In the big picture hall in the city of Jiangling, Zhou Huaian was also watching the latest deployments on the sand table representing Jiangdong and Huainan, which was deduced by the staff on duty and the army.
This time the use of troops against Huaiyang was mainly based on the Ezhou, Jiangzhou and Runzhou defense zones along the Yangtze River as support points, and the garrison forces of the four east roads (Jiangxi, Xuanshe, East Zhejiang, and West Zhejiang) on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River were used. And the reserve service system; in this way, the adverse effects of the follow-up adjustment and restoration process and large-scale infrastructure construction projects of the Shannan, Jingnan, and Hunan roads that have been removed from additional service and mid- and long-term conscription after the Civil War were avoided.
As for the Cantonese side, which is the core of the two ridges, the patrol fleet going north is the main support force. Even the old land of Annan Prefecture is still used as a granary and resource producing area in the rear area. Apart from the production quota for processing minerals, it is basically unchanged. The situation of the Xiajiang Road, which is located at the key point of Xishu, is quite special, and it is treated the same way.
The main military preparations from the main formation of the Metropolitan Government are based on overall coordination and allocation, and the establishment of a grain platform (arming station); additional sequences such as strike army, cavalry and navy/boat division, and combat engineering regiments have been added. As the newly compiled Huainan Explosive Army, it has been strengthened in the corresponding special/technical arms.
Therefore, after the final quotas are allocated to the localities, the Sixth Army and the Eighth Army garrisoning Jiangxi will have a total of 15 battalions (combat/garrison); guard the ninth, tenth, and eleventh of Jiangdong 3rd Road The army has completed the basic formation of 37 battalions (fronts/garrisons), and a regiment is transferred from each battalion; it will not affect the overall structure and daily military services.
Then, in accordance with the principle of proximity, take the vehicles, horses, boats, and other vehicles to assemble to the Hubei, Jiang, Chi, Rao, Xuan, Run, and Chang along the river, and the coastal states and cities of Su, Hangzhou, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Wen to carry out corresponding actions. After supplementing and reorganizing, the former enemy command division along the river took over one by one and reorganized them into the main part of the attacking army.
Coupled with the subsidiary troops/technical weapons brought by the former Zhisi, it is finally estimated that the Huainan attack army will have 15 battalions and approximately 16,000 soldiers/garrisons. Among them, it is divided into two clusters, east and west. The west cluster is the main cluster, with Caishiji in Dangtu of Xuanzhou (near Ma'anshan) as the assembly point; the relatively weak opposite bank Hezhou is selected as the breakthrough point for the attack across the river. .
The east cluster is used as a partial division, focusing on mobilizing forces in eastern Zhejiang and gathering in the coastal area of Yuezhou, so it is also called the coastal cluster; then it uses the river network system of the east of the Yangtze River to go north and pass through the floating crossing of Yanziji, Runzhou. Daqiao, the advancing stronghold in Hailing County on the other side with fanfare support, is considered a feigning and restraining force.
In addition, in Jiangdong (East Zhejiang), which is adjacent to Huaiyang, there is also an aftermath ambassador from Jiangdong 3rd Road, who organized and provided about 20,000 civil servants and miscellaneous men responsible for water and land transportation, as well as new compilations. The eighth battalion assistant soldier formed; as a logistical support for nearby support and maintenance after the collection of upstream water transport materials.
Later, the Metropolitan Government will also select capable members of the "three detachments" from Liangling, Hunan, Jingnan, Shannan and other places, plus trainees from the large workshop, and some of the scholars who will be reformed and screened. Reorganized into more corresponding "three detachments" with the army to serve as grass-roots executives for propaganda, purging and administrative areas in the occupied areas in the future.
Therefore, with such a series of deployments, the selection of the leader of the attacking army is actually not that important. Because the Taiping Army's initial purpose of actively intervening in the situation in Huainan was to combat He weakened the Shouhao military group headed by Yang Xingmin, and to contain and break its trend of unifying Huainan.
Therefore, the investment in sustaining this war is nothing more than a local war with plenty of energy for the Taiping Army as a whole. When the relative shortcomings of investment in all aspects are not so obvious, as long as the leader is not too stupid, or greedy for meritorious advancement and makes major mistakes, he can move forward step by step.
Therefore, Zhou Huaian directly selected Qian Gumei, a native of Jiangdong, as the leader of the East Road cluster. The reason is simple. He has been playing in Hangzhou Eight Capitals all the year round and is familiar with the corresponding Jiangnan water town and river network environment. The next combat mode has many uses in similar Huainan territory; what's more, there is the potential for the child of Qi Luck bonus in the dark, and against another enemy in time and space, Yang Xingmin, even if it falls, it may not be a disadvantage. What will happen.
But the choice of the leader of the West Road cluster is somewhat controversial. In other words, there are a lot of candidates for the initiative. In addition to Chai Ping, who had previously presided over the attack on Chang'an, took the initiative to retreat, including Zhu Cun, Cao Shixiong, Zhang Juyan and other high-ranking generals, including the elderly Wang Chongyin, Wang Zhongba from the Navy, and cavalry general Liu Liumao. , Su Wuming and Wu Xingchen, both assistants of the first army, showed an attitude of wanting to fight for one or two.
