In this Northern Expedition, a total of three troops participated in the war: the Zuo Military Academy Weibu, the Central Military Academy Weibu, the Hou Military Academy Weibu, and the Nine Battalions of Assault Cavalry.
There were approximately more than 20,000 participants in this battle, making it the largest military operation by the Taishan Army so far.
But don’t forget, this is just the number of soldiers. There are also a large number of baggage troops and supplementary troops.
After the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans all joined the Taishan Army under the leadership of Ji Sun, the elite Hercules Battalion supplemented the main combat troops of the Taishan Army's Fifth School Lieutenant Division, most of which were baggage troops and supplementary troops.
This part of the heavy equipment is roughly more than 10,000 people. And these Qingzhou Yellow Turbans can also fight and kill, but their combat skills are not as good as the main battalion heads.
In other words, if the Taishan Army is absolutely devastated, it will be able to pull out at least 60,000 soldiers by pulling out the field guards and heavy baggage troops, which is already a very terrifying existence.
It's just that this kind of force scale is unsustainable for today's Taishan Army. The Taishan Army does not have enough human resources to conduct detailed management of such a large-scale military force.
The current number of 30,000 field troops will be almost the upper limit of the Taishan Army's capabilities.
Why is it so difficult?
Because the reason why the Taishan Army is able to fight is not because the soldiers are so brave, but because they are rogue bandits.
The Taishan Army's combat strength advantage is systematic, that is, they are a well-organized army.
Take the Taishan Army No. 1 Military Academy as an example.
Its standard establishment is five battalions, which is an establishment of 5,000 soldiers. In addition, there are about 2,000 heavy troops. Each battalion is composed of about a thousand men, including 200 crossbowmen, 200 longbowmen, and 600 armored soldiers.
The 5,000-strong school captain's department also has its own staff. It is divided into military department staff and battalion department staff.
The military staff is naturally the staff structure of a separate senior colonel.
Its basic components are the chief historian, the counselor, the secretary, and the four chiefs of the warehouse, Jia, Bing, and Fa.
Among them, Shi Zong, the commander of the army, is the chief of staff and is in charge of all non-military assets. He is an important assistant to the military captain and the target of suppression. Because every long history has the power to send a secret letter to Zhang Chong, and he can report all the situations among the generals.
Today's long history grew up during the Lao Taishan period and is a continuation of the Taoist system. It can be said that from the top to the first army, down to the first village, they all have their own long histories.
The counselor is very simple. He is a military staff talent assigned by Zhang Chong to a certain military academy. He is the chief general and counselor, and the number ranges from three to five.
In addition, there are also letters to the military staff. The name of this in the Han Dynasty was Jishi, which was the job of controlling the clock and recording the secretaries and documents.
Counselor and secretary are relatively noble positions, while the four chiefs of Cang, Jia, Bing, and Fa are responsible for fixed functional affairs and are important positions.
The so-called warehouse chiefs are responsible for the logistics of military supplies. Because the Taishan Army implements the holy treasury system, these are also called holy treasury chiefs. They were not only in charge of wartime seizures, but also had command of the baggage and heavy troops. They were one of the few staff members with military power.
The Chief of Armor Cao is responsible for the management of armor.
When the army is stationed, all the armor needs to be stored in warehouses and managed. The army cannot have armor when it is not in war. As armor is an important military weapon, one can imagine how important its position as armor commander is.
On the side of the Han Dynasty, these positions were basically held by the eunuchs around the emperor, while on the side of the Taishan Army, only those who came out of the cross-collision team were qualified to serve as commanders of the Jia Cao.
As for the sergeant commander, he is responsible for the management of the military register. This functional department is responsible for the recruitment, discharge, promotion, and merit calculation of sergeants.
And the final Dharma Chief is even more important. In the unit at the Weibu level of the military academy, there are 20 legal officials and 100 law enforcement officers under the commander of the law cao, all of whom are elites in the army. Responsible for all military and legal affairs during wartime and garrisoning.
The Taishan Army has implemented the policy of military law and military control since the Xue Shibi period, and it can be said that it has been very complete now.
Therefore, the number of staff at the military department level, from Chang Shi to Si Cao, ranges from more than fifty to more than a hundred.
A military headquarters not only has military department staff, but also has battalion department staff at the battalion level. Because the units of the Taishan Army that can act independently are battalion-level units, which are organized into two parts, five songs, ten villages and twenty teams.
Although the staff of the battalion department is small, its establishment is generally the same as that of the military department staff. They all have chief officers, counselors, secretaries, and four divisions.
This is the guarantee of the Taishan Army's combat power, relying on a large number of staff to perform refined management.
How refined is this kind of refined management?
It is a unit that has been able to sink to the team level, that is, every fifty people in the army have a staff, but these staff still have military operations.
For example, for a team general, there is one person holding the flag and one deputy team member below him. The so-called flag bearer is someone who is specifically responsible for holding the flag. He is used to mobilize troops and contact other teams for coordinated attacks. The deputy team specializes in writing documents and rewarding merit.
