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Zhang Yingchen was a little depressed after being removed from his position as Chief of Staff by Vézé. This time, he was the one who quarreled with Wei Changrong first. Although it was just one sentence, Wei Changrong's dissatisfaction was obvious. Vézé immediately removed Zhang Yingchen's position as Chief of Staff. From Zhang Yingchen's point of view, this was a clear statement of Vézé's support for Wei Changrong.
However, this depression did not last long. Vézé appointed Zhang Yingchen as the commander of the First Division. The Brigade of Instructors was also included in the First Division's establishment. This arrangement could be said to be an important position. Even when he was the Chief of Staff, Zhang Yingchen could not be Ke Gongyu's immediate superior. The Brigade of Instructors was directly led by Vézé.
Moreover, in the subsequent adjustments to the troops, Zhang Yingchen also discovered that the structure of the troops had undergone major changes. Wei Changrong directly became the head of the Combat Training Department of the General Staff, while Lin Asheng became the head of the Logistics Department of the General Staff. The two directly left the combat troops and became officers.
Following that, the changes became even more intense. Vézé issued a series of orders. In the end, it was "three fixed": set responsibilities, set the size of the organization, and assume responsibility. With the General Staff as the core, Vézé carried out comprehensive adjustments to his troops. Especially regarding the promotion mode of personnel, Vézé clearly stipulated for the first time a personnel exchange system between the frontline commanders and the Staff of the various troops.
This confused Zhang Yingchen. In fact, it was not only Zhang Yingchen who did not understand, but a considerable number of officers also did not understand. Why did they have to give up their military power and go to the Staff of Instructors just because they did well in the war? The impression that the Staff of Instructors gave everyone was that they wrote and drew every day. There were many people who were curious about the Staff of Instructors, but putting down their guns and picking up their pens made the officers of the troops feel extremely uncomfortable.
Moreover, after the establishment of the new General Staff Headquarters, a large number of previously unknown rookies were promoted. For example, Zhang Yingchen didn't even know about the 4th Division's General Ju Junfeng. After seeing him, he remembered that he had met this person before. But at that time, as the chief of staff, Zhang Yingchen had no time to talk to unfamiliar people. This person actually received the support of both Wei Changrong and Lin Asheng, and became the commander of the Fourth Division.
The other promotion was shocking. An 18-year-old child named Chen Zhe became the head of the General Staff Headquarters' Technology Department. The current four heads of the General Staff Headquarters — the head of the Combat Training Department, Wei Changrong, the head of the Operations Department, He Chengge, and the head of the Logistics Department, Lin Asheng — were all old brothers. However, an 18-year-old child was actually able to become a department head with them. Moreover, Chen Zhe did not have any special military achievements. He had only performed well in many scientific exams and had become a department head just like that. Zhang Yingchen couldn't believe it at all.
After inexplicable things happened, they would also become facts. For a time, all kinds of new people kept appearing. Zhang Yingchen even had a feeling that things were no longer the same as people. It had only been half a year since Vézé and two of his 25 brothers attacked the Qing Army's grain transport team. Zhang Yingchen could still easily recall the details of such a small group of people trekking through the Great Jade Mountain. At that time, Zhang Yingchen could never have imagined that in just half a year, the troops in front of him would completely change.
This feeling was only Zhang Yingchen's own feeling. At this time, he was also very busy. The troops, which had originally been less than 2,000 people, expanded to 4,000 people. After the four divisions established their own logistics units, the 4th Division, which was the logistics unit, became the standard combat unit. Each division had 1,000 soldiers, which was not a small number. The 300 core troops that had broken out of Yong 'an were diluted to this scale of troops, and not even their shadows could be seen.
Reorganization, training, beatings, and cultural education. Most of the people from the Instructional Brigade under the 1st Division were sent to other units to be sergeants. But at least with the Instructional Brigade as a foundation, Zhang Yingchen could barely build a complete system. The other troops were all busy.
After Vézé gave the order to establish the new system on July 19th, half a month had passed. The troops were finally starting to take shape.
When all these things were done, Zhang Yingchen suddenly remembered something. Vézé's troops had gone through war, training, expansion, and reorganization. So many things had been done by now. But the Taiping army's headquarters in Daozhou had not made any moves. What was going on? At the regular military meeting on August 5th, Zhang Yingchen raised this question.
At this time, the scale of the expanded military conference had increased by four to five times. The people attending the conference included the ministers of the General Staff Headquarters, the division commanders and chief of staff of each division, the brigade commander of the Teaching Brigade, and the principal of the military academy. These people were all present at the conference. Originally, there were seven or eight people in the meeting, but now there were as many as 20 people.
