Except for Cheng Lingfeng, who has failed, the remaining four major feudal towns in Luo'an County, that is, Jian Minggang, Feng Haozhong, Zhao Song, and Li Dingjun, his Zhao Song's strength can be regarded as the weakest.

This is not to say that the troops under his command are small, in fact, the Fifth Division under his command has a lot of troops, with a total strength of 20,000 troops, and later the infantry brigade of the Fourth Division was incorporated into the Fourth Division, and it has continued to recruit soldiers for expansion in recent times.

At present, the total number of troops under his command has reached more than 25,000.

However, although there are a lot of troops, many troops before the Fifth Division have been transferred to the Guang'an front before, Feng Haozhong's Third Division fought in Chongguangcheng for more than half a year, with tens of thousands of casualties, but the strength of the Third Division has always remained at about 20,000.

It was because Cheng Lingfeng was constantly transferring troops from other units to supplement the Third Division, and it was also a battalion or even a regiment.

At that time, Zhao Song's Fifth Division was stationed in Pingdan County and the northwest region, just in the rear, and most of the troops were transferred.

After these troops were transferred, they naturally disappeared, and Zhao Song could only re-recruit soldiers to train the troops according to the order.

This also led to the fact that there were many new recruits in his fifth division, most of whom had joined the army for less than a year, and even many of the officers had just graduated from the military academy.

The equipment is also relatively poor, not even a nine-pound field gun.

If he really fights, the more than 20,000 people in his hands are estimated to be unable to beat any of the above opponents!

Otherwise, he wouldn't have shrunk in the northwest honestly.

It's not that I don't want to go east, it's not that I don't want to go south, it's that my strength is insufficient!

And when the Guang'an people also went south, he will implement the turtle shrinkage strategy more thoroughly.

The Guang'an people have more troops going south, adding up to more than 40,000 people, and he Zhao Song doesn't want to go east to Pingdan County and fight with the Guang'an people.

Originally, he meant that he would continue to shrink down, and then sit back and watch the situation develop, and then send troops south to the county when he had the opportunity.

But now Lin Ziran's letter gave him an idea.

A very bold idea!

With a case in his mind, he sat down at his desk, picked up a fountain pen dipped in water, spread out the letter and began to write.

After a letter was sprinkled with more than a thousand words, he personally dried it, sealed it, and stamped it with his own personal seal.

Then he called an elderly servant and said: "Third uncle, you personally go on a trip and send this letter to Lin Ziran, be sure to hand it over to him personally, and you must not transfer it to others, and let him reply to the letter, and you will bring it back in person!" ”

After that, Zhao Song looked at the old servant and said, "The stakes are very high, and the content of the letter must not be leaked!" ”

After the old man took the letter and left, Zhao Song once again occupied the window.

He looked at his own troops training in the square downstairs for a long time!

When Lin Ziran's letter was sent, all parties reacted differently, but it was not fed back to Lin Ziran so quickly.

Lin Ziran still stayed in Sanyang Town to preside over the training of the troops.

Every few days, he will also go to Nanguang City, and going to Nanguang City is not to guard against the Guang'an people, in fact, the Guang'an people have not made any large-scale southward attack on the Nanguang defense line.

He went to Nanguang City, mainly to continue to control these main forces stationed in Nanguang City.

Now the main forces stationed in Nanguang City are all under Lin Ziran's command, although the combat effectiveness of these main forces is not as good as the combat effectiveness of the regular armies of other feudal towns, but they are also one of the few troops under his command that can fight.

In particular, the 1st Infantry Battalion, the 2nd Infantry Battalion, and the 1st Artillery Battalion, these three battalions are veritable main forces under Lin Ziran's command, and they cannot be taken lightly.

In order to strengthen the control of the above-mentioned troops and avoid any chaos, Lin Ziran naturally needs to return to Nanguang City frequently.

Not counting returning to Nanguang City, he also transferred the 1st Infantry Battalion back to Sanyang Town, and sent the 7th Infantry Battalion, which had just finished replenishing new recruits and had not yet completed training, to Nanguang City.

The change of guard between these two infantry battalions is very important, which can allow Lin Ziran to directly control an infantry battalion that can fight in Sanyang Town.

At the same time, although the Nanguang City side is very important, it is expected that there will be no war in the short term, so the 7th Infantry Battalion can continue to train locally like the 3rd Infantry Battalion, and if there is a war, go up directly.

The continuous expansion of the army also made it more and more difficult for Lin Ziran to directly control all the battalions and companies.

Now he has seven infantry battalions, two artillery battalions, a baggage battalion and two baggage companies, three cavalry companies, an engineering company and a large number of troops.

He directly commanded more than 20 combat units and institutions.

There are too many things to talk about, and the chain of command has become very unsmooth.

In this regard, Wu Guanlin of the General Staff Office also sensed the problem, and suggested that Lin Ziran establish a regiment-level unit: "My lord, the scale of our troops is very large, although many troops have not yet been completed, but it is undeniable that our total strength is already more than 8,000 people!" ”

With the addition of two infantry battalions, an artillery battalion, a cavalry company, and two baggage companies, the strength of these units increased by 2,400 men.

The original force was 5,700 men (including the 6th Heavy Artillery Regiment).

Combined, the original and new troops are more than 8,000 people.

Although most of them are new recruits, and many of them can't even reload and shoot, it is still undeniable that there are already a lot of troops.

To command so many troops, the current way of commanding battalions and companies is no longer possible.

That's why Wu Guanlin said: "It's time to set up regiment-level troops, so that we can effectively and better command all troops." ”

Lin Ziran naturally also knew the problem of his own troops, and he also had a plan for the establishment of regiment-level troops, and since Wu Guanlin proposed it this time, he also took advantage of the situation: "This is indeed a problem, but how should this regiment be handled, does the staff office have a charter?" ”

Wu Guanlin said: "Colleagues in the General Staff Office have also discussed: According to the current situation of our army, and taking into account the short-term and long-term development in the next few months, a number of infantry regiments and artillery regiments can be established, and additional mixed units with independent combat capabilities can be set up. ”

"The three infantry battalions in Chongguang City can be organized into an infantry regiment, and then the two infantry battalions on this side of Sanyang Town can be organized into an infantry regiment first, and then an infantry battalion will be added when we continue to expand the army in the later stage."

"The southbound detachment and the fourth reinforced battalion of Qingshan Town, because they need to maintain their independent combat capability, so these two divisions will maintain their structure for the time being, and they can also be directly given the number of a regiment."

"Two artillery battalions can be combined into a field artillery regiment first."

"In any case, we need to have a larger troop formation, otherwise it will be difficult to directly command so many troops."

Lin Ziran nodded slightly after hearing this: "These opinions are quite pertinent, but on the side of the artillery unit, there is no need to engage in a field artillery regiment, directly integrate the two artillery battalions and the sixth heavy artillery regiment, the original sixth heavy artillery regiment will be dismantled, and the subordinate artillery units will be organized into the third artillery battalion, and the above three artillery battalions will be reorganized into a supplementary brigade artillery regiment." ”

Wu Guanlin listened, but he was a little puzzled: "Direct reorganization? I'm afraid of Captain Kong's side? ”

Lin Ziran said: "Don't worry, he will agree!" ”

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