Whether Liu Jun wants it or not, Shi Kefa's proposal is indeed a compromise, and at least the three eunuchs are quite satisfied with this proposal.

The three eunuchs agreed, Zhu Dadian also agreed, and the chief soldier Mou Wenshou also agreed, and in the end, only Liu Jun's attitude remained. When Liu Jun saw this result, he didn't want to object.

"Since everyone thinks it's good, so be it."

After the soldiers were divided into two ways, things were even better. The 20,000 soldiers and horses in Jiangbei were commanded by Shi Kefa, supervised by Lu Jiude, and led by Mu Wenshou, as the Eastern Route Army.

The 20,000 nine-headed birds were the Western Route Army, which was commanded by Zhu Dadian, supervised by Wang Kun and Lu Weining and Qu Shiyun, and Liu Jun commanded the troops, responsible for recovering Yingshan County and encircling and suppressing bandits around Yingshan.

In fact, there was nothing more to say about the next meeting, and after everyone talked nonsense, they dispersed. Liu Jun did not stay in the city either, he went directly back to the camp outside the city.

On the way back to the camp, Liu Jun thought about it, leaving aside those pig teammates, the nine-headed bird could be more relaxed.

Next, Liu Jun sent a brigade to go out to reconnoitre, collect intelligence, and find out the reality of the bandits. Liu Jun was not in a hurry to attack, they came to exterminate the bandits, and they did not come to send them to death.

It was the soldiers and horses in Jiangbei, and they began to go north on the second day of the military meeting, and several battalions of soldiers and horses were dispatched, making chickens and dogs jump. It is said that the merchants and people of Anqing City were also levied a large amount of money and grain, which was used as silver and grain for the Jiangbei Army.

The nine-headed bird was quietly stationed in the camp, and no one was allowed to leave the camp without a military order.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Liu Jun and the officers of each battalion were discussing the battle plan around a huge sand table.

The operation of the nine-headed bird pays attention to pre-planning, and it is necessary to collect intelligence in advance, and then make a detailed battle plan based on the intelligence, rather than like many Ming generals. There is only a general goal, and there is no specific layout plan.

Liu Jun attaches great importance to the combat plan, and each plan has to be repeatedly calculated, and even the second set of plans has to be prepared in advance. Liu Jun even set up a new staff praise and painting office, and temporarily transferred the officers who were trained in the martial arts hall with the army to the staff office as staff officers.

Yang Yongfu is the younger brother of Liu Jun's brother-in-law, a showman, who has been joining the nine-headed bird for three months and participated in the Battle of Sichuan. Now he has the title of Bai Zong. He was trained in the lecture martial arts hall, and this time he went to Jiangbei with the army to suppress bandits and was assigned to the staff office. At this time, he held a slender wooden stick and stood in front of Liu Jun and the generals of each battalion.

He stood there a little nervously, his hands were still trembling slightly, and he pointed at the sand table with a wooden stick, "This is Sikong Mountain, Baisha Town, Taihu County, Anqing Prefecture, and you can reach it from Anqing along the road river and the back river." The terrain is very important. After we sent our troops, we first arrived here along the river and set up a camp at Sikong Mountain. Accumulate grain and grass, and set this place as a grain and grass storage point and transfer point. ”

From Anqing to Yingshan, there is a distance of nearly 500 miles.

Although the nine-headed bird has its own grain and grass, it cannot store the grain and grass in Anqing. And then all the way to supply, it is also impossible to carry all of them with the army.

The best way to do this is to set up a storage and transfer point close to the battlefield.

Sikong Mountain. It really fits the needs very well. Moreover, after the garrison of Sikong Mountain, it is equivalent to blocking the road for the bandits to break through from Yingshan to the south.

Sikong Mountain is only a hundred miles away from Yingshan, but in fact, if you go further, you will already enter the control area of the bandits, and the grain storage point is too far in front and it is no longer safe.

Liu Jun nodded and motioned for Yang Yongfu to continue.

Yang Yongfu swallowed his saliva, moistened his throat, and continued, "We can recruit a group of boats, transport troops and grain and grass along the Malu River and the Houbu River by water, and set up a grain transfer point here, and keep a group of soldiers and horses. Then he took action step by step, controlled the surrounding mountain villages, fortified towns, and continued to advance. Every 20 miles, a military station was built to guard the grain transportation road. Every sixty miles, build a fortress. ”

"The Staff Office means to devour the advance?" Wang Kun asked, "Why don't you go straight to Yingshan, we are strong and strong, and we have to be so careful." ”

"There's nothing wrong with being careful." Liu Jun said, "The bandits do not occupy the county seats, but are entrenched in the deep mountains and old forests, we must take into account that the bandits swim with us without fighting, and avoid fighting." Let's take it step by step and don't give the bandits any chance to take advantage of it. ”

"What's more, we are marching in three ways this time, so we are not in a hurry."

This kind of suppression of bandits in the mountains is different from attacking the city, the most afraid is that the thieves are fighting with you in the deep mountains and old forests, when your army is deep, the thieves will take you around in a circle, and on the other hand, they will be familiar with the terrain, so that the supply line will be extended, and then attack your grain and grass transportation, and when the officers and soldiers cannot be replenished and have to retreat, the thieves will attack and harass again, dragging and not letting them go, that is the most troublesome.

The current operational plan of the General Staff Office is to sweep away the past inch by inch, and then regain each place, register the household registration, set up armor, and then build military stations and fortresses along the road, so as to compress the living space of the bandits step by step.

"Our staff office also plans to draw out the cavalry and stand by at any time, once the traces of the thieves are found, immediately send cavalry to quickly attack, drag the thieves, and then wait for the infantry to arrive and annihilate them."

