I want to be emperor

Chapter 135 Job Designation
Because the Ming army in Xinye City lacked effective early warning measures, and the defenders in the city were careless, so that when the [-]th Infantry Battalion of the Rural Protection Army came to kill, the city gate fell wide open without taking any effective resistance measures.

The defenders in the city hadn't even had time to gather the only three hundred guards in the city to resist.

What's more, the officials in the city called on the gentry to pay money and grain to recruit civilian husbands to guard the city.

As a result, the soldiers of the [-]th Infantry Battalion had already entered the city, and the [-] soldiers of the Guards were inexplicably taken as prisoners of war while they were still in the barracks. …

Too fast, everything is too fast.

It was so fast that the officials and defenders in the city had no time to react, and they became captives inexplicably, and they didn't even know how the bandits entered the city.

It never occurred to them that the city gate guard, who was the first to notice the appearance of the bandits, would run away foolishly and not even close the city gate.

But in the final analysis, the officials in the city themselves are to be blamed. Although they stopped sending sentries to garrison the outside, the bandits directly touched the gate of the city without making a sound.

After the Fourth Infantry Battalion entered the city, it did not waste too much time. After capturing all the officials and officers and soldiers in the city who were still in a state of embarrassment, only one sentry force was left to guard the prisoners of war and suppress them in Xinye County. place.

The other troops of the Fourth Infantry Battalion left the city only a few hours later to catch up with the main force of the rural protection army ahead.

After a quick march, they arrived at the overnight camp of the main force of the rural protection army when it was getting dark.

This made Luo Zhixue feel incredible.

Originally, according to his prediction, the Fourth Infantry Battalion would be able to take Xinye City today even if it went well, but it would take a certain amount of time after all, so it would be nice to be able to catch up with the main force tomorrow.

Unexpectedly, the main force of the [-]th Infantry Battalion caught up in one afternoon.

Ask in detail, good guy, the [-]th Infantry Battalion actually took down Xinye City without bloodshed, and the whole process didn't even take a single fight...

Not to mention serious siege battles, even small-scale resistance after entering the city has not been encountered.

"That's fine, since you guys can catch up today, then you'll be more confident going south." Luo Zhixue said to Dong Mingjie, the battalion commander of the Fourth Infantry Battalion: "However, you've been driving for a day today, and in the middle, you'll be more confident." After attacking a city, can this physical fitness be maintained? Tomorrow we will continue to march at high speed."

Dong Mingjie said with a confident expression on his face: "One night's rest is enough. We actually just walked a little more today. We didn't really fight. Although the physical energy consumption is a bit greater, it will be fine if we sleep."

"I promise that when we set off tomorrow, all the soldiers of my Fourth Infantry Battalion will be alive and well."

Luo Zhixue said: "Well, later I will instruct the logistics department to provide you with an extra meal of meat for the [-]th Infantry Battalion, so that the soldiers will be full and have a good night's sleep."

Dong Mingjie grinned and said, "Then, on behalf of the four hundred soldiers of the Fourth Infantry Battalion, I would like to thank the General for his kindness."

Luo Zhixue said: "Okay, you worked hard all the way, go back and have a good rest."

Dong Mingjie quit immediately.

Seeing Dong Mingjie leaving, Luo Zhixue felt that he had a candidate for the next brigade commander.

Although this Dong Mingjie has just taken over the post of battalion commander of the Fourth Infantry Battalion, his performance has been quite eye-catching in the past few days. However, in the previous battle against Nanyang City, or in the follow-up march, and even today when he took the opportunity to attack Xinye City, he performed well. Remarkable.

The Fourth Infantry Battalion under his leadership had high morale, and even when marching, the formation was more orderly than the other battalions.

In the future, if this person continues to perform outstandingly, then Luo Zhixue will not mind promoting him directly, bypassing the deputy brigade commanders and directly serving as the brigade commander of the forthcoming Fifth Mixed Brigade.

Huang Guangmao from the staff office had already been here just now, and he once again mentioned that the troops in the Rural Protection Army were too short. Because the troops were too small, they couldn't even divide their troops to attack some nearby counties.

And this shortage of troops will be further amplified after the capture of Xiangyang City, well, if the surprise attack on Xiangyang can be successful.

Once Xiangyang is really successfully captured, the front of the Township Protection Army will be further widened.

For example, several important cities in the northwest of Xiangyang City, Gucheng, Guanghua, Junzhou, Xichuan and other places, these places must be attacked and controlled, otherwise, Lu Xiangsheng of Yunyang can directly lead The soldiers crossed the Han River, directly threatened the junction of Xiangyang and Nanyang, and even captured Xinye City.

Once Lu Xiangsheng is allowed to cross the Han River to the east and capture Xinye City, it will be able to separate the township protection troops in Nanyang Prefecture and Xiangyang Prefecture.

For example, Nanzhang and Yicheng in the south of Xiangyang, Zaoyang and Suizhou in the east also need to be captured one by one.

If these places are not captured, then the follow-up Huguang Ming army can directly fight all the way to Xiangyang City, and even if they can't take Xiangyang City, they can still send heavy troops to besiege Xiangyang City, and cross Xiangyang City to the north to the hinterland of Nanyang Mansion.

If you want to completely guarantee the security of the southern line, and want to build a southern line of defense with Xiangyang City as the core, you need a certain amount of troops.

And the [-] or so rural protection troops currently going south are definitely not enough.

