When Bi Zhian's troops, along with other troops of the 31st Division, took the train to the northwest front.
The war machines of the Tang Empire are in operation again!
Although over the years, the Tang Empire has actually fought wars every year. The bigger wars include the Youyang Battle with the Portuguese. In addition, the northwest garrison will also fight the Tatars every year, and then in various overseas territories.
Here, the local garrison also frequently fought with the local indigenous people.
Especially in the You area, in order to completely colonize You, the Tang Empire frequently went to war with the local indigenous people in recent years.
However, the above-mentioned wars, including the Youyang War, actually failed to bring the Tang Empire into a state of mobilization, even at the lowest level.
The Tang Empire had a complete mobilization system. General mobilization was the highest level of mobilization system. Once mobilized, it meant that the entire empire would serve the war.
Just like the unification war back then, everyone and materials were all serving the war.
In addition, there is second-level mobilization, which is in response to large-scale wars, including large-scale recall of veterans, full operation of arsenals, and adjustments to some general industries to produce military supplies to supplement the shortage of arsenals.
Most areas have carried out mobilization and carried out certain material control and a series of measures.
But this situation has never happened before, including the current Northwest War, which did not require second-class mobilization.
Finally, there is third-level mobilization. This is the mobilization order currently implemented by the empire. Third-level mobilization is mainly mobilization within the military, and then requires cooperation from some arsenals and theaters.
However, for many regions and industries in the empire, in fact, they still cannot feel the atmosphere of war. At most, they can only read news of war from newspapers.
To put it simply, war at this time is still a matter for the military and some defense industries, and has nothing to do with ordinary people!
Although many people like Bi Zhian have been working for the war in recent months, they are only limited to the army and middle- and high-level civilian officials. For others, the war is actually still very far away.
However, even with the third-level mobilization, the empire still started to launch its war machine!
The huge Tang Empire launched a war machine, even if it was just a one-man war for the Tang Empire, it only used third-level mobilization, and had basically no impact on ordinary people.
But the strength that burst out is still extremely powerful!
Major factories, especially the arsenals of the three major weapons companies and related factories, started operating at full speed a few months ago, and they received countless urgent orders from the military.
Some ordinary companies have also received many orders from the military!
Factories across the country produce massive amounts of military supplies every day, which are then concentrated to multiple transportation hubs via ships and trains, and finally to the northwest front.
This also resulted in a large number of military trains being transported to the northwest front line every day, fully loaded with military supplies from all over the country. Not only military supplies, but also other reinforcements.
From this we can see how important the opening of the Northwest Railway was to the Northwest War!
A northwest railway is enough for the Tang Empire to maintain at least 200,000 or more troops in the northwest region to carry out high-intensity and continuous operations. If it is to collect supplies for a period of time and then fight again, this number can be doubled again.
Double.
The railway is so important that the empire pays more attention to the Northwest Railway, especially the extension plan of the Northwest Railway!
It is said that the Railway Corporation also specially dispatched a large number of professional talents and mechanical equipment to the northwest to build the extension line.
After the army marches westward, they will immediately continue to build an extension line from Jiayuguan to the west.
It is said that in order to build railways faster, the Railway Corporation specially designed a simple military railway. Although the quality is poor and the design indicators are low, it can greatly speed up the construction of railways. They proposed that,
If necessary, the railway can be extended from Jiayuguan to Hami within half a year and built to Turpan within a year.
Of course, in order to pursue speed, this kind of military railway can only be used for emergency purposes, and the maintenance cost will be relatively high. If you want to operate these railways as ordinary railways in the future, you will need to carry out corresponding transformations.
But the military is not interested in commercial railways. In the eyes of the military, even the entire Northwest Railway is a railway, let alone the subsequent extension of the Northwest Railway.
For this reason, the empire has already allocated a special sum of money from the Railway Corporation to build a simple extension of the Northwest Railway. The requirements are not high, as long as the materials can be continuously transported up, it is enough.
In addition to preparing troops, combat weapons, and transportation, the empire also began to carry out certain publicity propaganda.
The Tang Dynasty newspaper has been focusing on the situation in the Western Regions and even Central Asia since April. One day it will be said that there are a lot of minerals in the Western Regions, the next day it will be said that there are gold mines somewhere in Central Asia, and then it will be said that the local people are suffering.
Tatar oppression and the like.
Then he began to brag about the awesomeness of the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty, giving people the impression that as long as the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty sent troops to the Western Regions, they could easily conquer the Western Regions and even Central Asia.
But in fact, the Eastern Front was the front line for the Tatars to resist the Tang Dynasty's westward advance. The Tatars deployed more than 100,000 troops throughout the Western Regions such as Hami and Turpan. They also learned from the Tang Dynasty in building castles, and built castles in Hami and Turpan.
