A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 838 Preparation
Han Chao asked: "How about the follow-up, can the bandits take advantage of the victory to attack Tongguan?"

Wen Daxing shook his head: "Information tells us that the remnants of the army that retreated to Tongguan still have [-] soldiers, but they are already frightened and don't have much strength. Fortunately, there are [-] soldiers from the Jing Frontier Army in Tongguan, so Tongguan is safe and secure. And ...Maybe it was because of the lingering fear of the battle at Pantongguan, so they did not go west to Shaanxi, but surrounded Kaifeng again."

With a look of unbearable expression on his face, he took out a newspaper: "This is the latest information, much faster than the imperial court's capital, the bandits... the bandits flooded Biancheng with the river, Kaifeng scholars and people drowned countless people. "

"what?"

Everyone in the hall was taken aback, Qin Yi praised the painting and tremblingly said: "You mean...that the thief broke the river and Kaifeng was flooded?"

Wen Daxing affirmed: "Yes, I don't know how it was flooded. There are rumors that Kaifeng was besieged again. The officials in the city wanted to dig dikes to divert water and flood the thieves with the purpose of destroying the flow of thieves. Irrigate the city with water."

"I also heard that the Liu thieves have been attacking Kaifeng for a long time, and they have accumulated hatred in their hearts. They have long conceived a plan to irrigate the city. It happened that there have been heavy rains in recent months, and the Yellow River has risen. It happened that the river was flooded to irrigate the city, and Bianliang fell."

"I don't know what happened, but it is a fact that Kaifeng was flooded."

Everyone was dazed, Zhong Susu bit her lower lip tightly, as if she was about to bleed, she said bitterly: "That's hundreds of thousands of people, even thieves can do it, what a beast!"

Qin Yi, who praised the painting, sighed: "Since the bandit rebellion, killing people has been invincible. The most violent one is flooding Bianliang! Those who want to do great things should be based on winning people. Li Chuang did this, but Huang Chao , The red-browed disciple's ear. If you want to achieve great things with such viciousness, how can you get it?"

Wen Fangliang clenched his teeth and said, "After all, I'm a thief!"

Han Chao sighed: "Fortunately, in recent years, the general has entrusted the Sanjin Commercial Bank to collect women and children, and many women and children in Kaifeng City have been sent away. This is a great fortune among misfortunes."

Gao Shiyin said in a deep voice: "Now do you know the movements of the thieves?"

Wen Daxing said: "Information has revealed that when the bandits re-encircled Kaifeng, a large group of soldiers rushed towards Guide and Xuzhou. Their intentions are unknown. After the bandits broke through the river and flooded Kaifeng City, most of them left their camps and marched eastward, with hundreds of thousands The soldiers and horses are mighty."

Everyone was shocked again, Han Chao looked at the sand table and said decisively: "This is the strategy of the bandits imitating the siege of Kaifeng, and they are also encircling and attacking aid under the cities of Guide and Xuzhou."

He pointed at the location of Xuzhou, and said bitterly: "Xuzhou is an important place in the north and south, and it has been a vital place since the past. If Xuzhou is cut off, the north and the south are cut off, especially if the water transportation is cut off, the imperial court will certainly not sit idly by. It seems that the rescue soldiers and horses It will be destroyed here continuously!"

Gao Shiyin was startled and said: "It seems that the ultimate intention of the Liu thieves is to invade Shandong, and then force them to the capital?"

Wen Fangliang looked at Wen Daxing, and said in a deep voice, "Does the Intelligence Department have a plan to detect the final intentions of the rogues?"

Wen Daxing glanced at Wang Dou, and Wang Dou nodded.

Wen Daxing unfolded a newspaper and said in a deep voice: "This is one of the top secrets of our intelligence department. In March of this year, our intelligence department found out that the intruders were discussing with the gang of thieves in Xiangyang Palace. , The strategy of the people in the Song Dynasty to discuss the direction of the dispute, and now the strategy of the people is as follows."

