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

Chapter 615 Observation
Although the titles for sale are not hereditary, there are still many people who buy them. Even if these things are empty titles, they can bring some privileges and can also raise the regulations of burials after death.

In order to avoid dissatisfaction among the nobles who actually worked for him, Zhu Houcong was considerate enough to promote them to higher positions and titles. Xu Pengju, Duke of Wei, was conferred the title of Prince, and Guo Xun, Marquis of Wuding, was also conferred the title of Duke.

This made the Nanjing government even more unpopular, but the military supplies of one million and a half troops weighed on the Nanjing government like a huge rock, and Zhu Houcong could only grit his teeth and persevere.

He constantly summoned the gentry from various provinces, explained the current situation to them, and asked them to donate more food and wages. This did have an effect, but it also aroused the gentry's suspicion of the Southern Army's generals.
In the eyes of the gentry, the generals of the Southern Army were suspected of harboring the enemy for their own benefit.

The banner of the Fengtian Jingnan Campaign had been raised for more than half a year. Except for the first three months when the battle was unstoppable in various parts of the south, once the battle line was pushed to the north, it could no longer be pushed forward. Then there was an endless demand for money, food, and reinforcements.

The Nanjing government continued to provide money and food, and the number of troops gathered on the front line reached 1.5 million, but the front line could not be pushed forward. The generals on the front line did not fight any major battles, nor did they achieve any decent victories, but they just kept asking for money, food, and troops.

You know, they have a huge advantage in military strength on the front line! The Wuchang government still cooperated with the Nanjing government in the Northern Expedition. They recruited 80 troops and stood on the front line in southern Henan.

The combined military strength of the Nanjing government and the Wuchang government was as high as 230 million, while the military strength of the Beijing government opposite was only about million (their intelligence was wrong).

With such a huge military advantage, the situation turned out like this. How could the gentry not be suspicious? After all, they were the ones who paid for the bulk of the army's military supplies!

All of a sudden, countless memorials impeaching Xu Pengju and Guo Xun were sent to Zhu Houcong.

Zhu Houcong was also in a great trouble. He knew much more than the gentry, and he also knew that the situation on the front line was not that simple, but he could not explain it clearly to the gentry, and the gentry did not want to hear it, so the pressure he faced was also very huge.
For this reason, he could only give orders to Xu Pengju and Guo Xun, and use a stern tone to ask them to win a battle in the near future, otherwise the public opinion in Nanjing would really be uncontrollable.
So Guo Xun, who was still training troops on the second line, hurried to the front line.

After reading Zhu Houcong's order, Xu Pengju sighed deeply and said, "Your Highness and the other officials of Yanyan don't know the situation on the front line. Our army's morale is low, while the Northern Army is aggressive and arrogant. It's good enough for our army to maintain the current front line. It's too difficult to move forward."

Guo Xun felt a little strange when he heard this. He knew that the Guards were very powerful, but he had also worked hard to train more than 200,000 elite soldiers, and these elite soldiers were not much worse than the Guards. How could Xu Pengju, who had such elite soldiers in his hands, say such words as "The Northern Army is aggressive and arrogant"?

Guo Xun hesitated for a moment, but still asked his doubts in a more tactful way. After listening to him, Xu Pengju sighed again and said, "It is also thanks to you, brother, that you have trained so many elite soldiers, otherwise the situation would be even worse than it is now. As for the reason, you will understand it after you go and observe a battle."

Guo Xun retreated with doubts in his heart. Not long after, Xu Pengju's messenger came to him and said that a battle was about to break out on the front line and asked him to go and observe.

The northern part of Nanzhili is a plain terrain. During the half year of confrontation between the north and the south, the two sides fought constantly, and the areas controlled by each other became intertwined.

The quality of the Confederate Army's soldiers was much worse than that of the Union Army. For this reason, they built many defensive fortifications, trenches, rammed earth walls, etc., to offset the gap in troop quality and weapons and equipment between the two sides.

The Northern Army also hated these fortifications. Although they could capture them, they would suffer relatively heavy casualties, and the Beijing government did not encourage such acts of storming fortifications.

Therefore, most of the time, the battle lines were relatively peaceful. The Southern Army held its ground and the Northern Army rarely took the initiative to attack. However, if the Southern Army dared to come out, it would surely be hit head-on by the Northern Army.
But on such a long front, there are always some exceptions, and both sides will actively fight for these places, and Xiaoshi Village is such a place.
The reason why Xiaoshi Village was fought over by both sides was entirely because of its terrain. Xiaoshi Village was backed by a small hill which was rare on the plain. This hill was called Xiaoshi Mountain, and Xiaoshi Village got its name from it.

The altitude of Xiaoshi Mountain is not high, only more than 200 meters. It is just an inconspicuous hillside in a mountainous area, but it is a scenic spot on a flat plain.
Both the North and the South wanted to seize Xiaoshishan Mountain, and they set up lookouts on the mountain to observe the enemy's movements, so battles often broke out there.
Xiaoshi Village is located at the foot of Xiaoshi Mountain. The villagers had long since fled and the houses in the village were turned into ruins after repeated battles between the two sides. However, even the ruins can be used as defensive fortifications, and the focus of the battle between the two sides is still Xiaoshi Village.

The place Guo Xun rushed to was Xiaoshi Village
Last night, the Southern Army had just taken over Xiaoshi Village under cover of darkness, and now a Northern Army had appeared outside of Xiaoshi Village. Their intention was obvious: they wanted to take over Xiaoshi Village before the Southern Army had built up its fortifications.
Guo Xun did not enter Xiaoshi Village, but climbed up Xiaoshi Mountain and watched the battle at the foot of the mountain.
He could tell at a glance that the Southern Army in Xiaoshi Village was the elite he had trained, which made him feel much more relaxed and excited. He was looking forward to the victory of the elite he had trained himself.
The Northern Army in the distance was still wearing the familiar red uniforms, standing in neat rows and making preparations for the battle.
There are only about 4,000 or nearly 5,000 of them. According to the new organization of the Guards after the military reform, they should be a brigade.

After completely gaining military power, Zhu Houxuan began to reform the Imperial Guards. The focus of the reform was the organization of the army. The old organization of the Ming army, such as small flags, general flags, and thousand headquarters, was no longer suitable for the Imperial Guards equipped with pure firearms. Therefore, Zhu Houxuan used the organization of army, division, brigade, battalion, company, platoon, and squad that he was more familiar with in later generations, so that he could better play the weapon advantages of the Imperial Guards.
The attack on Xiaoshi Village was launched by a brigade under the 16th Division of the Guards Type A Division.

However, they did not launch a full-scale attack. Instead, they deployed two regiments with 3,000 people in the first wave of attack, and the remaining more than one regiment served as a reserve.

(End of this chapter)