However, after weighing it repeatedly, Zhou Huaian still ordered Zhu Cun, the "big brother" general in the army. Not only because he has the oldest qualifications and good popularity, but also because he is one of the few Henanese among the top ranks of the Taiping Army and his hometown is Shenguang, who is far from Liu Hanhong’s lair. The place is not far away. When there is a need in the future, it may be used for unexpected purposes.
Anyway, under the current military system of the Taiping Army, as long as the overall direction of the leader's responsibility is correct, naturally there will be corresponding staff with sufficient education and experience to fill in the vacancies and reduce various unexpected factors and deviations. ; There is no need for the master to deliberately use the so-called "intelligence" means of using troops. This is one of the biggest differences between the modern military system supported by the industrial base and the war mode of the Middle Ages.
Therefore, Qian Jumei, the partial division of the East Road, is responsible for attracting attention from the enemy while supporting the defensive battle of Hailing in Jiangbei. Zhu Cun, who leads the main force on the West Road, only needs to rely on the strength of equipment and soldiers. Poor, just push A directly and steadily.
At least according to the intelligence gathered by the enemy industrial department of the Taiping Army during the active surveillance and smuggling exchanges, it is shown that the various armed forces in the Huainan Quartet, although they are strong and weak, have their own characteristics; but compared to the vicinity of Chang'an City The divisions of the Hedong Army and Daibeihang Battalion that fought each other were still one or two orders of magnitude away.
Among them, Lu Yongzhi's site is the smallest, only Yangzhou city Guangling and some towns in its suburbs; but it inherits the most elite part of the Huainan camp, not only carries 50,000 to 60,000 yuan and has ample money and food, but also has hundreds of thousands of people in the city. Perseverance; but because the process of his leadership and power is not correct, the internal contradiction itself is renewed; now, once he explodes, it is basically impossible to recover.
Relatively speaking, the ones worthy of attention are Bi Shiduo and others who have risen under him to counter the chaos. This is a former rebel general who surrendered after Huang Chao's defeat, and his early experience was quite colorful. He is also a long-time veteran of army management and military service, so he has been able to block the Caizhou army in the north for so long under a weak personality.
But the corresponding disadvantages are also obvious. He does not have enough foundation and territory in Huainan other than Yangzhou City; once Yang Xingmin is defeated in the battle or expelled from Guangling City, whether he can still maintain his subordinates will not die out, it is true. Some prospects are worrying. Therefore, if he can resist another day in Guangling City, it will have more potential benefits for the Taiping Army.
Secondly, as an outsider, the Caizhou Army knows the military and horse envoy Sun Ru's subordinates; his subordinate Caizhou Army moves back and forth between officials and thieves with Qin Zongquan. He has developed a vicious and aggressive style of action, and he is also good at coercion. It is also from Huainan. A big force and a cross item; but the core combat power he brought to Huainan is not much, and it belongs to the party with the smallest force among all parties.
Therefore, after the defeat in the multi-party showdown in Yangzhou this time, he could only stay in the city of Shanyang to protect himself and survive. But after all, he represents the Caizhou Army's all-way division. It is not ruled out that it will get more support in the future and resurrect; in the Taiping Army's intelligence operation and military strike sequence, it is a long-term direction that needs attention, but it is temporarily insufficient .
Then there was Liu Hanhong who was entrenched in Huaixi prefectures. In a sense, this five-named domestic slave, who has jumped back and forth many times during the years where Huang Chao has swept the world, is the best hand and first-class wall-grass for survival in the cracks of this chaotic world. Although he is still standing in the camp of the same rebels, it is not surprising that he could not think about that day or was tempted by his heart's interests and jumped again instead of turning to each other again.
Therefore, although he likes to repeat the role at critical moments, in this troubled world, people have to pinch their noses to tolerate it again and again; but it is impossible to accept and give true trust. Therefore, he has been traveling between Jianghan and Lianghuai for many years. Although he has been able to pull out a huge momentum and place several times, he has not been able to root and stabilize except for the land of Shenguang in his hometown.
Because it was too easy to be interfered and hit by external factors, and even because of internal conflicts and disputes caused by setbacks, it fell apart. Therefore, his turf and military strength were once superior to all parties in Huainan, but he also had the largest moisture and impurities.
Nevertheless, Liu Hanhong's core ministries and territory are unexpectedly stable; even if the army he leads has been defeated several times by others, it can be used to slow down and make a comeback with repeated defeats. The reason is also very simple, because he can rely on plundering the property of the foreign population and treat the elders in his hometown lightly, and he does not hesitate to support the core members of his village party and relatives, and cleverly win over with kindness and family It.
This is the current model of the so-called Xiangdang clan thieves. Therefore, although there is no end to the peace and quiet with the Taiping Army for the time being, there is no room for compromise in the basic philosophy of class antagonisms and differences, and there will inevitably be a battle sooner or later in the future. It's just that while being focused on precautions at the moment, it is also possible to get along for a while.
On the other hand, it is more advantageous to the Taiping Army, because the Huaixi recruiting subordinates are not united with the internal forces. There are various hilltops and the Taiping Army’s fornication songs are everywhere; although it is not like It is one-way and transparent like a sieve, but driven by sufficient interests, it is also reported every day in every detail.
In the end, it was Yang Xingmin, who was now the main hostile target. Whether in another historical timeline, or in the life trajectory after this drastic change, he is also considered a quite legendary figure. (End of this chapter)