At the same time, considering that the production capacity of the North Liqingdian Arsenal is temporarily limited, even if it can produce enough weapons and equipment to arm two battalions in a month, it is still not enough for the rural protection army, which is currently extremely short of troops.

To this end, Huang Guangmao suggested that the Fourth Mixed Brigade be used as a model to further expand the army that mainly uses cold weapons, supplemented by some weapons, and adopts traditional organization and tactics.

When the production capacity of equipment comes up in the future, we will change equipment one by one and upgrade to the same equipment as the current main force.

If you want to train this kind of old-style army, you don't even have to worry about the soldiers, you can just choose from a large number of captured officers and soldiers.

For example, when they attacked Xinye County, hundreds of people were captured. Although these prisoners were not many and not very elite, dozens of them could be picked and picked.

At the same time, there are other counties in Nanyang Prefecture. If they are captured one by one, then a mixed brigade can definitely be gathered from the large number of captured officers and soldiers.

In this regard, Luo Zhixue also agrees with this plan.

It is a fact that the rural protection army lacks troops, and it is also a fact that the production capacity of new ordnance is limited. Under such circumstances, if you want to obtain a large number of troops in a short time, you can only rely on direct reorganization and surrender.

The combat effectiveness is poor, it doesn’t matter if they are not elite, anyway, important battles are carried out by the regular army, these traditional surrender troops normally garrison places, defend the city, and participate in some low-intensity battles.

Therefore, although it has not been announced yet, Luo Zhixue has asked the staff office to plan the establishment of the fifth mixed brigade, mainly to inspect and select the officers and backbones in advance.

As for the scheduled strength of the Fifth Mixed Brigade, if nothing else happens, they will be selected from the soldiers who descended from Xiangyang City.

If you can successfully conquer Xiangyang City.

If not, it will not affect the formation of the Fifth Mixed Brigade. At worst, other soldiers will be used. In the following period of time, the various units of the Township Protection Army will attack everywhere, especially the three brigades left behind in Nanyang Mansion. Attack the other counties in Nanyang Prefecture, and strive to sweep Nanyang Prefecture and control the area in the shortest possible time.

In this process, a large number of prisoners of war will definitely be accepted.

If Xiangyang cannot be won in a short time, then use these surrendered troops to form the fifth mixed brigade. If Xiangyang can be captured in a short period of time, then use these surrendered troops to form the sixth mixed brigade.

In short, everything can be arranged properly.

In the evening, when the camp was set up and the soldiers had already had dinner and began to rest, Luo Zhixue once again held a meeting with many senior generals to discuss the next day's march and follow-up tactical planning.

In the camp of the Chinese army, many large oil lamps stood at the four corners, illuminating the inside of the tent brightly.

Luo Zhixue was wearing the same navy blue uniform as usual, but he didn't wear the woolen coat and gloves.

He was sitting at the top, and on both sides of a long wooden table that was temporarily assembled in front of him were eight senior generals from the southward protection army.

The leader on the left is the cavalry director and cavalry brigade brigade commander Wang Xiazi, well, in fact, Wang Xiazi is also famous, Wang Baoyong, but everyone has been calling it "blind man" and "blind man". Sometimes he forgets his name, but directly calls him a blind man.

Under Wang Xiazi are artillery director and artillery brigade commander Zhang Malin, first infantry brigade commander Huang Dingquan, and deputy brigade commander Wang Dazhuang.

On the right are Chief of the Staff Huang Guangmao, Chief of the Logistics Department Yu Xiujie, followed by Deputy Chief of the Staff and Chief of the Operations Section Xu Zhixian, Commander of the [-]rd Infantry Battalion, and Qu Yangshu, Deputy Chief of the Personal Battalion.

These people did not wear armor, but also wore the usual uniforms of officers, which were still the old military uniforms of the past.

But if you look closely, you will find that the military uniforms of these people are slightly different from Luo Zhixue's military uniforms in detail.

Especially on the collar and epaulets.

On Luo Zhixue's unique military uniform, the collar patch is a yellow background, and the shoulder patch is a yellow background embroidered with a very unique peony flower.

For example, on Wang Xiazi's collar, there is a small red piece of cloth on each side, and on the shoulders on both sides, there is a red background with three gold stars on it.

On the military uniforms of Zhang Malin, Huang Dingquan, and Yu Xiujie, there were also three gold star epaulettes and red collar patches on a red background.

This is a mark that belongs exclusively to the director and brigade commander.

Deputy brigade commander Wang Dazhuang and deputy director Xu Zhixian wore red cloth collar badges and shoulder badges with two stars on a red background.

Qu Yangshu, deputy director of the pro-military battalion, and Li Chengtong, commander of the First Infantry Battalion, wore red collar badges and one-star epaulettes on a red background.

Bai Yongning, the captain of the guards of the pro-barracks, wears a red collar badge and a three-star epaulet with a vertical line on a red background.

Even the guards of the guard posts of the guard camps who were on duty at the gate were all wearing epaulets with red vertical lines or red horizontal lines.

These epaulettes and collar badges are not military rank marks, but job title marks.

Because there is currently no formal military rank system in the Rural Protection Army.

However, the job designation that Luo Zhixue created before can be regarded as a pavement for the subsequent formulation of a formal military rank system.

After taking Xiangyang City and controlling the entire Nanyang Basin, the rural protection army will be further formalized in the foreseeable future, and Luo Zhixue will properly implement a formal military rank system at that time.

(End of this chapter)