Now, Zhang Qi has established a Tuntian base with a population of 200,000 in the area of Shuofang and Wuyuan, which was abandoned by the Han Dynasty a few years ago, which can be regarded as the initial establishment of the source of soldiers and horses needed to dominate the world. What the Taimarching Army still lacked was a reliable food and military supply base.

Therefore, this time Zhang Qiang marched east or south, just to wait for an opportunity to seize a place that produced a lot of grain. This place, Zhang Qi is not too picky, it can be Shangdang, Taiyuan, or ...... Hedong County!

Of course, Hedong is Dong Zhuo's territory, and before the critical moment, Zhang Qi did not plan to rob it openly. After all, the Xiliang Army is extremely combative, and it is not a good stubble. And erecting such a big target as Dong Zhuo can also help Zhang Zhuo share the attention of some people in the world. Making a fortune in a muffled voice is the best choice for the Taixing army now.

According to the future development strategy of the Taixing Army, what Zhang Qiang is currently peeping at is actually mainly Taiyuan County.

Taiyuan County, like the entire Bingzhou region, has many mountainous areas, but it has an extremely rich Taiyuan Basin. The Taiyuan Basin has a vast area and is irrigated by the main tributaries such as the Fen River, the Xiao River and the Wenyu River, and has always been the most populous and economically prosperous place in Bingzhou.

It can be said that the essence of the entire state is in Taiyuan County. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan's father and son raised troops against the Sui and successfully established the Tang Dynasty, that is, relying on the strategic resources provided by the Taiyuan Basin, such as soldiers, grain, horses, and iron, they were able to conquer Xijing Chang'an in one fell swoop and ascend the throne as emperor.

Although the Loess Plateau of the Han Dynasty lost the protection of vegetation in many places, soil erosion has not yet developed to the exaggerated point of "thousands of ravines and fragments" after 2,000 years.

Therefore, at this time, although there are some small ravines blocking the way, the difficulty of crossing them is barely acceptable. On the repaired avenue. The vehicular traffic is still relatively smooth. This was of great help to the military rations collection and marching of the Taixing Army.

At present, in Lishi County, Xihe County, 200,000 pieces of military grain and grass have been hoarded. Of these grains and grasses, 50,000 Hu were purchased from the Hao clan in Hedong, and 70,000 Hu were transported from the Hetao area, which was effective at the beginning of Tuntian. The rest is high-priced grain from the wealthy family in Taiyuan.

Sometimes, arrogance can't help but think. Using military rations from Taiyuan to attack Taiyuan, I don't know how those Taiyuan wealthy families will feel after they know about it?

Let's take a look at the forces in the hands of the arrogant.

At present, Zhang Qi has spent more than a year vigorously absorbing the displaced people from Bingzhou and Hedong, and resettled them in the Meiji and Hetao areas for reclamation, and the Han people under his command have reached 100,000 households, about 400,000 people. The Xiongnu, Xianbei, Tu Ge and other miscellaneous Hu who were conquered by the Taixing army also had 50,000 accounts. More than 200,000 people.

Perhaps these population figures add up to the population of a large county in the mainland, but don't forget that there are also nearly 300,000 mountain people in the Taihang Mountain area, who accept the rule of the Taixing army. Based on the original ruling of the arrogant, his power has been within two years. Tripled.

Bingzhou is known for its bitter cold, but it is also known for producing elite soldiers and fierce generals. Since the first day of entering the state. Zhang Qi didn't plan to rest on his laurels in the state. Stick to the annex of the state, and sooner or later it will kill itself. Only by expanding step by step can he realize the great wish of "the world is clothed".

In order to establish a stable rule in the state, the 1,000 soldiers who were older and more literate among the arrogant generals collectively retired and transferred to the local grassroots officials. to manage the hundreds of thousands of Huhan residents obtained in the years of conquest.

At this time, it can be seen that when he was in the Taixing Army, he arrogantly forced his subordinates to read and hyphenate characters.

The 1,000 veterans who could recognize more than 500 commonly used words on average received a certain amount of cultural education in the army. He is also familiar with the policy of the Taixing Army, and as long as he adapts to the new official position a little, he can quickly reach the standard of being useful.

Of course, they are only usable, and they are still far from the standard of skillful handling of local government affairs. However, as long as these loyal soldiers are given a period of training, they will naturally continue to improve their level of government affairs, and eventually become a solid foundation for arrogant control of the locality.

After retiring a large number of non-commissioned soldiers, Zhang Qiang naturally wanted to recruit a large number of new soldiers. Because of the mastery of the Hetao and Xianbei Yanliyou, the horse source land, Zhang Qiang dared to sacrifice the strategic treasure of "horseshoes". Thus, the standard cavalry of the classical era, equipped with a Takahashi saddle, bilateral stirrups, and horseshoes, was finally born on the northern border of the Han Dynasty.

These cavalrymen, who have sufficient mobility, impact power and melee combat ability, will become the ace of land warfare in the hands of Zhang Mad, effectively helping him conquer the world!

Let's take a look at the number of troops of the Tai Marching Army.

At present, in the hands of Zhang Qiang, not counting the lonely Zang Ba Division, already has a standing force of 6,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry. And all the people in the tuntian must also receive a certain amount of military training when they are not working. If necessary, insolence can mobilize an army of 50,000 men in less than a month.

