General McDowell's great defeat not only made him lose his position as the commander, but also made the situation of Huasheng suddenly dangerous. The location where the Southern Army defeated the federal army was only more than thirty miles away from Washington. Moreover, compared with the historical stop, the Southern Union army had more obvious advantages in that battle. Due to their equipment and tactical advantages, they killed more than 4,000 federal troops in this battle and captured more than 1,000 people alive.

The number is almost doubled compared to the original historical figure. On the other hand, the losses of the Southern Alliance were much smaller than those in the original history. They only paid about 400 casualties. In the original history, although the Southern Army won and destroyed more than 2,800 federal troops, they also lost more than 1,700 people. Considering the population gap between the north and the south, such an exchange ratio was not enough to defeat the north.

In the original history, the Confederate did not immediately take advantage of the victory after this victory. Because the Confederate suffered not too little in this battle, there was not much confidence in attacking Washington. But this time it was different. The Confederate's losses were almost insignificant, while the Confederate's army was almost destroyed and morale was extremely sluggish. Some soldiers who escaped from the guns of the Confederate's army even suffered from MacDonald's 1857 rifle phobia, and even dreamed of the rapid and accurate volleyball of the Confederate's army, and then woke up in a terrified scream.

Two days after the battle, the Southern Confederate cavalry appeared outside Washington. Although they did not make any aggressive moves, the Confederate flag in their hands made the entire Washington mess. Various rumors began to fly around like wings. Some people said that a hundred thousand troops were gathered in the south and were about to fight. Some people said that the Southern Army had reached only ten miles from Washington. Some people even said that the Southern Army was about to complete its encirclement of Washington, leaving only a small gap towards the north.

This series of rumors made Washington messy, and many people simply fled. Twenty-four hours a day, Washington's train stations were crowded with citizens who wanted to escape from Washington.

Under such circumstances, Lincoln had to transfer troops from other regions to Washington again to ensure the safety of the capital. Although doing so would affect the attacks of the Northern Army on other fronts, this was almost the only option in the current crisis.

At the same time, Lincoln also issued a call to the entire Federation, asking everyone to form a volunteer army and come to defend the capital.

Relying on the more developed railway system in the south, the federal army's reinforcements arrived very quickly, and at the same time, the Southern Army was a little uncertain about what to do next. The commanders of the front line General Pierre Borregard and Joseph Johnston both hoped to take advantage of the victory and march towards Washington, and finally captured the capital of the Federation, forcing the Federation to end the war. President Davis of the Confederacy, and in the defensive stage of this battle, used the trenches like stone walls to firmly withstand the five attacks of the federal army and brought them huge damage. Therefore, Brigadier Jackson, who was nicknamed "Stone Wall", firmly opposed the attack on Washington.

President Davis believes that even if Washington is conquered, the Federation may not agree to make peace. In history, Washington has not been conquered. During the Second American-British War, the British conquered Washington, and set a fire to burn both the Presidential Palace and Capitol Hill, but this did not force the United States to seek peace from Britain. Instead, it made the humiliating and angry Americans even more united, and finally defeated Britain and won. (About this war, both sides claimed that they were the winners after the war. This was a rare "win-win" war in modern history.) Conquering Washington may not necessarily make the North surrender, but may make the North feel deeply humiliated and increasingly unwilling to compromise.

As for Brigadier Jackson, his reasoning is more tactical. He believes that if we can use trenches, the yorcs can use them. And they are not short of talents for this kind of combat. Since his long talk with Scrooge, he has done a lot of research on the trench defense tactics proposed by Scrooge. He has also been concerned about the movements on Scrooge. Later, after the trench combat method appeared in Italy for the first time, he even went to Italy in person to understand the way of trench combat in actual combat.

Expression. Therefore, the role of "Black Water" under Scrooge in this battle naturally cannot escape his eyes. Scrooge is a northerner. After the civil war broke out, the northerner could not ignore his experience. This was even more so after this battle. So, if you want to attack Washington by yourself, then they will be the ones who face the damn trench defense. And damn, although Jackson has a deep study of trench combat, he really has not been able to find out any way to effectively deal with these damn trenches.

