At midnight, the lights were brightly lit in a tightly covered tent by the Yellow River.
Yang Fan and the generals in the Beijing camp were sitting cross-legged around a map spread on the carpet.
Yang Fan was surrounded by the generals of various regiments and battalions in the Beijing camp.
When the Beijing camp set off, there were more than 80,000 people in total, organized into 22 regiments and a Chinese army. In addition to the two cavalry guard regiments, the Chinese army also has more than a thousand officers at all levels of the headquarters and distinguished descendants of the Jingwei martial arts school.
According to the original name of the 12th Regiment Camp of the Beijing Camp, it was renamed the 24th Regiment Camp.
As early as during the Nanyuan training, starting from the general banner, the chief officers at all levels were veterans of the Jia Ding Regiment.
As the war continued, the people sent by Chongzhen improved rapidly. Yang Fan gradually promoted them from Jingwei martial arts students to the position of deputy chief officer. Chongzhen is quite satisfied with this point.
So far, Yang Fan has replaced all the commanders of each battalion with noble disciples of Jingwei Martial Arts. The servants retreated to the position of military judge.
As for the eunuchs who came last, Yang Fan temporarily let them serve as supervisors. Get familiar with the environment first. Mainly based on learning.
After the eunuchs arrived, the people in the Ministry of War were greatly stimulated.
They wrote letters to the emperor one after another. It is said that the logistics of the army is very important. It is said that the three armies will go ahead before food and grass are used. It was requested that the officials accompanying this expedition should also be arranged into the army. It also helps to better serve the Northwest War.
At this time, the emperor did not want to fall out with Donglin. He also counted on Yuan Chonghuan to regain Liaodong. So, he ordered Yang Fan to look at the arrangements.
Yang Fan was also helpless. However, considering that Zhang Shize will soon replace him as governor of Jingying Rongzheng. He didn't care anymore. Since the emperor has something to say, let’s make arrangements.
As a result, each battalion and regiment level of the Beijing camp now has a distinguished general and a civilian deputy general. On the upper left of the other officials, there is a eunuch supervising the army, a Jin Yiwei observer, a captain of the East Factory, and a Zan Hua (staff officer) who was promoted by Yang Fan and came from the army.
The reason why Yang Fan still wants to retain a person he promoted is mainly because an army must have at least one person who knows how to fight.
These praise paintings were all selected from the night school of Yang Fan's army, soldiers with good academic performance and who came from the lower-class military families in the Beijing camp. Those who have been trained by the military academy, that is, the staff cadet training team.
They systematically learned common sense about troop formation, logistics, training, intelligence reconnaissance, and combat command. There were not many of them, one in each battalion, and two or three in each regiment. Yang Fan's Chinese army staff group has thirty members.
They are responsible for formulating battle plans, drawing battle maps, and making sand tables. Compile and analyze intelligence, send and receive military orders and various documents, etc.
During wartime, they proposed multiple combat plans for the chief officer to choose from. To prepare for consultation when the chief officer is hesitant. Their official ranks are the same no matter what level they are at. All are hundreds of households.
This is an insurance measure for Yang Fan to be responsible for the Jingying camp so that the Jingying camp can still fight without his supervision in the coming years.
At this time, their official rank in the Beijing camp was considered to be mid-level.
Generally, a sentry team consists of a hundred people, and the chief officer is generally at the level of one hundred households.
The camp has five hundred households and more than 500 people, and the chief officer is at the level of one thousand households.
The regiment has six battalions and a regiment headquarters, with a total of 3,600 people. The chief officer is at the rank of commander of the guard.
Chongzhen was planning to wait until Yang Fan secured the northwest and handed over the capital camp. He planned to rebuild the capital camp and tentatively designated twenty-five guards. Twenty-two regiments were converted into guards, and each regiment was increased by 2,000 men, reaching a full strength of 5,600 men for a guard. Each battalion under the regiment was expanded into a thousand-household camp.
The cavalry of the Chinese army was expanded to three guards. It is personally led by the ministers of the Governor-General of Jingying Rongzheng and used as a directly affiliated force. Other regiments and camps are headed by noble sons and daughters.
In this way, in addition to Zhou Yuji's chariot camp, he had a total of 36,000 artillery, infantry, and cavalry troops as the emperor's personal army. There is also the rebuilt 25th Guards of Jingying.
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The transformation of Jingying was something the emperor had never dreamed of. The current state of the Beijing camp has at least returned to the level when Zhu Zhanji was emperor during the Xuande era. It even reached the level of Zhu Di's era.
This was also because despite Yang Fan's growing power, the emperor felt uncomfortable and became increasingly suspicious.
However, he can still trust Yang Fan's key. That is, only Yang Fan has these abilities.
The emperor's standards for employing people are very simple, and they have been two since ancient times.
