War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Camp Rio Grande, United States.

Due to the weak resistance of the Mexicans in New Mexico (Colorado), the U.S. military established a stronghold along the Colorado River and could use the inland river to transport troops and supplies.

This allowed Lieutenant General Stephen Carney's troops to be quickly replenished, and for the first time the United States demonstrated the terrorist mobilization capabilities of an emerging power.

Stephen Carney asked John Taylor for 50,000 reinforcements, and the latter directly sent 80,000 people, as well as the heavy artillery necessary for siege and supplies for the army to consume.

In fact, since the Austrian army did not burn down the agricultural area of ​​San Pascual during its retreat, the US military was completely self-sufficient with local materials.

It's just that the San Gabriel Fortress is much more difficult to conquer than he imagined. Although the main body of the fortress is a Spanish-made convex fortress in the 16th century, its resistance to shelling has been greatly increased after modifications by the Austrian side.

In fact, Archduke Carl Ferdinand built a slope of earth outside the Fort and a trench. But don't underestimate this layer of "soil", it can greatly alleviate the impact of shelling.

Since Austria lacked heavy artillery in the California area, the Austrian side did not take much advantage in the artillery battle between the two sides.

However, due to the existence of anti-gun slopes, the US heavy artillery did not exert much advantage.

There are pros and cons. The Austrian-modified Corner Fort has greatly enhanced its artillery defense capabilities, but due to these temporarily raised earth slopes, the height of the city wall has also been reduced.

The difficulty of infantry assault has been greatly reduced, but this also greatly increased the bloodiness of this war.

In the initial battle, the American recruits relied on their courage to rush up the gentle slope without fear, and then jumped into the trench. Only then did these people discover that the originally low city wall had "grew taller" in an instant.

The walls of the bastion are actually lower in the far side and higher in the near side, because many people pay more attention to the slope in front instead of the trench in the back.

As a result, the first batch of attacking American troops fell into this simple trap like dumplings. As the defenders, the Austrians only needed to shoot from the shooting holes to solve the problem comfortably.

In fact, Americans have never fought any serious siege battles since the Revolutionary War, let alone attack such fortresses painstakingly managed by defense experts.

(In fact, Archduke Karl and his family are all experts in defensive warfare, but Albrecht and Friedrich are better at offense.)

During the American Revolutionary War, most battles were fought by the French, while Americans usually relied more on guerrillas.

At this time, the San Gabriel Fortress was like a natural chasm standing in front of the US military. No matter how many people Stephen Carney sent, they could only return without success.

In fact, he was wrong, because the San Gabriel Fortress was built on a mountain, and the area available for deploying troops was very limited.

Therefore, no matter how many Stephen Carney sent to attack the fortress, there were only one or two thousand people who could directly fight the defenders.

The reason why Archduke Carl Ferdinand abandoned San Pascual was for this reason. On the other hand, the narrow terrain of San Gabriel Fortress was not conducive to the deployment of large armies.

At the same time, it can also slow down the opponent's advancement speed. This period of time can be used to solve possible "trouble" that may arise.

This situation is what Americans least want to see now, because this kind of war of attrition may last for several months, or even half a year, until one side can no longer bear the casualties.

John Tyler's order was that the war must be ended within three months, otherwise it would impose a huge burden on the United States.

But the real problem is that after the night attack, the morale of his soldiers hit rock bottom, and the new recruits did not know enough about war, and they would pay heavy casualties in every attack.

In fact, that was just Stephen Carney's perspective, because as soon as the cannon on the city wall was fired, the US offensive troops would roll back and crawl back.

But in fact, because the U.S. military did not attack in line, but formed a skirmishing formation, the shelling did not cause many casualties.

Coupled with the low morale of the US military, apart from the initial attack, almost no one would be stupid enough to jump into the trench and directly attack the Austrian city wall.

Although they have attacked gentle slopes many times, the accuracy of muskets is limited after all. Even if the hit rate is less than fifty meters, the hit rate is very impressive, so the losses of US soldiers are not many.

