Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 308 Jinling Army Expansion Conference (I)

The Shengwu Army is about to expand, and the scale of this expansion is very large. In fact, they are also in short supply of armor, but they are short of a lot of it, and they don't need those 2,000 pairs, which are just the output of the Luzhou Iron Works in seven or eight days.

What's more, letting Zhima Li stay in Xuzhou for a while to buy time for the development of the Shengwu Army was also a strategy planned in advance. Moreover, Lu Jin was hoping to absorb a wave of inheritance after Zhima Li was defeated. How could he break his promise at this time?

After hearing Lu Jin's answer, Zhu Liangzu nodded and then asked again.

"Earlier, the Marshal sent a message, telling the 35th Army to prepare for the expedition, to raise food and fodder in advance, and to gather intelligence. Now our preparations are almost done, and we have prepared three months' worth of food and fodder for the two divisions of the 35th Army.

“I don’t know when to send out troops, where to attack, and how long to fight. If it takes too long, there may not be enough food. In addition, the 35th Army has limited manpower, only six regiments, one of which is a cavalry regiment, which cannot be used to defend the city.

"If there are too many places to fight, like this large-scale battle of crossing the river, we will definitely not be able to defeat it with one army, and we will not have enough troops."

Hearing this, Lu Jin said, "We asked you to come to the meeting this time. After the meeting, make the battle deployment, and then go back to launch the Jiangbei Campaign. You have also seen the imperial edict of the Tartar Emperor. We are short of time and cannot give you too much preparation time.

"There is also the issue of food. This Marshal's Mansion can allocate enough food to you!"

Zhu Liangzu and Liao Yongzhong looked at each other, then smiled at Lu Jin, "It seems that the Marshal made a fortune this time when he crossed the river?"

"Hahahaha." Lu Jin explained with a smile when he heard it.

"This time we crossed the river in September. The autumn grain harvest had just been completed in the south of the Yangtze River, and the grain transport was blocked by the Xuzhou sesame and plum. A large amount of grain that was originally intended to be sent to Dadu could not go north and was stored in warehouses in various places. Now we have seized all of it.

"Do you know how much grain is sent to Dadu every year?"

Lu Jin didn't wait for their answer, but gestured and said, "Six million stones!!"

Seeing the shocked expressions of the two men, Lu Jin explained, "Of course, it is impossible for all this grain to be in our hands. Normally, half of the six million dan of grain per year will be transported by canal and the other half by sea.

"Plus, this is the grain that the entire Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces can raise, and we only got a part of Jiqing Road, Zhenjiang Road, and Taiping Road when we crossed the river this time, so this grain is not all in our hands, probably only one-sixth of it."

Liao Yongzhong slapped his thigh excitedly, "One sixth of it is one million shi, not less, not less. Everyone says that Jiangnan is rich, but I just found out today that Jiangnan is actually this rich!"

Zhu Liangzu also said with emotion, "One million dan of grain should be enough for our entire army to eat for half a year."

Lu Jin nodded, "It is October now, and it is the off-season for farming. It will be exactly half a year until the spring ploughing in March next year. This is our best time to fight.

"We are not short of food now. It is enough for us to fight hard for half a year. But when the spring plowing season comes next year, the army must stop to rest and reclamation, train soldiers, and forge weapons. Otherwise, if we continue to fight like this, no matter how much food we have, it will not be enough for us to squander."

Both of them nodded to show that they understood. Fighting for six months in a row would not be possible even if the soldiers were made of iron.

Lu Jin added, "As for the issue of military strength, we can expand your army. I have a division of new soldiers for you. Since you two are here, stay for dinner. In the evening, we can discuss the expansion of the army and your arrangements together."

"Okay." The two agreed, then took their leave and were taken to eat and rest.

Lu Jin also took advantage of this time to ask someone to find Yu Tongyuan and Liao Yongjian from the navy.

After dinner in the evening, the newly renamed Shuntian Prefecture government office, the Marshal's Office's secretariat, the various military academies, and the generals in charge of the troops were all present. The personal soldiers served them tea, and when everyone was seated, Lu Jin began his speech.

