The commander-in-chief of an army is indeed the soul of the army. If the commander-in-chief is excellent, the army will not be far behind.
So Xin Qiji took the information and looked at it carefully to see what was special about this Southern Song naval general named Li Bao.
This look really revealed some clues.
"Indeed, this Li Bao is considered a figure. He once went south to surrender to the Yue Family Army, then went north to Shandong to contact the rebels to resist the Jin Army, cooperated with the Yue Family Army's actions, and then went south again to join Han Shizhong... This feels somewhat similar to His Majesty's previous actions. place."
Xin Qiji raised his head and looked at Su Yonglin, his face full of interest.
"There are still talents in the Southern Song Dynasty. They are usually idle. Now at the critical moment, Zhao Gou is not stupid. He is promoted quickly if he is a talent. This Li Bao is a capable person. We cannot underestimate him, including Liu Qi. That is also Our archenemy."
Su Yonglin slowly took a few steps forward, looked at the setting sun, and sighed: "But so many military and political talents cannot be used by me, but they are restricted by Zhao Gou to the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty. I can only watch them all my life." The Central Plains keeps lamenting, how sad is it?"
"Your Majesty will eventually destroy the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, the talents of the Southern Song Dynasty will be in the palm of your Majesty's hands."
Xin Qiji said respectfully.
Su Yonglin looked back at Xin Qiji and smiled.
"That's right. My goal is not limited to the Southern Song Dynasty. My goal is the world, a wider place. Sooner or later, the talents of the Southern Song Dynasty will serve this goal. Don't be afraid of being late for a good meal. Just wait! The Ming Dynasty's The flag will eventually be planted all over the world!"
Su Yonglin's heroic ambitions are by no means groundless. The Ming army's professionalism and strength are one of his biggest reliances.
The first to take action was the Zhongdu Forbidden Army.
The Zhongdu Forbidden Army is the Huben Army, which is not the same system as the Yanyun Corps, and the Forbidden Army is basically cavalry.
In addition to the 50,000 immature cavalry scattered among the various corps, the Huben Army itself also has a strength of 30,000 elite cavalry.
With the completion and operation of Yanshan Racecourse and more and more cavalry training, the establishment of the Huben Army has also continued to expand. It has now expanded to 50,000 establishments, and may continue to expand in the future.
Su Yonglin's demand for cavalry is very huge, which is related to the future grassland strategy and Xixia and Xiliao strategies.
Of course, Su Yong, as the commander-in-chief, could not go south this time, so the General Staff Council sent Su Yong's deputy Geng Xingwen to lead 20,000 Zhongdu cavalry south to assist in the battle.
After receiving the order, Geng Xingwen was very excited. After getting the troop deployment order issued by the General Staff Council, he immediately went to mobilize the troops, leaving the envious Su Yong grumbling next to Su Yonglin.
It's just that it's useless no matter how much Su Yong complains.
On the other side, Kong Zhende and Zhou Mancheng immediately divided their troops into two groups after receiving the order.
The General Staff Council decided that Zhou Mancheng would lead 5,000 soldiers and more than 200 river warships to Haizhou to prepare to cooperate with the land group's offensive. Kong Zhende personally led more than 500 main warships and 8,000 main sailors to set sail, with the goal of Mingzhou Navy in the Southern Song Dynasty.
Then, there are the actions of the Youyi Army of the Henan Corps.
After the troop dispatch order from the General Staff Council was sent to Kaifeng, Zhang Yuejing called Zhou Zhi enviously and handed the troop dispatch order from the General Staff Council to Zhou Zhi.
"Since the Battle of Guanzhong, the Ming Dynasty has not raised weapons again, but this time it started from you."
Zhou Zhi was overjoyed after receiving the order to mobilize troops.
"It's all thanks to His Majesty's trust and Commander's cultivation that my subordinates are what they are today."
Zhang Yuejing laughed.
"Okay, don't say such things. Go and prepare. I will arrange for other troops to switch defenses with you. Please be more careful."
"As commanded."
Zhou Zhi quickly made preparations.
According to the order of the General Staff Council, Zhou Zhi needs to lead the army from the garrison of Fuli to Haizhou to join 20,000 cavalry and naval forces, and then go south together, break the Southern Song Dynasty river defense from Zhenjiang Prefecture, set foot on the land of Jiangnan, and then go all the way to Lin'an. .
