In the past, most of the post-war discussions were fault-finding conferences, and the discussion was more about the shortcomings of the new army in the combat process, but today, the focus of discussion among many generals is on grenades, and they all say how sharp and important grenades are, and the Tang Dynasty cannot do without grenades, not only can it not be without, but it must be equipped more, preferably countless grenades.

Huang Xueren, Wang Danxu, Fang Dongquan, including Hao Bonian and other front-line generals, all proposed: The grenade is a weapon of mass destruction, and its importance is even more important than artillery and even muskets, and it must be manufactured and equipped in large quantities.

At the same time, it was also proposed to create a full-fledged grenadier unit!

Huang Xueren even said: "If our army has more than 300 grenades today, if they are thrown together, the Ming army on the opposite side will have at least more than 1,000 casualties. ”

Wang Danxu also nodded and said: "The grenade is extraordinary, extremely powerful, with the musket for defensive operations, the effect is definitely better than any weapon, and the minister also thinks that a large number of grenades should be equipped!" ”

Butcher Chen said: "Yes, as long as we have enough grenades in our hands, no matter how many people come from the Ming army, as long as we throw the grenades, we don't know the parents who blow them up!" ”

Listening to their emphasis and even admiration for grenades, Li Xuan was a little speechless, grenades are indeed considered defensive combat strength, but they are not enough to say that they are talking about it.

In today's battle, grenades can build miraculous feats, because grenades appear on the battlefield for the first time, and the Ming army has no defense against it.

What is more crucial is that today's battlefield is extremely special, and it is not a simple defensive operation, nor is it a simple river-crossing interception operation.

Thousands of people on both sides were crowded into a small area no more than 100 meters wide and no more than 30 meters wide, and the density of soldiers on both sides was very large, not counting the high density, and neither of them had yet moved tactically.

And this situation is impossible in normal field or even defensive operations.

In a field situation, who would stupidly line up to get your grenade, but people will maneuver.

In fact, before the two sides develop a hand-to-hand encounter, they will carry out a large number of maneuvers, even more frequently, to find the enemy's weak points through maneuvers on the battlefield, and then launch an attack.

Therefore, whether the grenade will be able to cause miraculous effects like today in the future, Li Xuan does not have much hope for this.

Of course, even if the use of grenades in the future is not as effective as it is today, it is undeniable that large-scale equipment of grenades can greatly improve the combat effectiveness of the Datang New Army, especially the ability to defend operations.

Many front-line generals kept saying that they wanted to equip more grenadier troops, and even Wang Danxu shouted out the plan to add a grenadier team in each infantry battalion, and Huang Xueren felt that this was not enough, and suggested that a grenadier battalion should be set up.

But when everyone was discussing extremely enthusiastically, Bai Yunqi, who was in charge of logistics, poured cold water on them!

"The grenade is indeed powerful, and the follow-up manufacturing and equipment should also be, but it is too difficult for our army to equip too many grenades, and the previous hundred grenades have exhausted the gunpowder in our inventory, and now the amount of gunpowder in the inventory in my baggage battalion is very small, only barely enough for the musket troops to fight a high-intensity battle, not to mention the grenades, even the gunpowder on the side of the artillery is not much left!"

As he spoke, he said with a straight face: "Our army is now in short supply of gunpowder, and there is a lot of gunpowder needed to make grenades, and it is difficult for our army to equip a large number of them in a short period of time!" ”

When Wang Danxu heard this, his face immediately changed slightly: "You mean, our army's gunpowder is no longer enough?" As far as I know, the last time the convoy came, it carried two barrels of gunpowder! ”

Bai Yunqi did not refute, but said: "In today's battle, our army has already used up eighty percent of the gunpowder accumulated in the past!" ”

Anyway, he just won't speak!

His words caused the expressions of many generals to change, Wang Danxu and Huang Xueren were silent, but their faces showed a sad look.

It didn't take long for Butcher Chen to speak: "Didn't you say some time ago that someone was selling gunpowder? If we don't have enough gunpowder, we will buy more sulfur and saltpeter! ”

Bai Yunqi said: "Even if we increase outsourcing, our army's gunpowder is still not enough, and now our army is mainly based on firearms, muskets, artillery, and grenades are heavily dependent on gunpowder, even if there is more gunpowder, it is not enough!" ”

Li Xuan listened to their words, and sighed secretly in his heart, in the final analysis, the Tang Dynasty was too weak, and the gunpowder used in the war was not enough.

If it were replaced by the Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that tens of thousands of bird guns and hundreds of artillery pieces could be made a year, and as for gunpowder, it would naturally be able to supply.

But this is an impossible task for the Tang Dynasty!

However, the shortage of gunpowder is not a day or two, and there are more things that the Datang New Army lacks, and there is more than gunpowder.

Whether it's soldiers, weapons, or food, they don't have it!

Soldiers, not counting the logistical auxiliary units of the baggage battalion, their three infantry battalions, one mixed battalion, and their subordinate units together have a total strength of about 1,300 men, which is not even as many as the prisoners they captured, but they captured 1,800 prisoners.

According to past experience, most of these captives will be submitted, and some of these Ming army captives will be selected into the sword and shield team, the archer team, and the rest will be incorporated into the baggage camp.