"The emergence of the trench really made the offense an extremely difficult thing. Well, isn't this Mr. MacDonald's original intention? By increasing the cost of attack, suppressing the desire for attack. This is the correct way for the South to truly win independence. Reckless attacks will only cause losses to itself in vain. Even if an aggressive action is required, it should be implemented in mobile warfare, rather than attacking other people's positions." Jackson thought this way, so his interest in actively attacking Washington was naturally even smaller.

...

Scozhi, who is familiar with history, certainly had expected this crushing defeat, and he could also predict that in this time and space, because of his previous scams, the defeat of the federal army would definitely be even worse than that in the original history. So after the crushing defeat, Lincoln might soon issue a "king order to defend the king". Therefore, before this battle, Scozhi let Hei Shui slowly end the various businesses at hand, concentrate the personnel, and prepare to stage a story of turning the tide after this crushing defeat, and then take advantage of this momentum to get a package of contracts including weapons, ammunition, personnel training, etc., and make a fortune.

When Lincoln's call for the Volunteer Army was issued, Blackshui had basically assembled its personnel. Except for those who were unable to use in key areas, Blackshui gathered more than 800 people. This number was not large. However, when Blackshui was formed a few years ago, Scourge, who was preparing for this day, had his own way. In fact, before that, Blackshui's mercenaries had undergone a lot of tactical training. So Scourge, in the name of responding to Lincoln's call, relied on the help of the Cleveland City Government to erect the Blackshui troops as the "Cleveland Volunteer Army", and then began to directly recruit the volunteer troops, and disperse the recruited novices into the "Blackshui" combat sequence. He quickly expanded the size of the troops to 5,000 by a veteran leading several new recruits.

At the same time, in order to show love for the United States and love for Cleveland's hometown, Scrooge announced that he would donate 5,000 MacDonald 1857 rifles free of charge as a weapon of the "Cleveland Volunteer Legion".

In the original history, Rockefeller chose to donate money to serve during the Civil War, that is, donate hundreds of dollars, and then no longer has to serve in the army. This made him often criticized for this (his opponent and one of his younger brothers). But this time, he didn't have to do this because his name was included in the "Cleveland Volunteer Army" officer list, in charge of material support in the rear.

As for Gardner, who was interested in career, well, he became the commander of this legion. At least in name, he was the commander of the "Cleveland Volunteer Legion". He also obtained the rank of brigadier general given by Ohio. (At that time, both the federal and states could give military ranks.) Of course, it was actually another matter. Gardner knew that this position was just Scrooge's fulfillment of his promise and provided him with a good opportunity to climb up. As for battlefield command, the actual command was in the hands of Robson, who is now appointed as lieutenant colonel by Ohio, and the ultimate command was undoubtedly in the hands of Scrooge. In fact, without Scrooge's nod, even Lincoln might not be able to command this army.

At the same time, Cleveland's most famous "Salvation" hospital announced that they would temporarily close the hospital. All medical staff will go to the front line to serve the bloody warriors on the front line. MacDonald Chemistry and Pharmaceuticals naturally seized the opportunity to announce that they would donate a batch of drugs to support their righteous acts, and will also provide the federal army with various needed drugs at a discounted price.

At the same time, the "McDonald Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company Trade Union" also issued a call, calling on employees to work voluntarily for two hours in addition to normal work every day to make their own contribution to their motherland. What, are you worried that workers will not be able to work ten hours in a row on the assembly line? Have you forgotten what MacDonald Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company produces? It's just to let workers take more "Dali Pills". The union organization put up a large banner in the workshop with the words: "Work hard for the motherland!" The company guarantees that the wages that workers deserve in their voluntary work will be sold into medicine at the best price and donated to the soldiers on the front line.
Chapter completed!