Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 445: The So-called Million-Man Army

Seeing that all the generals were looking at each other in confusion, as if they felt that this battle would be difficult to fight, Lu Jin glared at Bao Yu and then spoke to the generals.

"Don't listen to Bao Yu's good news or bad news. This is not bad news at all. When we fought Zuo Junbi near Chaohu Lake, wasn't it more difficult than this? At that time, let alone having a well-trained army and sufficient food, we couldn't even get a weapon for each person, but we managed to survive. In my opinion, this battle is much easier than when we fought Zuo Junbi before."

Lu Jin stood up, took the baton, and walked to the sand table and said, "The battle in the Central Plains is actually not as difficult as you think. Have you studied the previous battles we fought in eastern Zhejiang, northern Jiang, and southern Anhui?"

Everyone nodded. Although the First and Fourth Front Armies had never fought a major battle, they had studied the battle reports and battles of other friendly forces and organized generals to review and study them. Of course, the main purpose was to learn.

Lu Jin continued, "Whether it was the Eastern Expedition to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, or the Northern Jiangsu, or the Southern Anhui, we divided our troops into multiple routes and attacked simultaneously. This method of fighting has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that when our army has an absolute advantage in terms of manpower and combat power, attacking from multiple routes at the same time can greatly speed up the battle. Attacking four cities a day and attacking one city a day, can the speed be the same?

"Another advantage is that if we divide our troops into many groups, the enemy will have to divide its troops to block our attack, thus dispersing the enemy's strength and making it difficult for them to defend both ends.
“If the enemy chooses to abandon one route and concentrates its forces to block our route, then the other routes abandoned by the enemy will become our breakthrough points. Even if they can block one of the routes, after the main forces of the other routes break through the enemy’s defense line and go around the enemy’s rear, they will still be defeated.

"The disadvantage is that this will also disperse our own forces and combat power. If our own forces are not superior, it is best not to divide them, but to concentrate all the main forces, choose the weaker part of the enemy and eat it up, gradually eat up the enemy, lure them to divide their forces, and then concentrate our main forces to continuously attack and defeat the enemy one by one.

"But this Central Plains battle is different. What Yude (Bian Yuanheng's pen name) said just now is very correct. That Li Siqi in Xinyang only has 20,000 men. How could you fail to defeat him with more than 100,000 of you rushing forward?

"What's the point of this sentence? It's to rush forward in droves."

Lu Jin pointed at the sand table and said, "Due to the terrain of the Central Plains Campaign, you set out from Lu'an and march westward. To the south is the Dabie Mountains, and to the north is Liufutong. There is only one road to Gushi, Guangshan, and Xinyang. You can't divide your troops even if you want to."

Everyone nodded. It was indeed what Lu Jin said. To attack Xinyang, they had no choice but to charge forward in a rush.

Lu Jin continued.

"The terrain is one reason. You can't split your troops at the beginning of the battle. Second, it was your enemy who took the initiative to split their troops this time. Dashibadulu is in Jingxiang, Li Chahan and Wang Baobao are in Bianliang. In fact, Nanyang controlled by the Yuan court is very empty. So at this time, there is no need for you to stick together. You should split your troops when necessary."

“Therefore, I will divide the entire Central Plains Campaign into two phases. In the first phase of the campaign, you will first work together to capture the Xinyang city circle. In the second phase, after you get out of the Xinyang Passage, you can separate an army to attack Jingxiang, and another army with the Tuntian Division to attack Nanyang, and by the way, guard against Li Chahan in Bianliang.

"There's nothing much to say about Jingxiang. If an army group can't take it down, then it should be dismissed. If you can't take it down with such a big advantage, what's the use of you? I'm mainly talking about Nanyang in the north.

"The strategic goal of this Central Plains Campaign is to control Nanyang. Nanyang is the core of this campaign, but it is not that important."

Everyone was confused at once. What does it mean that it is the core of the battle but not important?

