The officers of the regular army in the Army of the Tang Dynasty were unwilling to serve in the garrison. This was not a new thing, but had always been a phenomenon. This happened when the garrison regiment was last planned to be established.
In particular, the officers who serve in the main force are absolutely unwilling to leave the main force and serve in the ordinary army, let alone the garrison force.
As long as a major battalion commander of a main force battalion is not unlucky enough to die in battle, his chances of meritorious service are very high, and the promotion path is also very smooth. In the future, he is very likely to be promoted to the leader of the main force regiment step by step, and then
He is the major general and brigade commander of the main force.
Just like Hao Bainian and Fang Xitong before, and even Li Chunjing now,
But as for the garrison, there are few opportunities for meritorious service, and a lot of attention is paid to it. Even if he becomes a lieutenant colonel of the garrison, his chances of being promoted to a general in the future are definitely not as good as those of a battalion commander of the main battalion.
In order to solve the problem of selecting mid-level and senior officers in the garrison, Quanxu Division adopted two methods. On the one hand, it was open recruitment to the main force. As long as they were willing to take the initiative to sign up to serve in the garrison, regardless of their qualifications and military exploits, they would all be promoted!
However, after asking several deputy commanders of the main infantry regiments and battalion commanders of the main battalions one by one, just like the last time when preparations were made to establish the garrison regiment, few people were willing to serve in the garrison, even Quan Xusi.
When the battalion commander of the main battalion arrives at the garrison, he can be promoted to two levels immediately. In the past, he could bypass the position of deputy commander and directly serve as the lieutenant colonel commander of the garrison.
But there is still no battalion commander of the main battalion of the regular army who is willing to go there!
In the end, we had no choice but to select several deputy battalion commanders of the main battalions, and the battalion commanders of the reserve battalions served as the commanders of the new four garrison regiments.
As for the position of brigade commander of the garrison brigade, Li Xuan personally selected him. Naturally, the person who was selected did not know whether he was willing or not, because Li Xuan personally ordered the promotion, and they did not have the courage or opportunity to postpone it!
The brigade commanders of the three garrison brigades, the brigade commander of the first garrison brigade is Zhao Qunbian, the former commander of the 7th Infantry Regiment and the current commander of the 1st garrison regiment. The previous Zhao Qunbian was also from the first battalion, and he served as
The position of captain was actually assigned to the first garrison battalion at that time after he made a mistake.
But this man did a good job in the garrison camp, and was later successfully promoted to the commander of the 7th Infantry Regiment. Li Xuan was also quite satisfied with this man's performance in the Battle of Liping Fucheng. The 7th Infantry Regiment was effective in the Battle of Liping Fucheng.
He cooperated with the second brigade to contain the Ming army, and successfully completed the cannon fodder mission in the siege battle on the second day. Even though there were many casualties, Zhao Qunbian also forcibly suppressed the rebound of the surrendered troops and continued to carry out the mission.
Task!
Such people naturally need to be promoted and reused!
At the same time, Li Xuan also needs to set an example, that is, even if he serves in the garrison, he can continue to be promoted, and he will also have the opportunity to become a general in the Tang Army in the future!
Therefore, the brigade commander of the First Guard Brigade became this person's prize!
As for the brigade commander of the second garrison brigade, he is the former battalion commander of the Guards Battalion Bai Yunqi. Even Li Xuan still thinks that Bai Yunqi's ability is scum, but after all he is an uncle of the country and he still has loyalty, so he can
He could still be promoted, so he took this opportunity to raise his military rank from colonel to colonel.
The main force didn't dare to be handed over to him, but as for the garrison, it wouldn't hurt to hand it over to him in case of defeat and loss.
Furthermore, Li Xuan has already planned to use the existing Guards Battalion as a basis to expand and rebuild the Guards. At this time, a person with poor ability like Bai Yunqi is not suitable to continue to be the Guards Battalion.
Longer.