The first is loyalty, the second is competence.
But many times, it is difficult to find someone who is both loyal and capable. Then there's a trade-off.
At least Yang Fan is a solitary minister and does not associate with any forces. No background, clean origins. And there was nothing behind his back. Everything is laid out in the early Ming Dynasty for everyone to see.
He wants to mix it with sand and send noble sons to the capital camp. Yang Fan accepted them all, very happily, without any hesitation.
After the Guihua City was captured, Chongzhen sent a large number of eunuchs, but Yang Fan didn't care. However, someone secretly reported that Zhang Shize was very unhappy and angry. Didn't look good on the eunuchs.
Yang Fan assigned these eunuchs to the battalion and regiment levels, and asked them to cooperate with the battalion and regiment leaders to fight. If you have some merit, it's better to share the profits with them. This won unanimous praise from the eunuchs.
Especially, they also got a share of the auction trophies.
In the secret report written by the father-in-law to the emperor, Yang Fan could not be more praised.
Since they have such professional ethics and will do things for their money, Yang Fan will not treat them badly.
Although Chongzhen was increasingly wary of Yang Fan, the emperor knew everything that Yang Fan did and what happened in the capital camp thousands of miles away every day.
Under this kind of organization where civil servants, royal guards, dongchang, royal horse supervisors, and nobles stack up their beds and build houses, there are no secrets at all. Everything is almost transparent to all parties.
Therefore, Chongzhen felt relatively at ease placing the Beijing camp with Yang Fan.
His biggest hope is to finish the battle in Monan and transfer the Beijing camp back. Yang Fan was deprived of his military power and allowed to serve as the highest military attache in the newly established Suiyuan Province. He served as the commander of the Suiyuan Capital Command.
Yang Fan should be awarded a marquis for his contribution. Taking down Monan is well deserved.
Before sending troops, he made a plan.
The Chahar people and Jiannu fought fiercely. As the saying goes, there is no room for two tigers in one mountain, Lin Danhan couldn't spare any effort. But Khalkha is too far away, separated by the desert. The drought has been severe in the past two years, and their strength has been greatly reduced. Eastern Mongolia is separated from Chahar.
Therefore, when the Ming Dynasty captured Monan, it was considered as meat in their mouths.
Chongzhen sighed, it's a pity, God's calculations are not as good as those of humans.
In today's desert Mongolia, those Taiji and Khan kings don't know what's irritating their brains.
They were all beaten violently by the Tatars and then rushed to the Western Regions for more than a hundred years. Now he is actually shouting that he wants to avenge Monan's brothers. The Ming Dynasty will never be allowed to occupy Monan.
Moreover, the Choros family still responded to the call, including the Yarkand, the remaining Alxa tribe south of the Tianshan Mountains, the remaining Mongolian tribes in Qinghai Haihai, the Yongxiebu tribe, and even the seven tribes in Guanxi and Zasak Tuhan in Khalkha.
Hundreds of thousands of troops marched eastward. Now Jiuyuan City has become the front line of fierce fighting. Yang Fan and the Beijing camp army have been dragged there.
When Chongzhen heard the news, he was confused. Who can tell me why all this is happening.
Aren't they feuding with the Tatars? Wasn't he assassinated by a Tatar conspiracy?
Wasn't the Choros family repeatedly ravaged by the descendants of Anda Khan and Dayan Khan? Didn't they resist for several generations to overthrow the inheritance of Alatan Khan, the descendant of Dayan Khan, who ruled Mongolia in the desert?
Ming avenged them. These ungrateful, ungrateful, wolf-hearted dogs.
He actually turned around and wanted to bite Daming.
They don't remember that back then, the Shunyi King's family, those who relied on
Did the golden family bloodline oppress them in the past? Is there a history of blood and tears when the Tumut cavalry would go to Central Asia and beat them up when they had nothing to do?
However, it is useless to say anything now. Their army has arrived.
Jingying was dragged into Jiuyuan City and could not move.
Chongzhen never corrected his judgment on foreign relations even once.
From his wrong policy towards the Chahar people when he came to the throne, to his current judgment on the trends in Mongolia in the desert. All wrong.
Several horse lanterns were adjusted to maximum brightness, illuminating the tent as bright as day. Yang Fan's current arrangement is that at the dawn of Buddha, the army will cross the Yellow River and attack the Yarkand Khanate's army.
Now, due to the obstruction of the Yellow River, the 30,000 Yarkand infantry and cavalry army is actually a lone army.
The Mongolian tribes in the desert had no time to support them. The Seven Divisions of Guanxi in Jiayuguanxi stayed on the west side of Helan Mountain to threaten the defenders of Ningxia Town from the flanks, preventing them from going north to attack Houtao and support Jiuyuan City.
