Dominate the Country

The total area of ​​South Carolina is more than 80,000 square kilometers, two-thirds of which are coastal plains, but there are only less than 400,000 people living in such a vast plain.

Chen Han, who doesn't know much about the situation in the United States, estimates that the population of South Carolina should be between 400,000 and 500,000. But in fact, the total population here is less than 400,000, including a lot of black slaves. Excluding the latter, only counting the descendants of white people, the number is only about 200,000. In addition to some young people joining the federal army, South Carolina, with more than 200,000 free people, has independently organized a militia of 10,000 people. To be honest, this state has already used all its strength.

From 17 to 18 years old, to 30 to 40 years old, at least half of the men have joined the team. This does not mean that all the people in the Lighthouse Country are mobs, but China's threat to the Lighthouse Country really makes everyone here feel scared.

But their troops are still very few, and they feel that they are not enough when they are deployed.

What's more, they are just a bunch of rabble. If they really want to fight head-on, they can't stand the frontal attack of Chen Han's army who have been training hard for many years.

"Sir, look! The Marines have landed successfully!" The young adjutant said to Ye Tingyang excitedly while looking at the shore.

Ye Tingyang also smiled. The Marines were about to land. At this time, their follow-up part was holding military flags, lining up in neat rows, and marching towards the fishing village in front with high morale.

Ye Tingyang's eyes seemed to have seen through the future time and saw their bloody battles on the battlefield. Now those faces mixed with excitement and tension will turn into faces full of confidence and pride in the near future.

There are also many new recruits in Chen Han's military sequence.

It has been several years since the last war. The old soldiers of that year have either become officers and sergeants in the army, or retired from the army. Many of the troops now are new recruits. No matter how well they performed in previous exercises, they cannot be considered a truly strong and iron army without the test and tempering of actual combat.

The entire landing operation is expected to last for two full days. In addition to a large number of soldiers and artillery, there are also a lot of materials and carriages to be sent ashore one by one. After landing, the army will be led by the commander of the Marine Corps. First, they will clear some towns north of Charleston, and then begin to attack the enemy's coastal defense fort outside the port-Fort Moultrie. Although the number of troops on both sides is a bit unbalanced, Chen Hanjun is very confident in the fighting spirit and combat quality of their soldiers.

The US military has more manpower, but victory can only belong to Chen Han.

At the same time, the garrison troops and vassal troops on the Florida Peninsula [Kangguo-Chen Zhang] and Shenguo [New Orleans as the capital] will also attack Georgia and Alabama in the north on a large scale.

Georgia is almost twice the size of South Carolina, with a suitable temperature and pleasant climate, but only the southeastern part of this state is a coastal plain. The northern part belongs to the Blue Ridge Mountains, with a higher terrain, and the central part is the foothills of Petermont Mountain, with the terrain gradually decreasing from west to southwest. In addition to the endless forests, there are no iron ore or precious metal deposits here, and economic development has always been very slow.

Most of the population of the state is concentrated in the plains in the southeast.

And Alabama is a state that has just joined the United States in recent years. This place did belong to the United States after the War of Independence, but at that time it was not much like a piece of wilderness.

The population is sparse. The area is not much smaller than that of Georgia. The population is likely to be even less than that of South Carolina.

However, the Americans have deployed a lot of regular troops in these two states, and the garrison troops, vassal troops, and dispatched troops in Shen and Kang will not be small.

Since the Sino-US war is inevitable, it is necessary to consider the strategy against the United States in a comprehensive manner. From the very beginning, defense was not something that the garrison's highest command had to consider. They had few troops, but the area to defend was large. Blind defense would only allow the Americans to use their military strength as they wished, and the garrison would lose sight of the big picture. So attacking was the best choice for the garrison.

Although Chen Han had few troops, the quality of his troops was much higher than that of the US military, and the combat literacy of his officers was also much higher than that of the US military. This was just like when the Japanese invaded China, attacking was the kingly way.

Putting elite and scarce troops into the attack and letting the Americans have a headache was the best strategy.

The Battle of Charleston was a perfect embodiment of this battle. Although Chen Han had a great advantage in the fleet, the Chen Han army, which had only 4,000 people, was far less than the US military's defensive forces in terms of land warfare.

Not to mention the 2,000-man marine corps, the 2,000-man vassal army and dispatched army were fully equipped with weapons. Although there were only 2,000 people, infantry, cavalry, and artillery were all available. After the troops landed, they occupied the fishing village in front as a defense point and immediately began to build fortifications. Although the fortifications were simple, they did not have to worry about the sneak attack of the US military.

At the same time, the American fleet also began to intercept American merchant ships in the sea, and Chen Han also sent a squadron to bombard American ports along the coastline.

If you encounter the superior fleet of the US military, just turn around and run. The warship manufacturing technology of the old Americans is worse than that of China. Their warships are large and heavy, and the sailing speed is correspondingly slowed down. If the Chinese warships encounter them, they can't beat them, but they can still run away.

