Hebei, on the wilderness in Beizhou, with the smoke and dust of the army marching straight up and the drums and trumpets are noisy.

Sitting on the special command platform and marching with the brigade, I was also looking at this mighty and majestic military appearance with satisfaction.

After just one winter of recuperation, Huaizhen was able to restore about seventy percent of its combat strength, which was the obvious benefit of the political foundation of primary industrialization.

With sufficient capacity, transportation capacity and population mobilization base, as long as the appropriate planning and contingency plans are made, we can expect continuous results in a step-by-step manner. From the turn of summer and autumn last year to the beginning of spring next year, it is enough for most of Huaizhen's production capacity to complete the transformation of full mobilization and continuous combat readiness.

Then there is the issue of personnel replenishment.

However, as the biggest advantage of the modern firearms unit, it is estimated that the period of personnel training is much shorter than that of cold weapons, and the threshold and scope of soldier selection are much lower and more extensive.

Theoretically, in the mode of firearms warfare, as long as a person with sound limbs, can be proficient in the operation process of firearms, and has the courage to pull the trigger against the enemy; The rest is more platoon and coordinated traditional tactical training.

However, under the rule of the 17 prefectures in Huaibei, there are many reserve forces that have a preliminary organizational degree and collective concept, and have initially realized industrialization and multi-level progressive reserve system, and on the basis of hundreds of thousands of potential soldiers, all that remains is the run-in of weapons and tactics, and it will only take one to three months to complete the most basic needs.

Next, it is to draw experienced veterans, non-commissioned officers and officers from those main combat units that have experienced a hundred battles, build the structure of the new troops, and then fill them with these fresh soldiers; A series of new units that began to take shape were thus formed.

Although it still has to go through the test of the enemy and the tempering of the war, it can be regarded as a qualified army; However, before many of the main battle units and second-line defense units are exhausted, they are more of a reserve sequence as a source of replenishment for the main force, as well as a secondary role as a battlefield auxiliary force, guarding the rear supply line and suppressing local resistance, eliminating remnants of the enemy and rogues, and maintaining law and order.

It can be said that the construction mode of the firearms unit itself has greatly lowered the threshold and scope of the selection of soldiers, and has enabled the Huai Army to have a larger and more efficient mobilization base than any traditional army.

Therefore, if there is a need to be more extreme, even the old people, teenagers, and women in the tunzhuang, farms, and mines can be conscripted into the army at the expense of some production capacity and shutdown;

Although, due to the innate limitations of physical fitness, they are not suitable for long-distance marching and mobility, but as a temporary emergency supplement to the troops, they can still undertake some defensive garrison tasks such as building fortifications and defending cities. And more young and middle-aged people will be liberated and withdrawn from the sequence of maintaining the rear, and put into the frontal battlefield and offensive sequence that are more needed.

Of course, if this is going to come to this point, it also means that Huaizhen has reached the critical point of life and death, or the critical juncture of exhaustion, and it doesn't matter what production capacity and loss.

This spring offensive launched from Hebei is aimed at Hedong Road, which has become the rear and important assistance of the Western Army, with the basic purpose of cutting off one of its wings at present, and then extending the next strategic goal as appropriate and waiting for opportunities.

Therefore, in the first few winter months when the majority of the army was replenished and fully replenished, until it was actually mobilized and mobilized, a large number of corresponding preparations and materials were successively gathered and laid out on the main routes and directions of the march along the Hebei Province with the grain yards and grain stations established in the name of post stations in the places along the Hebei, and under the cover of resuming the local transportation of people's biological resources.

Of course, if the Western Army also launched an offensive in the direction of Hebei, it would mean that they would continue to be hit by surprise and bloodied.

This is because the most important thing in the preparatory work in the past few months is to step up military production and expand the scale of supporting industries through the agricultural slack season, so as to make up for and reserve the shortfall in firearms, equipment, and ammunition for the newly expanded troops.

In this way, even if those recruits occupy a large proportion of the newly formed army order, relying on the fortresses and defense points in the face of the passive defense of the Western Army, it is not without the strength of a battle.

Now the enemy situation and battle line that Huaizhen has to face are mainly divided into four sections by the natural mountains and rivers from the Central Plains to the north of the Yangtze River and the geographical victory;

The northernmost is undoubtedly the Taihang Sicheng Valley Road in Hebei Province, which is separated by the Taihang Mountains and the Yanshan Mountain Range, and adjacent to Hedong Road. This is also a natural obstacle, and after the initial strategy, it has advanced into the mountainous area, becoming the springboard and forward base of the next military operation.

