I want to be emperor

Chapter 983 Persian Strategy
In the summer of Chengshun 44, in the Persian region of Central Asia.

In Isfahan, the capital of the Safavid dynasty of Persia, Suleiman I, the ruler of Persia, looked at the humble prime minister and a large group of eunuchs, angry and helpless at the same time.

"Are you just going to be silent like this?"

"The Chu army has crossed the border. Are you just going to watch the Chu invasion?"

"What about our army?"

"Why don't our troops come to the border to resist these damn Chu people?"

"why?"

Suleiman I was questioning angrily, but most of the dignitaries of the Persian dynasty below said nothing...

Only a few spoke, echoing the Persian ruler.

And some people in the venue were muttering in their hearts: Don’t you know why our troops don’t go to the border?

In the past 20 years, you have only been hiding in the palace to eat, drink and have fun. Have you ever cared about the rise and fall of the kingdom, or asked the soldiers whether they can get sufficient military pay?
The generals were so corrupt that most of the military pay they sent out did not reach the hands of the soldiers, and the army also experienced large-scale empty pay.

This is inevitable even for the newly established Guards Army more than ten years ago. With a full strength of more than 5 people, it would be good to have an actual strength of 2 people.

The most important thing is that corruption has been prevalent for many years, forcing the generals in the army to start raising funds on their own in order to maintain the army. This process has led to a large number of armies becoming the generals' private armies... This is not itself a problem. The private armies belonging to those tribes refer to the armies directly controlled by the dynasty, including the New Guards Army, an elite division with all Chu weapons.

Now the most elite new guard army in the Persian dynasty had already gone to the west to garrison on the pretext of guarding against the Ottoman Kingdom last month... turning a blind eye to the invasion of the Chu people in the east.

However, some local tribal armed forces in the eastern region showed heroic resistance when faced with the invasion of the Chu people.

It's a pity that this kind of resistance has no practical use... A group of tribal armed forces still armed with cold weapons, at most some matchlock guns, and lagging behind smoothbore cannons, were simply unable to resist the Chu army equipped with breech-loaded rifled guns.

On the contrary, it aroused the murderous intention of the Chu people even more...

It can be said that the Chu people these days have no scruples when it comes to foreign expansion. They will not be like the expansion of later great powers. They have to worry about this and that, such as international influence, domestic public opinion and so on.

The expansion of the Chu people was extremely domineering, even barbaric.

If you surrender obediently and become an obedient citizen, then the Chu army will not waste ammunition and fight randomly, but will only attack the organized enemy's political power and military, the main targets, and then build a colony or something like that.

If you try to resist desperately, the Chu people will help you without hesitation...kill them all the way.

Therefore, when fighting against the Chu people, you cannot engage in guerrilla warfare using the terrain and civilians... Because you have really pissed off the Chu people, and the Chu people will create a no-man's land for you in minutes!

There had been resistance activities in the Polish region of Europe before, and the scale was quite large, and the commotion was quite big... But what about now?That area is still no man's land.

This is also the reason why many indigenous kingdoms in Europe are even more active in suppressing various resistance forces than the Chu people themselves... Because if you really offend the Chu people, the Chu people will not care whether you are a rebel or not, but It will be a one-size-fits-all approach and kill them all.

Similar things are happening in the Persian region. Since the official invasion of Chu last month, many tribes started to play resistance strategies and wanted to hide their troops from the people. Ordinary people walked to Chu with a smile. In front of the soldiers, he took out his weapon and attacked with a clatter.

But after the tribes that dared to resist were cleared and military strikes were carried out, the remaining tribes became honest...

As for why the Chu people wanted to invade the Kingdom of Persia, there was no special reason... It was just that the Chu people were seeing that the Eastern European grain production plan was almost done, and the Russian Kingdom was also finished.

There is not much resistance in Europe as a whole.

At the same time, the Ottoman Empire also temporarily surrendered.

So it was natural to turn our attention to the last indigenous kingdom in the world that had not yet been conquered, the Kingdom of Persia.

In fact, the Chu Empire has not had much interest in conquering the Kingdom of Persia for a long time. This place requires land but no land and resources but no resources, and the terrain is very bad. Many places are Gobi Desert, desert, and desert. plateau……

To put it simply, this place was not attractive to the Chu people, so for a long time, the Chu people did not conquer the Persian Kingdom, but simply conducted trade and dumped industrial products. .

Now, in fact, the situation has not changed much. In fact, the people of Chu are still not very interested in this place...but so be it.

All the large-scale indigenous kingdoms in the world have basically surrendered to the empire. Even the Ottoman Empire has fully opened its market. It is very ugly to leave a single Persian kingdom independent of the colonial system of the Chu Empire.