Take this Northern Expedition as an example.
The officers and soldiers of the Taishan Army will first hand over the captured heads to their respective deputy teams for inspection. The qualified and valid records will be sent to the Tun Deputy, and the Tun Deputy will summarize them and then send them to Qu Deputy, who will summarize and then send them to the Department Deputy. , then go to the Yingsi.
The Bingcao clerk of the camp department will summarize the results, and then randomly select them from each team to inspect the first-level merits. Only if it is correct will it be reported to the final military department.
It can also be seen from here why Zhang Chong has only now begun to reward the generals for their merits.
However, although such meticulous management can greatly improve combat effectiveness, the cost is indeed too high.
Most of the current Taishan Army's staff are children from poor families from all over the country, and they have no future if they are educated. However, after so many years of accumulation, the Taishan Army could only provide sufficient staff for a field regiment of 30,000 people.
Regarding the staff, there is another difference between the Taishan Army and the Han Dynasty.
That is, most of the staff of the Han Dynasty came from the recruitment of the commander-in-chief, while all the staff of the Taishan Army came from the appointments of the shogunate's military department.
The generals of the Han Dynasty were able to form their own shogunate when they led troops on expeditions, and all their staff members were recruited by themselves. Therefore, every time there was a war, powerful sons rushed to join the shogunate. They didn't even have to go, they just had to name themselves.
Also because these staff were recruited personally by the generals themselves, these people were very attached to the generals personally, which is why they were called lords.
This was intolerable to Zhang Chong, so he specifically put the shogunate's military department in charge of this matter.
Even if a general encounters excellent staff, he only has the power to recommend them but not to recruit them.
All these recommended staff must be registered with the shogunate's military department, assessed, and then uniformly assigned to various armies by the shogunate.
What is a master of classics? This is a master of classics. All kinds of things have rules and regulations to follow, and there are dedicated people to handle them.
Therefore, the current five-service system of Taishan Army is already very mature and is the core of the entire military system. Even if the army is expanded in the future, it will be built according to this framework. Such as five divisions and five aspects.
Currently, most of the people in the hall who are preparing to receive honors are officers and soldiers from the Central Guard Army, Left and Back Colonels, while there are not many officers and soldiers from the Assault Cavalry System.
The flying army system of the Taishan Army is not the same military system as the Five Armed Forces.
Everyone in the army knows that with the same rank, the Feijun is two levels higher than the officials of the Fifth Army. In other words, the generals in the Fei Army are equivalent to the battalion generals in the Fifth Army, and they can stand alone. Many people have no concept of 500 Cavalry and think that the number of 500 Cavalry is very small and insignificant. But in fact, an organized group of 500 cavalry can lead a battle and is a real military weapon.
According to the laws of the Taishan Army, when a military school captain goes out on an expedition, he must be equipped with two battalions of thousands of assault cavalry to protect and control the battlefield.
This time in the Northern Expedition, Guan Yu led Zuo Xiaowei's troops, and they were equipped with two cavalry battalions, Feilong and Feihu. This was the regular system.
In terms of the use of cavalry, the Taishan Army compared it with Youzhou's sudden cavalry and also absorbed the regulations of Neijun operations.
In the inner counties of China, the Han army generally fought with troops, chariots, and cavalry, and in square formations with antlers. The Youzhou Assault Cavalry uses cavalry as a complete organization to fight as a large cavalry regiment.
Zhang Chong drew on the strengths of the two and established the current sequence of ten battalions of assault cavalry.
It can be divided into battalions to cooperate with the Fifth Military Academy and Lieutenant Headquarters, or it can be organized into an army for group cavalry operations. In short, it can be separated or combined.
When the assault cavalry cooperates with the Fifth Military Academy Lieutenant, they are usually deployed behind the military formation. On the one hand, they can dismount and fight on foot as a second-echelon force. On the one hand, it can be used as an assault cavalry to pursue the victory and expand the victory. It is rarely used to directly attack the enemy's strong formation.
However, there are exceptions. Zhang Chong's side-scrolling heavy cavalry can be used to directly charge into the formation, but it is not cost-effective. The death of a side-scrolling general is equivalent to the loss of a hundred-man general, so it cannot be charged.
It was also because the assault cavalry generally fought smoothly and could easily capture important enemy commanders during post-war pursuits. For example, if Zhao Yun was not a member of the sudden cavalry, would he be able to capture Guo Dian, the governor of Julu, after the war?
Therefore, the officials of the Fifth Army were generally not interested in the sudden cavalry, which can be seen from the clearly distinguished seats in the palace.
People like Li Hu, Xu Huang, Xi Shen, Li Fu, Li Bi, and Ma Wu all sat in a group and rarely greeted the nearby Five Army officials. Guo Liang, on the other hand, because he was a member of the Five Army system before, I also chatted with acquaintances from time to time.
