Chapter 3 The Power of the Young Marshals Exploded
After handing over the formula and production method of picric acid to several key members of the Wuyan Institute, Yun Zheng felt that his inventory had been almost emptied. It would be really difficult for him to invent something.
It's big
After leaving the matter of gunpowder to the Wuhan Research Institute for further development, and explaining the characteristics of this bitter and sour product, and asking them to be careful not to accidentally blow themselves up, Yun Zheng went to the governor's office.
The Governor's Yamen has not been in charge of it for so long, but in fact there is not much problem in running it. General affairs can actually be handled by Zhao Wenchang and a group of staff because Yun Zheng has concentrated on the major matters that need to be solved by the Governor's Yamen some time ago, and within the family,
Things, under Yun Zheng's iron fist, have already been carried out according to his will.
There are naturally some people who are dissatisfied. To be honest, there are quite a few people in this group. It’s just that Yun Zheng is determined to do something about it. After all, they are a little guilty and they can’t be persuaded after several attempts. There is no other way. The last batch of brave ones are
, ran directly to Luoyang to find Yun Lan to "complain", but they did not expect, what is Yunshan Shuai? At extremely critical moments back then, he could hold on to the isolated city without changing his expression. His determination was so firm that Yun Zheng was afraid that
In comparison, since he decided to let Yun Zheng have full authority to handle it, unless there was a very serious change, how could he stop Yun Zheng just because a few unprogressive tribesmen came to complain? So this group of people were humiliated by their own boss.
Shuai scolded him back in public
After this happened, the tribesmen finally understood the determination of the Marshal and his son, which must be rectified. They immediately became honest and obeyed Yunzheng's policies. In a short time, the Tibetan Mastiff turned into a golden retriever and his temper improved.
That's called a thief's quickness. Marshal Yun himself felt that those distant uncles, brothers, and brothers suddenly changed their gender, and they had the demeanor of a chameleon.
After the rectification of major mining areas, the efficiency improvement has been extremely obvious. Now, under the arrangement of Yun Zheng, the Yun family has actually significantly increased the manufacturing of various types of ordnance. The output is three times that of the original normal situation. Even at this production rate,
, the minerals provided by Yunjia Mining Area are enough to cope with it. You must know that in addition to not wanting to cause tension to the court, the main reason why we could not expand production was that there was not enough ore. But now this second point is not a problem at all.
---------------------------------------------I walked around the governor's office, nothing important.
Yun Zheng returned to the Marshal's Mansion. Yun Yi was already waiting for Yun Zheng inside. As soon as he saw Yun Zheng coming back, Yun Yi came over and said: "Young Marshal, the matter is done."
Yun Zheng hummed: "What do they think?"
Yun Yi frowned a little: "Many people still think that this is the young commander's intention to take over power, and they may have some resistance in their hearts."
Yun Zheng clasped his hands behind his back and paced: "Then we will change the proportion again, and allocate 40% from Yingyang Guard, and all other guards will allocate 60%. In this way, the officers selected from Yingyang Guard are from each of them.
Twice as much as Wei, what else do they have to say now?"
Yun Yi nodded, hesitated again, and finally couldn't help but ask: "Young Marshal, is it really necessary to establish this general staff?"
Yunzheng nodded: "It's very necessary."
"But I feel that the General Staff is staying at the rear and may not know the actual changes on the front line during the battle. What if the opportunity is missed?" Yun Yi asked
Yun Zheng said: "So I said that the main responsibility of the General Staff is to make advance strategic and tactical preparations. Let me tell you this, for example, if we are going to attack... Zhongjing of the Liao Kingdom, then our General Staff will start to formulate this plan.
, ranging from the calculation of strategic preparations such as how many troops we need to mobilize, how much food and grass to mobilize, how much ordnance to use, and as small as the tactics used in every possible battle. For example, after our army arrives in Beijing, if our army has five
How should we capture Zhongjing if we have ten thousand people? How should we attack Zhongjing if we only have thirty thousand people... All of this is what the General Staff needs to think about and prepare in advance."
Yun Yi was shocked: "The workload is too great. Experienced generals can estimate how much supplies it will require. But how to fight every possible battle? There are too many changes.
How can this all be planned?”
"Of course they don't need to estimate every battle completely accurately, but they must consider what type of combat situation may occur and design a battle plan for this. For example, if they attack Zhongjing, they must consider that we
When the army crosses the Luan River, they will encounter the Liao army. If they encounter the Liao army, then they must write down a combat plan in advance for three situations before crossing the river, during the crossing, and after crossing the river. In case they encounter one of them
One, as long as there is no big difference, the forward commander should implement the general staff's plan... This is called pre-war staff planning."
