Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 233 Army Expansion
The fourth year of the Yongli reign.

Just after the Spring Festival, the Red Army immediately began to expand its army. During this expansion, the Red Army added a brigade-level organization. The entire army has five combat brigades, numbered in order: the personal guard brigade, the navy brigade, the first infantry brigade, the second infantry brigade, and the auxiliary brigade. There is one guard brigade, called the garrison brigade.

The Royal Guards Corps consisted of the Cavalry Battalion, the Royal Guards Battalion, the Artillery Battalion, the Auxiliary Battalion 1, as well as the Reconnaissance Battalion, the Guards Corps, the Special Operations Corps, the Medical Corps and other subordinate units, with a total of about 10,000 people. Dan Chu was the commander of the Corps, and Wu Jie was the deputy commander.

The personal soldiers often act as the vanguard, while Wu Jie is brave and daring. He is a vanguard talent, capable of great responsibility, but he does not like to study and is a little rough. Danchu uses him as his deputy, so he can often bring him around so that he can be trained at any time.

The cavalry flag has two horses for each person, the personal guard flag has one horse for each person. The artillery flag and auxiliary flag are mainly equipped with draft horses.

The Imperial Guards had the largest number of soldiers, about 3,500, and were mainly equipped with Dinglu rifles. The Artillery Battalion had the smallest number of soldiers, consisting of one 100% artillery battalion, one sky-rocketing artillery battalion, two mountain-splitting artillery battalions, and one baggage battalion, with a total of about 2,000 soldiers, and were mainly equipped with nine 100% artillery, eighteen sky-rocketing artillery, and fifty-four mountain-splitting artillery.

The Navy Association was composed of three naval flags, one baggage flag, and three naval bases. The entire association had about 6,000 people, with Nguyen Dinh Phong as the commander.

The navy brigade was the main force in naval warfare, with 1,200 men per brigade, four long-dragon warships, thirty three-panel warships, and several baggage ships. The baggage brigade was mainly responsible for water transport, equipped with several baggage ships and about 800 men.

The Navy Association had a total of 15 long-boats and 98 three-boats. In addition, the Navy had naval bases in Bashizhai, Hengzhou, and Xunzhou to moor warships and repair ships.

The First Infantry Brigade was composed of the First Infantry Battalion, the Third Infantry Battalion, the Fifth Infantry Battalion, the Second Auxiliary Battalion, and other subordinate units such as the Cavalry Battalion, the Reconnaissance Battalion, and the Engineer Battalion. The entire brigade had about 15,000 men, with Wei Guosong as its commander.

Wei Guosong had been the commander of the First Infantry Battalion, and his position was taken over by Zhao Xing. Zhao Xing had an internal conflict with the Yunnan soldiers outside Guilin City and was almost executed by Jiao Lian. Danchu tried his best to rescue him and brought him back to the Red Army.

Zhao Xing had a lot of experience. When Danchu was a boy soldier, Wei Guosong was the captain and Zhao Xing was the deputy general, with a huge difference in status. When he came to serve in the Red Army, he only brought a dozen of his followers. Danchu saw that he was a talented general and promoted him to the position of infantry commander.

The Fifth Infantry Battalion was a newly formed unit, mainly composed of Tusi soldiers. The commander of the battalion was Tianzhou Tusi Cen Guangyun, who performed outstandingly in the two Quanzhou battles and was highly valued by Danchu.

The Second Infantry Brigade was composed of the Second Infantry Battalion, the Fourth Infantry Battalion, the Sixth Infantry Battalion, the Third Auxiliary Battalion, and other directly affiliated units such as the Cavalry Battalion, the Reconnaissance Battalion, and the Engineer Battalion. Like the First Infantry Brigade, the Second Infantry Brigade had about 15,000 men, with Kuang Shi as its commander.

The commander of the Sixth Battalion was Liu Fangliang, the "Invincible General with White Horse and Silver Spear", the general of the Loyalty Battalion. After the Loyalty Battalion captured Liuzhou, Liu Fangliang did not live happily in Liuzhou. Liuzhou was a place where Yao and Dong people lived together, and the miasma was everywhere. Due to the unfamiliar climate and water, epidemics spread in the Loyalty Battalion, and many soldiers died of illness. Even the commander Li Chixin died of illness in Liuzhou.

Liu Fangliang was already at odds with Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng. Liuzhou had a large army and little money, and Liu Fangliang was even more marginalized, so he simply led his troops to flee and seek refuge with Cen Danchu.

Historically, he led his troops out of the Loyal Camp, parted ways with Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng, and were surrounded in Chenzhou, Hunan, where his entire army was wiped out.

