Chapter four hundred and ninety-six door-to-door sales of warships
Today, small Guangxi has three main brigades: the First Infantry Brigade, the Third Infantry Brigade, and the Fourth Infantry Brigade. Although the Sixth Infantry Regiment in the Third Infantry Brigade does not yet have guns and artillery, the Fourth Infantry Brigade
The brigade only has more than a thousand people, and it also has no guns and artillery, but this does not prevent Li Xuan from carrying out a new round of reorganization and adjustment of these troops!
Through observing the operations of the troops going south, Li Xuan believed that it was difficult for a pure infantry brigade to adapt to large-scale wars, because in many previous battles, the first infantry brigade actually did not fight alone, not to mention the third infantry brigade.
The garrison brigade cooperates with the operations. The second cavalry battalion, the second artillery battalion, and the second baggage regiment all follow and cooperate with the first infantry brigade throughout the operation. In fact, the unit led by Hao Bainian before was more like a complete
Infantry division.
Of course, it is still a bit early to establish a pure infantry division, and the infantry brigade and the garrison are two completely different systems, and it is impossible to forcibly integrate them into one infantry division.
However, the regular army and the garrison fighting together have become the mainstream of the Tang Army's operations, so Li Xuan simply set up military-level units in one step!
The military-level unit established by Li Xuan does not mean a fixed establishment, but a high-level command organization responsible for a certain strategic direction. This is a command organization, not an organization!
The army will have a number of infantry brigades, garrison brigades and other auxiliary units. The subordinate units are not fixed and will be adjusted according to occupation needs.
For example, Li Xuan planned to set up the First Army in Guangxi, which was expected to be used for the eastward march, to attack eastern Guangxi, Wuzhou, and Zhaoqing.
It has jurisdiction over the 1st Infantry Brigade, 3rd Infantry Brigade, 3rd Garrison Brigade, 4th Garrison Brigade, temporary 1st Regiment, 1st Artillery Battalion, 2nd Artillery Battalion, 1st Cavalry Battalion, 2nd Cavalry Battalion, 1st
Baggage Regiment, Second Baggage Regiment.
This First Army has two main infantry brigades, two garrison brigades, and other artillery, cavalry, and baggage troops. If it is fully staffed, it will reach 25,000 men, and more than 30 large and small field guns.
With dozens of cannons in the camp, it can be said to be the main elite force of the Tang Dynasty.
Secondly, the Second Army was established in Guizhou, with the Second Infantry Brigade, the First Garrison Brigade, and the Second Garrison Brigade. At the same time, it also established the Third Artillery Battalion, the Third Cavalry Battalion, and the Third Baggage Regiment. Its artillery
The artillery used by the battalion will be supplied by the artillery produced by Xingquan Mansion later. The cavalry battalion is just an empty frame for the time being and will be formed on the spot in the future.
Overall, the strength is not bad, and it can barely maintain the situation in Guizhou.
Secondly, the Third Army was established in Guangxi, which has the fourth infantry brigade, the fifth garrison brigade, and the temporary second regiment. As for other auxiliary units, there is only a temporarily formed fourth baggage regiment. The cavalry and artillery are temporarily lacking. At the same time, there are also
It is not planned to be established in a short time. Even if it is established, it will not have artillery and war horses.
This army is the weakest, but it does not matter if it is weak, because the strategic direction of this army is to march into western Guangxi, and there is no main force of the Ming army in this direction.
After such reorganization, except for the Guards, all the land forces of the Tang Dynasty King's Division, including the regular army, the garrison army, and the temporary army, were all under the jurisdiction of these three armies.
And Li Xuan will personally serve as the commander of the First Army, personally controlling this main force that brings together the best of the Tang Army. In the subsequent eastward march, he will once again lead the army to fight on the battlefield!
This is not because he likes to go to the battlefield, but because he has handed over the main and elite troops of more than 20,000 people to others to command. He is really worried that even Hao Bainian cannot gain the trust of Li Xuan.
Hao Bainian will serve as the commander of his 1st Infantry Brigade. As for the chief of staff of the 1st Army, Zeng Ziwen, director of the Operations Department, will concurrently serve as deputy chief of staff. Lieutenant Colonel Li Xin, former chief of staff of the 1st Infantry Brigade, will serve as deputy chief of staff.
The commander of the Second Army is concurrently served by Major General Fang Xitong, commander of the Second Infantry Brigade.
The commander of the Third Army is concurrently served by Major General Li Chunjing, commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade.
Each army does not have a deputy commander, but only has the positions of military commander, chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, etc. In the Second Army and the Third Army, these positions are concurrently held by the infantry brigade commander, chief of staff, and deputy chief of staff.
.
The establishment of these three armies is not actually an adjustment in the organization, because the troops are still the same troops. The establishment of these three armies is only to deal with the three main combat directions of the Tang Dynasty: Guizhou, western Guangxi, eastern Guangxi and even
Guangdong.
It is similar to the previous southward detachment, northward detachment, westward detachment, etc., but it just takes the title of an army.
The First Army, the Second Army, and the Third Army are not fixed establishments, but an overall command organization!
The establishment of these three armies means that the Tang Dynasty King's Division is about to launch a new round of offensive, especially in Guangxi!
Li Xuan couldn't sit back and watch the Ming troops from Guangdong and Guangxi gather together, and even the Ming troops from Jiangxi and Fujian came over before attacking Wuzhou, Zhaoqing and Guangzhou. He had to attack Wuzhou, Zhaoqing and Guangzhou quickly while the Ming troops were still gathering.
