unclear

Chapter 673 Strategic Layout
Although Wang Chengen and the Cuju players had been training with him since childhood, the Forbidden City was not a paradise, and in some ways, the old ideas were more deeply rooted. In addition, the special status of eunuchs made it difficult for them to break away from traditional thinking patterns.

On the contrary, the orphans in the Sea House Division have neither family nor property, and their only impression of the old system is basically negative. After being reborn, they are more likely to fully accept the new knowledge system and believe in it without any doubt.

New policies, new weapons, new armies, new tactics, including the resulting new social structure and new world, all require a new knowledge system and thinking mode like Ding Shun's to control. It seems that a new education system must be put on the agenda. The model of relying solely on new private schools in some places is no longer enough.

"The student wants to know if there is a solution to this problem?" Being praised in public by the emperor, Ding Shun immediately felt a little proud. Then he committed another taboo in officialdom and pushed the difficult problem onto his superior.

"What is the most economical and safe transportation distance in the current army?" Helping others solve their problems is Hong Tao's favorite thing to do in his life. If it only requires talking, then that's the only way.

"The terrain is too complicated to exceed one hundred miles. If it is here, it should be increased to one hundred and fifty to two hundred. The specific data will be obtained after the war."

Logistics supply is one of the important responsibilities of the General Staff, and Ding Shun must be responsible for it. However, he did not dare to take on too much responsibility out of caution, mainly because the army had never had a direct confrontation with the Mongols and could not accurately assess the enemy's combat power.

"What if there is a post road?" Hong Tao seemed not satisfied with this number and added a prerequisite.

"Well...it can be doubled!" Ding Shun carefully calculated in his mind after hearing this, and boldly gave the new data.

"Well, I also think that if there are roads, the supply distance can be increased to 300 miles. Based on this number, the distance from Jinzhou to Suzhou is only 4,000 miles. If a city is built every 300 miles, there will be 13 cities in total, and an average of 2,000 soldiers will be stationed in each city. Is that correct?"

Hong Tao affirmed Ding Shun's estimate, and then he stretched out his hand, and Wang Chengen immediately took out the map and spread it out, drawing a line from Liaodong Town along the border wall to the westernmost end of Gansu Town, and then dotting a series of small dots on the line every three hundred miles or so.

This was the solution that his teacher and emperor came up with. It was not at all creative and even clumsy. It could not be considered creative. It was simply a simplified version of the fort chain used by the Song Dynasty to deal with the threat of nomadic tribes in the north.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty also did so in its early period, but as its national strength weakened, it had to shrink its defense circle. In the middle period, it basically gave up and relied entirely on the Great Wall as its defense line.

But Hong Tao's method is somewhat different from those of the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty. The most obvious difference is that the density of forts is reduced, the distance between them is increased, and the number of garrisons is reduced. Otherwise, why is it called a simplified version? Hundreds or thousands of small forts have been turned into thirteen medium-sized cities.

"... In this case, if we are surrounded by a large enemy army, where can we mobilize troops to rescue us?"

Such a simple method made everyone present fall into silence. It's impossible to say that the emperor was the one who came up with the idea. Even if there was a mistake, he had to organize his words first and put it forward as tactfully as possible.

This time, it was Du Wenhuan who couldn't help himself first. He was originally a general of the border army and had been guarding the border for many years. He had a deep understanding of the defense mode of the fort. The emperor's method was simply bullshit. It was impossible to defend against large-scale cavalry with only a few sparse forts. It would take several large cities with heavy troops to barely defend against it.

But wouldn't that be a waste of time? The original Great Wall defense line was arranged like this. If it was extended a few hundred miles further, it would require several times more border troops to guard it, which the court simply couldn't afford. "Station 10,000 ground troops in each of the capital, Datong Prefecture, Yulin Guard, Ningxia Guard, and Liangzhou Guard. If the enemy invades in large numbers, they can wait for an opportunity to go out and fight. The troops below 10,000 are at the discretion of the garrisons in each city. They can either hold their ground or join forces to resist the enemy. The distance between the two is only 300 miles, and they can be reached in a few days."

Du Wenhuan made the mistake of habitual thinking again, forgetting the difference in combat effectiveness between the army and the border troops when calculating. If the border troops were to implement this system, they would be sending themselves to death, and they would not be able to defend even if there were twice as many cities.

But if the army can hold the city, enemies within ten times of their size who come to attack or besiege the city will not only fail to gain any advantage, but will also be attacked by the defenders of neighboring cities or even surrounded.

It doesn't matter if the enemy forces are too numerous, there are still several important military towns within the border wall. At a distance of 300 miles, anyone who dares to leave tens of thousands of troops alone will be severely punished.

"Your Majesty, it is easy for the army to fight ten enemies with one, but building roads and cities in such places will cost a lot, so we need to think carefully." Du Wenhuan's doubts were answered, and Zhang Ran added another one. In his eyes, there was no doubt about the combat effectiveness of the army, but the biggest problem was not the combat effectiveness, but the money and food of the court.

Thirteen cities, and the post roads that connected them, were not something that the emperor could come up with just by talking. From east to west, it was thousands of miles away, and the terrain along the way was very different, with rivers, gullies, and mountains crisscrossing. It was not easy to build cities and roads.

The most troublesome thing is that this place does not belong to the territory of the Ming Dynasty. To put it bluntly, it is like showing off one's power at someone else's doorstep, which the Mongolians cannot tolerate. And they have the most cavalry, which is a bit weak in attacking, but they are the best at harassment.

"I am only speaking roughly. In fact, there are many places outside the border wall that are deserts and Gobi wastelands. They are not suitable for grazing and living, and there is no need to build cities or roads. It is only necessary for neighboring cities to send teams to patrol regularly and monitor the passage of large groups of troops.

I have a plan for building a city and roads. It must be strong and fast, and it should be completed in half a year at most. You don't believe it, right? Come, make a bet with me. Take this city as an example. If it can't be compared with Datong before the beginning of summer next year, I lose. "

How to build a city and roads outside the border wall was something Hong Tao had already focused on planning before he ascended the throne, and he had been thinking about it over the years. To put it bluntly, it comes down to two words: explosives and reinforced concrete.

In places with many stone mountains nearby, people can use stones to build cities and gravel to pave roads. The ancients certainly knew how to do this, but they had to use fire and water to mine the rocks, which was labor-intensive and slow.

But Xiong Sanba from the Transportation Department did not need to do that. He had ready-made ammonium nitrate explosives available, and the amount of rock quarried in one day could last for a whole year, thus saving a lot of manpower and time for city construction.

If there are no stone mountains nearby, such as the Gobi Desert and the northern side of the Loess Plateau, the commonly used method of building a city becomes rammed earth, which is more troublesome and more expensive than quarrying stones.

This is when lime comes into play. If conditions permit, kilns can be built to mine and burn it nearby. If not, it can be transported from nearby lime kilns, including sand, gravel and iron bars.

As long as the materials are available, the wall can be built in three months. It doesn't need to be too high, five or six meters is enough. The army is not afraid of the enemy climbing the city wall, as long as it can slow down or stop the enemy and prevent them from charging at will, it will be enough.

(End of this chapter)