Lu Jin took the initiative to explain without waiting for anyone to ask questions.

"What is the Central Plains? It means connecting the four directions. Now Liu Futong occupies the northern part of Runing Prefecture and the southern part of Bianliang Road. We have no reason to move him, so Nanyang has become the only place we can plot in the Central Plains. This is our foothold in the Central Plains and a strategic support point, so Nanyang is important.

“Saying that Nanyang is not important is because conquering Nanyang itself is not our goal. Our strategic goal is to take advantage of Nanyang’s geographical advantage in the Central Plains and attack from all sides!

"If we conquer Jingxiang in the south, we can block the passage of the Yuan army in Huguang to the Central Plains, and extend our own forces to the Jianghan Plain. After entering the Jianghan Plain, we can join forces with the First Front Army from Jiangxi to attack the enemy in Huguang from both sides, or march westward and enter Sichuan via Kuizhou (Chongqing).

“If we take Nanyang in the north, we can station troops and store food here. With this as a base, we can attack Luoyang in the north and Bianliang in the northeast. Then we can cross the Yellow River to attack Shanxi. To the northwest, we can attack Guanzhong through the Wuguan Road at the northern foot of the Funiu Mountains. Then we can go south from Guanzhong to seize Hanzhong and attack Sichuan from both sides with the friendly forces in Kuizhou.

“The Central Plains is a place that is connected in all directions, and Nanyang is the foundation for realizing the series of strategic concepts I just mentioned.

“So our targets for this Central Plains Campaign are only Xinyang, Nanyang, and Jingxiang. As long as we can steadily capture these three strategic locations, we will win.

“As for Li Chahan and Wang Baobao in the Bianliang Road in the north, as long as they don’t take the initiative to attack, we will ignore them for now and make controlling Nanyang our priority.

"You don't have to be afraid of anything. Although the Fourth Front Army only has the main forces of two army groups, I have also assigned you five garrison divisions. Once Nanyang is taken down and Jingxiang is occupied, there will be no enemies around. Nanyang can be directly handed over to the garrison divisions.

“When the time comes, you can let Hua Gao lead the Eighth Army to attack Jingxiang, and Brother Yu lead the Seventh Army to attack Nanyang. After taking Nanyang, let the Tuntian Division garrison there. The main force of your Seventh Army should not be dispersed, but concentrated. Be ready to deal with the threat of Richard Han at any time. Send out cavalry to scout everywhere. If Richard Han dares to come, then concentrate your main force to fight him!”

Bian Yuanheng frowned upon hearing this and said, "If we fight like this, we still have a group army of surplus troops. With so many soldiers, why don't we just defend Nanyang? Don't we take the initiative to attack the Bianliang Road?"

"Of course not. You think you have too many soldiers now, but that's because you only took Nanyang and stopped there. If you continue to attack Bianliang Road, you will inevitably continue to divide your troops. Will you still think you have too many soldiers then? When the Yuan army from Shanxi, Shaanxi and Dadu come over, you may still feel that your troops are stretched to the limit and not enough."

Lu Jin suddenly looked at them and said, "I know you have feelings for the word Bianliang. After all, it was the capital of the former Song Dynasty. Recovering the former capital of the Song Dynasty can avenge the humiliation of Jingkang. But we are not from the Song Dynasty, so what does Bianliang have to do with us?
"Liu Futong wanted Bianliang because his slogan was to restore the Song Dynasty. Xu Shouhui also wanted Bianliang because his country was called the Great Song Dynasty. They all had the political need to return to the old capital, but we didn't.

"Our country's name is not Song, and we don't have any need to return to the old capital. Does it make any difference to us whether we take back Bianliang one day earlier or later?

"Don't act rashly in a war. The reason why I have done better than them in the past two years is because I am calm. I only want tangible benefits, not the false reputation of returning to the old capital. You know that Bianliang was the former capital of the Song Dynasty. Taking over Bianliang has great political significance. Doesn't the Yuan court know this?