It's like playing a jigsaw puzzle. All other parts have changed color, leaving this area with a different color, which doesn't look pleasing to the eye.

As a result, during the Jinling staff meeting, a minister casually mentioned the issue of the Kingdom of Persia. Other ministers looked at the map and felt that the map was indeed not very good-looking, so they approved a military attack on the Kingdom of Persia. Then turn this place into a colony completely, and then you can also consider building a railway south to the ports in the Persian Gulf.

The cause of this war may seem like a bit of a joke...but in fact it is an inevitable historical development.

The strong rise of the Chu Empire will inevitably require more resources, so the expansion of the Chu Empire is inevitable.

If the people of Chu want to live a better life, it must be based on occupying more resources.

Therefore, the Chu people expanded everywhere, and after expansion to a certain extent, even the Persian region, which in the eyes of the Chu people had no good things, would eventually become the expansion target of the empire.

Therefore, after the rise of the Chu Empire, it became inevitable that the Persian region would face the invasion of the Chu people.

Moreover, they have to thank the Chu people for their rapid technological development and their ability to conduct large-scale expansion through the ocean. There are more and better territories waiting for the Chu people to occupy.

If the people of Chu were unable to expand on the ocean, nor to the ice fields in the north, nor to the tropical jungles in the south, then in the end they would have no choice but to head west...even a barren land like Persia would Grab it.

Therefore, the Persians were able to maintain their independent status in the decades after the great Chu Empire rose strongly, especially in the next 20 years. It was purely because the Chu people had too many other goals and could not see them for a while.

But now... things are different.

The Chu people saw them!

First of all, the Chu people issued the same ultimatum, demanding the cession of territory, the full opening of the market, and then compensation and so on.

The people of Chu State were very skilled at playing this set of things. The diplomats of the Chu State's Domain Affairs Department didn't even have to worry about it. They just took out a set of templates, changed the names and data, and sent them to the Persians. .

There is a deadline of one month to reply, otherwise the Chu people will come and get it themselves.

Naturally, the Kingdom of Persia will not agree easily. After all, the conditions of the Chu people are too harsh. Once they agree, they will completely become a puppet state.

To be honest, it is a bit difficult to turn a country into a puppet state without any fighting.

The response of the Persian Kingdom was also within the expectations of the Chu people, so while sending the ultimatum, the Chu people had also mobilized troops to prepare for the battle.

The Chu army mobilized troops in two directions. One was on the northern front. It mainly mobilized the troops of two divisions, namely the 43rd Division and the 56th Division. Both divisions belonged to the second-class standing divisions and were garrisoned by the Chu Empire Army. In Central Asia, especially the main mobile forces of the Khiva Khanate and Bukhara Khanate in the newly occupied areas.

Although these two khanates in Central Asia continue to exist in name, in fact they can be said to have existed in name only. Through treaties signed one after another over the past few years, they have ceded almost all their territories to the Chu Empire. Each has retained a small area and has a very small population.

However, they survived at least. They surrendered completely, gave up their own language and everything else, and finally received the official canonization of the empire.

It's just that after the empire officially enthroned them, their language, writing, clothing and customs have all been fully Chineseized. They even all used Chinese surnames and names. You can hardly tell that they are still the original indigenous people.

In this case, if you say they survived, it would be better to say that the empire finally chose to integrate such a small part of the indigenous people.

Therefore, whether on the surface or in fact, the Chu Empire has completely controlled the original three countries in Central Asia, namely the Kazakh Khanate, the Khiva Khanate, and the Bukhara Khanate.

The Chu army's northern offensive was launched by the two main mobile forces stationed in this area. Incidentally, some C-level garrison troops in border areas would also participate in some sporadic operations.

In addition to the northern front, the Chu army also organized a large-scale force on the southern front, with its main gathering place being the Karachi area in India.This is a colonial port occupied by the Chu Empire in its early years. After years of development and management, it has become an administrative territory, controlling a large area of ​​surrounding land. Through this administrative territory, and then using the Indus River as a transportation channel, the Chu Empire This can effectively complete the economic colonization of this area.

Therefore, Karachi was also the strategic support point for the Chu Empire to maintain its presence in the northwest region of the Indian Peninsula. In the past, it had a relatively large number of troops stationed there.

This time to attack Persia, the empire temporarily transferred some troops from the Indian Peninsula, including the servant Indian Legion.

Then these troops moved westward from Karachi, and finally headed to the border area near Persia. At this time, the troops participating in the battle against Persia in this direction included No. 19 Division, 131 Division, and No. 11 Division and No. 12 Division of the Indian Army.

