1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 666 Consumables

At 7:30 in the evening, the front-line headquarters outside Fort Goshen received telegrams in succession that the defenders of Fort Zaccord and Fort Lexington had surrendered.

The commander of the artillery brigade, Sutter, was still not satisfied. "The defenders of Zhakod and Lexington surrendered immediately? I wanted to give them to the second and third artillery regiments for training and target practice. Such good opportunities for actual target practice are rare."

On the contrary, Sartre did not want the defenders of these forts to surrender too early. The First Artillery Regiment expanded from a regiment to a brigade and absorbed many new recruits. These new recruits lacked practical experience. Sartre wanted to use these three small forts to train the new recruits.

"You fired 38000 shells into a palm-sized fort in one day. Even if you didn't kill many people, it would scare the Union Army inside the fort." Kruger couldn't help laughing. "You destroyed a quarter of the life of a cannon in one day. At this rate, a cannon will only last you three days."

Kruger had never fought such a heavy war in his early years in the Prussian army. In a small battle, at least 11 artillery shells were consumed in just one day. With such intensity of artillery fire, not to mention the American army, even the elite troops in Europe could not withstand it.

What Kruger said about destroying one-third of the life of a gun in one day is not an exaggeration. The service life of each Sacrato gun is 1200 rounds. If each gun fires rounds a day, at this intensity, a gun can only be used for four days.

In high-intensity wars, not only ammunition is a consumable, but guns themselves are also consumables.

"When a cannon goes off, it costs a ton of gold. Today, the ammunition alone cost 42 U.S. dollars." Elvis lamented how quickly war burns money, and this doesn't even take into account the loss of artillery and the food and clothing of more than people.

"If we don't fire the shells we produce, are we going to keep them for the New Year to hear?" Sartre laughed.

"Are there any casualties in Zakod and Lexington?" Liang Yao walked slowly out of the lounge of the front-line headquarters, stretched and asked.

The Kearny Fort Group was just an appetizer, and the three small forts of Goshen, Zaccord and Lexington were just appetizers among appetizers. The surrender of the two small forts did not cause any waves in his heart. His real target was the main force of the federal army gathered in Omaha.

As for how much money was transferred out today, Liang Yao didn't care. A few hundred thousand US dollars was just a matter of moving more kerosene to Europe.

"Their artillery couldn't reach us, so how could there be casualties?" Sartre said with a relaxed look, "It's just that the results were small. We only captured 327 people, and the highest rank was only a major."

"Shouldn't there be two majors?" asked Elvis, who had just returned to the headquarters after drinking tea and had not had time to check the telegrams sent back from the front.

The highest military commanders of the three small forts of Gossen, Zaccord and Lexington were all majors. Two small forts surrendered, and only one major was captured. Did the remaining one escape or die?

"Major Charlie of Fort Lexington was killed in the explosion." Sutter said, "If you want to collect two major prisoners, I will ask the First Artillery Regiment to increase the intensity of the bombardment and blow up the major of Fort Goshen to surrender."

There were no casualties, Liang Yao was very satisfied with the result. He didn't mind spending more money on shells, but he was more worried about too many casualties. The soldiers who followed him eastward this time were all veterans, and one less death was one less.

As for the excessive consumption of ammunition and subsequent supply issues, Liang Yao is not worried at this stage.

At present, the battle line has not been opened, the supply line is very short, and the battle is along the Platte River and the Pacific Railway, so it is relatively easy to supply ammunition.

"Team Rocket has never had any experience, so let's give them a chance to perform." Liang Yao wanted to release some flying monkeys to play with and broaden his horizons.

The officers and soldiers of the Rocket Regiment, who had been eager to try, quickly pushed the rocket vehicle forward after receiving the attack order and made final preparations before launch.

The rockets equipped by the Rocket Regiment are based on the Congreve rocket, and are called Sky Punishment.

There are two types of Tianfa rockets: light and heavy. Those under 32 pounds are light rockets, and those over 32 pounds (inclusive) are heavy rockets. Light rockets are mainly used in field battles, while heavy rockets are mainly used in sieges or naval battles.

That being said, the 32-pound rocket is more often used as a medium-sized rocket that can be used for both naval battles and field operations. It is also the type of rocket equipped with the largest number of rockets in the rocket regiment.

The 32-pound Skyfa rocket is large in size and weight, so it requires a special launch vehicle to launch.

Each rocket launcher has a crew of 8 people, and the specific personnel configuration is as follows:

There is one commander and one deputy commander. The commander's job is to aim at the target and command the firing, while the deputy commander's job is to assist the commander and replace him when the commander is injured or killed.

Two rocket loaders are responsible for installing the rocket on the launch track and ensuring the rocket is in the correct position.

A pyrotechnician is responsible for lighting the rocket fuse and launching it.

Two ammunition porters, responsible for carrying ammunition.

