There is only less than a month left before the end of the thirteenth year of Wanli, and the weather in December is relatively cold, but it is located in Guangdong, no matter how cold the weather is, it cannot reach the point of snow and ice, and the weather that is not cold can not stop the arrival of the big war.

After the investigation of the Military Intelligence Department, Fang Nan had roughly determined the strength of the Ming Dynasty to use against the People's Army for the second encirclement and suppression.

In the northwest of Huizhou Prefecture, that is, in the territory of Shaozhou Prefecture, there was a Ming army transferred from Huguang, with a strength of about 10,000.

In the north of Huizhou Prefecture, that is, in the border area between Jiangxi and Guangdong, there was a Ming army originally stationed in various parts of Jiangxi, with a strength of about 10,000.

In the Chaozhou capital area, there is a Ming army from Fujian, with a strength of about 10,000.

In the area of Huizhou, more than 25,000 Ming troops have been assembled here.

The four Ming armies, with a total strength of more than 55,000, were more than three times the strength of the People's Army in the last Ming Dynasty's encirclement and suppression. (Only counting the 15,000 Ming troops under the personal command of Ren Jianxiu)

Fang Nan was uncertain whether more Ming troops would converge or if there would be any naval forces preparing to land on the coast of Haifeng County.

The Ming army is frequently mobilized, and it is not known when it will launch an attack on the rule of the People's Army, and the People's Army is also preparing for it.

The People's Army has a total of four mixed brigades, namely Wang Shengrong's 1st Mixed Brigade, Hu Zhuang's 2nd Mixed Brigade, He Yan's 3rd Mixed Brigade, and Zhou Yi's 4th Mixed Brigade.

At present, Wang Shengrong's 1st Mixed Brigade has five companies of firearms, four infantry companies and one artillery company, and 14 regiments of cold-weapon troops (including one of the first battalions), totaling more than 17,000 people.

Hu Zhuang's Second Mixed Brigade had four companies of firearms, three infantry companies and one artillery company, and seven regiments of cold weapons, totaling more than 8,800 people.

He Yan's Third Mixed Brigade had five companies of firearms, four infantry companies and an artillery company, one cavalry company, and 18 regiments of cold weapons troops, totaling more than 22,000 people.

Zhou Yi's Fourth Mixed Brigade had two companies of firearms, one infantry company and one artillery company, and four regiments of cold weapons, totaling more than 5,000 people.

In the eleven counties under his rule, each county is stationed with a battalion of cold weapons troops, each of which is assisted by nearly 1,000 recruits.

When the KPA raised the flag, there was only one regiment of firearms units and more than six regiments of cold weapons troops, and the total strength was just over 10,000.

In the past three months since the People's Army raised its flag, the People's Army has one and a half regiments of firearms units, and as many as 47 regiments of cold weapons units, with a total strength of more than 58,000 troops, as well as nearly 10,000 new soldiers.

Not counting the recruits, in the first major battle between the People's Army and the Ming Dynasty army, the strength of the People's Army was much worse than that of the Ming Army, especially Fang Nan led the Third Mixed Brigade of more than 4,000 people to fight with Ren Jianxiu's 15,000 Ming Army in Guishan County, and the Ming Army was more than three times the strength of the People's Army.

Now the gap in strength has greatly improved, the four Ming armies are about 60,000 troops, and the total strength of the People's Army is also close to 60,000.

Of course, this cannot be said about things, except for the more than 7,000 people in the six regiments of the cold weapons unit of the People's Army who have been trained for a relatively long time when the flag was raised, the soldiers of the other cold weapons units, except for the part that first entered the camp, the rest are all recruits recruited after the People's Army raises the flag.

After a short period of one month's recruit training, the recruits were integrated into the cold weapons unit, and a few days ago, a group of several thousand people completed their recruit training and were transferred to the cold weapons unit.

Every time a new regiment is formed, personnel are transferred from the old regiment to serve as officers in the new regiment, and then the new recruits are filled, and the new regiments are formed one by one, and the veterans of the old regiments have been dispersed into the new regiments.

In addition, because the main task of the second arsenal in Hutouzhai and Yongan County is to build firearms and make ammunition, and the output of cold weapons is not high, the People's Army will equip itself with the weapons of the Ming Army captured in previous battles, and the cold weapons troops of the People's Army are still mainly spears, but there are more and more soldiers using broadswords.

Depending on the weapons used, each unit of the People's Army will combine cold weapon troops, such as spearmen and sword and shield soldiers according to a certain number, with sword and shield soldiers in front and spearmen in the rear on the battlefield.

The strongest combat effectiveness of the cold weapon unit is the first to enter the camp, and the total number of the four mixed brigades to the first camp is more than 4,000, and the source of troops is mainly from the Ming army prisoners, mountain bandit prisoners, guards of large families who have done evil, and hooligans/hooligan ruffians.

At present, the selection criteria for the Xiandeng battalion are relatively high, much higher than those of other units of the People's Army, and the selection criteria for height, strength, speed, and the number of crimes are all selected criteria.

Under the high standard selection, a hundred people in the first battalion can defeat a hundred ordinary cold weapon troops with only a few dozen casualties, and they can even confront the elite of the Ming army.

However, if the number of people is hundreds or thousands, then it will not be possible to go to the camp first, and the composition of the first camp shows that no matter how much you train, you will not be suitable for military confrontation.

However, when chasing the enemy, besieging the city, and fighting chaotically, the Xiandeng battalion who dared to fight could play a very big role.

The firearms unit of one and a half regiments was still the absolute main force of the KPA, with twelve infantry companies, four artillery companies, and three artillery companies all equipped with 12 Franc machine guns, and the artillery company of the 4th Mixed Brigade equipped with 12 tiger head guns.

The artillery on the county town of Haifeng and the small town of the coastal guard army was also used by the artillery company of the Fourth Mixed Brigade, and it can be said that the number of artillery companies of the Fourth Mixed Brigade was almost greater than that of the other three artillery companies combined.

In the face of the siege of the Ming army on three sides, Fang Nan originally wanted to concentrate the use of firearms troops, defeat the Ming army on one side with one blow, and then transfer firearms troops to support the other two.

After careful consideration, Fang Nan gave up this plan for no other reason, the four Ming armies were equipped with a large number of firearms, and no matter how bad the Ming army was, it was stronger than the cold weapons troops of the People's Army with the same number.

Even if the other people's armies defend the city, under the artillery bombardment of the Ming army, they will definitely suffer heavy casualties, and it is very likely that they will not be able to hold on to the firearms troops to come back.

In this plan, even if the KPA won the final victory, the KPA would suffer heavy casualties and would be unable to face the third encirclement and suppression by the Ming army.

Under such circumstances, Fang Nan chose to continue to disperse one and a half regiments of firearms troops into four mixed brigades, and the firearms troops were matched with cold weapons troops, even if because the firearms troops were scattered and the number of people was small, the people's armies of all walks of life could not quickly defeat the Ming army, and they would not be defeated by the Ming army.

At present, Wang Shengrong's 1st Mixed Brigade has been divided into two, one in Changning County and the other in Heping County, to guard against two Ming armies from Huguang and Jiangxi;

Hu Zhuang's 2nd Mixed Brigade gathered in Puning County to guard against the Ming army from Fujian;

The 3rd Mixed Brigade gathered in Guishan County and confronted the Ming army in the Fucheng area of Huizhou;

The first part of the Fourth Mixed Brigade was in Haifeng County, and the rest were scattered to various small cities of the Coastal Frontier Guard Army.