Yi Song

Chapter 222 Who is the hound and who is the hunter

"You are all veteran generals on the battlefield. It can be seen that you are all partial teachers, and the main teacher should be in the west. Yes, the front finger on the right side of Shaanxi Road is the main teacher, or in other words, the front finger on the middle road, and the front finger on the left road are all correct. division.

As for how they fight, it has little to do with you. Due to confidentiality, I can't tell you for the time being. "

Wang Zhen couldn't help but frown: "Commander Jie, you are mobilizing all the troops and horses from the five roads along the border and Hedong Road. If the teacher fails, will the food and grass be wasted in vain and everything will be in vain?"

Liu Guozhang laughed and said, "I understand what Mr. Wang meant. He gave me some face and did not say it clearly. The biggest problem of the Song Army in the past was that the generals did not know the soldiers, and the soldiers did not know the generals. Not to mention engaging in battle, even marching was stumbling.

Then the armies acted like blind men touching an elephant, each doing its own thing. Only then did the Xixia army seize the opportunity and defeat them one by one, making our army win less and lose more over the years. "

Wang Zhen and others were convinced.

"Tong Guan has done many bad things in the northwest for more than ten years, but he has also done some good things. One of them is to insist on implementing the art of generals. After more than ten years, the contradiction between generals not knowing the soldiers and soldiers not knowing the generals has been greatly improved. .

This time, my commander inspected the armies along the border and made some adjustments. One of the most important items was to straighten out the command authority. The three-way forward command directly commands each brigade. Each brigade has two to three battalions, five to six thousand infantry, and the ability to fight independently.

Orders are issued directly to the front commander, who then passes them to each brigade. They are no longer relayed layer by layer, and military orders are not smooth.

Liu Guozhang continued: "Of the 190,000 horse infantry, only 50,000 to 60,000 were actually dispatched to engage in fierce battles with the Xixia Army. The rest were marching exercises, which was equivalent to a large-scale school exercise and a major military training.

With so many eyes and ears, they have deep penetration and strong control over the Western Army, whether it is Fan Wenzhenggong who single-handedly established the Western Army, Wang Shao and Zhang Kai who led the Western Army to the top, or those who have been in charge of the Western Army for more than ten years. Tong Guan is far behind.

At this point, Liu Guozhang emphasized these words meaningfully, "It is a real infantry army of 190,000 horses."

As for how to urge the military leaders below to actually use such forces, I think there must be a way for Commander-in-Chief to do so.

Regardless of other things, let’s just talk about the generals who command a team of forty or fifty people, the middle backbone of the army, and the officers who directly command the troops. The Western Army has more than 200,000 horse and infantry troops. Calculated carefully, there are only 4,400 to 500 generals in total.

The second is to strengthen the coordinated operations among the brigades. The front finger clearly understands the combat objectives, and can also clearly assign tasks to each brigade and coordinate their operations. At the same time, the means of coordinated operations were improved, including carrier pigeons, signal flares, and new reconnaissance teams and communication teams.
The commander patrolled along the border and urged all ministries to strengthen coordinated operations. Although it was not satisfactory, he was finally no longer as blind as before, and he still knew more about coordinated operations.

Liu Erlang directly promoted and placed eight to nine hundred officers, plus six to seven hundred other officers in key positions.

It is said that the Kongtong Mountain Officer Training Course, in addition to Shengjie Army officers, has also opened three courses, training a total of more than 500 officers, all of whom were assigned to various ministries to serve as team generals.

As for food and salary, you don’t have to worry. The confiscation of a group of children was enough to support the war. For this operation, I mobilized the three front lines of the left, center and right and the 190,000 horse infantry on the Hedong Road. "

In addition, in the past six months, the Xuanfu Envoy Department has also assigned a large number of flag bearers and Hongying party members to various armies to serve as staff officers, grain and grass officers, military judges, ten generals, team generals and other middle and low-level officers. There are dozens of soldiers in the army.

The actual 190,000 horse infantry is almost more than 80% of the real strength of the Western Army.

The real infantry army of 190,000 horses requires so many people and horses. It is not just a showpiece on the previous roster. Half of the real troops are honest people.

These officers all respected Liu Erlang as the mountain commander, and they were all regarded as disciples of the commander, and they were widely spread among the armies.

Wang Zhen and others heard it clearly.

