Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 186
In mid-August, the voice is anxious...

While the south was still singing and dancing, the Quanning Guards in the north had gathered thousands of troops.

They walked out of Quaning City, and the team spread towards the north like a long dragon.

On both sides of the team, Ming soldiers wearing fat red coats and chest armor were walking with strong military horses.

In the middle of the team, grain, armor, weapons, and beans were piled on carts pulled by two horses.

The load on each cart is close to a thousand kilograms, and even if it travels on the grassland that has not rained for many days, it can leave deep imprints.

After they walked out of the city, they were followed by civilians dressed in commoners, carrying bags of grain on their shoulders, numbering in the tens of thousands.

Soon, they all walked out of Quaning City. The queue was long, more than five miles in front and back.

Among the marching team, the 20-year-old Ning Wang Zhu Quan was one of the few who could ride a horse on the march.

Beside him, a military attache who was over forty years old was riding on horseback. He looked at the mighty team and said with a smile: "Since His Highness King Yan captured the Uliangha cattle and horses and went south last year, our Daning has also I can pull out three thousand and ride north."

"Hmm..." Zhu Quan responded, looking towards the north and said: "If you gain something from this northern tour, you should give some to Fourth Brother."

"I just don't know how many troops Gao Xu can send and whether he can coordinate our army." At this point, Zhu Quan turned back and looked at the general:
"Liu Zhen, how many days does it take for the people you sent to arrive in Zhaozhou City?"

Liu Zhen, as Song Sheng's right-hand man in the northwest, who once fought with Song Sheng in the "Hamilili Victory", was transferred to Daning by Lao Zhu in the 28th year of Hongwu, and was responsible for commanding the troops and horses of the three guards of Prince Ning's Mansion.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not want to use too much force this time to go north to Dacao Valley. Except for Zhu Di's tens of thousands of troops, Zhu Quan and Zhu Gaoxu's guards did not exceed [-], and there were even fewer soldiers and horses that could be mobilized for battle.

Zhu Quan's three bodyguards totaled more than [-] people. However, because Zhu Di transferred Daning soldiers and horses to Kaiping Guards to assemble, he had to leave some of his bodyguards to defend Daning to prevent Halawu from detouring south and encircling Wei to rescue Zhao. Lift.

Therefore, he only brought [-] cavalry with him on this northern tour, which was already considered a very elite force in the Hongwu Dynasty.

Four years ago, the Ming Dynasty only had more than [-] cavalry. Even if Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu won the "Great Victory in Jilin City" and captured many horses, the Ming army's cavalry was still only over [-].

However, if Lao Zhu is determined and mobilizes the military horses from the horse ranches in various places, he can also make up [-] cavalry.

When the cavalry was only of this size, it was rare for generals and kings of Sai to have more than a thousand cavalry under their command.

To break it down, Nanjing currently has [-] cavalrymen from the Baotao Guards and Hezhou Guards in front of the palace, followed by the [-] cavalrymen from the Yan Mansion after experiencing the "Jilin Great Victory", and then the Jin Mansion and Ning Mansion who also control the [-] cavalrymen. Mansion.

Further down, there are the Qin Mansion and Zhu Gaoxu's Bohai Mansion, which control two thousand cavalry, and the Zhou Mansion, which controls one thousand cavalry.

The total cavalry in the hands of these forces reached 8000 cavalry. The remaining more than [-] cavalry were subordinate to Shaanxi Xingdusi, Shaanxi Dusi, Shanxi Xingdusi and Shanxi Dusi, as well as Peking Dusi and Daning Dusi. , Liaodong Dusi.

Moreover, not all of the more than 8000 cavalry belong to them. If we break it down, they can't even get a thousand guard cavalry, because Yunnan's Muchun still has [-] cavalry.

Therefore, during the Hongwu period, having more than a thousand cavalry in hand was considered a force that could not be underestimated.

Zhu Quan was proud, but he was also curious about how many troops his nephew could draw.

Faced with his curiosity, Liu Zhen said without hesitation: "His Royal Highness the King of Bohai probably doesn't have many troops. After all, during the great victory in Jilin last year, I heard that his soldiers suffered casualties of more than 3000. Moreover, there are still more than [-] new recruits on hand, who cannot be used."

"If you calculate it carefully, if you have 2000 people, you should have done your best."

Liu Zhen's thinking is still stuck in the old guard and garrison system. In his opinion, even if the Jilin Guard has eliminated Xiyang Ha and defeated Ha Lawu, the garrison system cannot be changed.

