The situation of the Daheng Empire has become more complicated because of the unification of Nanhai Prefecture, especially the several states adjacent to Nanhai Prefecture, from the initial ambition to encircle and suppress the Southern Navy, and then to the current anxiety, it can be seen that the southern region of the Daheng Empire has entered a new situation at this time.

Or rather, back to the situation of twenty years ago!

The feudal towns near other states are worried about the rise of Nanhai Prefecture, and Yuan Yonghan's department, which bears the brunt of Dongding Prefecture, is even more worried, in order to prevent the eastward advance of the Southern Navy in the future, Yuan Yonghan has taken many measures in a short period of time.

In addition to improving the level of equipment, modifying a large number of rear-loading rifles, manufacturing front-loading rifled guns, and stockpiling ammunition, Yuan Yonghan also began to organize and train new troops on a large scale.

This kind of large-scale training of new troops has completely exceeded the financial support of the areas under their control, and after a long time, they themselves will have to collapse first without others to fight.

However, even so, Yuan Yonghan also took the plunge and began to train new troops.

In any case, we must block the eastward advance of the Southern Navy, otherwise everything will be over.

Against this background, the reorganization of the South China Navy is also proceeding rapidly and steadily.

In July of the 52nd year of Yongchang, it had been nearly a month since there had been no fighting in Nanhai Prefecture, and the South China Navy took the lead in completing the reorganization of many main forces by taking advantage of this month.

Including the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 1st Cavalry Division, 2nd Cavalry Division, etc.

The reorganization of the above-mentioned units is mainly the adjustment and replenishment of personnel and equipment, and the further increase in the number of rapid-fire mortar equipment.

In addition to the replenishment and adjustment of troops, in August, Lin Ziran began to adjust the units under the command of the various armies under the command of the Southern Navy.

In view of the fact that there were only four armies at present, and the number of troops under the jurisdiction of each army was too large and too complicated, Lin Ziran began to adjust the strength of each army and set up a new Fifth Army at the same time.

At the same time, a part of the cavalry division and artillery regiment was transferred to form a cavalry corps and artillery brigade with a fixed establishment, which was under the direct jurisdiction of the headquarters.

To this end, the South China Navy set up the First Cavalry Corps and the Second Cavalry Corps, each of which had three cavalry divisions.

The First Artillery Brigade and the Second Artillery Brigade were also established, each with two artillery regiments under its jurisdiction, and each artillery brigade was equipped with different numbers of 100-mm cannons, 120-mm howitzers, and 150-mm howitzers according to their different locations and scheduled combat missions.

A new 10th Artillery Regiment was also established, which was expected to be equipped with 120 mm cannons and 150 mm cannons, the latter weighing more than 10 tons.

After the adjustment, the First Army was stationed in Guang'an and Hexi counties, and had jurisdiction over the 1st, 3rd, 12th, 3rd Independent Artillery Regiment, and 5th Cavalry Division.

The Second Army was stationed in Luo'an County and Ningmei County, and had jurisdiction over the 2nd Division, 5th Division, 9th Division, 4th Independent Artillery Regiment, and 1st Cavalry Division

The Third Army was stationed at Hetai and Anlong, and had jurisdiction over the 7th, 8th, and 10th Divisions, the 1st Independent Artillery Regiment, and the 4th Cavalry Division

The Fourth Army was stationed in the area west of the Luo River in Luohai County, including Luohai City, Qingyuan County, and Qiuhua County, and had jurisdiction over the Fourth Division, the Sixth Division, the Eleventh Division, the Seventh Independent Artillery Regiment, and the Second Cavalry Division.

The newly established Fifth Army was stationed in the area east of the Luo River in Luo'an County, and had jurisdiction over the 13th, 14th, and 15th Divisions, the 8th Independent Artillery Regiment, and the 8th Cavalry Division.

In addition, the newly established First Cavalry Corps was stationed in the southern part of Luo'an and had jurisdiction over the 3rd, 6th, and 7th Cavalry Divisions.

The 2nd Cavalry Corps was stationed east of the Luo River in Luohai County, in the area of Anlong County, and had jurisdiction over the 9th, 10th, and 11th Cavalry Divisions.

The newly established 1st Artillery Brigade has jurisdiction over the 5th and 6th Independent Artillery Regiments, which are stationed in Luohai County.

The 2nd Artillery Brigade, under the jurisdiction of the 2nd and 9th Independent Artillery Regiments, is stationed in Luo'an.

The 10th Independent Artillery Regiment under the direct jurisdiction of the headquarters, this siege heavy artillery regiment was temporarily deployed in Luohai City.

In fact, the above-mentioned units are still in the process of adjusting their defense zones, and their temporary garrisons do not mean anything, because starting next month, they will begin to maneuver according to the predetermined plan of the General Staff.

If nothing else, most of the above-mentioned troops will be transferred out of their stations, but it is not known where they will go, because the current top management of the South China Navy has not yet clarified the direction of the next expansion.

Whether it is a northern expedition or an eastern expedition, or a western expedition, these are all possible.

The Eastern Expedition is not used, and from the geographical environment, the Eastern Expedition is the best expansion route for Nanhai Prefecture.