Strong forts were built as main strongholds in both places.
If there were to be a fight, even the more optimistic Tang army generals believed that victory was certain, but it would take some effort.
It is unlikely that the troops marched westward and then the Tatars surrendered or fled en masse.
But to guide public opinion, we must give the people confidence and appropriately increase the army's influence among the people.
In recent years, a series of wars in the Tang Dynasty were basically dominated by Hu, especially the wars in Youyang and other overseas territories, which gave Hu a lot of limelight, which made the army very dissatisfied.
The Army has always prided itself on being the backbone of the empire, but it is nothing more than a clown. It can only beat up pirates and bully unarmed natives.
However, the Army believes that it has been suppressing the Tatars, regaining the Hetao, and large areas of the Northeast, and expanding the empire's territory northeast to Qionghai and north to the Arctic Ocean. Regardless of credit or role, the Army is much stronger than Hu.
Got it!
However, there has been no war for many years, and the Army's exposure rate and limelight are not enough. As a result, when many young heroes apply for military academies, they go to the military academy instead of the martial arts academy.
Among last year's graduates of the Royal Youth Military Academy, six of the top ten graduates chose to apply for the Fox Academy, which made the person in charge of the army who was in charge of the martial arts academy's admissions furious to death.
In the past, the army could only get seven or eight of the top ten graduates, leaving only one or two for the foxes at most.
But last year, for the first time, four people were robbed by foxes.
This makes many army bosses quite dissatisfied!
This is not a problem of one person or two people, but a problem of changes in the overall wind direction.
This time, as the Northwest War is about to begin, the Army also wants to take the opportunity to increase the Army's prestige so as to attract more young talents to join the Army, instead of becoming locals or engaging in political intrigues.
The Tang Dynasty Daily started to guide public opinion, and other newspapers followed suit in a timely manner!
For a time, even among the people, there was a wave of marching to the west. There were many more people signing up to join the army. Many people even had the mentality of seeking wealth and wealth at risk, and wanted to follow the army.
Make a fortune in the Western Regions, for example, by digging gold mines or something.
Under such a situation, Ying Yikang also led his troops to the northwest front line, namely Jiayuguan.
The current Jiayuguan Pass is not just a pass. In fact, its role as a pass is no longer great. It is used more as a forward base for the Tang Army.
There is nothing ordinary here. All the buildings are military facilities, including military camps. There are also a large number of ammunition and grain warehouses, etc., which store a large number of military supplies.
After arriving at Jiayuguan, Ying Yikang ordered his deputies to settle down the troops, while he himself took his deputies to the headquarters of the Fourteenth Army.
His 31st Infantry Division belongs directly to the Fourteenth Army. This reinforcement to the northwest is actually not just a division-by-division transfer, but a direct transfer of the Fourteenth Army.
The Fourteenth Army was stationed in the Hebei area in the early years. Because the situation in the Hebei area was relatively complicated at that time. It not only faced the threat of the Tatars, but also had a large number of old people and children in the area who were ambitious. Therefore, the situation was relatively complicated. Because in the early days of the Army
A large number of troops have always been stationed in the Hebei area. While guarding against the Tatars, they also suppressed the local elderly and young people.
Later, after the Hetao War and the Northeast War, especially after the Tatars moved westward, Hebei and Shanxi were no longer frontier areas, and the pressure was greatly relieved, so the Fourteenth Army was transferred to Henan, the hinterland of the Central Plains.
Later, when the military system of the Tang Dynasty was reformed, the army was no longer responsible for a war zone in a certain area, but was changed to a field army with fixed troops. The 31st Infantry Division has long been directly affiliated with the army.
At present, Datang has more than twenty military-level establishments, and the troops under its jurisdiction are basically relatively fixed. Unless there are special circumstances, they will generally not be easily transferred. The transfers also involve changing defenses one by one.
This reinforcement to the northwest is actually to mobilize the 14th Army for reinforcements. The main force under the control of the 14th Army, the 14th Infantry Division, has also arrived first. His 31st Infantry Division is the 14th Infantry Division.
Two infantry units have arrived at the northwest front, and the 32nd Division will arrive after some time.
There are three infantry divisions under the Fourteenth Army. As a standing force, the Fourteenth Division is naturally the main force on the front line and will also assume the main combat tasks, especially the main combat tasks in the early stage. The other two divisions, in
In the early stage, it's just about getting started.
Ying Yikang himself was unwilling to do so, but there was nothing he could do about it.
This could secure the position of division commander of the second-line force. This was the result of Hao Bainian personally fighting for him. It was impossible to obtain the position of the main infantry division of the first-line force.
Regardless of military merit or qualifications, he is still far behind!