Therefore, they were left alone in Henan. They only have 30,000 infantry and cavalry, and Yang Fan can mobilize the entire Beijing camp, giving him a two-to-one advantage in strength.
Yang Fan decided to make a time difference first.
Leave Jiuyuan City to Tuanlian for guarding. He led a 60,000-strong Beijing camp and a regiment of servants to forcefully cross the Yellow River and annihilate the Yarkand army before the siege began. In order to deter these arrogant Central Asian bullies.
The course of the Yellow River is shrouded in darkness.
There is no moon tonight, it is a cloudy day. Moreover, the howling wind obscured the sound of engineers building the pontoon bridge.
It was dark on the other side, and Mongol sentries occasionally patrolled by on horseback from the river.
The camp in Wuli, Henan was even more dark, and everyone was sleeping. Crossing the river in this era is not an easy task.
They came here from the Tarim Basin south of the Tianshan Mountains, bringing a large number of sheepskin rafts with them. If you encounter a river along the way, use this to cross it.
This thing is very light, like a balloon, and is usually stacked on the carriage. If necessary, blow air in and tie the mouth tightly. By tying the sheepskin bag on a grid made of bamboo poles, you can paddle across the river.
They arrived yesterday and camped throughout the day. Coupled with the long march, people and horses were even more exhausted. They didn't think that across the natural danger of the Yellow River, the Beijing camp could come and attack them without being discovered by their scouts. So they all slept like crazy.
Three pontoons extend little by little toward the north shore. The 60,000-strong Beijing Camp is ready. Just wait until the pontoon bridge is repaired and head straight to Henan.
In the big tent, Yang Fan looked around and sighed inwardly.
He was surrounded by noble disciples.
They are all the eldest sons and grandsons of the Duke's uncle's family. The first candidate to inherit the title in the future.
These candidates were appointed by Chongzhen. Basically, those in the Chinese Army are from duke families. Those who serve as regimental leaders are all from marquis families, and those who serve as battalion commanders are all from earl families.
Well, Ming Dynasty was also an era of fighting for one’s father. This era is about origin and class.
The emperor arranged this to prevent anyone from being dissatisfied. Don't you know your identity? Which family you are born into is determined by God. This is destiny.
The group leaders sat in the first circle around the map. The second and third circles behind them were the supervisors, Zan Hua, and battalion commanders.
This force will be handed over to Zhang Shize. He was waiting for Zhang Shize to come back.
But Yang Fan was a little worried about how long they could maintain their current combat power after being handed over to the court. The so-called doing good is like ascending, doing evil is like falling. It decays very quickly.
However, Yang Fan didn't care. He never thought about controlling Jingying. He was not yet hysterical.
The emperor used him as governor of the capital camp and military affairs for the same reason that he was used to bring the Xinghe regiment to the capital to defeat the governor of Wei. I can't find a suitable person temporarily, so I will use it reluctantly. After the business was done, it was time for him to stay alone.
Therefore, if Yang Fan has good things, he will never buy a house for Jingying.
The last time he guarded the Qianhu Station in Hexi, he worked hard and worked hard. In addition to training, he also spent his own money to purchase 500 armored horses.
chariots and five hundred heavy bronze-fired cannons.
These cost him a lot of money.
In the Ming Dynasty, copper was money. A cannon weighs 500 kilograms, which is a full 250 tons of fine bronze.
Gunmetal is a copper-tin alloy bronze that was used to cast cannons in the old days.
Gunmetal is not like regular bronze alloys. There are three categories: brass, bronze and white copper. Ingredients: 29% zinc, 1% tin, and the rest is copper.
Yang Fan's gun metal is tin brass. Add 1% tin to brass to obtain tin brass.
Tin brass is corrosion-resistant in seawater and fresh water, and is mostly used to make copper ship parts and cast artillery. The cost of this kind of gun is not much different from that of pure copper.
At that time, Yang Fan regarded the Hexi Guard Qianhu Station as his subordinate. Because according to management, the health system is hereditary and replaceable. From now on, Yang Fan's descendants will automatically inherit Yang Fan's army and territory.
If the court wants to use itself in the future, let this army go. Thus concealing his true strength in private soldiers.
Yang Fan thought it was worth investing at the time. After all, weapons and weapons are blind on the battlefield. He went on an expedition without a turtle shell, fangs and claws, and he was not sure about his own safety.
He didn't care whether he could win the battle for the imperial court, but at least he had to protect himself.
Due to the extremely long life of bronze artillery. The service life of bronze artillery often exceeds a hundred years, and many even exceed 150 years. There is no doubt that the most important reason for the long life is that the casting cost of bronze cannons is prohibitively high.
Yang Fan didn't even use the formula used by the beautiful country during the Civil War. Use 80% copper, 1% tin, and the rest lead, causing the cannon to glow red.
