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Naturally, the attackers also knew that Yang Sichang already had a new standard army of 5,000 people, and they imitated his own new standard army in terms of organization and tactics.
For exercises, you don't need to determine how strong the opponent's combat effectiveness is in detail, just compare it directly with your own main force.
After knowing this, the generals who played the role of the Chu army decisively changed their strategy. First, they added a mixed brigade-sized Guards force to the attacking side, strengthened half of the mortar regiment, and at the same time deployed the Sixth Garrison Division. Reinforce Linxiang.
After successfully attacking Linxiang again with more troops and artillery, they still rushed to capture Baling.
But after taking Baling, they did not rush to attack Changsha, but divided their troops into two groups.
The Fifth Division, the First Cavalry Brigade, and half of the mortar regiment turned west and headed straight for Wuling, Changde Prefecture.
At the same time, the Third Garrison Division also crossed the river from the Jingzhou Prefecture area on the north bank of the Yangtze River and entered the Yuezhou Prefecture area to the west of Dongting Lake. However, it did not go directly to Wuling, but to the Shimen line.
The remaining mixed brigade of the Guards, with part of the 8th Garrison Division and the 6th Garrison Division, was stationed on the front lines of Ningxiang and Yiyang. This was to cut off the connection between Changsha and Changde Wuling.
When the attacking side increased its troops and changed its strategy, Chen Yongfu, He Renlong and others who played the role of the Ming army also racked their brains, but ultimately failed.
This sand table deduction ended with the Southern Route Army's final victory.
However, although the attacking side achieved an almost complete victory during the second beach exercise, the senior leaders of the Chu Empire Army, especially the generals of the staff headed by Xu Zhixian, did not relax.
Because this kind of sand table deduction also has great limitations, it cannot be used as a comprehensive reference for actual battles. At most, it is only a partial reference.
For example, in the sand table simulation, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army led by Chen Yongfu was simply not comparable to that of the Ming army in reality. When guarding Linxiang, most of Chen Yongfu's troops suffered casualties, but they were still a group of ordinary guardsmen. That’s all.
This is impossible to happen in reality, because if the Ming army had the will to fight, they would have robbed Dong countless times.
However, relying on Chen Yongfu's military tactics, Xu Zhixian and other referees unanimously concluded that relying on an absolutely elite supervising team would have a great possibility of prompting the defenders to unleash a stronger will to resist.
But similarly, the Chu army cannot be perfectly reflected in the sand table simulation. For example, the tactical role of the 1st Cavalry Brigade is difficult to realize, and the artillery bombardment effect of the Chu army is only theoretical.
In actual combat, if the enemy army responds properly and the morale of the army is relatively high, it can actually withstand this level of artillery bombardment by the Chu army.
Not to mention the relatively primitive field artillery bombardment of the Chu Army. Even in the modern Napoleonic period, twelve-pound and six-pound artillery were widely used, and there were still a bunch of troops that could withstand the bombardment with a higher density of artillery. Fight in tight formations and even win.
In turn, it is difficult to specifically judge the impact of artillery bombardment on the enemy.
Because shelling brought not only shelling casualties to enemy soldiers, but also a suppression of morale. After the Chu army experienced many violent shellings by its own artillery units, although the defenders on the opposite side had few casualties, they still collapsed. Condition.
The changes caused by this kind of bombardment, the changes in tactical formations and maneuvers in response to the bombardment, are actually difficult to reflect in detail in sand table deductions.
War is always fought by people, and the human factor is difficult to measure in terms of quality.
This situation has appeared in several sand table simulations and actual combat comparisons conducted by the Da Chu Empire Army before.
When the Chu Empire Army attacked Nanyang City, it only took the city at a weak cost.
However, in the review and deduction at that time, it was replaced by Chen Yongfu to command the defenders. The same weapons and equipment, and the same strength, could cause heavy losses to the attacking troops.
Another example is the attack on Xiangyang City. The Chu army relied on sneak attacks to capture Xiangyang City, which was famous in the entire hinterland of the Central Plains, at the cost of only dozens of casualties.
Similarly, in another time and space, Zhang Xianzhong traveled thousands of miles and sent spies to sneak into the city and open the city gate. Finally, under the threat of more than 100,000 Ming troops from the outside, he easily captured Xiangyang City.
However, in any formal deduction, it is impossible to capture Xiangyang City so easily and simply. It is simply impossible to capture Xiangyang City without fifty thousand or even one hundred thousand people sieging it. It is impossible to capture Xiangyang City under siege day and night.
But the deduction is only theoretical, and actual combat often goes beyond theory.
Sand table deduction has limitations, but it still allows Xu Zhixian and Han Ziping to see many problems, and they will make strategic and tactical changes to address these problems in the future.
The biggest change is the change in the strength of the Southern Route Army.
After learning that there was a new standard army of 5,000 people in the Wuling area of Changde Prefecture, and that this new standard army was directly trained against the main force of their Chu army, the army of the Great Chu Empire would naturally not remain indifferent, let alone Stubbornly continue to launch the campaign according to the original preparations.
They made a difference!
This change is also very simple!
That's an increase in troops!
It's not about changing the thinking of combat, playing this tactic or that tactic, it's not that you don't want to, it's that you don't have the ability.
