Each infantry battalion has six infantry teams. Including the forces directly under the battalion headquarters, the standard full strength of each infantry battalion is 850 people.
An infantry regiment has four combat battalions. In addition to the shotgun team, reconnaissance cavalry, guards and other troops directly under the regiment headquarters, the strength of an infantry regiment reaches a huge number of about 4,000.
The new organization of the Army is actually based on the organization of the Guards, because the organization of the Guards is the organization of the battalion and the brigade.
A Guards team has a strength of about 140 men, and each Guards infantry battalion has six teams.
However, in terms of regiment-level organization, the Guards also kept pace with the times and followed the example of the Army and changed it to a five-battalion organization.
Therefore, in this army reform, in fact, below the regiment level, the Guards and the Army imitated each other, and finally formed a unified infantry regiment. Each infantry regiment has a total strength of about 4,000 people and has four jurisdictions.
Infantry battalion, each infantry battalion has six infantry teams, each infantry team has 140 soldiers.
This reform in the establishment of the Army and Guards Infantry Regiments also directly led to the further expansion of the size of the Infantry Regiments!
However, this expansion of the size of the infantry regiment can be regarded to a certain extent as a further extension of the Tang Army's tactical changes!
Because as time went by, the tasks of the Tang Army's corps, divisions, regiments, battalions and other units were responsible for great changes.
In the past, an army was only responsible for one front, and a division was the basic tactical unit.
But now on the Army side, a corps has become a theater-level command organization. It is often responsible for campaigns in a certain direction. For example, the Fifth Army is responsible for the northwest and is responsible for the Tatar War in the north.
The Third Army, the Sixth Army responsible for the Liaodong war, the above three armies are said to be armies, but in fact it is more appropriate to say they are war zones.
In this context, an infantry division has actually become a strategic unit rather than a basic tactical unit. An infantry division is often responsible for an entire front, such as the Battle of the Koryo Peninsula.
, is actually a one-man show of the 15th Infantry Division.
So what is the basic tactical unit? It is an infantry regiment!
When it comes to taking charge of a specific small or medium-sized battle, there is actually not even a regiment, and the majority is usually a battalion.
In fact, most of the time they are infantry regiments, and division-level battles often only occur in large-scale strategic decisive battles. In daily life, they are basically fought in battalion units.
Because the strength of the infantry battalion is strengthened, the Army is happy to see results.
The Guards has also seen such changes in recent years. During the Korean Peninsula, the Guards dispatched a reinforcement battalion instead of a regiment or a brigade.
Because the main task of the Guards is to defend the capital, during the war, troops are sent to other places to participate in the war. It is just a rotation to maintain combat effectiveness. It is impossible to send too many troops, but too few troops are difficult to arrange.
The scale of this two thousand people is appropriate for the price comparison.
This is why the Guards were previously composed of the 1st Infantry Division of the Guards and the 2nd Infantry Division of the Guards. However, apart from going out with the troops, a whole division had never been dispatched, and more of them were deployed on a temporary basis.
A brigade is actually a reinforced regiment model that sends troops to fight in other places. Sometimes, only one reinforced battalion is sent.
Later, Li Xuan simply abolished the establishment of the Guards Infantry Division, and at the same time established a Guards Brigade based on the mixed brigade model of the Guards dispatched to fight in the past. Each brigade was a standard mixed brigade, with two jurisdictions.
The Guards infantry regiment, a large artillery battalion, a large baggage battalion, a cavalry regiment, plus other directly subordinate forces, each brigade has
After the reform of the entire Guards, the previous two Guards infantry divisions became three Guards brigades, with the brigade commander having the rank of Major General of the Guards.
Although it is said to be a brigade, the total strength is actually more than 10,000 people. The total strength of each brigade reaches about 12,000 men. The total strength of the three brigades of the Guards is 36,000 men.
Adopting a large organization can be regarded as a trend that the Imperial Army has gradually developed in recent years. It makes no sense to say whether it is right or wrong, because whether this development is suitable or not is related to tradition.
One brigade of the Guards alone has 12,000 men, and the army's infantry division is even larger. Otherwise, it would not be able to undertake the strategic tasks of an entire front.
Three infantry regiments, plus artillery, baggage, cavalry and other units, now the army's entire infantry division has a total strength of 18,000 people at full strength.
Sixteen infantry divisions, plus the troops directly under the military headquarters, that is 300,000 people!
And this does not include the independent troops directly under the army. In addition to the sixteen infantry divisions, the army also has three cavalry brigades, each of which has 4,000 cavalry.
Then there are several independent garrison regiments, mainly garrison troops stationed in more important areas, such as Jiangyin Garrison Regiment and Jiujiang Garrison Regiment. These two garrison regiments are actually fortress garrison troops, one east and one west, guarding the Yangtze River.
