Valley Emperor

Datang Hubei Province, Wuchang City.

This place is the headquarters of the First Army, but this place is not the core command center of this southwest battle. The core command center of this battle is Jiujiang!

Because Jiujiang is the location of the newly established Southwest Campaign Command of the Privy Council.

Because of the huge scale of the Southwest Campaign, the number of troops involved in the battle reached three armies and several other armies, with a total force of more than 150,000 people. It is no longer possible to simply rely on the actions of the armies and divisions to complete the battle as before. A higher command is required to direct detailed warfare.

This kind of thing was actually the same in the previous Northern Expedition. At that time, there were not so many troops participating in the Northern Expedition, but Li Xuan still took almost half of the Privy Council to the north to coordinate the operations of various troops.

The scale of the Southwest Campaign was even larger. Li Xuan originally did not want to go to war in person again. It was tiring to run around, but he was really worried. Moreover, such a large-scale campaign was the same in the current Tang Dynasty. Couldn't find a suitable candidate to serve as commander-in-chief of the Southwest Campaign.

Hao Bainian is suitable in terms of ability and prestige, but for balance considerations, after Hao Bainian made great contributions during the Northern Expedition, it is impossible for Li Xuan to let him serve as the commander-in-chief of the Southwest Campaign.

The talent and ability of the First Army Commander Li Chunjing are also extremely outstanding, but his combat style is too radical. The Southwest Campaign is very important in a series of strategic concepts of the Tang Dynasty, and all aspects are dominated by With the advantage, the Privy Council did not plan to take risks in the past, but prepared to fight steadily. If Li Chunjing was in command, he was very likely to win a super victory, but he was also very likely to suffer a disastrous defeat!

This is unacceptable to Li Xuan!

As for Fang Xitong, his prestige and ability are a little worse. Although he is loyal, loyalty cannot completely replace his ability.

As for Wang Chaohong and Chen Keqiao, both of them have insufficient prestige and qualifications. It is unrealistic for them to command Li Chunjing to fight, because they both fought under Li Chunjing before.

Not to mention Lei Wan, it's okay to sit in the Privy Council, commanding an army of hundreds of thousands to fight, many people will not be convinced!

Zeng Ziwen has already withdrawn from the front line. Although he is the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, he basically no longer holds an actual position, and Li Xuan has no plans to reactivate him. Even if he is activated, this person's ability is not enough to command hundreds of thousands of people. , a battle that affected several provinces.

In the end, Li Xuan had no choice but to wear military uniforms again and prepare for the expedition!

When he couldn't find a suitable candidate, he couldn't just watch the hundreds of thousands of troops fighting each other, which eventually led to a situation where the ship capsized in the gutter!

However, this time Li Xuan did not intend to go to the front line in person. This time, the Southwest Campaign is different from the Anping Campaign in the Northern Expedition. It is unlikely that there will be a very large-scale decisive battle to decide the outcome. Large-scale battles to win.

Therefore, Li Xuan's focus is not only on the First Army, but also on the Second Army, Fifth Army, and even the Fourth Infantry Division, Seventh Mixed Regiment and other units, as well as logistical affairs.

In this battle, what Li Xuan has to do is to act as a banner, suppress the arrogant soldiers below, and let them obediently obey the orders of the Privy Council War Department to fight.

Yes, the actual commander of this Southwest Campaign will not be Li Xuan, nor Li Chunjing and other generals leading the army abroad, but will be the Minister on Duty in the Imperial Study Room, the Minister of Operations of the Privy Council, and Lieutenant General Lei Wan of the Army!

Or to be more precise, Lei Wan is only a person on the bright side. Those who actually instigate and direct the specific campaign will be dozens of combat staff officers in the Operations Department!

Just like many large-scale battles experienced by the Tang Dynasty in the past, the War Department of the Privy Council will play a decisive battle!

In the early years, Li Xuan established a staff system in order to solve the problems of young, inexperienced and limited ability of middle and senior generals. Senior generals can get more tactical advice.

However, with the development of so many years, the staff system of the Datang King Division has become more and more perfect, especially the combat staff in the Privy Council's Operations Department. It can be said that they have undertaken the large-scale campaign planning and strategic command of all the Tang Dynasty!

And this also makes the combat staff in the combat department more and more valuable. These combat staff are all the best officers selected from the entire army, all of whom are from the Imperial Academy.

Under the Department of Operations, there are various divisions, the most critical of which is the Department of Staff. The Department of Staff is usually held concurrently by the Deputy Director of the Department of Operations, that is, the Deputy Director of Operations, and the Executive Deputy Minister are two concepts.