The second is from Baiya City, Huaizhou, Hebei Province on the north bank of the Yellow River to Dayang Bridge in Duqian Road, Henan, which is dozens of miles long along the (Yellow) River defense line. In addition to the Hanguguan corridor held by Baiya Castle, with the support of the naval gunboats patrolling along the river, in fact, only a few ferry crossings along the river and the location of the bridge were held.

In addition, the western part of the Nanyang Basin, which has been reduced to the gathering place of the Western Army, between the intermittent Tongbai Mountains and the Funiu Mountains, and the fortress defense line built between Fangcheng and Miyang, is also the most fierce confrontation and military pressure between Huaizhen and the various units of the Western Army today.

Although for various reasons there has been no decisive large-scale battle in this direction, all kinds of temptations and harassing conflicts, tug-of-wars and infiltration wars of all kinds are the existence of a war that is not going on all day long;

Especially in the past winter, there were constantly small units of the Western Army that blocked the terrain and narrowness and entered the border area between Huainan and Henan; Although most of them were solved by the local garrison troops and armed people, they also brought a lot of trouble and many losses to the local soldiers and civilians stationed in the camps.

Finally, the water defense line along the Huainan River in the east of the Daliang River in the Southern Dynasty is also the calmest place in the theater of operations on all fronts. And the governor of Ning, who was stationed in Jiangning Mansion to take an overview of the situation, even privately expressed his willingness to use the power of Huaizhen to reduce the military pressure upstream, and pay the corresponding price for it.

Therefore, don't underestimate the strength of the recovered seventy percent, which represents the main force order that can be at least four fully equipped. If I lower the bar again, I can at least double that number.

Among them, in addition to a car and ship with his back to Huaishui and maneuvering along the Caoyun water system at any time, the other three main battle orders will be concentrated as the main force of this attack; In addition, there were two or three newly formed garrison troops in Hebei, which were ready to open up the situation at any time and then enter Hedong Province to suppress the situation.

In the end, it is expected that the number of troops used in this use of troops will reach more than 70,000, and the number of civilian men and various types of labor used to maintain the defeat of the army in the rear will also reach about 100,000.

After all, with the Western Army, a powerful unexpected factor, entering the Central Plains in a big way, Huaizhen, which has been gathering momentum for many years, has also reached the natural trend of "sailing against the current, not advancing or retreating", and the tide of the times and the confrontation between multiple wrestling forces promoted by it have grown and waned. It is likely that if you don't stick to the end in this three-thirds of the world, you won't be able to see the final winner.

Therefore, Hedong Province, where the strength of the Western Army is relatively weak, will become the first springboard and sacrifice for our camp to focus on the first strike and move towards the victory that will sweep in the future.

。。。。。。。。。。。

In Ezhou, on the north bank of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Wang Duanchen looked at the Hanyang Military City standing on the bank of the river with mixed feelings; Behind him was a scarred, exhausted army, which also made some kind of sound that resembled the aftermath of the catastrophe or a sigh of relief.

You must know that in order to break out of the heavy encirclement of the Western Army that outflanked the back road, a bloody road has been extinguished, and many of their comrades have been exhausted by fighting all the way to most of the world, because they lost their strength halfway or because of injuries or illnesses, they fell behind in the pursuing enemy.

However, the light cavalry team that entered the communication first found that it had escaped completely, and all parts of the city were dilapidated and the treasury was empty, and even the suspension bridge connecting the old city of Ezhou on the other side had been demolished and cut off.

This inevitably gave this tired division that had been tossed and turned several places one after another, a heavy blow to the head and face; On the night of the stoppage, a small group of fugitives from the first army appeared.

And when a big boat rowed over from the opposite shore the next day, it also sent a formal edict for Wang Duanchen to put down his troops and immediately lead a small number of people to go south to Lingnai to take up his post.

At this moment after the news was spread, it was difficult to hide the howls and cries in the Hanyang Military City. And when Wang Duanchen, who abandoned his subordinates for the second time and was ordered to cross the river, the moment he stepped on the dirt on the other side with tears streaming down his face, his gray-black mottled hair had already turned gray-white.

(End of chapter)