I am rich in martial arts, but choose culture to win

1863 8 Month 8 Day.

Richmond harbor was crowded with people on this day.

The "Southern Cross Flag" of the Confederate States of America (that is, the Confederate government) flies high on the harbor.

The president of the Confederate government, Jefferson Davis, and a group of high-level officials were waiting on the harbor early in the morning.

General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Virginia and de facto commander-in-chief of the Confederate Army, was also among them.

With the black smoke rising from the sea level, two huge warships gradually appeared in the distance.

These are the wood-core iron-clad armored ships "Alabama" and "Shenandoah" ordered by the southern government from the British.

Watching the approaching behemoths, President Davis opened his arms and shouted excitedly: "Gentlemen, let's cheer! Gone are the days when the Yankees were free to come and go in our national waters!"

His words resonated with everyone on the pier. Many people took off their gentleman hats and threw them into the sky.

Except General Robert E. Lee.

He looked at the two huge iron-clad warships and frowned.

In fact, Robert Lee did not support the purchase of these two giant ships from the British from the very beginning.

From a strategic point of view, the role of these two giant ships, which cost as much as 90 pounds, which is equivalent to more than 500 million US dollars (equivalent to about 13 billion yuan in later generations), is too small.

In Robert Lee's view, the war between the southern government and the northerners was essentially a land war, although the battle line was close to the east coast.

Seas are important, but resources should be concentrated more on the Army.

Whether it is recruiting more soldiers or building an arsenal with this money, it is better than buying two iron bumps.

What is the use of these two iron bumps?

Defend Richmond's shipping lanes?

If the British are willing to help, with or without these two armored ships, it will be difficult for the Navy of the Northern Federation to block the waterway.

If the British stood idly by, neither of these two ships could stand up to the Northern fleet at all.

The only thing Robert Lee could think of was to use the two armored ships as privateers.

In fact, under the command of Captain Semmes, the Alabama has been plundering the merchant ships of the Northern Government in the Atlantic Ocean since it left the port of Europe a few months ago.

Captain Symes' privateering operation was very successful, causing considerable losses to the federal government.

But in Robert Lee's opinion, this effect is not enough to justify its cost of more than 200 million US dollars.

Richmond and Washington are only 150 kilometers away.

If all the money had been handed over to his Northern Virginia Corps, it might have broken through Washington and captured Abraham Lincoln alive.

But it is a pity that due to concerns about the blockade of the route, the southern government still chose to spend huge sums of money to buy warships.

And today, the two armored ships that had been given high hopes finally arrived in Hong Kong.

The only thing that pleased Robert Lee was that the ship was loaded with a large amount of supplies in Canada before sailing from England to Richmond.

Among them are the [-] pieces of summer military uniforms and [-] samples of winter military uniforms that I want to buy.

With the whistling whistle, the two ironclad ships slowly approached the port.

The black slaves began to move supplies.

After attending the unnutritious welcome lunch, Robert Lee couldn't wait to return to the barracks.

The Army of Northern Virginia now has 7 troops.

However, there are too many recruits inside, and the combat capability has declined.

So in addition to the 5000 men stationed on the Gettysburg front, most of the troops were organized and trained near Richmond.

Walking into the barracks, Robert Lee saw the rednecks in ragged clothes carrying guns for training.

These stupid farmers have just put down their hoes, and there is an undisciplined smell all over them.

This made Robert Lee, who was used to leading a strong army, very uncomfortable.

Well, that's about to change.

As the saying goes, half of the glory of a knight comes from the armor. As long as they put on a uniform page uniform, these red-necked people will definitely become energetic.

After watching boot training for a while, the quartermaster found Robert Lee.

"General, all the military uniforms have been counted. There is no problem with the quantity, and the quality is as good as ever!"

Hearing the report from his subordinates, Robert Lee nodded in satisfaction.

One hundred thousand sets of such high-quality military uniforms only cost 45 US dollars, and 50 sets of samples of winter military uniforms are included.

Compared with buying a boat, this money is really very affordable.

"Take me to see!"

Robert Lee was very interested, and he was eager to see the style of the winter uniform.

The summer military uniform that perfectly combines solemnity and liveliness gave him a great surprise, but he didn't know if the same could be true for winter military uniform.

Summer uniforms cost $4.5 and winter uniforms cost $10.

Even the Northern Virginia Army, which has always been rich and powerful in the Southern Army, cannot have two sets of one person.

Therefore, the quality of winter uniforms is particularly critical.

In fact, Robert Lee was a little worried. He was afraid that he would push the price too hard and the suppliers would cut corners.

$10!

Including clothes, pants, military caps, military boots, belts...

Even Robert Lee himself couldn't figure out how to complete the whole set for $10.

Follow the quartermaster to the warehouse, where the military uniforms are piled up like a mountain.

Picking up a little yellow hat casually and putting it on his head, Robert Lee checked several sets of clothes at random, and the quality was as stable as ever.

"Where's the winter uniform?" Robert Lee asked.

The quartermaster quickly brought a cardboard box from behind the pile of clothes.

Before the quartermaster reported, Robert Lee couldn't wait to take out a set of clothes.

The style and material of this military uniform were different from any clothes he had seen before.

If the summer military uniform is at least the common shirt and khaki pants, this kind of clothes and trousers are completely beyond Robert Lee's cognition.

"Is it a little thin? Come and help me!"

