Thanks to the railway development of Datang in recent years, Ying Yikang and his party set out from Jinling City and arrived in Zhengzhou, the railway hub of the Central Plains, in just two days.
After arriving in Zhengzhou, they changed to the Northwest Railway train and then arrived in Luoyang.
The 31st Infantry Division is based in Luoyang!
With the successive construction of railways and the popularity of steamships, most of Datang's domestic troop deployments have been adjusted accordingly. The basic principle is that the first-line and second-line troops follow railway lines, inland rivers, coastal lines and other places with convenient transportation.
Centralized garrison.
The local garrison divisions of each province are stationed in state capitals and some places with inconvenient transportation.
With this kind of troop deployment, when unrest breaks out in remote places, the garrison divisions stationed there can immediately suppress it with the cooperation of local militia forces. If the scale of the unrest is too large, the local garrison divisions and militia can no longer cope with it.
, the main force can be quickly mobilized through railway and ship transportation to suppress.
The core of such deployment is to use convenient transportation to reduce the number of main forces in peacetime and control military expenditures.
Without a large-scale railway network, inland rivers, and coastal transportation, in fact, with the current main force of the Tang Empire, it would be far from being able to maintain high pressure domestically while maintaining external wars.
So far, the main force of the Tang Empire, that is, there are not many troops that can be brought to the battlefield at any time.
At least compared to the huge mainland and overseas colonies of the Tang Empire, it was very few.
Among them, the Army maintains full strength all year round, that is, the standing force has 20 infantry divisions, 12 cavalry divisions, eight cavalry regiments and nine artillery brigades, with a total of approximately 300,000 infantry troops (including approximately 300,000 infantry troops).
Sixteen thousand divisional cavalry, divisional artillery, divisional baggage, transportation and other units), 60,000 independent cavalry (including cavalry artillery, baggage and other auxiliary units), the independent artillery force has about 400 nine-pound guns, fourteen
Field guns, cannons, and heavy howitzers of different calibers and barrel lengths, such as 18-pound, 24-pound, 32-pound, and 48-pound.
The above-mentioned troops are also the elite troops in the army!
As for the navy, due to the special nature of the navy, almost all units can maintain a standing state. Leaving aside the battleships and some of the marines accompanying the ships, there are only marines that can independently go ashore to fight and launch large-scale wars.
There are eight marine regiments, with a total strength of about 20,000, mainly infantry and artillery, and a small amount of cavalry for reconnaissance. Each marine regiment can be drawn out to fight independently.
Then there is the Guards. Most of the troops of the Guards are in a standing state. There are currently three Guards infantry divisions, two independent heavy cavalry regiments, and an independent heavy artillery brigade.
But it includes the famous First Lancer Regiment of the Guards and the subsequently established Second Cuirassier Regiment of the Guards. These two cavalry regiments are among the best in the entire Tang Dynasty in terms of personnel, equipment and horses.
In addition, the two units of the Guards Regiment, which is responsible for guarding the palace and part of the security of Gyeonggi Province, and the Guards Guard Regiment, which is responsible for the security of military and political dignitaries, scientists, etc., although they bear the name of the Guards, they are
A specialized security force with mediocre field combat capabilities. To put it bluntly, it's just a look-alike. Its specific command does not belong to the Guards, but directly belongs to the Attendant Section of the Hanlin Academy.
Therefore, outsiders generally do not plan these two regiments as Guards troops, even if they bear the name of Guards.
The Guards' three divisions, two cavalry regiments and one heavy artillery brigade have a total strength of about 80,000.
The above-mentioned army, navy, and Guards combined together have a standing force of only 500,000 people!
These 500,000 people may seem like a lot, but they are required to garrison the mainland and overseas. Overseas colonies, such as Beihai Province, have a main division stationed in Beihai Province all year round in order to suppress the local situation.
In addition, in Luzon Province, Banten Province, Malacca State, Australia and other Southeast Asian regions, although the garrisons are dispersed, the army still has a total of two main divisions stationed.
In addition, there are one and a half main divisions in India and West Asia.
There is also half a division in North Africa.
There is also a main division in South Africa.
North America also has half a division of troops.
All added up, the Tang Army had eight standing divisions stationed in overseas areas alone!
As for the army, there are actually only twelve standing divisions left in the mainland!
For the huge control area of the Tang Empire, the current number of standing troops is far from enough, but the Datang Empire cannot increase the number of standing troops uncontrollably. The cost of these standing troops is not small.
Staff salaries, equipment replacement, and training expenses are all very huge figures.
