After the on-site decision was made to solve the problem of the construction of the Dayi military industrial base, Ouyang Xuan rushed to Qiongzhou without stopping - Ouyang Xuan really went there on horseback. Since the war horses became available, relevant personnel of the Perak Army have learned to ride horses. Ouyang Xuan has been practicing for about a month. Although his riding skills are not proficient, he can still ride long distances. His trip to Qiongzhou was to witness the establishment of the first cavalry unit of the Perak Army. The Perak Army captured 230 war horses from the Mongols. In addition to the more than 400 war horses seized and purchased by the armed caravans from the Tibetan area, there were more than 700 war horses at this time. These horses were kept in Liangzhou, Qiongzhou. of mountainous areas. With these horses, the Perak Army will set up a cavalry battalion of 500 people - to be precise, it is called a mounted infantry battalion. The battalion will be equipped with ultra-light tiger crouching cannons and new muskets. They can quickly arrive at the battlefield on horseback and then dismount to fight. Due to equestrian reasons, this team will not be able to attack on horseback for a long time. The remaining war horses were assigned to other troops and were mainly used for reconnaissance, confidential communications and as mounts for senior commanders.
Due to the stable environment brought about by driving away the Mongols and suppressing bandits, as well as due to preferential settlement policies and effective publicity, a large number of refugees have gone to cities and settlement points to register from hiding places, and even from Pengzhou, Meizhou, Yazhou and other places. The refugees came after hearing the news, which made the demographic results of the jurisdiction far beyond the expectations of the top brass of the Pili Army - there were actually 150,000 people. If the hidden population was taken into account, the number of people in the jurisdiction should reach about 180,000. This number is not surprising when you think about it carefully. These more than ten counties are all located in the core area of the Western Sichuan Plain. Before the Mongolian invasion in 1142, they were all top-ranking Wang counties. Each county has at least tens of thousands of people, and the total number of counties is at least tens of thousands. Over two million. What makes Ouyang Xuan even more happy is that most of these people are young and middle-aged men and women - because the old, weak, sick and disabled simply cannot survive in this chaotic world. With this population, the top brass of the Perak Army determined the scale of military expansion. In fact, although it is known as the Perak Army, due to population limitations, the number of regular soldiers in the Perak Army has never exceeded 2,000.
After the Battle of Hengyuan Fort, Ouyang Xuan proposed an army expansion plan in view of the needs of the war, which was also approved by the Military and Political Joint Conference. However, because it is impossible to accurately estimate the future population under the rule, the scale of military expansion has not been determined. Under agricultural conditions, the ratio of population to army is at most 10:1. If it exceeds this, it will lead to economic collapse. Although the Perak Army's economy is currently divided between industry and agriculture, commerce will account for one-third in the future. In theory, it can support more troops. However, out of the need to develop stamina, Ouyang Xuan did not agree with excessive military expansion. Li Shuang, Yu Zhu and others also believed that "it's not about having many soldiers, it's about being good". Therefore, Ouyang Xuan proposed to expand the army to 5,000 people based on the population registration data. Only Cao Ergou thought this number was too small, because he knew that the focus of the Pili Army's expansion must be the naval army. In this case, his field camp will definitely not be able to expand by many people.
Proposed by Ouyang Xuan, the Military-Governmental Joint Meeting approved the Perak Army's new military strength plan. The new plan stipulates that the original field battalions, naval battalions, garrison battalions, and internal guard battalions will be expanded into field brigades, naval brigade, garrison brigades, and internal guard brigades respectively. According to the plan, the field brigade consisted of two infantry battalions and one mounted infantry battalion, with each battalion having 500 men, which made Cao Ergou extremely satisfied. In addition to the significant increase in the number of people, the combat effectiveness of the field brigade will also rise sharply because of the horses. In terms of organization and configuration, each infantry battalion has five companies, including a light artillery company and a heavy artillery company, equipped with two light field guns and ten heavy field guns respectively. These guns have wheeled gun mounts, and They are dragged by mules and horses; there are also two companies of heavily armored pikemen, soldiers wearing rattan armor and equipped with seven-meter-long steel spears, which will cut off the Mongols' idea of charge; the last company is a company of sword and shield soldiers, which in addition to using In addition to preventing damage from bows and arrows, the giant shield will also be responsible for melee combat with enemies rushing into the formation. The field brigade is stationed in Chongqing Prefecture, with Cao Ergou as the brigade commander and three deputy brigade commanders as battalion commanders. In addition to Chen Hu and Tang Xiangwei serving as infantry battalion commanders respectively, the most surprising thing is the new addition of Zhou Jianshen as cavalry battalion commander. Among these three people, Chen Hu was the fire chief of the original grain collection team, Tang Xiangwei was an officer of the Chongqing Prefecture Xiang Army, and Zhou Jianshen represented the new auxiliary army group in the uprising, and respectively represented the three important forces within the Perak Army. Of course, the internal balance of power is only secondary. To truly employ people, one must be able to win battles. In fact, although the old team of the original grain requisition team had no political problems, after all, they were all military commanders and soldiers doing odd jobs, and their military quality was still much weaker than that of regular officers. Of course, Ouyang Xuan's approach of employing people without suspicion and not using people with suspicion also greatly appeased the newly surrendered army group, and these people accounted for a large number after the expansion of the army.
