Xiao Ruxun looked at the generals and saw that they were all solemn, so he continued to speak with satisfaction.
"But in my mind, after taking care of Pyongyang, we should take care of Kato Kiyomasa's troops. If we only take care of the Japanese in Pyongyang, the army will have to move south to face the rest of the Japanese. But at this time, Kato Kiyomasa's troops in Jizhou can move at any time and directly threaten our rear, which is where the King of Korea is. The Korean army is weak and can't be expected. I have even ordered all the defeated troops to be used as laborers to carry food and ordnance, so their fighting power is negligible.
Therefore, if we want to move south, it is impossible without eliminating the enemy in Jizhou. If we divide our troops to deal with Jizhou, it will inevitably disperse our already small forces. My idea is to devise a clever plan to take care of these two stubborn enemies in one go, and then directly attack Hwanghae Province and Gyeonggi Province. In this way, the Japanese in Gangwon Province will no longer be a threat, and the entire army will be gathered in Han City, which will be much easier. "
"We are willing to listen to the commander's orders!"
The generals couldn't wait to know their respective tasks.
"This time, the army will be divided into the left, middle, and right armies. The left army will be led by Ma Gui, the deputy commander. He will be supported by 3,000 sword and shield soldiers, 3,000 gunmen, and 4,000 crossbowmen, for a total of 10,000 soldiers."
Ma Gui immediately accepted the order. "Yes!"
"The right army will be led by Zhang Shijue, the deputy commander. He will be supported by 3,000 sword and shield soldiers, 3,000 gunmen, and 4,000 crossbowmen, for a total of 10,000 soldiers. It will be the same as the left army."
Zhang Shijue cupped his fists and stepped forward. "Yes!"
"The middle army will be supported by 4,000 sword and shield soldiers, 4,000 gunmen, 2,000 crossbowmen, 5,000 firearms from Ningxia, and 5,000 cannoneers from Zhejiang, for a total of 20,000 soldiers. I will command the 2,000 cannoneers from Ningxia and 3,000 cannoneers from Zhejiang to form the artillery battalion, and the 3,000 cannoneers from Ningxia and 2,000 cannoneers from Zhejiang to form the artillery battalion.
"Yes!"
The generals accepted the order.
"Admiral, then, then what about the cavalry under this general?"
An untimely voice sounded. Xiao Ruxun looked and saw that it was Nurhachi, who was standing alone at the back of the army. He had 5,000 Jurchen cavalry under him, but Xiao Ruxun didn't mention it.
"I have other arrangements for Commander Li and General Tong's cavalry. They will be the reserve troops of the middle army and await further orders."
Nurhachi was amused when he heard this. Generally, the cavalry was the vanguard, but Xiao Ruxun actually wanted the cavalry to be the reserve. It was indeed rare. The generals knew that Li Rusong had been beaten 20 times for contradicting Xiao Ruxun. Now he was too ashamed to come out and only claimed to be sick. But now it seemed that Xiao Ruxun had made up his mind to suppress the Liaodong faction.
They were not the Liaodong faction. It was not a secret that the Liaodong soldiers looked down on the troops of other parts of the country. It had long been spread throughout the Daming. The troops of other parts of the Daming had long been displeased with the arrogance of the Liaodong faction. Suppressing the Liaodong soldiers was in everyone's interest. On this point, no one dared to disagree with Xiao Ruxun.
Nurhachi was happy but also worried. He knew Li Rusong's character too well. He was stubborn and wanted to save face. Once he knew that Xiao Ruxun wanted the cavalry to be the reserve troops, he didn't know what would happen. But the two of them were fighting, and the bargaining chip was his precious cavalry. What should he do?
Nurhachi was in pain and happy at the same time. He was thinking about how to explain to Li Rusong and Zu Chengxun, who Li Rusong had secretly brought here.
After the distribution of the troops was arranged, Xiao Ruxun ordered a day of rest tomorrow. The troops were to tidy up, have a good rest, and eat something good. Early in the morning the day after tomorrow, the whole army would be reviewed. Admiral Xiao was going to review the troops!
