Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 146 The Role of the Heavenly Cavalry
At the Five Army Headquarters, after the battle simulation was over, all the battalion officers in the army withdrew. Generals including Chen Fu, Chang Denggui, Tian Jianxiu, Hu Maozhen, Gao Jie, and Huang Degong stood on both sides with solemn expressions.

Although the Ming Dynasty had already established a firm foothold in Jiangnan, the Qing army remained intact and had even integrated hundreds of thousands of border troops from the north. Based on the military intelligence currently gathered by the Jinyiwei, after some deduction, everyone realized that the situation remained extremely serious.

Bright candlelight illuminated two massive maps hung on the wall, densely marked with strategic locations in Jiangbei and Huguang. Zhu Cilang stood solemnly before the maps, a slender wooden stick in his hand, pointing to Nanyang, where the Qing army was increasingly active.

He was still recalling the situation he had just deduced, especially the analysis of the main force deployment of the Qing army and Dorgon's future troop deployment in Jiangbei and Huguang.

However, Zhu Cilang also made sufficient preparations. After the end of the Jiangbei War, the Palace Front Central Army and the Palace Front Left Army immediately began to recruit troops and conduct training. After the various units of the Beijing Camp completed their recruitment, they were also immediately replenished. Nearly 30,000 new recruits grew up rapidly under the leadership of more than 10,000 veterans.

Although Chen Fu accompanied the emperor to Jiangxi and Huguang, the Nanjing Military Department of the Ming Dynasty also had a complete military system. From conscription, training, equipment and logistics to drills, there were a large number of officials in charge. Zhu Cilang only needed to give orders.

Although Tian Jianxiu and his generals had only moved into the camp east of Yingtian Prefecture more than a month ago, Li Banghua quickly supplemented them with more than 5,000 new recruits who had already completed basic training. Moreover, these new recruits were from the Zhejiang local standard camp and had participated in local bandit suppression and the garrison of Yingtian Prefecture during the Jiangbei War.

Zhu Cilang's biggest concern right now was the training of the various armies that had been expanded over the past six months. Based on the available intelligence, he suspected the Qing army would march southward in a massive offensive within two months.

"General Chang." Zhu Cilang turned around, looked around, and finally stopped his gaze on Chang Denggui, and asked in a deep voice:
"How has the central army in front of the palace been performing recently, especially the training and equipment of each unit, as well as the morale of the officers and soldiers?"

Upon hearing this, Chang Denggui immediately stepped out of the group, took a step forward, bowed, clasped his hands together, and replied:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the three battalions under the central army in front of the palace are all full. The soldiers have trained hard and strictly followed the drills. Their morale is very high. They are all eager to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy and serve Your Majesty.

At present, firearms and various types of armor and equipment have been distributed to all units. The musketeers and artillerymen have been trained to perfection, and their combat effectiveness is incomparable to before. If the Qing army marches south, I will lead the central army in front of the palace and give them a head-on blow!

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang nodded with satisfaction, then turned to look at Chen Fu and asked:

"The Left Army in front of the Palace was recently formed. Chen Fu, you were accompanying me on my western tour and were unable to personally supervise its training. Has the training of the various divisions progressed as planned?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Fu also stepped out, paused, and replied:

"Your Majesty, although the Palace Front Left Army was only recently established, I worked with the Ministry of War to reorganize it before my western tour. The officers and commanders of the original Fengyang Battalion are all experienced veterans, and are very proficient in the specifics of training and troop development.

The new recruits that the Ministry of War has added are all elite soldiers, carefully selected from hundreds of thousands. They are diligently trained and making rapid progress. Given time, they will surely become the sharpest blades for our Great Ming to destroy the invaders."

Zhu Cilang was fully prepared for the restoration and reorganization of the Palace Front Central Army and the Palace Front Left Army. The trained officers and veterans were all victorious troops in the Battle of Jiangbei. They were elite troops capable of fighting against the Eight Banners Army in the field, and they had the first priority for armament replenishment. Naturally, the final results would not be bad, and he was not surprised by this.

Afterwards, Tian Jianxiu, Hu Maozhen, Gao Jie, Huang Degong and others also reported on the training of their respective troops. Tian Jianxiu, in particular, was eager to achieve results and gain a firm foothold in the Ming Dynasty.

However, the nearly 10,000 soldiers of the Right Army in front of the palace have only started their training for less than a month, and their equipment has not been fully distributed. Although there are many veterans under the command of Tian Jianxiu, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongde, Zhang Nai and others, they still need time to recover after their own organization was disbanded.

Hu Maozhen was promoted due to his merits and has now become the commander-in-chief of the Beijing Camp. His status is higher than Li Benshen, Tian Xiong, Bai Yongfu and others. The soldiers under his command are also training intensively during this period.

