The Northern Expedition will be the top priority of the Chu Empire in the next few years.
If the Northern Expedition is successful, China can be unified, and the Chu Empire will truly become the new master of the land of China.
If the Northern Expedition fails, then the dream of unifying China in a short period of time will come to nothing, and the only option is to once again accumulate strength and launch the Northern Expedition in a few years.
Based on the importance of the Northern Expedition, once the Great Chu Empire launched the Northern Expedition, it would inevitably use all its forces for the Northern Expedition. Not only the main forces of various ministries, but more importantly, all strategic materials would be directed towards the Northern Expedition.
By then, the supply of materials on all fronts in the South will inevitably be greatly weakened. Once there is a lack of supplies of ammunition and other materials, the main divisions that seem to be invincible now may not be able to sustain themselves by then.
A gun without ammunition is nothing more than a pile of scrap metal.
Even cold weapons such as swords, spears, and armor will suffer a lot of wear and tear during continuous combat. These lost cold weapons and equipment need to be repaired or even replaced.
And this also requires sufficient logistical support.
However, although the Chu army has advantages on several fronts in the south today and is in a strategic offensive position, it still has not been able to completely capture Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and other regions, let alone Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan.
The east side of Sichuan was directly blocked by Qin Liangyu's troops on the Badong front line. They did not use a large number of main troops and did not spend a lot of effort to transport a large number of heavy artillery and ammunition. They only relied on the strength of the garrison division and a small number of main troops. No less than the Wushan area.
Yungui and parts of Guangxi are not easy places to march and fight.
Limited by the terrain and difficulties in material supply, the Chu army's actions in the Yunnan-Guizhou region were very slow and extremely costly.
This cost is not only in logistical materials, but also in personnel losses.
To be honest, the main force of the Chu army was not used to fighting the Ming army in a place with complex terrain, especially the various local chieftain troops who were familiar with the terrain. They wanted to find the enemy's main force for a decisive battle, but the Ming army also They're not stupid, they basically avoid you, or huddle in pass cities that are easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Then small-scale troops were often sent to attack the scattered small-scale troops and logistics troops of the Chu army.
In the end there were still a lot of non-combat casualties.
Regions such as Yunnan and Guizhou are not mature and densely populated areas. Instead, they are covered with a large number of big trees in the mountains, and there are many poisonous insects. At the same time, the climate is very different from that of the Central Plains.
The situation of acclimatization inevitably appeared in the Chu army, resulting in a large number of non-combat attrition of the Chu army.
But it won’t work without fighting!
If this is ignored, when the Chu Empire concentrates all its forces to launch the Northern Expedition, the logistics supply of the troops fighting in the southern provinces will inevitably be seriously affected. Before the logistics is insufficient, the combat effectiveness of the local Chu army will be further reduced.
At that time, if there is a counterattack by the Ming army, if they retreat slightly, a large number of Ming troops may enter the grain-producing areas currently controlled by the Chu army.
The terrain in these places is generally flat, and once the enemy breaks through, it will easily cause a chain collapse reaction.
Even if this possibility is not high, the senior officials of the Dachu Empire have to consider this possibility.
Therefore, at the latest imperial strategy meeting at the end of March, Xu Zhixian of the General Staff proposed that before officially launching the Northern Expedition, some forces should be concentrated on solving several dangers in the south.
Preparation is for the four places of southern Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi.
As for the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan areas, the staff simply suggested that these areas be attacked at a later stage, or even after Hebei is captured, or even after Dongdu is defeated.
In Yunnan and Guizhou, due to terrain and climate problems, there is no way to fight quickly. We can only grind slowly. The most important thing is that if this place is not taken down for the time being, the impact will not be big.
Relatively speaking, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang are easier to fight, and they are also more important.
First of all, these two places do not have too strong Ming army forces, and although the terrain is mountainous, it is still mature land, and the climate is relatively easy to adapt to. If a fight breaks out, it will be a purely military issue and not too serious. Mostly affected by local climate.
If we capture the Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang regions, we can connect most of the Chu Empire south of the Yangtze River, thus completely eliminating the threat along the southeastern coast.
In the future, in these directions, it is only necessary to deploy some garrison divisions to garrison coastal cities, and actively develop the navy to deal with the maritime threats posed by Zheng Zhilong's troops.
Even if they cannot defend the coastal areas and lose a few cities, it will not have much impact. After all, Zheng Zhilong's ground power is very limited, and their only strength is the fleet.
The battleship cannot go ashore.
There may be losses, but these losses will be within an acceptable range.
According to the size of the general staff, first capture Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong and Guangxi, and then slow down the offensive on the Yunnan-Guizhou front line. It does not even need to use too many main troops, just use a few more garrison divisions to fight.
As for Sichuan, let's continue the stalemate. Don't expect to win the battle for the time being. But on the other hand, the Chu army will not be able to enter Sichuan, and Qin Liangyu's troops will have no chance to seize Badong and other places, and fight all the way to Huguang.