This time, in addition to the officials of the five armies, the assault cavalry system, and some officials who came to reward the troops.
Most of these heavy troops are from the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans. Basically, the old heavy troops of the Taishan Army were retained as garrison troops.
At this moment, these heavy soldiers were sitting behind their old officers, Ji Sun and Xu He.
They saw each one singing in front of them to report their merits, and they were itching to hear them, and they also looked forward to this time's military exploits.
Yes, the baggage soldiers also had military exploits.
As a logistical support for marching operations, baggage troops are also very important to a war.
Especially this time, Guan Yu was trapped on the north bank by the spring water because he was not familiar with the water conditions. If the heavy troops at the rear had not fought tirelessly to ensure the safety of the food routes, Guan Yu's troops might have suffered a major setback.
In addition to these military exploits, they also performed extremely well at their jobs.
There were almost 20,000 soldiers in the Northern Expedition, and their daily consumption of corn would be 5,000 shi. The war lasted for more than a month, plus the losses on the road. In other words, these heavy troops transported at least 300,000 shi of corn. front. Converted to bullock carts, that’s 10,000 trips.
Therefore, the military officials of the heavy equipment system can naturally participate in this glorious moment and share the glory of this battle with the soldiers.
In addition to the heavy troops, there are also foreign military systems that fly troops and carry flags to receive honors.
The Taishan Army's flying army carrying the flag is a very complex military system. After several adaptations, it has now formed an internal army to conduct internal inspections and a foreign army to explore the enemy externally.
Among them, the foreign army is also divided into two systems: detective espionage and Youyi.
The spies are directly subordinate to the shogunate, and whether they are dispatched or reported, they are directly responsible for the Feijun Foreign Affairs Division under the shogunate.
You Yi was organized in the shogunate, but his specific deployment was in the Military Department of the Fifth Army. Because You Yi's role is to serve as a sentinel and guard during the march and camp.
The soldiers of the Fei Army first came from Shanliao in the Taishan area, and they were good at tracking and lurking. Later, they were all trained by Zhang Chong and taught the most systematic sentry. It can be said that the professionalism of the Fei Army was much better than that of the Han Army.
This has been proven many times in the Taishan Army's battles.
In the Taishan Army, there has been a corresponding system since the old Taishan period.
Among them, there are two riders for five miles, four riders for ten miles, eight riders for fifteen miles, and twelve riders for thirty miles.
And every time they march, according to the regulations of the Taishan Army, they must patrol thirty miles each time.
Once the sentinel knight sees the thief, he will wave the flag behind his back. If the sentinel detects no thieves, he will ride back. And these tours are all within thirty miles. Once they see the flag, they will immediately turn around and report it.
Therefore, the Taishan Army can often obtain information one step ahead of the Han Army, and then either set up a formation or ambush, taking the initiative on the battlefield.
And this time, the people who came mainly were from the Youyi series, and those from the spy system would not appear on such an occasion due to lurking issues.
They are the true unsung heroes.
In addition to those from the military system, there were also officials from the craftsman camp and the medical general camp, who also participated.
The outstanding performance of the craftsman battalion in the siege of Xiangguo, and the stone-making chariots and giant nest chariots it manufactured made great contributions to the capture of Xiangguo.
Not to mention the Medical Craftsman Camp.
This medical camp founded by Zhang Chong can be said to be the pinnacle of surgery in this world and the greatest wealth of the Taishan Army.
From the Taishan period to the present, it has trained more than 500 medical practitioners and 2,000 medical apprentices. These people are generally placed in military-level units of the Fifth Military Academy, because only the military commander has enough strength to protect these doctors.
In every battle, the injured Paoze would be carried on a stretcher by the army's commander Paoze and the accompanying troops to the military headquarters for treatment by doctors.
In this Northern Expedition, the Taishan Army suffered more than 2,000 casualties. Among them, more than 1,300 people were rescued by medical craftsmen. It can be said that these medical craftsmen are the most loved by the sergeants in the army.
Of course, the riders love the veterinarians even more. After all, if the war horses were injured or injured, they would be treated by these veterinarians.
It's just that Zhang Chong doesn't understand veterinarians, so the level of veterinarians in the army is slightly better than that of the Han army, but not outstanding.
All in all, the award received on April 13, the first year of Chengtian and the first year of the Republic, was the largest award received by the Taishan Army after the Battle of Xingyang.
Although it cannot satisfy everyone, the wide scope involved can be said to have been considered to the extreme by the shogunate.
However, this is a hardship for the You Military Academy Weibu and the former Military Academy Weibu who stayed in Yecheng. This time they can only watch the robes eagerly, making great contributions, allocating good fields, and getting promotions.
Take our Ding Sheng as an example. He has already screamed with red eyes:
"Next time the corner is decided to be the vanguard, no one can compete with him!"
In short, after this reward, everyone in the Taishan Army was happy to hear the battle, like wolves and tigers.