He said: "Prime Minister Niu Jinxing said: Your servant please attack Beizhi and Shandong, and then go straight to the capital!"

Everyone in the hall was shocked.

Wen Daxing continued: "The policy of Yang Yongyu, the servant of the government, is to occupy the Liudu and cut off the water transportation!"

Everyone in the hall pondered.

Wen Daxing finally said: "The thief is engaged in Gu Jun'en's plan. He said: No, no, no! First occupy the capital, and the situation is low-ranking. It is difficult to solve major problems, and the strategy fails slowly. Also, go straight to the capital. In case of defeat, There is no way to retreat, and the strategy is too urgent to fail. It is better to take Guanzhong first, make it the hometown of the marshal, establish a country and establish a career, and then attack the three sides, attack Shanxi, and then go to the capital. If there is more than enough to advance and retreat, then the whole strategy will be adopted!"

"In the opinion of the Ministry of Intelligence, Yang Yongyu's strategy was rejected, and Gu Junen's strategy is not feasible. Now there is only Niu Jinxing's strategy. The final strategy of the thieves must be to invade Shandong and go straight to the capital!"

Wang Dou said indifferently: "Minister Wen, is this the final judgment of the Ministry of Intelligence?"

Wen Daxing affirmed: "Yes, General!"

His tone was firm and confident.

……

Wang Dou waved his hand, and everyone sat back in their seats. Their eyes were shining faintly, and their expressions were solemn.They knew that next everyone would discuss the final strategy of the Jingbian Army and the Protectorate's Mansion, and every word they said was very important.

Zhong Susu touched his face, and murmured: "Support is not feasible, the court has accumulated a lot, and there are too many obstacles. First, Cao Wang was defeated, and then Sun Chuanting was defeated, wasting food and money. If rescue is carried out thousands of miles away, the food supply will be unsustainable, and the risk is too great. It's not feasible either..."

Everyone understands the meaning of her words. Everyone looks at each other. Many people want to stand up and speak, but they feel that they can't speak. Wen Fangliang said decisively: "Since you know the strategy of the thieves, it's easy to handle. I'll wait for them in the capital." , hundreds of miles away, there is no food road problem."

Li Guangheng suddenly raised his head and said, "Just sit back and watch? If the bandits attack Xuzhou, I don't know how many rescue troops will be destroyed. If the bandits attack the northeast of Shandong, I don't know how many people will suffer. My Jingbian army just watched like this." ?"

Wen Fangliang sternly said: "General Hu Lie, we have to consider the people and the imperial army, but we also have to consider our brothers in the Jingbian Army! First, King Cao was defeated, and then Sun Chuanting was destroyed. Don't you know the danger of this thousand-mile food road? We only have this little property, how can we squander it at will regardless of the importance?"

Li Guangheng remained silent with a cold face, and Wen Fangliang continued: "Besides, it is uncertain whether the imperial court will call us to send troops. The general has worked hard and made great achievements, and his loyalty can be seen by the whole Ming Dynasty! But whoever keeps him in cold storage, who treats him Suspicion? Are we going to send troops rashly without an edict, and continue to put our hot face on the cold ass of others, in exchange for greater suspicion and cold storage in the end?"

He sneered again and again, with a piercing chill in his words, Li Guangheng's face was ashen, and the veins on his forehead bulged.

He stood up abruptly, and finally sat down decadently, holding his head in silence.

Qin Yi, who praised the painting, stood up slowly at this time. He saluted Wang Dou solemnly, and said to everyone in the hall: "The biggest habit of thieves is that they are easy to run away. If there is a way, there will be no thieves gathering but only dispersing. If you save Xuzhou, Shandong In addition to worrying about food and roads, I am also worried about them escaping. I have never doubted the strength of our Jingbian Army, but I am only worried that the intruders will see that the situation is not good, leaving millions of hungry people behind, and then taking tens of thousands The old camp has fled all the way to Henan and even Huguang, so when will the thieves be purged?"