Sichuan is a place where it is difficult to get in and even harder to get out.
In the direction of Shaanxi, the current situation continues. This does not mean that Shaanxi and Gansu in the northwest have been defeated. If we rush in and rule the area rashly, we will not receive much money and food. I am afraid we will have to pay hundreds more. Ten thousand taels of silver...
The struggle for the world has reached this point, and the cost of governance is no longer valued by the senior leaders of the Chu Empire, because except for the existing control areas of the Chu Empire, every other place is not a good place.
Either the southeastern and southwest provinces with less land and more people, or the northern provinces that have been plagued by bandits, officers and soldiers, and eastern captors for many years.
From a purely monetary and food perspective, attacking these places is a loss-making business.
However, if you want to unify China, even the worthless land must be taken over. You can't just shrink the land area by more than half after the Chu Empire replaced the Ming Dynasty and became the new central dynasty in China...
Therefore, the cost of governance is no longer an important consideration in the expansion of the Chu Empire. It is more due to military and political considerations.
One of the important reasons for not sending troops to Shaanxi now is that Shaanxi now has Sun Chuanting, and this Sun Chuanting is quite powerful.
The Shaanxi New Standard Army, the New Qin Army, he created is quite special. Not only does it have a large number of guns like other New Standard Army, but it also has a considerable number of cavalry. At the same time, this New Qin Army has a large number of mules and horses. , the maneuverability is quite good.
In the Guanzhong Prefecture area, the Chu Army's Second Garrison Division has suffered losses at the hands of the new Qin Army many times since last autumn.
The garrison division alone cannot defeat it...
As for the main division, the main force on the front line in Hanzhong actually only has one mixed regiment, and its strength is somewhat insufficient.
Therefore, during the Northern Expedition, according to the plan of the General Staff, the operations in the Shaanxi direction will still maintain the status quo. Fight if you can, and strategically defend if you can't.
As long as Yunyang City is not lost, the Chu army will not change its planned plan in this direction.
Generally speaking, once Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangxi are captured, the entire western front, including the three fronts in Yunnan-Guizhou, Sichuan, and Shaanxi, will be in a low-intensity stalemate.
And most of the power of the Chu Empire, or to be precise, the material supply will be fully used in the Northern Expedition.
Luo Zhixue quite agrees with the staff's idea of moving south first and then north to avoid too much pressure from fighting on multiple fronts at the same time.
Although Luo Zhixue also wanted to launch the Northern Expedition now and hit Youzhou City directly, if he acted rashly, the various fronts in the south might overturn, thus shaking the security of the Chu Empire in the hinterland of the Yangtze River.
Furthermore, once the Northern Expedition was launched, Luo Zhixue's idea was to attack Shanhaiguan decisively and quickly. This was to avoid prolonging the war and leading to the invasion of the East.
Dongli wants to enter the pass and wants to go crazy. Even if he cannot enter the Central Plains, running to North Zhili and plundering again will be a great help to Dongli.
In addition, and more importantly, do not overestimate the patriotism of the warlords in Liaodong, especially after the fall of Chongzhen and the Ming Dynasty to which they were loyal. Do not think that if Luo Zhixue trembles, a large number of vassal towns in Liaodong will be killed. Just worship.
Historically, Li Zicheng entered Youzhou City, and the Ming army in Liaodong turned around and surrendered to the East under the leadership of Wu Sangui.
But don't believe that Wu Sangui is just angry at the beauty. This man is very ambitious.
At that time, Li Zicheng captured Wu Xiang, the father of Wu Sangui, and took the initiative to send people with money and food to recruit him. He also gave a good price and promised to make him a marquis.
Ordinarily, the conditions for becoming a marquis are not bad.
However, they were even more ruthless in their attempts to kidnap Wu Sangui, and directly offered the conditions for him to be crowned king, and the title was actually sealed, promising that after entering the customs, Wu Sangui would be given a piece of land to claim the title of king.
Anyway, Dong Ni had not yet entered the customs at that time. In order to enter the customs smoothly, Dong Ni could even promise Wu Sangui to rule across the river if necessary. As for whether Wu Sangui believed it or not, whether Dong Ni would regret it afterward. It's just something else.
In short, they are using the land they have not yet acquired to recruit Wu Sangui... Wu Sangui will need to lead his own troops to fight in the future!
As a result, Wu Sangui still couldn't resist the temptation to become the king, and directly led Dong into captivity in Shanhaiguan.
The whole idea is that today I am born as a member of the Ming Dynasty and die as a ghost of the Ming Dynasty. Old Chongzhen, for the sake of my loyalty, why don’t you give me money and food quickly?
Tomorrow when the Dongjiao army arrived and the situation changed, he knelt down directly in front of Huang Taiji and shouted: I am willing to be the vanguard for the king's division to enter the pass...
Shameless stuff!