With eight thousand military households, the Five-Fifth Farming War is already considered a remarkable situation, so Zhu Gaoxu should only be able to draw a team of 4000 people at most.

In addition to taking into account the rear, he may only be able to pull out a few hundred cavalry and more than a thousand infantry at most.

Zhu Quan also felt that his rhetoric was very reasonable, so he nodded and said: "So, this time the northern patrol will rely on us to clear the grass valley."

"Of course." Liu Zhen touched his short beard, and Zhu Quan also raised a smile on his lips.

But they didn't know that Tang Qi, whom they sent to Zhaozhou City, was already confused.

"This...is Zhaozhou City?"

On the official road outside Zhaozhou City, a group of Tangqi carrying the flag of Ning Mansion stared blankly at the heated scene in front of them, their minds going blank.

In front of them, thousands of shirtless men were showing off their tendons and wielding pickaxes to clear the fields.

The piles of mandarin ducks and war jackets beside the road all showed their identities.

"These people are actually soldiers!"

Yang Ning, the guard officer of the hundred households in Yingzhou who was sent to deliver the news, had a blank mind. The officer of the hundred households of the Bohai Navy who was riding a draft horse next to him smiled and said: "The front is Zhaozhou City. These are all participating in the war." Brothers, I’m just waiting for you to send me news.”

"Are they all participating in the war?" Yang Ning looked at the Baihu officials in surprise, and the Baihu officials also smiled and said: "Of course, we have been waiting for you for almost three months."

It is now the eighth day of August. Six thousand soldiers in Zhaozhou City have been killed, and 5000 people have been waiting for three months.

After hearing the words of the Baihu official, Yang Ning quickly explained: "His Royal Highness King Yan mobilized the troops and horses of Daning Dusi to Kaiping Guards. My Highness was busy setting up defenses, so it was delayed for some time."

"It doesn't matter! Anyway, as long as we can return from the expedition before the autumn harvest." Baihuguan grinned.

Not just him, it seemed that everyone in Zhaozhou City was smiling, very sunny, making people feel that they had no worries.

According to Yang Ning's understanding, in Daning, there were many guards who heard that they were going to the battlefield and asked to stay because of their connections.

Why are the painting styles of both sides so inconsistent...

"By the way, I... Your Highness! The people from Prince Ning's Mansion are here!"

Bai Huguan wanted to say something else, but he seemed to have seen someone, so he quickly waved towards the field and called out the word 'Your Highness'.

"Your Highness?" Yang Ning curiously looked in the direction of his greeting.

Before seeing Zhu Gaoxu, he thought that Zhu Gaoxu would be similar to His Highness. After all, he heard that Zhu Gaoxu was only seventeen or eighteen years old.

But when he looked over, he didn't see the noble Tianhuang wearing a luxurious round-neck robe. He only saw a tall figure wearing a bamboo hat and a mandarin duck war coat.

The moment Yang Ning stared at Zhu Gaoxu's back, Zhu Gaoxu, who was working in the fields, also turned around and took off his bamboo hat.

"This is our Highness, let's go!"

Baihuguan got off his horse and happily went to look for it in the deserted fields.

Yang Ning and the surrounding Ning Mansion soldiers looked at each other in disbelief, unable to believe that a county prince would actually go to work in the fields.

However, their reaction was not slow. After Baihuguan dismounted, they also dismounted one after another and went to the fields to search.

When they came to the field, they realized that the Bohai County King was surprisingly tall.

Yang Ning thought that he was a handsome man, but when he stood in front of Zhu Gaoxu at five feet four inches, he was actually a head shorter.

"Yingzhou's central defender has thousands of households in front of the army, and Yang Ning, the official of hundreds of households in Ye, is here to see your highness!"

When they arrived, Baihuguan told Yang Ning and others that they should not kneel down when they see the King of Bohai, but only bowed to him. Therefore, Yang Ning and the others followed the instructions of the other party anxiously.

Sure enough, after they bowed, Zhu Gaoxu handed the pickaxe in his hand to the Baihu official next to him, nodded to Yang Ning and the others: "Gu'an, get up."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Yang Ning and others breathed a sigh of relief and slowly straightened up. Only then did they have time to look at Zhu Gaoxu.

It has to be said that Zhu Gaoxu is tall and tall, with a tiger's back, and his appearance is resolute and majestic. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is heroic.

Among northerners, people like Zhu Gaoxu are regarded as 'heroic'.

In terms of facial features, he is not as handsome as those handsome scholars, but he is the kind of person who when others look at him, they think he is a 'real man'.

