A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 1023: The Fourth Division of the Imperial Army, the Firearms Battalion, the New Army, the Northwest Expedition

Nowadays, Daxia’s imperial guards can be roughly divided into four divisions.

That is, the Palace Guards Department, the Infantry Guards Department, the Cavalry Guards Department, and the Naval Guards Department.

The four departments were all under the Grand Military Governor's Office system. Except for the Palace Guard Department, all of them had a governor and deputy governor to control them.

The Palace Guard Department only has one position, 'Palace Guard Commander-in-Chief', who is in charge of the Palace Guard Department.

On the surface, it belongs to the Grand Marshal's Office, but in reality it is run by the emperor himself. The post of the Palace Commander-in-Chief has always been held by the emperor's confidants.

The four divisions’ locations are also different.

Most of the Infantry Division was stationed in the south and was called the "Southern Guard Division".

The cavalry division was mostly stationed in the north of Kaifeng Prefecture, north of the Guangji River (Baigou), and was called the "Northern Division of the Guards".

Although the two divisions of the north and south were scattered in dozens of large camps, they were all located in the capital, so they were also called the "Imperial Army".

The Water Army Department was different. It had only one headquarters office in Kaifeng Prefecture, and all its power was concentrated in three local departments, namely the "Dengzhou Water Army Department", the "Jiangling Water Army Department" and the "Kuizhou Water Army Department".

Each is under the charge of a deputy governor.

The Dianqian Division was stationed directly in the "West Camp" and "East Camp" in Kaifeng City.

The two camps can accommodate 10,000 people and are jointly responsible for the defense of Kaifeng City, a metropolis with hundreds of thousands of people.

The Imperial Camp in the Palace Front Department is even more special. Its hundreds of imperial guards are stationed in the deep palace all year round and serve the emperor. Without the emperor's order, no one has the right to interfere.

Even the Dianqian Division, which was directly under their jurisdiction, could not command a single person.

On the other hand, with the advent of "fire guns" and "cannons", the ministers who had originally opposed sending troops to the northwest no longer insisted.

Instead, they began to fight fiercely over who would go to the battle.

After the end of the southwest war, Daxia had no wars for three years. No fighting meant no military merit, which meant no future.

It's so hard to get a fight, how could these warriors let it go?

So while competing for the opportunity to go on an expedition, the Infantry Commander Bai Ming and the Navy Commander Li Bing were also competing for more powerful firearms.

The two men were confronting each other, and neither could defeat the other. In the end, the decision had to be made by the Grand Commander Li Cunxiao to determine to which department the firearms would be allocated.

As for the commander-in-chief of the cavalry, Tong Ce, he knew that the technology of the current 'Firearms Manufacturing Institute' was not yet fully proficient, so the monthly output was not much and all relied on hand hammers.

He gave up competing with the Infantry and Naval Commands for the right to use firearms, and instead fought for the opportunity to march to the northwest.

The year before last, the Infantry Division made great strides in the southwest, and he and Li Bing were envied for who knows how long.

This year's battle in the northwest is a golden opportunity sent from heaven for their Cavalry Division to play the leading role and surpass the Infantry Division.

If they missed this opportunity, in the future when Great Xia marched south, their cavalry would definitely not play the leading role in the densely networked Jiangnan area.

If the Cavalry Division does not have any military achievements for many years, it will probably become a subordinate of the infantry in the central government, just like the former Tang Dynasty, and lose the opportunity to become an independent army.

Therefore, it was not only the emperor and the crown prince who pushed the war in the northwest, but also the cavalry officers who showed their talents, making the expedition to the northwest progress extremely quickly.

On the other side, Li Cunqian, who was having a headache because of the quarrel between Bai Ming and Li Bing, not only failed to complete the assembly of the firearm quickly.

After seeing that the Firearms Battalion of the Palace Front Department, which was directly under the emperor, had even begun training with firearms.

In order not to fall behind others and delay national affairs, I have to bring this matter to the emperor again and ask for his decision.

It’s because the power behind these two people is so great.

Just look at Bai Ming. He not only represents the interests of hundreds of thousands of infantrymen under the Infantry Department, but also represents the interests of a part of the royal family.

Looking at Li Bing again, although the total strength of the Great Xia navy is far less than that of the Infantry and Cavalry, it is only a little over 30,000.

