When Feng Qirong led the fleet and began to encircle and suppress pirates and capture prisoners, Jinling City in the empire's mainland had not yet received the news that Feng Qirong had captured Tanegashima.
The distance between Tanegashima and the mainland is really too long. Even though the empire has developed clipper ships and uses these fast ships as communication ships, the time to go back and forth is still very long.
Communications are seriously lagging behind, and there is no way around it. The news from Fuso is delayed by half a month and a month at most, but if it is farther away, such as India, or even Africa, or Europe, this
It is normal to have no news for half a year.
Li Xuan had no choice but to hope that the Royal Institute of Technology would come up with the telegraph as soon as possible, regardless of whether it was a wired telegraph or a wireless telegraph, whichever one would be better.
But now, there is no other way. Long-distance communication can only rely on ships or horses.
Li Xuan didn't know how things were progressing in Fuso, but he still knew that the Navy was already preparing to take action in Fuso, because this was reported a few months ago.
In addition, Li Xuan doesn't care much about the affairs on the Fuso side. There is nothing more than the Osumi Islands on the left and right, and the sea power on the Fuso side is weak enough to be ignored, so there is no possibility of any accidents on the Ryukyu Squadron.
Nowadays, Li Xuan is more concerned about the problems in the north. The Korean Peninsula needs to be solved. The army has already prepared a full infantry division in Liaodong, ready to cross the Yalu River from north to south at any time.
The navy has also prepared escort fleets and transport fleets, which can directly land for operations at any time and provide supplies for the troops entering the peninsula.
According to the battle plan finalized at the imperial military strategy meeting, the peninsula battle plan will be fully launched in June. The troops participating in the battle include the 15th Infantry Division of the Sixth Army. This infantry division is mainly responsible for crossing the Yalu River and from the ground.
Launch an attack and advance from north to south.
The navy prepared two squadrons to completely control the coast of the Koryo Peninsula and provide escort and fire support for the landing fleet and supply transport fleet.
The main body of the landing force is a temporary Marine regiment from the Navy, with a total strength of about 2,000 people. In addition, the Guards also dispatched an infantry battalion, an artillery team and other auxiliary units to form a mixed Guards battalion.
The total number of troops participating in the battle was approximately 1,500.
In other words, the total number of marine troops in the landing force is about 3,500!
Together with the 15th Infantry Division of the Sixth Army, the landing force will bring the total ground combat strength to 19,000.
When necessary, the Navy will also directly dispatch marines and sailors from the two squadrons to go ashore to fight. This aspect is expected to be able to provide about a thousand people.
Therefore, when necessary, the total number of troops participating in ground operations will reach 20,000!
Twenty thousand people are enough to deal with a small indigenous regime on the Koryo Peninsula, both the army and the navy think!
In fact, if we only deal with the indigenous people of the Koryo Peninsula, not even 20,000 people are needed, but just a few thousand people can probably sweep across the peninsula. The key point is that the current Koryo Peninsula is not limited to the local indigenous people. In fact, nowadays
The real owners of the Koryo Peninsula were not the local indigenous people, but the pseudo-King Myeonghye.
After the Pseudo King Minghui was defeated in Liaodong, he fled into the Korean Peninsula with his remaining soldiers early. He brought a lot of troops, at least 20,000 to 30,000 people. These 20,000 to 30,000 people were actually the Tang Empire's
The real enemy.
As for the natives, to be honest, neither the empire nor the pseudo-King Minghui took them seriously.
The entire combat plan will be launched in June. In fact, in Jinling City, the specific combat plan was finalized in late April, and the rest is time for specific implementation and transmission of orders!
After Jinling City has made a decision, it will take at least half a month to convey the order to Liaodong. Then it will also give the troops time to prepare for the battle, and the subsequent supply transportation will also take time to prepare.
Therefore, the official combat time is expected to be in mid-June, but there is no specific day, and the specific time to cross the Yalu River will be freely determined by the frontline generals.
In other words, Major General Kang Gaozhi, the commander of the 15th Infantry Division, will directly decide the time for the war, as well as the specific tactics. Jinling City is only responsible for giving a combat target, and then the general plan, and even even
As for the headquarters of the Sixth Army, it is also because the distance is too far, and it is impossible for the army headquarters to remotely command the 15th Infantry Division.
In this peninsula battle, Army Major General Kang Gaozhi will have almost all the power!
As the saying goes, the greater the power, the greater the responsibility. When the imperial edict was passed to Kang Gaozhi, he instantly felt the pressure!
Looking at the imperial edict in his hand, Kang Gaozhi's first reaction was not the excitement of being able to lead the battle alone and make great achievements, but worry!
The reason why he was worried was because he had never led a unit to fight on a single front. He was a little worried that it would capsize in the Peninsula Campaign and perform poorly, which would lead to serious political consequences.
Kang Gaozhi, like most of the mid-level and senior generals in the army, was born in the Royal Academy. He joined the army relatively early. In the second year of Xuanping, he abandoned civil service and turned to martial arts and directly entered the Army of the Tang Dynasty.
