When you think of the Sunshine State (California), what's the first thing that comes to mind? Sun, sand, beauty, bikini, Hollywood, or beef noodles?

Of course, the impression of California at this time is still far from that of later generations, and what it shows to the world today is another side of it - the cruelty of nature.

The desert valley floor known as Death Valley is the lowest and driest region on the North American continent and the gateway to the future Sunshine State.

Death Valley, as the name suggests, is very unfriendly to life. It is shrouded in heat and dryness, with average summer temperatures above 38°C and highs of over 56°C.

At least 400,000 of the 400,000 gold diggers who traversed the "death zone" in order to get to their destination more quickly, at least 4% of whom never made it out alive, was nicknamed Funeral Hill.

Today's U.S. military relies on better preparation and better quality than future gold diggers, so its First Army only lost a few hundred men through Death Valley, but the tremendous mental stress and exhaustion caused by crossing the perilous terrain are difficult to resolve.

Lieutenant General Stephen Carney had been on the lookout for a possible attack by the Austrians.

However, the expected encounter did not take place, in fact because the Austrian garrison was too far away from the area, and the local climate was not only a torture for oneself, but also for the enemy.

The temperature difference between day and night in Death Valley is very great, and it is often hot enough to dry people during the day, but cold enough to frost on the stones at night, so you have to bring a lot of baggage to ambush there, otherwise the enemy will not wait for himself to be eliminated by nature first.

And most importantly, the uninhabited terrain is not suitable for ambushes; The narrowest part of the 225-kilometer-long passage is nearly six kilometers wide, and the widest part can even reach 26 kilometers, among which the terrain is generally low, and there are many salt flats and sand dunes.

This terrain treats both sides equally, and there is no difference. The complex terrain would hinder the Austrians' superior firepower, so Archduke Carl Ferdinand chose to wait for work.

Due to his family background, he has been studying defensive warfare skills, but when he learned that the American troops on the opposite side actually chose to divide their troops to fight, he decisively decided to take the initiative.

Stephen Carney divided his 30,000-strong army into two parts, and he assigned most of the cavalry and light infantry (similar to the Austrian chasseurs) to Major General Carter, who was responsible for opening the way ahead.

At the same time, in order to find out the fate of the previous pioneer brothers, the remaining infantry and baggage teams were led by themselves to press the rear formation.

Although Major General Carter's troops were only 8,000 men, they were highly mobile and not weak in combat effectiveness, and could be used as outposts for reconnaissance work.

If you find the traces of the leading allies, you can support them on the spot, and even if you are ambushed, you can retreat in time.

The reason why the large force led by Lieutenant General Stephen Carney chose to slow down the march was because the previous rapid march had pushed the soldiers to their physical and mental limits.

The Austrian side learned from the mouths of the previous American prisoners that the enemy's subsequent troops, firepower allocation, and personnel arrangements.

In fact, this information was not difficult to obtain, and the pampered American officers, who had worked in the mines for a few days, were willing to say anything when questioned again, and kept almost no secrets.

As night fell, Lieutenant General Stephen Carney lay down early, the commander was exhausted by the rapid march of many days, not to mention that there was another army in front of him as a target, and gradually his tense nerves relaxed, and a strong sleepiness followed, and soon the snoring came from the tent.

The soldiers outside the tents also stretched their waists and staggered to sleep with their guns in their hands, and the sentries sat on the roof of the caravan and looked up at the stars in boredom.

The comrades-in-arms around the campfire did not enjoy the treatment of tents, only a simple blanket and a quilt sewn from linen, but it did not prevent them from enjoying the warm stove and delicious food in their dreams.

At that time, the U.S. military discipline was very lax, and they did not even build a guard tower on the periphery of the camp, but chose to drive the caravan out for the sentries to sit on the roof and observe. The advantage of this method is that it is troublesome, and the disadvantage is that it is basically useless.

An American sentry spotted a group of men and even a caravan far away, but instead of reacting, he waved his lamp in the night.

The other party also shook the same way, and since the code was correct, he also turned his head and continued to count the stars.

On the other side of the night, the convoy began to unload and set up launchers, while the elite hunters spread out in all directions, and one of the small teams reached the sentinel.

In the face of an enemy force that may exceed 20,000 men, the total number of Austrian sneak attack detachments did not exceed 1,000, but do not underestimate them, after all, this team has brought more than a dozen wagons full of rockets.

As a sharp whistle sounded, the sentries in the U.S. military camp searched around for the source of the sound.

Suddenly, a soldier pointed to the sky and shouted.

"Look! It's a shooting star! It's flying towards us! ”

Then there was a loud boom, and the rockets exploded above the camp, unleashing brilliant and deadly fireworks.

At this time, it was not the latest rockets used to attack the US military camp, but the "stock" was mixed with various types and models of rockets, so the contents were naturally different.

Accompanied by a beautiful fireworks display, all kinds of debris, fire oil, combustibles, and small steel balls were scattered in all directions. Of course, there are also high-explosive rockets dedicated to sieges.

I saw them rush into the opponent's camp, and when the enemy next to them thought it was a stink bomb, it suddenly exploded violently, and the air wave was enough to lift the enemy soldiers away.

The rockets rained down like no money, which made the American officers and soldiers in the camp skewer around like headless flies, especially those unlucky people who were hit by incendiary bombs would not die immediately, but would run around with fire until they were burned alive or killed by friendly soldiers.

The fire spread rapidly in the American camp, and the shining fire was the best target, and more brilliant rockets dragged a long trajectory to the enemy like meteors.

Feeling the heat, Stephen Carney suddenly opened his eyes suddenly, only to find that his tent was on fire.

You must know that in the dream just now, the general had just finished receiving the president's commendation at the White House and speaking in front of his rivals, and then the first lady invited him to a secret garden to talk about life, just when the two were in dire straits.

Awakened by the heat, Stephen Carney immediately escaped from his tent and was stunned by what he saw.

The barracks in front of me were like the end of the world, full of frightened fleeing soldiers, screams and explosions were incessant, and the camp had turned into a sea of fire.

Wood and corpses crackled and crackled in the fire, choking smoke filled the air, and the pungent smell reached the mouth and made people sick.

He fled from this flaming hell as if he was deadly, falling down a few times along the way, bumping into several of his comrades.

But Lieutenant General Stephen Carney miraculously survived, and the gasping survivor saw meteors smashing into his camp in a parabola from the nearby slopes.

The rest of the First Army wasn't as lucky as he was; The fires, explosions, smoke, and the resulting chaos and fear caused many soldiers to lose their way in the fire, and there were even unlucky ghosts who went crazy due to the stress and killed them at the sight of a moving shadow

(End of chapter)