No matter how much military expenditure the Army spends, it is not enough, so this is the emergence of the second-line force. The so-called second-line force specifically refers to maintaining a backbone establishment in peacetime and mobilizing in wartime, so as to achieve the same full strength and full strength as the main force.
, and then rushed to the front line to participate in the battle.
In this way, the Army can use limited funds to maintain more force structures. When war comes, it only takes a few months to organize a large number of troops with certain combat capabilities to participate in the war.
In peacetime, all these ordinary second-line troops, which have maintained their backbone establishment, can also suppress the local area and maintain local stability.
The flexibility of tasks is relatively large.
It is precisely because of these benefits that the Army established a total of forty in one go, most of which were adapted from garrison divisions or independent units that had relatively good combat effectiveness in the past.
However, these forty divisions are all second-line troops, but even among the second-line troops there are strengths and weaknesses. For example, the second-line troops in the northwest have stronger personnel and equipment than those in other regions.
The 31st Infantry Division is also a second-line unit with relatively good combat effectiveness. Otherwise, it would not have become the second batch of units to fall into the northwest.
When Ying Yikang and the others arrived in Luoyang, they immediately rushed to the headquarters of the 31st Infantry Division. After Ying Yikang took over the army, Bi Zhi'an also took over his own unit with him: the 3rd Division of the 92nd Infantry Regiment
camp.
After taking over the army, he also had a detailed understanding of the general situation of the third battalion.
Overall, the situation of the 3rd Battalion is neither good nor bad. It can be regarded as a medium level among the second-line troops. Its soldiers are only a little more than half of the full strength, and the number of equipment is not very sufficient. However, the officers are relatively sufficient, and the soldiers
The proportion of non-commissioned officers is relatively high.
This is also a characteristic of the second-line army, that is, priority is given to ensuring the number of officers and non-commissioned officers, because these talents are the backbone of the army. As long as they are there, sufficient recruits can be replenished at any time, and they can go to the battlefield after a few months of training.
And Bi Zhian did not wait too long, because the 31st Infantry Division had already been determined to reinforce the northwest, so the equipment and soldiers had already begun to prepare.
On the third day after Bi Zhi'an took office, he accepted a group of soldiers and some officers. Not all of these soldiers were new recruits, only half of them were recruits, and the remaining half were retired soldiers who had been re-enlisted for service. As for the officers, there were also
Some of them are retired officers, or active officers transferred from other units, and some are novice officers assigned to them, basically everyone is there.
After the personnel were replenished, his third battalion instantly changed from less than 700 people before to a full infantry battalion with more than 1,000 people.
In addition, they also received a batch of new equipment.
That is, the Type 26 flintlock, a new rifle with a caliber of 18 mm, was determined to be the army's new generation standard rifle two years ago.
However, the initial production was limited. The production of new rifles was initially taken by the Guards. After the Guards had changed their equipment, it was the Army's turn last year.
It was the Army's turn, but the Army's size is huge and its funds are limited, so the army's reloading lasts a long time. The early output is basically given priority to the frontline troops with combat readiness tasks, such as the troops in the northwest.
There are also some troops stationed overseas with frequent combat missions.
Naturally, the 31st Infantry Division, which had no combat missions, had not been able to obtain this new rifle before.
Now that the 31st Infantry Division is about to go to fight in the northwest, the top management naturally gives priority to equipping this unit with new rifles.
Picking up the Type 26 rifle, Bi Zhian was still very satisfied with the Type 26 rifle, although it was not the first time he had played with this type of gun.
On the premise of ensuring the power, it can also strictly control the weight and be used by a single soldier, which is very rare.
In comparison, there is a huge difference between the previous 14mm rifles and the 18mm heavy muskets. Although the 14mm rifle is light in weight and has good accuracy, its power is at best medium power and cannot be used against long-distance weapons.
Heavy armored units are sometimes unable to cope with their needs, and their caliber is relatively small, making loading more troublesome.
However, the 18mm heavy musket is powerful and accurate, but it is too heavy and difficult for ordinary soldiers to use. Only strong soldiers can use it.
This is also the reason why the Tang Army was equipped with these two rifles at the same time.
But now, with the Type 26 rifle, equipment can be unified and logistics can be simplified.
During the half month that Bi Zhian waited, he led his troops to conduct tactical training while adapting to the new guns.
After all, although they are all flintlock guns, the general structure does not change much, but there are still subtle differences, so adaptive training is also required.
After training like this for half a month, Bi Zhian officially received the order from the top, asking him to lead the troops to the train station, and then take a military train to the northwest front.