America 1881: They Call Me Legend

"Where's our horse?"

Roosevelt stood on the beach, looking at his beloved horse "Anthony" who was swimming towards him, feeling a little dazed.

Anthony was the only one aboard the troop carrier.

This was Roosevelt's prerogative as a commander. Others had no such luck.

However, since the place where they chose to land was a shoal, there was no way for the transport ship to dock, and they could only ferry by boat.

Small boats are not enough to transport people, let alone horses.

So Anthony was pushed into the sea with a "plop", and was swimming towards the coast alone at this time.

"It's not a problem, Mr. Roosevelt. At least your army still has a horse. Our army doesn't even have a horse." Chen Jianqiu, who was standing beside Roosevelt, said.

He came with a troop of soldiers to clear the landing site for the [-]st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Brigade.

But in fact, the Spaniards on this beach have been beaten back to the vicinity of Santiago, or in other words, the Spanish defenders in the entire southwest have been forced back to the vicinity of Santiago and Guantanamo.

"Thank you very much for coming, Chen, I heard that you played very well in Cuba." Roosevelt turned to Chen Jianqiu, and found that the latter was wearing a gray thin cloth shirt.

"Uh, so-so, because the order I received was to support the local rebel army, and I didn't receive any other tasks after that." Chen Jianqiu said.

Roosevelt nodded, took out a piece of paper from his clothes, and handed it to Chen Jianqiu.

"I just brought you a new order," Roosevelt said.

Chen Jianqiu picked up the paper and took a look:
The [-]nd Volunteer Cavalry Brigade is hereby ordered to cut off the link between Guantanamo and Santiago at all costs.

Signed by Commander-in-Chief Shafter.

Chen Jianqiu was a little dumbfounded.

Is the U.S. military headquarters so belatedly aware?I almost opened up the whole south.

Xu Ajiu was leading an army to sweep towards Havana.

Just keep two "big gift bags" waiting for the U.S. military to dismantle them.

"What about you?" Chen Jianqiu asked.

"Let's wait here for our equipment, and then attack San Diego." Roosevelt's eyes sparkled with excitement, "Too much time has been wasted by the headquarters, I can't wait!"

Chen Jianqiu glanced at the somewhat embarrassed American soldiers on the beach.

These soldiers were wearing thick wool uniforms and cowhide hats, sweating profusely.

These military uniforms were temporarily obtained from the military supply side.

These people have no idea what the climate in Cuba is like now.

This operation is comparable to only providing soldiers with summer singles when attacking Moscow in winter.

"Hey, old friend, I have a piece of advice for you." Chen Jianqiu turned to Roosevelt and said, "It's best to be careful of the jungle here. Although we and the guerrillas have cleaned up many Spaniards, the direction leading to San Diego is still dangerous."

"The local guerrillas will give you some guidance and hope to give you some help." Chen Jianqiu pointed to a group of people behind him.

"You'd better pay attention. If there is a special bird song, it is these friends who are reporting to you, indicating that there may be an ambush by the Spaniards nearby."

"Thank you, my friend, but we will quickly defeat those Spaniards and let them go back!" Roosevelt was full of confidence, "I also wish you a successful mission. Glory belongs to every American soldier who can stand here!"

Chen Jianqiu knew that this old friend was a strong-willed and energetic person, but he did lack actual combat experience.

He just dismissed these difficulties as trivial setbacks.

"Um, well, I wish you all good luck." Chen Jianqiu patted Roosevelt on the shoulder.

To be honest, there was an impulse in his heart.

If he had known that the U.S. Army was so stretched, he simply took the opportunity to go north and stab Washington.

However, this kind of thinking finally stayed in Chen Jianqiu's mind.

Today's America is a country with extremely strong war potential, and it is not something that can be solved by simply capturing the capital.

Anyway, the White House is not untouched.

After Chen Jianqiu left with his troops, Roosevelt and his landing force assembled on the beach while waiting for their equipment.

They waited until the afternoon, from high tide to low tide, but they didn't see the shadow of their equipment.

Roosevelt was not a good-tempered person. His self-cultivation prevented him from yelling, but his face was gloomy and terrible.

Seeing that the sun was about to set, Roosevelt had to let the soldiers camp near the coast.

