In order to enter Zhenjiang, the Montenegro Infantry Corps inevitably has to cross the non-Montenegro area of Jiangning Province, with the three cities of Sanhe, Humen and Tianguan along the way.
Lu Ming went to the provincial capital and had secret communications with Governor Chakson and Governor Wang Qiande.
Governor Chakson looked like he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, but Wang Qiande had a very good attitude and said that the three cities must cooperate with the Montenegrin Corps to coordinate traffic and give the green light to the Montenegrin Corps' troop deployment. He also said that strict confidentiality would be maintained and the three cities would not be informed of the real intention of the traffic control.
In fact, Lu Ming didn't care whether the infantry regiment's actions were confidential or not, but he also explained to Wang Qiande that if any media reporters or civilians took photos, they might be tried by the Montenegrin Military Court for endangering military operations.
Wang Qiande patted his chest and promised that he would not let the reporters know.
And when the Black Mountain Corps Armored Brigade, the First Mixed Brigade and the Second Mixed Brigade's black armored vehicles, transport convoys, artillery convoys and the surging tide of well-equipped troops wearing neatly helmets marched on the land of Sanhe, Humen and Tianguan.
Whether it was Governor Chuckson, Wang Qiande or Hu Dingjin, they must have mixed feelings.
The Montenegrin Infantry Corps consists of five brigades, an armored brigade directly under the military headquarters, and four mixed brigades.
Each brigade is composed of five to six thousand people.
The first and second brigades are stationed in the Heishan area, the third brigade is stationed in Wanzhou, and the fourth brigade is stationed in Nanping.
It can be said that now all the troops stationed in Montenegro have come out in full force.
Of course, both the 1st Brigade and the 2nd Brigade left behind an infantry battalion for guard.
Compared with the 3rd and 4th Brigades, the Mixed 1st and 2nd Brigades are better equipped and, in this era, can be said to be armed to the teeth.
Taking a mixed brigade as an example, it consists of four infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, as well as a firepower reinforcement company, tank reinforcement company, motor transport brigade, medical company, etc. directly under the brigade headquarters.
An infantry battalion consists of approximately 1,100 men, and is fully capable of operating on its own as an extremely powerful unit.
Each infantry battalion has a headquarters company including a communications squad, a motor transport team, three infantry companies, a heavy weapons company, and a group of medical soldiers.
An infantry company has about 200 people, including a headquarters platoon, three infantry platoons and a firepower platoon. Each company has six field radio stations (field walkie-talkies).
In general, an infantry battalion has about 600 rifles, 40 light machine guns, 12 heavy machine guns, two infantry guns, two tanks, and several trucks.
Theoretically speaking, if such a combat unit were a warlord army in the Northern Territory, even if they were surrounded by ten times the force, it would still be difficult to defeat it.
Of course, the main factor in combat is still people, and fighting will and so on are also extremely important.
Basically, the infantry battalion system that Lu Ming created was based on the "battalion" system of the enemy forces that invaded the motherland during World War II.
Because in this world, the large corps structure of the U.S. military in World War II is a bit out of date, as large-scale battles are hard to come by nowadays. Instead, the more streamlined structure of the wing-battalion is more suitable for today's combat status.
For example, even a fully-strength infantry battalion of eight or nine hundred people in the US military would basically not fight alone during World War II. Except for special circumstances, the division level was generally its basic combat unit.
The "battalion", which is an infantry battalion of more than a thousand people in the Montenegrin Legion, can be used as a basic combat unit in this world. In large-scale battles, the combat unit will be upgraded to a brigade, at least that is the case now.
Of course, as the wheel of history rolls on, the organization of troops will naturally follow the scale of the war and the war situation.
…
The offensive launched against the Zhenjiang rebels was in reality no different from a military exercise.
After the Black Mountain Infantry Corps entered Zhenjiang, the original strategic intention was to contain and mobilize the main force of the rebels to leave the provincial capital of Zhenjiang. However, the rebels on the border collapsed at the first touch, and civil strife broke out in the border defense division of the provincial capital. The officers who were still loyal to the empire united to capture Chen Jingyuan.
It almost made the raid by the Air Service Regiment and the paratroopers futile, because when the commandos entered Chen Jingyuan's official residence, he was packing up his belongings and preparing to flee.
However, the war reports released by the Montenegrin Corps to the media exaggerated the rebels' combat effectiveness infinitely, and the Montenegrin Corps suffered a considerable setback.
The number of casualties increased dozens of times, reaching more than 2,000.
In fact, most of the single-digit deaths and dozens of injuries were not casualties in the battles with the rebels.
It is probably unique in history.
In addition to the generous military expenditure from the Eastern Alliance, Lu Ming did not want the outside world to notice too early that in Montenegro, an extremely terrifying new-age war machine was rumbling out of the ground, and everything around it would be crushed by it.
But no matter what, from November 9th when Montenegro sent troops to quell the rebellion to December 21st when the Montenegrin Army held a press conference to announce the end of the war, the war ended in just over a month, which was enough to shock the members of the Eastern Alliance.
In fact, it really can't be delayed any longer. After all, there is not a single rebel to be seen in Zhenjiang. Those who should surrender have surrendered, and those who should escape have disappeared.