Since ancient times, when a general commanded an army, he would have to review the troops. Before the expedition, he would also have to hold a swearing-in ceremony to promote the confidence of winning the war, boost the morale, and encourage the soldiers to move forward bravely. After understanding the actual problems in North Korea, Xiao Ruxun did not allow the army to enter North Korea before the war to consume the little food reserves of the North Koreans. They would eat in Zhenjiang Fortress and not go to North Korea.
Moreover, Xiao Ruxun had a lot of pre-war preparations to do.
For example, he had to give lessons to the Zhejiang gunners and equip them with better quality matchlocks and small bags of gunpowder to make it easier for them to shoot. He also had to carry out three-stage shooting training and familiarize himself with the Ningxia gunners. He also had to let the Zhejiang gunners familiarize themselves with the large-scale modification of the vehicle artillery. Wu Weizhong was very efficient. When he said 20 days, he did it. He transformed 217 medium cannons and more than 70 small cannons into vehicle artillery that could be pushed. Their mobility was greatly enhanced.
Xiao Ruxun combined the Zhejiang gunners and the Ningxia gunners into a 5000-man battalion of artillery. There were more than 700 cannons in total. Eighty percent of them were vehicle artillery, and the remaining 20 percent were heavy cannons that could not be modified on the spot.
This kind of firepower could not be found anywhere in the world. The 10,000-man firearms unit that Xiao Ruxun had organized could be considered one of the best firearms units in the world. If this unit was used to fight with any firearms unit in Europe in the same era, they would not be at a disadvantage.
After the military parade, Xiao Ruxun gave targeted guidance to the 40,000 Ming Army based on some of the problems he discovered.
For example, he gave the Zhejiang gunners and gunners the training methods of the Ningxia Firearms Battalion to train meticulously. He also took back the old muskets and even the flintlock guns of the Zhejiang gunners and replaced them with the latest, refined muskets. This caused the Zhejiang gunners to be overjoyed, and they expressed their willingness to listen to Commander Xiao's orders. It was the same for the gunners. They were given the same treatment and were mixed together. Then, they let Wang Hui teach them all together and taught them how to operate them step by step. This naturally won the morale of the army.
He had the gunners work together with the saber and shield soldiers to practice the formation. Then, he added in the gunners and archers to form a large army formation that could attack, defend, attack from afar, and attack from close quarters. This was originally the military formation that Xiao Ruxun had designed to fight against the Mongolian cavaliers on the plains, but when he thought about it carefully, he realized that it could be used on the battlefield against the Japanese invaders.
Xiao Ruxun trained his soldiers at the north bank, while Yuan Huang continued to supervise the construction of the roads, warehouses, and the transportation of food at the south bank. Since they were pressed for time, Yuan Huang arranged for people to be stationed at every relay station they repaired, and once they repaired a warehouse, he sent people to transport the food. In any case, he did it as fast as he could. Those who had nothing to do went into battle to transport food for the army to prepare for war. Even the servants of some of the ministers were asked to participate in the transportation.
Even so, they had only completed half of the work. It was already the 15th of October, and all the military equipment and food in Zhenjiang Fortress had been transported to Yi Province to be stored. There was only half a month left until the scheduled date of the 30th of October. Yuan Huang hastily arranged for people to speed up the process. He personally brought people to supervise the work, and he sent all the people he could send. He even wanted to drag the eunuchs by Li Zhi's side to work.
Liu Chenlong also tried his best to cooperate with him. All the young and strong men in the areas that the North Korean government could control were mobilized. Even the strong women and children were asked to participate in the work, or else they would not be provided with food. This caused many people to be unhappy, and they complained about it, forcing Liu Chenlong to use forceful methods and make him exhausted.
But this was the request of the commander of the Heavenly Soldiers. The commander of the Heavenly Soldiers had already crossed the river and returned. He said that when the road was repaired, they would send their soldiers to cross the river. They would not waste their food, and neither would they waste their time.
If they did not give them some pressure, they would not know how to move.
However, this was also the final preparation before the war.
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