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

Chapter 304 Reorganization
At the beginning of the fifth year of the Yongli reign, the battles in various parts of Guangxi ended one after another. The Red Army occupied the entire Guangxi and wiped out the Dingnan vassal army. Kong Sizhen married a wealthy man, and generals of the Qing army such as Lian Guoan and Ma Jiaolin surrendered one after another, bringing the battle in Guangxi to a successful conclusion.

Cen Danchu stayed in Guilin to celebrate the New Year. Red lanterns were hung and red couplets were posted in the general's headquarters, making it look very festive.

It is easy to conquer the world on horseback, but it is difficult to rule the world on foot. The Red Army's war against Dingnan Fan has ended, and the governance of the entire Guangxi province has just begun.

Looking to the south, the situation is not optimistic. The Dashi Army has entered Hunan, and the Qing army is gathering in Guangzhou. There will be major changes in Hunan and eastern Guangdong.

For the Red Army, the most important and urgent matter was to incorporate the Dingnan Fan Army and the Ming Army in various towns and further reorganize the Red Army. Danchu summoned the left military officer Fang Yizhi to Guilin to preside over the reorganization.

On the sixth day of the first lunar month, Fang Yizhi finally came up with a reorganization plan and submitted it to Danchu for review. In general, Fang Yizhi followed Cen Danchu's idea, gathered the backbone of the Military Advisory Office, and put forward correct suggestions on the reorganization of the Red Army.

The Fifth and Sixth Infantry Brigades were newly established.

The Fifth Infantry Brigade was commanded by Hu Yiqing, and it had the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Infantry Battalions, the Fifth Auxiliary Infantry Battalion, etc., with a total strength of more than 15,000 men. The Tenth Battalion was commanded by Wang Yongzuo, and was reorganized from the Yunnan Division. The Eleventh Battalion was commanded by Lian Guoan, and was reorganized from the Dingnan Fan Army. The Twelfth Battalion was commanded by Zhou Yiming, and was reorganized from the Ming Army.

During the third Guilin defense war, Hu Yiqing captured Xian Guoan at Gantang Ferry, and Xian Guoan hated him deeply. Historically, after the fall of the Yongli Dynasty, Hu Yiqing fled into the mountains to become a monk. Xian Guoan refused to give in and sent troops into the mountains to capture and kill Hu Yiqing.

Now, Hu Yiqing has become the immediate superior of Xian Guoan, and with the experience of Gan Tang crossing the enemy line to capture Xian Guoan, he has more prestige in commanding all the troops.

The Sixth Infantry Brigade was commanded by Ma Bao, and it commanded the 13th, 14th, and 15th Infantry Battalions, the Sixth Auxiliary Infantry Battalion, etc., with a total strength of more than 15,000 men. The 13th Battalion was commanded by Wang Yuncheng, and was reorganized from the Ming army. The 14th Battalion was commanded by Ma Jiaolin, and was reorganized from Ma Jiaolin's troops. The 15th Battalion was commanded by He Guoju, and was reorganized from the Ming army.

The Red Army took great pains in the personnel arrangements of the Fifth and Sixth Armies. The commanders of the armies were not members of the Red Army, but they had a close relationship with Cen Danchu. Each army had three infantry commanders, including generals from the Dingnan Army, the Ming Army, and the Red Army, who were intertwined and restrained each other.

The battle in Guangxi exposed the problem of unclear command and subordination of the Red Army, which had a great impact on the war. This time, it was decided to add a town-level organization.

The First Infantry Regiment was established, and Wei Guosong, the commander of the First Infantry Brigade, was promoted to the commander of the regiment. It was under the command of the First Infantry Brigade, the Third Infantry Brigade, and the Fifth Infantry Brigade, as well as other direct-affiliated units such as the Cavalry Battalion and the Firearms Battalion, with a total staff of approximately 54,000 men.

The Second Infantry Regiment was established, and Kuang Shi, the commander of the Second Infantry Brigade, was promoted to the commander of the regiment. It was under the command of the Second, Fourth and Sixth Infantry Brigade, as well as direct-affiliated units such as the Cavalry Battalion and the Firearms Battalion, with a total staff of approximately 54,000 men.

The Huben Town was established as Cen Danchu's personal guard unit, which was composed of the Personal Guards Association, Auxiliary Guards Association, and Naval Forces Association, with a staff of about 30,000 people. Danchu was the commander of the town, and Cao Yu, the old man from Yuan Cong, was the deputy commander of the town, actually presiding over daily affairs. The Naval Forces Association was reorganized from the First Naval Forces Association, mainly fighting in Neijiang and ensuring transportation, and it was more reasonable to be affiliated with the Land Division.

The Huben Town includes cavalry, infantry, artillery, Neijiang navy, auxiliary troops and other arms. It can independently perform military tasks and is an absolute elite of the Red Army.

There was only one remaining Second Fleet, renamed the Nanyang Fleet, with more than 200 warships of various sizes, five large and small bases, several ship repair and shipbuilding yards, and about 10,000 officers and soldiers. Facts have proved that the bureaucratic system is suitable for land forces, including the Neijiang Navy, but not for the naval forces. Danchu tried to break the internal barriers of the naval forces and changed the Second Fleet of the Navy to the Nanyang Fleet against all odds.

