Chapter 1190 Go to the grassland to see the scenery
In the past few years, the Army of the Tang Dynasty has continued to undergo reforms, and the number of military-level command structures has gradually increased. Moreover, the troops under its jurisdiction are not the same as in the early unification wars. They were only limited to the main front-line combat troops. Now some with stronger combat effectiveness will also be included.
The reserve divisions, which are in relatively good condition and are geographically close to each other, have also been incorporated into each military establishment.
So far, the Datang Army has established a total of sixteen armies nationwide, which are stationed across the country. There are seven armies on the northern border, which are stationed on the borders of the five northern provinces. Specifically, there is one army in Gansu and one in Shaanxi.
, one army in Shanxi, two armies in Hebei, one army in western Liaoning, and one army in eastern Liaoning.
There are two in the southwest region, one in Sichuan and one in Yunnan and Guizhou.
There are two coastal areas, namely Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian and Zhejiang.
There is one in Huguang area.
There is one in the Central Plains region, and the defense area includes Henan, southern Shanxi, southern Hebei and other areas.
There is one in Shandong, and the defense area is naturally Shandong. However, Shandong in the Tang Empire did not include Liaodong, which was a separate province.
Then there is a rather special place, which is the Koryo Peninsula. There is also an army establishment here, but it is said to be an army, but the actual number of troops is very small.
Then there is the Zhili area, which is a key defense area!
The Zhili Defense Zone does not include Jinling City and surrounding areas. The defense of Jinling City and surrounding areas is solely responsible for the defense of Jinling City and surrounding areas, and has nothing to do with the Army. The Army is mainly responsible for the Fourth Road of Zhili.
The Army has deployed two armies here. Although there are only two armies, there are actually more main troops. In terms of overall strength, it is second only to the sum of all armies in the Great Wall defense line. Needless to say, the First Army is stationed in Zhili.
, the champion of the entire army, with the largest total strength and the best equipment. The entire army currently has a total of twenty main infantry divisions, which must be allocated to a total of sixteen armies, but the First Army occupies three of them.
And they are also the three with the strongest combat effectiveness.
The First Army, in popular opinion, also has another name, that is, the Zhili Army, which shows its status. The army's defenses are relatively scattered, mainly in Jiangbei Road, South Anhui Road, Jiangnan Road, and North Anhui Road.
It was handed over to the 16th Army.
The Sixteenth Army is the latest construction result of the Army in recent years. It has only one main infantry division and two reserve divisions. Its main force is the 20th Infantry Division.
It can be seen from the designation that this unit is the youngest main infantry division among the many front-line main units of the Tang Army. It was established in the 10th year of Xuanping and was just formed in the first half of this year!
However, this division is also very interesting. When it was being prepared, it did not draw ready-made soldiers from other armies, but directly recruited retired veterans who had reached their service years. Therefore, the average age of the soldiers in this unit is quite old, reaching 20.
Five years old, some veterans even reached thirty years old.
As for other troops in the Tang Empire, regardless of whether they were the main force or reserve divisions, the average age of the soldiers was only about twenty years old.
But is a higher average age bad?
No, on the contrary, even if this unit has just formed an army and has not even experienced any war baptism, it has already attracted the attention of other units, because the soldiers in this infantry division are all veterans, and they are all veterans.
He is still a veteran who participated in the Unification War. I dare not say that everyone has seen blood, but they are all veterans who have fought in the war.
This is true for soldiers, and officers are also the most senior and experienced officers selected.
Although such an army has a new designation, no one will treat them as a new army!
The First Army and the Sixteenth Army together constitute the main force of the Zhili Defense Area. Together, these two armies are second only to the combined strength of the seven armies of the Great Wall Defense Line.
If you add the Guards, which has been expanded to three Guards infantry divisions, that is to say, if you combine the strength of the entire Zhili area, the Guards, the First Army, and the Sixteenth Army cannot be said to be enough to compete with the Great Wall.
There are seven armies in the battle against each other, but there is definitely no problem in fighting against more than half of them.
Therefore, the strongest military force in the entire empire is not actually at the Great Wall defense line. Although this place does have the largest military force, it is too dispersed. Hundreds of thousands of people are scattered across the long northern border, which results in every
There won't be too many troops in any place.
But the Zhili area is different. When necessary, these troops can be gathered together.
If one day Li Xuan wants to personally conquer the grassland, the troops he brings will be part of the Guards, the First Army, and the Sixteenth Army. Even if not all of them, they can easily mobilize more than 100,000 people.
The main force does not include the reserve divisions. If the reserve divisions are added, there will be hundreds of thousands more.
This does not mean after mobilization, but directly mobilizes active troops. If it is after mobilization, it will be even more difficult to say. Major military warehouses in the Zhili area have a large amount of ordnance and weapons, and veterans can be mobilized and recruited at any time.
