Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 302: Sweeping Jinling (I)

"Quick, quick! Hurry up, the troops that received the soldiers should return to their bases immediately and do not stay in Hezhou Port!"

At the dock of Hezhou Port, Hua Gao commanded the officers who came from all over the place to receive the soldiers, the immigrant recruits who crossed the river, and the various weapons and armor sent from Luzhou.

Hearing Hua Gao's words, Zhang Huan, Chen Hong, Wu Guoxing and Shao Yongjian, who had just been promoted to regiment commanders, immediately bowed.

"General Manager Hua, the armor for our two regiments has been delivered, and the new recruits for the four regiments have also arrived. The roster has been compiled. Please pass it to the Marshal and ask the Military and Political Department to complete the appointment documents as soon as possible."

"Okay, okay." Hua Gao also responded with a fist salute, took the rosters, and couldn't help but give instructions.

"After you go back, you must train your troops and replenish your equipment as soon as possible. The Marshal has given you so many additional troops just to prepare you for the war. The Marshal will probably tell you more, so I won't say any more. Go back quickly and don't let Chief Steward Yu wait anxiously."

"Yes, then we'll go first."

"Go, go." Hua Gao waved his hand and quickly sent away the four men, asking them to lead nearly 20,000 recruits away quickly to avoid taking up space on the dock.

Just as they sent the people away, Yang Heng from the Logistics Department of the Martial Academy also ran over and said, "General Manager Hua, are you ready for the ship I need? The Marshal needs armor urgently. I have urged him three times. Now the armor is piled on the dock. Please send it to me as soon as possible!"

"Don't rush me. The goods are already being transported. But I only have so many ships. They are loaded with people when they come and loaded with cargo when they go. There is not a single empty ship. My sailors have already run back and forth more than ten times and they don't even have time to eat. What do you want me to do?" Hua Gao retorted helplessly.

Yang Heng said immediately, "Then let the sailors take turns to eat. After all, the crew can't rest while the ship is resting. Hurry up and send these armors and guns to me! Also, the shells, bullets, grenades, and those 50,000 new uniforms and 60,000 pairs of shoes!"

"Do you think I don't know how to rotate the sailors?" Hua Gao was also annoyed by the urging, and immediately retorted, and then asked, "Besides, I have already transported so much, how many soldiers and armors did you send? How come there are still some?"

Hearing this, Yang Heng patted his chest with pride. "The iron factory produced 20250 sets of armor in July, August, and most of September, nearly three months. In addition, the 2 sets of old armor taken off by the 11nd and 29250th Regiments, a total of 750 sets of armor. I'm short of sets to make up the . In addition, there are rifles."

hiss----

Hua Gao took a deep breath when he heard this. "My goodness, there are so many, enough to equip six and a half regiments. Our ten newly formed regiments don't even have a single piece of armor, and we sent them all across the river. How many troops did the Marshal expand?"

"Who knows? It's not enough."

Yang Heng was both tired and excited. According to the battle record after crossing the river and the speed of military expansion, the size of the Shengwu Army would probably increase exponentially soon. I heard that, not counting the cavalry and navy, the pure infantry regiments had expanded to 36, with 4500 people in each regiment. These 36 regiments already had people.

Moreover, the momentum of military expansion has not only not stopped, but is accelerating.
In fact, this number of troops is nothing. According to the original history, Zhu Yuanzhang's total troop strength before crossing the river was about 36 to . Not long after crossing the river, the number of troops suddenly increased to , divided into dozens of battalions.

The 36 regiments of the Shengwu Army only had men, which was still short of the historical Zhu Yuanzhang.
Upon hearing this, Hua Gao couldn't help but ask again, "How much armor does the ironworks produce per month now? With this rate of military expansion, can the ironworks' output still meet the demand?"

Yang Heng also shook his head helplessly, "It's definitely not enough. The previous monthly output of armor was about 7500 pairs. This month hasn't even ended yet, but the estimated output can reach about 8100 pairs. But that's the limit, and it's impossible to increase production any further."

Hua Gao asked in confusion, "Didn't the Marshal say that he would send back a group of craftsmen? Can't we continue to expand the ironworks?"

Yang Heng explained, "Before, we only produced a little over 4,000 pairs per month, because we only had one rolling mill. Now that the second rolling mill has been put into production, and the new craftsmen are becoming more and more skilled, we can increase the output to 8,000 pairs per month.

“It’s not a matter of adding more craftsmen. It would be hard to make 500 pairs a month just by hand.

"The reason why our ironworks has a high output is due to those hydraulic automatic machines. To add new hydraulic machines, we need suitable terrain and sufficient water. We also need to build sluices and water diversion channels. There is no suitable place to add water wheels in Feixi, Luzhou. This is the biggest reason for limiting the scale.