Smash the Ming army's strategy of gathering a large army to march westward and defeat the Tang Dynasty in one fell swoop.
So Queen Mother Bai and others had just arrived in Huaiyuan and were taking a boat to go south along the Liujiang River. The First Infantry Brigade, the advance force of the First Army, had already taken the lead in going south. Hao Bainian would lead the First Infantry Brigade to Xiangzhou first, and then Li Xuan would
They will lead the main force of the Chinese army, led by the 3rd Infantry Brigade, to follow up and go south. After arriving in Xiangzhou, they will attack Wuxuan directly with the cooperation of the navy's warships. They will first destroy the tens of thousands of Ming troops hoarded in Wuxuan, and then
Go straight to Wuzhou!
Of course, the Xunzhou Prefecture along the way will also be included in the attack, while Guilin and Pingle Prefectures will be put aside for the time being, allowing the temporary first regiment to contain the local Ming army.
The strategic goal of the First Army is Wuzhou, Zhaoqing, and even the entire Guangdong!
Only after marching eastward and avoiding Zhaoqing and Guangzhou, the entire southward strategy achieved initial success, and then completely established the rule of the Tang Dynasty in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions.
In this way, it is possible to become a local separatist regime, and after controlling Guangdong, Guangxi and even Yunnan and Guizhou, it is possible to compete with the Ming Dynasty and compete with the Ming Dynasty for the world!
Hao Bainian went south in advance, and Li Xuan also used the period before leading his army to deal with internal affairs, trying to sort out the internal affairs of the Tang Dynasty before leaving.
Among them, the center of his work is naturally the various work department workshops in Liuzhou. As for other matters, they are handled by various cabinet ministries, and all kinds of affairs basically have established rules. Li Xuan no longer needs those trivial matters.
Do it yourself.
But when he was dealing with matters in the workshop, people from the Ministry of Industry found Li Xuan and said that there were private businessmen outside who wanted to cooperate with the Ministry of Industry!
Li Xuan didn't take it seriously at first. Isn't it just cooperation? This kind of thing has not happened before in Xingquan Mansion. Many businessmen cooperate with the Tang Dynasty, and the Ministry of Industry can basically handle it on its own.
As for finding Li Xuan.
But after listening to it in detail, I found that this person who can ask the Minister of the Ministry of Industry to come to him to make decisions is not simple, because this person who comes to ask for cooperation does not mean to provide raw materials, nor does he mean to contract some oddities.
The business is broken, but it means that he can also supply warships and various transport ships to the Tang Dynasty King.
Supply warships?
This is no small matter!
Li Xuan, who was interested, took the document and read it in detail, and found that the person who said he wanted to supply ships to the Tang Dynasty was really not simple.
He is also a big businessman in Guangxi. He has a large inland river fleet under his command, which travels to Xijiang all the year round. His fleet is active from Guangzhou to Liuzhou, and a person who owns such a large fleet is naturally also
There is a shipyard!
"Can his shipyard build warships?" Li Xuan questioned this. This warship is different from civilian ships. Even if it is a river warship, it is not an ordinary civilian ship. It is very particular about the materials and construction techniques.
Otherwise, the protection capability is not up to standard, and after the artillery is loaded, the artillery will fall apart as soon as it is fired.
The warships owned by the Tang Navy today are basically inland river warships captured from the Ming Army, and some are civilian ships!
So far, the Tang Navy only has eight warships that can carry artillery. The other dozen or so ships are actually ordinary civilian ships, and their tonnage is generally relatively small.
Among the many workshops of the Ministry of Industry of the Tang Dynasty, there really is no shipyard!
Therefore, it was very difficult for the navy of the Tang Dynasty King to expand its warships!
Now a shipyard has popped up claiming to be able to build battleships. Li Xuan doesn't care who he is, let him build the battleship first.
However, this battleship must not be the same as the battleships of the Ming Dynasty. In Li Xuan's view, even if it is fighting in inland rivers, the fighting method should change from hand-to-hand combat to naval gun battles, so even inland river battleships must have enough
Lots of guns!
He immediately said: "You guys should talk to the people from the Taxation Department, the Navy and the Ordnance Department. If the other party really has this ability and the price is reasonable, you might as well buy some. In addition, the Ministry of Industry must also do it as soon as possible.
Establish your own shipyard and let private shipyards build battleships. This is okay for the time being, but what will happen in the long run!"
After getting Li Xuan's approval, the Tang Dynasty quickly sent a whole team to start negotiations with the person sent by Xu Bingfu, who claimed to be the largest ship dealer in Guangxi!
And a relevant agreement was reached very quickly. The Tang Dynasty Navy will order five warships from Xujia Shipyard, in addition to ordering fifteen transport ships. Of course, the money will only give a small deposit and hand over one ship.
Just pay the price of a boat!
However, this battleship must be built strictly in accordance with the needs of the Tang Dynasty Navy. What needs? Li Xuan requested: The battleship must be able to carry powerful artillery and have good protection and maneuverability!
Li Xuan doesn’t want a pot-bellied battleship like the Ming Army!
However, the requirements were there, but how to design this battleship specifically was difficult for both parties. In the end, the navy found Li Xuan and respectfully asked Li Xuan to judge it with several design plans!