A maintenance worker, responsible for the maintenance of the launch vehicle and rocket.

Soon, under the command of the rocket regiment leader Weng Zhichao, 80 rocket launchers were ready.

"ignition!"

Following Weng Zhichao's order, hundreds of rockets gradually pierced the night sky, trailing scarlet flames and the rocket's unique whistling sound, like an angry dragon coming out of the sea, heading straight for the Gosen Fortress.

A few seconds later, the rocket landed, and the deafening explosion shook the earth. Flames soared into the sky, instantly engulfing the walls and trenches inside the fortress.

For a moment, the entire Gosen Fortress was filled with smoke and flying debris.

Although the rockets of this era lacked accuracy, it did not require great accuracy to strike a target as large as a fortress. Almost all of the Sky Punishment rockets were launched into the Gosen Fortress.

After just one round of rocket fire, the defenders of Gothenburg were so frightened that their morale completely collapsed.

To be fair, since most of the defenders in Gothenburg were hiding in the bunkers and cellars, the casualties caused by a round of rocket fire were very limited.

But this round of rocket fire dealt a far greater blow to the morale of the defenders than the daytime artillery bombardment.

"Raise the white flag! Raise the white flag! Surrender! Surrender! We surrender!"

Alex held his head and ordered his lieutenants to raise the white flag and surrender to the Western Army.

At this moment, he no longer had the idea of ​​holding out until the next day to surrender and save some dignity for himself. Who knew how many more beatings they would have to endure if they delayed until the next day.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the 158 remaining Union officers and soldiers in Goshenburg Fort held white flags and walked out of Goshenburg, surrendering to the Western Army.

At this point, the three small and medium-sized fortresses of Fort Gossen, Fort Cozad, and Fort Lexington were all occupied by the Defense Forces of the Republic of America, and the first phase of the battle objectives of the Defense Forces of the Republic of America were completed.

In this battle, the Defense Forces of the American Republic captured three small and medium-sized forts built by the Northern Federation at great expense in just one day without any casualties, captured 485 Northern soldiers and killed 261.

Liang Yao and the top leaders of the National Defense Forces were very satisfied with this performance.

"Being able to withstand such heavy casualties, the defenders of these three forts must be the elite of the Northern Army." Although this victory came easily, Liang Yao still gave a relatively objective evaluation of his opponent.

To be honest, the performance of these Northern Union troops was quite good, but it was a pity that they met an opponent like him who was not afraid of spending money in a war.

If their opponent was the Confederate Army, these Northern Union troops might have been able to hold out for a month or two.

"They've been interrogated. They're all from the Mason Brigade, the standing army before the war!" Liang Xi reported to Liang Yao excitedly.

The Northern Federation's army was divided into three levels. The first level was the standing army that existed before the war. This group of Northern troops was small in number, with only tens of thousands of people, but they were the most powerful team in the Northern Federation.

The second category is the volunteer corps formed by the northern states. The volunteer corps is mainly composed of retired soldiers and has strong combat effectiveness, but the number is not large.

The third group is the first and second batches of mobilized soldiers, whose origins and composition are more complicated, mostly urban poor and bankrupt small farmers. The mobilized soldiers are currently the largest and weakest troops in the Northern Army.

Killing or capturing 746 regular soldiers of the Northern Federation in the First World War was indeed a significant victory.

The news that Fort Goshen, Fort Cozad, and Fort Lexington had fallen and that 746 members of Mason's Brigade of the Northern Union regular troops had been killed or captured quickly spread along North America's well-developed telegraph network along the West Coast, as well as Washington and Richmond.

Although they had been mentally prepared, the fact that the three forts could not stop the Western Army for even a day was far beyond the expectations of Lincoln's cabinet.

"How many casualties did the Western Army suffer?"

Secretary of State Seward asked Secretary of War Scott if the Western Army would not be unacceptable if it suffered heavy casualties in capturing the three forts.

"We cannot count the casualties of the Western Army, but the Western Army has publicized that they have no casualties. The only casualties are the ammunition in their North Platte ammunition depot and the US dollars in the Treasury." Scott's face was like a Shar Pei dog, and there was no visible fluctuation in his expression.

"Nonsense!" Siward retorted. "These barbarians in the West are so shameless! How could they capture three fortresses without any casualties? The ones defending these three fortresses are our standing troops! Standing troops!"

Seward had serious doubts about this result. Siege warfare is the most difficult battle to fight. The Western Army captured three of their fortresses at lightning speed without any casualties, which in itself violated the common sense of war.

  The American army is a modern army, not a primitive Indian armed force or a medieval army. How could it be possible that it did not pay any casualties?

"No matter what, at least one thing is certain. It took the Western Army less than 12 hours to capture the three forts guarded by our regular army." Lincoln frowned. "We have to keep this secret. At present, it seems that our third batch of mobilized soldiers will only mobilize 10 people. This number is still too conservative."

(End of this chapter)