"And even if we choose a new site, it will be difficult. We need convenient transportation to transport coke and ore, and we need to be close to the ore production area. From this point of view, Luzhou is a treasure land given by God! Of course, it can only be brought into play in the hands of a genius like the General."

Hua Gao nodded and said, "That's right. Then there's nothing we can do. We can only try our best to complete the Marshal's orders and not hold him back."

"Well, how much has been transported now?" Yang Heng asked again.

"Half of them have been transported. There are a total of ten regiments of new recruits. Four regiments have just been brought back to Luzhou, and one has been received by me. The sixth one is now disembarking and assembling." Hua Gao said, pointing to the new recruits assembled on the shore.

"Has the reinforcements not arrived yet?" Yang Heng frowned.

"They're coming soon. Yu Tongyuan's Seventh Regiment is in Chuzhou. They have no water connection from Chuzhou, so it will take at least three days to get here." Hua Gao explained.

"Lao Hua!"

As the two were talking, Yu Tongyuan came over on horseback, looking exhausted, followed by a large force from the Seventh Regiment.

When Hua Gao and the other two saw each other, they immediately said, "You are finally here. We have been waiting for you. Why don't you come first? What are you doing with so many soldiers? Let the deputy general lead the soldiers, and you and a few thousand soldiers can come first to meet the soldiers."

"Hehe, we have to change our base anyway, so just treat it as a training march. I have brought all the people here. What do we need to do now? What arrangements does the Marshal have? And where is our new base?" Yu Tongyuan dismounted and asked immediately.

Hua Gao immediately arranged, "Our newly formed 39th Army will take over all the original East Route Army and North Route Army garrisons. My 112th Division will be stationed along the river from Hezhou to Chuzhou. I will be stationed in Hezhou. Your 113th Division will be stationed along the Huaihe River. The three cities of Haozhou, Dingyuan, and Lai'an will belong to you. You will move to Haozhou with the th Regiment.

"Also, the commander-in-chief only appointed the regiment commander level this time. You have to promote the thousand-household level generals yourself, submit the roster, and let the Military and Political Department reissue the official appointment documents to you."

"Okay, I have already selected the people. Where are the new recruits?" Yu Tongyuan agreed immediately.

Hua Gao pointed at the new recruits who were landing and said, "That's the sixth regiment to cross the river. They're all the same. Whoever arrives first will get the assignment. You can decide who to give it to first."

Yu Tongyuan thought for a moment and asked again, "After we take over the city defense on the northern front, will Zhu Liangzu's 35th Army go out to fight?"

Hua Gao nodded, "The Marshal didn't say a specific date, but it should be soon, so you must lead the troops back immediately and don't delay here. If the 35th Army is on its first expedition, it will definitely take some time to prepare."

Yu Tongyuan nodded to show that he understood, and then immediately shouted, "Hu Hai!"

"To!"

Yu Tongyuan waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, you are all the regiment commanders now. This newly landed regiment is for you. Take the soldiers away quickly and then come back to An immediately to report to Commander Liao."

"Hehe, even if you become a commander, you are still my old superior. We can't forget this friendship. Although we are not in the same army in the future, you can't forget me, old commander." Hu Hai immediately came over and said with a grin.

"Stop joking. Take your people back quickly and make the best use of the time to train the soldiers. After you go back, you will still be part of the 35th Army and may be sent out soon. You may not have much time to train new recruits. Can you be confident in fighting the next battle?" Yu Tongyuan instructed immediately.

Hu Hai immediately said, "No problem. We have expanded the army like this before. A battalion is expanded into a regiment, with a total of 256 squads. Each squad can have at least two or three veterans. One person can lead three new recruits. There won't be many problems. Even if I can't be a vanguard, I'm not afraid of fighting in battles."

"As long as you know what's going on, I'll be relieved. When you go back, train your troops well and don't embarrass our Seventh Regiment."

"Yes!"

Hu Hai agreed and immediately asked several of his former company commanders to go and lead the people. Just as he was about to leave, Hua Gao stopped him and reminded him.

"Wait a minute, if Hu Hai returns to the 35th Army, Tongyuan, you have to give him all the armor of the th Regiment. The troops we stay behind can temporarily go without armor, but everyone in the expeditionary troops must have armor." Yu Tongyuan nodded immediately after hearing this, "That's right, Xi Guobao, Tang He, take off all our armor and let Hu Hai take it away."

"what?"

"Ah what? Hurry up, don't waste time."

"Oh." Xi Guobao and Tang He pouted immediately. Now, although they were promoted to commanders, it would be ok if their subordinates lost all their armor.

Hu Hai led the people and took the armor, and even came to thank Xi Guobao and Tang He in a servile manner. He was so ungrateful after getting the advantage, but the two of them kicked him away.

