I want to be emperor

Chapter 529
On April 25th of the sixth year of Chengshun, Zuo Yingzhe led the top generals of the group army and continued to march eastward with the large army.

Around Zuo Yingzhe and the others were tens of thousands of Ninth Army and troops directly under the Group Army wearing gray uniforms.

A large number of infantry, lined up in long queues, marched in the field under the leadership of officers at all levels!

Between the infantry formations, from time to time, messengers galloped on horses, sending different orders to each unit.

Among the infantry ranks, there are hundreds of large and small artillery and thousands of four-wheeled or two-wheeled carriages.

They were led by many mules and horses to advance together with the infantry formation. The official road could no longer accommodate such a huge convoy. Many lighter artillery and even two-wheeled carriages had to march directly on the field.

In front of the huge convoy, there are many engineering units working on the spot, leveling the road, and building temporary bridges for the rear convoy to pass through.

Even so, there are still a large number of artillery or carriages stuck in the mud, no matter how dragged by the horses, they cannot be contested. Only by sending a large number of people to push them directly, or even directly carry them, can they continue to move forward.

Tens of thousands of troops marched, and the scene was extremely grand, with no end in sight at a glance. It seemed that the mountains and plains were filled with gray soldiers.

On the periphery of the huge infantry, artillery, baggage and other troops marching, there are groups of cavalry wandering around. These are the cavalry of each division in charge of peripheral security.

Although the combat effectiveness of these divisional cavalry is not very good, they are also riding horses anyway, and they are used as peripheral guards. It is not a big problem to search for some Dongyao reconnaissance cavalry who escaped the interception of the First Cavalry Army.

If you can't fight one-on-one, you can still play ten-on-one!
Anyway, the number of Dongyao scouts is small, and they have come from a long way. As long as they are found, the next thing will be easy.

-

At noon, Zuo Yingzhe led his troops up a hill and observed his troops marching.

Then set your sights on the East!

Just four kilometers ahead is Guangning Zhongqian!
That was the first strategic goal of their third army's eastward march this time!
Taking the city and annihilating tens of thousands of enemy troops in the city will not only gain an important forward base, but also further weaken the enemy's strength.

Even if it cannot be wiped out, as long as it can defeat the opponent, it is good.

However, it is not so easy to attack the city.

Just now, the First Cavalry Army in the front has sent news that the enemy troops in Guangning Zhongqian are on guard. According to the previous intelligence investigation and the battlefield investigation in the past two days, it can be confirmed that the Guangning Zhongqian The enemy army did not flee, but was actively engaged in combat preparations since yesterday.

At the same time, the four or five thousand cavalry originally in Guangning Zhongqian had already left the city early this morning, and joined up with the three thousand elite enemy cavalry who had withdrawn from Balipu.

At this time, the [-] Dongcap cavalry were three kilometers away from the north of Guangning Zhongqian!

This distance is very ingenious. If the main force of the infantry and artillery of the Chu army wants to attack Zhongqian by force, they can come over at any time during the critical moment of the battle.

At the same time, they were able to intercept the Chu army's forces and bypass the Zhongqian, strategically encircle the entire Zhongqian, and cut off the reinforcements from the East.

According to the reconnaissance report, the Dongyao people in Qiantunwei City in Guangning have been mobilized urgently. Since this morning, a group of cavalry has left the city and headed straight for Zhongqian.

As early as this evening, or tomorrow morning at the latest, thousands of Dongyao cavalry will be able to reinforce Zhongqian.

Obviously, judging from the movements of the Dongyao people, they did not easily give up their plan of Guangning Zhongqian. Instead, they wanted to rely on this place as a core fortress, and then use the advantage of cavalry to defeat the Chu army or force the Chu army to withdraw.

This means that if the Chu army wants to continue to attack Zhongqian, they must block the enemy cavalry.

At least they can't let them directly send a large number of cavalry to kill when their own infantry and artillery are attacking the city, that would definitely be a disaster.

"Tell Zhu Xingfa, no matter what, the enemy's cavalry must be kept out. I will coordinate with the guards and let their three cavalry regiments come to support!"

At noon, Zuo Yingzhe had received the news that the Third Division of the Guards had captured Tieyang Fort after a morning's battle.

The enemy troops in Tieyang Fort did not put up a stubborn resistance as expected, but surrendered after simply resisting for more than an hour.

At first, the guards thought it was because their artillery fire was too fierce, and the opponent couldn't bear it in just a few hours.