Two days later, when the last box of rockets was also sent ashore, the army finally took action. In two days, the US military launched multiple reconnaissances on the small fishing village, but found nothing. Until now, they don't know how many enemies they will face.

When the landing force went straight to the US port coastal defense fort Fort Moultrie, the US military didn't even dare to take the initiative to attack.

The Chen Han Empire has defeated Spain, the Netherlands, and Russia repeatedly in recent years, and the reputation it has created in the war makes Americans feel timid.

Although the Lighthouse Country also defeated Great Britain in the War of Independence, the whole world knows that it was Louis XVI, the fool, who covered the foundation for the Lighthouse Country. Otherwise, it would be a question whether the Lighthouse Country could still appear.

And what about the Americans besides? After the last war, there was no war for 25 years, the veterans died, and the experienced officers died one after another. Now even the deputy commander-in-chief who commanded the front-line operations of the army is a French immigrant-Moreau.

They really don't have the courage to stand on the plains and face the Chinese in the field.

Compared with the insecure field battle, they prefer to stay in the solid coastal defense fortress Fort Moultrie.

Just like the Americans had not launched any attack operations of a company scale or above against the port where Chen Han landed in the previous two days. It seems that they have given up here, but it is more likely that they are timid. According to the news obtained by naval reconnaissance, the Americans have strengthened the defense of the coastal defense fortress in the past two days, and temporarily built a large number of civil and wood mixed structure fortifications outside the fortress. The hot air balloon rising from the Song Taizu can directly observe the changes in the port of Charleston. The Americans have strengthened the defense there.

The water flow conditions in Charleston are very similar to Guangzhou in China. There are also "Xijiang, Dongjiang, and Beijiang" here. There is the Ashley River in the south of the city, and the Koper River and Wando River in the north of the city. The war also mainly took place in the north of the city, at the confluence of the Koper River and the Wando River. The width of the estuary reached four li. The small island in the estuary, Gu Island, is located in the center of the confluence. It is a diamond-shaped island with a length of four li and a width of 2.5 li.

The most northwestern corner of the island is only 600 meters away from the west bank of the Wanduo River, while the most northeastern corner is 1,200 to 1,300 meters away from the east bank of the Wanduo River.

Chen Han's attacking force did not intend to cross the Wanduo River. The US military set up a solid defensive position on the west bank of the Wanduo River, and there was also a cavalry to cooperate. The attacking force had the time to cross the river, so it would be better to attack Gudao directly.

The US military deployed at least 1,000 people on Gudao.

There were more than 20 artillery pieces, including hexagonal guns and smoothbore guns. The lookout on the hot air balloon could not see how many rockets were stored. Anyway, the US military was shocked to hear that the hot air balloon had appeared for many years, but the US military in Charleston Port did not have a hot air balloon.

In the past few days, only Chen Han's side raised the hot air balloon to observe the US military, but no US military hot air balloon was seen.

So in terms of "reconnaissance", although Chen Han was unfamiliar with the place, it was much more convenient than the US military.

It was difficult to observe the details, but the whole Charleston was in sight.

The action in Charleston city is bigger than that in the port area. There are fortifications and earthen bunkers in the streets and alleys, and some stone buildings are being rebuilt as soon as possible. Americans are used to building houses with wood, which is useless in war. Not only that, the defenders must also be prepared for enemy arson. Therefore, there are fewer and fewer wooden structures in Chinese cities. There are not many stone ones, bricks, tiles and cement are the king.

The attacking troops arrived at the east bank of the Wanduo River and built artillery positions at night. The distance between each other exceeded 1,500 meters, but it was still within the effective range of the hexagonal gun.

The US Army soldiers have poor fighting will and poor combat quality, which refers not only to infantry, but also to artillery.

As the saying goes, it is not afraid of not knowing the goods, but it is afraid of comparing the goods. The whole day of the second day ended in the exchange of artillery fire from both sides. The number of American artillery fire is weaker than that of the attacking troops, and the artillery skills are even worse, so the effect is bloody. In one day, they only knocked down two half-hidden gun positions of Chen Han’s army, but they had three artillery positions knocked down, which meant that at least six guns were buried. It was unknown whether they could be used again after being dug out. However, during the battle, two of the US Navy warships that stayed in Charleston Harbor tried to sail to the mouth of the Coper River and participated in the artillery battle. But Chen Han had the bonus of hot air balloons, and the two frigates that joined in retracted their heads after less than an hour of appearance.

If they continued at this speed and knocked down three artillery positions a day, it would not take a few days for the US troops on Gudao to become disabled and unable to fight back, but the attacking troops were unwilling to wait until later. That night, the Brave Team, composed of 200 Marine officers and soldiers, launched a sneak attack on Gudao at night.

The US military did not expect the enemy to cross the 1,200-3,000-meter turbulent river, because it was simply impossible to do so. After 200 Marines carried water hyacinths into the turbulent river, they were scattered before they swam 100 meters. The sneak attack was not successful at all, and more than 20 soldiers were lost in vain.

The battle could only be carried out step by step under the guidance of the General Staff!