Because the Ming army in Xinye City lacked effective early warning measures and the city defenders were careless, when the Fourth Infantry Battalion of the Baoxiang Army attacked, the city gates were wide open and they fell without taking any effective resistance measures.
The defenders in the city didn't even have time to assemble the only three hundred guardsmen in the city to resist.
What's more, they failed to get the city officials to call on the gentry to contribute money and food to recruit civilian men to defend the city.
As a result, the soldiers of the Fourth Infantry Battalion had already entered the city, and three hundred guardsmen were inexplicably made prisoners of war while they were still in the barracks. When the county magistrate learned that the rebels were coming, they had already reached the gate of the county government office... …
Too fast, everything is too fast.
It was so fast that the officials and defenders in the city had no time to react, and they were inexplicably taken prisoner. They didn't even know how the rebels entered the city.
They never thought that the gatekeeper who first noticed the bandit's appearance would foolishly run away without even closing the city gate.
But in the final analysis, the city officials themselves still have to blame. Although they stopped sending out sentries to guard the outside, the thieves were allowed to sneak directly under the city gate without making a sound.
After the Fourth Infantry Battalion entered the city, it did not waste too much time. After directly capturing all the officials and soldiers who were still in a state of panic in the city, only one sentry was left to guard the prisoners of war and suppress them in Xinye County. place.
The other troops of the 4th Infantry Battalion just left the city after a few hours and chased the main force of the Baoxiang Army in front.
After a rapid march, when it was getting dark, they arrived at the overnight camp of the main force of the Baoxiang Army.
This made Luo Zhixue feel incredible.
Originally, according to his prediction, the Fourth Infantry Battalion would be able to capture New Wild City today even if everything goes well, but it would still take a certain amount of time. It would be good to catch up with the main army tomorrow.
Unexpectedly, after missing for an afternoon, the main force of the 4th Infantry Battalion caught up with him.
If I ask in detail, my dear, the Fourth Infantry Battalion actually captured Shinye Castle without a single blow. There was not even a single fight in the whole process...
Not to mention a serious siege, they didn't even encounter small-scale resistance after entering the city.
"That's good. Since you can catch up today, you will be more confident about going south." Luo Zhixue said to Dong Mingjie, the commander of the 4th Infantry Battalion: "But you have been traveling for a whole day today, and there are many problems in the middle." After attacking a city, can we still maintain our physical fitness? Tomorrow we will continue to march at high speed."
Dong Mingjie said with a confident expression on his face: "One night's rest is enough. We actually just walked a little more today. We didn't really fight. Although the physical exertion is greater, it will be fine after a sleep."
"I promise that when we set out tomorrow, every soldier of my Fourth Infantry Battalion will be alive and well."
Luo Zhixue said: "Well, I will instruct the logistics department later to provide your Fourth Infantry Battalion with an extra meal of meat so that the soldiers can eat and drink enough and have a good sleep."
After hearing this, Dong Mingjie grinned and said: "Then I will thank the general for his kindness on behalf of the more than 400 soldiers of the 4th Infantry Battalion."
Luo Zhixue said: "Okay, you have worked hard along the way, go back and have a good rest."
Dong Mingjie immediately resigned.
Seeing Dong Mingjie leaving, Luo Zhixue felt that he had another candidate for the next brigade commander.
Although Dong Mingjie has just taken over as the commander of the Fourth Infantry Battalion, he has performed very well these days. However, in the previous battle to attack Nanyang City, in the follow-up march, and even today when he stopped by to attack Xinye City, his performance was outstanding. Remarkable.
The fourth infantry battalion under his leadership has high morale. Even when marching, the formation is more orderly than other battalions.
Looking back, if this person continues to perform outstandingly, then Luo Zhixue will not mind directly promoting him and directly serving as the brigade commander of the soon-to-be-established fifth mixed brigade, bypassing the deputy brigade commanders.
Huang Guangmao from the staff office has just arrived. He once again mentioned that the troops in the rural protection army are too short. Because the troops are too small, they can't even divide their troops to attack some nearby counties.
And this shortage of troops will be further amplified after Xiangyang City is captured, well, if a surprise attack on Xiangyang can be successfully carried out.
Once Xiangyang is successfully captured, the front line of the Baoxiang Army will be further expanded.
For example, several important cities in the northwest of Xiangyang City, such as Gucheng, Guanghua, Junzhou, Xichuan and other places, must be attacked and controlled. Otherwise, Lu Xiangsheng of Yunyang can directly lead them. The soldiers crossed the Han River and directly threatened the combined area of Xiangyang and Nanyang Prefecture, and even captured Xinye City.
Once Lu Xiangsheng is allowed to cross the Han River and march eastward to capture Xinye City, he will be able to separate the rural protection armies of Nanyang Prefecture and Xiangyang Prefecture.
For example, Nanzhang and Yicheng to the south of Xiangyang, Zaoyang, Suizhou and other places to the east also need to be captured one by one.
If these places are not captured, then the Huguang Ming Army will be able to fight all the way to Xiangyang City. Even if they cannot capture Xiangyang City, they can still send heavy troops to besiege Xiangyang City and cross Xiangyang City to the north to the hinterland of Nanyang Prefecture.
If you want to completely ensure the security of the southern line and build a southern defense line with Xiangyang City as the core, you will need a certain amount of troops.
The approximately 3,000 rural protection troops currently heading south are absolutely not enough.
