The scale of the summer offensive of 1857 was much larger than that of the spring offensive three months earlier, and three months earlier Lin Zhe led his army to the west, although he used a lot of troops, but at the beginning there were only tens of thousands of troops involved in the battle, and there was only one direction of attack.

However, the current summer offensive is being fought in four directions at the same time, and almost all the main forces of the Chinese army and most of the auxiliary defense divisions are involved.

For this reason, the various departments of the Supreme High Command prepared two months in advance, not to mention the rest and training of the troops, and more importantly, the hoarding of various military supplies, such as food, fodder for horses, and more importantly, ammunition.

With the further increase in the number of artillery and rifles in the Chinese army, the demand for ammunition is very large, and the Chinese army is extremely dependent on firearms in combat, and once the ammunition supply is not timely, it will cause very severe consequences.

Therefore, it is very necessary to stock up on a large amount of ammunition before the war.

After the preparations were made, on June 9, Lin Zhe issued an edict, announcing the formation of five army-level headquarters of the First Army, the Second Army, the Third Army, the Fourth Army, and the Fifth Army, which were responsible for combat missions in their respective directions.

In fact, at the beginning of the year, the number of the Chinese army continued to increase, and a more advanced command structure than the division-level troops should be formed, but at that time, because Lin Zhe personally commanded the Western Expeditionary Troops, and the main forces were all gathered in the Western Expeditionary Troops, the matter slowed down.

However, now the Chinese army is scattered all over the country, although the main force still relies on those divisions of the Royal Army, but the number of auxiliary defense forces is quite large, and in the past, the division commanders of the Royal Army infantry divisions were responsible for commanding these auxiliary defense divisions.

And now, what Lin Zhe has to do is to formalize the situation, and this is why five army-level command centers have been established.

Among them, the First Army has the 1st Division, the 3rd Division, the 2nd Auxiliary Defense Division, the 9th Auxiliary Defense Division, the 14th Auxiliary Defense Division, and the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which is currently stationed in the Nanjing area, and the main combat force for the subsequent march into northern Jiangsu, with Shi Qingxuan, commander of the Third Division, serving as the commander.

The Second Army has the Second Division, the First Auxiliary Defense Division, the Thirteenth Auxiliary Defense Division, and the First Cavalry Regiment, which is currently stationed in Hezhou and the Taiping Mansion area on the north bank of the Yangtze River in Anhui Province, and is responsible for attacking in the direction of northern Anhui and carrying out strategic defensive tasks to prevent Chen Yucheng from attacking the east in northern Anhui. Lin Anfei, commander of the Second Division, served as the commander.

The Third Army has the 10th Division and the 8th Auxiliary Defense Division, which are currently stationed in the vicinity of Funing Prefecture in Fujian, and are responsible for the strategic tasks of Fujian Province and even the subsequent advance into Guangdong, with Chen Yuntao, commander of the 10th Division, as the commander.

The Fourth Army has the Fourth Division, the Third Auxiliary Defense Division, and the Eleventh Auxiliary Defense Division, which are currently stationed in Ningguofu and Tongling in Chizhou Prefecture.

The Fifth Army has the Fifth Division, the Tenth Auxiliary Defense Division, the Twelfth Auxiliary Defense Division, and the Fifth Cavalry Regiment, which is currently stationed in Zhenjiang and Danyang, and is responsible for defending against the enemy in Yangzhou, and is the main force in the subsequent war in northern Jiangsu. Shen Chiyun, commander of the Fifth Division, served as the commander.

In addition to these five corps, there were also some units directly under the command of the Command, including the Guards Division, the main force stationed in Nanjing, which had just been formed and had not yet been formed, and the Seventh Infantry Division, which was stationed in Shanghai, an important city of the Chinese Empire.

In addition, there are the 4th Auxiliary Defense Division stationed in Suzhou and Wuxi, the 5th Auxiliary Defense Division stationed in Songjiang and Jiaxing, the 6th Auxiliary Defense Division stationed in Shanghai and Taicang Prefecture, the 7th Auxiliary Defense Division stationed in Hangzhou and Huzhou, and the 15th Auxiliary Defense Division stationed in Jinhua and Chuzhou Prefectures in Zhejiang.

The five corps and other units mentioned above are seven Royal Army infantry divisions, three cavalry regiments, one Royal Guards Division, and fifteen auxiliary defense divisions, with a total strength of about 120,000 troops, while about 95,000 troops are involved in front-line combat in four directions, and another 25,000 are stationed in various important cities in the rear, such as Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou.

From this ratio of force distribution, it can be seen that for the summer offensive, the Chinese army has already mobilized all the forces that can be mobilized to participate in the war.

In order to motivate the morale of the senior generals, before the war, Lin Zhe met them one by one, in addition to the conventional means of greeting and warming, he also hinted to these senior generals that once he made meritorious contributions in battle, then he Lin Zhe would definitely not be stingy with the prince.

With Lin Zhe's appointment, Lin Anfei, Xu Yanqing, Chen Yuntao, and Shen Chiyun each went to the war zone, and in Nanjing, a large-scale departure ceremony was also held on June 12.

This is a military parade that is not much smaller than the military parade of the Dingdu Grand Ceremony, the only difference is that at the military parade of the Dingdu Grand Ceremony, these soldiers returned to the barracks after participating in the parade, and today, they will go directly to the front line to participate in the battle after being reviewed by Lin Zhe.

Lu Daobao was wearing his double-breasted officer's uniform, and although the hot weather made his back sweat, he still held his head high on his horse, and controlled the horse under his crotch to move forward steadily.

