Chapter 162: In Xi’an City
It is difficult to say whether the Northern Army's confidence in the Southern Army is a good thing or a bad thing.
War is essentially fought by people. Sometimes, in a big battle, the odds of winning are not high. But everyone thinks they can win, and most of the time they win. But sometimes, it seems that the advantage is huge, and most people feel that they can't win, so they will definitely lose.
The Northern Army had this kind of confidence suppression on the Southern Army, and could exert greater combat effectiveness on the battlefield. But at the same time, if you are not careful, this kind of morale can become arrogant. If one is not good, the boat will capsize in the gutter.
Ye Chen sighed and let the generals below pursue him.
He just held down the rear army. His idea is simple, that is, he can afford to lose. He wanted to know what Fu Youde wanted to do. Delaying time? He accompanies. What he wants to do at this moment is not to find flaws in Fu Youde.
But first establish yourself in an invincible position.
He immediately ordered to supervise logistics and transport materials from the rear to the camp on the south bank of the Yellow River as much as possible.
Ye Chen was also prepared for the rainy season.
He thinks about defeating Fu Youde every day. He stepped on Fu Youde's body to prove that he was no worse than the famous founding general. But every morning, he told himself to stay calm. Stay calm. The one who is anxious now is Fu Youde.
He can strike later.
Just know that Fu Youde fought with the Northern Army and retreated step by step.
However, during the retreat, the Northern Army did not take much advantage.
A decisive battle must be fought with intention on both sides' part. Otherwise, this is most likely the case. Hundreds of thousands of troops were playing a game of advance and retreat in Zhengzhou.
The fighter plane Fu Youde was waiting for was slowly arriving.
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Qu Neng has not been idle during this period of time. He first sent out a partial division to capture the area west of Xi'an. The contact with Mei Yin's headquarters was opened. Therefore, people traveling from Beijing to Sichuan can go directly from Guanzhong to Hanzhong instead of having to take a detour to Lanzhou.
After Qu Neng repaired for a period of time, he also launched an attack on Xi'an City.
Qu Neng will not directly attack Xi'an City.
After all, Qu Neng has already learned Geng Bingwen's defensive skills. It is like a copper wall and an iron wall, which is watertight.
However, the advantage lies with Qu Neng, who has more choices.
Qu Neng divided his troops to conquer the peripheral prefectures and counties in Guanzhong, while Qu Neng's main force was crossing the Wei River to completely block Xi'an from the periphery. Then gradually shrink the encirclement of Xi'an. At that time, Geng Bingwen was surrounded and killed.
Anyway, Qu Neng didn’t want to touch Geng Bingwen.
Now the pressure is on Geng Bingwen.
Because of its logistical advantages, the Northern Army fought at a much faster pace than the Southern Army.
There are many reasons for this.
The Northern Army fought with firearms. So many firearms consumed a huge amount of gunpowder. It can be said that as long as the gunpowder is replenished, the army can continue to fight. Under the leadership of He Xi, the Northern Army had a large number of reinforcements.
Once the frontline troops suffered losses, they would directly select elites from the garrison army, militia, and even Mongolian mercenaries and replenish them to the frontline.
This replenishment of gunpowder and food will probably be completed within one or two months. Of course, the specific situation also depends on what the last battle was like. The last time Qu Neng fought, there was almost no fighting due to Song Sheng's defection.
Many armies have maintained their strength intact, so there is very little time for repairs. It can even be said that if it were not for the large number of surrendered troops and the newly acquired prefectures and counties that need to be reorganized, the time for repairs could be further compressed.
However, it is different here with the Southern Army.
Although now, Nanjing is working hard to restore and maintain frontline logistics supplies despite the presence of the Northern Navy at the Yangtze River estuary. But it is far inferior to the Northern Army. This caused one thing.
That is, with the same losses, it would take about half a year for the Southern Army to return to the situation before the war started.
If it fails miserably. The situation before the war will never be restored.
There is another problem, that is, the issue of troop sources.