"Uncle Seventeen sent you here, but are you going to send troops to patrol the north?"

Zhu Gaoxu took Yang Ning and the others to the field ridge and sat down on the field ridge without hesitation.

Despite this, Zhu Gaoxu could still look at them levelly.

There was a sense of oppression on him, which made Yang Ning very nervous.

"Go back to Your Highness, calculate the time, Your Highness Prince Ning should lead his troops out of the Ning Guard."

"So the general came to ask His Highness how many troops can be sent to Bohai, and whether the marching formation chart can be copied and given to the general."

Yang Ning nervously stated the purpose of his trip. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu also looked at the Baihu officials who were following him: "Zhao Mu, go to the station to get the marching formation chart."

"Yes!" Zhao Mu agreed with a smile, turned around and ran towards the road.

Seeing him leave, Zhu Gaoxu also replied to Yang Ning: "Bohai will send [-] troops this time, [-] cavalry and [-] horse infantry."

"How many?" Yang Ning was stunned. Why did Bohai send more troops than Daning?Isn’t there only [-] military households in the Bohai Sea?
"Five thousand, you don't have to be nervous. Stay a little while and I'll have the sheep slaughtered. After you finish eating, our army will leave tomorrow. You can go back and tell Uncle Seventeen."

Zhu Gaoxu smiled and asked Yang Ning to relax. His unassuming look made Yang Ning sit on the ridge beside him by accident.

When he sat down, Zhu Gaoxu also shouted to a figure in the distance: "Zhang Chun, inform the whole army that the army will set off tomorrow. After finishing the work today, kill the pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks that were used for the banquet, and let the brothers Let’s have a good meal!”

"Yes!" Zhang Chun, wearing a bamboo hat, turned around and responded. Then he put down his pickaxe, called the leading soldiers in the army, and returned to Zhaozhou City in small groups.

Yang Ning looked at this scene, and the Tangqi who followed him couldn't help but swallow their saliva.

That's meat. They can only eat one meal in ten days. I don't know how much they can eat this time.

"By the way..." After Zhu Gaoxu ordered Zhang Chun, he turned back and asked Yang Ning about Daning.

For example, how many military households are there in Daning, how much cultivated land is opened up, how many livestock are kept in captivity, how many cattle and sheep are grazed, etc.

Yang Ning didn't know whether she was too nervous or unprepared, so she actually told Zhu Gaoxu everything.

There are fewer military households in Daning than Zhu Gaoxu had previously estimated. There are actually only [-] households, because military households have been fleeing southward in recent years.

In addition, the local land reclamation situation also gave Zhu Gaoxu a toothache.

Under the management of Bu Wan and Zhu Quan, there were only 42 acres, and the annual output was only 27 million shi.

As for livestock, Yang Ning didn't know much about it, but he did know that Daning had more than 10,000 cattle and [-]+ sheep.

After all, they also protect the herdsmen grazing within the territory, and they can recall it after chatting in their spare time.

Listening to his answer, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly felt that he was quite rich.Although he doesn't have as many sheep as Daning, he can't keep up with the many cattle and horses he has here, not to mention the cultivated land he has opened up.

With this in mind, he chatted with Yang Ning about other things, and Yang Ning also talked about everything.

Chatting with Zhu Gaoxu, Yang Ning felt as if he was chatting with a friend who was one level above him, but he did not feel as burdened as when chatting with figures like the commander and Prince Ning.

Gradually, he talked more and more, and finally he could take the initiative to find topics without Zhu Gaoxu asking, and Zhu Gaoxu always responded with a smile.

Not long after, when Zhao Mu came back with the marching formation chart, Zhu Gaoxu and the others had been chatting for two quarters of an hour.

After handing the marching formation chart to Yang Ning, Zhu Gaoxu also stood up and smiled at Yang Ning: "I will go to the city to discuss matters with the generals first. You and Zhao Mu can go and rest together, and wait for the departure banquet."

"It's nice to chat with you. If I can meet you this time during the Northern Tour, or if Uncle Seventeen sends you again after the Northern Tour, I will give you a few sheep to take back."

"As for this time, it won't work. The pork, mutton, chicken and duck meat may not be enough to eat. Let's wait until next time."

Zhu Gaoxu patted Yang Ning on the back, and Yang Ning also felt ashamed and said: "It is the general who disturbed His Highness, how dare you accept His Highness's gift."

"Haha..." Zhu Gaoxu laughed when he heard this: "They are all brothers who have made meritorious service and shed blood for the imperial court. What is unacceptable?"