When he served in the Fourth Division last year, he participated in a series of battles with the Fourth Division as a second lieutenant and deputy company commander, and was quickly promoted because of his outstanding appearance, and after taking Hangzhou last year, he was promoted to lieutenant company commander, and at the beginning of the year, he was promoted to captain.

During the great rest of the army in May, he was transferred from the 4th Division to the 1st Division, where he served as the commander of the 3rd Battalion under the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division, and was promoted to the rank of major.

Although Lu Daobao's promotion speed is very fast, this is not a special phenomenon in the Chinese army, but a common phenomenon, the number of officers in the Chinese army has always been unable to keep up with the pace of expansion of the army, even if the battalion academy is changed to the army officer school, the enrollment scale is still not able to change this situation.

The main reason for this is that the expansion speed of the Chinese army is too fast, and the strength of the Chinese army is now twice as large as before the flag was raised, which means that the number of officers needed is also doubled.

Therefore, it can only be to promote and promote the existing officers, especially those officers with combat experience, the promotion speed is the same as riding a rocket, quite a few were still deputy company commanders last year, and the basic officers of the company commanders have grown rapidly into middle-level officers such as battalion commanders and regiment commanders.

Lu Daobao is one of the lucky ones, he is only 22 years old this year, and his immaturity can still be found on his face, but the perseverance shown in the military uniform and dress does not indicate that he is a qualified officer.

As the army continued to advance, it didn't take long for Lu Daobao's troops to approach the parade platform, and Lu Daobao could already see Lin Zhe surrounded by dozens of senior generals on the platform.

Although he has been in the army for several years, Lu Daobao actually saw Lin Zhe at such a close distance for the first time, only to see Lin Zhe above wearing a unique dragon-patterned military uniform, and he erected his saber on a horse, and returned the military salute to his army.

This is the emperor of the empire, the ruler that tens of millions of people need to worship, and this is the commander who is loyal to more than 100,000 soldiers, including himself.

Lu Daobao's eyes did not take his eyes off for even a moment, he always paid attention to Lin Zhe, and when his formation passed under the high platform where Lin Zhe was, he saw him draw out the command knife on his waist with a brush, and at the same time, the soldiers under his command held up the rifles with bayonets in unison.

At this time, Wang Ludao looked at Lin Zhe and shouted: "The Chinese Empire is invincible!" ”

The soldiers shouted in unison: "Invincible!" ”

Lin Zhe on the high platform was condescending, and sitting on horseback, he raised the command knife in his hand lightly and made a gesture of returning the salute.

With firm eyes, steady steps, and shouting over and over again that the Chinese Empire was invincible, Lu Daobao seemed to feel that he had a very wonderful feeling, and at this moment, he felt a very wonderful feeling. That is, if needed, then he will offer all his loyalty and sacrifice to Lin Zhe

After repeating the slogan, Lu Daobao had already ridden away on horseback, although Lu Daobao still wanted to look back again, only to see his commander and the emperor, but he still endured and did not look back, but urged the horses and his troops to continue to advance, their direction was to go out of the city to the Yangtze River, and then cross the Yangtze River to Jiangbei under the cover of many warships of the navy.

In order to cover the crossing of the river by up to 30,000 soldiers of the First Army, the navy gathered a large number of warships and transport ships, countless warships lined up along the river, and dozens of heavy guns faced the north bank of the Yangtze River, preparing to attack the Qing army that might appear.

Hundreds of bamboo rafts, rafts, and wooden boats carried a large number of soldiers and various supplies to start crossing the river!

Although there was no Qing army to make trouble during the crossing of the river, the whole crossing of the river still lasted for three whole days, and the reason why these 30,000 people spent three full days without any obstruction was because the first army's crossing of the river was not only 30,000 people who could run over, but also had to bring a large amount of equipment and baggage.

Just to transport the more than 30 12-pounder field guns, eight 32-pounder mortars, and four 64-pounder mortars across the river, it is not a trivial matter, these are all big guys weighing several tons, and it is extremely troublesome to get on and off the ship.

In addition, the First Army carried a lot of grain, considering the destruction of agricultural production in the Jiangbei region, and at the same time, there is information that the Qing army carried out a large-scale fortified clearing of other northern Jiangsu areas outside Yangzhou in order to defend the northern Jiangsu region, and sent troops to destroy a large number of crops that had not yet been harvested.

And in northern Anhui, due to the ravages of the Taiping army and the Twist army, there is no need to expect to be able to obtain a large amount of grain in the wild.

You must know that people are iron and steel, and if you don't have guns, no artillery, you can't win, but if you don't have food in your hands, you will definitely starve to death, and the food supply of the Chinese army has always been abundant, and the soldiers of the Royal Army are all full, even if they are soldiers of the Auxiliary Defense Army, they also have three meals a day and a dry meal.

In this way, the demand for food is very large, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to defeat the enemy because of food!

It was precisely because of the consideration that it was difficult for the troops crossing the river to the north to obtain food supplies on the spot, so the First Army needed to go north with a large amount of military rations.

After crossing the river, Shi Qingxuan, the commander of the First Army, did not hesitate, and immediately commanded the army to enter Yangzhou along the east of the river, and the warships of the Admiralty also accompanied him all the way to ensure that he could provide naval artillery fire support for the First Army at any time.

After the First Army arrives in Yangzhou, a large-scale battle with an estimated number of 70,000 or 80,000 participants will start in Yangzhou. (To be continued.) )