Accepting the surrender of a large number of border troops and reorganizing them into a second-class division was also an expedient measure for the Chu Empire.
The current total strength of the Chu army is limited. There are not many new troops in the rear, and it will take time to transfer to the north in a short time.
But at the same time, as the various tribes in western Liaoning joined forces with the Eastern captives under the leadership of Zu Dashou, the military pressure faced by the Chu Empire in the north, especially in the North Zhili area, was greater than before the Ming Dynasty.
In order to avoid the collapse of the border defense caused by the change of dynasty, and being taken advantage of by the Eastern Captives, Luo Zhixue, who was far away in Huai'an, issued the latest instructions to Li Chengtong in early August, to carefully handle the garrisons in the border towns of North Zhili and give priority to ensuring the defense line of the Great Wall safety.
At the same time, a large number of military and political officials were sent north to reorganize the local border troops to form a second-class division.
Well, what needs to be made clear is that it was not Li Chengtong who reorganized and formed the second-class division. He did not have this authority.
The one with this authority is the Ministry of Military Affairs.
To be precise, the Ministry of Military Affairs itself does not have this authority.
To establish a new army, only Luo Zhixue, the emperor of the Chu Empire, had the authority.
Luo Zhixue ordered the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs to form a number of second-class divisions, and then the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs could start and organize them. After the formation was completed and handed over to the field armies or garrison headquarters, front-line generals like Li Chengtong could have command authority.
There are relatively complex procedures here.
But these cumbersome procedures are necessary to control military power.
If Luo Zhixue releases his power to recruit troops, reorganize and establish establishments, and allows generals such as Li Chengtong to expand on the front line, then it won't be long before the military power on the front line will fall into a very dangerous situation.
Therefore, Luo Zhixue still firmly controls his power when it comes to the reorganization of the second-class division. The formation of every second-class division requires his personal approval, and the appointment of every division commander requires his personal appointment!
As a result, in order to alleviate the shortage of troops on the northern front, especially the subsequent Great Wall defense line, the Chu army successively formed a dozen troops in Shandong, Beizhili and Shanxi based on the Ming army soldiers who successively accepted surrender or surrender. Two understaffed second-class divisions and six cavalry brigades.
Most of the soldiers are frontier troops.
These frontier armies were different from the Ming armies in the Central Plains. The Ming armies in the Central Plains and Jiangnan areas were all local guards or even young men recruited temporarily. Their combat effectiveness was extremely low. Luo Zhixue despised them as a waste when they were reorganized into a garrison. food……
But these border troops are much better, many of them are veterans, and many of them have been fighting barbarians in border towns all their lives.
The basic military quality of these people is pretty good, and their combat effectiveness is just okay. The only thing missing is food and equipment.
As long as the food treatment and equipment are improved, the combat effectiveness will not be too bad, at least much stronger than the previous garrison.
And the Chu army is not short of food and equipment!
Along with the more than 100,000 Northern Expedition Chu troops heading north, there was also a large amount of grain. Some of this grain was to supply military supplies, and some was transported north to alleviate the food shortage of the local people and avoid large-scale famine. .
The grain that the Chu army continued to transport north amounted to millions of dan, so there was no problem in squeezing out some of it to supply the second-class divisions reorganized by the border army.
As for the weapons and equipment, it was easier to handle. The Chu army successively captured a large amount of equipment from the Ming army. Some of these equipment were selected in good condition and supplied to the second-class division.
In addition, the Chu army's own weapons output is also very large, especially now that the new main division no longer uses these swords and spears, but the original various cold weapon production lines and matchlock gun production lines continue to produce these weapons and equipment. , originally used to supplement the original old-style divisions, can now just free up part of the production capacity to equip these new second-class divisions.
However, arming these second-class divisions with matchlocks and spears is only temporary. The Dachu Empire Army has finalized the development path of fully shifting to new troops. In the future, not only the newly formed troops will be equipped with flintlock guns, but also the original The old first-class divisions will also be equipped with flintlock guns one after another like the first division and be reorganized into new divisions.
In the micro future, the second-class division will be like this too.
Now, due to the limited production of flintlock muskets, we can only use a mixture of flintlock muskets and matchlocks to expand and maintain the number of troops by combining old and new troops.
And as the Great Chu Empire gradually accepted the Ming army in the Northern Zhili area, especially in the towns on the sides, and then reorganized and reorganized it into a second-class division on the spot, it could be considered that it had initially stabilized the Great Wall defense line and avoided the emptiness of the Great Wall defense line caused by the change of dynasties. , the situation of being kidnapped and taking advantage of the situation.
Due to the expansion of the war in the north, multiple directions are facing different threats at the same time, and more and more troops are under his jurisdiction. It is difficult for Li Chengtong, the northern Zhili garrison commander, to continue to control the overall situation.
Therefore, in mid-August, Luo Zhixue rearranged the division of theaters in the Central Plains, Shanxi, Shandong, Northern Zhili, Western Liaoning and other regions as well as the adjustment of senior generals.
Mainly, five campaign headquarters were established.