However, considering that Yuan Yonghan's strength on the side of Dongdingzhou was not damaged, it was more troublesome to fight, and at the same time, Ningyu Prefecture in the west had already lost more than half of the main force, and the three major army corps of Quyang Prefecture in the north were also wiped out by the Second Army.

At that time, the Duke of Meng preferred the eastward expedition, because it was more difficult to go west and north, but it was easier to go east.

But now, the situation is different, the Eastern Expedition seems to be the most reasonable, but in fact, it is to gnaw the hard bone of Hetai Heights, and it is still very difficult to crush Yuan Yonghan with more than 200,000 troops on Hetai Heights.

However, Ningyu Prefecture is now at a low point of strength, and there is also civil strife in Quyang Prefecture in the north.

Therefore, the top level of the South China Navy is now hesitant, and this can be seen from the current deployment of the South China Navy, and the deployment of troops is that there is a line of partial defense on all sides, while the Liangluo area is hoarding heavy troops.

This kind of arming method does not have an obvious focus.

In August, the reorganization of the unit was almost completed, and the top brass of the South China Navy also held a top-secret meeting on the future expansion route.

In addition to the heads and brains of the various departments of the headquarters, the commanders of various armies and the division commanders of some of the main divisions also quietly rushed back to hold the meeting.

During the meeting, they carefully analyzed the internal and external situation, especially judging the situation in Quyang Prefecture, Ningyu Prefecture, and Dongding Prefecture, in order to determine the next direction of expansion.

At the beginning of the meeting, most of the people were still in favor of the Eastern Expedition, but soon the tone changed and they switched to supporting the Western Expedition.

Reason?

If you fight to the east, after beating Yuan Yonghan or Wang Bing, and Xia Yiming, even if you finish cleaning up the three major feudal towns in Dongdingzhou, then there is Jingzhou in the northeast of Dongdingzhou, Quyang Prefecture in the northwest, and Zishengzhou in the north.

It is worth noting that Jingzhou is still under the control of the Ji royal family, and its strength is still strong.

And Zishengzhou in the north, which is also a large state that has completed unification, is strong.

In other words, if the Eastern Expedition is made, even if the entire Dongding Prefecture is taken, then the follow-up Southern Navy will face Jingzhou and Zishengzhou......

Once this is the crusade, then it will be endless, and you will have to keep fighting, and there will be no time to catch your breath at all.

Because it is impossible for others to watch you slowly digest the fruits and increase your strength after you take Dongdingzhou, they will definitely kill you when your foothold is not stable.

In the same way, the Northern Expedition also has similar troubles, and it is actually not a big problem to take Quyang Prefecture, as long as the Southern Navy is determined and pays a certain price, it will be able to break through the Luohe Gorge, and finally enter Quyang Prefecture and destroy the remaining two major armies in Quyang Prefecture.

But after taking Quyang Prefecture, the Southern Navy will need to face enemies from all sides.

This had to be carefully considered by the top brass of the South China Navy.

In the previous predicament of the four-front operation, the top brass of the Southern Navy did not want to go through it once.

With this kind of thinking, they naturally set their sights on Ning Yuzhou.

Ningyu Prefecture is the southernmost state of the Great Heng Empire, bordering only Nanhai Prefecture and Zhongluo Prefecture!

Taking Ningyu Prefecture can directly eliminate the threat on the Western Front, not to mention, and can also freely control the rhythm of the war.

First waving troops westward to Ningyu Prefecture in the south, stabilizing the rear, and then turning back to the east or north, this has become the idea of many high-ranking generals of the South Navy.

But at this time, Lin Ziran took out the report of the Military Intelligence Department: "In the past six months, the equipment of various feudal towns in other states has innovated rapidly, and the equipment of large-scale equipment modification of rear-loading rifles has been carried out, and some feudal towns are also equipped with brand-new rear-loading rifles, and more importantly, the Military Intelligence Department has received clear news that the first machine bureau of Zishengzhou has successfully copied the rear-loading rifled gun, and several other machine bureaus are estimated to be soon!" ”

"According to estimates, in half a year, several of our main opponents will begin to equip them with rear-loading artillery on a large scale, and in a year, we will completely lose our equipment advantage!"

As soon as these words came out, the conference room suddenly fell silent!

After more than ten seconds, Wu Guanlin spoke: "Since this is the case, then we can't give them this time and strive to establish the greatest advantage in a year!" ”

Xu Zhongshu also said: "Let's go east, first take Dongdingzhou, and then continue north to Zishengzhou, isn't their first machine bureau able to imitate the rear-loading artillery, let's knock it down and use it for our own use!" ”

Deng Liangan, the commander of the Fifth Army at the other end, also said: "Yes, when the interruption continues, we will suffer from the chaos, the more this time, the more we must face the difficulties, although the pressure of continuous combat is very great, but we must not give the enemy time to breathe, this unified operation, we must completely defeat the enemy in one breath!"

The officers and men of our Southern Navy are all people with lofty ideals, and we have survived so many difficulties before, but this time it is just a continuous battle, and the pressure is greater, and we are absolutely confident that we can solve these difficulties! ”

Listening to the statements of several core high-level generals under his command, Lin Ziran nodded slightly!

If we look at it purely from a short-term military perspective, the Western Expedition is the most rational and the least risky.

However, from a long-term perspective, the first expedition to the west is the most risky, because it will waste precious three months or even more than half a year.