed at the sky, and his four weeks stood in a circle of dozens of officers, all of whom were in high spirits.

The hearty victory this morning gave the ironclad cavalry of the Tang Kingdom full self-confidence, greatly boosted the fighting spirit, and forged stronger and stronger combat effectiveness in blood and fire.

The army of the Tang Kingdom matured rapidly in the baptism of war.

Major Gao Shiheng, deputy commander of the San Francisco Cuirassier Regiment, stepped forward playfully, clasped his fists and saluted; "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks it is advisable to chase after the poor man with the remaining bravery, and take advantage of the heavy losses of the US army, and give him another ruthless blow to completely break the US army's will to fight."

"We second."

"Please give an order from Your Majesty, I will step on the ground of the ghost guy's military camp today, and take the enemy's head and sacrifice it to the bottom of the steps, so as to show our king's great martial arts."

The emotions of the officers were high, and this victory made them burst with self-confidence, and they took the initiative to fight.

"Don't be carried away by victory, the Yankees are not so easily defeated, and you should be cautious about following them." Richard shook his head, and poured a basin of cold water on the group of officers.

He saw some people with unconvinced expressions on their faces, so he slowly explained; "At present, the total strength of the enemy and us is still dominated by the US military, and this point cannot be blindly optimistic.

If the battlefield is frontal, the U.S. army also has 32 Napoleonic cannons to help, and both infantry and artillery have an overwhelming advantage. The cavalry strength is not inferior to our army.

Under the hard fight, it is inevitable to suffer heavy casualties.

Even though our army won one or two victories, it did not change the overall disadvantage of the war situation.

Now the U.S. military is a frightened wolf, although it is wounded, it still has the power to counterattack, and it is not the best strategy to attack rashly.

The advantage of time is on our side, as long as we can delay the pace of the US military moving south and minimize the losses of our side, we will have achieved the ultimate goal.

A light cavalry brigade of our army went out to the east to cut off the US army's transportation line, and the two cavalry squadrons were attached to the 1st and 2nd Denver Infantry Regiments, plus the loss of about 70 cavalry in the early morning battle, the cavalry strength in his hands was less than 1,000 people, and the strength was extremely tight.

How can such a force defeat the US military in a frontal battlefield?

If you are not careful, you will be taken advantage of by the enemy.

Remember, we can't afford to lose too many casualties. Even if most of the American army is annihilated, and our army is too badly damaged, it will still be a failure. ”

Speaking of which

Richard's expression turned stern, and his eyes scanned the officers, only to see that they all bowed their heads in shame and no longer blindly asked for battle.

Richard nodded inwardly;

It is a good thing that the morale of the officers under his command is high, but due to their lack of experience, it is inevitable that they will drift away when they win a battle and become depressed when they lose a battle, and their emotions will fluctuate fiercely and they will appear immature.

The army of the Tang Kingdom is a new army, and the officer corps is also generally inexperienced, and it needs to be tempered repeatedly in the war in order to be tempered into steel.

Although the ceiling of these officers is not high, they are loyal and reliable, can listen to criticism, and can still achieve something with a lot of experience.

Richard's expression then softened, which made the officers feel a lot less pressure on them.

The impression of His Majesty's invincible power is deeply rooted in the hearts of everyone, and the sharp eyes look at it, which really makes people feel cold down their spines, and they dare not speak cowardly.

Richard said in a soothing tone;

"The top priority is to intensify the military training of the 1st and 2nd Regiments in Denver, and in a week's time, I will pull them into battle to see blood.

Therefore, when the rest of you do not have military tasks, you should run to the training camp more often, and urge these soldiers to train strictly and not slack off.

At present, the main task is to be undertaken by the light cavalry brigade, which continues to attack in turn in the size of squadrons or brigades, constantly harassing the US troops, mainly at night, so that they cannot live in peace day and night.

There were no combat missions for three days, and the troops were well rested.

Well...... So be it.

Captain Zheng Xiaoqi is out of the ranks......"

"Humble duty." Captain Zheng Xiaoqi immediately stood up, bowed and replied with a fist salute.

"Order you to lead the 3rd Brigade of the Rangers of your headquarters and escort the surplus horses, carts, and wounded and sick back to Rio Rancho Fortress tomorrow. and pass on my military orders; Order the rear to quickly select 1,500 elite soldiers and start cavalry training, without mistake. ”

"Obedience."

"Well, then prepare for each other. Unloading all the supplies on the four-wheeled wagons, carrying only some forage on the way home, and evacuating the sick and wounded for treatment, the army must travel lightly, so let's do it now. ”

Richard waved his hand, and the officers clasped their fists and saluted, and then dispersed, busy reorganizing their troops, unloading goods, or giving orders to attack, and harassing the American troops in turn.

as expected

After suffering heavy losses in the early morning, the American troops were afraid of repeating the mistakes of the past, so they hurriedly packed up and buried the dead simply, so that they could leave the camp at two o'clock in the afternoon and leave for Denver.

After a journey of more than 60 kilometers, the US troops arrived at the outskirts of Denver in a sleepy manner until about 1 a.m., chose an open river bay to camp in the carriage formation, and camped on the spot.

