Chapter 590 Zhenbei City, which cannot be bypassed
When Zhao Laoqi, the Chief of Staff of the Senate and Director of the Patrol Department, went to the capital with Lin Ziran's instructions to prepare for the relocation of the capital, the Jingzhou Front Army also moved very quickly in the central and northern areas of Jingzhou.
The huge Jingzhou Front Army has been divided into three groups, heading all the way to the eastern part of Jingzhou, all the way to the eastern peninsula of Jingzhou, and all the way towards the northwest along the Jinghe River.
Among them, the enemy forces in the eastern peninsula are weak. There are actually very few troops sent there. There are only one cavalry division and one infantry division. At the same time, the small number of local garrison troops and local officials have no intention of resisting, so they march eastward.
Although the troops are small in strength, they also have to disperse and control a large number of cities in the process of gradually advancing eastward, so the strength of the troops appears relatively weak.
But it is still the most relaxed unit. There is basically no decent resistance wherever it goes. In many places, the garrison troops often surrender directly. In some places, even before the Imperial Army troops arrive, they have already taken the initiative to change flags.
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There are not many troops going to the northeastern region. There are only two main forces, the Sixth Army and the Third Cavalry Army. The combat scope of this army actually includes the entire vast area on the north bank of the Mirror River. If they continue to move northward,
We can march to Ningwu Prefecture and Gaoqing Prefecture.
In the northern part of Jingzhou, there are no military fortresses or large-scale cities, and the terrain is flat, so the operation was relatively smooth.
What is slightly more troublesome is the troops advancing along the Mirror River in the northwest direction.
Pingnan Prefecture has already dispatched a large number of troops to this area. According to reliable intelligence, Pingnan Prefecture has dispatched heavy troops to Zhenbeicheng in Jingzhou, on the Jinghe River, only thirty kilometers away from Pingnan Prefecture.
This is not tens of millions of people, but more than five troops, and they are also gathering the former Jingzhou troops in the northwest area of Jingzhou to move closer to Zhenbeicheng. The combined strength of the two is probably 70,000 to 80,000.
They built a fortress defense line several kilometers wide and several kilometers deep around Zhenbei City and the surrounding mountains, including the entire Zhenbei City.
Why did the Pingnan Prefecture Army gather heavy troops and establish a defense line here?
Because this is Zhenbeicheng!
Zhenbeicheng has been an important military pass in the northwest of Jingzhou since ancient times. It is located on the south bank of Jinghe River. There are high mountains where forts can be built. If artillery is set up on the fort, Jinghe River can be completely blocked.
From the north to the south of the town, there is mountainous terrain that is rare in Jingzhou. Although the army can barely pass through, it will definitely be troublesome, and the logistics and transportation will be more troublesome.
Of course, for the newly launched Daheng Empire Army, even if it is difficult to pass through a mountainous area, it will not be a big problem. At worst, it can be bypassed.
The key to the problem is the fort in Zhenbeicheng, which can completely block the Jinghe River.
This also means that the Imperial Army cannot move up the river and the supply fleet cannot pass. This is very difficult for the Daheng Imperial Army, which relies heavily on railways and rivers to transport huge logistics supplies.
It is not a problem for tens of thousands of troops to pass through Zhenbeicheng, but how to solve the logistics of tens of thousands of troops after bypassing it?
Relying on horse-drawn carriages for supplies?
This is not a matter of dozens of kilometers or even one or two hundred kilometers, but a supply line of hundreds of kilometers all the way north.
Using horse-drawn carriages to maintain a supply line of four to five hundred kilometers or even further is beyond the capabilities of the current Daheng Empire Army.
In the past two years, the Army Logistics Department of the Daheng Empire has come to the most basic conclusion through numerous practical examples.
Due to the huge material consumption of the Daheng Empire Army, coupled with the huge amount of ammunition, and the transportation from the nearest material transfer station to the front line by horse-drawn carriage, the critical distance can be maintained at around 150 kilometers at most, which exceeds
At this distance, logistics will not be able to maintain normal ammunition supply to the frontline troops.
