On the fifth day of October, Luo Zhixue held an enlarged participation meeting, in which all ministers and ministers of various ministries in Hanyang City, including senior officials from the second rank and above, participated.
At the meeting, Luo Zhixue emphasized that the cross-river offensive was imminent and all departments must work closely to complete the cross-river work.
After some discussions, the heads of various ministries began to express their positions.
Yuan Gaofeng, Minister of Counselor and Minister of Industry, spoke: "The factories under our Ministry of Industry have made all preparations. The Xiangyang Arsenal and other munitions factories in the rear have entered emergency wartime production. Every day, a large number of All kinds of military equipment are transported from Nanyang, Xiangyang and other places to the front line of Hanyang to ensure worry-free military supplies!"
Huang Chengxuan, Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, said: "In addition to the scheduled military expenditures, our Finance Department has prepared five million taels of silver in advance as emergency war expenses, and can be used for various unexpected war expenses at any time according to the decree."
Speaking of this, Huang Chengxuan added: "If these five hundred taels are not enough, we can raise another two million taels of silver, but this will greatly affect the operation of administrative agencies in northern Chu and the restoration of water conservancy construction and farming in various places. ."
"As for food, most of the food we have stored on the front line in Hanyang has been handed over to the military logistics department. According to our military's food supply standards, this batch of food can be eaten by 50,000 troops for a whole year. In addition, there is also a batch of food used by various administrative departments going south. For consumption by institutional and support staff.”
Guo Quanshu, Shangshu of the Ministry of Personnel Affairs, said: “The Ministry of Personnel Affairs has prepared more than 2,000 officials at all levels in advance, and established prefecture, state, and county agencies in Wuchang Prefecture, Yuezhou Prefecture, Changsha Prefecture, and Changde Prefecture in advance. "
"The prefects, county magistrates and other mid-level and high-level officials have prepared candidates in advance, and are also ready to recruit a large number of low-level officials in Chunan. The yamen of each prefecture and county will follow the army to ensure that the military captures an area. I will take over the administrative management of the land."
Chen Xingkai, Secretary of the Ministry of Taxation, was even more domineering: "Respecting His Majesty's will, our Taxation Department has transferred more than 100 tax officers, more than 400 investigation tax policemen, and more than 2,600 armed tax policemen from various prefectures and counties in northern Chu. There are a total of 3,226 elites. After this group of tax elites goes south, they will carry out confiscation and tax collection as soon as possible."
The number of personnel who have gone south to a mere tax department greatly exceeds the total number of people going south to other administrative agencies!
This shows that the Chu Empire attached great importance to taxation!
Other officials in the Dachu Empire were not surprised by this. The Taxation Department was the administrative agency with the largest number of people in the Dachu Empire.
They even have armed tax police. The combat effectiveness of these armed tax police is not much worse than that of the garrison, but their numbers are just not that large.
It was Luo Zhixue's direct order to dispatch armed tax police from various prefectures and counties to the south.
On the one hand, it can better understand the tax issues in various places in southern Chu, and solve some armed tax resistance matters on the spot.
Another aspect is also to reduce the pressure on the military. There are actually not many troops going south this time. The main force is just the 1st Division, plus half of the Guards Division, the 1st Cavalry Brigade and a mortar regiment. .
These main forces probably number around 20,000 people.
In addition, there is a garrison division of 10,000 people.
In other words, the total number of troops going south is actually only about 30,000.
Thirty thousand people want to attack the entire Chunan. If they are used purely for combat, they are almost enough. Otherwise, Luo Zhixue would not have the courage to directly cross the river south.
But it is possible to defeat the Ming army, but how to control a large area after defeating the local Ming army is more troublesome.
According to the plan, the subsequent task of suppressing the local area will be handed over to the garrison, including the Sixth Garrison Division and the scheduled Seventh Garrison Division that will be formed by accepting prisoners of war.
However, in the early stage, the Sixth Garrison Division will definitely have to cooperate with the main force in fighting, and it will probably take time to organize the new Seventh Garrison Division.
In this process, the task of suppressing the newly occupied areas in the rear becomes more troublesome.
In order to solve this problem, Luo Zhixue simply sent armed tax police there in advance and asked them to help suppress the newly occupied areas.
Anyway, the main military problems in the newly occupied areas are to suppress the defeated troops of the Qing Ming army, bandits and bandits, and armed landlords. In dealing with these people, the armed tax police are actually better than the garrison...
——
When various departments in the civil service system expressed their positions one after another, Xu Zhixian from the military side also stood up.
"Thank you to all the members of the Government Affairs Council for your cooperation and support!"
"Our army has been preparing for this crossing of the Yangtze River for more than a month, and our soldiers have been training hard day and night. Once the cross-river operation is launched, we and our soldiers will fight bravely without fear of strong enemies to conquer Wuchang, Yuezhou, Changsha, Changde and other prefectures as soon as possible. , I will never disappoint His Majesty’s high expectations!”
When Xu Zhixian also expressed his position on behalf of the military, and even issued a military order, the last high-level meeting before crossing the river came to an end.
