When Shi Wenbin was negotiating business with many merchants in an effort to continue to obtain a large amount of strategic materials for the Baoxiang Army, other people in the Baoxiang Army system were not idle, and everyone was busy.
The Baoxiang Army captured Xiangyang City and Fancheng, and according to the Baoxiang Army's strategic plan, it was necessary to rely on Xiangyang City to control the southern region of the Nanyang Basin and block the Yunyang and Huguang Ming armies from moving north.
As for Lu Xiangsheng in Yunyang, the Ming army in the Huguang area will come over at any time.
Not to mention Hong Chengchou in the north. He has more troops. Although he is still fighting the rebels in the Central Plains, he may send a large number of troops south at any time.
Therefore, taking Xiangyang City does not mean that we can sit back and relax.
On May 5th, there was no Dragon Boat Festival atmosphere in Xiangyang city, and the streets even seemed deserted.
After the initial purge of Xiangyang City in the past few days, the Home Guard Army issued notices to calm the people, but it still failed to dispel the panic of many gentry and ordinary people in the city.
This is not just because in the past few days, the rural protection army has been clearing out the stubborn resisters everywhere in the city. They have also ransacked dozens of homes of the stubborn resisters and killed many of them.
This is especially because both the gentry and ordinary people have a great fear of bandits.
So even after several days, many people in the city, especially the gentry, still closed their homes tightly and did not dare to go out easily, for fear of getting into trouble.
Therefore, even during the Dragon Boat Festival, the city of Xiangyang was deserted, and even those who had to take to the streets to survive were in a hurry, fearing that staying outside for too long would attract the swords of the bald gray thieves.
However, although the city is relatively deserted, the interior of the Baoxiang Army is relatively lively.
Today is the Dragon Boat Festival after all. Moreover, the Home Guard Army had successively conquered Xiangyang City and Fan City and won a great victory. In the following days, they were busy clearing out the defeated troops, stubborn resisters and even the green-skinned hooligans who took advantage of the chaos to do evil in the two cities. Therefore, High-intensity activities were maintained for several days in a row.
So it is natural to reward the soldiers well.
Taking advantage of the holiday today, Luo Zhixue gave the order: Eat meat as an extra meal today!
And he himself also held a banquet in the palace of the General of the Baoxiang Army, um, the original palace of Prince Xiang, to entertain his civil and military officials.
After a hearty meal, Luo Zhixue took Wang Xiazi, Huang Dingquan and others to play in the back garden of the General's Mansion.
"Look at this garden and this rockery, tsk tsk, today is an eye-opener." Blind Wang stared at the garden and couldn't help but sigh: "Even if it's a palace, I'm afraid that's all."
Huang Guangmao listened to Wang Xiazi's words and couldn't help but thought to himself: Look at the appearance of your little family, it's just a vassal prince's palace, how can it be compared with the Forbidden City.
But thinking so, Huang Guangmao looked around with his big eyes open.
To be honest, this was the first time he had seen such a luxurious mansion.
Originally, when everyone was in Nanyang Mansion, they had the opportunity to see Prince Tang's Mansion. However, after taking Nanyang City, they had to urgently organize the team that day and went south early the next morning. There was no time to go to Nanyang City. Let’s go and have a look at the Tang Palace here.
Now, it was the first time for everyone to see such a luxurious feudal prince's palace.
Luo Zhixue is relatively calm about the so-called feudal prince's palace. In his previous life, he even visited the Forbidden City and some scenic spots, historic sites and garden buildings. Naturally, his knowledge is not comparable to that of the bumpkins under him.
In fact, he still disliked Prince Xiang's Mansion.
This Prince Xiang Mansion is not a Jiangnan garden-style building. The buildings are a bit dense and there are too many houses, giving people a rather depressing feeling.
Compared with the feudal prince's palace, which was built strictly according to the etiquette system, he still preferred the Jiangnan style garden-style architecture.
However, his current status is special. After entering Xiangyang City, the only building suitable for him to stay is Prince Xiang's Mansion.
After everyone came to a pavilion in the back garden, Luo Zhixue took his eyes away from the scenery in front and fell on Dong Mingjie: "It's been a few days. How is the fifth mixed brigade doing?"
Dong Mingjie, who had just become the commander of the 5th Mixed Brigade a few days ago, said: "General, now our 5th Mixed Brigade has completed the selection of soldiers, and with the strong cooperation of the Military and Political Department, it has recruited officers and key personnel at all levels. Soldiers, three infantry battalions have now been raised."
"And in accordance with the instructions of the general, when selecting soldiers, we tried our best to retain the basic level establishment of even corps. It is expected that after about five days of training, we will be able to form basic combat effectiveness."
"However, artillery and cavalry are still lacking. Although the fifth cavalry post has selected a hundred cavalry, they are all mounted infantry and cannot fight immediately."
"The fifth artillery post currently only has twelve old short guns, which cannot be reused."
Luo Zhixue said: "It's good if the infantry can be pulled out as soon as possible. If you continue to watch, we will strive to form a gradual combat effectiveness within three to five days. There are many enemies we have to deal with later."
"As for the cavalry and artillery, they will be used first. The fifth cavalry post will be organized according to the mounted infantry. No matter what, four legs are better than two legs, right? Don't count on the fine cavalry here, and the cavalry brigade. Shortage of people.”