He said: "If the bandits attack the capital, but it's in the right place, and when the time and place are favorable, I will be able to deal with the bandits once and for all. I don't have to worry about being led by the nose like the defeated officers and soldiers before!"

He muttered to himself: "The capital is strong, so it can last for a year or so. The lower officials think that the emperor will be suspicious, but the capital is in danger, so it is time to summon the general Qin Wang, and he can send troops at the right time to solve the disaster for the Ming Dynasty." Therefore, the lower officials agree with General Wen's strategy."

Everyone in the hall was arguing, Wang Dou sat quietly, no one knew what he was thinking, and suddenly he waved his hand: "Let's destroy the thieves in the capital!"

He said lightly: "I've already figured out how to do great good and not limit small evil."

He said: "This is one of the most recent strategies of our Protectorate. Roads, food, supplies, logistics, soldiers, and equipment must be organized in an orderly manner, and we must start preparing for it."

……

He made a decision with one word and arranged the strategy: "The staff department needs to draw up detailed operational rules, the intelligence department needs to carefully collect intelligence, the military and political department needs to train the army and equip the soldiers well. The civil affairs department needs to prepare the army to go out with food and grass to help the hungry people with food, rice and money. The Ministry of Supervision must do a good job in supervision..."

Everyone listened in awe. They knew that with the determination of the strategy of the Protectorate, everything in the future would focus on how to eliminate the thieves, and the mobilization machine of the Protectorate would also be activated quickly.

Zhang Guimeng stood up, and he assured Wang Dou: "Don't worry, General, our Ministry of Civil Affairs will do our best to prepare all the supplies for the army going on the expedition."

He introduced his achievements to Wang Dou as if offering a treasure. The wasteland reclaimed by the army has reached 200 million mu, plus a large number of civilian villages and commercial villages. At first, there were fields in various places in Xuanfu Town. He said affirmatively: "Just next year The harvest of grain and rice, the accumulated grain from my Duhu Mansion will help the entire northern land of Ming Dynasty, and even the hungry people in Henan are no longer a problem!"

Wang Dou nodded in satisfaction, he worked so hard, and it was finally time to reap the rewards.

Han and North Korea got up and reported to the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs that the army had fully replaced their flintlock guns, and it was estimated that they would all be replaced by the twelfth lunar month, and each gun was equipped with a sharp sword.

In terms of artillery, the three artillery factories are all in operation, and they can cast 330 light and heavy red cannons every month. Now there are [-] large and small red cannons and [-] heavy mortars in the army.In addition, there are [-] general Frang machine guns and [-] small and medium Frang machine guns.

In terms of rockets, because Wang Dou instructed to increase production capacity a few months ago, there are [-] light rockets and [-] heavy rockets in the current rocket inventory.

Wang Dou murmured: "The artillery will be produced at this level for the time being, and the investment in rockets will be increased. By March and April next year, I want to see at least [-] light rockets in stock and [-] heavy rockets in stock!"

Han Chao thought for a while and replied, "Yes, General!"

He also reported to Wang Dou that after the autumn harvest, through the vigorous control of the horses by King Shunyi and now the horse official of the capital guard, Ombu, a lot of fat and strong war horses were obtained. Now there are 5 war horses in stock in various horse farms in the grassland. Many horses.In addition to the original war horses of the Jingbian Army, that is to say, all the soldiers of the Jingbian Army can now have war horses.

Everyone in the hall was beaming with joy, Wang Dou also laughed, he was very happy, and said: "Okay, from now on, the soldiers' formation training, feathered cavalry tactics, will be one of the key points."

The staff department is very powerful, and it is the only department in the Jingbian Army that can order mobilization, combat, and mobilization of the entire army.As a minister, Wen Fangliang naturally had to report to Wang Dou that if the Jingbian army sent troops, it would be able to mobilize and mobilize more troops.