Of course, the status of the Beijing Camp was not as high as that of the Palace Army. The priority of recruiting new soldiers was second, and the quality was not as high as that of the Palace Army, especially the distribution of equipment, which was always one step late, and the replenishment of war horses was only limited.

Under such circumstances, the strength of the Beijing Camp naturally widened the gap with the Palace Army. However, this was only the result of the comparison with the Palace Army. The strength of the Beijing Camp was still far superior to that of the local standard camps.

As for Gao Jie and Huang Degong, after Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo were promoted in name only and demoted in reality, they became the two heroes of Jiangbei. Their military forces were expanded, but not as much as expected.

Their strength is limited, and their level of leading troops in battle is not particularly high. Zhu Cilang naturally cannot invest too many resources in the two of them, and can only reward them based on their merits.

Faced with such a situation, especially when they saw that Liu Zeqing, who had not performed actively in the "Jianghuai Defense War", was promoted to the Ministry of War, Liu Liangzuo directly stayed at home to retire, and did not dare to complain.

After all, their contributions were indeed not great enough, and Liu Zeqing's troops were also divided among them. As the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp withdrew one after another, half of Jiangbei was handed over to the two of them. Emperor Zhu Cilang had already done his best to repay these two heroes who had followed him to the throne.

Of course, whether the two can be reused or even promoted in the future depends on their performance.

After listening to the reports from several people, Zhu Cilang nodded slightly, a hint of approval flashed in his eyes, and then encouraged:
"Firearms are the key to our great Ming Dynasty's victory over the enemy. The Ministry of War will try to replenish the parts that have not been distributed yet in the next two months. The firearms workshops in Guangdong and Fujian are already stepping up production, and the fleet is speeding up transportation.

You are all the backbone of our Ming Dynasty. You must train your troops rigorously and never slack off. Otherwise, you will bleed and die on the battlefield."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

After saying this, Zhu Cilang turned to Chang Denggui and asked, "What is the current situation of the Tianqi Army?"

Chang Denggui had guessed early on that Zhu Cilang would specifically inquire about the situation of the cavalry. Whether in Jiangbei or Huguang, the cavalry would be the key force on the battlefield and even determine the outcome of the war. He answered with a hint of excitement:
"Your Majesty, I have been ordered to expand the Heavenly Cavalry Army. It now has over 6,000 cavalrymen, all of whom are carefully selected warriors from various tribes. The horses they ride on are all top-quality warhorses captured from the Qing army during the Battle of Jiangbei.

I have supervised the training day and night, and the riding and archery skills of the officers and soldiers of each department have been improving day by day, and they are now able to fight independently. In addition, Your Majesty has requested training in cavalry formations and cavalry artillery combined combat, and I have also been conducting it with the elite troops, and have achieved positive results so far.

"Six thousand cavalry!" Zhu Cilang nodded after hearing this, with anticipation in his tone.

"Very good. Cavalry is the key to victory on the battlefield. They are mobile and flexible, capable of both attack and defense. The coordination of cavalry and artillery can be slowed down a bit, but the formations must be rigorously trained. We can't just focus on individual riding and archery skills. I want to train them into an invincible cavalry!"

Zhu Cilang's current cavalry is still too weak compared to the Qing army. Even if the small-scale cavalry scattered in the Palace Army, Beijing Camp, Jiangbei, Zuozhen, and Zhongzheng Camp are included, there are no more than 10,000 cavalry.

Since horse farms in the south had not yet reached a certain scale and smuggling in Liaodong had just begun, the Ming army obtained war horses mainly by purchasing Sichuan horses and Tibetan horses from Yunnan, Guizhou and other places. The quantity was not large, and most of them were equipped to the Zuozhen and Zhongzhengying units.

In this situation, he had no chance of gaining the upper hand in a cavalry battle with the Qing army, and he could even exploit their strengths by taking advantage of his own weaknesses. However, if he wanted to launch a counterattack, cavalry was one of his trump cards.

In other words, Zhu Cilang must make good use of this cavalry, but not use it as the core military force for the decisive battle, but use it as a sharp blade for breakthrough, winning in one stroke, and then use artillery, musketeers, and combat soldiers to win on the battlefield.

In this way, only by training cavalry formations can his strategic goals be met, and this is also the future evolution direction of cavalry as a military force.

"I obey your order!" Chang Denggui responded loudly with excitement.

He knew that Zhu Cilang had high hopes for the cavalry. While he was commanding the central army in front of the palace, he was also in charge of the Tianqi Army because of his rich command experience, and the responsibility was heavy.

