It was night on April 24, the sixth year of Chengshun.
Balipu, five kilometers east of Shanhaiguan, after the Dongji people voluntarily evacuated this place, they set fire here and burned most of the reserves and some houses in the city.
However, because the Dongji people retreated in a hurry and time was tight, it was not easy to burn the grain, grass and other materials that could not be taken away. As for most of the buildings, they were still preserved.
After the Chu army arrived, they also controlled the fire in the city and then began to garrison.
Even though this place was set on fire by the Japanese captors, it was still a fortress city with a large number of fortifications. Many of the buildings were stone and earthen fortifications. They didn't look tall and gorgeous, but they had no defensive capabilities. That's right, and it's not likely to cause a fire.
Under such circumstances, it would be a success for the Chu army to occupy this place after advancing eastward and use it as an outpost.
The frontline headquarters of the Third Army is also established here. The commander of the Third Army, Zuo Yingzhe, personally led the senior generals within the Army to station here and command nearby the various units of the Third Army and the Guards that have launched a full-line offensive towards the Western Liaoning Corridor.
Although the Guards are in a different system from the Army, when they go to fight in Liaodong, they are not legally under the command of the Army.
However, in order to coordinate and command the Northeast War, the Guards took the initiative to negotiate with the Army. The more than 20,000 Guards troops fighting in the Northeast nominally fought on their own, but in fact they were temporarily assigned to the Third Army in the name of consultation and cooperation. commanded by the Army Group.
Of course, if the Guards don't listen, there's nothing they can do.
After all, this involves service issues. The Army is the Army, the Guards is the Guards, and the Navy is the Navy. Coordinated operations are possible, but forced orders are not.
This kind of coordinated military operations has been done many times in the Chu Army, and there is already a complete set of procedures in place.
For example, in the previous joint operations of the army and navy, when they landed on the Liaodong Peninsula, the navy generals took overall command, and the army was only responsible for the operations after landing. At the same time, the Second Marine Regiment of the navy was also under the command of the army.
The cooperation between the Guards and the Army was even greater. During the Eastward Campaign, the First Guards Division was under the command of the First Army.
Later, the First Guards Division and the Second Guards Division successively participated in Jiangbei and even the subsequent Northern Expedition, and were also commanded by higher-level army corps-level headquarters.
However, this relationship is limited to the command of specific battles, and the Guards will not cooperate with orders outside of battles.
At the same time, the Army still cannot interfere in the internal affairs of the Guards.
This time the Northeast Battle is still the same!
In order to better allow the Guards' more than 20,000 people to cooperate with the Third Army's operations, the Guards also dispatched a major general to sit at the Third Army headquarters to negotiate with the Army on behalf of the Guards. As for the Guards The combat orders will also be conveyed by this person to the Guards combat troops.
This seems very complicated and involves a lot of processes.
But this involves the issue of cooperation between the services, which is inherently complicated. If it were not complicated, it would be easy to mess up the situation and even threaten the independence of the Guards.
The Guards are not just any ordinary field troops.
If it were just an ordinary field force, Luo Zhixue would not need to form another Guards at all. He would just expand the size of the main first-class division within the army.
The most important purpose of the Guards is for balance.
To balance the ground operations of the Army, a dominant force must at least ensure that Luo Zhixue has another force with a large number of ground combat forces in addition to the Army.
As for those who are directly affiliated with the royal family and only loyal to the emperor, these are secondary.
Because all the armed forces of the Chu Empire, including the army and navy, as well as the Guards and even the armed tax police, were directly loyal to the emperor.
Theoretically speaking, no military units are dared, all troops are directly under Luo Zhixue.
Moreover, people’s minds change. It’s not like you said that the Guards would not rebel if they were only loyal to the royal family and the emperor himself...
Therefore, Luo Zhixue's purpose in establishing the Guards was for balance.
Let the Army, Navy, and Guards form a relatively stable triangular structure to maximize the difficulty for some generals in a certain service to rebel.
If rebellion is not difficult, no matter how serious the consequences are, someone will do it.
But if the difficulty is high and the threshold is high, then it can effectively dispel some people's thoughts that they shouldn't have.
Under such circumstances, the status of the Guards is very special.
In battles involving the Guards, it is often necessary to negotiate with the Guards.
That night, when Zuo Yingzhe held a strategic meeting, Major General Ding Jiaheng, the representative of the Guards, reported on the combat situation of various units of the Guards on behalf of the Guards.
"Green Gourd Sword Fairy"
"Our main force, the Third Division of the Guards, has carried out a strategic siege of Tieyang Fort in the north according to the battle plan we negotiated before. According to the intelligence provided by our reconnaissance cavalry, the enemy also wants to retreat where the battle started. Because our Guards forward cavalry moved quickly and attacked in advance, more than 4,000 enemy troops retreated back to Tieyang Fort under the threat of our Guards cavalry."
"Following up, the main force of the Third Division of our Guards successfully arrived at Tieyang Castle and strategically surrounded the enemy forces in the city."
"We are currently building artillery positions, attacking trenches and transporting ammunition overnight. We expect to launch a general attack on Tieyang Fort early tomorrow morning!"
