In December, the Colorado Plateau is cloudy and sunny, with night lows still above 0 degrees Celsius.

Look into the distance

You can see the endless mountains covered with snow, the howling winter wind sweeping over the villages and fields, and the yellow leaves spilling all over the roads.

The towering Phoenix Castle has been strengthened and upgraded in the later period, and the city walls have generally reached 8 meters high, and the towering minarets around the fortress echo the main tower in the middle of the fortress, which is very European style.

Located at the confluence of Cherry Creek on the east bank of the South Peret River, the Phoenix Fort occupies a large three-way bay consisting of two tall military bastions and a long wall between them.

One military fort is called "Fort Denver" and the other is located on the Cherry Creek side of the "Cherry Fort", and the fortified area connected by a wall is dominated by 10 large war warehouses and contains large military camps, which are the pillars of defense facing east.

The perimeter of the Phoenix Fortress is equipped with moats, moats, and breastwalls, all of which are made of solid rock or reinforced concrete, and are permanent fortress buildings with strong defensive power.

After the end of the U.S.-Tang War in 1849, the Phoenix Fortress, as the primary defense facility on the Colorado Plateau against American aggression, has undergone continuous repairs, reinforcements and heightening over the years, and many small and medium-sized military facilities have been added to the periphery of the fortress.

Stretching east from Phoenix Castle, more than 20 kilometers away is the fortress of the Red Rock Valley, with rolling mountains on one side and a vast area of desolate land that transitions from the desert to the Gobi Desert on the other, all the way to the banks of the South Peret River, which is full of greenery.

Along the side of the road leading to the fortress in the Red Rock Valley, the military built large and small pillboxes, separated by deep trenches and breastwork, and set up multiple layers of barbed wire to prevent crossing.

As a matter of fact

The Phoenix Fortress and the Red Rock Valley Fortress have been combined to form a super-large permanent integrated defensive line to keep out any military threat from the east.

Even if this fortress was breached by the American army, there were still two lines of defense behind it, one was a river defense line backed by three wide rivers, and the other was a permanent fortification backed by the fortress of Taoyuan Pass.

If you want to break through these three strong lines of defense, it is very unlikely that the US military will not pay the heavy cost of more than 100,000 casualties.

At this time, it is the agricultural season after winter, and the increasingly bustling streets of Taoyuan City are crowded with people, and the city's famous "ginseng stewed pigeon soup" is fragrant and tempting to the appetite.

Men and women of all ages alike, a bowl of "stewed pigeon soup with ginseng" is nutritious and warm-hearted, and it is a nutritious breakfast with bread and side dishes, and it is famous in the region.

The northern provinces were originally plagued by billions of "North American passenger pigeons", and once they took off, they were overwhelmed like dark clouds, and this big battle was extremely amazing.

But after the Chinese migrated here, it was really a mouse that fell into the rice bowl~ I was very happy, and I developed a variety of ways to eat this delicious bird, which greatly curbed the number of "North American passenger pigeons" and reduced the scourge of crops.

It didn't take long

The clever Chinese figured out the best way to catch the "North American passenger pigeon" on a large scale, which was to put it in the net.

Traps are set during the day, and lights are used to lure them into the net, luring a staggering number of "North American passenger pigeons" into the net.

Often in a day's work, the farmer can catch a wagon of "North American passenger pigeon" and send it to the restaurant, where it is slaughtered and stewed, and the taste is delicious.

But the "North American passenger pigeon" is not worth much, at least seven or eight hundred in a carriage, and it is 10 yuan when it is delivered to the hotel.

Fortunately, there are enough of these things, and the income is also good, and many quick-witted Chinese farmers on the Colorado Plateau have started a business of "planting wheat to attract passenger pigeons, spreading nets to catch them, and putting together enough wagons to go into the city to sell".

Not to mention, harvesting thousands of yuan for a few months every year is more profitable than farming and selling grain.

To say that North America is really a good place, there is no shortage of deer antler ginseng, in the rolling mountains and hills of the north, you can dig up North American wild ginseng at will, sika deer antler velvet is very rare, but red deer antler velvet is so much that it is overflowing.