The Northeast Campaign Command was established, with General Li Chengtong as the commander and General Dong Mingjie as the deputy commander. It has jurisdiction over the Second Army, the Third Army, multiple B divisions, and some independent mixed brigades, cavalry brigades, artillery regiments and other units, including the 3rd Army. The 8th and 20th Divisions of the Second Army, the 1st, 10th, and 11th Divisions of the Third Army, and the 23rd Mixed Brigade directly under the headquarters.
It is worth mentioning that the 23rd Mixed Brigade has been upgraded to the 23rd Army Division and is currently being replenished with soldiers and equipment.
The Northeast Campaign Headquarters has only one mission: to kill Dongji!
In addition to the Northeastern Command, Luo Zhixue also established the Shanxi Campaign Command, with former First Army Commander General Li Dongshao transferred to the command. The main responsibility of the army in the early stage was to march into Shanxi and eliminate Zuo Liangyu and the remnants of the local Ming army in Shanxi. ,
It is said that Zuo Liangyu recently made a vassal king play a trick in Shanxi to support him. The Chu Empire will naturally not sit back and watch the situation in Shanxi worsen. In early August, it had already transferred the First Army to the area east of Shanxi, planning to start from the front line of Zhending Prefecture. Go straight to Taiyuan and kill Zuo Liangyu's troops.
The Shaanxi-Gansu Campaign Headquarters was also established, and the former commander of the Fourth Army, General Huang Dingquan, was transferred to take charge of the war in Shaanxi, Gansu and other directions, with the main strategic task of annihilating Sun Chuanting's headquarters.
Finally, the Sichuan Campaign Headquarters was established. Lieutenant General Cao Hongsheng, the former Han Tianfu garrison commander, was transferred to the command and promoted to Army General at the same time. He was mainly responsible for the war in Sichuan. The main enemy was the local chieftain troops, such as Qin Liangyu's army.
The Yunnan-Guizhou Campaign Headquarters was also established. Lieutenant General Han Ziping, the former Chunan garrison commander, was transferred and promoted to Army General. He was mainly responsible for the war in Yunnan and Guizhou.
The above-mentioned campaign headquarters are not provincial garrison headquarters in the military structure of the Chu Empire, and they are not even the same thing.
In the Dachu Empire's military, the Provincial Garrison Command was a fixed organization, mainly responsible for recruitment, military-civilian relations, local defense, and suppression. It commanded a small number of second-class divisions scattered locally.
These second-class divisions are different from those formed by the border army. These troops are not used to fight foreign enemies, but to suppress internal pressure. Therefore, they are not equipped with heavy artillery and have little maneuverability. They are mainly composed of light infantry. , and are dispersedly deployed in various prefectures and counties.
Currently, in principle, the Da Chu Empire Army plans to deploy one or more second-class divisions in each province, depending on local population, area and other conditions.
And although the second-class division is stationed in the local garrison, like the first-class division, it is recruited from different places and deployed uniformly, and the defense is also rotated.
Although the second-class division in the Chu army was responsible for internal pressure, it was still not a local army, but a low-cost, lightweight regular army.
Its command power is not in the hands of the local governor, but in the hands of the staff. In addition, the provincial garrison headquarters is not a civilian organization, but a serious military organization. The garrison commander of each province is appointed by the local The garrison commander concurrently serves.
The new campaign headquarters created by Luo Zhixue this time is a command organization aimed at specific targets. To a certain extent, it is almost the same thing as the field army, but it is a higher level than the field army.
Luo Zhixue established five major campaign headquarters to deal with five fronts at the same time. At the same time, he also established provincial garrison headquarters to be responsible for internal suppression, troop recruitment, logistical support and other matters.
By the time Luo Zhixue had almost completed the arrangements for these high-level military organizations and personnel, it was September.
This should have been a crisp autumn day, a good time for hunting and fighting, but for the Great Chu Empire, it was a bit peaceful.
In the direction of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, the chieftains on the opposite side couldn't fight and didn't have the courage to fight. However, the Chu army was too lazy to fight for the time being. At least until places like Shaanxi, Gansu, and Shanxi were pacified, the Chu army had no interest in entering Sichuan... As for Yungui, then You have to take your time.
In the direction of Shaanxi-Gansu and Shanxi, Sun Chuanting and Zuo Liangyu on the opposite side are a bigger threat. The Chu army is also trying to gather troops to kill them. However, due to the threat of the Eastern Captives, the Chu army is now concentrating its soldiers and resources on the Zhili front line in the north. , I can’t take care of these two directions for the time being.
As for them taking the initiative to fight... they don't have the courage, let alone the strength.
Even in the Liaodong direction, there was only a medium-sized war in September, and then it gradually calmed down.
In mid-September, Prince Hauge led 30,000 cavalrymen to detour through Mongolia, trying to break through the Miyun line.
Under the command of Li Chengtong, the Chu army gave them a close-door and dog-fighting attack on the Miyun front line.
They first showed their weakness to the enemy and lured thousands of Dongfeng cavalry into the Great Wall. The 10th Division on the front line directly came with a left and right uppercut, quickly detoured for more than ten kilometers, sealed the opening of the Great Wall again, and Hauge's main force and his forward cut off.
The 10th Division sat firmly on the Great Wall defense line and withstood the attacks from the front and rear Dongfang cavalry, creating an opportunity for Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa's more than 8,000 cavalry and the First Division to encircle and annihilate the Dongfang's forward cavalry.