At the dock, as soon as people got ashore, thousands of porters began to load ammunition and weapons onto the ship, which soon headed for Caishiji on the other side.

On the surface of the Yangtze River from Hezhou Port to Caishiji, hundreds of boats are competing with each other, and ships transporting personnel and supplies are coming and going. This transportation line from Lu'an to Lishui, which is more than 500 miles long, is like a major artery, constantly supplying nutrients to the army on the front line.

On the south side of the Yangtze River, the three regiments of Chang Yuchun's 109th Division stationed in Caishiji were also expanded from one regiment. They were still short of armor for two regiments. After Zhang Huan delivered the old armor of the two regiments in Luzhou, all members of the 109th Division immediately changed into armor and standard rifles, and then marched towards Lishui to meet up with Lu Jin.

Nearly 110 pieces of armor newly added by the Logistics Department were also distributed to Xu Yong's th Division. Now almost all the main forces have standard armor to wear.

In fact, since Lu Jin crossed the river, he had seized nearly 30,000 pieces of various Yuan army armor in the battles of Caishi, Dangtu, and Xiaomaoshan. However, the army had not yet expanded to that many, so they had not been used yet.

On the Lishui side, the 4500 troops led by Dong Xingyao, who voluntarily opened the city and surrendered, were also incorporated by Lu Jin. From these 37 troops, the old and weak were eliminated and the strong and fit were selected, leaving only people. He then expanded them into a regiment and gave them the number of the th Regiment.

Moreover, Dong Xingyao's army had just been formed, and they were equipped with brand new armor and spears sent from Luzhou, which amazed the Yuan army that had just surrendered.

"My goodness, I really didn't see much before. The Luzhou Red Scarf is really powerful. They took out thousands of brand-new armors as soon as they said they would. I heard there are more to come. How many new troops will they have to form!"

Chen Hao, a centurion under Dong Xingyao, was recommended as the battalion commander of the 37th Regiment because of his good relationship with him. Looking at the army under his command that was putting on armor, he could not help but sigh.

"How many? Can't you count it yourself? We have four combat battalions and one auxiliary battalion, and five battalions with 4500 people are called a regiment. We are the 37th. You can count it yourself. It's almost 17 people. I heard that this does not include the navy and cavalry. If we hadn't surrendered that day, we would not know how we died." Dong Xingyao couldn't help but complain.

Another battalion commander, Wu Shutong, also said, "Fortunately, Brother Dong led us to surrender. I heard from those who came back from Xiaomaoshan that the yellow-armored imperial guards around General Lu had cannons. In the battle of Xiaomaoshan, more than 10,000 people were killed by cannons. Even if our 6,000 people defend the mountain to the death, how long can they hold out?"

Also recommended by Dong Xingyao as a battalion commander of a thousand households was Lu Hai'an. He put on the newly issued standard iron armor, stretched his body, hung a sword and bow and arrow on his waist, held a fancy spear in his hand, and demonstrated a set of spear skills in the open space.

The weapons on him were all his original weapons. This time, Luzhou only sent a 5.4-meter-long battle spear. That thing was not suitable for military generals to use and was only used to equip ordinary soldiers. Therefore, these newly surrendered generals could only use their own weapons for the time being.

"This armor is pretty good, with a straight front and a front opening. It's easy to put on and take off, and one person can put it on by themselves. It's not too heavy at 40 kilograms, and there's a layer of cotton armor on the outside. I heard that it provides better protection than armor of the same weight.

"And these two iron arms, I really like them. They are light and close fitting, better than the shoulder pads. When you swing your weapons, they won't make any rattling noises, nor will they flap your arms. But Brother Dong, your iron arms seem to be better than ours."

As Lu Hai'an spoke, he moved closer to look at Dong Xingyao's armor. At the level of regimental commander, the armor was indeed a little different. The hem of the skirt armor was decorated with colorful cloth, and the shape of the helmet tassel on the top of the head was also different. The biggest difference was the iron arms, which were all made of fine cold-forged steel armor plates. They had a larger protection area and were more convenient for movement. Except for a very narrow strip on the inside of the arm that had no protection, the exposed area was basically invisible without a close look from the outside.

The advantage is naturally a higher level of protection, but the disadvantage is that the construction time is too long and the cost is too high, so it is impossible to equip the entire army, so it is only distributed to the commander level, which can be regarded as a reward.

Dong Xingyao drew his sword and swung it a few times. This iron arm was indeed very convenient to use. He then said, "I took a rough look. The armor of the commander-level should be the most practical and provide the best protection. When you become a higher-level commander, you will be given fish-scale armor. Those small fish scales are really beautiful and expensive, but the protection may not be as good as the commander's armor."

"Of course. The commander-in-chief has more than 10,000 soldiers, and some of them are fighting on the battlefield. It must be as impressive and majestic as possible."

