Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 267 Combat Deployment (Part )

As soon as the order to call the troops was issued, the generals of the 37th Army immediately handed over their work and rushed to Chao County for a meeting with their instructors and personal soldiers.

The 37th Army on the eastern front was composed of Yang Jing's 103rd Division and Liao Yongjian's 107th Division, with 4 main infantry regiments and 2 naval regiments, a total of six regiments. There were more than battalion officers and training officers from each regiment.

Lu Jin brought his own 38st and 37nd Brigades of the Imperial Guard, each brigade also had ten battalion commanders. One brigade was short of a cavalry battalion, so there were nine in total. But the battalion officers and instructors of the two brigades added up to people. Together with the officers and instructors of Ye Sheng's st Cavalry Regiment, the number of officers was actually slightly more than that of the th Army.

So, on June 26th, when all the generals gathered, an interesting scene occurred.

In the backyard of Chao County government office, more than eighty officers and generals were lined up on both sides. On the left of Lu Jin were people wearing red armor, and on the right were people wearing yellow armor. Only the cavalry generals like Ye Sheng at the end were wearing white armor.

There were more than eighty officers, plus some officials from the Marshal's Mansion, a meeting of nearly a hundred people. The county government hall could not accommodate them at all, so they simply held it in the back yard. When all the generals arrived, Lu Jin appeared wearing fish scale armor.

Yang Jing, Liao Yongjian, Zhu Shou and Zhang Wen immediately stepped out and led the other generals to pay homage.

"Meet the Marshal!"

"You're wearing armor, so there's no need to be polite." Lu Jin waved his hand and asked them to stand up, then he looked at the generals below the stage and joked.

"We have been receiving your letters of request for battle since last month. We have been training for half a year. You must be exhausted, right?"

"Ha ha ha ha."

All the generals burst into laughter when they heard the words, and some veteran generals who were familiar with Lu Jin even spoke up to reply directly.

"Yes, Marshal, I came to join the army when you just conquered Luzhou. I joined the Fourth Regiment right after I joined the army. But since I joined the army, except for the battle against Kang Maocai, I followed them to attack Hezhou City, and later I followed them to attack Quanjiao. After that, I never fought again.

"Now that the soldiers have been well-trained and have put on their new armor, the brothers have long been thinking about going out to fight again." Wu Fu, the captain of Yang Jing's Fourth Regiment, said immediately.

"Yes, Marshal, take us out to fight." Wang Zhiyuan under Chang Yuchun also shouted.

Seeing this, Lu Jin immediately remembered that Wu Fu had indeed come to join him from Liang County with a thousand militiamen when he had just conquered Luzhou. He was indeed a veteran.

Wang Zhiyuan has even more seniority, but his starting point was lower. He was born in the Chaohu Navy. When Lu Jin first joined Chaohu, he was a thousand households, and Wang Zhiyuan was only a squad leader at that time. His eldest brother was beheaded by Jia Chou under Zuo Junbi's command. Later, he followed Lu Jin to besiege and kill Zuo Junbi, defeat Zhu Liangzu, and capture Luzhou City. When the Shengwu Army was established, he was promoted to company commander of a regiment.

Later, he personally participated in the decisive battle against Kang Maocai. When Chang Yuchun's 13th Regiment was established, it lacked officers, so he was transferred from the Imperial Guards to the 13th Regiment and promoted to the rank of battalion commander of a thousand households. He almost fought in the whole battle and was promoted from a squad leader to the battalion commander of a thousand households.

Judging from the time of joining and the speed of promotion of the generals under Lu Jin's command, when he first joined the army, among the eight combat battalions near Chaohu Lake, except himself, the other seven have now become army commanders, division commanders, and the lowest rank is regiment commander.

Among the soldiers of the Chaohu Navy, the squad leaders who were promoted quickly became battalion commanders, while those who were promoted slowly became company and platoon leaders.

Then there were the surrendered generals, those who came to surrender voluntarily, and those who were recruited later.

Among them, the highest-ranking surrendered general was Zhu Liangzu, who had reached the level of military chief. Among those recruited later, Yang Jing had the highest position, also at the level of military chief.

Wu Fu, who had just called for a war, had been under Yang Jing's command since he joined the army. Naturally, he did not dare to compete with Yang Jing, but some who joined the army later than him, such as Chang Yuchun, have now been promoted to commander.

After all, Chang Yuchun had captured Chuzhou with a single battalion and had military merit, so Wu Fu could understand why he was promoted so quickly. However, people like Lu Ding and Guo Zixing from the 35th Army in the South obviously came later than him, but they were promoted directly to commanders just because they brought more soldiers when they joined the army. This made Wu Fu a little unbalanced, so he was holding his breath, wanting to make merit and get promoted as soon as possible.