So at this time, Li Xuan promoted Bai Yunqi to the Second Guard Brigade as the brigade commander, which was considered a compromise. However, in order to prevent Bai Yunqi from crippling the 5,000- or 6,000-person Second Guard Brigade, Li Xuan
Several capable people were specially assigned to him as deputy brigade commanders and brigade chiefs of staff.
He even personally told him that as the brigade commander of the second garrison brigade, he should listen more to the advice of the deputy brigade commander and chief of staff, and be a boss who knows how to adopt suggestions!
If this is said more straightforwardly, it actually means: You don’t have to worry about the war, the deputy brigade commander and chief of staff will naturally be in charge, so just be your brigade commander and don’t get messed with!
In addition to Bai Yunqi, Li Xuan also arranged for another old Jiang to serve as the brigade commander of the Third Guard Brigade. This person was Cai Erhu!
Originally, he wanted to let Chen Tufu serve as the brigade commander, but after insinuating Chen Tufu, he found that this man was still addicted to artillery and could not extricate himself, so Li Xuan simply gave up the idea and turned his attention to
Cai Erhu!
The reason for choosing him is very simple. Although this man is brave, he is really not suitable for commanding modern troops. Li Xuan does not dare to let him continue to be promoted to the head of the main infantry regiment. But the difference between this man and Huang Xueren and Fang Dongquan is that
Although he is less capable, he is still relatively loyal, unlike Huang Xueren and Fang Dongquan who are so frivolous.
Huang Xueren and Fang Dongquan are now the deputy commanders of the 1st Infantry Brigade and the 2nd Infantry Brigade, and they are reluctant to leave the main force and serve in the garrison.
They all still dream of becoming generals!
So Li Xuan chose to move outside the circle and promoted Cai Erhu to the position of brigade commander of the Third Guard Brigade!
For the subsequent positions of deputy brigade commander, brigade chief of staff, regiment commander, deputy regiment commander, regiment chief of staff and even battalion commander, Li Xuan did not interfere too much. Instead, he asked the Quanxu Department of the Privy Council to submit candidates, and then
Let him decide.
As the size of the army increases, Li Xuan has less involvement in the selection of many less important positions!
Moreover, the Tang Army is currently on the right track. It has formed a promotion system that is not perfect, but is still useful. According to this system, promotion and appointment, I dare not say how good it is, but the big problem is that it is not
It will come out!
The preparations for the establishment of four garrison regiments and three garrison brigades did not involve much of the regular army, and did not even have much to do with ordinary soldiers.
Because the main source of soldiers for the garrison comes from soldiers surrendered by the Ming Army!
Even if the designation of the regular army units has been changed, it is just a name change, so many main forces have already received their combat missions and gone out to fight as soon as possible!
Since they have defeated two main forces of the Ming army in the Battle of Tonggu Acropolis and the Battle of Liping Fucheng, and it is even said that Zhu Zhihai, the governor of Guizhou in the Ming Dynasty, died because of the rebellion, they naturally need to pursue the victory and occupy as many areas as possible
territory to gain greater strategic depth for the Tang Dynasty.
Now that many of the troops in Guizhou have been mobilized by Zhu Zhihai, and most of them have been lost in Liping Prefecture, when Guizhou is officially the most empty, the Tang Army needs to take advantage of this precious time to occupy as much territory as possible, and even capture Guiyang, the provincial capital of Guizhou.
Otherwise, when the Ming Dynasty reacts and begins to mobilize troops from other provinces, and local officials in Guizhou begin to recruit more young and strong troops, the Tang Dynasty will face many Ming Dynasties.
The army encircled and suppressed.
In order to capture the surrounding prefectures and counties as quickly as possible, Li Xuan sent out many existing departments!
The troops sent out to capture the city were divided into two groups, one going north and one going west!
The troops advancing westward are led by the 4th Infantry Regiment, while the 1st Guards Brigade assists in operations. Their mission goal is to continue to attack westward, mainly as far as Guiyang!