This night

The U.S. military camp was harassed several times by the cavalry of the Tang Kingdom, and more than 20 carriages were set on fire with rockets, and the gunfire rang out sporadically throughout the night until the early hours of the morning.

Poor American troops have been physically and mentally exhausted for the past few days, and they have not even set up tents, and every soldier is wrapped in blankets and holding guns to sleep on the grass, and when they hear the gunshots, they get up and stand on guard, and then release their guns indiscriminately outside the dark outside, so as to vent their anger.

The cavalry of the Tang Kingdom burned Denver on July 11, attacked the U.S. troops on July 12, and continued to harass and fight from July 13 to 15.

Everyone saw the tragic situation in Denver, a thriving town of 10,000 people had been replaced by charred and blackened ruins in the blink of an eye, and the ashes of the burned grass and trees were as thick as a palm.

When the wind blows in the Gobi Desert at night, it raises a rain of gray grass and trees, which is as miserable as the summoning of the undead.

As long as the U.S. military camp gets up overnight, it is covered with a thick layer of black ash, so that the soldiers' faces and bodies are all gray, and I don't know whether it is grass ashes or ashes, but it is quite infiltrating.

But it can't be helped

In order to camp close to the water source, the US military could only choose this open river bay not far from Denver, and arranged a large number of people to cut down trees, and worked hard to build a camp about 1,600 meters long around the perimeter as a military camp.

Between the camp and the river, two wooden fences form a large horse pen for a total of more than 2,600 mules and horses.

July 16th

U.S. General Frank Gilhurry sent a cavalry regiment of 700 horsemen and a musket regiment of more than 1,000 men to escort more than 460 four-wheeled wagons eastward, targeting Kansas City, 860 kilometers away.

The four-wheeled wagons for the trip were all empty, carrying only some of the forage, and the soldiers of the Detroit Musket Regiment all rode in the wagons, and the journey was quite fast.

The news spread back to the secret valley camp of the cavalry of the Tang Kingdom, more than 50 kilometers north of Denver, causing an uproar.

Many officers couldn't bear to ask for battle, but Richard vetoed it with an indifferent expression, and he said confidently;

"Don't be in a hurry, wait until they return with a load of supplies, I'll see what good things the Yankees will deliver? We will count on them for future supplies. ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone immediately burst into laughter, and their hearts immediately understood His Majesty's plan.

I have to admire that the king is much more clever than everyone present.

The U.S. army's logistical supplies are in an emergency, and the Tang Kingdom army's supplies hidden in the secret valley base are not abundant, and the soldiers often hunt yellow sheep and bison in the surrounding area to supplement food needs.

This is a narrow valley oasis, the area is not large, surrounded by a large area of desolate plateau Gobi and desert, there are few herds of bison, only a few American bighorn sheep herds, which are about a flock of twenty or thirty heads.

It didn't take long for it to be wiped out.

Maintaining an army of more than 4,300 men, including captive white coachmen, was no easy task.

To this end, on July 13, Richard ordered Zheng Xiaoqi's Third Ranger Brigade to escort 700 four-wheeled heavy carriages, more than 1,600 war horses, more than 110 wounded and 1,000 white prisoners who also worked as coachmen to embark on the road back south, aiming at the town of Rio Nanqiao, 700 kilometers away (the secret camp was located more than 50 kilometers south of Denver, closer to the south).

Count the days, and it's almost time to come.

The reason for this

In order to alleviate the pressure on the logistical supply of the secret camp in the valley, the light cavalry resumed the configuration of one man and two horses, the heavy cavalry resumed the configuration of one man and three horses, and the surplus horses were all sent back to the rear to reduce the logistical pressure.

Even so, there are only enough supplies left for 10 days.

In the same way that General Frank Gilhuri had in mind, Richard pinned all his hopes on the forthcoming shipment of supplies by the American army.

After all, the logistics strength of the Tang Kingdom is weak, and it is difficult to supply long-term expeditionary operations more than 700 kilometers away, so it has become a last resort to eat the enemy.

In Richard's plan;

He also considered the military plan of a long-distance attack on Kansas City, but finally had to give up because of the lack of troops and the danger of going too deep.

Through recent battles, the number of cavalry at Richard's hands was reduced to less than 1,300 men, and he did not dare to venture deeper without eliminating General Frank Gilhooly's men.

Once the U.S. Denver headquarters made a desperate move south and stormed the southern towns with a mourning force, it was possible to break through Rio Rancho and Gallup Fortress in succession, so as to gain a precious respite.

This kind of serious consequence is by no means something that the fragile Tang Kingdom can bear. Even if there was less than a 100% chance, Richard couldn't take any chances.

The less than 1,300 cavalry in his hands is the last mobile combat force in the entire kingdom, and it must not be consumed in the struggle with the American army.

In the final analysis, the capital in hand is too little.

Richard's judgment had been verified, and General Frank of the United States had urgently called up the coachmen and carpenters who were with him to make up for the losses in the previous battle.

If he hadn't cleaned up the scourge of Denver, maybe the U.S. military would be stronger than before, and it would have been too bad to kill a little blood to make up for two points of blood, and two points of blood to make up for four points of blood, and become a monster that could never be defeated.