Currently, there are three infantry divisions and several cavalry units among the troops gathered on the front line of Jiayuguan.
As for the cavalry unit, that is a matter for the cavalry generals. The competition between cavalry generals is no less than the competition between infantry generals, but this does not matter to Yikang.
Speaking only of infantry units, among the three divisions on the front line, except for his 31st Infantry Division, the other two divisions are the 14th Infantry Division, which also belongs to the 14th Army, and the other one is the 14th Infantry Division.
The Fifth Infantry Division of the Fifth Army is stationed here all year round.
These two infantry divisions are both front-line main infantry divisions, and their division commanders are all famous.
Wei Dehui, the commander of the 4th Infantry Division, applied for the military academy at the end of the Unification War. Of course, he did not graduate from the military academy even after the Unification War ended, but he later participated in the battles in the Hetao War and the Northeast War, and
Perform outstandingly, thus laying the foundation for promotion to general officer.
Later, he served in the northwest region all year round. He served as the regimental commander of the Fourth Army stationed in Shaanxi, the commander of the second-line division of the Ninth Army stationed in Ha Phong Province, and later served as the chief of staff of the Fifth Army stationed in Gansu.
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He served as the division commander of the 5th Infantry Division last summer.
This is a genuine, veteran Army Major General who requires qualifications and military merit. If nothing unexpected happens, even if he does not catch up with this northwest battle, he has a high probability of being promoted to Army Lieutenant General.
There is also Dong Qiankun, the commander of the 14th Infantry Division. This man is not simple. He has fought in India and Africa. He served as the commander of the African Expeditionary Force and commanded the troops to capture South Africa. He was the most prominent army general in the Indian Ocean Campaign that year.
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Later, he was transferred back to China to serve in the War Department. At the end of last year, in order to prepare for the northwest campaign, the top army officials decided to transfer the 14th Army to reinforce the northwest. At the end of the year, Dong Qiankun was assigned to the 14th Division as the division commander.
At that time, Dong Qiankun himself did not actually know that he was about to go to the northwest to fight, and thought it was just a routine rotation.
If he wanted to take away the position of division commander of the main infantry division from these two people, Ying Yikang asked himself that he did not have such energy. In fact, not only him, but even in the entire army, there was no one who could take the position of division commander from them.
several.
How should I put it? Those who surpass them in military merit and qualifications are basically generals at the lieutenant general level or even the general level. It is impossible to hold the position of an infantry division commander.
Most of the other major generals are not as good as them in military merit and qualifications, so they cannot compete.
As for generals at the brigadier general level, let alone that.
Therefore, even though Ying Yikang felt a little unwilling, there was nothing he could do.
When arriving at the headquarters of the Fourteenth Army, Ying Yikang first met with Lieutenant General Dai Yanghong, the commander of the Fourteenth Army. This man was an Army Lieutenant General who was promoted in the 21st year of Xuanping and was also senior.
General.
When meeting Dai Yanghong, Ying Yikang naturally did not show any arrogance like a proud emperor, but maintained the attitude of a junior and was cautious.
The reason for being so careful is because Ying Yikang and Dai Yanghong are not members of the same faction. Ying Yikang has many backers, but the most respected one is Hao Bainian.
As for Dai Yanghong, this person is Li Chunjing's old subordinate.
It is no secret that Hao Bainian and Li Chunjing have always been at odds with each other. In high-level meetings within the Army, the two men are often at odds with each other.
Regardless of whether they did it to show the Holy Emperor, or whether it was really wrong, it still caused the generals under them to naturally divide into two factions.
When it came time to fight on the front line under the command of Dai Yanghong, Ying Yikang naturally wanted to do more with less, try not to cause trouble, fight honestly, gain military honors and accumulate qualifications is the right way.
Of course Dai Yanghong also knew why Ying Yikang was cautious. The big bosses above them on both sides were like fire and water, so naturally they couldn't maintain a good relationship with the generals below.
However, he personally admires Yi Kang. This young man's military talent has already spread throughout the army. When he was serving in the northwest, he had already proposed a series of brand-new infantry and artillery systems when he was just a brigadier general.
The theory of combat.
When he was transferred back to Jinling, he began to study a new tactical system and put forward the theory of artillery victory. He advocated concentrating more artillery to bomb a certain point during the battle. In order to enable the field troops to equip more artillery, he proposed
The concept of lightweight artillery advocates giving regiment and battalion-level troops lightweight equipment that can launch grenades and can maneuver quickly to replace the large number of two-pound and three-pound shotguns owned by the country.
Based on the above series of theories, he also improved the army's logistics and transportation system.
At the same time, the organization and tactics of the infantry units were further improved.
He even served as the main author during the editing process of the Infantry Training Code.
In other words, in fact, many subjects in the current daily training of the Tang Army's infantry were proposed or improved by him.
In military theory, this man's talent is beyond words!
Basically I've done everything I can do, and it's pretty good.
Not only was he outstanding in military theory, but he was also talented in actual combat. He performed extremely well during the Beihai Province and Northwest Operations.
Otherwise, this person would not have become the youngest major general in the Tang Army in the past ten years. When he was promoted to major general, he was only 29 years old!
Not even thirty years old!
When he was promoted to Army Major General, most of his classmates in the martial arts school were still lieutenants, and there were not many school officers. For example, Bi Zhi'an was just a captain back then.
Even Bi Zhian’s seniors from the previous batches didn’t even have a major general yet!
How could such a talent be attracted by Hao Bainian and others? If General Li could have taken this person into his account earlier, it would have been of great benefit to the strength of his own faction.
Pity!