Yun Yi took a breath: "So... so strict, I think the general staff will definitely have a hard life in the future."
Yun Zheng chuckled: "The work of the General Staff is naturally more complicated, and the requirements for military literacy are very high. This requires that the officers of the General Staff must be the best batch of our northern Xinjiang. I hope that some of the future General Staff will be from Young Eagle College.
Some of the students who have come out to intern at the General Staff are experienced officers who have been transferred back from various armies, and some are outstanding non-lineage officers from various armies who have joined the General Staff to improve their capabilities... In short, the General Staff must be a member of our Northern Xinjiang
The finest officer corps"
Yun Yi nodded, but his face was a little heavy. He found that the task of establishing the General Staff was really not an easy task.
Yunzheng also knew that it was very difficult to establish the General Staff Headquarters and make it run effectively, but he believed that it was necessary to do so.
China has always had counselors, but the gap between the role of counselors and the General Staff in Yunzheng's mind is too big. In Yunzheng's view, only the Prussian-German General Staff of later generations is the real General Staff.
The prototype of the Prussian General Staff appeared in the mid-17th century in 1640. When the Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia Friedrich William established the army, he followed the highly respected Swedish army at that time and established a munitions directorate.
This was the original General Staff. At that time, the main responsibility of the Munitions Directorate was to take charge of engineering and soldier services, selecting marching routes and campsites, and building positions. In the era of King Friedrich, the Munitions Directorate added orders to provide
The task of guiding the marching troops and drafting reports and documents for the generals. In the first battle to partition Poland and the War of Bavarian Succession in 1778, the Munitions Directorate took over the planning and leadership of the reserve troops and became
the king's right hand man
By the beginning of the 19th century, the "Military Reform Committee" led by Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and others made great contributions in the struggle to improve the functions of the General Staff and establish its status. "Military Reform Committee" Colonel Massenbach, a member of the General Staff, drafted a service regulation and two related articles for the Directorate of Munitions in 1801 and 1802, expounding the organization, functions and tasks of the General Staff, so it was called the establishment of the General Staff. The ideological pioneer of the Prussian General Staff
In the document, Massenbach requested that a permanent general staff be established as a planning center during peacetime. He requested that during peacetime, the work of the general staff should be divided into three combat areas: Austria, Russia and France. He also required that the staff should conduct regular travel training in peacetime to survey the terrain of the expected battlefield; military attachés stationed abroad should provide relevant intelligence and predictions; the general staff should also conduct regular travel training with the troops. At the end of the personnel exchange, he requested that the future chief of general staff have the right to submit reports directly to the highest authority, and regarded this as the most important power of the chief of general staff.
The then King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm III, gave support to Massenbach's suggestion and began the reorganization of the Munitions Directorate. Scharnhorst's idea was closer to the modern General Staff. He suggested the establishment of a The "Army General Staff" consists of four departments responsible for strategy and tactics, internal affairs of the army, supplies, artillery and ammunition affairs. In 1817, Prussia officially used the title "General Staff", but its status and functions were far from complete. Not a general staff in the modern sense.
During his tenure (he served as Chief of the General Staff from 1821 to 1829), Marshal Feng Mifflin, Chief of the General Staff, focused on systematic training of General Staff officers, especially in surveying and mapping; he valued travel training and established corresponding institutions; Developed sand table operations; emphasized the study of war history; strengthened observation of neighboring armies. Mifflin's successor, General Wilhelm von Krauseneck (chief of the General Staff from 1829 to 1848), in addition to inheriting the work of his predecessor In addition, the role of railways was also considered in 1834-1835, but there was no in-depth and sustained study of it. Moltke's predecessor, General Karl von Reich (chief of the General Staff from 1848 to 1857), paid special attention to the He stipulated for the training and selection of General Staff officers that officers engaged in General Staff service must study in a general military school for three years, work in the Bureau of Surveying and Mapping for three years, engage in field surveying and mapping service in the summer, and engage in military science work in the winter.
Reicher paid great attention to the application of new technologies in the military. In 1848, in his first year as Chief of General Staff, he introduced breech-loading guns into the Prussian army. In 1855, he drafted a report on domestic and foreign railway transportation capabilities. report, the inclusion of railways in deployment and operational plans. With the cooperation of Reicher and War Minister Boyne, the special status of the General Staff gradually emerged: General Staff officers could be promoted within the General Staff; since 1843 the General Staff The military uniforms of military officers have special markings that are different from other military branches.
During his tenure as Chief of General Staff, Moltke restructured the General Staff based on the achievements of his previous terms, and won the king's high trust with his extraordinary talents, thus enabling the General Staff to obtain the power to command the army. Pushed the Prussian General Staff to its heyday and became a model for Europe and even the world to follow.
