Chapter 689: The Troops Arrive at Omaha

"Fight for the President! Fight for the Republic!"

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The senior Western Army officers in the special train were in a state of enthusiasm.

"The war is imminent, you all return to your respective positions and prepare well."

Liang Yao felt very pleased to see that the brigade generals and colonels of the Western Army were full of energy and high morale.

Since 1850, he has spent nearly 10 million to fight the North American powerhouse he has created for today.

"His Excellency the President, this is a preliminary combat plan formulated by the General Staff." Kruger submitted the combat plan for World War I to Liang Yao.

"I believe you and the young people in the General Staff are very motivated." Liang Yao asked Zeiss to accept the combat plan.

He will look at the combat plan, but if there is no problem with the general direction, Liang Yao has no intention of modifying the combat plan submitted by the General Staff.

Now he is already busy dealing with government affairs alone. Napoleon III will come here to watch the battle soon and discuss the issue of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries. He has no intention of interfering with the troops.

The main purpose of his visit to the front line this time was to boost the morale of the entire army, not to come for the micro-operation troops.

"These young men are all excellent, very motivated, and can endure hardships," Kruger said. "The same is true for the soldiers. If these soldiers have a higher level of education and have received basic education, they will definitely be able to do so. Excellent soldiers comparable to Prussian soldiers.”

Kruger has served Liang Yao for more than ten years and has long since disappeared from prejudice against people of color. Of course, he dared not.

When he first served Liang Yao, Kruger condescended to serve Liang Yao for Jin's sake.

Over the past decade, Kruger gradually discovered that the Chinese soldiers were not as unbearable as the British said, but had excellent qualities that many European soldiers did not possess.

The only thing that Kruger regrets about these soldiers is that their educational level is relatively low. If their literacy rate is higher, the upper limit of this army will be higher.

"So, my soldiers are not outstanding enough." Liang Yao said with a smile.

Kruger made sense. Now more than 75% of the soldiers in the Western Army are immigrants of the generation, and the illiteracy rate is very high, although there are also literacy squads in the army to help illiterate soldiers and strive to improve their cultural level. But so far, the literacy rate of the entire army is only about 45%.

Since they received compulsory education from the American Republic since childhood, their literacy rate is very high, reaching more than 93%.

However, the number of second-generation immigrants is still relatively small, and these high-quality soldiers are basically used by the navy, machine gun troops, artillery troops and other troops with relatively high cultural requirements. Many of the infantry with the majority were still immigrants of the first generation.

As Engels said in "Anti-Durin" , modern warfare is first and foremost the war of the clerks. The military's literacy rate is not only related to the efficiency of order communication, but also a bloody yardstick for the degree of national modernization.

Obviously, Liang Yao's army has not reached this measure yet.

During this period, his opponent, the Northern Army, had a literacy rate of 89~93%, the Southern Army had a slightly lower literacy rate, the plantation owner class had a literacy rate of 95%, the self-cultivated farmer class had a 65%, and the total literacy rate was 78-82%. .

The French army's urban source literacy rate of the world's No. 1 Army is 85%, and the rural source is 45%. The average literacy rate of the entire army is about 70%. Not counting the colonial army, the British army's literacy rate is roughly the same as that of the French army.

The army with the highest literacy rate is the Prussian army that Kruger has served, with the Prussian army having a literacy rate of 92 to 95%. Moreover, the literacy rate of the Pu army is higher than that of the armies of other great powers.

Principal new recruits need to pass the literacy test before they can officially enter the army, rather than be able to write their own names. Almost every Pu army artillery can basically understand the trigonometric function firing table. All this was thanks to the implementation of the Prussian Compulsory Education Act of 1825.

The West began to implement compulsory education in the Compulsory Education Law promulgated in 1851. Although the Compulsory Education Law has achieved remarkable results, it will take ten years or even longer to reach the level of the French army.

Of course, the Western Army's literacy rate was not as good as the top, and it was more than enough.

It is at least 12-18% stronger than the literacy rate of Tsarist Russian grey animals.

As for who has a higher literacy rate than another great power, it is hard to say who has a higher literacy rate. The Austrian army has a 35-40% literacy rate, but the Austrian army has a low literacy rate because it is a multilingual empire and the educational standards are chaotic. .

"Our army is excellent, but it can be better." Kruger's emotional intelligence is still not low and he responded quickly.

"Kruger, you're right, but it's not a matter of increasing their literacy rate overnight." Liang Yao said, "I've read the briefing some time ago. Be sure to warn the army not to be a member of the Carney Fortress Group. The victory was overwhelming, and the combat effectiveness and combat will of the elite troops of the Northern Army should not be underestimated."

Liang Yao read all the battle briefings from some time ago. He didn't know whether he had too high expectations for the Mongolian Cavalry Regiment and the Sauron Cavalry Battalion, or because the Northern Army's cavalry and engineers had good combat effectiveness.

