1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 669 Mason's Choice

The news of the fall of Grandburg was transmitted to Fort Kearny via the wired telegraph. Mason calmly put down the telegraph in his hand and accepted the fact that Grandburg had fallen.

The fact that a regiment of the garrison of Grandburg could hold out for four full days under the fierce artillery fire of the Western Army without any external aid was considered to be a tenacious performance.

"Sir, do you want to ask Commander McClellan for help while the telegraph line is still open?"

The speaker was Colonel McClellan, Mason's new adjutant. As for Mason's original adjutant Colonel John, he was killed by the Western Army's artillery in the artillery battle on the second day, becoming the highest-ranking officer killed in the federal army since the start of the war.

The civil war between the North and the West was the most intense war McClellan had ever experienced, far beyond the Mexican-American War that McClellan had participated in. After all, the Mexican artillery could not hold them down for four full days without running out of ammunition.

"Do you know why the Western Army still hasn't cut off Fort Kearny's telegraph lines?" Mason asked McCock.

"The Western Army wants to surround and attack the reinforcements." McCock blurted out without much thought.

Cutting off a few telegraph lines is a piece of cake for the Western Army. The Western Army did not cut the telegraph lines and still kept Fort Kearny in contact with the outside world. The intention is already very obvious. Not to mention him as a colonel, even an ordinary non-commissioned officer can guess the intention of the Western Army.

"So there is no point in asking for help. McClellan has already sent two regiments of militia to us before the war. He will not take the risk of sending reinforcements to Fort Kearny." Mason asked with a wry smile, "How many Parrott guns can be fired?"

Mason was mentally prepared for not being able to defend Fort Kearny, but the intensity of the Western Army's artillery bombardment was still far beyond Mason's expectations.

Mason really wanted to know how many shells the Western Army had prepared for this battle. The Western Army's shells were thrown into the fort like they were free, and they did not stop even at night.

Mason and his soldiers hadn't had a good night's sleep for four days and four nights, and everyone in the fort was exhausted.

"There are only 13 Parrott guns that can be used normally." McCock said with a frown, "The problem we are facing now is not only the serious shortage of Parrott guns that can be used, but also the serious casualties of artillerymen, who have lost nearly two-thirds of their personnel. According to the intensity of the artillery battle, I'm afraid that in two days, we will not be able to fight back against the Western Army's artillery fire."

The defenders of Fort Kearney were able to fight back against the Western Army's Sacramento guns, all relying on the Parrott guns, but because the raw material of the Parrott guns is mainly cast iron, which is relatively brittle, the Parrott guns wear faster than ordinary artillery barrels and are more prone to cracks. Therefore, the life of the Parrott guns is very short, with only a pitiful 300 rounds.

After four days of high-intensity artillery battles, the Parrot guns at Fort Kearny have basically exceeded their service life. Yesterday, there were four Parrot gun explosions, which directly destroyed four of his gun crews.

The casualties of the four gun crews were still secondary. The most serious thing was that the gun explosions had a great impact on the morale of the artillery. Many Parrot gun crews refused to operate the Parrot guns that had expired. This trend even spread to the gun crews of the Napoleon Fortress guns.

"13, what an unlucky number." Mason frowned and asked, "How are the casualties today?"

"So far, the number of casualties has exceeded 370, and the number of seriously injured is equal to the number of casualties. The military doctors are already too busy." McCock reported truthfully, "Today, 46 militia soldiers wanted to escape from the fort and surrender to the Western Army and were caught. What should we do with these people?"

"Lock them all in the dungeon first."

Mason hesitated for a moment, but still took out a letter from the drawer and handed it to McCock, ready to leave himself a relatively decent ending, but he didn't know whether Liang Yao was willing to give him a decent one.

"After dark, take this letter and go to the Western Army's barracks and hand it to the Western Army's highest commander."

At night, the Western Army generals began to review today's battle.

The Western Army generals also keenly noticed that the intensity of the counterattack of the defenders of Fort Kearny was getting weaker day by day. Several infantry brigade commanders even argued about which brigade was responsible for the main attack on Fort Kearny, and were scolded by Liang Yao.

Liang Yao was not considering taking Fort Kearny, but how to take Fort Kearny at the lowest cost.

Liang Yao felt that the casualties were a bit high at the cost of two companies of casualties to take Fort Grande.

The defenders of Fort Kearny were four times that of Fort Grande, the fort was more solid, and the firepower was more fierce. It was bound to pay more casualties to attack Fort Grande.

After the battle review, Liang Yao left a few senior generals and handed the letter from Mason to everyone for reading.

Perhaps he thought that he had held Fort Kearny for four full days, and he had done his duty to the War Department and Lincoln. Or maybe Mason could no longer see hope.

Mason took the initiative to contact Liang Yao and discuss the conditions.

Mason said in the letter that he was willing to give up Fort Kearny, provided that the Western Army allowed him to safely withdraw to Omaha with his subordinates.

"Is this Mason's conspiracy? Mason is quite cunning." Sartre suspected that Mason was cheating after reading Mason's letter.

"Mason doesn't have the capital to cheat us now. In the face of absolute strength, any conspiracy is invalid." Kruger didn't think Mason would cheat.

As long as the main force of the Northern Army under McClellan did not rush to reinforce Fort Kearney, the Western Army would have a crushing advantage over Mason's brigade, and Mason would not be able to break out of their encirclement no matter how hard he tried. Krueger believed Mason was sincere in trying to negotiate terms with them.

"We can pretend to promise Mason, and then surround Mason after Mason leads his troops to withdraw from Fort Kearney. Field battles can better take advantage of our firepower, and Mason's troops are now very low in morale and want to defeat and capture them. They're not that hard," Elvis suggested.

"If Mason is willing to voluntarily hand over Fort Kearney, there is no harm in letting him return to Omaha." Liang Yao said his decision.

"Mason's Brigade is already in our possession. We are fully capable of taking Mason's Brigade! This is the elite standing brigade of the Northern Army!" Sutter did not agree with letting Mason go. He hoped to annihilate Mason's Brigade.

"Our target is McClellan, not Mason." Liang Yao explained his reason, "McClellan and Mason have never been at odds, so let Mason go back to Omaha to argue with McClellan. Twelve years ago I’ve already captured Mason once, there’s no point in capturing him again.”

As for Elvis's proposal, Liang Yao also considered it. This would naturally annihilate the Mason Brigade at the minimum cost, but this would undoubtedly make it more difficult to persuade the Northern Army to surrender in the future, and the gain would outweigh the loss.

What's more, four of the Kearny Fortress Group have been lost, and the remaining garrison at Fort Kearney has suffered heavy casualties. The Mason Brigade has basically been crippled, and it will be difficult to regain combat effectiveness in a short period of time. Letting these remnants of Mason's brigade go back in defeat will not affect the war situation.

Liang Yao's strategic goal this time is to at least cripple the main force of the Northern Army in Omaha, so that the Northern Army cannot recover for at least a year. It is worthwhile to trade a crippled Mason Brigade for smaller casualties and more time to prepare for the decisive battle.

"I also agree to end the war in the Kani Fortress Group as soon as possible." Kruger pointed at the map and said worriedly.

"According to the information detected by Maguik in Kansas, the Maine Brigade and an unknown number of Union cavalry have detoured back to northern Kansas. The leading force is less than 100 kilometers away from us. At present, I don't know the intention of this force. , but we need to free up our hands to deal with this Northern Army force that has circled our flank."