The survival supplies that soldiers carry with them are very limited.

They don't even have tents.

A group of people played wilderness survival on the beach.

They searched everywhere for dry wood and something to light a fire.

There are still jerky and biscuits with me, but many of them have been soaked by sea water.

Some even fell into the sea when they landed.

These people began to use their subjective initiative to find food near the coast.

This night is a day of disaster for Cuban beach animals.

Thousands of hungry soldiers rushed to the sea collectively, searching for all the edible things they could see and touch.

Roosevelt ate a little and fell asleep by the campfire.

Then he had the night of a lifetime.

All kinds of unnamed bugs flew out of the jungle and grass.

The knowledgeable Roosevelt couldn't name them.

But they have one thing in common, that is, they will suck blood.

A bug got into Roosevelt's clothes along his collar.

Roosevelt, who was still asleep, sat up abruptly.

Because he felt the intruder rampaging through the space between his skin and his clothes.

Roosevelt instantly got up from the ground, took off his clothes and shook desperately.

That damn bug flew to nowhere.

Roosevelt, who was stripped naked, put on his clothes again.

He looked around and found that many soldiers were doing the same thing as him.

It was almost impossible to sleep in the second half of the night.

With lingering fears, Roosevelt sat by the campfire until dawn.

Many soldiers had bruised noses and swollen faces from the bites, and had big bumps on their bodies.

This is the first gift from the island nation of Cuba to these soldiers.

The sun rose.

Roosevelt had good news and bad news.

The good news is they saw horses.

A horse team was coming in their direction along the coast.

This is a convoy.

The equipment and supplies that Roosevelt had been thinking about arrived.

The bad news is that these horses are all pack horses, and none of their war horses are still here.

And after counting the supplies, Roosevelt found that only part of the items had arrived.

The troops in charge of the transport got their landing place wrong.

They shipped the horses and equipment to different places.

Fortunately, Chen Jianqiu and the guerrillas basically cleared the coast for them.

Otherwise, all these things must fall into the hands of the Spaniards.

Roosevelt asked his soldiers to quickly receive equipment and supplies.

He had wasted a day and a night, and it was intolerable to him.

But his team still stayed in place until noon before completing the reorganization.

They simply ate lunch and set off again.

Lunch is canned beef brought by the transport team.

However, unlike the later world-leading supplies of the US military, these canned meat at this time were temporarily purchased by the Ministry of the Army.

The sanitation of the slaughterhouses that provided meat for canning in 19th-century America can only be described as disaster.

Flies are flying everywhere, blood is flowing, not to mention sick pigs and rotten meat.

Add to that poor storage in transit and the harsh Cuban climate.

The taste of these cans can be imagined.

But the hungry American soldiers can't care so much.

They simply heated it with fire and ate it whole.

The soldiers of the cavalry brigade without horses continued to advance towards Santiago again.

Cuban Chinese guerrillas entered the jungle ahead of them.

After Chen Jianqiu returned to Cuba with his team, his prestige among the Chinese rebel army grew stronger and stronger with each victory.

According to the agreement, these guerrillas will provide detection and security for Roosevelt and his soldiers.

Roosevelt and soldiers from the [-]st Volunteer Cavalry Brigade soon followed.

At first, everything seemed to be peaceful, except that the road was really not easy to walk.

Roosevelt, the only one who rode a horse, also chose to dismount, and led the horse to march forward with his soldiers.

"Mr. Roosevelt, I really didn't expect that I would fight side by side with you in a foreign country." An old cowboy in his sixties walking side by side with Roosevelt said with emotion.

The old cowboy was from Hyena, North Dakota, where Roosevelt was sheriff out west.

He worked for Roosevelt's ranch.

The composition of this team is extremely complicated, with cowboys, police officers, and some veterans who participated in the Civil War.

"I am also very honored, sir." Roosevelt did not have the airs of an officer.

He suddenly noticed that the old cowboy was walking with a limp, so he asked:

"What's the matter with your leg, Mr. Horst?"

The old cowboy was a little embarrassed:
"It was my first time on a boat and I didn't have much experience. I accidentally sprained my foot when I got off the boat."

He then waved to Roosevelt again:

"But it's okay, Mr. Roosevelt, he should be fine soon, and it won't affect us kicking those Spaniards' asses!"