The new military system established by He Xi. Among the second-line armies, that is, the garrison army and the militia, there are also obvious regional differences. However, there were no problems in this regard when organizing the Thirteenth Army, and they even deliberately disrupted the regions.
To determine the attributes of the Central Army of these armies.
Therefore, if these armies suffer losses, they can be replenished no matter where they are. Moreover, because the Forbidden Army's salary far exceeds that of the local army, countless people have thought about joining the Forbidden Army.
Therefore, they were replenished very quickly, and many people were waiting for a vacancy in the frontline forbidden troops.
We have to admit that the martial arts in the north has always been stronger than in the south. For northerners, joining the army to gain wealth has never been a problem. Everyone will only envy, not despise. Now most of Qin's land is in the hands of the Northern Army, and the Qin people are also a good source of troops.
It is very easy for the Northern Army to replenish its troops.
But the Confederate Army was different.
It’s not that the South is depleted of manpower. In terms of population alone, the current population of Nanjing is more than double that of Beijing. This does not mean that the people in the South are weak. After all, in many cases, whether the army can fight has little to do with the people's customs. They are all trained.
After all, before Qi Jiguang, no one knew that Zhejiang soldiers could be so powerful in the world.
The problem lies in the health system.
In He Xi's military reform, the guard system has been diluted. Many health centers have even been officially abolished. For example, the health center near Beijing. The military reforms of Xu Da and Fu Youde made too many compromises on the guard system.
Carry out reforms on the basis of maintaining the health center.
There is a problem here.
According to the military household replenishment system where father dies and son dies, once a frontline soldier dies in battle, the family must continue to fill the position.
This plan is actually not suitable for cruel war.
Just like now, after a big defeat, they need to be replenished immediately, and many of the troops in Guanzhong are recruited from other places. They had no right to replenish their troops locally and had to send people back to their own garrison and recruit them.
That’s all.
How many strong men can there be in an ordinary military household? If one dies, another one will be raised. If this kind of war continues, won't it mean that people will be wiped out? Even if you want to collect wool, you can't find it from one household to another.
Each army has its own ownership, and generals have the power to temporarily integrate civilian households into military households. But this is an extraordinary move, and any extraordinary move will cause a lot of trouble.
Of course, in times of crisis, there is nothing else to worry about. But the problem is that there are no specific rules for temporary supplements. It can easily evolve into taking to the streets to catch young men. And once you become a military household in a guard station, you will learn from the past mistakes right in front of you.
That's not the death of one person, it's most likely the death of a father, a son, or a whole family.
It is natural for the people to be filled with resentment.
After all, how can a temporary and hasty plan be compared with the personnel supplement regulations that He Xi had formulated long ago.
As a result, the Southern Army was far behind the Northern Army in terms of personnel recovery and replenishment.
These disparities in various aspects have resulted in the current situation. Qu Neng has recovered from the last battle and has even been strengthened to a certain extent than before, but Geng Bingwen's troops are not much better than when they retreated to Xi'an.
Facing Qu Neng's offensive.
Geng Bingwen never thought of taking the initiative to break the encirclement of the Northern Army on the periphery.
Since the encirclement cannot be broken, then sit and defend Xi'an and wait for the Northern Army to lock down bit by bit from the outside. Then you can only wait to die.
Naturally, Geng Bingwen would not do this.
There was only one way he could do it. That's the breakout.
Abandon Xi'an and retreat to Lantian.
Defending Lantian meant safeguarding Wuguan Road and the newly built Wuguan Railway. Although the steam engine in Nanjing had not yet been built and could only run horse-drawn carriages, it also brought revolutionary changes to the logistics of the Southern Army.
With your back here, you can take root in Guanzhong.
At the very least, the Northern Army will not be able to
Taking Guanzhong will not threaten the Xiangyang area of Nanyang through Wuguan Road. At the same time, it can also contain a considerable number of the Northern Army's troops. If there is a counterattack in Nanjing one day, this will also be the bridgehead in the counterattack.
Geng Bingwen didn't want to be in such an embarrassing situation, but now, what else can he do? Make bricks without straw.
This is also a solution that is no longer a solution. It can be regarded as a relatively good choice among all the choices.