But when the other party asked after they surrendered, they found out that the main force of the Eastern Route Army stationed in Tieyang Fort was part of the Eight Banners of Han Dynasty. To be precise, it was a group of Wu Sangui's men.

They first followed Wu Sangui back to the east, but Wu Sangui and Zu Dashou were cut down by Huang Taiji not long after, and then Wu Sangui's troops and Zu Dashou's troops were reorganized into the Eight Banners of Han Dynasty.

Although the leaders are all generals from the Dongyao people, the middle and lower generals and ordinary soldiers are all from the original Guangning army. In addition, Wu Sangui's death made them very dissatisfied, but it was because of the Dongyao people's previous difficulties. The strong suppression cannot be resisted.

Now that the Chu army came to kill them, they wanted to retreat under the generals of the Dongyao people at first, but they were forced back by the Chu army cavalry.

That night, they had a quarrel over the tenacious defense and the breakout operation. The generals of the Dongyao people clamored to stick to Tieyang Fort, waiting for reinforcements from the rear, while the former generals Guan Ning wanted to organize a second breakout.

When a dispute arose, the generals of the Eastern Captives beheaded several generals of the former Liaoxi Army on the spot in the name of shaking the morale of the army.

Although it was temporarily suppressed, it also created a greater contradiction.

So, when the Chu army attacked the city this morning, these Guan Ning troops began to think about finding another way out for themselves...

After thinking about it, I immediately surrendered...

After some of them surrendered, they led the Chu army to round up the Dongcap people in the city.

Fort Tieyang, the nail planted northeast of Shanhaiguan by the captives, could threaten the Chu army's flank at any time when the Chu army marched eastward, and was directly pulled out by the guards.

Under such circumstances, the Guards have completed the main tasks of the first phase, and will continue to advance eastward and support the Ninth Army in operations.

The three cavalry regiments under its command stepped forward to reinforce the First Cavalry Army to prevent the First Cavalry Army from losing the strategic initiative.

For the three cavalry regiments of the Guards, whether it was General Zuo Yingzhe, commander of the Third Army, or Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa, commander of the First Cavalry Army, they all had certain expectations.

Because these three cavalry regiments are all new cavalry developed in the Great Chu Empire, and they were trained strictly according to the new cavalry from the beginning.

The second hussar regiment, the third hussar regiment and the fourth cuirassier regiment are all equipped with Central Asian horses. The horses assigned to the two hussars have an average shoulder height of 1.3 meters five, while the fourth cuirassier regiment The average shoulder height of the famous war horse reached 1.4 meters.

The combat capability of these three cavalry regiments is much stronger than the half-baked dragoons, and even stronger than the traditional cavalry cavalry.

If the cavalry of the Chu army fought a large-scale battle with the cavalry of Dongyao in the future, the energy exerted by these three cavalry regiments would exceed that of an entire cavalry division.

-

The three cavalry regiments of the Guards came very quickly, and in the afternoon they had already arrived at the First Cavalry Army station a few kilometers northwest of Zhongqian.

Leading the team was Major General Sheng Yushu, Director of the Cavalry Department of the Guards.

The command system of the Guards is somewhat different from that of the Army.

Because of its large number of troops, the army has an obvious command hierarchy. Above the division is the army, and above the army is the group army. For example, the Northeast Campaign was in charge of the third group army. The two directors of the four major headquarters above did not send additional people.

However, the Guards had not many troops in the first place, only three infantry divisions and a few independent regiments, so there was no need to set up an additional military-level command organization at all.

Usually, the guards are basically a brigade or division as a unit, and they are directly sent out to fight.

But this time the Northeast campaign is different, because the army's strength is tight, and it is difficult to concentrate more troops on the northeast front. At the same time, there are also a group of officers and generals waiting for military meritorious service and promotion...

So this time in the Northeast Campaign, in addition to dispatching the Third Guards Division, the Guards also dispatched a mixed regiment of the Second Guards Division. , in addition to a heavy field artillery regiment.

Finally there was the independent [-]th Cuirassier Regiment.

The many troops add up to more than 5000 people.

As the commander of the Third Guards Division, it may not be appropriate to directly command with the rank of Major General of the Guards, so Lieutenant General Qian Tai, the head of the Guards Operation Department, was dispatched to take command.

In addition to Lieutenant General Qian Tai, the Guards also dispatched Major General Sheng Yushu, Director of the Cavalry Department of the Guards, to coordinate and command the three cavalry regiments in the Guards.