Qingzhuang formed a new army. To be honest, Li Xuan himself had no idea how many troops could be mobilized. Calculating based on the number of troops, it is possible that one million people would be able to mobilize. However, if all kinds of military supplies are taken into account, one million people would be possible.
It will definitely not be sustainable, but there will definitely be no problem in mobilizing another four to five million people.
Of course, if these temporarily mobilized troops do not undergo several months of training, there is no hope that they can go on the battlefield.
The main strength of the Imperial Army is mainly concentrated on the Great Wall Defense Line and the Zhili area. In other places, it is not that there are not many troops, but that there are not many main troops. For example, in the central and southern areas of Jiangxi, there are not even main infantry divisions.
There are only a few reserve divisions stationed here.
There is no other reason. Why is this place located inland, with no threats from outside, and the surrounding area is also a place where heavy troops gather. The troops deployed by the First Army in Anqing and Jiujiang can kill them at any time.
The troops under each army are not fixed, and there is no unified standard, because these armies, strictly speaking, are not field armies in the strict sense of the past, but more similar to theater command organizations, responsible for an entire region.
fighting.
Therefore, the strength of each army is also very different. For example, the Twelfth Army stationed in Huguang is very poor in strength. There is only one main division in the army under its jurisdiction, but the First Army next door has three main infantry divisions.
, not only the main division, but also the gap between the reserve divisions is huge.
There is a large gap in strength between the armies, and they also take into account the responsibilities of the defense area headquarters. However, the army headquarters and the provincial garrison headquarters are still not the same concept. Although the provincial garrison headquarters also has reserve divisions, once a certain reserve division
After being directly placed under the jurisdiction of each army, the provincial garrison headquarters also lost the command authority over this reserve division.
Generally speaking, the Army will directly transfer some reserve divisions that are in relatively good condition and have relatively strong combat effectiveness to the command of each army and serve as second-line field troops.
Although the main force is useful, the number is seriously insufficient, and there is no money to build more main force, so we can only use cheap reserve divisions to make up the number.
Therefore, some reserve divisions in relatively good condition are often transferred to various field armies. Of course, reserve divisions are reserve divisions after all, and they cannot always be on the front line. They are often carried out every one and a half years.
Rotate.
Those who failed to receive rotation have always been reserve divisions garrisoned locally, usually with relatively weak strength. These have always been under the responsibility of the provincial garrison headquarters.
The seven armies on the northern defense line accounted for almost more than one-third of the sixteen armies of the Tang Empire. In addition, they accounted for more than half of the main field troops of the Tang Empire. With such a strong force, coupled with guns and artillery,
, naturally there is no problem in holding the defense line of the Great Wall, and occasionally we can launch an attack.
But if the Tang Army, which is still dominated by infantry and guns, wants to go deep into the grasslands to attack the Tatars, it will be difficult!
The Tatars' military strength is mainly based on cavalry. When thinking of hundreds of thousands of cavalry, no general of the Tang Army will look down upon them. Sometimes, just thinking about the elusiveness of so many cavalry on the opposite side, my hair feels a little numb.
!
Although the Tang Army's guns were powerful, they still had to find the enemy before they could fire.
But when the Tang Army penetrated deep into the grassland, they were not stupid. In the past few years, after they foolishly directly attacked the infantry phalanx and had bad luck, in some armed conflicts between the Tang Army and the Tatars in the past few years, these
The Tatars had never attacked the infantry phalanx of the Tang Army, not even once.
They were scared of being beaten!
So now, if someone doesn't fight you head-on at all, but when they encounter your large group of infantry, they just slap their horses and run away. Should you chase them or not?
In pursuit, two legs cannot outrun four legs, and people generally ride two horses alone, so that means they have eight legs!
It's such a chase, maybe as soon as you relax, someone will come back and kill you!
If you don't want to pursue me, then why are you here on the grassland, looking at the scenery?
The question of whether to pursue or not is as long as the enemy cannot be found. However, the Tatars will also attack the grain roads. The heavy infantry goes deep into the grassland, which requires a huge amount of grain and grass. There is no doubt about the importance of logistical supplies.
If these Tatars do not engage in frontal combat with you, but the main force escapes and attacks the grain road with partial divisions, the Tang Army will not have to fight, and it will collapse first!
When I couldn't stand it anymore and chose to retreat sideways because the food road was cut off, or to avoid the food road being cut off, the cavalry came up again. How could it be so easy to leave!
An infantry unit that has been cut off from its food route, under the watchful eye of the enemy's cavalry, it's a damned thing to be able to escape!
They are watching you leisurely from behind. When you retreat, you are a little unable to maintain your formation, and they are coming to kill you in minutes!