"Lieutenant General Qian Tai, a letter has been sent. We will use a large number of artillery bombardments tomorrow morning, including more than fifty howitzers. If everything goes well, we are expected to capture Tieyang Fort tomorrow afternoon."
"A mixed regiment belonging to the Second Division of our Guards is currently cooperating with the 4th Cuirassier Regiment and the 2nd Hussars Regiment. They continue to advance eastward and have now arrived in a mountain forest eight kilometers east of Tieyang Castle to rest and recuperate. , to ambush possible enemy reinforcements!”
"On the whole, our Guards are proceeding smoothly in accordance with the battle plan previously agreed upon by both parties, and have achieved the predetermined tactical objectives on the first day."
After finishing speaking, Guards Major General Ding Jiaheng closed the report in his hand, nodded slightly to the other army generals around him, and sat down again.
Army General Zuo Yingzhe smiled at Ding Jiaheng and nodded lightly: "Thank you for your hard work, brothers of the Guards. Tieyang Fort is a road blocker for our army to advance eastward to western Liaoning. Only by taking this place can our army continue to move eastward." The advantage of entering the front position is that you don’t have to worry about being intercepted at the rear, let alone being attacked from the front and back.”
"Now the Tieyang Fort has been strategically surrounded by the Guards, and the three thousand elite enemy troops on the Balipu side have voluntarily evacuated. The two outposts in front of us can no longer create any obstacles for us. Then it’s time to hit the front.”
"And when hitting the front position, we must always be vigilant to guard against the enemy's cavalry!"
"According to the news reported by Zhu Xingfa of the First Cavalry Corps, the Eastern Cavalry Cavalry is still relatively elite. They tried to attack from behind many times during the day. However, the First Cavalry Corps responded calmly and there was no trouble."
"In addition to the 3,000 Dongjiu Jingcai who voluntarily withdrew from Balipu, there are at least 4,000 to 5,000 cavalry in Zhongqian Station."
"In addition, after we send troops now, it will not take a day or two for the enemy troops in Guangning to rush to help quickly. The first ones to come will probably be the enemy's cavalry, at least ten thousand or more!"
"I estimate that we will have to face twenty to thirty thousand enemy cavalry by then!"
"There are too many cavalry, it's hard to fight!"
Zuo Yingzhe said while staring at the military map on the table!
This was said not only to the generals present, but also to himself. He must always remind himself that he cannot waste his time fighting and must be cautious and cautious.
Not to mention the great strategic significance of attacking western Liaoning this time.
The most important thing is that the Chu army was at a considerable disadvantage in terms of cavalry when they attacked the East.
The Chu army mobilized almost all the independent cavalry they could from across the country, and then concentrated five divisions, two cavalry brigades, and a cuirassier regiment on the Jiliao and Xuanda lines. Well, now, it can be counted as one. The Sixth Cavalry Division was recruited from the Tumut tribe, and although it has the size of a cavalry division, it has not yet established a 'naturalized cavalry training camp'.
They are the Army's 1st to 3rd Cavalry Divisions on the front line of Shanhaiguan, the 4th Cuirassier Regiment of the Guards, the 16th Cavalry Brigade in Jizhen, the 5th Cavalry Division in Miyun, the 4th Cavalry Division in Xuanfu, and the 16th Cavalry Brigade in Datong. 17th Cavalry Brigade.
Among them, the 4th Cavalry Division stationed in Xuanfu has moved north to the grassland. Together with the newly integrated 6th Cavalry Division and the naturalized cavalry training camp, they formed the 2nd Cavalry Army. They have now entered the northeast of Monan Mongolia.
In addition to these independent cavalry, although the Chu army also has a lot of divisional cavalry, the number is actually not that large, and the combat effectiveness is basically not very good.
According to the theoretical organization of the army, each Class A and Class B division has a division-affiliated cavalry regiment. According to the latest establishment, the division-affiliated cavalry regiment adopts a small regiment and large sentry system. There is no battalion-level establishment. Each division has a cavalry regiment. The cavalry regiment has four cavalry posts, each with more than 150 cavalry, plus an auxiliary cavalry artillery post and baggage post, with a total strength of about 800 people.
But in fact, this is only a theoretical establishment. In fact, except for the first-class divisions on the front line of the border army, no other troops can achieve this full establishment.
Forget it if you are dissatisfied with the establishment, but even the cavalry regiments of these army divisions are actually dragoons composed of half-baked mounted infantry. In the internal positioning of the Chu army, these dragoons are regarded as Used by fast mobile infantry.
There are only three cavalry divisions on the Shanhaiguan front line that can really be used as field cavalry, and then there are the Fourth Cuirassier Regiment on the Guards side and two Guards Division Hussars Regiments.
If the third group army and the Guards are added together, not counting the cavalry artillery and heavy cavalry, but only the front-line combat cavalry fighting on horseback, then the total number will only be 14,000 cavalry!
As for the Dongfeng cavalry on the opposite side, there are at least 30,000 cavalry on the Guangning front line alone, not to mention that more Dongfang cavalry will be reinforced at any time later.
Under such circumstances, the pressure on the Third Army to advance eastward is still relatively high!
You can't fight in a hurry, you must fight steadily!