Therefore, wild deer antlers, deer blood, deer whips, deer tendons, deer skins, and venison are all very cheap, as long as you are not afraid of making up for the nosebleed, you can add whatever you want to add in the restaurant, all for three cents a bowl.

After eating a breakfast, even the pigeon soup with side dishes with bread only costs 5 cents, this price is almost pure labor costs, pigeons, deer antler velvet, wild ginseng is almost free of charge, basically can not sell at any price, it is really cheap and delicious.

In today's Taoyuan City and the surrounding Phoenix City and various towns of nearly one million people, people have developed the habit of drinking pigeon soup in the morning, children and young people who do not need tonic will drink "stewed pigeon soup" with flatbread or bread, and people with key tastes eat "spicy pigeon stew" or "spiced stewed pigeon meat", which is really sweaty on the face of eating, shouting refreshingly.

At noon and evening, all kinds of game restaurants dominated by "North American passenger pigeons", "North American moose", "red deer", "bison" and "brown bears" are particularly hot, frying, cooking and frying all kinds of means are on the battlefield, the portion is sufficient and the price is not expensive, it is the favorite of the people at the bottom of the society.

All these years down

The flood of "North American passenger pigeons" has been greatly curbed, and it is much more difficult to catch than before, and the price of nourishing pigeon soup has quietly risen, from three cents to five cents.

After the beginning of winter

The men of the Colorado Plateau began to call friends and go out hunting with hounds, and their main targets were wild wolves, black and brown bears, bison, moose and beavers, ignoring the herds of passenger pigeons.

This is because the "North American passenger pigeon" is too low in value to be worth wasting bullets.

But any hunter who encounters a wild wolf must shoot it, which is the most hated wild animal by the owners and ranchers of the Colorado Plateau and the northern provinces, and is bound to kill it as quickly as possible.

Generally, after shooting wild wolves, most of them are discarded, and a very small number of people will spend effort to peel off the wolf skin and make it into a hunting leather suit worn when hunting in the mountains in winter, which is warm and wear-resistant.

The most valuable of the wild animals is the brown bear, the brown bear before the winter bear paw is large, thick, extremely fat, one can be sold on the street for 5 yuan, 4 is 20 yuan, as many as you want.

The most valuable is bear bile, the fresh bear bile that has just been killed after processing, depending on the size and color can be sold for 70~100 yuan, there are special local products store to buy.

This thing can be used in medicine, and it can also be exported to the Eastern Divine Continent, which is very popular.

Comparatively

Smaller black bear bear bile and bear paw are much cheaper, generally half of the brown bear is lower, and the best black bear bile is no more than 50 yuan.

In the more than 10 years since the development of the Colorado Plateau, the population of the entire province of Colorado has also grown to more than 960,000 people, and the vast plateau is dotted with towns and ditches, scattered with thousands of large and small estates, farms and ranches, and more than 30 towns.

Large towns have tens of thousands of people, while small towns have only three or four hundred people, and the size varies greatly.

Today, Colorado is the most populous and economically developed province among the twelve southern and northern provinces, and is known as the "granary of the kingdom" and the "pearl of the plateau", and is known for its abundant grain wine, delicious ham and cheese.

Because of the long development time, wild wolves are basically extinct on the Colorado Plateau, large bison herds are rarely seen, and although North American brown bears and wild bears are often seen, the difficulty of hunting has also greatly increased.

Further north, in areas such as Helena and Great Falls in Montana and Caspar in Wyoming, due to the late migration of the Chinese population, the development is very inadequate, and the urban population is also small, so it is common to see large groups of wild animals invading farms, and the "North American passenger pigeon" is overwhelming the crops.

This kind of sight is rarely seen in the Colorado Plateau.

It was at the end of July of this year

The city of Great Falls, Montana, once reported that a herd of about 70,000 bison chased the young grass and migrated, and the city organized 1,265 volunteer cavalry to hunt, hunting about 13,000 bison in more than 50 days, and mobilized more than 20,000 people in the city to make 2,600 tons of beef jerky, of which about 1,500 tons went to the strategic reserve for low-temperature storage, and the surplus was used for sale.

1,100 tons of beef jerky is worth nearly three million yuan, which is not a small income for a city of only 47,000 people.

Every summer and autumn, it is the hunting season in Great Falls.

