I want to be emperor

Chapter 266 South Road Army

Limited by the production of long-barreled field artillery, the two-and-a-half catty field artillery, as the main equipment of the Great Chu Empire Army, has always been equipped only with the main forces.

Even if it is a six-door two-and-a-half-pound field artillery post attached to the West Route Army Headquarters and the Eastern Sichuan Headquarters, these two artillery posts are directly under the jurisdiction of these two headquarters and belong to the front-line combat force sequence , and the garrison are not the same thing.

But now, the Great Chu Empire Army has decided to directly allocate a certain amount of two and a half catties of field artillery to each garrison division to strengthen the combat effectiveness of each garrison division.

It was very simple that prompted Luo Zhixue to make this decision. The two-and-a-half-pound field cannon didn't look very good, and its power was far inferior to the five-pound and nine-pound field cannon, but it was still a long-range weapon that could hit hundreds of meters away. , after assigning to each garrison division, even if the number is smaller, each garrison division can obtain a certain amount of long-range firepower.

This improvement in the combat effectiveness of the garrison divisions is even more obvious than adding thousands of people directly to them and adding hundreds of armors to them.

In the early days, many generals, especially the generals of a group of garrison divisions represented by Huang Guangmao, wrote letters many times, requesting that the garrison divisions be equipped with field artillery.

They don't have extravagant hopes for five-pound and nine-pound field guns, but it's okay to get some two-and-a-half-pound field guns.

However, it has been procrastinating and has not been formed. It is just that two two-and-a-half-pound artillery posts have been separately compiled on the western front where there is no large number of main forces. They are respectively under the jurisdiction of the Western Front Command and the Eastern Sichuan Command. The second garrison division and the fourth garrison division fought.

But now, there are quite a few two-and-a-half-pound field guns in stock. Among the main divisions, the First Division and the Guards Division have all been fully equipped, and some of them have even been transferred to other units for use.

Several other main divisions are also gradually equipped with five-pound and nine-pound field guns. In the future, the two-and-a-half-pound field guns will gradually be transformed into regimental artillery in each main division, and each division will be equipped with about thirty pieces.

Although the two-and-a-half catty field artillery in the main force is still not full, and it will take several months before the full number is limited due to production constraints.

However, this did not prevent Luo Zhixue from taking out some of the two and a half catties of field guns and assigning a small number of two and a half catties of field guns to the garrison divisions to strengthen the long-range firepower of the garrison divisions.

According to the position of each garrison division and the strength of the Ming army on the opposite side, the first batch of each garrison division will receive varying quantities of two and a half catties of field artillery.

The sixth garrison division, the seventh garrison division, and the eighth garrison division, the three garrison divisions on the front line of Wuchang Prefecture, who directly cooperated with the first division and the guard division, all got only one field artillery post, that is, four Quota for two and a half catties of field guns.

This is because the firepower of the First Division and the Guards Division is already strong enough. If necessary during the battle, the artillery units of the First Division or the Guards Division can be directly mobilized to support the three garrison divisions.

The first garrison division, the garrison division in Nanyang Prefecture, is because it is located in the hinterland, and because the north is performing a strategic defense mission, the actual effect of the typical field artillery of the two-and-a-half catty field artillery has to be discounted. There is also the second division, the main force second only to the first division, in the direction.

Therefore, the garrison division only got a quota of four two-and-a-half catty field guns for one sentry post.

The two and a half catties of field artillery obtained by the above four garrison divisions are said to be used for combat, but in fact they are more used to cultivate artillery forces and prepare for the continued equipping of more field artillery.

However, the remaining four garrison divisions were equipped with more two-and-a-half-pound field artillery.

The third garrison division located on the front line of Jingzhou Prefecture and the fifth garrison division located on the front line of De'an Prefecture and Huangzhou Prefecture all need to face the Ming army directly, so these two garrison divisions have more two-and-a-half catties of field artillery. One whistle, each with eight gates.

The [-]nd garrison division, which is fighting on the front line in Hanzhong Prefecture, and the [-]th garrison division, which is fighting in Kuizhou Prefecture in eastern Sichuan, are even more special. They will have a field artillery battalion under their jurisdiction, equipped with twelve [-]-jin field artillery.

In addition, more than 30 general cannons ranging from [-] to [-] catties and Frang cannons formed the divisional artillery regiment of the second garrison division.

The reason why these two garrison divisions are equipped with more two-and-a-half-pound field artillery is because the strategic tasks of these two garrison divisions are relatively tight.

The second garrison division of Hanzhong Prefecture is facing the main force of the Ming army under Hong Chengchou in Shaanxi. Many of these Ming troops in Shaanxi are frontier troops, and their combat effectiveness is not weak. They have fought against the second garrison division in the area of ​​Hanzhong Prefecture. Back, and even more often the second garrison division is still on the defensive.

The fourth garrison division of Kuizhou Mansion is facing the Sichuan soldiers led by Qin Liangyu. Qin Liangyu in the late Ming Dynasty was quite famous, and the white soldiers under his command are not weak. Don’t think that this is just a female generation. Bullying, in fact, this woman is more powerful than most of the Ming army generals at the same time, and she is very good at leading troops in battle.

Facing the second and fourth garrison divisions of the above two enemies, the pressure is actually quite high.

After all, the war in this direction mainly depends on themselves, because the western front is not the main attack direction of the Great Chu Empire for the time being, and the strategy implemented is mainly defensive operations, so it is impossible to deploy too many main forces to garrison this area.

The only troops stationed are also stationed in the rear, just in case.

The Army of the Great Chu Empire stationed only one mixed battalion in Yunyang City on the front line of Hanzhong Prefecture and Yunyang, which was temporarily organized as the first mixed battalion. It had an infantry battalion, an artillery post, a transportation post, and a cavalry post. The total force is in the scale of thousands of people.