For people like Ying Yikang, Dai Yanghong doesn't have many ideas. He can use them if they can, but there is no need to deliberately arrange them. Anyway, they are not from his own faction, so there is no need for special support.
But there's no point in deliberately suppressing it. It's not that you don't want to, but that you can't suppress it.
With so many people watching the Northwest War, it's easy to get into trouble if you mess around.
The meeting between the two only lasted half an hour. Ying Yikang said goodbye and left, and then returned to the 31st Infantry Division's base to lead the troops in training every day.
When Ying Yikang led the troops to train, there were more and more troops in Jiayuguan and several strategic strongholds in the rear.
The Fifth Army and the Fourteenth Army have two infantry corps, a total of six infantry divisions, plus two artillery brigades assigned to them. In addition, there are the First Cavalry Corps, the Second Cavalry Corps and several other independent units.
These two cavalry corps are also the first time that the Tang Army has formally established a fixed cavalry corps. In the past, they were cavalry detachments and other temporary establishment models. However, this time for the launch of the northwest campaign, Li Xuan specifically approved the formation of these two cavalry corps.
set up.
It became the largest field cavalry army in the Tang Dynasty. Each army had three cavalry divisions and one heavy cavalry regiment.
As time went by, the number of troops on the northwest front increased from tens of thousands to one hundred thousand, then to one hundred and fifty thousand, and then to two hundred thousand!
Among them, the front line of Jiayuguan is where the main force is gathered, including two infantry corps and one cavalry corps.
On May 16, many senior generals on the Jiayuguan front line appeared at the train station. Three army lieutenant generals took the lead, and a group of major generals and brigadiers were waiting at the train station.
The person who can make them appear together at the train station and wait obediently is certainly not a simple person.
There were three people they were waiting for, one of whom was their immediate boss, deputy envoy to the Privy Council, military minister in charge of the Western Regions, Army General Lu Yuzhi.
His title of Minister of Military Affairs Supervising the Western Regions translates to Commander-in-Chief of the Battle of the Western Regions. However, in the Tang Dynasty, he was generally not called Commander-in-Chief, but was usually called Minister of Military Affairs Supervising such-and-such.
Strictly speaking, this supervising minister is not a fixed military position, but a dispatch, which can also be said to be an imperial envoy, the kind sent directly by the Holy Emperor, holding the imperial edict and the sword of Shang Fang!
Also coming with him was the governor of Gansu Province, but this governor was not important and no one paid much attention to him.
Another person who deserves their attention is Jiang Rongxin, currently the deputy director of the Hanlin Academy, deputy director of the secretariat, and minister of the imperial study.
Although Jiang Rongxin's rank is only the third rank, his political status is no less than that of ordinary civil servants, because he is the deputy director of the Secretariat, the second-in-command of the Hanlin Academy, and a close minister of the emperor who stays with Li Xuan every day.
In terms of pure political status, his status is actually slightly higher than that of Lu Yuzhi. Even though Lu Yuzhi is an imperial marquis, an army general, and a deputy envoy to the Privy Council, he has not entered the imperial study room.
The imperial study room is the real core of power in the empire!
The current nine on-duty ministers and twenty-six walking ministers together form the core power organization of the Tang Empire: the Imperial Study Room!
However, this is just talking about political status, but in other aspects, Jiang Rongxin is not as good as Lu Yuzhi.
Lu Yuzhi was a founding hero and the Marquis of Nan'ao in the Empire. Well, his fiefdom was in southwest Australia, so his title was also officially determined as Marquis of Nan'ao.
On the train, Yi Wen and Yi Wu did not have much contact. Lu Yuzhi ignored Jiang Rongxin, and Jiang Rongxin basically had no contact with Lu Yuzhi. The two of them stayed in their own special train cars and only saw each other a few times along the way.
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This is naturally to avoid suspicion!
Jiang Rongxin came to the front line as an angel to express condolences to the troops. Later, he would lead Gansu to the rear and preside over local affairs to cooperate with the military, such as building railways, supervising the arsenals and related industries in Gansu, Shaanxi and other regions to ensure production and guarantee
With the smooth operation of the Northwest Railway, grain, fruits, vegetables, meat, etc. can be raised.
To put it bluntly, he is here to be the logistics manager for an army of more than 200,000 people!
And Lu Yuzhi is the Minister of Military Affairs Supervision of the Western Regions and the supreme commander of the 200,000-strong army. If the two of them were in close contact, they would get into trouble in a minute.
Who knows how many Hantong hawks and dogs were watching them.
In order to avoid suspicion, they basically did not interact with each other and everyone did their own thing.
In order to avoid suspicion, after arriving at Jiayuguan, Jiang Rongxin just followed the rules and was ordered to inspect the troops on behalf of the Holy Emperor. The next day, he took a train back to Ganzhou City, the provincial capital of Gansu Province and the rear area of the northwest front.
He only needs to cooperate with the military in fighting. As for how the military fights on the front line of Jiayuguan and how well it is fought, he is too lazy to care and has no control!
Under the separation of military and political affairs, even if Jiang Rongxin's political status is higher than that of Lu Yu, he has no authority to interfere with the military's actions!
On the other hand, the military actually has no right to interfere with his work.
The civil and military forces, each doing their own thing, basically operate in parallel.
But having said that, Lu Yuzhi breathed a sigh of relief when Jiang Rongxin left. There was a minister walking in the imperial study watching over him, and he still felt uncomfortable.
Now that man is gone, he can devote all his energy to the upcoming war in the Western Region!
According to the decree of the Holy Emperor, the war in the Western Region must be launched before June, making full use of the local summer, ending the early tactics in the autumn, and then surviving the winter.