He was not satisfied with the performance of the Mongolian Cavalry Regiment and the Soren Cavalry Battalion, and their performance did not meet Liang Yao's expectations.

"Arrogant soldiers are easily defeated, which is also my most worrying issue. So this time, I plan to let the troops that have not participated in the war, such as the machine gun regiment, take the lead, let the Northern Army see our secret weapons, and attack them by surprise."

"You are the supreme commander on the front line. You have the final say in how to fight. I will not intervene too much. I only have one requirement. Omaha only allows you to win, not lose. You must win a beautiful victory!"

"I promise to win a beautiful victory!"

Liang Yao and Kruger were talking, and Zeiss walked in with a telegram. The tone of Zeiss could not hide his excitement: "Sir! Good news! Good news! General Robert Lee obtained it in Manassas Town A great victory!”

"Has the Southern Army achieved a great victory?" Kruger was so excited that he heard that the Southern Army had achieved a great victory.

The Southern Army on the Eastern Front achieved a great victory, and the pressure on their Western Front would undoubtedly be less.

Although the data on the Northern Army is very strong and the number of troops is higher than the sum of the Western Army and the Southern Army, it is difficult for the Northern Army to concentrate its forces to defeat the Western Army and the Southern Army in each battle.

The senior executives in the west and the senior executives in the south are not stupid. Although the two sides have not formed an alliance, they have a tacit understanding of the north. Neither executives of both sides have shown their intention to make peace with the north.

However, Liang Yao, when he learned that Robert Lee led the Southern Army to achieve a great victory in Manassas, he seemed to have expected it.

This confused Kruger: "Have you learned in advance that the Southern Army won the victory?"

"The preparations of the Southern Army are more sufficient than those of the Northern Army. The Northern Army has no advantage in military strength on the Boer Creek line. Besides, General Robert Lee is one of the top generals in North America. If he cannot defeat the Northern Army in Manassas Town, That's a strange thing." Liang Yao said.

In the early days of the war, the Southern Army was basically veterans who had participated in actual combat, while the Northern Army was mostly new recruits. At this time, most capable officers chose to join the Southern camp. The quality of Northern Army officers, especially senior officers of the Northern Army, was more than The Southern Army is far behind.

It would be strange if the Northern Army won the battle in Manassas.

"Too."

Kruger felt that what Liang Yao said made sense, so he did not think about it any other way.

Everyone was happy and the other was worried. When Kruger was happy about the victory achieved by the Southern Army in Manassas, McClellan, who was in Omaha, was worried.

The tired McClellan leaned against his walnut desk, which was filled with maps and long-standing unopened letters, and the pre-war command pressure almost made him breathless.

The Eastern Front Northern Army suffered a crushing defeat in Manassas Town, and the capital Washington was in jeopardy, which means that the war resources he could obtain from the federal government would only be less and less.

The federal government will inevitably invest more resources on the Eastern Front to ensure the security of the capital.

After all, if Washington is lost, the morale blow to the northern people will be fatal, and the legitimacy of the Lincoln administration will be questioned or even overturned.

McClellan knew very well that in the minds of Lincoln government officials, the importance of the Eastern Front battlefield was higher than that of the Western Front battlefield.

As for Lincoln himself, perhaps because of his understanding of Liang Yao and the West, he attached great importance to the Western Front battlefield.

However, due to the crisis on the Eastern Front battlefield, Lincoln's support for McClellan is becoming more and more limited.

What upset McClellan was not only the failure of the Eastern Front Northern Army, but also the senators and sermons in front of him who were full of belly and talked endlessly.

Stevens is in a straight suit, and he has the confidence of a short-sighted politician who is ignorant of the world. Stevens came straight to McClellan and questioned McClellan, or torture.

"General McClellan, what are you waiting for? The Westerners' rebels have gathered in front of us. Are you going to continue to sit and wait for death?"

Body and mentally exhausted, McClellan looked at the eager northern politician, and an indescribable sense of powerlessness arose in his heart. He had heard enough of these short-sighted politicians' empty words, but he still had to face them patiently.

McClellan has heard of the past of Mr. Stevens in front of him. Stevens was born in a famous family in New York State. He has been pampered since childhood and has no military background. It was entirely due to the family's Yinmeng that he inherited his father's political legacy to enter the Senate.

McClellan also knew that Mr. Stevens dug up gold in Sacramento for more than a month during the California Gold Rush, and the gold was confiscated by Liang Yao.

This time, Stevens came to Omaha to see the Northern Army defeat the Western Army to relieve Liang Yao's revenge on the gold-capturing of the Sacramento.

"Mr. Stevens, our troops are not fully prepared. You can't just take a look at the map and think that attacking is the easiest solution." McClellan's voice was very low, exhausted and helpless.

"Our soldiers are not trained enough, and their supplies are short of, and their weapons and equipment are even more worrying. If we attack rashly, the consequences will be unimaginable."