The naval force is also the focus of expansion. The newly established naval brigade has 1,500 people and is also composed of three battalions. Each battalion consists of two companies of light artillery warships, one company of heavy artillery warships, and two companies of escort ships. This escort ship company is mainly equipped with a large number of special equipment to prevent the enemy from joining forces to fight or enemy ships such as fire warships approaching the gunboat. These three battalions are stationed in Xinjin City, Sandu River and Caidu respectively. The above-mentioned places are all at the throat of waterways and are easy to defend and difficult to attack. After the next step of building fortresses, docks and ship repair yards, they will become the core places to control the Jinma River and Nanhe River. . Huang Dagen is still the brigade commander of the navy, and the three deputy brigade commanders also serve as battalion commanders: Le Quan'an, Liao Niluo, and Yu Laodou. These three are all people who are proficient in water warfare. Unexpectedly, Xia Dagen, who was only fifteen years old, was promoted to a platoon of the escort ship company of Liao Nilu Camp because of his invention of blasting ships and his bravery in the battles with Pengshan City and Sandu Shuimeng Army. long.
Although the newly established garrison brigade has only 1,000 regular troops, it has the largest number of reserve personnel. According to the idea of "all the people are soldiers, all the people are in military training", there are about 70,000 men of suitable age within the jurisdiction of the Perak Army, who can organize and train 700 companies of militiamen. In accordance with the policy of the Perak Army, the squad and platoon leaders of the militia companies were transferred and organized into seventy basic companies that were not off-duty. The cities and settlement points of the Perak Army were guarded by these basic companies. After military assessment and background investigation, elites were transferred from the basic companies to form a guard battalion with five companies. The training and military equipment of the guard battalions are the same as those of the field troops, except that their task is to lead the basic companies to guard Guankou Village. , Pujiang City, Baizhang City and other fortresses and important military and civilian locations. Another off-the-job unit of the garrison brigade is the teaching battalion. The teaching battalion consists of four non-commissioned officer companies and one officer company, which respectively train non-commissioned officers, squad leaders, company platoon leaders and other officers. The garrison brigade commander is still Yu Zhu, the garrison battalion commander is Shi Zhongshu, the former commander of the second company of the field battalion, and the teaching battalion commander is Zeng Yong after many considerations. This Zeng Yong was originally a centurion of the Han army in Wang Dechen's department. Because he could not stand the brutality and bloodshed of the Mongolian army, he traveled thousands of miles from Lizhou to defect to the Perak army. He is a descendant of Zeng Gongliang, a famous official in the Northern Song Dynasty, and he has learned the essence of the military book "Wu Jing Zong Yao" written by his ancestor. Ouyang Xuan made him the commander of the teaching battalion, not only because he knew the art of war, but also because he knew the weaknesses of the Mongolian army.
Although the Internal Guard Brigade only has 1,000 people, it undertakes many tasks. Therefore, in addition to the original guard company, counter-espionage company, and anti-traitor company, a confidential company was also added, and the reconnaissance company was expanded into a battalion. The newly established A special battalion. The personnel and establishment of the guard company, counterintelligence company and anti-trafficking company have not changed, while the confidential company is responsible for transmitting, summarizing and analyzing important intelligence. The reconnaissance battalion has three reconnaissance companies, also equipped with an appropriate number of horses and small boats. The special battalion is composed of elites selected from the entire army according to Ouyang Xuan's requirements. It uses high-intensity actual combat training and is equipped with the best weapons and equipment. It will become the tip of the sharp blade of the Thunderbolt Army. The internal security brigade commander is still Dong Hu, the deputy brigade commander and reconnaissance battalion commander is Wu Qing, the former reconnaissance company commander, and the other deputy brigade commander and special battalion commander is Yu San, the former third company commander of the field battalion. The leader of Xiangshui Village in Jiguan Mountain is very good at special tactics such as sneak attacks, ambushes, and blasting.