Another type of people who are eager to fight are people like Wang Zhiyuan, who started out as a squad leader near Chaohu Lake and was promoted all the way to a battalion commander of a thousand households. He has become addicted to promotions and feels uncomfortable without a battle to fight.

Lu Jin looked at the two people who asked for a fight, smiled and said, "I think you don't want to fight, you want to get promoted. Some of you have been a thousand households for a long time, and seeing some newcomers have become regiment commanders, you feel unbalanced."

Wu Fu's face turned pale when he heard this, and he quickly stepped out and said, "Marshal, I am not."

Lu Jin immediately raised his hand to interrupt, "I don't mean to criticize you. As a general, what's wrong with wanting to make progress? If you don't even have the idea of ​​making progress, then you have no ambition and are no different from a salted fish. Such a general, even if he arrives on the battlefield, he doesn't know how to fight actively. He is just a donkey that moves when whipped.

"But as a military general, how can one advance? Of course, one must fight and make contributions. Only those generals who are eager to fight and can make contributions on the battlefield are worthy of promotion."

Wu Fu breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this and quietly returned to the team.

Lu Jin then said, "Now, for those of you who are eager to fight and want to advance, I have good news for you. Your chance to be promoted is coming soon!"

Everyone became serious when they heard this, and they all looked at Lu Jin with sharp eyes.

Lu Jin added, "By the end of this year, I plan to double the size of the Shengwu Army by at least 10 to 20 regiments, which means 20 commanders will be needed.

"I don't look at seniority to determine who can be promoted or demoted. No matter if you were born in Chaohu, joined the army later, or even if you recently returned from Anqing, everyone is equal and everyone has a chance. I only look at who fights bravely, who can complete the tasks I assign to him excellently, and who has made more military achievements. I will promote them first."

The eyes of the thousand-household battalion officers present lit up when they heard this. Every expansion of the army was a feast for the generals at all levels in the army. It meant that they could make meritorious deeds, get promoted, and maybe even get a title in the future, have their wives and children ennobled, and bring honor to their ancestors.

This is no longer just a single page in the family tree, or even a single family tree, but an opportunity to open a single biography in the history book!

This time, there are 20 more commander positions. Anyone who is ambitious would be jealous.

With 20 commanders, how many more general commanders and military chiefs can be recruited?

Now even Chang Yuchun was uneasy. He had always dreamed of leading an army of 27000. However, a military commander had six regiments under his command, with only soldiers. What position did he have to reach in order to lead an army of ?
"General, give the order. I, Chang Yuchun, am willing to lead the army as the vanguard!"

"Marshal, give the orders. We have never been afraid of anyone since we followed you to fight!" Zhang Desheng also shouted.

Hearing this, Lu Jin pressed his hand again, "Don't worry, all the generals are clamoring for a fight and want to attack. Let me test you today. Have you studied the 'Quick Military Strategy of Gongshu Generals and Schools' that I gave you seriously?"

"learned."

"Looked."

All the generals shouted. Lu Jin asked again, "Who can tell me what the key points of the attack are? Raise your hand to answer."

A row of arms stretched out from below. Lu Jin took a quick look and pointed at a general who looked unfamiliar. "You, from the 9th Regiment, your name is Li Xin, right? I remember you joined the army after the Battle of Chuzhou?"

"That's right, Marshal." Li Xin immediately stepped out and said.

"Okay, then you tell me."

Li Xin said immediately, "Whenever we engage in an offensive operation, we must focus on three tactics: fierce attack, fierce charge, and fierce pursuit.

"To attack fiercely is to use our strongest elite troops to attack the enemy's weak brigades or weak points, to open up a breakthrough for the enemy, or to attack the enemy's important joints to expose their flaws.

"Charge means to violently tear open the breach after opening it, expand the breach, and fiercely attack the enemy in depth. The enemy should be crushed, routed, and destroyed in the fastest possible time, leaving them no time to react or to move troops to plug the breach.

"Fierce pursuit means to pursue the enemy fiercely after their defeat. Do not be afraid of an ambush, or of suffering or being tired. Even if you do not sleep or eat, and are hungry, you must still dare to pursue the enemy.

"Because we are tired, the enemy is even more tired than us. Not only are they tired, they are also terribly afraid of us. At this time, we should seize the opportunity to pursue the victory and not give the enemy a chance to gather their remaining troops, reorganize their defense, or even counterattack us. We must kill them with one strike and beat them until they can't breathe.

“There are many ways to defeat the enemy, but after defeating them, there is only one way to maximize the results of the battle, and that is pursuit.

