The equipment and fighting style of the rear camp determine that the military system cannot be completely copied from the Ming army.
Zuo Mengeng made a lot of breakthroughs and changes at the battalion level. Now that it has been expanded to the association level, or to be precise, the town level, it requires even more careful consideration.
Everyone discussed for three days, and Zuo Mengeng also brought out the experience of later generations before finally determining the new military system.
The external designations of Dongchang Association and Linqing Association remain unchanged, and they still exist independently as two associations.
This is to confuse the court.
But internally, a higher-level establishment unit than the Association was established.
Not a town, but an army.
Zuo Menggeng named it the First Army of the Shandong New Army.
The new and the old are completely opposite, which means that this army will move towards a new life and will also lead the people of the world towards a new life.
Zuo Menggeng regarded himself as army commander and commander-in-chief of the entire army.
Zhang Jimeng finally entered the New Army system and served as deputy commander.
He has a military status and is impeccable in and out of the military camp. In time, it will not be difficult to become a qualified officer.
In the New Army, Zuo Menggeng added a new organization, the Political Department.
The person in charge is political commissar Huang Zongxi.
Everyone knows how important the role of political commissars is in the modern army.
As a famous great thinker in history, Huang Zongxi, who has now personally experienced war and whose thoughts are also undergoing transformation, must be very suitable for this position.
The deputy political commissar was elected by everyone and was concurrently appointed by Mao Yuanyi.
This is also a soldier with a literary background and radical ideas. In terms of ideological construction of the New Army, radical political commissars have only advantages and no disadvantages.
The biggest difference between becoming a military-level unit is that the military department has an additional full-time official, that is, the secretary-general.
The candidate to serve as secretary-general was quite unexpected. It was recommended by Zuo Menggeng, and his name was Fu Yusun.
He was one of the earliest scholars and later stayed in the rear camp.
He is relatively weak and always lags behind in military training. But I was very careful when organizing files and handling chores at the battalion headquarters. The entire battalion was kept in order by him, making the work of several chief officers very smooth.
Everyone made fun of him, saying that he was destined to be a maid. But only Zuo Mengeng knew that once the size of the army expanded, such a person would really be needed to take care of the center.
To use a precise metaphor, a military department with many personnel is like a landlord's compound. Without a housekeeper, everything would be in chaos.
Liu Yiyuan was originally the second-in-command of the rear camp, but after Zhang Jimeng came, he had no choice but to step aside and focus on his job.
Zuo Menggeng established a staff department in the military headquarters, with Liu Yiyuan as the chief of staff and deputy chief of staff Zuo Yong.
As a result, Zuo Yong was separated from the main battle force and could give full play to his strategic mind to formulate combat plans for the entire army.
The Houying Intelligence Department was upgraded to the Intelligence Department. It was no surprise that the director could only be Zuo Fu.
The deputy minister's name is Wu Zhenxi, who is also an acquaintance of everyone.
I have been handling intelligence gathering work at the battalion headquarters before. This time as deputy minister, I will still do this.
The General Logistics Brigade was divided into two parts, namely the Logistics Department and the Equipment Department. In the subsequent establishment of grassroots troops, there will no longer be a General Logistics Brigade.
The head of the Logistics Department is Zhang Yan, and the head of the Equipment Department is Zuo Dai.
Previously, Zuo Dai was both the brigade commander of the third brigade and the director of the gunpowder factory.
This span of work is too big, and it makes Zuo Dai very tired.
Zuo Mengeng talked to Zuo Dai and found that he was not very interested in being a general. On the contrary, he liked weapons manufacturing and research and development.
Then simply let him leave the grassroots level and serve as the minister of the equipment department, in charge of the equipment manufacturing, research and development and other work of the new army.
Naturally, the Training Department is indispensable for training new recruits, and the head of the department still travels around.
Such a large military department must have internal security guarantees, so a security department was established.
The head of the Ministry of Security is named Le Xinfeng. He is from the Intelligence Department and has always been inconspicuous. But everyone knows that since this person can serve as the Minister of Security, he must be a die-hard confidant of Zuo Menggeng.
The military headquarters also has a unit directly under its jurisdiction, called the garrison brigade, and the brigade commander is concurrently served by Zuo Yong. Basically, he will not participate in combat, only to protect the military headquarters.
In addition, there are cavalry regiments directly under the jurisdiction of the military headquarters.
The cavalry brigade, which was originally one of the eight brigades, has reached the military level and can only become a cavalry regiment directly under the jurisdiction of the military headquarters.
It's not that Zuo Mengeng doesn't value cavalry, but that war horses are too expensive and difficult to buy. Even if you want to gather the 1,500 horses needed for a regiment, you have to put a lot of effort into it.
The above is the list of all the agencies and leaders of the Shandong New Army Military Headquarters, and it is also the leadership agency of the Dongchang Association.
Dongchang Xie is an external designation, used to deal with the court. Internally, Dongchang Xie was actually called the First Division of the First Army of the Shandong New Army.
The division commander is concurrently appointed by Zuo Mengeng, and the deputy division commander is Zuo Rong (actually responsible for the division's work).
Zhang Jimeng can serve as deputy commander in the military headquarters, but not in the field troops below. After all, he is a soldier and has to deal with the imperial court, so he cannot be stationed in the army for a long time.