The deputy chief of operations, with the rank of major general of the army, is usually served by those who have successively served as the chief of staff of the army and the commander of an infantry division. The staff members in the staff department have senior combat staff, usually school officers, and most of them have served in field troops. Especially those who have served as battalion commanders and regimental commanders, while the intermediate combat staff members are lieutenants, usually new graduates of the Royal Academy. Of course, even new graduates, but most of them have served as captains and deputy battalions before. long-term jobs.

In other words, the people in the staff of the Department of War are all from the field army, have experience as the chief officer of the army, and they are also from the Imperial Academy, and have received a relatively complete military education. The overall quality is definitely in the army. Among the middle and low-level officers within the range, they also belong to the top level.

With such a group of people concentrating on planning and planning, it may not be possible to make a too amazing battle plan, but the chance of error is also very small.

Before Li Xuan officially set off for Jiujiang, Major General Chen Xiong, the deputy director of operations of the Operations Department, had already arrived in Jiujiang with more than a dozen staff officers, and members of other departments of the Privy Council arrived in Jiujiang first. Here is the initial composition of the Southwest Campaign Command!

At the same time, in Jinling City, Li Xuan is also preparing for another personal expedition. This time, the personal expedition preparation is simpler than the previous Northern Expedition, because Li Xuan only intends to go to Jiujiang to sit in town, not to go to the battlefield to command and fight. Therefore, although the Guards will also go together, the actual Guards participating in the war will be only one temporary brigade.

In Li Xuan's own words, he planned to bring 10,000 Guards with two Guards infantry regiments as the core to Jiujiang, and left a Guards infantry regiment as the core to control Jinling City.

If nothing else, the 10,000 Guards brought by Li Xuan will not have the opportunity to participate in the battle. Their existence is only for the personal safety of point guard Li Xuan.

Except for the Guards, other things are even simpler!

The courtiers of the Tang Dynasty have become accustomed to the personal expedition of the sage of the ancients. They have experienced it many times. A few years ago, they would have said something like His Majesty, think twice, but now, it is basically nothing. People said that Li Xuan said that he was going to prepare for the expedition in person. Those courtiers didn't ask why, they just went to prepare.

It seems that this matter is as common as eating and drinking. This makes Li Xuan a little sigh. The Datang Dynasty that he created is a bit abnormal from top to bottom. Although Wenchen had many conflicts and conflicts with the military, he was very welcome to fight.

In particular, the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Taxation are very supportive of the war to expand the territory and open up the commercial market.

For example, the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises, although most of them are engaged in the defense industry, but in the final analysis it is still running an enterprise, which naturally needs industrial raw materials and markets.

The same is true for the Ministry of Commerce. To develop domestic industry and commerce, there is no shortage of industrial raw materials and markets.

The Ministry of Agriculture was not very supportive before, but recently they have added an immigration and reclamation department. What is this department used for? It is used for immigration. Both domestic immigration and foreign immigration are their business.

This is not to expand, not to occupy new territory, how can they immigrate to the past to solve the difficulties of more people and less land in some parts of the country.

Not to mention the tax department, they don't care how the country spends money, anyway, as long as Li Xuan agrees, they will give the money!

But they are in charge of how to collect money. Nowadays, with the development of industry and commerce becoming more and more prosperous, maritime trade is also becoming more and more prosperous. Various commercial taxes and tariffs have continued to increase substantially, and this is also inseparable from industrial raw materials. and market.

Of course, some other departments of the cabinet are not very supportive, especially those that cannot bring obvious benefits to them through external expansion, such as the Ministry of Rites. No matter how much external expansion, it is of no use to them. They mainly run education. And those who engage in etiquette, at most, are to promote Chinese culture to overseas barbarians!

But on the whole ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ the cabinet still maintains a supportive attitude towards expansion, and the expansion is like this, not to mention the unification of the country.

The cabinet prepared very quickly, and soon it was the Northern Expedition before the fire fighting. The cabinet was basically divided into two, and the ministers on duty and the walking ministers in the imperial study were also divided into two.

Some will accompany the car to Jiujiang, and some will stay in Jinling

The main person in charge of staying in Jinling will still be the Minister on Duty of the Imperial Study Room, the Grand Scholar of Jianji Palace, Liu Bagou, the Minister of Household Affairs, and one of the three major scholars of the Tang Dynasty, the Army Army who is also the Minister on Duty of the Imperial Study Room. Minister Qian Mengjiu will accompany him.

The rest of the people are not so large. Some will follow the car, and some will stay in Jinling. But no matter what the situation, if the minister stays behind in a department, the Zuo Shilang will definitely drive with him, and if the Shangshu is in the car, the Zuo Shilang will definitely. stay.

After all, Shang Shu, Zuo Shilang, and these two people are the main and secondary persons in charge of an organization. Shang Shu and Zuo Shilang have to be separated, and one person is responsible for one side.

After everything was ready, Li Xuan reluctantly suspended the guidance of the various dance poses of the palace dance troupe, and once again embarked on the road of personal expedition!