"It's like cooking. You've cooked a pot of rice. After you've defeated the enemy, you clearly have the opportunity to annihilate them completely. But because you didn't pursue them, you didn't dare to pursue them. In the end, you can only eat half a bowl of rice. So you must dare to pursue the remaining enemies relentlessly, and chase them until they have no way to go up to the sky or enter the earth."

clap clap-

Lu Jin immediately applauded and praised, "Well said, it seems that you have learned a lot. Please step down. Do you have anything to add? Raise your hand to answer."

shhhhh--

There was another round of raising hands, but this time not as many people raised their hands as before, after all, this was just a supplement.

Lu Jin took another look and picked out a captain who looked unfamiliar. "You, from the 17th Regiment, your name is Xu Yuanyan, right? I remember you joined after Anqing."

"Come back to the commander-in-chief, he is the last general."

"You tell me."

"Yes." Xu Yuanyan said immediately, "When attacking, you must be fast, fierce, and fierce. You must kill with one strike and not give the enemy a chance to breathe. But before attacking, you must be slow, steady, careful, and patient, and be fully prepared.

“Before attacking, we must first find out the enemy’s situation and our own situation, so as to know ourselves and the enemy, who the enemy’s general is, what his character is like, what tactics he usually uses, how many troops the enemy has, the condition of his equipment, whether he is elite, the enemy’s troop deployment, and the defensive or offensive deployment.

"The training of our troops, the state of our soldiers, whether our equipment and food are sufficient, whether our subordinates understand our combat intentions, and whether they have the experience and ability to carry out similar missions.

"After we have understood the enemy's situation and our own situation, we must look for the enemy's weaknesses and develop a detailed attack plan. We must estimate the enemy's possible reactions in advance, then check for loopholes and develop a backup plan. Only when we are fully prepared can we order the attack.

"As a general, don't be lazy. In the preparation stage, you must be present, watchful, and attentive. You must walk around the terrain that you need to explore yourself, and make sure that you check it yourself. Even if it is a small matter that does not require you to do it yourself, you must ask the corresponding responsible person in person and urge the officials to complete it as soon as possible. When the real battle comes, don't forget to bring this or that.

"We must be fully aware of our own situation, the terrain and climate of the combat area, and the enemy we are about to face."

clap clap-

Lu Jin applauded again. Most of the generals who surrendered after the Battle of Anqing joined after March. It has only been three months. He didn't expect that this person had learned so deeply and understood the contents of this quick-learning military strategy so thoroughly.

"Well said. You have only been in our army for three months. It seems that you learn very quickly. However, fighting is not enough just to memorize. You also have to learn to do it. Today I will personally teach you what preparations you should make before attacking.

"Someone, get on the sand table!"

Immediately, a guard carried a large wooden box into the courtyard and placed it between the two rows of generals. Lu Jin also stood up and walked to the front of the sand table, asking everyone, "Look, do you know where this is?"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately leaned over to look, and saw models made of mud and stones on both sides of the river, with a stream winding through the middle, and even several sandbars in the middle of the river. The cities and ports on both sides of the river had red flags on one side and blue flags on the other.

Liao Yongjian stood in front and said immediately, "Isn't this the Hezhou where we are stationed, and the Taiping Road and Jiqing Road across the way?"

"Yes, it's on both sides of the Yangtze River where we are." Lu Jin nodded, and then looked at the generals who were craning their necks, and then said, "Everyone, please stand forward. Those in the front row should squat down, and those in the back row should stand up, so as not to block everyone from seeing the sand table."

Upon hearing this, everyone came closer and discussed in low voices the terrain in the sand table. Such a meticulous and detailed sand table could show the terrain and landforms in full view, giving people a feeling as if gods were looking down on the mortal world.

"I guess we have to cross the river."

"Why are there so many blue flags on the opposite side? How many troops does this blue flag represent?"

"Is this sand table accurate enough? The moat of Dangtu City across the street is so wide? It's also connected to the Yangtze River, so we should be able to sail directly to the city, right? If not, how long will it take to fill such a wide moat?"

"Isn't there a small boat model? It looks like even a building ship can enter the moat. The moat of Dangtu City is too wide. Who built this city?"

"Why did they attack Dangtu first? I read in history books that every time they attacked Jiangzuo from Jiangyou, they landed at three major reefs on the Yangtze River. This is Niuzhu Reef, and behind this is Caishi Reef. Hey, where is Yanzi Reef?"

The generals immediately started a heated discussion, and at this moment, Lu Jin suddenly said.

"Be quiet, everyone, watch carefully. Next, let the Military Command Department's Chief Bao introduce the situation of the enemy forces on the other side to everyone."

"Yes." Bao Yu immediately took the order, took a stack of information and came forward with a baton in hand.

(End of this chapter)