I want to be emperor

Chapter 215 Eastward Strategy
This time the army was divided and continued to fight, Luo Zhixue did not personally lead the troops south, but planned to sit in Zhongxiang for a period of time to command the various units to fight.

Under the command of Luo Zhixue, Xu He's mixed detachment with the Second Infantry Brigade as the core set off first, heading eastward to Jingshan.

A few days later, the First Infantry Brigade of the First Division and the artillery continued to move south along the Han River. Their initial goal was Qianjiang.

As for the westward advance of the third garrison division, it will have to wait a little later.

After all, the reorganization of the surrendered soldiers captured in Zhongxiang also took time. In order to reorganize these surrendered soldiers as soon as possible and send them out to fight, Luo Zhixue personally presided over the reorganization this time.

In just three days, [-] surrendered soldiers were preliminarily selected. These surrendered soldiers were all those who voluntarily continued to join the army and were qualified in basic conditions.

After these surrendered troops were selected, the original fifth garrison brigade was directly divided into two to form a new fifth garrison brigade and a new sixth garrison brigade, and then each added more than 2000 surrendered troops.

With these two garrison brigades, the third garrison division will be assigned some supplies, cavalry, and artillery units.

But like other garrison divisions, these auxiliary troops have been seriously reduced. Don't expect elite cavalry, not even elite cavalry infantry. The divisional cavalry regiments of the three main divisions are not full yet. , How can there be extra horses and elite cavalry infantry assigned to them.

Therefore, the third garrison cavalry battalion of the 300rd garrison division only has more than [-] cavalry, and they are still the cavalry infantry left after being selected. Compared with the ordinary infantry in the garrison division, they can only ride horses...

It can barely be used as a forward scouting unit, but don't count on others.

The artillery unit is only the size of a short artillery battalion, and it is temporarily equipped with sixteen general artillery pieces weighing more than [-] kilograms, Franc machine artillery, etc. These old artillery pieces were captured by the rural protection army, and the main force basically all Don't want these old-style artillery, so as much as you capture is basically how much you use for the garrison.

The supply unit is only one battalion in size, because the level of firearms and equipment in the garrison division is not high, the ammunition consumption is also small, and there are not many mules and horses. The main consumption is food, and the subordinate regiments also have Its own supply unit, so the size of the division's supply unit does not need to be too large.

The weapons needed by the above-mentioned troops are also very simple, just use the captured Ming army weapons and equipment.

In this way, the third garrison division is fully equipped. As for combat effectiveness, it's hard to say.

It is difficult to have an accurate evaluation of the combat effectiveness of the garrison brigade in the Baoxiang Army. The first garrison regiment is strong. This regiment was originally the fourth mixed brigade. It once fought tough battles in Yuzhou and performed well.

As for the combat effectiveness of other garrison troops, they are average, but even if they are average, they are much stronger than ordinary Ming army guards. Better and better equipped.

There was no surprise in the selection of the commander of the [-]rd Defense Division. Luo Zhixue directly appointed Dong Mingjie, the former commander of the [-]th Defense Brigade, as the commander of the [-]rd Defense Division.

After several days of reorganization in Zhongxiang, Dong Mingjie led his troops to leave Zhongxiang on August [-] and head towards Jingmen Prefecture.

After capturing Jingmen Prefecture, the [-]rd Defense Division will continue to march towards Jingzhou Prefecture in order to strive to capture Jiangling as soon as possible.

The importance of the government of Jiangling and even Jingzhou Prefecture is self-evident, and besides Jiangling, there is another place that is very important, and that is Yiling Prefecture.

To the east of Yiling Prefecture is the Jianghan Plain in the traditional sense, while to the west of Yiling Prefecture is Daba Mountain.

Before Dong Mingjie led the army to set off, Luo Zhixue summoned him and ordered him:
"The most important thing about Jingzhou Mansion is that it is the western gateway of the Jianghan Plain, and it is also the bridgehead for marching into eastern Sichuan. If there is a chance, your department should quickly seize Badong, Wushan and other places to lay the foundation for our army's subsequent march into Sichuan."

"However, you won't get too many reinforcements after you go west, so you need to be cautious in your actions. This Badong will fight whenever you can, and don't force it if you don't have the opportunity."

Entering Sichuan is not an important strategic goal of the Rural Protection Army at this stage, nor even the main strategic goal of the next stage, but if there is an opportunity to seize Badong, Wushan and other places in advance, Luo Zhixue does not mind letting the troops seize these places in advance , to facilitate subsequent entry into Sichuan.

But if there is no chance, then let it go for now, as long as the third garrison division can defend the area around Yiling Prefecture and keep the enemies in the Sichuan area out of the Jianghan Plain, then the strategic mission of the third garrison division will be considered complete.

The strategic mission of the entire Third Defense Division is actually very similar to that of the Second Defense Division. Luo Zhixue’s strategic mission for the Second Defense Division is also to guard the Yunyang area. government and other places, if there is no chance, forget it.

Not only that, but the strategic missions of the Second Division and the First Defense Division on the Northern Front are also based on defense and supplemented by offense.

This involves the overall strategic planning of the Rural Protection Army.