And this distance is gradually shortening as the army equips more and more artillery and machine guns.
This is also the main reason why the large-scale battles of the Daheng Empire Army in the past two years have been concentrated along the railways or along the coast and rivers.
Because the large-scale operations of the Daheng Empire Army require excellent transportation to maintain, whether it is railway or shipping, but one of them must be available.
Otherwise, it would be difficult to organize a large-scale battle involving more than 100,000 or 200,000 people.
In the Jingzhou Southern Front Campaign, what was the distance between the strategic material transfer station in the rear and the frontline troops?
The farthest unit is only fifteen kilometers away, and the nearest is only five kilometers away.
And how much was it in the Battle of the Capital?
Relying on the railway, a material transfer station was established directly to the southern suburbs of the capital...
There is no railway to the northwest of Jingzhou, which also means that strategic transportation needs to rely on the Jinghe River Channel. If the Jinghe River cannot be opened, the troops will not be able to penetrate deep into Pingnanzhou.
Therefore, for the Daheng Empire Army, if it wants to march into Pingnan Prefecture, it must use the Jing River as a strategic transportation and supply line, it must control the banks of the Jing River, and it must conquer and control Zhenbei City.
Pingnan Prefecture obviously also knows the importance of Zhenbei City. Since the end of the Battle of the Capital, they have continued to increase their troops in the city.
According to current intelligence, there are about 80,000 people there, but after a while, there is a high probability that the number of troops there will exceed 100,000.
Facing the heavily guarded Zhenbei City defense line, the Daheng Empire Army's Jingzhou Front Army was also under certain pressure.
This pressure is nothing but ammunition supply!
After the Battle of Jingshi, the Jingzhou Front Army had actually consumed all the ammunition they had accumulated before the launch of the entire Northern Expedition, and also replenished a lot of ammunition in the meantime.
The current ammunition supply of the Jingzhou Front basically relies on the ammunition that has been continuously transported over the past month or two.
This situation caused the Jingzhou Front troops to shrink from fighting.
But no matter how difficult it is, we still have to fight. The previous battle in the capital was even more difficult. We didn't just bite the bullet and attack by force. The same is true for Zhenbei City now.
Moreover, the Zhenbei defense line is much easier to fight for the Jingzhou Front Army, because Zhenbei City is, to put it bluntly, a military fortress, not a large city with a huge population.
The urban area of this city is very small, with only about 100,000 permanent residents, and its overall size is not as good as that of an ordinary county town.
The urban area is small and the civilian population is small, which means complex street fighting can be avoided!
As for mobile warfare or positional warfare in the field, the Daheng Empire Army is good at this. At worst, it will only cost more artillery shells, and at worst, it will just deploy a few more heavy artillery.
Under heavy artillery, you have to kneel down at any line of defense!
It's not like a street battle. After this artillery fire, the house collapsed, but the enemy still used the ruins to hold on. There were many buildings and the terrain was complex. Many times, it was not even clear where the enemy was. This forced the Imperial Army to only fight in the Battle of the Capital.
It can be a combat mode of gradually advancing, capturing an area, and clearing an area.
In other words, the enemy's will to resist is not strong. Otherwise, even if they fight steadily like this, the casualties will probably be very huge.
But Zhenbei City, which looks like a fortress, in the eyes of the generals of the Daheng Empire Army, is no different from attacking the wild defense line. Even the enemy troops are more densely packed, making it easier to fight.
But this ease is also based on the premise that one's own artillery is large enough and large enough!
For this reason, the Jingzhou Front Army has already transferred its only two 150mm cannon regiments to the Zhenbeicheng front line by ship.
However, the Jingzhou Front Army felt that its firepower was still a bit weak, and they wanted to move the 200mm artillery outside Zhenbei City.
But no matter what, the army's own 200mm train gun can't go there, there is no railway there...
Ever since, the Army found the Navy and asked them to provide 200 mm level fire support!
After hearing the Army's request, the Navy was also in a dilemma!