In addition to these two, the guards were on the northeast front, and there was also a major general of the guards, Peng Jingguo, the commander of the [-]rd Guards Division.

Then came the deputy commander and chief of staff of the [-]rd Guards Division.
There are three brigadier generals, including the deputy commander of the Second Guards Division who leads the mixed regiment of the Second Guards Division and the cavalry regiment.

Compared with the army, this kind of command system is actually a bit cumbersome. Among the more than 2 people, there is actually one lieutenant general, two major generals, and three brigadier generals...

If this is changed to the army side, a major general can handle it under special circumstances...

But there is no way. Because of the special nature of the guards, they have to take turns when they go out to fight. A lot of people are waiting to go to the battlefield to accumulate qualifications and meritorious service, so they can be arranged as much as possible.

Sheng Yushu, Major General of the Guards, rode his horse directly in front of Zhu Xingfa, raised his head and chest, raised his right hand to his eyebrows, and saluted with his palm facing down.

Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa also rode on the horse, raised his head and chest, looked at Sheng Yushu and gave a military salute.

This military salute was gradually implemented in the army the year before last. At the beginning, there were no mandatory regulations on performing military salutes, only a series of prohibitions...

First of all, all kneeling rituals were abolished on the grounds that it was inconvenient for soldiers to wear armor, and at the same time, soldiers were allowed to kneel when they were wearing military uniforms. So, the military began to imitate the daily salutes of those literati as military salutes. .

Of course, some people use the ordinary bowing ceremony, without any uniform regulations or requirements.

But later Luo Zhixue felt that, as soldiers of the empire, only Jun father could make them kneel and bow, and others were not qualified to bend the waist of soldiers!
Lao Tzu is the object of allegiance to the soldiers of the empire. You let my soldiers bow down to you. What do you want to do?Want to rebel?
And wearing a military uniform and bending over, and when the soldiers salute each other, they even bend down and I also bend down, whoever has a lower status will bend down even lower... You are not afraid of breaking your waist, Luo Zhixue No matter how you look at it, you are not happy!

Ever since, Luo Zhixue gave a word of mouth, and the military side directly banned the bending over overnight.

Now all that's left is to hand over...

But to be honest, this kind of bowing ceremony is actually ugly...

Luo Zhixue devoted himself to the design of military uniforms, and he did not hesitate to make the military uniforms into slim styles, and distributed woolen military uniforms and overcoats to the officers, just to make his soldiers look heroic and handsome.

You come here every day... how funny you look!

Later, Luo Zhixue simply promoted the use of the modern hand salute of later generations.

Don't worry about this kind of hand-raising ceremony. It comes from what country. The reason why the global army, the five big gangsters, a large number of regional powers, and various countries are all using it. This kind of hand salute does have its advantages.

Simple and convenient, showing military posture!

-

When Luo Zhixue inspected the troops, he had long used the modern salute of later generations, which has been like this since the early Funiu Mountain period.

At the beginning, people regarded this gesture as His Majesty's special gesture, and no one dared to use it... Just like the military uniform and military coat that Luo Zhixue wore back then, the officials below all regarded these as Luo Zhixue's exclusive. Dare to misuse.

Later, Luo Zhixue directly ordered the promotion of the use, and now the whole army, including the army, guards, and navy, is using this salute as a military salute.

At this time, Zhu Xingfa and Sheng Yushu exchanged military salutes like this.

After the salute, Sheng Yushu said loudly: "The Three Cavalry Regiment of the Guards has arrived under orders. According to General Qian Tai's order, our cavalry will cooperate with your First Cavalry Army to fight against the Eastern Cavalry."

"How to cooperate in the future, please tell General Zhu clearly!"

After hearing this, Zhu Xingfa said with a smile on his face: "Welcome to the colleagues of the Guards, you three regiments are here, and my old Zhu is relieved. Let's cooperate. You will directly return to my command later, no, just follow me." It’s fine to discuss it, but right now, the Dongbao people haven’t come over yet, so you should set up camp and rest for a while.”

As he said that, he took two steps forward and looked at the guard cavalry behind Sheng Yushu: "Don't worry about fighting, those Dongbang people are still far away, and they won't be able to get through for a while, go, take me there Look at your hussars!"

"I've seen the Fourth Cuirassier Regiment, but I haven't seen you two hussar regiments!"

(End of this chapter)