Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty Five Eastwards and Northwards
After Hao Bainian discussed with the three major generals, Zeng Ziwen and Chen Keqiao, well, yes, Zeng Ziwen was promoted to Army Major General before the Battle of Wuzhou, becoming the fifth Army Major General in the Tang Dynasty Army.
The reason why he was promoted was that, on the one hand, the Operations Department under his leadership was built from scratch, and now it is capable of shouldering the heavy responsibility of commanding the entire army, planning and winning many important battles.
The war was won, and although the main credit was taken away by the frontline generals, the credit of the Operations Department and other rear-line organizations cannot be denied.
In addition to these achievements, the more important point is that there are now four infantry brigade commanders and army major generals in the field troops. The Privy Council Operations Department, as the command center of the entire army, even if it is Li Xuan's order,
It is also passed on indirectly through the Operations Department, so the person in charge of the Operations Department cannot always be a colonel.
It sounds a little ridiculous to let a colonel command a group of major generals and more colonels, and Li Xuan was also worried that Zeng Ziwen's military rank was too low and he would not be able to hold down the formation.
Therefore, before the Battle of Wuzhou, Li Xuan awarded Zeng Ziwen the title of Army Major General for his meritorious service in leading the Operation Department.
Zeng Ziwen finally got his wish and became a genuine general!
These three currently the only army major generals in the Wuzhou direction held private discussions, and the results of their discussions directly determined the subsequent combat plan of the First Army.
On this day, two imperial battle meetings were held in a row. A large group of people did nothing except for the more than 20 mid-level and senior generals who attended the meeting and just quarreled during the lunch break. Finally, they reached a consensus.
No, it cannot be said to be a unanimous opinion. In fact, many people still disagree with the final plan. However, this plan is the final opinion of the Operations Department, and Hao Bainian, the most beloved boss in the military, also expressed support. Although Chen Keqiao did not
He was very satisfied, but he only said that this plan needs to be slightly adjusted, but he still agreed with the general policy.
Although some of the other school officers still objected strongly, the objections were of no use. The Operations Department still submitted the next round of combat plans to Li Xuan based on the main concept agreed upon by the three army bosses.
That night, after dinner, everyone once again sat in Li Xuan's Chinese army tent and held the third imperial strategy meeting of the day!
However, in the imperial strategy meeting tonight, there was not much debate, because at the beginning Zeng Ziwen, on behalf of the Operations Department, presented to Li Xuan and began to explain the overall plan designated by the Operations Department.
I heard Zeng Ziwen standing on the side of a large map, pointing on the map with the command list in his hand, which was explaining the current military deployment of both the enemy and ourselves.
At the rectangular table, there are more than 20 mid-level and senior generals at the army colonel level and above. All of them are sitting upright, with their military uniforms pressed to perfection. Wearing winter military uniforms, they put their hands and fingers together naturally on their thighs. There are more than 20 people present,
No one was hunched over, they were all sitting upright with their heads held high and their chests held high.
Sitting and even standing postures were also part of the daily training of the Tang Dynasty kings and the strict military laws. In fact, many of the officers present were from the Guards in the early years. Even if some were not, they had joined the army very early. One day
In the end, they had been doing this for several years, and this standard sitting posture under strict military law had become their instinctive reaction.
Li Xuan, who was sitting on a dragon chair more than two meters away from the rectangular table, looked at the group of people in front of him. In fact, he was very impressed. The appearance and military uniforms of these people were actually very similar to those of modern military officers in later generations. Many of them were very similar.
Sometimes, when he was conducting this kind of imperial strategic meeting, he would even have the illusion that he was Bald Jiang, and below him were a group of Huangpu students.
These officers sat at both ends of the rectangular table and were sorted in order of military rank. However, although they remained motionless, they all turned their heads to look at Zeng Ziwen behind the rectangular table and the large map behind him.
Although most of them already knew the deployment of the enemy and our troops, Zeng Ziwen explained it more clearly through diagrams, and the Operations Department, as the command center of the entire army, also had the most comprehensive understanding and control of the troops.
So it was just a rough explanation, but everyone still had a relatively intuitive impact on the current deployment of the Tang Dynasty King's troops.
From north to south, from west to east, there is currently only a temporary third regiment in western Guizhou that is responsible for combat missions. However, most of the area has actually been captured or surrendered, so there is not much practical experience in the area.
combat mission.
With the 1st reserve battalion under the 4th Infantry Regiment of the original 2nd Infantry Brigade as the core, a garrison battalion of the original 1st garrison brigade was incorporated into the temporary third regiment with two newly formed garrison battalions.
The combat mission is relatively easy, enough to control the western region of Guizhou.
In the central area of Guizhou, there are the main troops of the Fourth Infantry Regiment of the Second Infantry Brigade and most of the troops of the First Guard Brigade. Originally, this part of the troops came to conquer Guiyang, but now that Xingquan Prefecture is in crisis, Li
Xuan has already dispatched a 500-mile military messenger to ask them to temporarily abandon Guiyang. Well, if Guiyang has not been captured before the military messenger arrives.