After the words fell, Zhu Gaoxu stopped explaining. He just asked Zhao Mu to remind him that he owed Yang Ning a few sheep. After that, he walked back to the road, got on his horse and drove towards Zhaozhou City.

Looking at his leaving figure, Yang Ning couldn't help but said to Zhao Mu beside him: "Is Your Highness always so approachable?"

"Yes!" Zhao Mu said with a smile: "Isn't that the case with Prince Ning?"

"Uh..." Yang Ning was speechless by his question. She could only cough and talk about other topics, and at the same time, he led the way to the city to rest.

When they first entered Zhaozhou City, Zhu Gaoxu also came to Zhaozhou Qianhu Office.

In the room at this moment, more than ten generals were making arrangements on the sand table and map, with Fu Rang and Lin Su taking the lead.

"How about it? Have you planned everything?"

Zhu Gaoxu walked into the main hall, while Fu Rang rubbed his eyebrows: "It's really a headache for you to set up this staff department."

"Hahaha..." Zhu Gaoxu smiled from ear to ear after hearing Fu Rang's words.

As a person who joined the army in modern times, Zhu Gaoxu naturally knows the importance of staff officers.

Although there were soldiers in ancient times, and generals also had their own staffs, in the final analysis these were just a few smart people gathering together, while the general staff was a group of commanders who gathered more people to make plans.

Although they may not be good at fighting, they can be used to plan troop dispatches and marches, and manage logistics.

With them, Zhu Gaoxu will undoubtedly feel much more relaxed on the march.

Zhu Gaoxu remembered that there was a book with very popular content on how to command armies at all levels.

Among them, the author did not even mention squads or platoons, but directly started with "A company can cover a position of 1000 to [-] meters wide and can attack or defend a village or town."

If a battalion or company is strengthened with artillery that can pull out cement fortifications, it can obtain independent combat qualifications.

A regiment may have independent medical support, independent artillery to perform suppression tasks, anti-tank and air defense systems, and needs to organize and distribute material supplies.

Their positions may be as small as two kilometers or as large as six or seven kilometers wide.

Then the specific intelligence here requires the commander to organize investigations at all times to verify the superior intelligence.

You need to comprehensively determine the enemy's artillery caliber, armored units, and troop numbers to assist your superiors in making strategic judgments.

If it is a division, then you need to be able to draw maps, including traffic maps, terrain maps, and artillery calibration maps, and integrate all the maps, grid them part of them according to the ruler, and issue them to the basic units.

The commander needs to organize transportation, which may have hundreds or even thousands of trucks supporting you.

Your direct fire reconnaissance company should report enemy encounters to you at all times.

Your chemical warfare team is constantly assessing risks everywhere.

The artillery in your hands must always analyze the path of the opponent's artillery shells and carry out counter-artillery suppression.

You need to think about troop deployment on a large scale, such as highlands, rivers, villages, roads, etc.

You must clearly know the upper-level battle purpose to coordinate the intensity of your firepower delivery and the damage speed of soldiers and equipment.

In addition, you must always pay attention to the movement and deployment of heavy firepower.

An army may have an entire railway line or an entire port serving you.

Before fighting, you must always evaluate your combat objectives, length of communication lines, and material reserves.

Once there is a mismatch between transportation lines and supplies and combat objectives, the war will fail.

You have to think three-dimensionally about the assembly, march, and deployment of troops.

This kind of thinking is not just a line of development like the subordinate units, but must take into account strategic efficiency issues and risk issues.

For example, what if you are in a gathering or marching state and heavy firepower is not deployed, and the enemy suddenly attacks you for more than ten kilometers?

If the enemy has armored forces, how about a sudden attack of dozens of kilometers?How will the enemy's air force attack and delay our logistics?
Since the scope of your position is extremely large, far beyond the general artillery control area, you must consider mobile defense and strong attack interspersion on a scale of tens of kilometers.

As few as [-] and as many as [-] to [-] people are fighting under your command. You must treat casualties and even organizations as numbers, without any mercy.

A group army has a base of 10 men and a front line hundreds of kilometers wide.

The tactical air force directly accepts your command, and the strategic air force cooperates with you at all times.

How to mobilize the enemy and how to use these opportunities to weaken the enemy, you need to always think about it.

For example, appropriately expose false gaps to lure the enemy's front line to move and expose their supply center in a dangerous position.

For example, use your mobile troops to strengthen the front line in turn or require the troops to increase the casualty rate and ammunition consumption, creating an illusion for the opponent's grassroots that the main attack direction is everywhere, inducing the enemy to quickly consume and disperse supplies and reserves, and then concentrate them Your power breaks through in one fell swoop.