Robert Lee felt that this green one-piece suit really didn't look very warm, so he decided to try it himself.

Although the winter from Richmond to Washington is not considered extremely cold, and even very warm in many cases, if this kind of winter clothing is too thin, it cannot meet the requirements.

With the help of the quartermaster, Robert Lee quickly changed into new green clothes.

This [Mate Kellock Lee's green youth one-piece thickened fleece training suit] soon showed its advantages.

"Although the appearance is a bit weird, the color is very healthy, it is very convenient to wear, there is little interference in sports, and it is also very warm, which is very suitable for troops to wear. Moreover, the unique one-piece design avoids the burden of the belt and saves costs. No wonder They dare to take orders for $10, what a bunch of clever little ghosts!"

Robert Lee soon had his own judgment.

Matt Kay's training suit is a variant of Bruce Lee's training suit.

Due to well-known reasons, the manufacturer of this kind of cosplay lost all their money, which happened to be cheap for Zhu Fugui to buy the bottom.

Bruce Lee's practice clothes are really worthless in the eyes of later generations.

But in the 1960s, this kind of clothing was not at all earthy, let alone in the 1860s.

Not only is it not earthy at all, but it is a bit too fashionable.

As a relatively conservative old man, Robert Lee suddenly couldn't adapt to his cool hip-hop punk style.

"General, the supplier said that if we order this kind of military uniform, we can also get a gift, a down vest with Page printed on it..."

As he said that, the quartermaster took out a pink cartoon vest from somewhere, and put it on Robert Lee.

The soft and comfortable down vest suddenly made Comrade Li's body hot.

The excellent color matching of red and green also makes people feel comfortable.

"It looks much more harmonious this way! Although it's still a bit avant-garde..." Robert Lee looked at the heroic old man in the mirror and couldn't help but nodded.

……

Just as Robert Lee was admiring the new image of his old man chatting about teenage madness in the mirror, suddenly a noisy voice came from a distance:

"I'm really a doctor. I have studied in China, and I have the secret recipe of the Chinese emperor! I want to see a military doctor, I want to see General Li! Let me in—"

Chapter 092 Chinese Palace Secret Medicine

General Robert E. Lee had been turning back and forth in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror for nearly half an hour.

The quartermaster couldn't help reminding: "General, it's getting late, it's time to visit His Excellency the Brigadier General."

"Oh!"

Robert Lee woke up like a dream, and then realized that he seemed to have lost his composure.

"This is probably an inevitable process that the elderly need time to digest and accept when they see novelty..."

Robert Lee thought of this in his heart, and then said to the quartermaster: "Tell the supplier that this new British-style military uniform can meet the requirements of our army. Before the weather turns cold in October, we must prepare 7 sets for delivery. "

"British style?"

The quartermaster was stunned.

Although he took a tip from the middleman Morris Textiles, the quartermaster couldn't describe the military uniform of the dark green jumpsuit + tender pink waistcoat as British style against his will, right?

What does this have to do with England?

However, Robert Lee took the opportunity to look in the mirror again, and said with a smile: "The old man is not blind. Isn't this bright red suit a lobster soldier imitating the British?"

"Don't worry about other people's gossip. After all, the British are our most important ally and the country with the most powerful military in the world. We refer to their military uniforms, which also continue the tradition of our Anglo-Saxons. Red is our southerners. The embodiment of the will of the fire, don't forget, Thomas (that is, Stonewall Jackson) entrusted us, we must plant the red flag all over the United States!"

It can be seen that Robert Lee is in a very good mood now. He babbled and analyzed the implication of this new military uniform, as if he wanted to find a sufficient explanation for his choice.

Of course, the short-handed quartermaster welcomes the idea of ​​the boss, but...

The quartermaster pulled out a little booklet from his pocket, a drawing book of doodles by his three-year-old son.

Pointing to one of the green toads, he asked cautiously, "General, look at this..."

"Is it a colorful South American poison dart frog? I can't see that your son has such insight at such a young age. I also heard from an explorer friend that there is such a red frog in the jungle of South America. The local indigenous people use them. toxins to make darts..."

The quartermaster was no longer listening to the latter words.

He's a little foggy.

Sure enough, General Li was an incurable and severe color blindness.

No wonder his taste is always difficult to describe.

But even if he knew, the quartermaster didn't intend to say another word.

Let this secret rot in your heart...

……

On the way to the temporary ward, Robert Lee kept wiping his sweat with a handkerchief.

After all, it’s August, and in the damn weather in Richmond, an old man is wearing a fleece and thick jumpsuit and a thick down vest. The absence of heatstroke is enough to show that Robert Lee is a man of excellent physical fitness. soldiers.

But he insisted on showing off to his old friend in this beautiful new suit.

"Maybe Thomas gets better when he's happy?"

Of course, Robert Lee actually knew that this was probably impossible.

My old friend who fought bravely did not have a correspondingly strong physique. Even without this serious injury, his original health was not very good.

But this time, even the military doctors of the British Navy had come for consultation, and the severe lung infection had already put the veteran's life on the line.

It happened to be the lungs that were infected. If it was other places, even the brain, the doctors said that they could try surgical resection.

But the lung is a very special organ. It will shrink into a mass of tissue the size of a ping-pong ball with just a light prick, and there is no way to remove it...

Thinking of the helpless looks shown by the famous doctors after the consultation, Robert Lee's good mood just now was swept away.