"If you attack Bianliang now, the Yuan court will definitely mobilize troops from all directions to attack you, and you will inevitably have to divide your troops. Can you still hold it then? But it will be different if you only defend Nanyang. Nanyang is a basin surrounded by mountains. You have the main mobile force of an army group. No matter how many troops the Yuan court sends, you can deal with them and annihilate them around Nanyang. First, consume the strength of the Yuan court in various places, and then it will be easier to attack from all sides. "A general should not raise an army in anger, let alone be emotional, and even more so, you must not have obsessions. You must always keep a clear mind and never get carried away. If Gao Huan, the first emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty, had not gotten carried away when he attacked Yubi City, he would not have died there in the end. "

Bian Yuanheng then nodded, "Thank you for your teachings, Your Highness. I understand."

Lu Jin added, "The Central Plains Campaign is like this. We must first steadily take Nanyang and digest it firmly. You should have seen that in the past two years, I have never lost any of the territory I conquered, unlike Xu Shouhui and Liu Futong. Liu Futong first conquered Xinyang and then lost it. Xu Song first conquered Hangzhou and vomited it out in less than a month.

"Leaning on luck, opportunism, and adventurism are all unacceptable. Only if you can hold on and gain a firm foothold, it will be meaningful to capture it. Otherwise, if you throw it away right after you capture it, it will only waste your manpower and morale. You must all remember this."

"Yes!" everyone responded in unison.

"Okay, now that we've talked about the Central Plains battlefield, let's talk about Jiangxi and Huguang. The Central Plains has 26 people. Although you don't have a farming division, you have two front armies and four imperial guard divisions, as well as a navy to help you out. Adding up to more than people, you have more places to attack than the Central Plains. You can't say you have a lot of troops, but they're not few either.

“You don’t have to worry about food and fodder. You have waterways here, and it’s much more convenient to transport food by ship than by horse-drawn carriages. Jiangxi is also a major grain-producing province, especially the plains around Poyang Lake. You can collect food from Jiangxi locally when the time comes, so you don’t have to worry about food and fodder.

"As for the attack route, the battlefield on your side is much wider than that of the Central Plains, and more than 200,000 troops cannot move away if they all take one road, so we must advance in multiple routes at the same time. The specific plan of attack will be explained to you by Zhan Ding."

"Yes!" Zhan Ding immediately came out with the information, took the baton and pointed at the sand table to explain to everyone.

"The Privy Council has drawn up a plan to divide the Jiangxi Campaign into three routes: East, Central, and West. The Fifth Front Army is the East Route Army, and the two armies of the East Route Army are divided into the North and South Route. The South Route is led by General Liao of the Tenth Army, with the 44th and 45th Armies, starting from Quzhou Road and heading west to attack Xinzhou Road, and then heading straight to Fuzhou, Jianchang, and Ji'an Road along the northern foot of Wuyi Mountain. Once these places are captured, the mission will be completed.

"The northern route of the Eastern Army, led by Commander Chang of the Fifth Front Army, will lead the 43rd and 46th Armies from Hukou and Wuyuan to the west, first taking down Raozhou Road east of Poyang Lake, and then heading straight to Nanchang from Yugan on Yaozhou Road!

"After taking Nanchang, we will move westward to attack Ruizhou Road (Shanggao, Yifeng), Linjiang Road (Xingan), and Yuanzhou Road (Yichun). The strategic focus of the Eastern Army in this battle is to capture Nanchang and control Yuanzhou Road, especially Yuanzhou Road.

"Pingxiang on Yuanzhou Road is connected to Zhuzhou in Huguang. If we take Pingxiang in this battle, we can reach Huguang and pave the way for the next battle. In the future, we can attack Huguang from the north and south with the Northern Army and go straight to Changsha's back from the south. Therefore, we must seize Pingxiang at all costs!
"The First Front Army is responsible for the central and western routes of this battle. All front armies will set out from Susong and Huangmei in Anqing, first concentrating their forces to capture Jiujiang Prefecture City and Qichun in the west, and then splitting their forces into two routes. Only one army needs to be sent to fight the central route, and cooperate with the Fifth Front Army on the eastern route to sweep Nankang Road, Jiangzhou Road, and several cities in the western part of Longxing Road.