The North American bison is a treasure all over the body, and bison is lower in cholesterol than other beef, low in fat, and has a good taste, which is a rare delicacy.

Because of the long-term migration of the bison, the fat dissolves into the beef, showing the beautiful striped spots of snowflake beef, especially suitable for pan-fried steaks, with only a little salt and black pepper to taste delicious.

Grand Rapids is famous for its delicious offal soup, where the large quantities of bison hunted each year are made into corned beef jerky, spiced beef jerky, or canned beef that is sold at home and abroad and in the kingdom's provinces.

What to do if so many cows go into the water?

Smart and industrious Chinese immigrants will not throw away all the tens of thousands of tons of cattle in vain, so the beef shutters, beef brisket, beef lungs, beef liver, beef intestines, beef double strings, beef head meat and cowhide products produced here are very famous, especially the beef offal soup is almost the favorite food of the residents of Great Falls City for breakfast, and it is a must to eat with steamed buns, which is also a typical example of relying on the mountains to eat the mountains.

In the military mobilization system of the Tang Kingdom, corned beef jerky is a necessary food for cavalry, which is not only small in size and high in calories, but also easy to carry and easy to preserve, and a certain amount enters the reserve every year.

Montana is located in the northernmost latitude and has a cold climate, with lows below 0 degrees for eight months of the year, so it is the best place to store beef jerky made in the summer and send it to the ice cellar.

Therefore, the province of Montana has always been tasked with making and stockpiling beef jerky for the cavalry of the kingdom, and making and stockpiling beef jerky with quality and quantity is a political task of the provincial government, which must be completed to the letter.

Normally, a cavalry regiment of more than 1,000 people needs to consume 15 tons of corned beef jerky in a month, which can maintain the soldiers' abundant physical strength and combat effectiveness, and the most important military supplies.

The northern provinces of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming are all important pastoral production areas in the kingdom, with cattle and sheep grazing and forest mining as important economic pillars, with relatively small populations and underdeveloped industries.

The populations of these provinces range from 100,000 to 400,000, with South Dakota being the most populous, where wheat cultivation is very developed, flour is abundant, and it is one of the important grain producing areas.

South Dakota's wheat-growing areas are concentrated near the capital city of Peel, which accounts for more than 80% of the province's population.

As we all know, the black soil on the earth is very precious, it is a natural treasure soil for growing food crops, the humus layer is rich in nutrients, and the crops have risen as long as they are planted, which is extremely valuable in the era of no chemical fertilizer, and is the guarantee of a bumper harvest of agricultural production.

There are only three large areas of black soil in the world, the largest being the Central Great Plains of North America, with a total area of 1.21 million square kilometers.

The second is the Dnieper River basin on the Ukrainian plain, with a total area of about 1.9 million square kilometers, which is known as the "breadbasket of Europe" and is famous for its abundant grain and fruits.

The third is the Northeast Plain of China Shenzhou, with a total area of about one million square kilometers, and the Northeast rice of the famous Shenzhou is produced here, but unfortunately it is now regarded as an ancestral land by the Manchu government, and it is strictly forbidden to migrate the Han people in Guannai and to develop.

The flames of the uprising in Guannai spread all over China, and the shortage of food has always been the biggest problem, and the peasants who could not survive were hungry everywhere, so they had to pull the flag and rebel, fighting for a way to survive.

There is the world's best black soil abroad, and it is simply the biggest waste not to develop the rod and roe deer scoop fish.

The Central Great Plains of North America has the largest black soil in the world, of which about 17,000 hectares are within the territory of the United States, 4,000 hectares within Canada, 5,000 hectares from Mexico, and 3,000 hectares from the Tang Kingdom.

Peel City and Omaha in the south are located within the boundaries of this 03,000 hectares of black soil, and the black soil here is really bubbling with a handful of oil, and any crop can be harvested.

The area around Peel City is located in the northwestern part of the Black Soil Belt of the Central Great Plains, which is just a narrow edge of the Great Plains, so it's no surprise that wheat is abundant here.

Really, whatever grows on the fertile black soil, there is no need for fertilizer at all.

All in all, these are good places.

Richard took a special train to inspect all the way, stopping and stopping in various provinces, inspecting defense and town construction, showing concern for local economic development and residents' lives, and often going into residents' homes to ask for warmth and listen to the most genuine thoughts of the people.