The Jingbian Army was called the Zhongyong Battalion to the outside world at this time, but there were five armies under its command, the forward Zhuque Army, the left guard Qinglong Army, the right guard White Tiger Army, the rear Xuanwu Army, and Wang Dou's central army.

As far as the current strength of the army is concerned, each army has two or three battalions under its command, divided into first-class battalions and second-class battalions. The first army has about 1 to [-] people.There are also two battalions of supply battalions, one battalion of sharp whistle battalions, one battalion of guard battalions, and two battalions of cavalry battalions.

There is also a battalion of the Artillery Battalion, plus the Zhongyi Battalion and the New Affiliated Battalion, the total strength is almost [-].

But this does not take into account the young men and women in the forts.

As for the current population of Duhufu and Xuanfu Town, on the East Road, as of March 14, including the full set, the total population of the whole road is more than 53.But now it has exploded to 4000, especially the population of Baoan Prefecture has exceeded 70, and now the population of the entire Xuanfu Town has reached 30 million.

In the Anbei Protectorate, by the beginning of August, the number of people who had moved into Anbei from various provinces had exceeded 50. Due to the plague, more people were eager to enter Anbei.Prosperity, peace, stability, and security are the impressions of Anbei from all parties.

Among other things, when the plague came down, tens of thousands of people in Shanxi died, but how many people in Anbei died?The shouts in the newspapers were earth-shattering, everyone from the Marquis of Yongning to the Protector of the Metropolis paid attention to it, but according to the final statistics, the death toll had not exceeded 1000.

Who doesn't yearn for such a place?

So up to now, more than 80 people have immigrated into Anbei, and many of them are wealthy families. This is one of the reasons for the rapid prosperity of Guihua City.

According to such statistics, the population under the name of Wang Dou has reached more than 200 million. If there are four or five households, there are about 50 million households.

Conservatively counting one household and one member, there are almost 40 to 50 young and strong under Wang Dou's command.

With the help of the Mutual Aid Society and a large number of horse farming, more men can be drawn to fight. With the mobilization efficiency of the Duhufu, it can reach a ratio of one out of three men.

That is to say, at that time, 15 to [-] Tun Ding can be mobilized to participate in the war, and farming and commerce will not be significantly affected.

In fact, according to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there are more young and strong people in Anbei and Xuanfu, because most of the people who can escape are strong men, such as men like Lao Hu.It is conservatively estimated that there will be no less than 60 young and strong under Wang Dou.

This is also the reason why the Duhu Mansion is desperately trying to recruit women and children. There is a trend of more men than women in the territory under its jurisdiction, and the imbalance of yin and yang is a big taboo.

After listening to Wen Fangliang's report, everyone in the hall smiled happily. After many years, it turns out that the power of our side has expanded to this point!

Gao Shiyin stood up abruptly, and he said loudly: "There is no need to mobilize so many people, [-] garrison troops are enough, plus Jingbian army's main soldiers, [-], are enough to sweep the world!"

Everyone in the hall said yes, they are full of confidence in the fighting power of the Jingbian Army, there are millions of thieves, so what's the point?
Han and North Korea suddenly said: "No, the army needs to be mobilized on a scale of 15 to [-]."

He reminded: "Don't forget the slaves in Liaodong. I heard that they have withdrawn their troops from the Japanese country. When the bandits go north, they may also send troops into the pass and take advantage of the fire to loot."

He said: "At that time, our Jingbian army is very likely to fight against the bandits and Hulu at the same time, facing an enemy of up to a million people!"

Everyone was startled, and they all looked towards the direction of Liaodong where the map was hanging on the wall.

Wang Dou glanced at Han Chao approvingly, and said: "Yes, there is indeed a possibility. Don't be afraid of 20, just in case. Regardless of whether Dongnu will enter or not, we must make preparations. Ning Duo Don't be less, Zhengbing Jiatunding, mobilize according to the scale of [-] people."