Your work has been infinitely far away from the real battlefield, but closer to chess and Go.

At this time, supply and distance will always be your core concerns. You already need to fight for equipment and supply priority for the troops at the national level.

As for larger-scale command, it has been separated from the concept of commander and has become the concept of national commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief.

Your actions will directly become the country’s strategy and will...

When Zhu Gaoxu read the book in his previous life, he only regarded the above content as great content, including Han Xin's statement in the Historical Records that Liu Bang could lead an army of up to [-] people.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't feel anything about these contents.

However, when he came to the Ming Dynasty and began to lead troops in person, he had an understanding of military and history, and had a certain feeling.

This feeling reached a peak after the battle of Jilin City.

Although the content in the book describes combat methods under the modern system, it is equally applicable in ancient times.

Just like Zhu Gaoxu's current situation, he commands 5000 people, so has he done what a strengthened regiment should have and what a strengthened regiment leader should do?
Not to mention the independent artillery, anti-tank, and air defense systems needed at the regiment level.

Let’s talk about independent medical security first. After the Jilin War, Zhu Gaoxu sent some soldiers to the hospital for emergency study and mastered basic surgical methods such as wound disinfection, wound sewing, and wound dressing.

The 50-man general flag is equipped with three military doctors. On the way to this expedition, there are a total of [-] military doctors, enough to rescue wounded soldiers after the war.

As for the organization of logistics and distribution of supplies at the regiment level, this is exactly what Fu Rang and the others are discussing at the moment.

Coordinating logistics was not an easy matter. Rao Shifu asked more than a dozen of them to discuss it here for a day, and then they managed to solve all the problems.

"See for yourself..."

Fu Rang handed the album to Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaoxu also took it and read it.

"While waiting for the news, a lot of the supplies originally reserved have been consumed. However, Jilin City has been supplying us these days, and we have always maintained a supply range that is enough for 55 days."

"Currently, the ten 55-material ships have sufficient supplies of grain, beans, arrows, gunpowder, dried vegetables, salt crystals, vinegar cloth and other supplies to ensure a [-]-day long-distance operation."

"However, this refers to water transportation by ship. Once we cross the Nwen River and reach the Uliangha surface, all the baggage will have to be transported by draft horses. The consumption of draft horses will increase, so on the 55th The supplies are actually probably only enough to last fifty days, or less..."

Fu Rang spoke calmly, but Zhu Gaoxu nodded after reading through it: "That's enough."

"It's enough to grab enough cattle, sheep and horses, then deal with some tribes' soldiers and horses, and leave the old, weak, women and children to Haragu."

Zhu Gaoxu's idea was very simple. It was enough to force Harawu to divide his troops to rescue him as if he were surrounding the area for reinforcements, and then take the opportunity to eat some of his troops and inflict heavy damage on him.

After all, with Zhu Quan in the south, Haragu could not concentrate on dealing with him. As long as he divided his troops, he would have a chance.

As for annihilating all the main forces of Haragu, even today's Ming Dynasty cannot do it, let alone him.

It's not that the Ming Dynasty couldn't defeat Haragu, but that it had to use troops on a large scale in Modong, and logistics supplies were a big problem.

Lao Zhu gave himself [-] dan. This was not because he was being generous, but because he wanted to search out the grazing lands of the Ulliangha tribes and attack them. This would consume almost [-] dan of food.

But Lao Zhu didn't know that Zhu Gaoxu knew the direction of the Wenwen River very well, and he also learned about several grazing lands in Wuliangha through the Mongols captured in Jilin City last time.

Compared with Zhu Quan who had to spend time groping northward, Zhu Gaoxu's goal can be said to be very clear.

Not only that, Zhu Gaoxu had the Wen River and [-] draft horses as transportation capacity, which could completely save tens of thousands of people's rations, and the marching speed could also be increased.

It was precisely because of these preparations that Zhu Gaoxu was able to carry out this northern patrol with [-] shi of military rations and other supplies.

Although the five thousand dan army rations consumed [-] dan grain, Zhu Gaoxu still made [-] dan no matter what.

If he could bring back more cattle and sheep from this trip, he would be able to have a good year this year.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu turned his attention to the sand table he made.

His eyes stopped at the Ulianghatu City at the foot of the Harawen Mountains, and he raised his lips slightly:
"Ha Lawu, in our confrontation this time, the offense and defense have changed..."

(End of this chapter)