Among them, the No. 19 Division is a first-class combat readiness force specially transferred from the Mumbai area. It is an absolute elite main force... This time we come to fight Persia. It is not that the superiors think that Persia is too strong and insist on getting a first-class division. Come and take charge.

But the No. 19th Division is eager to fight... They have been stationed in India for two years, but they have not participated in any large-scale wars... There is no military merit without fighting, and there is no promotion without military merit.

So after the empire decided to launch a war against the Persian dynasty, the No. 19 Division went up and down, and finally succeeded in persuading the superiors to let them participate in the war.

This is already the last independent independent country that has not surrendered to the empire. If we don't fight, we will never have this opportunity in the future...

Except for the No. 19 Division, the 131st Division is quite normal. This is a C-class garrison division that has been stationed in the Karachi area for a long time.

The two servants of the Indian Legion are nothing special. They are just here to be cannon fodder and do hard and dirty work.

The two fronts in the north and south will launch attacks at the same time. To this end, the Persian Expeditionary Force Headquarters was established. The commander was transferred from Army Lieutenant General Xu Bingquan, deputy commander of the Ninth Group Army stationed in India. At the same time, Lieutenant General Xu Bingquan will also serve as the southern line commander of the Persian Expeditionary Force. official.

The deputy commander is Lieutenant General Xu Leshan, commander of the No. 20 Eighth Army.

This No. 20 Eighth Army is actually the main field force of the Imperial Army in Central Asia. It is affiliated with the Second Army and is mainly stationed in Central Asia.

The military organizational structure of the Dachu Empire has actually not changed for many years. Although weapons and equipment have been updated and the combat organization of the troops has also changed, the overall organizational structure has not changed much.

The highest-level military organization is the Military Academy. The Military Academy is actually just a fictitious organization. In fact, there is no such organization as the Military Academy...it is just the Minister of Military Affairs.

The Military Affairs Council and the Minister of Military Affairs are actually similar in nature to the Council of Ministers and the Minister of Military Affairs. They are both fictitious institutions and informal dispatches.

It's just that after a long time, people naturally regarded the Minister of Military Affairs as a position and the Military Affairs Council as an institution. But in fact, there is no such institution as the Military Affairs Council.

Therefore, to be more precise, the highest military organization of the Chu Empire was the military affairs conference that Luo Zhixue personally led and presided over, with the participation of military ministers, and finally formed a resolution.

However, it must be noted that this resolution was not issued in the name of the Military Academy, but a major policy, issued in the form of an imperial edict. If it is a resolution involving various military departments, it will be issued in the name of military agencies, such as the General Staff Deliver.

This is the same as all resolutions in the Senate are ultimately issued through various imperial edicts or various ministries.

The Military Affairs Council and the Senate are still not formal institutions so far. They don't even have official seals... and they can't directly issue various orders.

Therefore, these two institutions do not exist and have no actual power. Those who have power are the ministers of staff and military ministers inside.

Let’s not talk about the Minister of Staff for now. The Minister of Military Affairs is generally held by the top leaders of the military affairs departments with real power, such as the Minister of the Army Staff, the Minister of Military Affairs, the Minister of Logistics, the Minister of Ordnance, the Ministers of the Navy, and then the General Staff of the Guards. The commander, the chief military and political officer of the Guards, and finally a joint logistics commander who was newly established in recent years.

From the names of these military ministers, it can be basically seen that the current Chu Empire still implements the traditional military service system. Although a joint logistics command has been established, the main functions of the joint logistics command are to coordinate various departments. The main focus is on the logistics of the military services, rather than directly arranging and organizing the logistics matters of each military service.

On the Army side, under each ministry, there are group army headquarters. Today, the Empire's Army Group Army has added several more to the original eight group armies. There are currently thirteen in total, including the First to Eighth Group Armies. , are all garrison troops belonging to the local territories directly under the Central Government.

The First Army is currently in Eastern Europe, and its headquarters is temporarily in Vol, the westernmost end of the railway line, that is, Astrakhan, and its troops are relatively strong.

The Second Group Army is located in Central Asia, the Western Regions, and Western Siberia. Its headquarters has been transferred to Turkey. It is regarded as the reserve force of the First Group Army, and its strength is average.

The Third Army, with its headquarters in Tianjin, is mainly responsible for North China, Northeast China, including Eastern Siberia, and its military strength is very weak.

The Fourth Army, with its headquarters in Kunming, was responsible for the southwest region, including Sichuan and Qingkang. Later, it was also responsible for Yunnan, Guizhou, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.

The Fifth Army, with its headquarters in Guangzhou, is in South China. It is currently mainly responsible for Guangdong and Guangxi, Vietnam and Siam in the Nanyang Peninsula, but does not include the Malay Peninsula.