"The main force of the First Front Army was led by Commander Liao, who took the remaining three armies and two imperial guard divisions as the Western Route Army. After taking Jiujiang, they did not stop there, but led the main force of the navy westward along the Yangtze River, aiming at the northern part of Huguang, which Your Highness also called Hubei.

"The Western Route Army advanced westward along the Yangtze River and the southern foot of the Dabie Mountains, seized Qizhou Road, Huangzhou Road, Wuchang Road, Hanyang Prefecture, De'an Prefecture, Anlu Prefecture, and Mianyang Prefecture along the river, and finally joined forces with the Fourth Front Army in the Central Plains in Jingzhou.

"After this battle, we will incorporate the entire Dabie Mountains into our territory, and control the entire Han River Basin, as well as the Yangtze River section from Anqing to Hanyang. We will push our troops to northern Hubei and prepare for the next north-south attack on Dongting Lake!
"That's the overall plan, I'm done."

After Zhan Ding finished his battle plan report, Lu Jin stood up and looked at the generals and asked, "Are you all clear about your tasks?"

"Understood!" All the generals responded in unison.

Lu Jin then said, "There are many places to fight in Jiangxi and Huguang, and the task is indeed a bit heavy, but don't worry, Jiangxi is one of the first key areas developed by our Army Commander Intelligence Bureau. Every prefecture and every city here has our intelligence stations and spies!

"With the Imperial Guards' firearms' offensive capabilities, and with the intelligence station's spies working inside and outside the city, there is no city in Jiangxi that we cannot capture!

"Everyone, cheer up. Fight well in this battle. We must show the might of our Shengwu Army and let the whole world see the strength of our Shengwu Army!"

"Yes!"

Everyone's morale was boosted when they heard that. Every damn city had its own spies, which was indeed a huge advantage. Plus with the help of the Royal Guards' firearms, they didn't have to worry about not being able to capture a city.

The new generals Bian Yuanheng, Li Huafu, Fu Youde and Li Xixi were greatly shocked to hear that there were spies from the Shengwu Army in every city in Jiangxi. They couldn't help but glance at Bao Yuduo behind Lu Jin.

With the merits of this Minister of the Privy Council's General Staff, these intelligence stations spread all over the world might earn him a marquisate, no, even a duke is acceptable. With such huge merits, no one would be dissatisfied even if he was made a duke.

Lu Jin then said, "In this battle, the Central Plains sent 46 troops, Jiangxi and Huguang sent troops, a total of troops. I think it is no problem to claim .

"Shandong sent three army groups, 16 people, plus two guard divisions of 2 people, and an independent cavalry division of 2 people, totaling 13500 people. There is also a naval transport fleet, so let's say 19 people, so we can directly claim to have 5500 people.

"This year, the three directions combined will announce to the outside world that we have 120 million troops. As long as you can successfully complete your mission, we will own half of the country. If we continue to fight a few more battles like this, the world will be ours sooner or later!
"Fight this battle well. I am waiting to lead you to the northern expedition to Dadu, to take back Yanyun, which we have lost for more than 400 years, and to avenge the shame of the former Song Dynasty at Jingkang and Yashan! This time, I will not only take back Yanyun, but also fight back to the Tatars' hometown, to show these horse herders from the desert what it means to be one Han against five Hu!

"Do you have confidence?"

"Have!"

Everyone's morale suddenly surged, and they instantly felt that they had a great sense of honor. In the future, their names will be recorded in history. If people asked who took back Yanyun that had been lost for hundreds of years, it must be them!

(End of this chapter)