The main force returned eastward to Xingquanfu to support the Third Infantry Regiment and other units.
In the eastern region of Guizhou, that is, Xingquan Prefecture and Liping Prefecture, the third infantry regiment is the core, and the second garrison brigade coordinates operations. There are also some artillery, baggage and other troops, with a total strength of about 10,000 people.
In the entire direction of Guizhou, the total military strength is actually not small. There is one brigade of the regular army and several auxiliary troops, about 7,000 people. The two brigades of the garrison have more than 10,000 people, and one temporary regiment has about 2,000 people.
The total strength is 20,000, but only 7,000 of the 20,000 are regular troops. In addition, they are scattered in the western, central and eastern regions of the huge Guizhou Province.
There were 30,000 Ming troops coming from Huguang, and they marched straight to Xingquan Prefecture, so the fight on the Xingquan Prefecture side was extremely difficult.
Except for Guangxi in the south of Guizhou, the west and central areas, and even Liuzhou, are the defense areas of the Third Army. The Third Army has the smallest strength among the three armies. The Fourth Infantry Brigade under its command has only a measly less than 2,000 people.
, and they are all new recruits, and they are not equipped with mission firearms.
The Third Army actually relies on the garrison to fight. Fortunately, there is no large-scale Ming army in central and western Guangxi, so the pressure on the Third Army is not great, and it can even be said to be relaxed.
The eastern part of Guizhou is the First Army, which has the First Infantry Brigade, the Third Infantry Brigade, the Liuzhou Independent Regiment, the First and Second Baggage Regiments, the First and Second Artillery Battalions, the First and Second Cavalry Battalions,
The third garrison brigade, the fifth garrison brigade, and the first regiment are temporarily organized.
In addition, although the navy is not part of the First Army, it also fights with the First Army. This part of the navy also has more than a thousand troops.
Such a first army can be said to be powerful.
As for the Ming army, the intelligence sources in the Operations Department are limited, not because the spies are not good enough, but because the information transmission these days is too slow. If you want to know the movements of the Ming army hundreds or even thousands of miles away,
That is basically impossible, and even if the frontline troops report it, it is often out of date.
Therefore, the current operations department can be sure that there are 30,000 Huguang Ming troops in Xingquan Prefecture, and then there are about 3,000 remnant soldiers who fled from Wuzhou in Zhaoqing, and there are about 6,700 remnants in Guiyang.
There are more or less Ming troops in other places, but they are nothing to worry about.
As for whether there will be more Ming troops behind Xingquan Mansion in Huguang, and whether there are already a large number of Ming troops guarding Guangzhou, these operations departments have no way of knowing.
Therefore, this briefing on the situation between the enemy and ourselves could only briefly describe the situation of the army. Later, Zeng Ziwen talked about the official combat plan of the Operations Department.
There is nothing new in this plan. It can even be said to be old-fashioned. It has been discussed over and over again by everyone. This is the division of troops!
The First Army was divided into two, and one part continued eastward to Guangdong, taking Zhaoqing before the rainy season completely arrived, and then marched to Guangzhou. Whether Guangzhou will be captured will depend on the specific situation at that time.
But Guangzhou is actually not important. What is important is Foshan and some major iron ore areas in Guangdong. Although these are important from the perspective of strategic resources, people in the Ming Dynasty obviously did not think so.
Therefore, it is possible to encounter heavy enemy troops regrouping in Guangzhou, but in places like Foshan, it is basically unlikely that there will be many heavy enemy troops, and it is even less likely that there will be any large-scale Ming troops in other remote mining areas.
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And this is also the core plan of marching eastward to Guangdong. The purpose of capturing Zhaoqing is to gain access to Guangdong. However, after entering Guangdong, it is not necessary to capture the coastal city of Guangzhou immediately. You can capture other places first and then besiege them.
Guangzhou, just like when they attacked Wuzhou before, they first captured the surrounding areas and then besieged Wuzhou. In the end, Wuzhou fell into the hands of the Tang Dynasty King.
After the split, the other part of the troops only went north to Guilin. After capturing Guilin, they went directly to Jingzhou, Huguang, to surround Wei and rescue Zhao, so as to reduce the defensive pressure on Xingquan Prefecture and force the Huguang Ming Army to withdraw from Xingquan Prefecture.
Of course, it would be even better if the 30,000 Huguang Ming army could be blocked in Xingquan Mansion, surrounded and annihilated.
According to this strategic plan, the combat commander headed by Zeng Ziwen split up the currently strong First Army.
This kind of demolition will follow the example of the Second Army and the Third Army, with a main infantry brigade as the core, and then paired with one or two garrison brigades as well as infantry, cavalry, and baggage troops to form an army to bear the responsibility alone.