"We will start dealing with government affairs today. We will deal with military affairs first, and then civil affairs. There are nearly 100,000 prisoners waiting outside the city. We cannot keep them all here. We must quickly complete the expansion. Also, you can take notes for today's meeting."

"Yes!"

Everyone responded in unison and took out pens and papers to take notes.

Lu Jin also took out his roster of generals and notebook, opened the meeting agenda that had been written in advance, and then spoke.

"We will solve each problem one by one. Let's start with Brother Yongjian's 107th Division. The 107th Division originally had two naval regiments under its command, as well as Zhang Desheng's 17th Regiment.

"The first phase of the navy's mission was to send the army across the river, which has now been completed. Zhang Desheng's 17th Regiment has been incorporated into the 103rd Division, and the navy has been split into two. The 107th Division actually no longer exists.

"Then I will talk about the second phase of the navy's mission, which is also the navy's future development direction.

"There are two naval divisions, one facing the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. This division will be responsible for assisting the army to conquer Jiangxi and even Huguang in the future. Jiangxi and Huguang have many rivers and lakes, and it is impossible to fight there without a navy.

"The other one will go to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. First, cooperate with the main army to seize the entire territory of Yangzhou Road. Then, this navy in the lower reaches will be transformed into a navy in the future. It will be responsible for clearing out Fang Guozhen in the East China Sea, transporting troops across the sea, attacking Fujian and Lingnan, and even heading north to Shandong, Dadu, Liaodong and other places."

Everyone listened very carefully. It was the first time for many people to hear Lu Jin express his ambitions and aspirations so bluntly. Liao Yongjian also listened carefully. After all, he was still the nominal commander of the 107th Division, although this division had now been disbanded.

After Lu Jin finished talking about the future plan, he did not beat around the bush and asked directly, "Brother Yongjian, what do you want to choose? If you want to continue to lead the navy, I will expand your navy and you will be responsible for Jiangxi and Huguang on the southern line in the future. If you no longer want to lead the navy, then hand the navy over to someone else and you will switch to the army. I will organize a new unit for you."

No one spoke, and Liao Yongjian fell into deep thought. The Liao family and the Yu family were the two largest factions in the Chaohu Navy. It could be said that the Chaohu Navy was originally established by these two families. The navy could be said to be the Liao family's base.

But now the Shengwu Army is expanding its territory everywhere, and the role and scale of the army have obviously surpassed that of the navy. Although Lu Jin said that he could expand the navy for him, no matter how large the navy is, it is impossible for it to surpass the army. When the war really breaks out, the navy will often serve as an assistant to the army, and the speed of expansion and promotion is incomparable to that of the army.

Just look at this crossing of the river. The size of the army has doubled, but there has been no movement from the navy.

Liao Yongjian hesitated for a long time before making a difficult decision, "Marshal, how about I go ashore and lead the army?"

"Okay." Lu Jin didn't hesitate at all. He picked up the pen and made a mark on the notebook. It was obvious that he had made two preparations before making the arrangements.

"Then I will rebuild the 107th Division for you. You will be the commander of the 107th Division for the time being. You can recommend a regiment commander from the navy, and then select personnel from the first regiment of the navy to serve as officers. I will use the prisoners captured this time to supplement your troops and form a new 38th Regiment, and then two new 39th and 40th Regiments for you. Do you have suitable candidates?"

Liao Yongjian thought about it. He had recommended Liu Chuanyi to Lu Jin before. Liu Chuanyi was called to study artillery with Yu Tongyuan and was now leading the three gunboats. He was considered successful. He had to recommend another one this time.

He recalled his middle-level generals and thought for a long time before saying, "I recommend Zou Peng. This guy is from Lujiang. He can fight and do things. He can read and write. He is from our Chaohu Navy. Before the uprising, this guy always rowed his own boat with us brothers to transport goods and fish. Later, he was also one of the first to follow us in the uprising. He is 19 years old this year and will be soon. Now he is in charge of more than a dozen gunboats."

Lu Jin nodded. From the perspective of political review, Zou Peng's background could be considered to be of good pedigree, so he agreed.

"Then let Zou Peng be the commander of the newly formed 38th Regiment. Let him draw officers from the navy and gather officers from the battalion, company and platoon. This 38th Regiment will be your personal soldiers from now on.

