Eight hundred and sixty-first chapters alternate between old and new
The day after the promotion ceremony, everyone finally solved their doubts. It was the newly promoted Army Lieutenant General Lei Wan who succeeded Zeng Ziwen and became the second Minister of Operations of the Privy Council of the Tang Dynasty.
To be honest, this appointment exceeded many people's expectations.
Zeng Ziwen, the first Ming general to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, had already played the role of the de facto chief of staff of the Tang Dynasty during the Huangzhushan period. Although he had never led troops on the battlefield, in the Tang Dynasty
Many battles in the rise of the dynasty were inseparable from his planning behind them.
Although Zeng Ziwen is not as well-known as Li Chunjing and Hao Bainian, his status in the Tang Dynasty is very high, and he is a serious and powerful figure in the army.
However, today, this person resigned from the post of Minister of Operations Department!
Lei Wan, who succeeded him, also had a good background and qualifications. He was one of the earliest students of the martial arts school and the imperial school in the Tang Dynasty, and was a serious disciple of the emperor.
When he went south to Guangdong and Guangxi, he had already served as the deputy director of the Operations Department at that time, and later became the actual chief of staff in the Guangzhou Campaign. Later, the military system was reformed, and he served as the first chief of staff of the First Army, but soon
He was transferred back to the post-restructured Operations Department as deputy director.
He served in this position until last year, and then became the newly established director of the Strategy Department.
At the end of last year, Lei Wan resigned from the position of Minister of Strategy. Others had speculated on his next move, but they did not expect that he would succeed Zeng Ziwen as Minister of Operations.
Could it be said that Zeng Ziwen annoyed His Majesty?
Everyone was talking about it, but Li Xuan remained unmoved. The appointments of senior military generals were basically made by him one by one. No one from other senior generals or the cabinet dared to interfere.
of.
Li Xuan asked Lei Wan to serve as the chief of staff of the Operations Department, not because Li Xuan was on guard against Zeng Ziwen to prevent him from holding power for too long and causing trouble, but simply because Zeng Ziwen's ability was no longer enough to serve as the chief of the Operations Department.
This is the most core position in the Tang Dynasty.
The Minister of Operations Department of the Privy Council of the Tang Dynasty was the head of the various ministers of the Privy Council. He was responsible for the training, combat and other matters of the troops. The greater its power, the greater its responsibilities.
Although Zeng Ziwen has full qualifications and has been diligent and diligent in the past many years, his own shortcomings have made it difficult for him to keep up with the development pace of the Tang Army.
In the early years, the main force of the Tang Army was only tens of thousands. However, as the number of troops increased, the total force now exceeds 200,000, and these 200,000,
They are all the main field forces, excluding the supplementary brigades, the recruits in the new barracks, and also excluding the larger militia organizations.
The Operations Department also had many things to worry about. During a battle in Jiangbei last year, Li Xuan could tell that Zeng Ziwen could no longer keep up with the growth of the Tang Army. When formulating the plan for the Northern Expedition across the Yangtze River,
, even with the assistance of many senior combat staff, it is still difficult for him to come up with a suitable combat plan.
It can be said that the final plan for the Northern Expedition across the Yangtze River has little to do with Zeng Ziwen.
Now that the Tang Dynasty is in a critical period, with reunification in sight, Li Xuan will naturally not just watch Zeng Ziwen, who is no longer capable, continue to sit in the position of Minister of Operations.
So after some selection, he finally promoted Lei Wan, who was more experienced and more capable!
A few days ago, Li Xuan had a private conversation with Zeng Ziwen, and clearly discussed this issue, and also asked Zeng Ziwen to recommend a successor. Although Zeng Ziwen was unwilling to give up, he was more helpless.
In the past two years, he has long felt that he is unable to do what he wants, but he has been forcing himself to hold on. Now he finally can't hold on anymore. It's not that he doesn't want to hold on anymore, but His Majesty won't let him hold on anymore.
In desperation, Zeng Ziwen could only appoint him, but the final candidate he recommended was Lei Wan.
After Lei Wan succeeded Zeng Ziwen and became the second Minister of War of the Tang Dynasty, as an old hero, Li Xuan would not treat Zeng Ziwen badly. Even if it was just to show off to others, Zeng Ziwen would always stand tall.
held up.
The title of Minister on Duty in the Royal Study Room also continued to be retained. In addition, Li Xuan also awarded him the title of Deputy Privy Council Envoy, which is almost the highest position an army general can achieve.
The Privy Council does not have envoys, only deputy envoys. However, this position has not been granted since its establishment, and Zeng Ziwen was the first general to obtain this position.
At the same time, Zeng Ziwen's title was further improved, from earl to marquis.
But despite this series of compensations, it is true that Zeng Ziwen lost real power, and Lei Wan quickly became an upstart general in the Tang Army.