Everyone was puzzled by this question, but Wei Changrong said what was on everyone's mind. "We need this time. The King Of The East and the others have given us this time. That's a good thing. "
After all, he was once a chief of staff. He had been scolded and complained about many times. Zhang Yingchen was also more meticulous. "We won't be staying in Daozhou forever. There has to be some movement."
Wei Changrong replied, "It's only been half a month. If we want to train the troops to the same level as when we attacked Guanyang, it will take at least two to three months. Look at these new brothers. They eat like hungry ghosts. If we hope that they can fight well, we won't be able to fill our stomachs for a few months. "
After he said that, the group of brothers burst into laughter. Everyone had followed Vézé to fight the war from Yongan. Although the journey was tough, they could always fill their stomachs. Many of the brothers had eaten meat in Vézé's army more than the total amount of meat they had eaten in the past. This could be seen from their complexions. The old brothers had rosy cheeks and looked full of energy. The new brothers looked thin and shriveled. In training, the old brothers had more stamina and energy.
"Is this what it means to nurture soldiers?" Hu Chenghe also smiled. His battle department was in charge of fighting. In reality, he had taken over all the responsibilities of the staff department from when Zhang Yingchen was the chief of staff. In a troop's fighting ability, stamina was a very important thing. Being able to nurture everyone's stamina was a very important part.
Vézé didn't want to change the topic. He said, "Commander Zhang is right. I'm afraid there will be new orders from Daozhou soon. They won't let us train in peace. Everyone, hurry and prepare. There will be battles to fight. "
Vézé set the tone. The troops began to strengthen their marching order training. Having the experience of breaking out of Yongan and going south to Wuzhou before turning back to catch up to the main brigade, everyone understood the effect of marching ability on the troops.
After the meeting adjourned, everyone returned to arrange the work of their troops. However, at noon, Vézé suddenly ordered the commanders of the troops to gather. After everyone arrived at the headquarters, Vézé said, "According to new intelligence, the Qing Army in Guanyang doesn't know life from death and is preparing to attack Jiang Hua and Yongming."
These days, Vézé's troops didn't just stand guard in the city. They adjusted the troops and trained the new soldiers. The intelligence department was also working at full speed. With a large number of local soldiers joining the troops, the operation of the intelligence network was very smooth. After investigation, Vézé and the others already knew that the Qing Army in Guanyang was Jiang Zhongyuan's troops. After being defeated by Vézé, Jiang Zhongyuan was not discouraged. He reorganized the troops and approached Guanyang again two days later. At that time, Vézé had already led the troops away from Guanyang. Jiang Zhongyuan easily "recovered" Guanyang.
"Did that Jiang Zhongyuan not learn his lesson last time? If he wants to be Liu Zhangqing, we'll fulfill his wish! " Ke Gongyu, the commander of the Third Division, said. "They've left Guanyang City. Two of our divisions will block Jiang Zhongyuan from the front. One division will take the mountain road and circle around to Jiang Zhongyuan's back. With the two attacking together, I don't believe this guy won't die."
After military training and actual combat, everyone didn't need to think carefully about many basic tactics. They could casually come up with a plan that seemed to be quite feasible.
Hu Chenghe said, "According to intelligence, this time Zhang Guoliang will also come from Quanzhou to meet up with Jiang Zhongyuan. Qing Yao isn't just a simple unit of Jiang Zhongyuan's. "
Vézé and the others had seized Quanzhou. Zhang Guoliang's troops, who had originally planned to pass through Yongzhou and then head south to Daozhou, were under the strict orders of Imperial Envoy Seishang 'a to move west to "retake Quanzhou". After retaking Quanzhou, Zhang Guoliang didn't move. He stayed behind to guard Quanzhou. It seemed that they were now moving under Seishang 'a's orders.
Right now, Vézé's troops had just been reorganized. All the other units had been tested, but the new recruits couldn't follow the beat of the drums to advance half a li. They couldn't even complete the most basic military training of counting off and turning left and right according to orders. Those who could fight were the old troops. These two Qing Army units had a total of four to five thousand men. If they joined forces, the old troops alone wouldn't be able to take down these two Qing Army units. How should they fight this battle? Thinking of this, everyone fell silent.
Zhang Yingchen couldn't help saying, "Since so many of the Qing Army's men are watching us, the number of Qing Army units in Daozhou will be reduced by a lot. Since Daozhou has long since said that they want to attack Changsha, they should take advantage of the fact that the Qing Army has been mobilized. If they don't move now, when will they move? "
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