The extra establishment of the First Division is the artillery regiment, whose leader is Jia Yunzhi, the squadron leader of the original artillery brigade.
Like the cavalry brigade, the New Army no longer established independent sub-level artillery units, but handed over the command of artillery to sub-level divisions.
The 1st Division has two brigades:
Zuo Rong, commander of the first brigade, and political commissar Yi Guozheng; Zuo Hua, commander of the second brigade, and political commissar Fu Gang.
Each brigade has two regiments, numbered one to four.
Bai Xiaoqi, the leader of the first regiment, and Ning Weiping, the political commissar; Hong Qi, the leader of the second regiment, and Qiao Shuangcheng, the political commissar; Huang Sanhu, the leader of the third regiment, and Lou Fu, the political commissar; Liu Dacai, the leader of the fourth regiment, and Cai Jiachuan, the political commissar.
All political commissars came from Huang Zongxi's Military Affairs Department's Mission and Education Office, but they could only be spread to the regiment. There is such a shortage of people that the battalions and companies below can only be left vacant temporarily.
Zuo Menggeng dreamed of building a branch into a company, but his ideals were full and reality was skinny.
There are three battalions below the regiment, three companies below the battalion, and three teams below the company. This is the entire organization of the New Army from top to bottom.
According to statistics, the First Division will have a total strength of more than 13,300 troops. In the same way, when the second division (Linqing Association) is completed in the future, it will also have this number of people.
It can be said that one division of the New Army has more troops than two towns in many places in the Ming Dynasty.
However, after seeing the establishment of the eight brigades of the rear camp, everyone was no longer surprised by these.
Three days later, the new organization plan was notified to the entire army, and the First Division also began to expand.
The source of troops is very simple, they are the original rear camp reserves.
They are all recruits who have been trained by Zhou You personally and have a certain foundation, which saves a lot of time in getting started. After entering the 1st Division, he was assigned to various units.
Officers at regiment level and below are basically promoted from the original officers and soldiers of the rear battalion.
It can be said that even the most ordinary soldiers in the original rear camp have become captains this time.
There is no way, even an ordinary soldier has been on the battlefield. The knowledge and experience are not comparable to those of new recruits.
By letting them lead the new recruits, they can quickly bring out a qualified grassroots unit and form a good combat effectiveness.
After all, the imperial court would not give Dongchang Xie much time to rest and recuperate.
It is true that except for Dongchang Prefecture, the fighting by the officers and soldiers in other places was too ugly.
Yanzhou Prefecture and Qingzhou Prefecture have completely become the paradise of the White Lotus Sect. There are no soldiers in the two places. The government can only rely on the gentry to recruit local warriors and huddle in the prefectural cities.
There are troops in Dengzhou Prefecture and Laizhou Prefecture, and Zhang Keda, the deputy commander-in-chief of Denglai, is also quite capable of fighting.
But the problem is that the White Lotus Sect in Denglai won't fight him.
Just lead the officers and soldiers in circles in the mountains. If you don't come out, I will attack the county town, the countryside, and kill the gentry. If you come out, I will send people to sneak attack Dengzhou City.
Zhang Keda was helpless and had no choice but to stay in Dengzhou City and watch the White Lotus Sect wreak havoc on the countryside while writing letters to the court and the governor of Shandong asking for help.
When the letter was sent to the court, the court and officials pretended not to have seen it.
There are no troops to send.
Most of the troops were sent to Shanxi to deal with the peasant army, and a small number were taken to Liaodong by Sun Chengzong to reorganize the Ningjin defense line.
The remaining part was detained by Hou Xun, so Ji Town must be rebuilt.
We can't just close the gate and let Houjin and Mongolia come and go as they please.
The governor of Shandong received the letter asking for help but pretended not to have seen it.
He originally had no soldiers, but after longing day and night, he finally got back the commander-in-chief Song Wei and the deputy commander-in-chief Liu Zeqing.
As a result, these two people were miserable, with more than 2,000 people on hand.
Yes, you read that right, one general and one deputy general command an army of only two thousand.
These two thousand people were the ones left by the former governor Wang Congyi and brought to King Qin of Gyeonggi.
Song Wei and Liu Zeqing were very angry, and they felt that the chaos in the area was not worth mentioning. After returning, he directly sent troops to Jiyang, planning to break through Qingzhou and Denglai first, and cooperate with the Denglai troops to fight.
As a result, just after Jiyang was defeated, urgent news came from Jinan, and eight thousand White Lotus followers besieged the provincial capital.
Everything can be lost, but the provincial capital cannot be lost.
If they sit back and watch the governor, chief envoy and inspector fall, Song Wei and Liu Zeqing will definitely lose their heads.
The two of them quickly returned for reinforcements. As soon as they arrived at Jinan City, the White Lotus Sect retreated into Mount Tai.
Go into the mountains to pursue them. The mountains are high and the forests are dense. There are many enemies. Maybe these two thousand people will be lost in them.
Song Wei and Liu Zeqing put it together and reported it to Shen Xun, so they had no choice but to stay in the provincial capital.
Today I heard that Laiwu was lost, tomorrow I heard that Xintai was lost, and the day after that I heard that Xinwen was besieged.
All the officials were speechless and choked, as if they saw Chongzhen's butcher knife about to fall on their heads.