In this battle, Zhou Zhi, as the commander-in-chief and commander-in-chief, has the power to make arbitrary decisions when the situation arises. The General Staff Council will give strategic goals and tactical suggestions, but the specific method of fighting will be arranged by the commander-in-chief Zhou Zhi based on the specific conditions on the battlefield and the front line. The General Staff Council will not impose any restrictions.
This was a decision made by Su Yonglin based on the failed experience of the Song Dynasty military commanders who were restrained and chaotically commanded by the court from behind. He gave the frontline generals full decision-making power and did not arrange for the presence of additional supervisory troops.
But correspondingly, if the war fails, the general will bear a huge responsibility.
If you are dead, forget it. If you are alive, you will be punished, punished, demoted or even dismissed. And according to the current atmosphere of the Ming army, once a general is defeated, it is basically equivalent to death within the army. It is not easy to make a comeback.
In all senses, under this rule, the test for the frontline generals is very great.
When Zhou Zhi failed to attack Tongguan for the first time, he received some punishments within the rules. However, at that time, everyone knew that Tongguan was very difficult to defeat, and it was normal for an army to be unable to take it, so Zhou Zhi was treated relatively loosely.
But this time, Zhou Zhi realized what kind of burden he shouldered as the commander-in-chief of an army of 50,000 people, and he also knew what the consequences would be if he failed, so he was excited but also nervous at the same time.
When Zhou Zhi started arranging troops to prepare for departure to Haizhou, it was already mid-February of the second year of Hongwu. By the time the army arrived in Haizhou for preparation, it was already early March of the second year of Hongwu.
When Zhou Zhi's You Yi army arrived in Haizhou, the cavalry of the Zhongdu Forbidden Army had already arrived.
With inexplicable nervousness, Zhou Zhi took the order issued by the General Staff Council to find Geng Xingwen, deputy general of the Huben Army, and confirmed his affiliation with him, confirming Zhou Zhi's command of the Central Capital Forbidden Army.
Geng Xingwen immediately stated that he would obey the provisions of the General Staff Council and strictly abide by Zhou Zhi's military orders.
Only then did Zhou Zhi feel relieved.
It was indeed a joy to him that what he feared might happen did not happen.
Geng Xingwen was born in a peasant family and did not have a strong personality. Compared with war madmen like Su Yong, he was calmer and more talkative. Compared with his colleague Ding Siyuan, he was also relatively more reasonable. Therefore, he was still more reasonable to Zhou Zhi who was not in the same system. Rather candid.
But generally speaking, there is no major conflict between the five major corps of the Liberation Army and the Huben Army.
Their respective commanders are all old men led by Su Yonglin, and most of them are old men of the Su family who have followed Su Yonglin since the Southern Song Dynasty. Su Jue, Su Haisheng, Han Jinggui, and Zhang Yuejing are all old men of the Su family.
Only Li Xiao, who succeeded Sun Ziyi as the commander of the Yanyun Corps, was not an old man of the Su family. He was an old member of Zhao Kaishan who later followed Su Yonglin and was a native of Shandong.
Broadly speaking, within the former Shengjie Army group, most of the middle- and upper-level officers were old men from the Su family who followed Su Yonglin to the north to rebel. Most of the middle- and lower-level officers and grassroots soldiers were locals who later followed Su Yonglin.
However, as time went by, the number of the army continued to expand. By the time of the Liberation Army, there were not many old people in the Su family. Except for the top generals, most of the officers and soldiers were also natives of the Central Plains.
In addition, Su Yonglin has always used class division to educate the army, and used the distinction between the upper class and the cattle to divide society horizontally. Therefore, in addition to regional identity, there is also a class identity among the Liberation Army group, that is, everyone is a miserable person. Agree.
In addition, Su Yonglin has been deliberately downplaying regional differences, and does not consider regional differences when promoting officers and awarding military merits. Therefore, in this regard, there are generally no unjustifiable conflicts within the army.
There is no such distinction between the old Su family faction, the Shandong faction, the Hebei faction, etc., after the Liberation Army was generally disbanded and reorganized to form the current Ming Army.