Anti-infantry rockets can effectively kill infantry at this distance. The problem is that Austria’s arsenal in California cannot produce this new type of rocket. It cannot even produce standard small iron beads, and can only install some nails inside. and iron pieces.

Similarly, the number of cannonballs is getting smaller and smaller, because the local industrial production capacity is seriously insufficient, and most weapons production relies on blacksmiths and gunsmiths.

This was actually Franz's attempt to weaken the local resistance and make it dependent on Austrian industry. Therefore, weapons and equipment in California are mainly imported from Austria.

In normal times, Austria would use its colonies in Central America to transport supplies to California, but now that there is a blockade by the U.S. Navy, Carl Ferdinand and John Sina can only fend for themselves.

John Cinna was not a mediocre person. After receiving the news of Archduke Ferdinand's victory, he began to send people to persuade the US Navy on the California coastline to surrender.

As for logistical issues, John Cina had converted factories used to produce civilian products into temporary arsenals.

At the same time, a group of craftsmen were recruited from prisoners of the US military. Many of these people were gunsmiths and blacksmith apprentices before joining the army.

Although California was a rich area, he had enough food in store to last for several years. However, for the sake of insurance, they still started to artificially raise prices. This was actually to strengthen their control over the local area.

The increase in prices has not significantly affected the lives of locals and immigrants. It can also increase material supplies for the army and increase fiscal revenue. This is a great test of the ability of administrators.

Fortunately, John Cina is this kind of person. He is very energetic and often has to speak in front of the public. At the same time, he also has to deal with a lot of official business. In the evening, he also has to deal with the local chiefs and opinion leaders.

Archduke Carl Ferdinand was very depressed. He was annoyed by the harassment from the US Navy, and he had no good way to deal with it.

Almost all of California's important cities were on the coast at this time, but his troops were not strong enough to hold them all.

The army at that time was completely unable to compare with the navy in terms of mobility, so even if it was exhausted, it could not achieve mobile defense.

San Francisco, City Hall, Provisional Wartime High Command.

Archduke Ferdinand sat at the table looking at the map with a frown. John Fremont's fleet was almost everywhere. It seemed that the latter knew the defense layout of the California area very well. At this time, the most sensible thing to do seemed to be to give up part of it. important area.

John Cinna knew the former's concerns. California was a place full of gold, and any loss would be a major loss to the Austrian Empire. So he suggested.

"Grand Duke, you don't have to worry about this. I have sent people to negotiate, and I believe there will be a result soon. Their marines are finished, and there will be no results if they continue to fight.

But as long as you surrender to us, you will have more money than you can spend in your lifetime. "

Archduke Ferdinand shook his head.

"If it was really effective, they should have surrendered long ago. It has been almost a month and the attacks are still continuing. Although it did not cause much damage, my soldiers were almost overwhelmed.

The most important thing now is to ensure the safety of the San Gabriel Fortress. "

"But that was Archduke Franz's suggestion. We should trust the Archduke's judgment." John Cina insisted.

"He is just a child. Do you guys place your hopes on a child who has to be followed by two nannies wherever he goes?"

Archduke Carl Ferdinand did not have a good impression of Franz. In his eyes, a guy like this who brought a nanny everywhere seemed too weak.

John Cina was speechless for a moment, but he thought of another point in Franz's Great Letter.

"Then you can recruit more troops. Don't those Mexicans, Indians, and Californians want to join our army?

Might as well put them in the area you want to abandon."

In fact, Franz still hopes to create a historical memory of common struggle for California, a region with many immigrants. After all, this will be more conducive to national integration.

"No!" Archduke Ferdinand replied firmly, "The loyalty of this group of people cannot be guaranteed at all. If they rebel, wouldn't they help the Americans?"

"Wouldn't it be better to rebel? Then we would save the time of screening the traitors, and as long as this group of people get to the land, you and your army can annihilate them, right?"