Leisure time

I will also take the Cavalry Guards to hunt on the plains, and relive the happy mood of leading a large group of cavalry to gallop down the Colorado Plateau for the second time, and feel that my mood is suddenly brightened.

The seventh day of the first month of January 1847

King Richard arrived at the last stop of his inspection ~ Fort Omaha.

The reason why Fort Omaha was placed at the end of his inspection was because it was a harsh winter, and the Missouri River was in a period of depletion of incoming water, so he could see the most real situation in the border area.

The Missouri River is a well-known river in North America, with a length of more than 3,600 kilometers, and is a seasonal river with great water volumes.

The minimum flow rate is 120 cubic meters per second (4,200 cubic feet per second) and the maximum flow rate is 25,500 cubic meters per second (900,000 cubic feet per second), a difference of more than 210 times.

Standing on the bank of the river on one side of the fortress of Omaha, the other end of the river bank could not be seen with Richard's sharp eyes, according to the entourage, in front of the eyes of the ocean during the wet season, the river is as wide as 8~9 kilometers.

Today, during the dry season, large swathes of the riverbank are exposed, and the wild and uninhibited Missouri River has become an ordinary river that meanders into the distance, about 150 or 60 meters wide, and flows calmly and slowly.

Richard had extensive experience swimming across rivers on horseback, and knew that crossing such a river would take less than 10 minutes to get through when properly organized.

Of course, because the weather is quite cold, you must immediately make a fire to keep warm after crossing the river, change into dry clothes, and drink a large bowl of hot ginger tea to ward off the cold, and you must put a blanket on the soaked war horse to keep warm, and a series of things must be busy for most of the day.

After crossing the river on horseback, the most taboo thing is to immediately ride the horse and gallop wildly.

In this way, not only the war horse is easy to get sick, but also the people can't bear it, and after a few minutes, they will freeze and turn white, and their upper and lower teeth can't stop shivering, and they can't even grasp the reins of the horse.

"How about organizing militia training and patrols in winter?" Looking at the situation in front of him, Richard asked with a frown.

The current commander of the Omaha Fortress is Major General Tian Mantun, who has only been in his new post for more than four months, but as a senior commander, he has a sense of responsibility and mission, and he has already clearly understood the situation in the fort defense area, so he answered simply and neatly.

"Returning to Your Majesty;

Omaha and surrounding towns have a population of 133,000, with a total of 38,500 young men of working age, a total of 35,400 militia and reserve personnel, and a total of more than 6,600 troops under the fort garrison command, with a usable force of 42,000.

At present, the army and militia are well equipped with weapons and equipment, and the reserves of materials including tents and food are intact, which can support three and a half months of high-intensity fighting.

Since the beginning of winter

Under the condition that normal social life and economic development are not affected, our department organizes militia and reservists to conduct rotational training, and the standard is that each person should have no less than three weeks.

so far

A total of 27,500 militia and reservists have participated in four phases of rotational training, and it is expected that two more rotational training sessions will be completed by the end of February.

During the rotation training period, all militia and reserve personnel are equipped with two guns, one long and one short, and a short knife in accordance with the requirements of actual combat, to participate in such tasks as guarding patrols along the riverbank and cavalry patrols in their jurisdictions, organizing offensive and defensive drills, organizing long-distance running subjects for two days and one night, and organizing shooting and foot drills, which are carried out in strict accordance with the training outline.

Due to the large number of pastures in the area, more than two-thirds of the militia and reservists belong to the cavalry when they have their own horses and guns, so the consumption of grain and grass is relatively large, and the stock can only last for a month and a half.

Regarding the shortage of relevant logistics materials, Weichen has sent three telegrams to the Army Staff Headquarters, imploring Shangfeng to strengthen the allocation of fine materials, including black beans, and maintain the strength of the war horses, which is the guarantee of the combat effectiveness of the cavalry.

According to the reply received from Shangfeng, a special train will arrive this week, bringing the corresponding materials and equipment urgently needed by the fortress, and the shortage will be replenished. ”

"Hmmm......"

Richard replied noncommittally, his deep eyes looking across the river, not knowing what he was thinking.

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