In Lin Zhe's office in Pingrentang, after Chen Anxu handed Lin Zhe the strategic plan, he walked to the edge of the large national map next to him.

Holding the command list on the map, he instructed: "In the past six months, our army has won successive battles, defeated the stubborn resistance of the Taiping thief army and the Manchu puppet army through a series of battles, and successfully recovered southern Anhui, most of Fujian, northern Anhui and northern Jiangsu. Not long ago, after the First Army defeated the pseudo-Qing monk Greenqin under the city of Suqian, the enemy of northern Jiangsu has become a trapped beast!

In the southern direction of Anhui, the Taiping thief army is still stubbornly resisting in Anqing and Jiujiang, but although the thief army in these two places has a lot of troops, the reason why the two places have not yet been conquered is mainly because we have put the main support in Jiangbei in the past few months. If the support for the Fourth Army and the Second Army can be increased in the future, it is expected that the above two places will be quickly conquered, and while laying the security of southern Anhui, it will march into northern Jiangxi in a big way.

In the direction of Fujian, the Third Army has successively defeated many units of the Zhenhu Army and the Puppet Qing Army, and there is no force in this place and in the direction of Guangdong that can effectively block the pace of our army, but it is limited by the inconvenience of the mountain march, so the overall southward speed of the Third Army is a little slow! ”

After talking about the current situation, Chen Anxu briefly talked about the situation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Manchu Qing Dynasty and Lin Chengting and other hostile forces!

According to the information submitted by the Special Military Affairs Department, Seng Lingqin has been dismissed by the Manchu puppet emperor, and Du Xing'a has been ordered to be the commander of military affairs.

However, after the defeat of Suqian in northern Jiangsu, the Manchu court in the north had already taken a large number of people from Rehe and Mongolia. Guanwai, Northeast and other places also sent the Eight Banners, Green Battalion, and local training troops to the south, and it is also rumored that they also sent puppet Qing troops from Shaanxi, Shanxi and other provinces to the east.

In addition, the Manchu Qing left in Beijing the New Army of the Eight Banners, the Zhili Training Army, the Gyeonggi Training Army, and the Eight Banners and the Old Army of the Green Camp. The puppet Qing is expected to gather more than 100,000 troops in Zhili to block our army's northward march! ”

"In terms of the Taiping thief army in Huguang and northern Jiangxi, it is rumored that the thief army has swelled to 300,000. is currently fighting fiercely with Xiangyong, the headquarters of the Zeng State Domain in Hunan, and from the information we have gotten, although there is a huge difference in the number between the Taiping thief army and Xiangyong on the Huguang side, the thief army has not taken much advantage! ”

"Although the Xiangyong of Zeng Guofan is insufficient, it should only be between 30,000 and 50,000 people, but the combat power is stronger than the ordinary puppet Qing old army, if they continue to develop and grow, Xiangyong may become a major obstacle to our westward expansion in the future!"

"Another thing worth noting is that intelligence agents have discovered that Nanchang and Changsha have been in frequent contact recently. In the area at the junction of Jiangxi and Hunan, the large-scale fighting between Xiangyong and the Zhenhu army has stopped, according to uncertain information, last month the Zhenhu army took the initiative to withdraw from Liling Pass, and the eastern gate in and out of Hunan was handed over to Xiangyong, and at the beginning of this month, news came from the Taiping thief army that one of its troops going south to Xiushui was defeated by the joint attack of two forces, the news circulated. The enemies who attacked them were dressed in light blue uniforms and light gray uniforms, all of which were musket-wielding new troops. ”

According to the analysis of these known intelligences, and then considering the previous grievances between the Taiping Thieves Army and Lin Chengting. We conclude that it is very likely that some kind of tacit agreement has been reached between Lin Chengting and Zeng Guofan to join forces against the Taiping thief army entrenched in Hubei. It is even possible that this tacit understanding is a secret military alliance! ”

Chen Anxu said that these contents are not new news, among which Lin Chengting and Zeng Guofan have reached a tacit understanding. Lin Zhe learned the relevant information as early as two months ago.

The Special Military Service of the Joint Staff has long submitted him the relevant report and assessment, and the assessment of the Special Military Service is: Because Lin Chengting and Zeng Guofan faced a common enemy: the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it is very likely that the two sides reached a secret. Unstable alliance agreements.

Of course, the Special Military Affairs Department also specifically pointed out that this kind of alliance is unstable and may break down at any time, and Lin Chengting and Zeng Guofan must be on guard against each other.

Lin Zhe knew about these things, but he didn't make any direct reaction, why?

Because the Chinese army has not even defeated northern Jiangxi, and even Shi Dakai has not yet been resolved, there is no need to say anything to mobilize forces to fight Lin Chengting or deal with Zeng Guofan now.

In the past, the strategic focus of the Chinese Empire was placed on the Jiangbei region, especially the northern Jiangsu region, but considering the actual situation, the strategic focus of the Chinese Empire will continue to be invested in Jiangbei and aim at the north.

Therefore, in Jiangxi, Huguang and other places in the west, let the Qing army, Xiangyong, Taiping army, and Zhenhu army make trouble by themselves, and the Chinese army will not be able to mobilize enough strength to completely sweep them away for a while.

After Chen Anxu briefly introduced the current situation, he then said:

"Considering the strategic environment faced by the empire and the current situation and threats of the puppet Qing Dynasty, the Taiping Thief Army, the Zhenhu Army, the Xiangyong Army, etc., the colleagues of the Strategy Department have formulated a strategic plan for next year!"

At this time, Chen Anxu pointed the command list at the bottom of the map, that is, in the direction of Guangzhou, Guangdong!