At the same time, considering that the production capacity of the Li Qingdian Arsenal in the north is temporarily limited, even if it can produce enough weapons and equipment to arm two battalions in one month, it will not be enough for the Baoxiang Army, which is currently extremely short of troops.
To this end, Huang Guangmao suggested that the Fourth Mixed Brigade be used as a model to further expand the army that mainly uses cold weapons, supplemented by some weapons, and adopts traditional organization and tactics.
When the equipment production capacity increases in the future, they will be replaced one by one and upgraded to the same equipment as the current main force.
If you want to organize this old-style army, you don't even have to worry about the soldiers. You can just select them directly from the large number of captured officers and soldiers.
For example, during the previous attack on Xinye County, hundreds of people were captured. Although these prisoners of war were not many and not very elite, dozens of people could be picked out by picking and choosing.
At the same time, there are other counties in Nanyang Prefecture. If they are attacked one by one, then the large number of captured officers and soldiers will definitely be able to gather the strength of a mixed brigade.
In this regard, Luo Zhixue also agrees with this plan.
It is a fact that the Baoxiang Army lacks troops, and it is also a fact that the production capacity of new ordnance is limited. Under such circumstances, if you want to obtain a large number of troops in a short period of time, you can only rely on direct reorganization and reduction of troops.
It doesn't matter if they have lower combat effectiveness and are not elites. Anyway, important battles are carried out by regular troops. These traditional descending troops can normally garrison places, defend cities and participate in some low-intensity battles.
Therefore, although it has not been announced yet, Luo Zhixue has already asked the staff office to formulate the work of forming the fifth mixed brigade, mainly to inspect and select officers and backbones in advance.
As for the scheduled troops of the fifth mixed brigade, if nothing else goes wrong, they will be selected from the troops surrendered in Xiangyang City.
If Xiangyang City can be successfully conquered.
If not, it will not actually affect the formation of the fifth mixed brigade. At most, other troops will be used. In the following period, the various units of the Baoxiang Army will attack everywhere, especially the three brigades left behind in Nanyang Prefecture. Attack other counties in Nanyang Prefecture, and strive to sweep Nanyang Prefecture and control the area in the shortest possible time.
In this process, a large number of prisoners of war will definitely be accepted.
If Xiangyang cannot be captured in a short time, then these surrendered troops will be used to form the fifth mixed brigade. If Xiangyang can be captured in a short period of time, then these surrendered troops will be used to form the sixth mixed brigade.
Anyway, everything can be arranged.
In the evening, when the camp was completed and the soldiers of each department had eaten dinner and began to rest, Luo Zhixue once again held a meeting with many senior generals to discuss the next day's march and subsequent tactical planning.
In the Chinese military camp, many large oil lamps stood at the four corners, illuminating the camp.
Luo Zhixue was wearing a navy blue officer's uniform as usual, but he was not wearing a woolen jacket and gloves.
He sat at the top, and on both sides of a long temporary wooden table in front of him were eight senior generals from the army that went south to protect the countryside.
The leader on the left is Wang Xiazi, the cavalry director and commander of the cavalry brigade. Well, actually Wang Xiazi also has a famous name, Wang Baoyong, but everyone keeps calling him "blind man" and "blind man". After a long time, even Luo Zhixue has Sometimes I forget his name and call him blind man instead.
Under Wang Xiazi are the artillery director and artillery brigade commander Zhang Malin, the first infantry brigade commander Huang Dingquan, and the deputy brigade commander Wang Dazhuang.
Headed on the right are Huang Guangmao, Director of the Staff Division, Yu Xiujie, Director of the Logistics Division, followed by Xu Zhixian, Deputy Director of the Staff Division, Chief of the Operations Section and Commander of the 3rd Infantry Battalion, and Qu Yangshu, Deputy Battalion Commander of the Personal Battalion.
These people were not wearing armor, but were wearing the usual uniforms of officers, which were still the old military uniforms from the past.
If you look closely, you will find that there are some differences in details between the uniforms of these officers and Luo Zhixue's military uniforms.
Especially on collar badges and epaulettes.
On Luo Zhixue's unique military uniform, the collar insignia is on a yellow background, and the epaulettes are on a yellow background with a very unique peony flower embroidered on it.
For example, Blind Wang's collar has a small piece of red cloth on each side, and on both shoulders, there is an epaulette with three gold stars on a red background.
The military uniforms of Zhang Malin, Huang Dingquan, and Yu Xiujie also have the same red three-gold star shoulder straps and red collar badges.
This is a sign that belongs exclusively to the division chief and brigade commander.
Deputy brigade commander Wang Dazhuang and deputy division chief Xu Zhixian wear red cloth collar badges and red two-star epaulettes.
Qu Yangshu, deputy director of the Infantry Battalion, and Li Chengtong, commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion, wore red collar badges and red one-star epaulettes.
Bai Yongning, the captain of the guards of the personal barracks, wears a red collar badge and three-star shoulder straps with a vertical line on a red background.
Even the guards at the guard posts of several personal barracks on duty at the door wear epaulettes with red vertical lines or red horizontal lines.
These shoulder insignias and collar insignias are not indicia of military rank, but are indicia of position.
Because there is currently no formal military rank system in the Baoxiang Army.
However, the job designation that Luo Zhixue created before can be regarded as paving the way for the subsequent formulation of a formal military rank system.
After taking Xiangyang City and controlling the entire Nanyang Basin, it is foreseeable that the Libaoxiang Army will be further regularized in the future, and Luo Zhixue will implement a formal military rank system appropriately.