Moltke pointed out that in history, some commanders did not need other people's advice. Instead, they thought about problems and made their own decisions, and the people around them just carried out their will. But such a superstar rarely emerges in a hundred years. He said:
"In most cases, military leaders need advisors" and "it is very important for an army to establish a headquarters."
Moltke made unremitting efforts and struggles to improve the status of the General Staff and expand its functions. At that time, he realized that due to the advancement and complexity of military technology, as well as the rapid increase in combat personnel and the expansion of combat areas, the army had a
A unified plan and command structure are of great significance to the victory of the war. In the war against Denmark, due to the participation of Moltke, the war was won quickly.
This victory made the Chief of General Staff a news figure for the first time, and also attracted the attention of the King. On June 2, 1866, the King issued an order granting Moltke full power to command the army, and announced that the Chief of General Staff and the Minister of War would maintain parallel duties.
Guiding relationship, thus making the General Staff for the first time the highest command and coordination organization with real power in the entire army, and a veritable military advisor to the head of state. This created the first time in Prussian military history that the Chief of General Staff was officially commanded.
Precedent for Combat Operations Prior to this, although the General Staff organization had existed under various names and organizational forms for more than 60 years, it had always been in a auxiliary position and had no authority to command the army. This situation was not only true in Germany, but also in Europe.
The same is true for other countries. It was only after the victory in the war against Denmark that the Prussian General Staff gained the power to formulate combat plans and command the wartime army. Only from this time on, can the General Staff organization be said to have the same meaning as it does today.
General Staff Headquarters
Moltke's great efforts in the construction and operation of the General Staff and the training of General Staff officers enabled the General Staff to play the role of the brains of the army in the war. During Moltke's tenure as Chief of General Staff, Prussia fought three wars.
Prussia's victory, which was basically fought evenly against its opponents and even at a disadvantage in some respects, should be attributed mainly to its command and to having an excellent General Staff led by an excellent Chief of General Staff.
As early as February 1868, the French military attache in Berlin reported to the country that "if war breaks out, among all the advantages that Prussia has, the most significant and most undeniable is the organization of its general staff...
Ours is incomparable... In the next war, the Prussian general staff organization will become one of the most difficult factors in favor of the Prussian army." During and after the war of unification, the Prussian General Staff had become
It was a model that militaries in Europe and even around the world followed one after another. The composition, organization, and tasks of the general staff have become the basic model that continues to this day.
During his tenure as Chief of the General Staff, Moltke carried out a major reorganization of the General Staff based on the needs of the war. He organized the General Staff into three divisions, each responsible for three battlefields. The first division was responsible for Turkey, Greece, Austria, Russia, and Sweden.
, Norway, Denmark, and Asia. Branch 2 is responsible for Prussia-Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Branch 3 is responsible for France, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and the United States. It is particularly important to give Branch 2 responsibility for organization, training,
The function of mobilizing and launching work. In 1858, Moltke proposed to add a Military Science Department to the General Staff Headquarters. Four years later, in 1862, the Military Science Department was officially established.
Experts in topographic surveying and mapping gathered here, making the General Staff and war, a field that had always been monopolized by the nobility, occupied by scientists. In addition, in order to adapt to the needs of new technologies and new situations, a Railway Department was added. In 1869
Officially designated as the 4th Division, the Division played a huge role in combat. In 1875, Moltke placed the field surveying and mapping services under the control of a "Field Surveying and Mapping Director" who was directly subordinate to the General Commander, allowing the Chief of General Staff to concentrate on the military.
Mobilization and deployment of work As the status of the General Staff increased and its functions increased, the number of personnel in the General Staff Department also continued to increase. In 1857, there were only 64 people. In the following year, after Moltke officially took over the position of Chief of the General Staff, the number increased to 109 people.
; 135 people in 1871; by 1888, the number of personnel in the General Staff reached 155
With the construction of the General Staff Organization, Moltke realized that a large number of well-trained staff officers were of great significance to the command of the army, so he attached great importance to the selection and training of staff officers. He said: "Selecting staff officers does not depend on their military rank."
It’s about having absolute trust in their abilities and qualities, having good staff, and being good at organizing and using them. “If a commander is surrounded by a large group of people who work independently and have no connection with each other, then the more such people there are, the smarter they will be.
The more self-righteous you are, the worse things will be." After the war, Moltke devoted himself to building the General Staff into a school for cultivating military elites and studying war experience. He not only explained strategic and tactical issues to the officers of the General Staff, but also personally participated
Map operations and travel training conducted by the General Staff. In short, Moltke was a key figure in the transformation of the power and functions of the Prussian-German General Staff.