Of course, in view of the exertion required by an army of this size, and the serious damage to agricultural production, there was no intention of such mobilization unless it was absolutely necessary.

This battle against Taiyuan may also involve the two counties of Shangdang and Yanmen. Therefore, Zhang Qiang calculated the difficulty of this battle in advance according to the height. In Lishi County, he has now gathered 4,000 foot soldiers and 2,000 cavalry, as well as 10,000 requisitioned people. If necessary, the 2,000 cavalry stationed at Meiji could also go south at any time to support. This scale of mobilization is almost the largest force that the Taixing army can mobilize without destroying social production.

Due to the expansion of the scale of the army, as well as the position of "making the Xiongnu Zhonglang General" obtained from Dong Zhuo, the generals under Zhang Qiang finally got the long-lost promotion.

The establishment of the arrogant department still follows the original and has not changed much. Five people are a team, ten people are a team, fifty people are a team, two hundred people are changed to one tun, and a thousand people are called a thousand people, or a team. Above the ministry, this time there was finally a new establishment -- the battalion.

The formation of the battalion is the result of the fact that the current Taimarching front is too long and needs to be assigned to guard various places. The army under the direct jurisdiction of the arrogant itself does not need to be organized into a "battalion" system. Only those generals who have taken on the important task of defending the town will set up the "battalion" system in order to unify the command of their own troops in the area to be defended.

According to the results of the discussion between Zhang and the generals, the establishment of the battalion does not need to be fixed, but is flexibly deployed according to the strength needed in the area to be defended. In peacetime, each battalion can have two to three thousand troops under its jurisdiction, and in wartime, it can also temporarily transfer teams from other areas to form a large battalion with five or six thousand troops.

As for the commanders of each establishment, since the Taixing Army accepted Zhao'an, it naturally began to correspond to the common officer names of the Han army. There is a captain in the army, there is a captain in the team; Tun has a hundred chiefs, also known as tun chiefs; There is a thousand chiefs in the department, also called military marquis. The commander of the battalion is called "Battalion Sima".

According to the practice of the Han army, when it comes to the level of "battalion", it will have its own unique battalion number. For example, the famous five schools of the Northern Army are called the five battalions of Tun Cavalry, Yue Cavalry, Infantry, Changshui, and Archery.

At present, Zhang Qi has three separate battalion heads in the army. One, it was the Zang Ba Department who stayed in Taihang Mountain, and was given the title of "Mountain Front Battalion" by two thousand-person teams. One is the cavalry of the Lejin Department guarding the area of Meiji City, with two cavalry teams of 1,000 people and a cavalry infantry team of 1,000 people, with the title of "Zhenbei Battalion". The head of the last battalion fell on Yu Ban, who was known as the "first commander", with a team of three thousand people, designated as the "Zhichong Battalion", stationed in the Baibo Valley in Hedong.

Through the rectification of the military establishment, the generals under Zhang Qiang once again made corresponding status adjustments. With their own merits and prestige in the army, Zang Ba, Le Jin, and Yu Ban undoubtedly succeeded in becoming the three most important generals under Zhang Qiang, and got the opportunity and right to be independent.

Although there were inevitably slight complaints about this readjustment in the army, it was generally calm and did not make any big trouble. Only Dian Wei after the adjustment, in the name of competition, drove Zang Ba to the ground in the martial arts arena, which can be regarded as defending his own title of "the first fierce general of the Taixing Army".

As for the generals such as Zhou Cang and Xie Xun who did not catch up this time, although they were a little disappointed, they were not discouraged. Zhang Qi openly explained to the officers and men of the whole army that there would be battles in the future. If you want to be promoted, fight the battle well.

As early as a few years ago, Zhang Qiang predicted the death of the Han Emperor and the fall of the eunuchs. He also revealed his optimism about Dong Zhuo before Dong Zhuo entered Beijing and took power. With such a leader who can predict the future, no one would doubt that the future development of the Tai Journey Army will be unfavorable.

This time, the troops used in the area of Taiyuan County and the arrogant mobilization of troops, in addition to the people directly under the headquarters of the headquarters, also included Yu Ban's Zhichong battalion. This is due to the fact that Dong Zhuo is currently busy with the major affairs of moving the capital, and has no time to take care of the arrogance in the north. Similarly, the eyes of the Kwantung princes were also fixed on Dong Zhuo in the west, and they couldn't distinguish themselves from the Taixing army at all.

If you don't seize this good opportunity to expand your territory without interference, the next time you want to get such a good opportunity, you don't know when it will be.

As for the timing of the troops, Zhang Crazy chose the end of April. At this time, the spring ploughing is almost completed, as long as there are not too many people mobilized, it will have little impact on agricultural production. Moreover, in terms of the climate in the north, the next month will basically be sunny days, and the temperature will not be too high, which is a good day for soldiers.

However, if the expedition is unfavorable and the time is delayed beyond June, not to mention the high heat of the summer, the rain that continues with the southeast wind alone will seriously hinder all kinds of military operations.

Therefore, when marching and fighting, the time of day is very important. If Zhang Arrogant does not obtain any major results within a month after sending out the troops, I am afraid that it will be difficult to obtain sufficient results for him in this expedition. (To be continued......)