Then, Zhu Cilang turned his gaze to Zhou Shixian and asked:
"Shixian, what are the recent movements of the Qing troops in Henan, Shandong, and Northern Zhili?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Shixian also stepped out respectfully, took a step forward, and answered with a serious face:
"Your Majesty, according to secret reports from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Qing army has recently accelerated its troop deployments in Henan, Shandong, and other areas. In Kaifeng alone, they have concentrated over 30,000 troops, including several thousand Eight Banners troops.

However, it is currently unclear whether this force will march south to Huguang or Jianghuai. I have ordered the Jinyiwei who have infiltrated Henan to closely monitor the Qing army's movements. As soon as they receive any news, they will immediately send someone back to report. "Yes." Zhu Cilang frowned slightly upon hearing this, and then gave another order:

"Dorgon is trying to set up a maze for me to disperse my forces. Although he is likely to head south to Huguang, we must still be careful and pay close attention to the Qing army's movements. We must not take it lightly."

"I obey your command!" Zhou Shixian bowed and accepted the order. He was the supreme commander of the Jinyiwei and knew very well that a new war was about to begin.

"What's the situation in Shaanxi and Gansu?" Zhu Cilang asked again.

He remembered that at this time, the Shaanxi-Gansu region would see the first Green Camp uprising break out because of the Qing army's division and rule of the surrendered Ming army and the shaving of hair and keeping of queues, which would slow down the Qing army's pace of moving south to Sichuan.

Zhou Shixian continued to answer:
"Reporting to Your Majesty, in Shaanxi and Gansu, a large number of Green Camp members have obtained land and slaves through enclosure due to raising their flags. They are very loyal to the Qing court and have basically no intention of rebellion.

Faced with the decree that the army must shave their heads, although some people resisted, they were almost all isolated and helpless, and ultimately failed quickly. Most of the time, this was due to traitors who betrayed them, or even collusion between insiders and outsiders.

Zhu Cilang nodded. Ever since he learned from the Embroidered Uniform Guard that Dorgon was not as crazy as originally described in history, he realized that he was facing greater pressure.

Of course, the united front value of these Green Camp troops was achieved by him leading the army. Otherwise, the Qing court would have done as it did in history, using the Han generals from Liaodong to control the Han generals from the interior, forcing them to shave their heads and change their clothes, and thus triggering uprisings in various places.

In the original history, more than a month later, He Zhen, the Qing Dynasty's Hanzhong general who had just defeated Li Dingguo and held a large army, would raise the banner of rebellion against the Qing Dynasty again, calling himself "General Fengtian Advocating Righteousness" to show that he would inherit Li Zicheng's cause. He led 20,000 troops out of Lianyunzhan and captured Fengxiang in one fell swoop.

At the same time, with the cooperation and response of the local garrisons Wu Dading, Shi Guoxi and Baoji garrison Gao Ruli, He Zhen quickly captured Longzhou, Guyuan and other places, killed the Qing general He Shiyuan, and then the rebel forces in Jingning, Lingtai and Guanzhong responded.

But now, Zhu Cilang was no longer sure whether He Zhen would revolt, or even whether he could achieve such results after the revolt, and whether he could tie down the main force of the Shaanxi Qing army led by He Luohui.

"Shaanxi, especially Hanzhong's military situation, requires special attention. Once the Qing army attacks Baoning from Hanzhong, immediately send a copy of the military report to Gao Yigong in Chongqing."

"I obey your order!" Zhou Shixian said with a bow.

Zhu Cilang did not have much hope for Zhang Xianzhong's performance. This so-called King of the Great West was now crazy.

Now, Liu Tichun is stationed in Yuezhou and will no longer go north to reinforce He Zhen. If the Qing army loses the restraint of the southern Shaanxi volunteer army, it will soon move south. The Dashi Army is now facing many internal crises, and Sichuan cannot hold out for long.

However, Chongqing is now garrisoned by Gao Yigong. He has nearly 10,000 well-trained soldiers under his command. He can defend the city and, with the help of the mountains and rivers, hold off the Qing army for several months without any problem.

What Zhu Cilang is most worried about now is whether Gao Jie, Huang Degong, and the garrison in Fengyang, with the cooperation of hundreds of garrisons in Jiangbei, can completely stop the Qing army's small forces, or even block the main force of the Qing army for a period of time.

He had just transferred Zhang Huangyan back from northern Jiangxi not long ago and sent him on an inspection tour. There would be results soon.

The cool morning breeze caressed the fields, there was still a hint of chill in the air, dew hung on the tips of the green leaves, and the fields were now a scene full of vitality.

Zhang Huangyan rode his horse slowly along the newly built official road, his eyes occasionally sweeping across the fields on either side and the tall, fortified garrison in front. Behind him, a group of cavalry guards followed closely.