Liu Jun also nodded in approval of this plan.

"Okay, the battle plan of the General Staff Office has come out, now everyone will discuss it, put forward their own opinions, and pick up the gaps."

Liu Jun's staff office is a fairly new thing, these staff officers are different from the original army's chief general Zanhua, they are independent. Based on intelligence, they draw up corresponding battle plans. Then the plan was taken out, and then the generals who led the troops discussed and adjusted.

Finally, it is up to the master to make the decision.

Liu Jun had high hopes for this new staff office, and he even planned to let them participate in the army's affairs, from operational strategy to marching routes, grain and grass arrangements, and so on.

Of course, Liu Jun also attaches more importance to the selection of these staff officers. He didn't use any master's staff, nor did he just promote some literate scholars and literati. On the contrary, every staff officer must have been the chief officer of the front line of the nine-headed bird, must have rich combat experience, must have received staff training in the martial arts hall, must be literate, must be able to draw pictures, and must be able to calculate. In short, the staff officers had to be both civil and military.

The staff officers were all promoted from the outstanding officers on the front line to the lecture hall, and after professional training, they were promoted to staff officers at all levels of battalion headquarters, and after a certain period of time, they were again delegated to the front-line troops to serve as the chief officers leading the troops.

In short, in the future, the officer who leads the troops in the nine-headed bird is not necessarily a staff officer, but the staff officer must be from the best officer who leads the troops. Liu Jun also plans to slowly train a group of excellent staff officers to be in the nine-headed bird's troops at all levels in the future. All have a staff office, and its chief of staff can even be at the same level as the chief officer with the troops, or only one level lower, and become one of the chief officers of the troops at that level.

In a unit, there are not only commanders at all levels who command the troops, but also staff officers at all levels who are responsible for reconnoitering the military situation, formulating operational plans, and transferring food and wages. and even the training of soldiers and horses.

In doing so, Liu Jun also wanted to strengthen his control over the troops. In the past, the imperial court used to be the commander of the army by the civil ministers, and the eunuchs supervised the army. But Liu Jun does not agree with this approach. However, this will increase the control. But it is tantamount to letting the layman lead the insider, which greatly reduces the combat effectiveness of the army.

And Liu Jun intends to use the staff system to decentralize power, rather than supervising the control of the army. For example, in the future, staff officers will be responsible for food and salary, and staff officers will be one level lower than the chief general. However, the food and salary operations in charge will be directly managed by the staff headquarters of the higher level, and will not be directly under the control of the chief general at that level. This practice is somewhat similar to that of later generations. For example, taxation, public security, procuratorate, law, etc., they have a difference between rules and blocks.

In this way, for example, although the chief of staff of the battalion is a subordinate of the battalion guerrilla general, he is not directly controlled by him in the specific operations under his jurisdiction, and this makes it very difficult for the battalion guerrillas to stretch out their hands on the salaries of the battalions, take the lead salaries, and deduct the salaries of the troops. In fact, this is somewhat similar to the governor and the governor, the governor is larger than the governor, but the governor has the right to supervise the impeachment of the governor, and the governor is not allowed to interfere in many of his affairs.

Although this may be very unpleasant for the Lord, the power must be supervised and controlled.

An excellent staff officer can also help the chief general to share the responsibility of collecting intelligence and making appropriate battle plans based on the intelligence, so that the chief general can devote more energy to being responsible for commanding operations. Even after having a staff officer, the army is equivalent to having a double commander, and in case the chief general is killed in battle, the staff officer can immediately take over the command.

It turns out that these things of the staff officers are the Lord to take the idea of himself, or to recruit some personal staff. But this kind of staff is private, they have no position of their own, and they are completely obedient to the will of the owner.

Staff officers are both decentralization and supervision.

Although the Ming Dynasty has not yet fallen, but now the army of the Ming Dynasty has a bit of the rudiments of the division of feudal towns, the officers recommended by the main generals will basically pass the imperial court, and most of the food and salary are raised by themselves, and even the military quota has long been overnumbered, and many times, those generals are not very obedient to the orders of the imperial court.

Even within the armies, the situation is much the same, and some of the general soldiers also do not have too strong control over the generals and guerrillas below.

Although these soldiers will not rebel at every turn as they did in the late Tang Dynasty. But the army of the Ming Dynasty is indeed out of control, and Liu Jun never wants the nine-headed bird he built up to become like that in the end. Although the nine-headed bird is now in its infancy, military discipline is still very strict. But after a long time and the team is bigger, it will inevitably be difficult to bring.

Finally, it is imperative to introduce a staff officer system to divide some of the powers of the chief generals, and to have more supervision, and the staff officers are not only to decentralize power and supervision, but also to enhance the combat effectiveness of the army by joining them.

The newly established staff office in the nine-headed bird, although the staff officers at all levels feel a little in the way, but after all, Liu Jun now has a huge prestige among the nine-headed bird, and the staff system he introduced, although everyone has some opinions, can still accept it after all.

This is a very good result for Liu Jun, as long as everyone accepts it, then they can slowly get used to it, and they will also maintain this system, and it will be difficult to change it in the future.

Perhaps in the future, we can set up a few more chiefs of staff, and each chief general will appoint a few to join the army, who will be responsible for the training of soldiers and horses, food and equipment, assessment and meritorious service, intelligence, and battle plans, etc., and the chief general will only be responsible for commanding operations, and that officer in the army will be the deputy of the chief general, but he will be subordinate to the staff offices at the next higher level!

The soldiers commanded the staff offices of various departments and accepted the dual leadership of the chief general at the same level and the staff office at the higher level, and Liu Jun secretly planned to seize the time to further expand the staff mechanism. (To be continued......)