The garrison association was renamed the Guangxi garrison association, with a staff of 12,000 men.

In this way, the Red Army's combat troops include about 138,000 troops from the three town land divisions and a Nanyang fleet of about 10,000 people, totaling about 148,000 people. The garrison troops are mainly the Guangxi Garrison Brigade, about 12,000 people. All in all, the Red Army has a total of 160,000 people. Guangxi's population is less than 4 million, and it has to support officials at all levels, workers, and school teachers and students, which is difficult.

"This reorganization will involve the dismissal of approximately 40,000 troops, mainly from the Dingnan vassal army and the Ming army in various towns. The militias in various places were ordered to be dismissed and reorganized into militias under the leadership of the military government. The Tusi and the Lu soldiers were also ordered to be dismissed. The big Tusi can retain no more than 300 Lu soldiers, the middle Tusi can retain no more than 200 Lu soldiers, and the small Tusi can retain no more than 100 Lu soldiers. Considering that the Red Army still has to fight against the counterattack of the Tartars, and has to rent and pay taxes in various parts of Guangxi and establish a regime, the plan is to set the lower limit of 160,000 troops, and it cannot be less."

Fang Yizhi observed Cen Danchu's expression while saying, "When I was in Nanning, I did some preliminary calculations with Zuo Canzheng. If we don't conquer eastern Guangdong, it will be difficult to support 160,000 troops with the barren land of Guangxi. After the reorganization, the monthly military pay alone will cost 120,000 taels of silver. With the current financial resources of the military government, it can only last until May of this year at most."

The Red Army destroyed the Dingnan vassal army and incorporated the Ming army in various towns, and it seemed that they had unified Guangxi. Next, they could use their troops in two directions, either north to Hunan or east to Guangdong.

The Dashi Army had already sent troops to fight against the Qing Dynasty, one way out of Hunan, led by Li Dingguo, and the other way out of Sichuan, led by Liu Wenxiu. Seeing the Red Army's great victory in Guangxi, Sun Kewang was unwilling to be outdone, and personally led the army into Hunan to cooperate with Li Dingguo to counterattack Hunan.

For the Red Army, if they do not consider other aspects, they should focus on the overall situation, send troops to conquer Hunan, then go down the river and directly break Nanjing, and there is hope that the area south of the Yangtze River will be restored. However, the Red Army and the Dashi Army are not subordinate to each other and have no contact with each other. If Cen Dan first led his troops into Hunan, it would arouse Sun Kewang's suspicion and precautions. Although this strategy is brilliant, it is not feasible.

The only option was to go down the Xijiang River and conquer eastern Guangdong first to solve the problem of the Red Army's funding. The Red Army only had the barren land of Guangxi, and if it did not conquer eastern Guangdong, it would not be able to support the 160,000-strong army.

Going east to eastern Guangdong became the only option for the Red Army at the moment.

The situation in eastern Guangdong had changed dramatically. Before New Year's Eve, Zhang Cunren, the Minister of the Five Provinces of the Qing Dynasty, rushed to Guangzhou and immediately dispatched troops to attack Guangzhou, exerting strong military pressure on Guangzhou.

Fan Cheng'en, a deputy general of Dongxun, was at odds with Du Yonghe and was once called a fool by Du Yonghe and beaten with a stick in public. Fan Cheng'en held a grudge and secretly surrendered to the Qing army, which allowed Zhang Cunren to capture the city.

When the Red Army aided Guangzhou, they widely distributed leaflets to intimidate the Qing army not to massacre the city. Years ago, the Red Army annihilated the Dingnan vassal army, and the Pingnan and Jingnan vassal states were quite suspicious. Zhang Cunren was quite famous for his virtue. After breaking the city, he enforced military discipline, and millions of Guangzhou citizens were saved. This guy was an old traitor. Although his title was not high, his prestige was higher than that of Kong Youde, Shang Kexi and others, so he responded to Jue Ling and mobilized troops and generals very smoothly.

After the beginning of spring, the Qing army in eastern Guangdong is likely to move westward in large numbers to fight for Zhaoqing, Gaozhou, Leizhou and other prefectures.

"When will this round of reorganization be completed? When can we send troops to eastern Guangdong?" Dan Chu asked, and decided to choose a date to send troops to eastern Guangdong.

"We will have to reorganize and rest at the same time. It will take until the end of February to finish. After that, we will undergo another ten days of pre-war training and then we will be able to march to eastern Guangdong."

The productivity of a small peasant society is low, and transportation is inefficient. After a major battle, the army must arrange time to rest. If they want to march for a long time and fight directly in eastern Guangdong, they will have extremely high requirements on the physical strength of the soldiers, logistics supply, and ammunition supply, which is extremely difficult.

Danchu thought for a moment and thought it was feasible. He said, "It is important to reorganize the troops. We will initially plan to send troops to eastern Guangdong on March 15. We will work backwards and try to send troops before March 15."

(End of this chapter)