Another officer, who looked like a scholar and had a high rank judging by his military uniform, also followed closely beside him on a warhorse, and from time to time he whispered with him about the implementation of the garrison construction.

"These garrisons are built along the river and have earthen walls, making them easy to defend and difficult to attack. They integrate farming and defense into one, and the design is indeed ingenious!" The scholar-looking officer named Gan Xi exclaimed in amazement as he looked at another garrison surrounded by earthen walls beside the official road.

Zhang Huangyan nodded slightly when he heard this, and said in a deep voice:
"Yes, these garrisons are not only strong fortresses against the Eastern Tartars, but also provide a safeguard for the people to live and work in peace during wartime. Your Majesty is far-sighted. This move can be said to kill two birds with one stone."

"Sun Tzu said: 'The rule of warfare is to surround an enemy with ten of their number, attack them with five, and divide them if they are twice as many. But to repair oars, pulleys, and gear, and to prepare the weapons, takes three months, and to dig silts, another three months. If the general cannot contain his anger and his enemies swarm like ants, and if one-third of his soldiers are killed and the city remains uncaptured, this is the disaster of the attack.'"

Although Gan Xi was a Jinshi, he was fond of studying Sun Tzu's Art of War and was very fond of firearms. Now, seeing these garrisons, he could even imagine the scene of the Qing army failing to attack and retreating to the north in a panic.

"If firearms were deployed on the earthen walls of these garrisons, the Qing army's assault would inflict even greater damage. And within the garrisons, all are relatives and friends of the same clan. With a united will, their fighting spirit is bound to remain undiminished."

Zhang Huangyan listened and nodded in agreement:

"Zixian, I was right about you. There aren't many scholars in the world today who are as well-versed in military strategy and specialized in firearms as you are. Your Majesty has ordered me to recruit a group of scholars and juren in Jiangxi. Of the thousands of scholars and hundreds of juren, only nine meet the requirements."

The scholars in the late Ming Dynasty were a very complex group. Although most of them were mediocre people who talked in generalities and had no knowledge of governing the country and saving the people, there were also some like Zhang Huangyan who were self-taught at a young age and were both literary and martial.

Gan Xi, who was born in Fengxin County, Nanchang Prefecture, passed the imperial examination in the 13th year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign and nicknamed himself "Little Prodigy," was similarly educated. However, perhaps because he was obsessed with Sun Tzu's Art of War and his research on firearms, he failed to achieve further academic success.

Now, in order to expand the Teaching Corps and attract open-minded scholars, Zhu Cilang directly asked Zhang Huangyan to recruit them to form a new instructor group for the Teaching Corps.

After receiving Zhu Cilang's edict, Zhang Huangyan arranged some things and immediately returned with the small team of the teaching corps that had stayed in northern Jiangxi. Gan Xi, who had performed well in all aspects and was trained by him, was in the team that was inspecting the construction of the garrison.

The two men galloped on their horses and soon turned from the official road into the country dirt road, rushing towards the garrison they had just seen.

As the golden sunlight spread over the fields, hundreds of peasant soldiers had assembled on the Tunbu parade ground under the command of officers, ready to be inspected by their superiors. They had not received any orders earlier, and it took them more than half an hour to finally assemble.

Zhang Huangyan was mentally prepared for this. After all, these were not regular troops. They were elite troops as they were able to assemble so quickly without any preparation.

Gan Xi was also not a man who only talked about military strategy. He looked at the training ground in front of him, which was full of peasant soldiers and had already started training, and said with emotion:

"These peasant soldiers are quite well-trained, and their morale is particularly high. Compared to those decadent garrison soldiers in Jiangxi, there's a world of difference!"

Zhang Huangyan narrowed his eyes and carefully observed the peasant soldiers on the parade ground. He saw that they were in neat formation, their movements were skillful, and they brandished their spears with great vigor. Although they only knew a few moves, it was clear that they coordinated with each other, and they didn't look like a group of farmers at all.

He nodded slightly, deeply assentful. "Your Majesty is well aware that a strong army is the foundation of a prosperous nation, and a strong army must first strengthen the people. That is why you have vigorously promoted the policy of military farming, integrating soldiers with farming, and at the same time solving the problem of resettlement of refugees and the military rations needed for training garrisons."

The two were ordered to inspect the farming conditions across Jiangbei and examine the results of the peasant and soldier training. The Qing army in the north had begun to gather and could march south at any time, so they had to be prepared.

As he headed north, Zhang Huangyan, who had personally experienced the Battle of Jianghuai, witnessed the tremendous changes brought about by the military farming policy.

The land that had become barren due to war in the past has now become fertile farmland. Strong military forts have sprung up one after another. In addition to farming in the fields, the farmers and soldiers have also been training diligently and have developed a certain level of combat effectiveness.

(End of this chapter)