Nanjing is the capital of the Ming Dynasty, the largest city in the south of the Yangtze River, with very important political significance and strategic significance, the city itself is also very strong, Tan Tai has more than 20,000 elite Qing troops, and enough food to hold on for a year, if Dolgon does not plan to abandon Jiangnan, he will not let him abandon the city and escape...... Since Tan Tai has run now, it marks that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has turned to the defense from the strategic point of view, and will not attack Jiangnan again in the short term, otherwise the bridgehead of Nanjing will be kept and the battle will be much easier to fight.

The so-called decisive battle is a battle between the main forces to determine the outcome of the battle, the Manchu Qing lost the battle of Ningzhen, the main force suffered heavy losses, and could only turn to strategic defense. Judging from the specific results of the battle, it is a very regrettable thing for Tan Tai and Tunqi to flee Nanjing, www.uuxs.cc but everything has a disadvantage and a benefit, Tan Tai, who fled in a hurry, only burned some warehouses, and the city of Nanjing was not damaged by too strict, and it was basically occupied by the Chu army, which was enough to make Wang Kefan happy.

The reconquest of Nanjing also marked the end of the entire Eastern Crusade, and the Qing army had in fact abandoned the three provinces south of the Yangtze River. In addition to Tan Tai running away, Li Chengdong, who was entrenched in Huizhou Mansion, also fled from the lair in a hurry, broke through the barriers of Jin Shenghuan and Fu Dingquan all the way, crossed the Yangtze River from Huangshiji, and withdrew to Anhui in the north of the Yangtze River. As for Jixiha in Hangzhou, Tong Yangjia in Fujian, and thousands of Qing troops in Zhenjiang were abandoned by the Manchus and left to fend for themselves in Jiangnan, it was only a matter of time before they were wiped out by the Ming army.

In the evening of the same day, the battalions of the Chu army held a celebration banquet. The soldiers drank happily, and those who could drink or not should let go of drinking. Whoever deliberately keeps it will be condemned and despised by the common people, and they are all comrades-in-arms who share life and death. No one deliberately pretended to be high on the shelf, and if the amount of alcohol was small like Blackfish, it would be drunk under the table after dividing it by two.

"Ji Xiha will definitely not last a few days, in my opinion, General Wang San will soon be able to capture Hangzhou, and then wave his army south, sweeping Fujian by the way." Wang Kebin also drank high, with a big red face and a lot of words. Pull a few other generals to discuss the battle situation.

"Not necessarily! What do other officers and soldiers do to eat, our Chu army can't fight the world, right? I think it is better to cross the river and go on a northern expedition, or simply return to Huguang and defeat Wuchang first! Zhu Huaqi became whiter the more he drank.

"You should cross the river and go on a northern expedition!" Wang Yi was also very excited, and rushed to express his opinion: "The Tartars have not yet established a stable position in Jiangbei, as long as they take Luzhou (Hefei) and Xuzhou, they can pacify the entire Jianghuai, Kong Youde and Tunbuer's back road was cut off, and they had to retreat to Shandong." Shang Kexi also had to retreat to Henan, and the Yangtze River line was decided without a fight. ”

"It's not that easy! What if our army attacks Luzhou and Xuzhou, and is copied by Kong Youde and Tunbuler? Jin Shenghuan has not captured Jiujiang Mansion yet, don't expect him to drag Kong Youde again. Wang Kebin patted Zhu Huaju's shoulder and said, "I think the little prince is right." If we don't fight Fujian, we should go back to Huguang and fight Jiujiang and Wuchang first. And then let's talk about the Northern Expedition......"

At the table next to him, Shi Wushu and Jingliang sat side by side. Two people hook up and put their backs on their backs, and you have a drink. I had a cup and was whispering my confidant, ignoring the others.

Shi Wuxian was originally a rough man with five big and three rough, but after drinking too much, he suddenly became a sentimental and sentimental man, pulling Jingliang to mutter, talking non-stop, starting from the third girl next door to his hometown in Hengshili, to the second lady of the Ji'an prefect, and then to a female medical officer in the medical hall...... This falling flower is intentional, that flowing water is ruthless, there is no reliable one, but Jingliang is a junior brother with almost no emotional experience, full of longing and curiosity about this kind of thing between men and women, not only listening to it with relish, but also racking his brains to help him, constantly coming up with all kinds of bad ideas, full of interest, very enthusiastic.

"Jingliang, you are from the General Staff, tell me, where should we fight next?" Wang Kebin and Wang Yi argued, interrupted Jingliang and Shi Wuxian's private conversation, and dragged his arm for him to judge.