At this time, a smile appeared on Wang Xiazi's face. This time, their cavalry brigade also participated in the expansion of the army. Luo Zhixue asked Wang Xiazi to prioritize those who were good at riding and shooting from the prisoners of war in the battles of Xiangyang City and Fancheng, and even from the civilian population. , and more than a hundred batches of horses were allocated from the captured war horses to form the seventh cavalry sentry.
This 7th Cavalry Post is an elite cavalry formed based on the standards of the 1st Cavalry Post and 2nd Cavalry Post and is good at riding, shooting and charging operations.
Luo Zhixue continued: "As you know, on the artillery side, the production capacity of 600-pound artillery is limited. The next batch of artillery at Li Qingdian is for the third artillery sentry. We will take a look at the next batch. When the time comes, I’ll let you and the Fourth Mixed Brigade share one point.”
"Let's use these captured artillery now. Put up the frames first, train the soldiers, and then change the equipment later."
Having said that, Luo Zhixue ignored the somewhat disappointed Dong Mingjie, but looked at Huang Guangmao and said, "How is the formation of the Sixth Mixed Brigade?"
Huang Guangmao immediately replied: "After the selection of the Fifth Mixed Brigade, there are not many qualified soldiers among the remaining prisoners of war. It is expected that only one infantry battalion can be trained."
"If we want to fully staff it, we have to see how many prisoners of war we can capture in the future."
Luo Zhixue said: "It doesn't matter, just practice with one battalion now and add the rest later."
The Sixth Mixed Brigade, like the Fourth Mixed Brigade and the Fifth Mixed Brigade, is a typical old army that accepts soldiers from prisoners of war and uses old weapons and equipment and traditional tactics.
This is a temporary expansion measure taken by the Baoxiang Army when its ordnance production is limited, the training time for new recruits is too long and it cannot be replenished in time, and it is also facing a huge manpower gap.
In order to ensure that the basic combat effectiveness is formed in the shortest time to cope with the second-line and auxiliary battles, people are selected directly from the ready-made prisoners of war, and no newly recruited recruits are inserted.
Therefore, the expansion speed of this second-line force directly depends on how many prisoners of war the Baoxiang Army can capture...
"Since the Sixth Mixed Brigade has no soldiers, let's let it go first. However, the recruitment plan of the new barracks cannot be relaxed. It is necessary to recruit enough qualified recruits for training in the shortest possible time. Don't worry about the weapons and equipment for now. Soldiers are recruited and then trained.”
Huang Guangmao said: "General, don't worry, we have set up new military camps in Nanyang City and Xiangyang City respectively. The recruitment department is currently recruiting soldiers in each control area, and the results are pretty good."
"More than 800 recruits have been selected into the Xiangyang Recruit Camp, and it is expected that a large number of recruits will join in the next few days. It is expected that the first batch of 3,000 recruits will be recruited within three days and conduct emergency recruit training, and one month Initial training can be completed within a few days.”
"The situation at Nanyang Recruitment Camp has not been reported yet, but the deputy section chief of the Recruitment Department is in charge of recruitment work in Nanyang City. It is expected that the recruitment results will not be too bad."
Luo Zhixue nodded and said: "That's good. In the future, we will set up the 7th Infantry Brigade mainly with recruits from Nanyang City, and the 8th Infantry Brigade mainly with this batch of recruits from Xiangyang City, and train two field artillery posts. and two mounted infantry posts with corresponding baggage battalions.”
"It is now the fifth day of May, leaving one month for the training of new recruits. The training of this new batch of troops must be completed before June 15th. They will be given another half month of adaptive training, and it will be done by July at the latest. By the end of the month, I want to see this group of troops form initial combat effectiveness."
"As we capture Xiangyang City, the enemy's army may pounce at any time. We don't have much time left. We must seize every moment to expand and train."
"Time waits for me!"
Huang Guangmao said: "July is enough time. As long as the ordnance production capacity can keep up, these two infantry brigades and the two matching field artillery posts, baggage battalions, and cavalry posts can definitely form initial combat effectiveness."
Huang Guangmao's words have an early stage, that is, the ordnance can keep up!
At this time, Luo Zhixue turned his attention to Yuan Gaofeng from the Industrial Department!
After noticing Luo Zhixue's gaze, Yuan Gaofeng looked confused: "Most of the craftsmen from the original Songshan Village Arsenal have been transferred to Li Qingdian Arsenal. Its production capacity has been negligible, but it still maintains the ability to repair ordnance."
"As for the production capacity of Li Qingdian Arsenal, you all know that even if you work overtime, the production capacity of various ordnance in a month can only equip two infantry battalions and one artillery post."
"Now the Third Infantry Brigade is still waiting for ordnance. We have lost a number of muskets, armor and other weapons in several consecutive battles. These also need to be replenished. The Guards Camp has also expanded and needs a batch of muskets and armor. Armor and other weapons.”
"The production capacity in May has basically been allocated in advance."
"The estimated production capacity in June does not include supplementing the losses of various combat units. Even if all of it is used to equip new units, it can only equip two battalions and one artillery post."
"We're afraid..."