However, the 4th Infantry Regiment, which belongs directly to the 2nd Infantry Regiment, has never been officially formed into an army. The core main force is only the 10th Infantry Battalion. Even if it is paired with the 1st Guards Brigade, its strength is actually only average!
The northward detachment is based on the 3rd Infantry Regiment as the core, paired with the 2nd Guard Brigade. However, the 3rd Infantry Regiment was also severely damaged. Although hundreds of recruits were replenished immediately, it still failed to regain its peak combat effectiveness.
.
Since the two troops advancing from the west and the north belong to the Second Infantry Brigade, it can be seen that the combat mission of capturing other prefectures and counties in Guizhou Province has been mainly handed over to the Second Infantry Brigade.
As for the Fifth Infantry Regiment, it has never been officially formed into an army. The three main battalions now don't even have muskets. In the next two months, they are expected to only serve as strategic reserves and stay in the rear.
But what is the First Infantry Brigade, the real core ace unit of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, doing?
The 1st Infantry Brigade is currently resting in Liping Mansion and continues to replenish troops and equipment!
Although it seems that they are resting and recuperating, in fact, their future combat tasks will be more important, because in Li Xuan's previous combat plan, the First Brigade will be responsible for the subsequent Ming army's attack in the direction of Huguang and Guangxi.
Zhu Zhihai died, and tens of thousands of Guizhou provincial troops were defeated. It wouldn't take long for this news to be reported back to the capital in the north. Li Xuan could even imagine the scene of shock to the Ming court!
At that time, the Ming Dynasty will definitely mobilize troops from several provinces, and may even dispatch the northern frontier army to go south to encircle and suppress its own Tang Dynasty!
The pressure is huge!
After resisting the Ming army's attacks from several surrounding provinces, especially the Ming army's attacks from Huguang and Guangxi, the Tang Dynasty's southward strategy can be truly implemented!
Even though the Ming army had swept across Guizhou Province, the overall strategy of the entire Tang Dynasty remained unchanged, which was to go south!
Guizhou is barren. Even if the entire Guizhou is captured, it will not change the strategic disadvantage of the Tang Dynasty facing enemies on all sides, let alone allow the Tang Dynasty to obtain many resources needed to maintain operations!
In order to change the strategic disadvantage of being faced with enemies on all sides, the Tang Army could be allowed to concentrate on fighting on a certain front; at the same time, it was also to obtain more strategic resources, especially the population of Guangdong and Guangxi, steel, sulfur, saltpeter and other resources from overseas.
The Tang Dynasty must continue to implement the southward strategy!
The Guangdong and Guangxi regions, especially Guangdong, were major steel provinces during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and Foshan in Guangdong was an important steel producing area during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
So going south is a must!
Li Xuan has never changed this strategic direction!
So when the Second Brigade led two garrison brigades to attack everywhere and capture the city, the First Infantry Brigade was actively preparing for battle. At the same time, in order to improve the subsequent combat environment and avoid the Ming troops from Guangxi and Huguang directions arriving at the same time, take advantage of the Ming Dynasty.
The dynasty has not yet reacted, and has not dispatched several provincial governors or other high-ranking officials to uniformly command the armies of the surrounding provinces.
The 1st Infantry Brigade will also take the initiative to attack Guangxi first!
A dispersed Ming army is always easier to fight than an assembled Ming army!
From this point of view, in fact, there is no conflict between the Ming army's encirclement and suppression and the southward strategy, and they are even highly overlapping!
A few days after the Second Infantry Brigade and other troops set off, after a brief rest, the supplementary First Infantry Brigade also embarked on its journey south!
The attack of the 1st Infantry Brigade, 2nd Infantry Brigade and other troops also officially kicked off the Tang Dynasty's first large-scale expansion operation to conquer cities and territories!
Li Xuan is looking forward to seeing the fat red dragon holding a sword walk out of Liping Mansion, and Xingquan Mansion, a small place, will sweep the world from now on and penetrate every corner of the universe in countless planes!
Just thinking about that scene can make Li Xuan extremely excited!