But now that there are more than 1,000 prisoners, it is impossible to stuff them into the baggage camp in one go, so it must be arranged separately.

The grenade matter could not be solved for a while, so the generals later talked about the prisoners again.

As Lang Zhong of the Operations Division, Zeng Ziwen has already had the consciousness of being the big butler of the Tang New Army in the past few days, and soon put forward his own solution: "Many of these prisoners are young and strong people who were temporarily recruited by the Pseudo-Ming Dynasty, and they don't have much foundation, and their quality in all aspects is also extremely poor, and they don't meet the conditions of our army, this part of the people can be sent back to Xikou Village and let them work in various workshops, so that they can also make more weapons for our army!" ”

Li Xuan nodded slightly, this plan is good, those temporarily recruited young men can't actually fight, even in the Ming army, they are typical cannon fodder, these people obviously don't meet the requirements of the Datang New Army for soldiers, but it can't be just let go, the Datang New Army has never been in the habit of releasing prisoners, and they make the best use of it, this is the fine tradition of the Datang New Army for the prisoners.

Therefore, it is the best and easiest way to let them work as coolies, you must know that the various workshops in Xikou Village are in urgent need of a large number of labor, otherwise it will not be possible to create enough weapons for the expansion of the new army of the Tang Dynasty in just a few months.

"The remaining captives, if they meet the conditions, they can be directly recruited into the sword and shield team and the archer team!" Zeng Ziwen continued: "Sword and shield bearers and archers are hard to find, since they have encountered them, they naturally can't let go!" ”

This is a fact, the new army of the Tang Dynasty can spend three months training musketeers and spearmen, and even artillery can be trained in a few months, but the two types of swordsmen and shields and archers cannot be trained in just a few months.

Therefore, recruiting archers and sword and shield men from captives was also an important means of maintaining and even expanding the size of these two arms.

Zeng Ziwen said at this time: "The remaining ordinary prisoners, there are still too many words to directly supplement into the baggage camp, how can these people be arranged, please ask Your Majesty Holy Judge!" ”

Even if the coolies, sword and shield soldiers and archers are put aside, there will be at least four or five hundred ordinary Ming army prisoners left, so many people are stuffed into the baggage camp, then the baggage camp is not a baggage battalion, but a baggage regiment.

Now there are four teams in the baggage battalion, with a total of more than 400 people, and this does not include the people who have been temporarily conscripted.

If these more than 400 people are put in, then the scale of the baggage battalion will be expanded to 800 people, which obviously exceeds the demand for baggage troops in the new army of the Tang Dynasty today.

In addition, we have to take into account that most of the remaining more than 400 Ming troops are still recruits in the Ming army, not guards, and their basic military literacy and physical fitness are passable, so it is not appropriate to treat them as guards of the Ming army.

These 400 people are also soldiers who can fight, and they can't be wasted as coolies transporting heavy loads.

Li Xuan pondered for a moment and said, "These more than 400 people are organized into the first garrison infantry battalion, which is modeled after the regular infantry battalion, equipped with all kinds of captured weapons to assist in combat!" ”

Li Xuan also had an expected response plan for this, he had long thought about how to deal with it if a large number of Ming troops were captured, it was impossible to release them directly, and it was inappropriate to directly integrate them into the main force, because the regular army of the Tang New Army was very different from the Ming army in terms of training and tactics.

And the most critical point is that the soldiers of the regular infantry battalion in the Tang New Army, as long as the peasants in the area controlled by the Tang Dynasty, Li Xuan didn't even put the old bandits before, let alone these prisoners.

Therefore, it is the best solution to organize some of the Ming army recruits and prisoners who have passed the quality test separately.

"Officers at all levels of this battalion are drawn from each battalion, as for the officers of this battalion!" Li Xuan looked at everyone when he said this, and then said to Cai Erhu: "Cai Aiqing, are you interested in this battalion officer?" ”

Cai Erhu immediately knelt down and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!" ”

Originally, Li Xuan originally planned to let Butcher Chen serve as the battalion officer of this garrison battalion, but Butcher Chen had made it very clear before that he wanted to change careers to be an artilleryman, and he didn't even want to be an officer of the sword and shield soldiers, and even said that he was willing to be Hao Bonian's deputy in the past.

The battalion officer of the garrison battalion, a second-line army formed by prisoners, seems to be a battalion officer, but his actual status is far inferior to that of the battalion officer in the regular infantry battalion, he naturally will not go, Li Xuan insisted on arranging for him to go, although he can't decide, but there will definitely be a thorn in his heart.

So Li Xuan dispelled this idea.

After dealing with the issue of prisoners and temporarily shelving the proposal to set up a grenadier unit, Li Xuan and the others discussed some other gains and losses in this battle.

However, it was all a small problem, and Li Xuan did not interject too much, but let them discuss it.

This post-war meeting lasted for half the night before it ended.

Early the next morning, Li Xuan sent a personal guard to quickly return to Xikou Village, and this personal guard also carried Li Xuan's order.

This order was to ask Qian Mengjiu, the secretary of the military department, and others who stayed in Xikou Village to speed up the recruitment of troops and expand the scope to the entire Zhengtai County.

At the same time, he also ordered Liu Bagou to speed up the manufacture of various weapons, especially muskets and artillery!

These two orders all reveal the same message: Li Xuan is going to expand his army again!