It is possible to station troops to continue maintaining stability, but it is too much of a stretch to keep declaring a state of war.
What's more, the New Year is less than ten days away, and Lu Ming also wants the people of Zhenjiang to spend a peaceful and happy year.
…
The Zhenjiang Provincial Government Office Building is a long five-story building.
In the conference room on the second floor sat the main administrative officials of the administration, and nine observers from the Eastern Alliance Observation Group were also present as observers.
Yesterday, the day after the Montenegrin Corps announced the end of the war, the Eastern Alliance Observation Group arrived in Zhenjiang.
Lu Ming sat together with nine observers. The meeting was chaired by Jia Shaojian, deputy governor of Zhenjiang Provincial Government.
The five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River originally had a political structure of a governor and three offices.
In addition to the Governor, there are three other chief officials: the Chief Secretary, the Attorney General and the Financial Secretary. Among them, the Chief Secretary is the head of the administrative officials.
Now that the Governor has been killed, although the status of the Deputy Governor Jia Shaojian is supposedly not as high as that of the Secretary for Justice and the Financial Secretary, due to the power structure, the Deputy Governor Jia Shaojian, who is acting as the Governor, is legally the head of the officials.
During this period, Zhenjiang officials have been on a roller coaster ride, with ups and downs.
Several officials were killed.
Some officials who were unwilling to serve Chen Jingyuan's military government resigned, and some were dismissed.
Now they have all been invited back.
There were also those who immediately became friends with Chen Jingyuan, such as the current Secretary for Justice, Chen Zhengji, who was a guest of Chen Jingyuan and one of the most important officials of Chen Jingyuan's short-lived pseudo-regime. Because Chen Zhengji had a good reputation among the people, he was once appointed by Chen Jingyuan as the ruling prime minister to win the hearts of the people. However, he only sat on the chair for a few days and naturally stepped down as the Black Mountain Corps entered the provincial capital.
Now Chen Zhengji is sitting there, his expression cannot be seen, but it seems that he is in a complicated mood.
Jia Shaojian mainly followed the advice of the Eastern Alliance Observation Group and asked many civil servants to maintain the normal operation of the provincial government.
During the period when Chen Jingyuan launched a military coup, peacekeeping forces from the Eastern Alliance, namely the Montenegrin Corps, were stationed in the most chaotic cities and provincial capitals to assist local officials in maintaining order.
In addition, preparations are being made to hold elections for the provincial premier and governor after the new year.
This will be a groundbreaking event in Zhenjiang's history. The Eastern Alliance will also send more observers to various constituencies across the province to provide guidance and supervision.
After the new year, voter registration will begin in full swing. The initial idea is that those who are 18 years of age or older and have a high school education are legal voters.
Hearing this, Lu Ming frowned slightly. Judging from the words of the cultural people from other provinces, he was afraid that he would look like a dictator and might not be liked by these people.
In particular, competitors will make a big deal about this.
On the contrary, the lower-class people may prefer policies such as equal distribution of land in the Northern Territory.
Speaking of the selection of voters, Jia Shaojian looked at the observation group and explained: "Because it is the first time, we still hope that the voters are a high-quality group. When the western states first held elections, they also used cultural level to select voters with independent thinking ability."
An observer nodded.
"That was hundreds of years ago. Some states used education to select voters, while others used wealth to select voters, but 150 years ago, all western states had adopted universal suffrage with all citizens participating. Why should Zhenjiang Province take this detour?"
The speaker was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing glasses and well-mannered. His name was Liu Min, and he was an observer from Montenegro.
Lu Ming glanced at him and nodded in his heart. This man has something in his head and has clearly figured out the mystery.
Because there are rumors outside that I might participate in the general election in Zhenjiang Province.
But if one can think that large-scale participation of grassroots people is beneficial to oneself, then he must have a keen sense of politics.
For example, Jia Shaojian and others proposed that only those with a high school education or above are eligible to vote. This is because they hope that there will be no chaos in this election and that the result will be ridiculous. It is definitely not directed at them, and they will not think that deeply about it.
Liu Min had said everything he wanted to say. Lu Ming sneered inwardly and looked at the reactions of Jia Shaojian and others.
When Jia Shaojian saw that it was the observer who opposed the idea they had initially discussed, he looked embarrassed.
"Yes, I think what Mr. Liu Min said is right." A Western observer spoke in a stiff tone, "It's the tenth century, why do we still cling to the old ways? Since we are holding a general election, we must completely correct the previous malpractices. Your plan will deprive more than 90% of Zhenjiang citizens of their legal rights, right?"
Obviously, he was a staunch believer in freedom, and he showed disapproval of Jia Shaojian's proposal.
Several observers agreed with the Western observer.
Seeing this, Jia Shaojian said helplessly: "Okay, in this case, we will hold a real universal election. As long as law-abiding citizens are over 18 years old, they can participate in the election as voters."
Because this nine-member observation group will also be the election supervision committee, it naturally has the final decision-making power.
Lu Ming watched Liu Min and the Western observer talking intimately and quietly, and secretly memorized his name. Pamela's eye for selecting people was indeed good.