Roosevelt pointed to the horse beside him:

"Mr. Horst, you should get on your horse and ride for a while. We are still some distance away from Santiago. You should get on your horse and ride for a while. It will not affect your killing the enemy then!"

The old cowboy was a little embarrassed, and waved his hands again and again to say no.

But at Roosevelt's insistence, he finally got on the horse.

The group moved on.

The jungles of Cuba are lush and lush.

This is an Eden for many small reptiles.

The chameleon, the lizard, stayed still on the branch, watching warily as the procession passed below them.

There are no roads in the jungle.

But for an army, this is not a problem.

There are two local guerrillas acting as guides for them, but the only problem is that their language is not very similar, and they communicate entirely by body language.

Suddenly, several strange birdsong came rhythmically from the forest ahead.

"This bird call feels so special." The old cowboy Horst said looking at the dense trees in front of him.

"There are many birds here that are not found in the United States, such as a Cuban quetzal, which can hop between trees like a bobpecker. So it's not surprising." Roosevelt, who has read a lot, disagrees.

However, the two guerrillas who were guides suddenly became tense after hearing the birdsong.

They made a stop sign to the still advancing team, then ran to Roosevelt, danced and spoke the local dialect.

Roosevelt suddenly remembered what Chen Jianqiu had said to him before he left.

He has always believed in Chen Jianqiu's words.

But this time, he hesitated.

They have already wasted too much time on the beach, if they delay any longer, they might miss the chance of fighting.

Besides, from the moment he landed to the present, he hasn't seen a single Spanish soldier.

So, is there really an ambush by Spanish soldiers ahead?
However, while Roosevelt was still thinking.

A shot went off.

The body of the old cowboy Horst on the horse froze suddenly.

A blood flower bloomed from his chest.

The old cowboy was hit by a bullet and fell off his horse.

Immediately afterwards, gunshots "cracked" rang out.

"There's an ambush! Take cover!" Roosevelt belatedly pulled out his gun, squatted down, and gave orders to the soldiers behind him.

He glanced at the old cowboy lying on the ground in front of him.

Blood flowed continuously from his wound.

The cowboy was panting heavily, probably because his lungs had been punctured, and there was a high probability that he would not be able to survive in such a place.

In fact, in an ambush in a dense jungle, the hit rate of bullets is generally not very high.

But riding a horse is different.

Especially prominent targets are too easy to be hit, not to mention that the one on horseback looks like an officer, and will bear the brunt of being the first target to be killed.

Roosevelt thumped the ground angrily.

He knew if it wasn't the old cowboy who was riding the horse just now, but him.

Then the one lying there now is himself.

The old cowboy died for him!

Now Roosevelt is an excellent sheriff, police chief, politician, historian. But by no means an experienced battlefield commander.

The slightest hesitation is not allowed on the battlefield, if you hesitate, you will lose!
After calming down briefly, Roosevelt began to organize a counterattack against the Spanish ambushing ahead.

Judging from the gunshots, there were not many ambushers.

The guerrillas locked the position of the ambush for them, and cooperated with them to touch the enemy in the dark.

After paying the price of more than [-] casualties, the soldiers of the [-]st Volunteer Cavalry Brigade finally completed the surrender of the ambushers.

They killed most of the Spanish soldiers and took a few alive.

But at this time, Roosevelt discovered a new problem.

No one in his team knew the local language, or Spanish!
He originally wanted to extract some useful information from these prisoners.

But unfortunately, very little has been achieved.

The interrogation process was so embarrassing that it ended with the captive looking dazed.

Roosevelt had no choice but to order his soldiers to continue to advance towards San Diego.

Along the way, they were still constantly attacked by the Spaniards.

After the first failure, Roosevelt stepped up his vigilance and cooperated with the guerrillas to clean up the ambushed Spanish soldiers.

The number of soldiers killed in battle is also decreasing.

Everything seems to be going in a good direction.

But after a few more days, Roosevelt soon discovered that being ambushed seemed to be the most trivial problem he encountered along the way.

Because of the bad weather in Cuba, the bites of those unknown mosquitoes and the spoiled canned meat came together to bring disaster to his soldiers.

Disease, death incarnate, began to deprive Americans of their lives.