For a long time, the strategic planning of the Rural Protection Army has been very clear, that is to first capture the Nanyang Basin, and then occupy the northern part of Chu.

After laying the foundation of Chubei, then proceed to cross the south of the Yangtze River to the south of Chu, and then follow the Yangtze River eastward to Jiangxi, Nanzhili, and all the way eastward to the sea!
Among them, the eastward strategy was formally proposed and implemented after the Battle of Zhongxiang.

The eastward strategy is also very simple, that is, to capture the areas along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, especially the prosperous area in the south of the Yangtze River.

Luo Zhixue never had the idea of ​​competing with those thieves, officers and soldiers for territory in Shaanxi, Central Plains and other areas that had been smashed.

For a long time, Luo Zhixue had no great interest in directly sending the army northward, all the way to the capital.

Because playing hegemony in the Central Plains and other places, because the flat terrain is very conducive to the cavalry to play, don't look at the cavalry advantage that the Xiangbao Army has against the Shangming Army in recent battles. ,

But those were all facing the Ming army in the inland area of ​​Huguang. Once the rural protection army marched northward on a large scale, the Ming court directly transferred elite cavalry such as Guanning cavalry from the Jiliao area, and the rural protection army would fall into a cavalry disadvantage in minutes. And it's an embarrassing situation with a big disadvantage.

Not to mention that after going north, it is possible to face the Eastern Captives. The Eastern Captives have already controlled most of Mongolia, and there are a large number of Mongolian cavalry under their command.

At the same time, there is also a strategic risk, that is, even if everything goes well in this northward movement, after the Ming Dynasty is killed, it means that the rural protection army will have to face the Eastern captives directly.

And the East is not easy to fight!
In addition to the advantages and disadvantages of these direct military comparisons, the logistics of going north from Xiangyang are also very troublesome.

Now that the army of the rural protection army is going out, it is carrying more and more artillery, more and more ammunition, and more and more logistical requirements.

Under such circumstances, the Rural Protection Army is more inclined to launch offensives around waterways rather than land routes.

Yu Xiujie, the head of the logistics department, felt his scalp tingle when he thought of going north from Xiangyang, there would be hundreds of kilometers or even thousands of kilometers of land supply lines.

At the same time, they are faced with an area full of starvation and starvation. Occupying these areas will bring nothing but gold and silver to the rural protection army and a large number of refugees.

On the contrary, it will greatly restrain the strength of the rural protection army, as well as administrative and financial strength...

These will seriously affect the overall rapid development of the Rural Protection Army.

The Rural Protection Army needs more territory now, but it is not a broken site, but a place where people's livelihood is basically stable, can produce a large amount of food and other strategic materials, and provide a large amount of tax revenue for the Rural Protection Army.

Looking at China today, only the banks of the Yangtze River meet this requirement, especially the Jiangnan region.

After hearing about the Jiangnan strategy earlier, Chen Xingkai, the head of the tax department, patted his chest and said, "If Jiangnan can be captured, if the tax collected by my tax department is less than this amount next year, I will hang myself directly!"

While talking, he gestured with two fingers!

2000 million, this is the data given by Chen Xingkai, and this is his conservative estimate, and it is only limited to the income that is directly handed over to the General's Mansion, and does not include the taxes allocated to the local county and government finances.

Although the Taxation Department is responsible for the taxation of the Rural Protection Army, it is not all the tax collected nor is it taken away by the Finance Department.

Among the many taxes collected by the Rural Protection Army, the tax revenue will be divided into several parts, and part of it will be directly handed over to the Finance Department of the General's Mansion for storage, which is the national tax in the traditional sense.

Another part is reserved for local finances at all levels. Different types of taxes are in different proportions, and a part is reserved for township, county, state, government and other levels of finance for various administrative expenses.

In this case, the taxes that Luo Zhixue and the others mentioned generally refer specifically to the national tax reserved for the locality.

In the second year after winning the Jiangnan area, the tax department said that it could collect at least 2000 million in national taxes, which shows Chen Xingkai's confidence in the Jiangnan area.

It is worth noting that Jiangnan refers to Jiangnan in a narrow sense, that is, the area south of the Yangtze River in Nanzhili, and does not include Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

And the northern part of these two places is also a land of fish and rice, which can also collect a lot of taxes.

There is money along the Yangtze River, especially in the Jiangnan area, which is why the core strategy of the Township Protection Army in the next stage is not to go north or west, but to go east.

In the words of Blind Wang: They beat people to death in the north, and wouldn't it be great for us to grab land in the south to make money.

Under such circumstances, a series of strange strategies of the rural protection army can be explained to outsiders.

Why didn't the Rural Protectors go directly to the Central Plains after defeating Zuo Liangyu in the eastern suburbs of Yuzhou?
Why did the Township Protection Army only send a mere garrison division westward to Yunyang? After Huang Guangmao captured Yunyang, he stayed in Yunyang for a long time, and the various ministries under his command were also stationed separately, and he was not even interested in marching into Hanzhong Mansion.

It is because the Township Protection Army has no interest in these places for the time being, and is only thinking about going south, and later it is preparing to go east.

(End of this chapter)