Following Song Cheng, Sun Liang of the staff class also expressed his own opinions, but his suggestions only involved himself. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 INFO suggested that Liu Fan expand the scale of his staff officers and set up a special staff organization.

Combined with the understanding of later generations, Liu Fan even became a staff officer. Therefore, he agreed to Sun Liang's suggestion, and out of consideration for his own strength, Liu Fan only set up a staff squad of ten people at the battalion level to assist the battalion commanders in formulating combat plans and issuing combat missions, but the staff officers only had the right to make suggestions, not command, and could not directly command the battle.

Then, as the commander of the cavalry battalion, Zhou Ce also put forward a proposal to strengthen the scale of the cavalry battalion. For Zhou Ce's suggestion, Liu Fan had no objection. To be honest, Liu Fan himself has never given up on the construction of cavalry. The last time he fought with the rogue, Liu Fan had enough of the pain of not having a large-scale cavalry, obviously having the strength and ability to defeat Li Zicheng and other rogues, but because he couldn't run on two legs and four legs, he could only watch the enemy slip away from under his nose, this kind of pain almost made Liu Fan crazy.

But the desire to expand the size of the cavalry did not happen overnight. Liu Fan's biggest constraint now is that there are no horses, and there is no shortage of horses in Shandong, otherwise it would be impossible to have so many horse thieves. However, it was precisely because of the activity of the horse thieves that the imperial court greatly suppressed the scope of horse breeding. Since the uprising of Liu Liu and Liu Qi in Shandong, Ma Zheng in the north has basically existed in name only. The only horse breeders were also strictly controlled by the imperial court, and it was very difficult for Liu Fan to obtain horses.

In the past two years, Liu Fan has been buying horses at a high price, but the harvest is really few. In two years, less than 2,000 horses were saved. A large part of them are still horses, which can only be used to pull carts or as cavalry teachings, and there are not many that can really be used.

But now Liu Fan has some simple countermeasures, looking at Zhou Ce's depressed look, Liu Fan couldn't help but comfort, "Camp Chief Zhou don't worry, I'm trying to find a way to buy some horses from other places recently." I have reached an agreement with the merchants of Jiaozhou, that is, to exchange the share of refined salt for the war horses they smuggled from outside the Guan, although the number is not too much, but it is endless, so you don't have to worry too much, just step up the training of cavalry equestrianism! ”

Zhou Ce couldn't help grinning when he heard this, "With the words of the Overseer, my old Zhou will be relieved." Rest assured, Overseer, I'll be sure to train those bunnies hard when I get back, and I promise you won't be disappointed. ”

"Hmm!" Liu Fan nodded, in fact, Liu Fan still has a channel to get a large number of war horses, but it is not yet time, so Liu Fan did not mention it. Liu Fan's channel for obtaining horses was Wang Pu. Liu Fan and Wang Pu have reached an agreement to exchange the muskets, artillery and grain and salt of the Broken Army for Wang Pu's war horses. Datong borders Mongolia, and the current Datong general army is Wang Pu, with Wang Pu's ability, it is much easier to get some excellent war horses than Liu Fan. Moreover, although the Mongolian horse is short in size and not good-looking, the Mongolian horse that has been tamed is not frightened or deceived on the battlefield, is extremely brave, hard-working, not afraid of cold, not picky eater, has strong vitality, and can survive under difficult and harsh conditions. It has always been a good military horse.

According to the agreement between the two, Liu Fan expects that within this year, Wang Pu will send a large number of war horses, which will alleviate Liu Fan's dilemma of not having enough war horses.

In addition to the above-mentioned general recommendations, officers at other battalion levels also made suggestions on some minor problems that exist in the army, such as management loopholes, and various problems encountered in combat. Liu Fan listened patiently to these suggestions and responded accordingly in light of the actual situation. Outside of the first time, the most discussed issue was the expansion of the army. This time, the army recruited new recruits, and the quota was only 5,000 people, but the number of conscripts once reached more than 50,000 people.

For this one, Liu Fan thought about it for a while, but still refused, now is not a war period, maintaining a large-scale standing army is still a big burden for Liu Fan. And Liu Fan didn't think that blindly increasing the number of the Broken Army was of any benefit. Therefore, Liu Fan did not plan to expand the scale of the war barracks, but planned to expand the scale of the militia as a reserve. Those who were screened out to join the army were incorporated into the militia. As long as we do a good job in the training of the militia units, when needed, we can form a large army that is not weak in combat strength with only a little training.

Regarding Liu Fan's approach, although everyone was a little disappointed in their hearts, they still nodded in agreement. Because they also know that what Liu Fan said is the truth. The treatment of the Broken Army was originally one of the highest troops in the Ming Dynasty. If Liu Fan expands too many people, I'm afraid that within three years, the Broken Army will be dragged down by strong logistical pressure!

After summarizing it a little, Liu Fan found that although there were a lot of suggestions given by everyone, they were also very practical. However, there is no clear suggestion on the development direction of the Broken Army, and even if there are some outstanding views, they often cannot go straight to the point. Liu Fan thought about it for a while and felt that it might be because their vision was not enough, so the method of thinking about the problem was lacking. The military academy has only been built for less than two years, and the knowledge that everyone has learned is very limited, and the overall planning of this general direction is indeed beyond the scope of everyone's ability. After messing around, the problem finally returned to Liu Fan.

And Liu Fan himself didn't have a very good way to quickly and effectively improve the comprehensive strength of the Broken Army. He could only make some major adjustments based on the suggestions of the crowd. For example, increasing the speed of construction of firearms units, producing more muskets and cannons to prepare the army. Recruit some troops, increase the construction of reserves, increase the potential strength of the captive army, form a cavalry force with strong strength, and so on.

In order to discover talented people who are sufficiently talented, Liu Fan also discussed the issue of how to reasonably and effectively enhance the combat effectiveness of the army as a topic at the military academy, hoping to gather the strength of the people in the military academy to check and fill in the gaps and provide him with some good methods.

After this military meeting, the Broken Army did not make much changes in its composition. However, with the many opinions put forward, Liu Fan and the middle and high-level officers of the Broken Army clearly realized their many shortcomings. Moreover, the pride and complacency that had gradually swelled in the army since the Battle of the Central Plains were curbed. For Liu Fan, it is also a major gain for the Broken Army. (To be continued.) )