Point guard Gyeonggi.
In addition, there are garrison regiments stationed in overseas areas, such as the Ryukyu garrison and the Luzon garrison.
Next, there are independent troops, such as the Zhouqiao Battalion, the Siege Heavy Artillery Battalion and other troops. These are either directly under the jurisdiction of the Military Headquarters or the Privy Council.
Therefore, if the infantry divisions and cavalry brigades, plus many independent units, the total number of front-line combat troops of the army is about 350,000!
And this does not include the civilian officers and other personnel in the Privy Council, nor does it include the reserve divisions and personnel under the jurisdiction of the provincial garrison headquarters.
In addition to the 350,000 front-line troops, the Tang Army also has a large number of reserve divisions. Each province will deploy two or more reserve divisions depending on the situation.
Basically, provinces with greater importance, less stable situation, and few frontline troops will have more reserve divisions stationed there.
Take Liaodong Province, for example. Although this province has a small population and a lot of regular troops, it is located on the border and is a newly occupied area, so it has a lot of reserve divisions. There are three reserve divisions in the four prefectures of the Koryo Peninsula alone.
Garrisoned, and there are several other places. The entire Liaodong Province has a total population of only four million, but there are seven reserve divisions stationed there. If two more infantry divisions are added, the total strength of Liaodong Province exceeds 100,000.
people.
In the Fourth Road of Zhili, the size of the reserve division is also quite large. Even though the regular army strength in this place is already very large, the First Army with outstanding military achievements is stationed in the Fourth Road of Zhili. There is also a Guards Corps and two
The total strength of the regular army reached 70,000 to 80,000. In the entire empire, almost one-fifth of the front-line combat strength was deployed in Zhili Fourth Road.
The regular army is strong, and if it is in other places, it basically does not need too many reserve divisions, but the Zhili Fourth Road is different!
This place is really important. Not only is the city of Jinling, the political heart of the empire, but the Fourth Road of Zhili has become the veritable economic heart of the empire!
This is the most important grain-producing area in the empire, and it is also the core area of ​​manufacturing in the empire!
With the rise of Dangtu Industrial Zone and Shanghai Industrial Zone, it has gradually replaced Zhaoqing and Guangzhou in Guangdong and has become the most important industrial manufacturing base in the empire.
It is not an exaggeration to say that here, it occupies half of the wealth of the entire Datang Empire!
If Liaodong and even the entire north were lost, Li Xuan would have the confidence to reorganize his armaments and fight back, but if he lost Jiangnan, people would starve to death!
This situation is actually the same as that of the former Ming Dynasty. However, although the capital of the Ming Dynasty was in Youzhou, the core area that actually supported the rule of the Ming Dynasty was Jiangnan. Once Jiangnan was over, the Ming Dynasty would also be over.
, regardless of whether it was Emperor Zhengde or Emperor Shaowu, they were all defeated and died one after another!
Therefore, it is very important to protect one's basic base. It will not help if the core ruling area is ignored by those scholars and only shouts that the emperor defends the country.
By placing the political focus on Jiangnan and stationing heavy troops, Li Xuan was confident that he could completely take Jiangnan into his own hands and promote various reforms before they could proceed smoothly.
In the past few years, the various reforms of the Tang Dynasty, especially those in agriculture and taxation, have offended many people. For this reason, countless people have armed themselves to resist taxes and even raised armies to rebel. However, they were all bravely defeated.
The royal divisions of the Tang Dynasty suppressed them one by one.
Therefore, Li Xuan has been very vigilant in the past few years!
Beware of civil unrest!
Therefore, after the Sixth Army sent troops to Liaodong, the First Army quickly returned to defend Zhili Fourth Road.
It is not surprising that in addition to the regular army, there are many reserve divisions in such an important Fourth Road of Zhili. Looking only at Jiangnan Road, there are four reserve divisions stationed in this small road!
Yes, that's right, four preparatory divisions!
In addition to these four reserve divisions, the Second Infantry Division of the First Army is also stationed in Songjiang Prefecture. The most important naval base in the navy, Wusong Naval Base, is also in Songjiang Prefecture. In addition to warships and sailors, the Navy also
A marine regiment is stationed!
Songjiang Prefecture is a small place as big as a palm, but it is actually garrisoned by more than 30,000 ground troops, including land and naval forces!
The situation is similar in the other three provinces in Zhili. Although it is not so expanded, there are basically more than two preparatory divisions in each province!
The entire Zhili Fourth Road has more reserve troops than Liaodong Province!
And there is nothing we can do about it. Who makes Zhili Four Roads so important?
In addition to industrial and economic factors, the source of troops is also very important.
Because Zhili Fourth Road had a large population, and Zhili Fourth Road was the most important grain-producing area in the Tang Empire. There were already many people to feed, and with this large population, the number of troops would naturally be large enough.