I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 603 Attack and Defense

This little episode soon passed and the meeting got down to business.

"The current situation is that the rebels of Prince Ning and Prince Xing have temporarily shaken hands and made peace in order to jointly deal with us. They have been continuously exchanging fire with us recently, but have basically never won. At present, the north-south front is maintained in Xuzhou Prefecture, Runing Prefecture and Nanyang Prefecture. The rebels have begun to build fortifications and hold their ground every day. The desire to attack has become very low... In addition, there have been some unusual movements in the direction of Sichuan. It seems that they are going to go north to attack Shaanxi, but Sichuan does not have many troops, and the garrison in Shaanxi can fully cope with it..." Jiang Jiangong said.

Zhu Houxuan's eyes wandered along the thousand-mile-long battle line, "The future decisive battlefield will be in the southern part of Henan and the northern part of Nanzhili..."

Everyone present nodded slowly.

"That's great. The vast and flat North China Plain is very suitable for this kind of large-scale troop operations..." Zhu Houxuan sighed somewhat emotionally.

Zhu Houxuan's words immediately brought to everyone's mind a picture: a broad plain, an endless queue, and a forest of bayonets...

Some people couldn't help but tremble as they thought about it.

"It is indeed a good place. It is our most ideal battlefield. It has a complete railway network, which reduces the difficulty of our logistics. The local people also like us..." Jiang Jiangong continued.

"How is our mobilization situation?" Zhu Houxuan continued to ask.

"After the death of the late emperor, we began to urgently mobilize the first batch of 7 people. The first batch completed the recruit training in May and have already joined the service. The second batch began to be mobilized in July and is now undergoing recruit training. If it is urgent, the training will be completed in three months. If it is not urgent, they will be trained for half a year. The application report for mobilizing the third batch of people has also been submitted to Your Highness. I hope Your Highness will make your judgment..." Jiang Jiangong said like he knew everything.

Zhu Houxuan nodded, while Chen Hong and Tian Cheng beside him looked unhappy. Mobilizing 1.2 million people had already put a lot of pressure on them, and now Jiang Jiangong was actually mobilizing a third batch, and his tone was so casual, as if he was going to buy some buns...

Only when you don't manage the household do you know how expensive firewood and rice are. You don't feel sorry when your son sells your grandfather's land!

You have to know that there are a total of 600,000 people!
Still 600,000 young and strong men, not to mention how much impact mobilizing these 600,000 people would have on production in the rear, just equipping these 600,000 people with weapons and equipment, providing them with training, and daily food, drink, and defecation would be enough to give them a headache.
Hearing what Jiang Jiangong said, the two men became furious.
Zhu Houxuan pondered for a while and asked, "Are 600,000 Type A divisions plus 1.2 million Type B divisions not enough for you? Do you want to add another 600,000?"

"Your Highness, as we know, from the intelligence we have received, the Southern Army has been expanding its forces. When they started the rebellion, they had already trained 1.2 million people. Two and a half months have passed, and their current troop strength is estimated to be over 2 million." Jiang Jiangong did not directly answer Zhu Houxuan's question, but presented data.

"And their weapons are quite good. They are all equipped with the Zhengde 16-style rifle. I won't say much about the Zhengde 16-style rifle. Although it was finalized 13 years ago, it has a simple structure and great power. We also equip it in large quantities. Their morale is not low. Many troops are composed of young and strong people from several villages. They are very united," Jiang Jiangong said proudly. After listening to Jiang Jiangong's words, the non-military people attending the meeting frowned. They couldn't tell the truth from Jiang Jiangong's words, but they couldn't help but worry.
After listening to Jiang Jiangong's words, Zhu Houxuan did not comment. He said without even looking up: "I will take a good look at your application report. What's the next topic?"

When Jiang Jiangong saw Zhu Houxuan's expression, he knew that this matter was hopeless, and he couldn't help but feel anxious.
The new Chief of General Staff Zhuang Jiye beside him also began to get anxious and said quickly: "The reason why Jiang Shaobao wants to apply for the third batch of mobilization is because our General Staff believes that with the changes in the situation, the previous combat plan seems a bit inappropriate, so it needs to be revised."

This statement aroused the interest of everyone present.

Zhu Houxuan looked at Zhuang Jiye and asked with interest, "How does your General Staff want to modify it?"

"Turn from defense to offense!" Zhuang Jiye said firmly.

"The battle plan we formulated before was to conduct defensive operations in southern Henan and northern Nanzhili to wear down the enemy forces, and then engage in a large-scale battle in the field with the enemy on the battlefield of our choice to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop!" Zhuang Jiye stood up and said.

"At that time, we speculated that the South would be quickly integrated under one banner. In that case, the enemy would be determined to fight a major battle with us in the wild. But now the situation has changed a lot from what we expected. The South has actually split into Ning and Xing. Although they are shaking hands and making peace now, they are actually not in harmony with each other. Privately, they are wary of each other, fearing that someone will take advantage of them. Under this situation, it will be difficult for both the Ning Wang rebels and the Xing Wang rebels to make up their minds to fight a fateful battle with us in the wild." Zhuang Jieye said.

Everyone present couldn't help but nod their heads. Zhuang Jiye was quite capable and his analysis was very good.
Zhuang Jiye was even more excited when he saw it, and then said: "Water has no fixed shape, and soldiers have no fixed situation. In this case, why should we continue with the original plan? Why not make a new plan based on the current situation!"

"You want to attack?" Zhu Houxuan said lightly.

"Yes! Attack!" Zhuang Jiye said firmly, "The Guards are best at attacking! I just came back from the front line, and the troops below are very resentful. They either retreat or defend. They have never fought such a cowardly battle..."

"And given the current situation, we should also launch an attack! First send a large army to attack Nanjing, and while Nanjing is busy with its own affairs, concentrate the most elite Type A divisions to launch a fierce attack on Wuchang. The Ning Wang rebels will surely not be able to defeat us. By the time we occupy Xiangyang, Wuchang, and Jiujiang, the southeast gate will be wide open, and even if the Nanjing government wants to stay in peace in a corner, it won't be able to do so... In this way, we can quickly resolve this war..." Zhuang Jiye narrated his plan in an excited voice.

Many of the participants were persuaded and began to seriously consider the feasibility of this plan...

"But an attack requires more powerful forces than a defense, so Jiang Shaobao will apply for a third batch of mobilization..." Zhuang Jiye said while the iron was hot.

(End of this chapter)