Episode 77 Victory or Defeat in the Exercise

Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that the outside world was "rumored" that the exercise was under the guise of assuming that the Qing army would return south and the Ming army would return fire, but the real assumption was that the Ming army would go north to attack the Qing army.

In addition, he also knows that the so-called "rumors from the outside world" have not "flourished". The exercise lasted only two days, and it was mainly a sports battle in the vast countryside. Although many villagers and citizens have noticed such a military move in the past two days, and have probably guessed that it is a drill, it is nothing more than that. In the past two days, a small number of reporters from the media who responded quickly sent reporters to search and interview in cars, but the exercise area was too large, especially the blue army was so elusive, that there were only a few reporters who could find the battlefield.

Even these reporters just took some photos of the battlefield, wrote some personal speculations, and interviewed a few soldiers while the officers were not paying attention, and that's it. Until the end of last night's exercise, the press's understanding of the exercise was only an incomplete fragment, and the scale and area of the exercise were not clear.

It was only this morning that the press flocked to various departments of the Army for interviews, and came up with relatively complete information, including what the assumptions of the exercise were. Where did it come from, what is "rumored by the outside world". It's just the newspaper's own speculation, and it's just a pretext of "rumors from the outside world". If we hadn't taken the initiative to hold a press conference, you wouldn't even have a "rumor."

But Xiang Xiaoqiang has already learned not to mess with these uncrowned kings. They say "Viva" means "Viva". He spun his head twice and smiled:

"It may be the arrangement of the two sides of this exercise, which makes everyone a little confused. For example, why is it that the Red Army, which is supposed to represent the Qing Army, is the defending side, while the Blue Army, which is assumed to be the Ming Army, is the attacking side. ”

With that, he looked around at the reporters. The reporters carried cameras and notebooks to record his words, and then looked up at him. Quite a few people nodded slightly, indicating that they had this problem.

Xiang Xiaoqiang was slightly satisfied in his heart, and he successfully guided this "rumor" to this new question whether it was true or false. That's easy, just explain the "why" and avoid telling the lie yourself.

He knew that one day the Ming Dynasty would really want to make a northern expedition to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and at that time, everyone would also understand the true purpose of this exercise. Xiang Xiaoqiang, as an important public figure, whether he is in the consideration of national security or not, it is always a stain that he lied to the media and the people of Daming in person.

He continued:

"The Manchu Army is known as the 'Army of a Thousand Divisions', and so far there is not a single infantry division that is even semi-motorized. And the semi-motorized use of our Ming Army and army divisions is already very common. As for the proportion, this involves military secrets, and I cannot comment on it. However, I can tell you that the semi-motorized combat units of our army have become very common and can form a powerful deterrent. In addition to this, there are a small number of fully motorized infantry, mechanized infantry and armored divisions. These are all things that the Qing army does not have.

"This determines that in a vast battlefield, although the numerical superiority is on the side of the Qing army, the mobile superiority will be on our side. If we take into account that the Qing army has just crossed the Yangtze River and is heading south, there are not enough vehicles to transport all kinds of baggage, and they are still in the state of light infantry, then their mobility will be even worse. Therefore, in the exercise, the number and mobility of the red and blue sides are also roughly allocated according to this ratio. As a result, everyone saw that the Blues had the right to maneuver on the battlefield, like an attacker, while the Red Army did not have the right to maneuver, but acted like a defender. ”

The second reporter asked:

"I am a reporter from Jinling Business Daily, and I would like to ask Marshal Zhang Zhaoxian, as the chief planner of this exercise, what do you think about the army's disastrous defeat under the People's Guard, and the defeat was so disproportionate?"

When Zhang Zhaoxian, Tang Yunsheng, and Xiang Xiaoqiang heard this question, they all glanced at each other, and they all understood that this kind of problem would definitely appear at the press conference. The best way for newspapers to earn eyeballs is to say that the Red Army suffered a crushing defeat to the Blues, and that the Army suffered a crushing defeat to the People's Guard.

Xiang Xiaoqiang also glanced at Tang Yunsheng with some concern, afraid that this old man had a small heart, and he already had something in his heart, and if he was provoked by the reporter's words like this, it would be bad if there was an estrangement. But Tang Yunsheng's expression didn't seem to mean that, he smiled slightly, picked up the teacup and took a sip.

Zhang Zhaoxian smiled:

"First of all, I would like to correct that it is not the army that loses under the People's Guard, but the red side that loses under the blue side. The Blue Army was composed of one division each of the People's Guard and the Army, and each of these two divisions annihilated the Red Division in equal numbers. Moreover, considering that the Blue Second Division is only a motorized infantry division, the results can be equal to that of the Blue First Division, an armored division, which shows that our Ming army is not only the People's Guard, but also the ordinary army division. The Blues won, not because half of it was the People's Guard, but because it used advanced new tactics.

"I would also like to remind everyone that this exercise is experimental in nature and more technical than political. What to test? The main thing is to test new tactics, and to test whether or not we can win more with less in a short period of time when we have full air supremacy and maneuver supremacy. Before planning this exercise, Tang Shuai and I and some other generals had discussed this military issue, and we were very interested in it, and felt that it was very important for our defense and security. Everyone is wondering, if the Qing invade the south again, will we be able to greatly reduce casualties by using this method of warfare? Is it possible to play to strengths and avoid weaknesses, and win more with less?

"Tang Shuai, Tang Shuai, and Commander Xiang and I all think that the new tactics are very superior and should have great power. But how superior and powerful is it? This will have to be tested. Therefore, we asked Your Majesty to plan this live military exercise. It is said to be experimental in nature and not political, but after all, it is still necessary to make assumptions, that is, someone must 'play' the Ming army, and someone must 'play' the Qing army. Although Tang Shuai was also very optimistic about the new tactics, in order to make the 'experiment' more rigorous and more able to withstand scrutiny, I asked him to personally handle the work and serve as the commander-in-chief of the Red Army.

"But you also asked why Red lost so badly. You must know that the red side has no air supremacy and land maneuver rights at all. Before the exercise, we did not attach much importance to these 'two powers', and we saw more of the comparison of forces between the two sides. However, after this exercise, we know that if we do not have these 'two powers,' let alone triple the troop strength, it is even ten times the troop strength. This is also the purpose of this exercise. From this point of view, Tang Shuai did not fail, the army did not fail, and they, like all the officers and soldiers who participated in the exercise, were victors. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang listened to Zhang Zhaoxian's old man's cloud and mountain fog cover, and he was really convinced. This old man's official tone is even, stable, and beautiful, and he rounds up the faces of both the red and blue, and the laymen in the press still listen to it. Xiang Xiaoqiang also breathed a sigh of relief at this time, and glanced at Tang Yunsheng. It just so happened that Tang Yunsheng also looked at his side, and the two of them smiled slightly, and they both looked much more relaxed.