In late October in Jiangnan, snow has begun to fall in many places.
This snow is not good news for the Chu army, because it means that it will be difficult for the Chu army to continue launching large-scale battles in a short period of time and then sweep across the entire south of the Yangtze River.
But for the Ming army in other parts of Jiangnan, this was a timely snowfall, giving them extremely precious breathing time.
But it can just be a breather.
As soon as the snow stops, even if there is still snow on the ground, the Chu army will continue to launch military operations, and it will be impossible to completely reverse the situation in the Jiangnan region.
In as short as a few days or as long as about half a month, it is impossible to make any practical changes in the defense strength of the Jiangnan state capitals.
In fact, this was indeed the case. On October 29, after the weather improved a little, even though there was still a lot of snow on the ground, the Chu army's new round of military operations had already begun.
The scale was not large, and the speed of action was not too fast. However, after resting and replenishing, the 1st Division and the 6th Division, with the cooperation of the 7th Defense Division and the 15th Defense Division, launched operations to the south and east respectively. attack.
The 1st Division led the 15th Garrison Division towards Zhenjiang, accompanied by the 1st Mortar Artillery Regiment heading eastward.
The Sixth Division led the Seventh Garrison Division towards Lishui, accompanied south by the Sixth Mortar Artillery Regiment.
All the way south, although the march was slow due to the weather, especially the snow on the road, it did not have much impact on the actual actions of the Chu army.
After all, even if it snows in the Jiangnan area, it will not be dozens of degrees below zero like in the north.
More importantly, the winter clothing of the Chu army was issued in time, enough for the soldiers to obtain thick winter clothing.
Before the Eastward Campaign, the Logistics Department had considered that the battle would be fought in the cold winter during the middle and later stages of the Eastward Campaign. For this reason, a large number of winter clothes had already been prepared in advance.
When the weather turned cold, enough winter clothes were distributed to the troops marching eastward as soon as possible.
Not only the main force, but also the newly trained soldiers of each garrison division were issued winter clothes in time. This made many newly surrendered soldiers feel very good about their new Chu army.
In the past, when they served as soldiers in the Ming army, they could not have enough meals throughout the year. Even the summer military uniforms had not been new for several years, let alone the winter uniforms.
But it was good to defect to the Chu army. Not only could he have enough to eat every day, but he also had a set of thick winter clothes as soon as he came.
Just these four words, enough food and clothing, are enough to make most of the newly surrendered soldiers give up their hearts on the Chu army.
In fighting this war, I worked much harder than before when I was in the Ming army.
This was very obvious when attacking Zhenjiang.
In this battle, the First Division did not personally participate in the siege operations. Instead, it was only responsible for providing artillery support and mid-range infantry fire support. The specific siege operations were handled by the 15th Garrison Division.
The performance of the 15th Garrison Division was quite good. During the siege process, it filled the moat, then attacked the city, and then continued the subsequent operations inside the city. The performance was remarkable.
Its combat effectiveness even shocked the Ming army generals opposite.
"Is this still the garrison among the Chu thieves? Didn't it mean that the garrison among the Chu thieves was composed of surrendered troops? Why doesn't it look like it?"
The generals of the Ming army who guarded the city in Zhenjiang were also knowledgeable. Naturally, they had long heard that there were two types of troops among the Chu thieves. One type used a large number of guns and cannons, and the soldiers were all Chu thieves recruited and trained by themselves. These Chu thieves The combat effectiveness is quite fierce.
There is also a garrison formed by the Chu thieves from the surrendered troops. From personnel to equipment to tactics, they are still the same as the original Ming army.
But, now it looks like these garrison troops are not surrendering at all.
In the midst of shock, the more than 5,000 defenders in Zhenjiang City were cleanly defeated by the 15th Garrison Division.
If the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty in Zhenjiang City knew that many of the soldiers in the 15th Garrison Division were actually Ming army defenders in Jinling City, and it only took them ten days to defect to the city, they would probably Even more shocked and angry.
Damn it, when I was in the Ming army, I was all a bunch of soft-footed shrimps, but after ten days or so, I went to the Chu bandits, and all of them became brave and fearless of death.
The 15th Garrison Division was formally established in Dangtu County, Taiping Prefecture. One regiment of the division was selected and formed by the Ming troops from Dangtu, Dashengguan and other Ming armies. The remaining three regiments and other troops were selected from the Ming Dynasty in Jinling City. Select and form the army.
To put it bluntly, most of the troops in the 15th Garrison Division were actually the Ming army defenders in the Jinling City area.
However, after changing his master, his combat effectiveness changed drastically.
Well, this change in combat effectiveness does not refer to equipment or tactical level, the overall combat quality of the soldiers, but there has been a huge change in morale.
But just these changes in morale caused a substantial increase in the combat effectiveness of these surrendered soldiers.
In this regard, Major General Cao Hongsheng, commander of the First Division, is also relatively satisfied.