The cost of food and salary was not much, so Murong, Deputy Envoy of the Transport Department, had already prepared it and transported it to sixteen joint logistics stations a month ago. "

Turning his eyes around the faces of Wang Zhen and others, Liu Guozhang continued: "You can rest assured to fight according to Xuan Si's orders and keep in mind your combat missions and goals. Upload military information in a timely manner and communicate with friendly forces. Communications officers who have mastered the password are coming one after another. Report to your various departments.

The basic configuration is that each department is equipped with a communications officer and two communications adjutants. Communications between departments and between each department and the superior battalion must use passwords. So you must protect the communications officer and communications adjutant. ""yes. "

"You are all veteran generals on the battlefield. You know that fighting is nothing more than a few tricks. It's just the right time to use what tricks. The most important thing is to know the enemy's situation. The Propaganda Division Staff Office sent the Xixia Zuoxiang Shen Yong, Xiang You, After sorting out the military information of the Jianing, Jingsai, Xishou Baotai and other military divisions, as well as the Yin, Shi, Xia, Long, Hong, You, Yan, and Wei prefectures, they reported it to the front commanders.

Manager Wang, Governor Zhe, and Governor Yang, have you all received the notification? "

"Received, very detailed. Xixia Zuoxiang Shenyong, Xiangyou, Jianing three military divisions, Yin, Shi, Xia and other prefectures, Quyechuan, Tuweichuan, Jialuchuan, Mingtangchuan, as well as Dahengshui, Dijinze, Huang The information on soldiers and horses in the hinterland of Henan such as Yangping and Anqingze is very detailed. Coupled with the maps of various places provided by the Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, we are more and more confident."

Zhe Kecun sighed.

Zhe Yanzhi, Yang Zongmin, and Yang Zhen sitting next to him also felt sad.

Jieshuai fought with more care and attention than the embroiderer. I don't know what means he used to obtain these military information and maps.

Wang Xun heard some "insider stories" from his son Wang Xun, and then he realized that Liu Erlang had such far-reaching intentions in setting up a surveying and mapping team in order to dredge the Bianhe River.

In just half a year, surveying and mapping teams all over the border states drew detailed maps based on the topographic maps collected by painters from the northwest states and counties that the Han Dynasty Painting Academy had collected for the "Ten Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains".

As for the military information of Xixia's various military divisions and states, they must have been obtained by the secret agents of the Reconnaissance and Security Bureau hidden in the caravans that had frequent exchanges in the past six months.

There are also the "diplomatic" and "economic" means revealed in the "insider story".
The more Wang Zhen thought about it, the more frightened he became. How could Liu Jieshuai in front of him learn so many tricks? He was very vicious, but it was indeed effective.

The meeting lasted for more than an hour, after which Liu Guozhang spoke to Zhe Kecun, Yang Zongmin, Zhe Yanzhi, Yang Zhen, Wang Zhen, Han Shizhong, Wu Jie, Zhang Jun, Wei Changsheng, Fu Huchen, Liu Qi, and Guo Zude who hurriedly arrived. , explained everything carefully.

In the evening, Zhe Yang went straight to Fulin, while Wang Zhen and Guo Zude went to the Taiyuan City military camp.

The expansion of Taiyuan City took two or three years. Now we are preparing materials, mobilizing talents, and constructing the construction in sections. The middle-level troops who have been transferred are performing their respective duties and doing a good job.

Wang Zhen can lead his troops to fight this battle with peace of mind.

Only Zhang Meng was left beside Liu Guozhang.

"Brother Erlang, when will you put me in the army?"

"Big Eyes, do you think that if you follow me, you will miss battles? Will I be the kind of person who hides behind and commands remotely?"

"Hehe, brother Erlang is definitely not the case. It's just that in this war, so many people have been deployed. Brother Fei, Han Powu, Wu Sanyan, Fu Laohu, Wei Datou, and Liu Dashao have all gone to various armies. I'm heartbroken. ah."

"Big Eyes, are you the one who gave these people their nicknames?"

"Everyone is hurting each other. Who told them to call me Big Eyes? Are they allowed to call me Big Eyes?" Zhang Meng muttered and then asked, "Brother Erlang, when are we going to the front line?"

"In this battle, Fu Lin Zhe Yang, Jinning Wang Guo, and Suide Zhong Yao are all hunting dogs, responsible for disturbing and driving away prey. The real hunter is Liu Zhuxie."

"There is brother Erlang, right?" Zhang Meng asked cheerfully from the side.

Liu Guozhang glanced at him, smiled, and did not answer.

(End of this chapter)