After asking what was going on, Jingliang said: "Wuchang Mansion is definitely going to fight, but there is no need to transfer troops from Jiangnan, right?" Tens of thousands of horses are in Hubei, and the Tongshan camp and Yuezhou camp are in Jiangxi, which is enough to deal with Shang Keg. ”

"That's not right either! Do you understand the concentration of superior forces? Only rely on breaking into the camp to deal with Shang Kexi, and I am afraid that I will not be able to take Wuchang for a while, and I will have to transfer a few battalions back from Jiangnan. Wang Kebin dipped his fingers in the wine, drew a zigzag Yangtze River on the table, and nodded a few points up and down, representing Anqing Mansion, Jiujiang Mansion and Wuchang Mansion, and then drew a march route with his fingertips: "Our army crossed the river from Chuzhou here, fought all the way back along the north bank of the Yangtze River, and completely pacified the south, and then asked His Majesty to return the capital Nanjing from Guilin, and then Xu Tu's northern expedition, which is the invincible way to win, otherwise from Huguang to Jiangxi and then to Nanzhili, the two thousand miles of defense line may be attacked everywhere, If the troubles are not eliminated, our army will not be able to go all out on the Northern Expedition. ”

"That's pretty much the case, but there's something that doesn't take it through." Jingliang drew several reverse routes from Wuchang, Jiujiang and Anqing, and said: "The Tartars have sailors to help them fight, and they can backcut our army's rear roads at any time, or go around in circles with us, and in the end they still can't gain a firm foothold in Jiangbei." Well, even if you capture Anqing Mansion, Jiujiang Mansion and Wuchang Mansion all the way, but Kong Youde and Shang Kexi will not stay there stupidly and wait for death, if they avoid the battle and retreat north, the defense line of these two thousand miles may still be attacked everywhere, it is not much meaning. ”

"Yes, so it should still be a decisive battle in Jianghuai, as long as Luzhou and Xuzhou are defeated, the Qing troops in Anqing Mansion, Jiujiang Mansion and Wuchang Mansion will be forced to retreat." Wang Yi insisted on his opinion, and the argument returned to square one.

Because it was a casual chatter after drinking, everyone thought of where to go, and it was not necessarily thoughtful, but the imagination was free, and the thinking was very open, and more and more middle-level generals participated, and the focus of the discussion was on how to launch the Northern Expedition, when the Manchus could be completely defeated, and they were full of confidence in the future victory.

Everyone was happy, only one person was in the corner, and Shi Wuxian sat next to him. has been immersed in the memories of his first love for the three daughters next door, although it is his wishful unrequited love. didn't say anything in the end, but I kept thinking about her in my heart. I feel more than the second lady of the Ji'an prefect, but unfortunately Shi Wushu has been busy fighting in the past few years, and her daughter has already married.

He picked up his wine glass, pulled Jingliang and said, "Alas, why are you fighting for this? How did Grandpa Taizu go on the Northern Expedition back then, let's better draw a scoop than a gourd. Come on, let's go on drinking......"

"It's that simple!" Wang Kebin snatched the wine glass in his hand, put it on the table and said: "Back then, Grandpa Taizu 'accumulated grain and became king slowly'. Meng Yuan himself made a mess first, and the Northern Expedition was already ripe, and hundreds of thousands of troops swept away the Northern Expedition like a devastation, which was very different from the current situation. Not to mention anything else, our Chu army only has 100,000 horses, even if the whole army goes out to launch the Northern Expedition, it is inevitable that there will be fierce battles along the way, and the soldiers will always be damaged, and the city passes will be defeated along the way. You have to keep troops to garrison, how many men and horses will be left when you attack the city of Beijing? Can you still defeat the Tartars? ”

"Yes, so we have to fight Hubei first, based on the southern provinces. Slowly accumulate strength, expand the army and horses, and then launch the Northern Expedition. Zhu Huaqi continued: "In order to ensure the safety of the southern provinces. It is necessary to sweep away the Tartar sailors on the Yangtze River, but fortunately, Wang Junmen has already made arrangements. The water division of our Chu army has also been built, as long as the water division wins. Wuchang Mansion, Jiujiang Mansion and Anqing Mansion can all be ...... sooner or later"

After heated discussions, the opinions of the generals gradually converged, that Shang Keg, who should first attack Hubei, and that after several years of development, the Chu army had achieved a substantial expansion before considering crossing the river and the Northern Expedition. The Chu army was good at fighting in the south, but the northern plains were dominated by Manchu cavalry, and the Manchus were a vibrant founding dynasty, completely different from the Mengyuan during the Zhu Yuanzhang period, and it was unrealistic to fantasize about defeating them in a quick battle...... Wang Yi still insisted on his opinion, since the Manchu Qing Dynasty was a dynamic founding dynasty, it had a strong ability to recover, if it did not take advantage of the great shape in front of him to launch the Northern Expedition, and wait until a few years later, although the Chu army developed and the Qing army also recovered its vitality, the Northern Expedition may not be able to succeed in one fell swoop until that time.