"Then let Zhan Chao, the surrendered general from Jurong, be the commander of the 39th Regiment. Reorganize his troops into the 39th Regiment. Peng Jun will be the commander of the 40th Regiment. This guy is quite clever. Let him help you."

Liao Yongjian also felt that there was nothing wrong with this arrangement. With a regiment formed by his old subordinates and two surrendered generals, and with the personal soldiers of this regiment, Liao Yongjian thought it would be no problem to suppress the two surrendered generals, so he immediately said, "It's all up to the Marshal to arrange, but where will my 107th Division fight in the future?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin said, "You must fight southward along the Yangtze River, especially along the entire Taiping Road, as well as Ningguo Road, Chizhou Road, and Huizhou Road. Ningguo Road has coal mines, Taiping Road has iron mines, Huizhou Road has timber, and Chizhou Road has copper mines. If we take these places, we can open a second ironworks."

Lu Jin put down the notebook and said, "Now that the Shengwu Army has grown in size, it is difficult to supply the entire army with weapons and armor produced by only one iron factory in Luzhou. We must hurry up and open a second iron factory. Your task is not easy."

Liao Yongjian frowned and nodded. He also understood what Lu Jin meant. With an army of 100,000 or 200,000 people, Luzhou's troops would be difficult to sustain. But he asked again, "But I only have these three new regiments. I'm afraid I don't have enough troops to fight in so many places."

Lu Jin said immediately, "I will transfer Chang Yuchun's 109th Division. His soldiers are mostly veterans. You two divisions will fight together. Let him make the main attack, and you will follow behind to occupy the territory. First, conquer the entire Taiping Road, then train the troops well and wait for my next order."

"Yes!" Liao Yongjian nodded and agreed.

Lu Jin turned a page of his notebook and then said, "The second thing is about the deployment and troop strength of the Jiangbei Campaign." As soon as these words came out, Zhu Liangzu, Liao Yongzhong, Bian Yuanheng, Lu Zhen, Yan Duxian and others raised their heads, as this was the content that concerned them.

People like Bian Yuanheng, Lu Zhen, and Yan Duxian were all recommended by Li Huafu, or they were the centurions they found after Li Huafu recommended them. They were called by Lu Jin from Yangzhou Road and Gaoyou Prefecture and sent to various troops as trainee officers. This time they also followed Lu Jin throughout the Battle of Crossing the Yangtze River, and they accumulated some experience. At least they knew the operation mode and combat style of the Shengwu Army.

Lu Jin looked at them and asked, "If I ask you to return to Jiangbei to fight now, do you have a place to recruit soldiers?"

Yan Duxian said immediately, "Brother Li Huafu is now the judge of Taizhou, and the four brothers Zhang are the captains of Taizhou. They already have a thousand soldiers under their command, and they are all in Taizhou City. As long as the large force of the Shengwu Army attacks, we can immediately start an uprising in the city and directly capture Taizhou City.

"Taizhou has a large population. When the time comes, as long as we raise the banner of the Holy Martial Army, recruiting three to five thousand soldiers should not be a problem."

"Yes, it's a good plan." Lu Jin nodded and looked at Lu Zhen, "What about you?"

Lu Zhen immediately patted his chest and said, "The commander knows me too. I am from Taixing and I was born into a salt trade. I have many salt trading brothers under me and I also know many salt dealers. I can directly recruit soldiers from the salt dealers and send people to sneak into Taixing County. Then I can start an uprising together with Li Dapan of Taizhou."

Snapped--

Lu Jin clapped his hands and praised, "Very good, this way we can take two cities in a row. Apart from the three cities of Quanjiao, Chuzhou, and Lai'an in the west, plus Taizhou and Taixing in the middle, half of Yangzhou Road is already in our hands!"

Lu Jin looked at Bian Yuanheng again, "What about you? Do you have a place to recruit soldiers?"

Bian Yuanheng frowned, feeling a little embarrassed. Li Huafu was a knight-errant who liked to make friends with heroes in the martial arts world. He knew a lot of people and had great appeal. Now he was an official in the Yuan court. If he started a rebellion directly in Taizhou city, he would surely get a lot of support and it would not be difficult to recruit soldiers.