Lu Haian touched Dong Xingyao's iron arm reluctantly and said, "When I get promoted to commander, I will also get one of these."

Chen Hao rolled his eyes when he heard this, "You are really so arrogant. You just got demoted here and you want to get promoted."

"What should we do? We have surrendered. Besides, I have long disliked the Tartars. They yell at us all day long, but they don't have an extra head than us Han people. They will die if they are stabbed. What's the big deal? Didn't the new military supervisor say that one Han can defeat five Barbarians? Maybe we can also march north to the northern desert."

Lu Haian is a carefree man. He is also a hereditary military household of the Yuan Dynasty. He was formerly a centurion of the Wanhu Mansion in Jiqing Road. He is not very sensitive to politics, but he is a martial arts fanatic and is very fond of all kinds of weapons and armor. After surrendering, he began to praise the equipment of the Shengwu Army.

Dong Xingyao immediately reminded him, "Don't talk nonsense. What military supervisor? That's called a training officer. We are all surrendered generals who have just joined us. We need to be careful in what we do and don't let others find fault with us and cause trouble for ourselves."

Wu Shutong, who was standing next to him, heard this and immediately shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Although this commander did not interfere with our army and sent generals from Luzhou to join us, the instructors he sent here are too powerful.

"Yesterday, we told our soldiers that they would be given land, exempted some people from usury, helped them get back their relatives who were slaves, and sent someone to tell them about some of the dirty things the Tartars had done, and made those soldiers cry again.

"When I was patrolling the camp last night, I heard that the instructors were still chatting with the soldiers, helping them mend their clothes, comb their hair, comb their lice, give them names, and write letters for them. They were just like their own parents.

"Now when the soldiers see the instructor, they call him 'big brother' or 'instructor'. They rush to do whatever the instructor tells them to do. It's more effective than the words of a serious battalion commander like me.

"Just kidding. Even if we want to rebel now, with those instructors here, we probably won't be able to take a single soldier with us. The hearts of these soldiers have already belonged to them."

Dong Xingyao also sighed, "They do have the means, no wonder they can always win battles and expand their army so quickly."

Chen Hao next to him asked again, "Brother Dong, isn't it said that there is a division above the regiment? Then which division is in charge of our 37th Regiment?"

Dong Xingyao shook his head. "General Lu hasn't said anything yet. When he summoned me yesterday, he said that we are a newly formed unit and are not familiar with the Shengwu Army's fighting style. He gave us a few military books and asked us to study them carefully. For the time being, we will be under the direct command of General Lu. It will probably take some time before we are assigned to a formal division."

"So that's it."

On the other side, in Lu Jin's place, after Chang Yuchun arrived with the 109th Division, Hua Yunlong also moved to Lishui with the 26th Regiment. With all the troops gathered, just on the eve of setting out for the Jiankang Campaign, Yang Jing gave Lu Jin another suggestion.

"Marshal, I suggest rebuilding the 107th Division and assigning the newly formed 37th Regiment to it. I think it will be useful after we defeat Jiankang."

Yang Jing and Chang Yuchun were beside Lu Jin. The three of them didn't take Jiankang seriously at all. Instead, they were discussing why Xu Song's attack on Hangzhou failed in the previous two months and what preparations should be made if the Shengwu Army wanted to attack Hangzhou.

After all, those who do not plan for the overall situation are not qualified to plan for a specific area. Although Jiankang has not been taken yet, the meat is rotten in the pot. We must prepare for the next move in advance. We can't just fight wherever we can. Speculative mentality is not allowed.

"107th Division." Lu Jin frowned.

The 107th Division originally belonged to Yang Jing's 37th Army, but under the 107th Division, there were only the 17st Navy Regiment, the nd Navy Regiment, and Zhang Desheng's th Regiment, two navy regiments and one infantry regiment. The commander of the division was Liao Yongjian of the st Navy Regiment.

But now that the 37th Army has crossed the river and landed, it is estimated that there will be no more water battles in the future. Moreover, the two naval regiments have been almost split up by Lu Jin. Zhang Desheng's 17th Regiment has also landed. The 107th Division is actually in name only, occupying an empty division.

Furthermore, Liao Yongjian is a veteran from Chaohu. While others were promoted so quickly, not only was he not promoted, his own division was even dismantled. How can this be justified?

Chang Yuchun also said, "You can consider letting the 107th Division go ashore to take charge of the battle on the southern front and fight towards Huizhou. The two naval divisions will be under the sole command of the Marshal."

Lu Jin thought for a moment and did not answer. Instead, he asked, "Yang Jing, if I asked you to lead your troops from Zhenjiang Road, advance eastward along the south bank of the Yangtze River, and clear the entire Taihu Plain in northern Zhejiang, how many troops would you need?"

(End of this chapter)