"It may be too urgent to hit Xuzhou at once, but at least to Luzhou, our army with the power of Ningzhen's great victory, we must take advantage of the victory to cross the river to the north, try our best to drive the Tartars to the north, if you shrink in the south of the Yangtze River after winning the battle, what is the difference between it and the Southern Song Dynasty?" Wang Yi was drunk, his eyes were bloodshot, and he slapped the table heavily: "Zhuang is hungry for Hulu meat, laughing and thirsty for Hun blood, when Grandpa Yue intended to go straight to Huanglong, Zhao Gou, the Dusk Jun of the Southern Song Dynasty, was also afraid of wolves and tigers, and even ordered twelve gold medals to urge him to return to the army, ruining the great opportunity to recover the north in one fell swoop, our army can not repeat the mistakes of the past, and miss the great opportunity now!" ”

There is some truth in this, and the generals were silent for a while...... The Chu army easily won the Battle of Ningzhen, and the Qing army was the weakest time, if it did not take the opportunity to launch the Northern Expedition and try its best to expand the fruits of victory, it was indeed suspected of delaying the fighters.

"After all, those friendly forces are too bad to count on one by one." Wang Kebin used the wine to express the dissatisfaction hidden in his heart: "Most of Jin Shenghuan's soldiers and horses are Li Chuang's old troops, but they can't even beat Jiujiang Mansion, this time they are about to collapse at the touch of a button, and the few soldiers and horses sent by the emperor can't fight a tough battle, and the Jiangxi soldiers and Guangdong soldiers are even more unbearable, and our Chu army must be in front everywhere, when can we defeat the Manchu Dynasty?" ”

"It can't be said that Jin Shenghuan at least dragged Tun Bu'er, Jiao Lian can still fight, and Zhu Chenggong, the prince of Zhangguo, and Fu Dingquan, the governor of Jiangxi, have all contributed a lot of strength to the battle of Ningzhen." Zhu Huaqi filled the wine for the generals one by one, and said: "It is better to ask for others than for yourself, it is definitely not enough to just point to others for help, we have to rely on ourselves at the critical moment, and when our Chu army expands to 200,000 or 300,000, we can fight to Beijing in one go." ”

"Yes, I heard that the military system is going to be changed, Jingliang, did you hear any rumors from your staff?" Wang Kebin asked.

"I heard a little rumor, but I can't say more, I'll just say one sentence, in the future, the battalion officer may walk all over the street, and if he is a guerrilla, he can be a battalion officer." Although Jingliang drank too much, his basic sense of secrecy was still there.

"What do you mean? Do you want to set up dozens, hundreds of battalions? "The generals haven't understood yet, but Shi Wuxian is the fastest to react.

"Yes, now there is a small battalion under the big battalion, and there are wings under the small battalion, and there are sentinels and teams under the wings, and a team officer like Wang Yi is actually not much different from a battalion officer, which makes our own people dizzy, so the above is discussing that the Chu army should be changed to a new military system, and the battalion officers will only manage a few hundred people in the future, and they will not be considered marshal......" Jingliang picked up what he could say and revealed some inside information.

"What about the battalion officer? Is there still a general and a lieutenant general? ”

"There are also generals, which can be increased by several levels."

"It's definitely not called the chief soldier, deputy general or anything, the battalion can set up an army, of course......"

The generals talked a lot, and they couldn't think of what the future Chu army would look like.

After Wang Kefan recovered Nanjing, he immediately began to prepare for the reform of the military system of the Chu army.

The reform of the military system is first embodied in the establishment of military systems. The current establishment of the Chu army was born out of the earlier Gongyi battalion, and many of the settings were temporary, although it was convenient for a while, but it could not adapt to the rapid development of the Chu army, especially the needs of thermal weapons warfare.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty has shifted to strategic defense, and in the foreseeable next few years, the battlefield where the Ming and Qing armies are engaged will move significantly northward into the flat Huanghuai Plain...... Jiangnan does not produce war horses, it is impossible to form a large-scale cavalry force, and the Qing army can't fight with cavalry, in Wang Kefan's plan, it is to use cheap infantry to fight against the Qing cavalry. Musketeers and pikemen are mass-produced arms that are easy to train, the cost is low, and the army is fast, a musketeer can go to the battlefield as long as he trains for a few days, but an archer takes several years to train, the cost of a flintlock pistol is only equivalent to a pair of saddle stirrups, and the equipment and horses of a cavalry are expensive, even if you exchange three or four infantry for an eight-banner soldier, you will not suffer.

Changing the establishment of the Chu army and realizing the linear operation of musketeers can give full play to the firepower advantage of the flintlock pistol, try to increase the battle loss ratio in battle, and strive to reduce it from four to one to three to one, two to one or even lower, and fight with the Qing army for a long time. (To be continued......) R1292