The next day, around six o'clock in the morning on the sixth day of October, when it was still dark, Luo Zhixue held a military affairs meeting and formally issued an order to launch the cross-river operation immediately.
After signing the battle order, Luo Zhixue looked around at the generals and said: "This crossing of the Yangtze River to the south is related to the destiny of the empire. I hope you will work hard and fight bravely. I am waiting for your success!"
"I will give generous rewards to those who have merit in this battle!"
After a group of generals left, Luo Zhixue, also dressed in military uniform, led a group of civil and military officials to the south gate tower of Hanyang City facing the Yangtze River.
Luo Zhixue looked towards the south and saw the broad Yangtze River!
On the other side of the Yangtze River is Wuchang City, which is defended by the Ming Army!
On the pier along the side of Wuchang City near the Yangtze River, a group of Ming Navy ships were moored. There were even several temporary forts built beside the pier.
On the north bank of the Yangtze River, that is, on the side of Hanyang City, the Yangtze River Fleet and Hanshui Fleet of the Dachu Navy have set sail one after another from the dock.
At this time, Xu Zhixian also explained to Luo Zhixue: "The current two fleets have concentrated more than 95% of all types of warships in our army. The Yangtze River Fleet will be the main force in the future and will be responsible for intercepting the Ming army's water. Division, the Han River fleet will move westward and be responsible for covering the army troops crossing the river."
"Many warships in the Hanshui Fleet have temporarily installed a total of fifteen two-and-a-half-pound or five-pound field guns to carry out shelling on enemy forces on the beach nearby to solve the problem that the first batch of landing troops did not have the firepower of long-barreled artillery. A question of support.”
"The firepower of the Hanshui fleet, coupled with a batch of light artillery carried by the first batch of landing troops, should be enough to provide fire support for the landing troops."
"At least, the firepower they have in their thousand-person camp along the river is far inferior to ours!"
After hearing this, Luo Zhixue said: "The plan formulated by the staff department is still appropriate. Thank you Xu Aiqing for your hard work!"
When Luo Zhixue and Xu Zhixian looked at the entire Yangtze River from the gate tower of Hanyang South City, all they could see was actually the navy's fleet.
The troops crossing the river were actually not in Hanyang City, but about fifteen kilometers upstream.
This time the Baoxiang Army's cross-river offensive chose Shuilin Town as the crossing point.
This is a small town along the river about fifteen kilometers west of Hanyang City. Directly opposite it is a wilderness with relatively flat terrain, and the beachhead of this wilderness has relatively rare river sand and solid gravel ground. .
Although the Ming army also set up a large camp not far from the opposite bank, deploying at least a thousand troops to garrison it.
But in the end, the Baoxiang Army chose to launch the cross-river battle here.
Anyway, the Ming army established many such camps along the river on the east and west sides of Wuchang City, and there were small checkpoints every mile apart.
No matter where the Baoxiang Army crosses the river to land, they will basically encounter beachhead counterattacks by at least a thousand enemy troops in a short period of time.
But it doesn't matter, as long as the Ming army in Wuchang City won't appear here in a short time.
——
According to the investigation of the Intelligence Department, there are currently about 15,000 Ming troops stationed in Wuchang City. This is also the absolute main force of the Ming army in the Wuchang area.
About two thousand people were deployed along the river on the east side of Wuchang City. There were one large and three medium-sized camps along the river. The entire eastern river defense line extended for about thirty miles.
Within fifty miles to the west of Wuchang City, there are also a number of medium and large camps along the river, each with a garrison strength ranging from a few hundred to a thousand.
The Ming army's front line of defense in Wuchang is very clear and simple.
That is to take Wuchang City as the core and extend to the east and west. A large camp will be built based on local ferries, small towns or villages about ten miles apart, and hundreds of troops will be deployed.
Between these large camps, there will be small checkpoints with dozens of people deployed every one mile to prevent small-scale infiltration operations by the rural protection army.
Based on these deployments of the Ming army, the staff guessed that the Ming army's overall defensive strategy might be to wait for the Baoxiang army to cross the river, and then let the Ming army deployed along the river on both sides to resist at the beachhead as soon as possible.
Slowing down the pace of the Hometown Protection Army's crossing of the river was used to buy time for the main force in Wuchang City to dispatch troops to block the attack.
Otherwise, there is no need for them to set up multiple large camps on the east and west sides of Wuchang City, and the deployment of troops is still in a straight line.
In response to this situation, Xu Zhixian's judgment is: "They are still afraid of us. They don't want to be besieged by us in Wuchang, and they have no confidence to defend Wuchang during our strong attack!"
"This is why we plan to fight a beachhead blocking battle and give us a half-crossing attack."
This is also a fact. If they didn't have the confidence to defend Wuchang City, they wouldn't do this.
Without the confidence to defend the city, they would never allow the thieves to successfully cross the river and besiege Wuchang.
Once the thieves are allowed to besiege Wuchang, they will completely lose the initiative in the war.
What's more important is that there are rebel naval forces outside the Yangtze River. Once Wuchang cannot be defended, they will not even have a chance to retreat from the Yangtze River.
In Wuchang City, many people don’t want to surrender to thieves, let alone die!