The Sixth Army, with its headquarters in Jinling City, is located in the south of the Yangtze River, and the Fusang area also belongs to their defense area.

The Seventh Group Army, with its headquarters in Zhengzhou, is responsible for the Central Plains region and basically does not engage in external operations. It is a strategic reserve type of defense area. However, due to its strategic geographical location and being a railway transportation hub, it actually has a lot of elite troops.

The Eighth Army, with its headquarters in Singapore, is responsible for the Southeast Asian region, including the Malay Peninsula, the East Indies, Borneo, the Luzon Islands and even Australia, etc.

The Ninth Army, with its headquarters in Colombo, Island of Ceylon, is responsible for the defense of the Indian Peninsula and the Island of Ceylon, as well as the defense of the Persian Gulf and Red Sea coastal areas.

The Tenth Army, headquartered in Jinshan City, North America, is responsible for the defense of North America.

The No. 11 Group Army, headquartered in Dole City (Guayaquil) in South America, is responsible for the defense of South America.

The No. 12 Group Army, with its headquarters in South Africa, is responsible for the defense of the African region, mainly central and southern Africa, and West Africa.

Finally, there is the No. 13 Group Army, which was just established this year. It is responsible for coordinating the war in Europe, but does not include the Eastern European Plains, which is planned to be a territory directly under the jurisdiction of the mainland. The headquarters is set up in Cadiz, Spain.

The current thirteen group armies are an important strategic force used by the Chu Empire to control the world... However, from a structural point of view, this kind of group army undertakes more administrative management, strategic planning and other functions rather than combat command functions. ...The scope is too large and the distance is too far, and the group army headquarters cannot actually command its units...

Waiting for the battle order from your group army headquarters to reach the front line after many months, the battle has been completed, and the war has even ended...

In fact, those responsible for various combat command functions are dispatched troops and expeditionary forces under various names.

For example, the current Persian Expeditionary Force, the previous European Expeditionary Force, the African Expeditionary Force, the Indian Expeditionary Force, etc...

These temporarily established dispatched armies, expeditionary armies, or armies with fixed numbers, such as the 28th Army, the 24th Army, etc., are the main command system for the Chu Empire Army to fight against the indigenous people of various countries.

The Persian Expeditionary Force is a newly established military command organization under this system. If nothing unexpected happens, the Persian Expeditionary Force will be converted into a fixed field army on the spot after the war and become a long-term garrison in Persia. A field army to deal with the Ottoman Empire, consisting of two or three divisions.

The above are all field armies. In addition to the field armies, the Chu Empire actually has a larger number of C-class garrison troops and militia, as well as various garrison headquarters that govern these C-class garrison troops and militia.

In the actual expansion process, when the Chu army expanded externally, it was these garrison troops and militiamen who frequently engaged in low-intensity battles with local indigenous people... Therefore, although these local garrison troops and militiamen had poor combat effectiveness due to backward equipment and lack of training. Too good...

But even so, they are still indispensable and even a very important part of the military system of the Da Chu Empire.

This time the battle against Persia involved local garrison troops, including the [-]th Border Defense Regiment from the Brahan Garrison District under the Mesopotamia Province Garrison Command.

Although the 1327th Border Guard Regiment is only a light infantry regiment, and it is not full of strength. The total number of the regiment is only more than 800, but since it entered Persia, it has encountered gods and gods, and Buddhas. The armed resistance of the tribe fell into disarray.

This is because, although this border defense regiment is only a third-line force, it is still equipped with breech-loading rifles such as the Type [-] rifles that were replaced by the first-line troops, and it also received two old [-]mm infantry cannons as fire support. .

It's not easy to fight against a group of tribal armed forces who are still using cold weapons and a small number of matchlocks!

The border defense regiments that were still using second-hand Type 20 rifles could fight so smoothly, not to mention the three main divisions equipped with No. [-] Type [-] repeating rifles.

Wherever they passed, all the Persians who intervened and resisted were beaten to pieces.

The No. 19 Division, with the support of the navy, adopted a rapid advance, bypassing a large number of areas inland, and directly took the coastal route to advance westward. The supply was carried out directly at the port by transport ships dispatched by the navy. .

This sudden advance allowed the No. 19 Division to quickly penetrate into the heart of Persia, and soon reach Bandar Abbas Port on the north shore of the Strait of Hormuz...

Before long, the No. 19 Division, with the support of several local colonial port garrison troops, captured all the coastal port cities of the Persian Empire, and then advanced inland, mainly to their capital Isfahan.

The fall of the Persian Kingdom is not far away!

(End of this chapter)