Danchu had originally intended to recruit the Loyalty Camp and entrusted Liu Fangliang with important tasks. Of the more than 5,000 troops, only 2,000 were combat soldiers. After the old and weak were dismissed, only 1,000 combat soldiers were left. Danchu ordered him to recruit new soldiers and select strong soldiers from Chen Bangfu's surrendered soldiers to make up the number of 3,000, forming the Sixth Infantry Battalion.

The Auxiliary Corps was composed of the Engineer Corps, the Boat and Bridge Corps, the Baggage Corps, the Medical Corps, the Repair Corps, and other subordinate units, with a total of about 10,000 people. The commander of the corps was Cao Yu, who, like Wu Jie and Kuang Shi, came from the old third corps.

The above five corps of soldiers, totaling about 56,000 people, are the Red Army's field forces. The garrison soldiers are only responsible for garrisoning and generally do not leave the city for field battles. Most of the garrison soldiers are integrated into the garrison corps, which are under the jurisdiction of the Nanning Garrison Battalion, Sicheng Garrison Battalion, Zhaoyong Garrison Battalion, Xunzhou Garrison Battalion, and Yulin Garrison Battalion, with a total of about 5,000 people. The Nanning Garrison Battalion is the most important, and is responsible for the defense of Nanning, Kunlun Pass, Zhennan Pass, Shuier Pass, Taiping, etc.

In addition, the Marquis' Mansion, the Military Advisory Office, and the Military Academy also have a small number of direct garrison troops, with a total number of about one thousand.

After organization, the total number of Red Army combat and defense soldiers reached 62,000.

Guangxi has always been poor, but the Red Army was able to feed more than 60,000 officers and soldiers with the land in western and southern Guangxi, which is a miracle.

This was mainly due to the fact that the Red Army could collect 40% of the rent from the land, and the tenants could keep 50% of the grain production, which greatly improved their living standards. In addition, the military government encouraged industry and commerce, which also began to show results.

For reference, the Dashi Army implemented a camp system in Yunnan, which was similar to the Red Army's system of renting land and paying grain. It had already recruited 200,000 troops and was stepping up its training.

Since January of the fourth year of the Yongli reign, the Red Army began to distribute military pay. Guards and infantry received the lowest pay, eight cents of silver per month, and their rice allowance also increased.

The military pay standard was already very low, but the morale of the officers and soldiers was greatly boosted, and the financial pressure on the military government doubled. The monthly military pay expenditure alone was nearly 50,000 silver. If the Red Army had not captured Xunzhou and Yulinzhou before the New Year, it really could not afford to pay this amount of military pay.

After the army was expanded, the equipment naturally had to keep up. The Dinglu rifle was inexpensive and good quality. It only cost two taels of silver with a bayonet, which was much cheaper than a long bow. It became the main equipment of the Red Army. However, due to the limited production capacity, the Yongning Company could only produce 600 rifles per month. It would take some time for the entire army to be equipped with rifles according to the establishment.

Armor was expensive, cloth armor cost four or five taels of silver, and Ming armor cost ten taels of silver. Battlefield experience showed that even the most protective Ming armor could not withstand flintlock bullets.

The Red Army no longer purchased armor except for the inexpensive rattan armor. Existing armor continued to be equipped, and new armor was mainly captured on the battlefield.

While the Red Army was busy expanding its army, the Qing army had already invaded Guangdong. After Geng Zhongming's death, the Qing court ordered his eldest son Geng Jimao to lead his army and ordered Shang Kexi to lead 20,000 troops from the Shang and Geng clans to continue the southward attack on Guangdong.

On the night of the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month in the third year of the Yongli reign, the Qing army took advantage of the Ming army's unpreparedness and launched a surprise attack on Mei Pass.

The Ming general in charge of guarding Meiguan was Luo Chengyao, the Earl of Baofeng. Luo Chengyao not only did not stay at Meiguan, but also did not go to Nanxiong Prefecture where Meiguan was located. Instead, he hid in Shaozhou, south of Nanxiong, and indulged in wine and women. The Meiguan defenders collapsed without a fight, and the natural barrier of Da'anling was handed over to the Qing army.

The Qing army used the same trick again and attacked and occupied Nanxiong on the night of the 30th. Because the defenders resisted, Shang Kexi ordered a massacre of the city, "all the residents in the city were slaughtered."

Commander Luo Chengyao was stationed in Shaozhou and fled without a fight. The Qing army met no resistance and easily occupied Shaozhou, and the road to Zhaoqing was now open.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, the "escape emperor" Zhu Youlang escaped again and set off for Wuzhou. He ordered "Ma Jixiang to be appointed as the Minister of War and to supervise the defense of Zhaoqing, and Cao Ye to be promoted to the Minister of War and to stay as the governor together with Li Yuanyin". He also ordered Chen Bangfu, Duke of Qing, Li Chixin, Duke of Xing, and Cen Danchu, Marquis of Dinglu, to lead troops to the east for assistance.

(End of this chapter)