Lu Zhen was born a salt smuggler, and his subordinates were all desperate criminals, including a large number of salt soldiers. It was not difficult for him to recruit soldiers, except for Bian Yuanheng himself.

He and his cousin Shi Naian were both Confucian scholars who usually composed poetry and couplets, and they didn't know any heroes. It would be difficult for him to recruit soldiers on his own.

The several thousand-household generals that Bian Yuanheng found were mostly his relatives, such as his cousin Bian Yuanzhen, Shi Bingzhang from his cousin's family, and his cousin's former students, who were also Bian Yuanheng's friends, Sun Huaian and Xing Liangfu.

The officers of this regiment are probably the most educated in the Shengwu Army, but now they are asked to recruit soldiers.
Bian Yuanheng spoke frankly, "If we were to gather people and start a sudden uprising like in Taizhou and Taixing, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to recruit so many capable soldiers."

Lu Jin nodded to show his understanding, and then said, "I guessed that you couldn't do it. It just so happens that I have more than 8,000 new soldiers hidden."

When Lu Zhen and Bian Yuanheng heard this, their eyes widened. "More than 8,000 new soldiers are hidden? Where?"

Zhu Liangzu and Liao Yongzhong looked at each other, and they both suddenly reacted.

Sure enough, I heard Lu Jin say, "In Dingyuan, in July and August of this year, Dong Tuanxiao led his troops to attack Lai'an, but was defeated by Yongzhong's 106th Division, and more than of his men were captured.

"Many of these soldiers were from the salt industry in Jiangbei. After being captured, they were first placed in Dingyuan for custody. Feng Sheng in Dingyuan is training them, and they have been training for more than a month.

"If you have trouble recruiting soldiers, just go to Dingyuan to recruit them. Tell those soldiers that you will lead them back to Jiangbei this time. When you get back to their hometown, you will give them land. They will definitely fight hard to get back."

Bian Yuanheng was immediately delighted when he heard this and said, "It would be great if we had ready-made soldiers."

Upon hearing this, Lu Zhen also said, "Since there are 8,000 new recruits, if 4,500 are taken, there are still more than 3,000 people. Can you give me 1,000? Since these are salt soldiers from Jiangbei, there may be some who know me. I can use them as squad leaders, deputy squad leaders, and group leaders, and recruit some people from Taixing to fill in. This way, the combat power will be improved quickly."

Lu Jin nodded and said, "Okay, when these soldiers were first captured, I sent them to Dingyuan for training. They were originally prepared for the battle in Jiangbei."

Yan Duxian also said upon hearing this, "Marshal, then our regiment will also need one thousand."

Are you kidding? Who would be so stupid as to recruit soldiers on their own when there are already some soldiers with a certain degree of training? They will just recruit a bunch of rookies who probably won't even know how to line up. How long will it take to train them into elite soldiers?
Lu Jin nodded again and agreed, "Okay."

Zhu Liangzu and Liao Yongzhong looked at each other again. They had gathered a division of troops? And they took two cities directly? That didn't seem too difficult to defeat.

Now Liao Yongzhong's 106th Division occupied the three cities of Quanjiao, Chuzhou and Lai'an at the western end of Yangzhou Road, and fought eastward all the way to the seaside. There were also Liuhe, Zhenzhou (Yizheng), Yangzi, Yangzhou, Taizhou, Taixing, Rugao, Tongzhou (Nantong), and Haimen (Qidong), a total of nine cities.

As long as Li Huafu and Lu Zhen can directly capture Taizhou and Taixing, it will be equivalent to cutting off the Yangzhou Road from the middle, making it impossible for the east and west to support each other. This will definitely create a great advantage for the Shengwu Army's battle situation, and it will not be difficult to fight again.

So Zhu Liangzu immediately asked, "General, how far will our battle in Jiangbei end this time?"

Lu Jin asked someone to bring a map and pointed to the area along the river.

"In this Jiangbei Campaign, we must at least capture all of the territory along the Jiangbei River, that is, the entire Yangzhou Road. This is the bottom line and a mission that must be completed.

“In addition, we should actively fight northwards, and it would be best if we could push the Jiangbei defense line to the south bank of the Yellow River.