……

After Wang Dou is confirmed, the follow-up details will be perfected by various departments such as the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the General Staff Department. This will be a huge and complicated task. People are quite different.

Sergeants go out to fight, of course they will consume food, people eat horse chews, and the loss on the road will be an astonishing figure.

It is conservatively estimated that each sergeant consumes about one kilogram of food per day at this time, which is almost one liter at this time.In fact, people eat a lot at this time, that is, there are many people who eat two catties of rice for a meal.

Shen Kuo said in the Mengxi pen talk that a person's solar eclipse is two liters, and some people in Wanli Aid Korea also said that a solar eclipse is three liters.

One hundred liters is one shi, and 20 people consume only [-] shi of food a day, especially if there are horses.

At this time, the food intake of horses was almost ten to one compared with that of humans, and it could be reduced to five to one in later generations.That is to say, people eat one liter, and horses eat ten liters. Of course, what horses eat is forage mixed with grain, mainly hay and beans.

There is a certain proportion of forage in this. Generally speaking, because the energy provided by the forage itself is not very high, the horse's food intake must be large.If you want the horses to fight quickly, you need to provide concentrated materials, mainly grains and beans, plus a suitable amount of salt to supplement the physical strength of the horses.

The standard for horses in the Jingbian army is half grain and half grass beans. In other words, not counting hay for the time being, a horse eats five times as much rice and wheat as a human.

The 20 army, in addition to the horses of the cavalry and feather cavalry, and the mules and horses pulling the carts, it is estimated that there will be [-] horses at that time, and the food consumed per day will be only [-] shi.

In this way, 20 horses consume 16 shi of grain a day, and [-] shi of grain and rice a month.

At this time, the loss of logistics transportation is not small. If there is a scale of 10 people, and the large army is ten days away from the logistics supply point, the total consumption of logistics will almost catch up with the consumption of combat troops.This is still a distance of ten days. If the journey is longer, the logistical consumption will be greater.

In other words, the amount of food consumed by 20 horses a day is not only [-] shi, which is of course a big deal for the country at this time.

This is also the reason why this era is very particular about feeding on the enemy. "Sun Tzu's Art of War" says: "Eat the enemy for one minute, and serve me for twenty minutes."

This is also the reason why ancient dynasties were often at a disadvantage against nomadic peoples. The Central Plains are full of urban populations, and Hu Qi can feed on the enemy.When the Central Plains invaded the grassland, there was nothing but grass, and the food and grass to supply the army had to be transported from the Central Plains for thousands of miles.

If the food road is cut off badly, the whole army will be wiped out.

Wang Dou's concerns about going to Shandong, Henan and other places are also here. The grain road is too long and the transportation of grain and grass is too difficult.If only the capital is recruited, besides the short grain road, the loss of all parties will be smaller. After all, he has built many military depots and grain depots in Xuanfu Town these years.

of course……

"Now the Duhu Mansion is starting to build three post roads at the same time, and the remaining two can be slowed down. The road from Guihua City to Xuanfu Town is given the highest priority."

"Yes!"

……

The sound of footsteps going away, the excited officials will leave the meeting hall. Wang Dou is standing in front of the hall, with his hands behind his back, watching the snow outside lightly. His python robe makes him extremely majestic. I don't know what I'm thinking.

Wen Daxing quietly stood behind Wang Dou, waiting for him to speak.

Wang Dou's eyes changed, sometimes there was a cold light in his eyes, and sometimes they turned soft.He stared ahead, as if watching scenes of the past, as well as the people and things that appeared in front of him from time to time. Finally, he sighed and said, "Let's start preparing for the plan of the capital!"

Wen Daxing said: "General..."

"Get ready."

Wang Dou waved his hand, and he murmured, "I promised someone."

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)