"At the end of this year and the beginning of next year, our first strategic task is to completely take over Guangdong, control the Pearl River Delta area, and add another financial burden to the empire!

As long as the province of Guangdong can be successfully controlled, and the military operations are clean and neat, it will not bring too much war damage to the local area, and the region is expected to provide stable financial revenue for the empire in the second half of next year!

By controlling this area at the same time, we can completely cut off the channels for importing ordnance from Guangxi, Jiangxi, and other provinces, and cut off the channels for Zeng Guofan and Lin Chengting to purchase foreign guns and cannons from foreigners on a large scale. ”

"In order to occupy Guangdong smoothly and quickly, and at the same time to be able to effectively guard against and threaten the Hu army in Jiangxi and the Qing army in Guangxi, as well as to suppress the stubborn forces in Fujian and Guangdong, the Strategy Department believes that the scale of the Third Army going south must be expanded to more than 30,000 people, and in addition to replenishing the 10th Infantry Division, it can appropriately reinforce a mixed regiment here to garrison the areas of Yanping and Fuzhou in Fujian, so as to fill the defense vacancy of the 10th Infantry Division after it goes south to Guangdong.

In addition, the units of the Auxiliary Defense Division of the Third Army. At least four divisions are needed, otherwise it will not be enough to effectively control the two provinces of Fujian and Guangdong. It can also effectively cooperate with the Royal Army.

In order to effectively complete the southward attack on Guangdong, control the combat tasks of bombing Fujian and Guangdong provinces. At the end of this year and at the beginning of the year, the High Command needed to replenish the 10th Division of the Third Army with 3,000 new troops, and in addition to a number of backbone troops, they would join the recruits to form a mixed infantry regiment. ”

"However, although our early strategic focus is in the direction of Guangdong, considering the weak strength of the Qing army in the direction of Guangdong and Fujian, the resistance of the Third Army is very limited, so the biggest problem in this place is the expansion of the existing troops, and the continuous attrition of the follow-up war is extremely limited.

Next year, most of our military supplies will still be mainly in the Jiangbei region, considering that the puppet Qing still has a large number of troops in the northern region. At present, the Qing army in Huai'an and Taoyuan is still resisting, in order to successfully and completely take northern Jiangsu, and march into Shandong and Henan, the Strategy Department believes that in northern Jiangsu, at least one more infantry division and two cavalry regiments need to join the front line to fight!

However, considering that there are still a lot of irregular local armed forces such as the Twist Army in northern Anhui, the newly occupied areas need to maintain military strength for control, and a certain number of royal armies need to be stationed in major areas such as Yangzhou, Huai'an, and Bengbu in the follow-up, and a large number of auxiliary defense forces will be used to suppress the localities.

Therefore, the Division for Strategy is of the view that: In the Jiangbei region, on the basis of the existing troops, it is necessary to invest at least two more infantry divisions and two cavalry regiments in the main forces. It is best for the troops of the Auxiliary Defense Force to have more than 10 divisions, so that they can effectively complete multiple tasks such as fighting the Qing army and suppressing the localities! ”

"Southern Anhui and northern Jiangxi. The Strategy Department believes that the top priority is to take Anqing, and the west of Jiujiang can be relieved. And these two areas have the Fourth Army and the Second Army, if a part of the Fourth Army is transferred back to Anqing. At the same time, the navy dispatched enough warships to cooperate, and it was not a big problem to conquer Anqing, and after taking Anqing, the Second Army and the Fourth Army continued to advance westward, but in principle, they did not cross the Jiujiang River, did not enter Hubei, and did not enter the hinterland of central Jiangxi.

The current situation in these areas is too complicated, and if we go deep into it and our troops are insufficient, it is very likely that we will be attacked from many sides! ”

Lin Zhe also nodded when he listened, Huguang and Jiangxi were too chaotic, and Lin Zhe didn't think about intervening too early, and before laying the overall situation, he rashly broke the strategic balance between the Taiping Army, the Zhenhu Army and Xiangyong.

Because Xiang Yong and the Zhenhu Army certainly have the enemy of the Taiping Army, but the Xiang Yong, the Zhenhu Army, and the Taiping Army have the common enemy of the Chinese Army!

It's not hard to guess this kind of thing, just anyone who understands will know that once the Chinese army marches westward, after beating the Taiping Army, it will be the Hu Army, and then Xiangyong.

Therefore, before the overall strategic situation was laid, when sufficient troops were not mobilized to march westward, Lin Zhe would rather occupy less territory in one or two provinces, rather than fall into the quagmire of Huguang and Jiangxi, and have a big melee with the Zhenhu army, the Taiping army, the Xiangyong, and the ordinary Qing army!

Therefore, the strategy of northern Jiangxi and southern Anhui, except for the capture of Anqing, maintains a strategic defensive posture in other aspects, so the scale of the strategic division will not provide them with additional royal army troops, nor will it give them more military rations and other resources to expand more auxiliary defense forces.

"In addition to the above-mentioned front-line station areas, in our existing control areas, Zhejiang, as our financial land, currently has only one auxiliary defense division stationed, which is obviously not enough, so in the later stage, Zhejiang needs to garrison at least two mixed regiments to suppress the locality.

Southern Jiangsu, southern Anhui and other places also need to send a certain number of royal troops to garrison bomb pressure, and those auxiliary defense forces are still not appropriate! ”

Among the many things Chen Anxu said, he not only said that the front-line troops needed more troops, but also said that more troops were needed in the controlled areas to suppress the locals!

And next year's overall expansion of the military, the expanded troops are not only sent to the front line to fight, but also garrisoned troops, and these two aspects are added together, then the number is relatively large, in order to achieve the above strategic planning, the Royal Army needs to expand at least five more divisions! (To be continued......)