After becoming the Minister of Operations, Lei Wan gained the right to enter the imperial study room within half a month, and he was also the minister on duty.
And this also means that two of the army generals became the ministers on duty in the Imperial Study Room. This situation could not last long in the Tang Dynasty. Although the number of ministers on duty in the Imperial Study Room was not limited, theoretically
The emperor can arrange as many people as he wants, but in recent years, there have always been seven people, and for the army and navy, there has always been one person. Plus one person from the Inspectorate and four people from the cabinet, a comparison has been formed.
A stable structure and an increase or decrease in the number of people can easily cause violent shocks in the political arena.
Therefore, everyone speculated that Zeng Ziwen would be deprived of his title of duty minister in the royal study room soon.
And everyone's guess was correct. Three months later, Zeng Ziwen resigned from the title of minister on duty in the imperial study. Li Xuan refused as usual, but he still approved it after three resignations. However, Zeng Ziwen still retained the title of minister on duty in the imperial study.
title, and at the same time, Li Xuan gave him another title: Prince Military Instructor.
It's just that the current princes are still little kids and can't walk easily, so this military training is just an honorary title.
The series of changes brought about by Leiwan's appointment as the director of the Operations Department can be regarded as an afterthought. Let's not talk about it for the moment, but say that after Leiwan became the director of the Operations Department, he led many staff members of the Operations Department to plan the spring offensive.
On the other hand, some reforms were initiated within the Operations Department.
First of all, he said that the Operations Department was busy with affairs, and although he had a deputy minister to help him, he was still unable to do all the work. He requested that an additional deputy minister be added. After the addition, the Operations Department would have two deputy ministers, one of whom would be dedicated to
The person responsible for managing operations is called the Deputy Minister of Operations, and the other person is responsible for managing other affairs and is called the Executive Deputy Minister.
In addition, he also integrated many chaotic departments and sections under the Operations Department.
These reforms were all discussed by Army Lieutenant General Lei Wan with Li Xuan before he took office and received support.
With Li Xuan's support, Lei Wan's reform of the Operations Department went smoothly.
However, for Lei Wan, internal reform is not a criterion for judging his ability. There is only one criterion for whether Lei Wanhe is qualified, and that is whether he can make qualified arrangements to command the more than 200,000 troops of the Tang Dynasty.
.
The next spring offensive is the best time for Leiwan to prove himself.
After taking office as the Chief of the Operations Department, Colonel Lei Wan has frequently visited many senior generals and organized many sand table exercises. The participants were not only the staff officers of the Operations Department, but also invited many chief officers of the field troops.
At the same time, people were selected from the many generals of the Ming army who surrendered, and they were appointed to serve as generals of the Ming army.
The purpose is to better simulate actual combat and obtain more data to prepare for subsequent combat plans.
In February, Lei Wan, who had just taken office, personally led a large group of staff officers to the Jiangbei front line and arrived in Xuzhou for inspection. He needed to see with his own eyes and understand the actual situation of the front line troops.
In March, Army Lieutenant General Leiwan officially submitted the operational plan for the spring offensive!
The entire plan will involve the Third Army, the Second Army, part of the Fourth Army, the Guards, and the Navy.
In the Jiangbei region, it is expected that more than 100,000 main troops will be deployed to participate in frontline operations, and no less than 30,000 troops will be prepared to be stationed in the rear to serve as strategic reserves. The battlefield is expected to affect Shandong and Henan provinces.
At the same time, in order to cooperate with the spring offensive, Huguang will also launch a medium-sized attack appropriately to contain Zhang Yue's troops.
If Huguang is included, then the participating troops will be four armies plus the Guards, with a total strength of more than 200,000. This will be the largest battle since the founding of the Tang Dynasty.
.
Of course, although there were many people participating in the war, they were relatively scattered. The First Army was mainly responsible for Huguang, the Second Army was mainly responsible for North Anhui and Henan, and the Third Army was mainly responsible for Shandong.
The Fourth Army is preparing to serve as a strategic reserve.
As before, the Guards will allocate troops to form a mixed force. The tentative scale is the same as last time, with three infantry battalions as the core, plus baggage, artillery, cavalry and other auxiliary units, totaling about 5,000 people.
The temporary brigade of the Guards actually participated in frontline operations.
At the imperial army strategy meeting, Lieutenant General Lei Wan personally explained his strategic concept to Li Xuan and the senior army generals.
Leiwan, who was wearing the uniform of an army general and the rank of lieutenant general, stood in front of a huge map, holding a baton and pointing on the map, and at the same time he said loudly:
"The troops heading north to Shandong should continue to move north along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, quickly and effectively break through the interception of the Ming army along the way, and capture the cities along the way, in a gesture of attacking Tianjin and threatening Youzhou!"