But the Navy Department and the Maritime Customs Department have always been on the same side.

The ocean trade represented by the Sibosi was an important source of income for the Sansi Envoys.

Moreover, Li Bing himself was an old subordinate of the King of Qi, and the King of Qi also had a lot of influence behind the Navy and the Maritime Customs. Although he was the Grand Commander, he had the support of the Li family and some royal connections.

But at this point in time, the interests involved are far beyond his ability to offend.

Besides, it would not be worth it for him to offend these forces just because of the distribution of firearms.

"Haha, I sent these firearms to the Grand Commandery before, just to see what the result would be."

"Now it seems that you are not short-sighted people at all. You have seen the benefits of this."

Li Cunqian said ashamedly: "I am ashamed of your kindness, Your Majesty."

Bai Ming and Li Bing did not say anything, but followed Li Cunqian in kneeling down.

"No problem. Since you see the benefits of this, then use it well for me."

"If I knew that these firearms were left to gather dust in the arsenal after being distributed, I would not forgive you."

Under the chairmanship of Bai Xi, it was decided to distribute '50 cannons and 500 muskets' to the Infantry Department and '100 cannons and 100 muskets' to the Navy Department.

Since the invention of cannons and muskets, Bai Xi quickly built the "Firearms Manufacturing Institute" and the "Gunpowder Manufacturing Institute".

But the output was still very small, with only more than 50 cannons, more than 200 muskets, and more than 300 tons of gunpowder produced annually.

This also requires the production of matching cannon balls and projectiles made of iron and lead, so the output is not large.

And it can be expected that after a certain number of soldiers are equipped, there will be a lot of training losses.

Therefore, the current output is enough for Bai Xi to form two infantry firearms battalions and a naval firearms fleet.

According to Bai Xi's plan, a firearms battalion of 800 people was to be formed in the Palace Front Department and the Infantry Department respectively.

The firearms battalion is divided into melee soldiers, archers, musketeers, artillery soldiers and logistics soldiers.

The firearms battalion was composed of one hundred sword and shield soldiers, three musket soldiers, each containing three hundred men, one bow and crossbow soldier, each containing one hundred men, one artillery soldier, each containing one hundred men, and three logistics soldiers, each containing three hundred men.

Sword and shield soldiers are responsible for close combat and blocking enemy bows and crossbows.

The musketeers are responsible for fire output, the crossbowmen are responsible for replenishing firepower, the logistics soldiers are responsible for transporting projectiles and food, and the artillerymen are responsible for ultra-long-range fire output and siege warfare.

The firepower output of the newly formed firearms battalion in a short period of time will be two to three times that of the original marksmanship battalion.

As for the navy's firearms fleet, each warship has five cannons on each side, so ten gunboats can be formed, and a certain amount of old ships can be carried along.

Thus, an advanced fleet consisting of two to three thousand sailors and hundreds of large and small warships was formed.

In order to spend money wisely, this newly formed firearms fleet will be secretly re-equipped and trained in the Kuizhou Waterway.

Wait until the southern expedition begins and give the southern king and his ministers a surprise.

However, no matter what the battlefield looks like in the future, it is still the future.

It has no impact on the Northwest Campaign currently being launched by Daxia.

April 16, the sixth year of the Great Xiapingning

The Emperor of Daxia sent Deputy Governor Zhu Lingde as the 'Commander-in-Chief of the Qinghai Road Camp'.

Hu Yanfu, commander of the Longjie Cavalry, Quan Bingzhong, governor of Qinfeng, and Li Guangrui, governor of Xiazhou, were appointed as "deputy capital commanders".

Yuan Kaishun, the deputy privy councilor, was appointed as the chief supervisor.

The Deputy Transport Envoy Bai Mingzhe was appointed as the 'Capital Transport Envoy'.

He led 30,000 infantry and cavalry out of Didao and into the Hehuang area, helping the Tibetans attack the Ganzhou Uighurs.

He also appointed Zhao Ruiyang, the governor of Chang'an Road and the right deputy censor-in-chief, as the "ambassador for pacifying the northwestern tribes."

He was in charge of the specific matters of recruiting the northwestern tribes to submit and comforting the chieftains.

(End of this chapter)