The 15th Garrison Division can play a certain role, which will also greatly reduce the pressure on the First Division, which will be of great benefit to the subsequent eastward march to Changzhou, Suzhou, Songjiang and other places.
If he can win these places smoothly, Cao Hongsheng feels that his military rank should be raised.
Cao Hongsheng served as the commander of the First Division before the Eastward Campaign, with the rank of Army Major General.
The First Division has done quite well along the way, but if they want to be promoted based on these smooth achievements, they are still a little bit behind.
But if the entire Jiangnan Campaign can be successfully completed, then it is probably about the same.
When the time comes, wouldn't it be nice to follow the example of former First Division Commander Li Chengtong and hold the rank of lieutenant general, and then become a corps commander?
The commander of the First Division, Cao Hongsheng, wanted to go further. The new commander of the Sixth Division, Major General Xu Jian, did not expect to be promoted in a short period of time. Instead, he wanted to fight this battle well and secure his position completely.
Xu Jian previously served as the commander of the 12th Infantry Brigade and led the army to participate in the Jiujiang Battle, Hukou Battle, Anqing Battle, and Jinling City Battle. In both the Jiujiang Battle and the Jinling City Battle, the 12th Infantry Brigade served as the main attacker. The troops were the first to enter the city.
Because the 12th Infantry Brigade he led performed well, he successfully became the new division commander of the Sixth Division after Zhang Malin, the former commander of the Sixth Division, was transferred to the Tenth Division as the division commander.
As a new official, he didn't have much ambition, he just wanted to fight the good fight honestly and secure his position.
Like other unlucky guys, he was eventually promoted to the garrison for poor performance or transferred to the provincial garrison headquarters and the four major headquarters to hold idle positions.
The senior generals in the Dachu Empire are not the same, in fact they are always changing.
Many senior generals who were active on the front line in the early days have actually disappeared.
They were expelled from the center of power of the army one after another because of ability problems, or because the timing was wrong, they failed to catch up with the good times, or simply because of attitude problems, etc.
These are still senior generals, and there are even more middle and low-level officers.
Nowadays, at the Army Officer Academy, nearly two hundred formal class graduates appear every three months. After these people have entered the army one after another, they have not only greatly solved the lack of a large number of qualified officers in the Chu Army. The predicament also squeezed out the positions of many officers who came from the old Ming army, from bandits, and even from the crash course.
Today, the Chu army, including the army and the Guards, has a total of thirteen main divisions, one cavalry brigade, and seven mortar regiments.
Thirteen of the main divisions in the main force belong to artillery regiments. The commanders of all artillery battalions are all graduates of the formal class of the Officer Academy, and there are also eight commanders of the artillery regiment who are also graduates of the formal class. born.
If the technical arms are more friendly to formal class graduates, then in the infantry unit, which is the most competitive, formal class graduates are also beginning to take up positions in large numbers.
Almost all main infantry battalion commanders are graduates of the formal class.
At the group leader level, more than half of the group leaders are graduates of formal classes.
Moreover, among the formal graduates, brigadier general-level officers have begun to appear.
The most famous among them is Wang Yongnian, the top graduate of the first formal class.
This young man served as the commander of the 23rd Infantry Regiment at the beginning of this year and performed very outstandingly.
Before the Eastward Campaign, he was still the commander of the lieutenant colonel. After the Jiujiang Campaign, he was promoted to colonel due to his outstanding performance, and he still served as the commander of the 23rd Infantry Regiment.
After the Battle of Jinling, with the establishment of the Tenth Division, Zhang Malin, the former commander of the Sixth Division, was transferred to the Tenth Division as the division commander, and the commander of the 12th Infantry Brigade was transferred to the Sixth Division as the new division commander. Wang Yongnian was also promoted to Commander of the 12th Infantry Brigade and was awarded the rank of brigadier general.
In addition to Wang Yongnian, four of his classmates also obtained the rank of brigadier general after the Battle of Jinling. One was transferred to the Eighth Division as the brigade commander, one was transferred to the Fourth Division as the deputy division commander, one was transferred to the Logistics Department as the Director of the Ammunition Department, and one was transferred to the Logistics Department as the Director of the Ammunition Department. Transferred to the Training Department of the Staff Headquarters as Director.
These transfers are all real positions with real weight. To be honest, they are more important than many positions at the rank of major general.
Therefore, regardless of the graduates from the formal class, there are only five brigadiers in total now, and the others are a group of school officers and even lieutenants.
But in fact, they have de facto controlled the power of the Chu Empire Army and became the true core group of the army.
The Army reuses generals from formal classes who have received complete military education. This is an important measure taken by Luo Zhixue to formalize the Army.
Today's wars cannot be won by some high-ranking general who just slaps his head and has a sudden idea.
Today's war requires careful planning and efficient cooperation from all aspects to win.
This is especially true in large-scale battles.