At first he was just an ordinary civilian officer, then as a staff officer, and then he went to a martial arts school to study.
After entering the martial arts academy, he held many grassroots positions, and then quickly entered the imperial academy. In the fifth year of Xuanping, he graduated from the imperial academy and became the commander of an infantry battalion. At this time,
He is actually the one who embarked on the path of a real field force commander.
From major battalion commander to lieutenant colonel commander, then to colonel staff officer of the combat department, at the end of last year, he finally overcame countless obstacles that were difficult for colonels to overcome and became an army brigadier general, serving as deputy commander of the 15th Infantry Division.
The division commander became a member of the army's senior generals.
Then he participated in the Liaodong Campaign. Later, his immediate boss, the former commander of the 15th Infantry Division, was recuperating for a long time due to physical illness. At the same time, it was also because he did not get along well with his colleagues. This disharmony
Of course, Kang Gaozhi's stabbing in the back is inevitable. This army is also an officialdom, and it is inevitable to fight openly and secretly.
Therefore, his predecessor was transferred back to the Privy Council of Jinling City in February to serve as the Western Excessive Officer.
This was naturally quite tragic for the former commander of the 15th Infantry Division, but for Kang Gaozhi, it was an opportunity. At that time, he relied on the natural advantage of being the deputy division commander to naturally become the deputy commander.
Division Commander, he also led the 15th Infantry Division to perform well in the Liaodong Campaign, and his superiors just straightened him up.
It took him four months in total to go from brigadier general to deputy division commander to major general division commander!
This speed of promotion would have been absolutely impossible under normal circumstances. Only the 15th Infantry Division was fighting in Liaodong at that time. The superiors, especially Li Xuan, gave Kang Gaozhi such an opportunity in order to stabilize the war.
.
But he had just become the commander of the 15th Infantry Division, and before he could get used to it, he received an imperial decree asking him to lead the 10th Infantry Division to cross the Yalu River in mid-June.
You must know that before he became the division commander, although he also acted as the deputy division commander to command operations, it only lasted for two months. And more importantly, the battles of the 15th Infantry Division were always personally directed by the military headquarters. He
At best, Kang Gaozhi can only take command on the spot, but if you ask him to coordinate the overall situation and be responsible for the war on a single front, he feels a lot of pressure. Could it be that the superiors really think that I am a peerless general who can take charge of a single battle line just a few months after becoming a division commander.
A battle line?
He didn't know that the superiors chose to trust him so much not because of his great talent, but because the 15th Infantry Division was the closest to the Yalu River. If they wanted to fight, they would definitely use the 15th Infantry Division.
Moreover, the 15th Infantry Division has just been replaced, and it has been replaced again within two months, which can easily destabilize the morale of the military and cause bad negative political effects.
In addition, although this Kang Gaozhi is not very good, he is still a general with a professional background. He has experienced martial arts school, imperial school, and has served as battalion commander of an infantry battalion, commander of an infantry regiment, senior staff officer of the operations department, deputy division commander, etc.
For a series of positions, he must have the necessary combat command experience.
The big guys in the Privy Council are not very demanding. As long as Kang Gaozhi doesn't mess around and just push things forward step by step, there is no hope that he will come up with any fancy tactics.
Just as the big bosses believed in Kang Gaozhi's strategic and tactical abilities, it doesn't mean that they didn't take the pseudo-King Minghui's 20,000 to 30,000 defeated soldiers to heart.
He is also the commander of an infantry division, but look at the commanders of several main infantry divisions of the Third Army that faced the Tatars, and then look at the commanders of the main infantry divisions of the Fourth Army and the Fifth Army on the northwest front.
The teachers and commanders are all men with outstanding military exploits.
Not to mention anything else, just talk about their titles. All of these division commanders have titles above viscount, and several of them are counts.
The reason why the main generals on the northern front are all men with outstanding military exploits is that both the Privy Council and Li Xuan believe that the Tatars, Oaras, and Tubo people in the north are the most serious troubles. The troops deployed in the above-mentioned areas, among others,
If the generals are of mediocre ability, they will be worried and cannot sleep well.
But in addition to the northern front, other fronts, including today's Liaodong, Koryo Peninsula, Southwest, Jiangnan, Central Plains and other defense troops, the generals of these troops are just ordinary.
The degree of emphasis is completely different.
Today, the most outstanding generals in the army are mainly concentrated in two places, one is in the field troops stationed on the Great Wall defense line in the north, and the other is the Privy Council Operations Department.
As for Kang Gaozhi, he is none of them!
Kang Gaozhi naturally had no way of thinking about what his superiors thought of him. Since the imperial edict came down, he had to comply with it. He didn't want to be fired from the position of teacher that he had worked so hard for after only a few months.
He also wants to be like other famous army generals, capture the peninsula, make a great contribution, and win a noble title, even just a baron!
However, things in the world are unpredictable. Kang Gaozhi wanted to make meritorious deeds, but within a few days he discovered that it was not easy to make meritorious deeds!