In the early days, the mixed battalion was transferred from the third division to garrison Yunyang, but the main strategic mission of the third division was on the eastern front, and the main force was stationed in the east of Xiangyang Prefecture and the front line of De'an Prefecture and Huangzhou Prefecture. The division headquarters were transferred from Xiangyang to Yingshan County, De'an Prefecture.

And a reinforced battalion that was previously transferred from the third division simply broke away from the third division and became the temporary first mixed battalion, which was under the command of the West Route Army Command.

The same is true for the front line of eastern Sichuan. In this direction, there is also only one mixed battalion stationed in Badongli, which is the temporary second mixed battalion.

The battalion was previously formed by mobilizing part of the troops from the [-]th Division and the [-]st Division. When the unit was transferred to Badong for garrison, it was all recruits. Even the training of recruits was completed after the garrison in Badong. of.

These two temporary mixed battalions are also an attempt by the Rural Protection Army to reduce the main force. After all, the current Rural Protection Army has a relatively large scale, and they often like to directly use a mixed brigade in regular operations. Fight in a mixed regiment mode.

But for many places, it does not need a mixed regiment of two to 3000 people, a mixed battalion of a thousand people is almost enough.

That's why the mixed camp model came into being.

As for the two mixed battalions, one is in Yunyang and the other is in Padang, and these two places belong to the rear.

Their task is not to siege cities and land, but to perform strategic defensive tasks. Once the Ming army comes to attack, they will defend the front line of Yunyang and Eastern Sichuan.

On the western front, regardless of whether it is the front line of Hanzhong Prefecture or the front line of Eastern Sichuan, the strategic scale of the Great Chu Empire has not changed, and it still focuses on strategic defense.

As for the offense, that is the garrison's business.

This garrison division can fight as soon as it can, and it’s okay if it can’t be defeated. It’s really accidental that the entire army will be wiped out, and there will also be a mixed battalion of the main force behind to defend the two strategic locations of Yunyang City and Badong and wait for the rear. Source of troops.

Without these two mixed battalions sitting in the back, the second and fourth garrison divisions in the front would not dare to make such a fuss.

Because the battle on the front line is mainly fought by these two garrison divisions, and at the same time, the Great Chu Empire also needs to continue to put pressure on the Ming court in these two directions, so that the Ming court is thinking of transferring Sichuan soldiers and Shaanxi soldiers.

Therefore, with a wave of his hand, Luo Zhixue sent a field artillery battalion with twelve guns to each of the two garrison divisions.

These artillery pieces arrived one after another, and once they were in the hands of the garrison divisions, they would play a very significant role in improving the combat effectiveness of the garrison divisions.

Luo Zhixue is looking forward to this.

----

The time is gradually passing by tidying up the internal affairs, expanding and reorganizing the army, and December will end soon, ushering in a new year.

During the Spring Festival, Luo Zhixue also hosted a banquet for the officials and gave rewards to some of them.

Not only Luo Zhixue, but also the mother of a country, Queen Wang, who had just become a queen, also invited the female family members of the civil and military ministers of the Great Chu Empire to the palace to watch the play, and at the same time arranged for people to send New Year gifts to each family and so on.

During this period, Luo Zhixue also personally arranged a finger marriage for Xu Zhixian, the chief of staff under him, so that the old bachelor could find a wife.

After a few days of lively Chinese New Year, and a few days after everyone slowed down a bit, the Great Chu Empire entered a state of high-speed operation again.

As the driver of the war machine of the Great Chu Empire, His Majesty Luo Zhixue started working full-time on the third day of the Lunar New Year, and worked overtime every day. Many concubines in the harem complained.

Why can't even see a person in this New Year's Eve, and won't come to take a bite even if the noodles are almost mushy!
From the beginning of the end of the year, Luo Zhixue has been busy in various ways, mainly because there are many ceremonies during the Chinese New Year, such as worshiping ancestors, summoning the officials, entertaining the officials, etc., he is busier than the officials.

And after the various Chinese New Year activities are over, there are a lot of things waiting for him to get busy.

Because after the Spring Festival, it can be regarded as spring, even though it is still icy and snowy, but the pace of spring is approaching.

When the ice and snow melt and the temperature warms up, it will be time for the Great Chu Empire to launch a new round of offensive.

And now, Luo Zhixue was about to lead a group of civil and military ministers to prepare for the subsequent spring offensive.

All kinds of troops must be mobilized in advance, materials must be stored in advance, and all units must conduct relevant adaptive training in advance.

On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Luo Zhixue formally established the headquarters of the South Route Army, with Major General Han Ziping, commander of the Fifth Division, concurrently serving as commander.

The South Route Army will have the fifth division, the third garrison division, the eighth garrison division, the second mortar regiment, the first cavalry brigade and several transport regiments of the logistics department.

The strategic mission of the South Route Army is to launch an offensive against Yuezhou Prefecture, Changsha Prefecture, Changde Prefecture, Jingzhou Prefecture on the south bank of the Yangtze River, Hengyang Prefecture, Baoqing Prefecture, etc. in southern Chu after the weather gets warmer, in order to capture most of the Southern Chu area .

At the same time, the Hanshui Fleet of the Navy and part of the Yangtze River Fleet were combined into the Xiangjiang Fleet to fight as an army.

In order to prepare for the Chunan offensive, Luo Zhixue did not hesitate to temporarily transfer some backbone and artillery units from the Fourth Division, the Sixth Division, and the Guards Division to supplement and strengthen the Fifth Division.

It is imperative that the fifth division be fully staffed before the South Chu offensive is launched, and this will be the second main division in the Great Chu Empire Army, after the first division, that is truly fully staffed.

(End of this chapter)