To be honest, the middle and high-level generals of the Chu army generally do not have superb tactical command capabilities. If you ask them to lead the army to run thousands of miles, engage in various sneak attacks, blitzes, or other conspiracies, and drive the enemy into chaos, that is Something unrealistic.
They don't have this ability!
Luo Zhixue knew this very well, so he didn't even bother to listen to the various tactical plans proposed by some people in the staff department, and just waved his hand and directly increased his troops.
If you want all kinds of tricks and dangerous tactics, just increase the number of troops and push them over, and that's it.
It's not like the Chu Empire can't mobilize more troops and artillery.
If the main force of one division is not enough, then add the main force of another division.
If one mortar regiment is not enough, then add another mortar regiment.
If the one garrison division scheduled to assist in the Linxiang offensive is not enough, then another garrison division will be added.
Previously, Luo Zhixue believed that it would not be a problem to capture Linxiang with the help of the 5th Division, the 8th Garrison Division, the 2nd Mortar Regiment, and some artillery support from friendly forces.
But now it seems that it is still a little bit worse, so the Chu army began to further strengthen the strength of the South Route Army.
Luo Zhixue first ordered the Guards Division garrisoned in Wuchang and surrounding areas to prepare for battle. In addition to leaving one regiment to garrison Wuchang, other divisions accompanied him to fight in Chunan.
The first mortar artillery regiment, which was transferred to the eastern front, rushed to the western front.
At the same time, the Sixth Garrison Division was transferred to Linxiang.
The above three departments were combined into the Central Route Army, led by Luo Zhixue himself.
In addition, as Linxiang City is difficult to attack, even after blasting, it may be counterfeited by the enemy, and the requirements for the quantity and quality of the commando team are also higher.
The Fifth Division's own commando team alone may not be enough, so orders were immediately sent to the Eighth Defense Division, Sixth Defense Division, and Guards Division to form commando teams of varying sizes to attack Linxiang.
At the same time, the First Cavalry Brigade will be provided with an additional 300 spare horses and an additional two-and-a-half-pound artillery sentry to strengthen the field firepower of the First Cavalry Brigade to block possible enemy reinforcements and pursue the enemy's breakout remnants.
At the same time, the proportion of additional 48-pound mortars in the two mortar regiments was increased. A batch of 48-pound mortars just produced from the Hantian Arsenal were directly strengthened and replenished to the first mortar regiment and rushed to the Western Front.
The number of troops and artillery increased, and the supply of ammunition also increased accordingly.
After such an increase, the main force alone reached more than 12,000 people, and a garrison division of about 9,000 people was added.
This caused the total strength of the Da Chu Empire Army to attack Linxiang from the originally planned 25,000 to 47,000. In addition, the troops accompanying the army were used for armed tax collection in the newly occupied areas. The 3,000 armed tax policemen who resisted the gentry and provided certain support to the army were eliminated.
In addition to the navy, there are more than 3,000 people.
The Chu Empire has assembled more than 50,000 armed forces of various types in Linxiang.
This does not include tens of thousands of civilians in various transport groups and transport fleets recruited by organizations affiliated to the Logistics Department and the Naval Logistics Department.
If these people are included according to the traditional calculation method of military strength in ancient China, then it would be 100,000.
If you are shameless, you can call yourself an army of 200,000!
Fifty thousand troops, more than a hundred mortars of various types, hundreds of field artillery of various types, and even Luo Zhixue decided to go on a personal expedition, just to capture Linxiang City and take out Chu Nan!
It can be said that in order to directly pry open the turtle shell of Linxiang and rush into the hinterland of Yuezhou, and then capture the hinterland of southern Chu in a short period of time, and control the areas around Dongting Lake and the Xiangjiang River such as Changsha and Hengyang, it also made a move. Blood money.
With Luo Zhixue's many orders issued, the Great Chu Empire's military operation against Chu Nan has also reached the final stage of preparation.
On March 13, the Sixth Garrison Division arrived at the military camp in the eastern suburbs of Linxiang.
On March 15, the First Mortar Regiment arrived in Linxiang by ship and landed.
On March 17, Luo Zhixue personally led the main force of the Guards and a group of important civil and military officials to the military camp in the eastern suburbs of Linxiang.
When Luo Zhixue arrived in Linxiang in person, it also meant that the battle against Linxiang was about to begin.
As a large number of Chu troops arrived for reinforcements and arrived at the eastern suburbs of Linxiang, the Ming troops in Linxiang City were also blinded and naturally sensed the imminent attack of the security guards.
Facing tens of thousands of rebel troops pressing on the border, the Ming army in the city reinforced the city's defenses and collected all materials that could be used to defend the city. At the same time, they also urgently sought help from Baling, Yuezhou in the rear.
But Luo Zhixue would not give the Ming army too much time to react.
On the evening of the day he arrived at the military camp in the eastern suburbs of Linxiang, Luo Zhixue held a military meeting. This meeting was not only to finalize the final tactics, but also to boost morale and conduct final pre-war mobilization.
After talking about a lot of crackling chicken soup for the soul, Luo Zhixue finally said: "In the battle of Chu Nan, all the princes can be crowned."
"Finally..." Luo Zhixue looked around at this point, paused for a few seconds and then said: "The one who made the first contribution in the Chu Nan battle will be reduced and the inheritance will be ignored."