"As the old saying goes, to defend the Yangtze River, one must defend the Huai River. If we only rely on the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, it will be difficult to stop the Yuan court in the north. It would be best if we can push our troops to the Huai River. Of course, now that the Yellow River takes over the Huai River and flows into the sea, that river is now called the Yellow River."

Lu Jin paused and continued, "Now Zhima Li's territory extends to Pei County on the north bank of the Yellow River in the north, Haozhou in the south, and Hongze Lake in the east, and your combat zone is the area north of the Yangtze River, south of the Yellow River, and east of Hongze Lake.

"We must first seize the entire Yangzhou Road and ensure that the riverside areas in Jiangbei are firmly in our hands. However, it is not enough to just seize Yangzhou Road. Yangzhou Road is too long from east to west and has no depth from north to south. The cities are arranged in a row, like a long snake formation. Especially the large open space between Taizhou and Rugao, there is no city.

"Moreover, the terrain of Yangzhou Road is very flat, with no strategic location to defend. It is easy for the Yuan army in the north to break through. Therefore, if we want to defend this line of defense along the river, we can only move the line of defense northward."

Lu Jin pointed to the north and said, "Take Yangzhou Road, then Gaoyou, Xinghua, Yancheng, Baoying, and then Huai'an and Qinghe (Qingjiang City).

“Although there are no strategic locations to defend in this area, at least there are many cities. We can use these cities to slow down the enemy’s offensive and use flexible defense tactics when appropriate.

"First, we must defend the cities and consume the enemy's food, manpower, and morale. When the enemy shows signs of fatigue, we can abandon several cities on the northern line, lure the enemy deep into our territory, and delay the enemy's food supply route. Then, we can find the right opportunity to launch a few short counterattacks to consume the enemy's deep-seated manpower. We can use this area of ​​cities to fight a seesaw battle with the enemy, sacrifice the northern part, and preserve Yangzhou."

Zhu Liangzu, Liao Yongzhong, Bian Yuanheng, Lu Zhen and others all listened carefully to Lu Jin's explanation, frowning as they pondered the possibility of this tactic.

Zhu Liangzu thought for a moment and said, "There are so many places, at least 15 cities, it may be difficult to fight, and half of them are new soldiers, and they don't have enough weapons and armor, so it will be difficult to fight.

"Of course, if there are only local Yuan troops, even if we fight slowly, we can still slowly defeat them. But the most important thing now is that Tuotuo is about to lead his troops south. If our army attacks Gaoyou at this time, it will inevitably attract Tuotuo's main force of the Yuan army. Isn't this taking the initiative to share the pressure with Zhima Li?
"If we follow the most advantageous deployment for our army, why don't we train our troops in the back first, replenish our weapons, and let Tuotuo fight Zhima Li first. When they are both defeated, we will lead the army north and capture Tuotuo and Zhima Li together!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Zhu Liangzu, and then turned to look at Lu Jin. From a selfish point of view, the plan Zhu Liangzu proposed was indeed better. They always felt that Lu Jin was too hasty.

Lu Jin shook his head and said, "You can't chew too much. Now I ask you to attack Yangzhou, and you say you don't have enough troops. Then when the time comes, I ask you to attack Xuzhou in one go. Do you have the troops?

"Don't always think about taking advantage of others. Even if Xuzhou is defeated by Tuotuo in the future, and you want to take advantage of it, you can't do anything. They won't obey our Shengwu Army, and they might just defect to Liu Futong. Defecting to Liu Futong is a small matter, but having their territory taken over by Liu Futong is a big problem.

“In the short term, we should avoid conflict with other rebel forces.

"And specifically for this Jiangbei Campaign, we should try our best to fight in the 'enemy's territory'. If we let the Yuan army reach our current city, we will have already lost.

"Do you think the Yuan army is any good thing, the same as our Shengwu Army? They have robbed the people and killed innocent people to gain credit. If the Yuan army is allowed to attack our current territory, even if you can defend the city, the vast land outside the city will be destroyed by them."

Zhu Liangzu, Liao Yongzhong and Bian Yuanheng all frowned as they listened. Lu Jin analyzed the situation from both political and military perspectives, but Zhu Liangzu just wanted to take advantage of the situation. It cannot be said that he was wrong, but one can only say that he had average political acumen.

(End of this chapter)