1840Indian rebirth

South Texas, Corpus Christi.

Corpus Christi is a small town, with more than 3,000 people here at this time, but the town itself has a population of less than 100 people, and the remaining 3,000 people are American troops stationed here.

Brigadier General Zachary Taylor is the commander of this army.

This 60-year-old veteran general has been stationed in Corpus Christi for half a year. As early as half a year ago, President Polk asked him to go here as a precaution.

After being stationed for half a year, General Taylor and the three thousand soldiers felt a little restless.

Until one day in March.

"Oh God, the wait is finally here!" General Taylor looked like a rough guy. He was unkempt, holding a straw in his mouth, and eagerly opened the presidential order that had just been sent to him.

Although he almost tore the envelope in half in a hurry, after taking out the order, he handed it to a young man next to him: "Bliss, read it for me, you know I'm not very good at this."

Zachary Taylor's cultural level has been criticized, and his writing ability has even been described as "nearly illiterate."

Bliss looked to be in his early thirties, tall and thin, with a gentle temperament and a beard. He received the letter: "General, Mr. President ordered us to go to the Rio Grande immediately to build a stronghold. If the Mexicans shoot

, we should fight back immediately."

Taylor laughed: "Very good, that's it! The Mexicans fired the first shot at us, and then we included half of Mexico into the territory of the United States!"

The area near the Rio Grande is a disputed area between the two countries. When the US military went to build strongholds there, it was almost a slap in the face. It would be strange that the Mexicans did not fight back.

Taylor then summoned some of his subordinates to discuss a specific action plan, and the results were quickly obtained.

The main reason for the rapid action was that there was no deliberation process and the plan was almost made by one person, his right-hand assistant William Bliss.

William Bliss was an undoubted genius, and at the age of nineteen he was an assistant professor of mathematics at West Point.

He was sent to Taylor's side probably to neutralize Taylor's reckless temperament that exuded from the inside out.

It turned out that they made a good combination. Taylor trusted the young man so much that he even considered letting his daughter marry him.

"Let me take a look at this route." General Taylor pointed to the map on the table. "Before arriving at our destination, we should pass through rivers, forests and narrow paths. So I think we should set off in batches.

"

"Depart in batches?"

Taylor nodded: "Yes, our army is too large, almost three thousand people. I'm worried that the soldiers will not be able to pass through these places quickly."

People were convinced.

From the perspective of most people in North America at this time, three thousand men was indeed a large-scale army.

Taylor continued his plan: "I plan to keep 500 people here, and the remaining 2,500 people will be divided into three brigades and a cavalry regiment, a total of four groups, and they will set off one day apart."

A few days later, 2,500 U.S. troops were divided into four groups and headed south, arriving one after another on the north bank of the Rio Grande, across the river from the Mexican city of Matamoros.

When they arrived at the place, the U.S. military immediately started building a fortress. More than two thousand people worked overtime every day, and it took one and a half months to build the fortress.

I don't know whether it was intentional or not, but the location of this fortress is quite unlucky.

It was almost within Matamoros' range of fire.

Just as the fortress was being built, Zachary Taylor led a large force to leave and head to a military base not far to the north to replenish supplies and troops.

As a result, the Mexicans launched an attack on the American fortress without hesitation and surrounded the soldiers stationed in the fortress.

Soon after, General Taylor led his troops back to the fortress with various supplies, successfully rescued the trapped defenders, and captured Matamoros in one go.

On May 18, Taylor captured Matamoros.

On May 23, Mexico officially declared war on the United States.

The Mexican-American War began.

Mexico's official declaration of war was on May 23, but by the time the post received the news, it was already June.

And not long after, he also saw an article in the newspaper.

The content of the article is not important. It is an anti-war article that almost no one pays attention to and has almost no impact.

But the author of the article made Ma Shao's eyes freeze.

"Illinois, Whig Congressman, Abraham Lincoln..."

After a cursory glance at the content of the article, he determined that this Lincoln had either the same name or that he was the famous President Lincoln in later generations.

In this article, the author's most important reason for opposing the Mexican-American War is that Texas became a slave state after joining the United States.

During this period, it was clear that there could not have been another Illinois Whig congressman, Abraham Lincoln, who opposed slavery.

At this time, Lincoln was not a president, and he was not even famous. He was just a budding political newcomer, serving as a state legislator in Illinois and also working as a lawyer.

After realizing that the author was Lincoln, Ma Shao read the article carefully, and then thought about how to establish a relationship with the future President of the United States.

Lincoln must be invested.

Before the Civil War, this was probably the only president with whom Ma Shao could have a relationship.

After all, Lincoln is currently in a relatively humble situation, still serving as a state legislator. Several other future presidents are already at least senior members of Congress, including Zachary Taylor and James Buchanan, who are generals and secretaries of state.

Moreover, Lincoln will have low points in his life in the future, such as the death of his son and so on...

The Mexican-American War is ongoing.

But so far, the fighting has been concentrated in the south, thousands of miles away from Kansas, and the scale of the fighting has been hundreds or thousands of people.

Therefore, apart from the endless reports in newspapers, Ma Shao had no feeling about this war.

It wasn't until mid-July that the situation changed.

An army set out from the northeastern corner of Kansas and headed toward New Mexico.

The army consists of more than 2,000 people. The commander is a brigadier general in his fifties. The brigadier general is tall and thin and looks unsmiling.

"Magoffin, are you sure you can convince Armijo?" the brigadier general asked without looking back, riding on his horse.

Not far behind him, a balding middle-aged man said with a smile: "Don't worry, General Carney. I know Armijo. This man is greedy and cowardly. As long as he doesn't have a 100% chance of winning, he will definitely have calculations in his heart."

Conditions of surrender.”

"With the strength of the Mexican army, they don't even have a 30% chance of winning. We only need to pay some bribes and we can walk into Santa Fe without firing a bullet!"

Brigadier General Carney nodded and said nothing.

After a while he asked again: "Are we almost to the Indian territory?"

"Yes, General." An officer stepped forward and said, "I heard recently that the Apache Bear Clan near here seems to be developing very fast. We may need to have more dealings with them."

"It's developing very quickly?" Everyone didn't believe it when they heard this, and Magoffin even laughed and said, "Do you mean these Indians have learned to use muskets?"

The officer seemed to hesitate to speak.

General Carney said: "Although the Indians are ignorant, they are not easy to deal with. There are many Indians in the Midwest, so we still have to be careful."

"...The Apaches have always hated the Mexicans, and if possible, we'd better let them join this war and fight the Mexicans with us."

Magoffin: "It's very simple. According to my experience, Indian chiefs are easier to bribe than Armijo. Sometimes they can even sell you all the land with just a load of liquor."

At this moment, Brigadier General Carney suddenly pulled the reins and stopped in place, frowning and looking at the wilderness ahead: "What is that?"

Everyone stopped one after another, followed his gaze and looked forward, and then their eyes widened in surprise.

"This is...a city?"