Just used the best formula. The copper materials are imported from Chile and are imported from Chile in modern times. The quality is much higher than this era.
As a result, the emperor was very shameless and directly transferred his Hexi garrison of Qianhu to others.
As for the 250 tons of copper invested by Yang Fan and the labor costs, I will not talk about it in black and white.
250 tons of copper is not a small amount.
The Chongzhen Tongbao cast by the imperial court weighs 11.7 grams and contains five grams of copper in the century. This is copper material worth 50 million yuan, a total of 50,000 pieces.
At this time, six hundred and fifty coins can be exchanged for one or two official ingots of silver. Plus labor and fire costs. Yang Fan lost one hundred thousand taels of silver.
Add to that the armored carriages and pack horses, the soldiers' armor and weapons, and the cost of training. Construction of water conservancy projects, allocation of land to military households' families, recruitment and settlement expenses, etc. Yang Fan spent another two hundred thousand taels.
Yang Fan said to himself afterwards, I was so stupid. Three hundred thousand taels of silver were thrown into the water.
Therefore, he will no longer pay for equipment in Jingying. I am a temporary worker. Do I need to worry my boss? If the emperor needs anything, let the emperor purchase it himself.
Fortunately, Chongzhen also knew that you can't keep a sheep and keep shedding its wool.
In addition, he also earned ten million taels of silver from selling goldware. For the subsequent construction of the Beijing camp, Yang Fan would basically get him whatever money Chongzhen was willing to spend.
It's just that Yang Fan reformed the military pay distribution system and changed it to Xinghe Bank. Money is no more than an officer's hand. Directly into the bankbooks of officers and soldiers. Put an end to the bad habits of free money and corruption.
In addition, Yang Fan stared at the military supplies and the canteen of the military camp. It ensured that the grain and fodder materials were actually used by the officers and soldiers. Only then did all the unhealthy tendencies in the capital camp be reversed.
In addition, Yang Fan and Zhang Shize auctioned off the spoils of war to make up for the arrears of military pay for the past years to the Beijing camp and the border troops from the four towns participating in the war.
And with money in hand, Ming Dynasty's beheading reward was truly implemented. A real *** fifty taels of head, cash it immediately.
Coupled with the continuous victory to boost morale, the Beijing camp was finally reshaped into a combatable force.
In fact, Yang Fan doesn't want to waste time here anymore.
He wants to free up his hands and use his private soldiers to deal with Mongolia in the desert.
He was considering how to drive Mongolia from Mongolia back to the west of Hami. Let Jingying go back as soon as possible. You might as well take up the job and concentrate on making outerwear and innerwear. Hold the north of the Great Wall firmly in your hands.
He wanted to give Mongolia Mongolia a heavy blow first. Let them recognize reality.
If a temporary peace could be negotiated, Yang Fan would be able to accept it.
This matter depends on how it is done. Just drive them away. Jingying went back. Only then could Yang Fan escape from the emperor's surveillance.
Only then could Yang Fan let go of his hands and feet and enjoy himself outside the Great Wall.
If Yang Fan relied on his 100,000 elite cavalry and infantry troops, it would not be too difficult to defeat Mongolia. It's just that he didn't want the emperor to discover his true strength.
His relationship with the emperor had to be carefully maintained. At least it will be needed for a long time to come.
Jingying is actually an eyesore here. There are too many eyes here, and he is restrained, which is very uncomfortable.
Therefore, in the early morning of tomorrow, the army will cross the Yellow River and first annihilate the Yarkand Khanate's army.
Then quickly retreat into the city. Welcome the stormy city attack and defense battle.
Hold the city until winter. By then, heavy snow would fall and the cattle and sheep would have nothing to eat, and the desert-Mongolian coalition forces would have to retreat.
Next, Yang Fan can use his private army to first defeat Zhasak Tuhan and the Tuva people (Tangnu Wulianghai). Then they attacked the territory of the Oirat Alliance. Destroy them.
Chongzhen does not need to know these things.
He only needs to know that the Oirat Alliance army has withdrawn. Just let him know that there is no war in the northwest. Of course, Yang Fan still has to fulfill his promise to the master and send troops to escort him back to the snow area.
There is nothing difficult about this. At that time, shallow-water heavy artillery ships and steamships will be sent up the Yellow River to Xining. Then just use the yak to march.
As for the escorts, Yang Fan has already found them. It would be better if Yan Yingyuan leads those group trainings.
After the Jiuyuan City defense battle is over, let's see how many of them are left. Just organize them into several regiments and go to the snowy areas to defend the country and guard the borders. Let them start families with women in the snow area and take root.
Yang Fan believed that with Yan Yingyuan's abilities, he would be able to achieve great results in the vast world of snow areas.
