In Zuo Liangyu's serious situation, the Chu army under Li Dongshao, who was a huge threat, seemed to have strong firepower and a lot of troops.

But it still has a lot of problems of its own, such as the lack of medium and large-caliber ammunition, and the lack of large-caliber siege artillery.

The Great Chu Empire is now fighting on six fronts, Jiliao, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yungui, Nanyang... Well, although there has not been a large-scale battle breaking out on multiple fronts at the same time, the pressure is still very high.

This is even more obvious in medium and large caliber artillery and artillery shells.

Although the output of artillery pieces weighing more than five kilograms and the corresponding shells is very high in the Chu Empire, and the production capacity is still rising, there are many places where they need to be used.

Until now, all the first-class divisions in the Chu Army have not been fully staffed. Many first-class divisions that do not have important personnel have their artillery regiments that are not fully staffed, and some even have rated

Less than half of the number of artillery pieces.

As for the large-caliber nine-pound and fourteen-pound cannons, their production capacity is relatively small and the price is expensive. Moreover, the main production capacity is not used in the army, but in the navy's warships. In addition, there are many coastal defense batteries.

It also carves up some of the priority production capacity.

At present, the Great Chu Empire is at sea, and its relations with the barbarians of various countries are not good... The Great Chu Empire fell out with Portugal over the Haojing issue, and fell out with the Dutch over the Fusang trade issue, and then also fell out with the Dajuan Island issue.

Relations with Spain are not good.

Although the Chu Empire has not yet broken out into a large-scale war with the above-mentioned three countries, small-scale scattered battles at sea under the banner of pirates are very frequent. At the same time, the navy has reported that the Dutch have repeatedly launched attacks on Da Yuan Island.

Increase troops in the southern colonial stronghold.

The Portuguese, who lost Macau, seem to have the intention to unite with the Spaniards, who currently lack strength in East Asia and are facing a lot of trouble.

The navy judged that it could be as short as three to five months or as late as one year. After these barbarians receive sufficient reinforcements, they may not continue to tolerate it, and it is inevitable to start a large-scale maritime war.

Based on the threat from the sea, the Chu Empire has attached great importance to the navy in the past six months. In addition to providing military expenditures and personnel, it also allowed the navy to obtain priority in obtaining long-barreled cannons to arm more warships and deploy more coastal defense forts.

This means that the Army has not been able to obtain many heavy artillery. Currently, it has only formed four heavy artillery regiments, one of which is deployed in the direction of Jiliao, which is the First Heavy Artillery Regiment.

The Second Heavy Artillery Regiment is deployed in Songjiang, and the Third Heavy Artillery Regiment is deployed in Guangzhou. Although these two heavy artillery regiments are field heavy artillery units of the Army, you can see from their deployment locations that these two heavy artillery regiments

It is actually used as mobile firepower for Jiang defense.

The Fourth Heavy Artillery Regiment, this is the Army's second heavy artillery unit used for field sieges. The artillery regiment was organized in Yangzhou, Jiangbei, and was recently transported to Luoyang via the canal and the Yellow River, preparing to be used on the Shaanxi front line.

As for Shanxi, due to transportation difficulties, the number of heavy artillery is also limited, and it has not yet been able to obtain heavy artillery.

This heavy artillery is lacking, let alone ammunition!

The gunpowder production capacity of the arsenal of the Great Chu Empire could scare the remnants of the Ming army and the Eastern captives on the opposite side to death... But the Chu army also had a lot to use.

In medium and large-scale battles, hundreds of artillery pieces are often deployed, and many of them are extremely cost-effective, mortars that cost several times the cost of long-barreled artillery. No matter how much gunpowder is used, it is not enough.

The lack of medium and large calibers and ammunition has greatly affected the combat effectiveness of Li Dongshao's unit, especially its ability to attack difficult battles.

As for mobile combat...

Zuo Liangyu is not stupid, so why would he play field battle with the Chu army unless he had to... Wouldn't it be nice to hide in the city and fight defensively?

Besides, if we really engage in mobile warfare, we will definitely be able to outrun Zuo Liangyu's troops. Zuo Liangyu still has thousands of cavalry, as well as many mules and horses.

However, Li Dongshao's troops lacked mules and horses, and even more cavalry.

Under such circumstances, Li Dongshao naturally gave up when he saw the opportunity, and stopped his westward march after taking Guguan.

Let’s wait for a batch of mortar shells to be delivered later to attack Taiyuan or something!

If we rush westward now, we will easily suffer losses.

Li Dongshao just retreated, but Zuo Liangyu breathed a sigh of relief. While collecting the defeated troops from Guguan, he built a new Guguan defense line.

On the Guguan side, there is the old Guguan pass, and to the west of Guguan, there is a new Guguan station. This new Guguan is also easy to defend but difficult to attack, so it is suitable for deployment as a defense line.

However, although Li Dongshao was limited by limited ammunition and poor maneuverability, he had no intention of continuing to advance westward, but it did not mean that he would watch Zuo Liangyu's troops retreat and then build a second Yishou line under his nose.

It’s a difficult pass.

Immediately send troops to Xinguguan...

The more than 10,000 Ming troops stationed and building fortifications in the area saw that tens of thousands of Chu thieves were coming to kill them again, and the various fortifications at Xinguguan had not yet been formed. It was extremely difficult to stop the Chu thieves from attacking, so they simply decided to

Therefore, they gave up their plan to build fortifications at Xinguguan and instead retreated to Pingding Prefecture in the rear.

After Zuo Liangyu's troops retreated to Pingding Prefecture, Li Dongshao's troops ignored them after capturing Xinguguan.

The distance is too far... If we continue to hit the west, accidents may happen, and more importantly, it’s snowing!

And it’s snowing heavily!

In fact, after entering October, the weather in the Zhendingfu area where the main force of Li Dongshao's unit is located has become relatively cold. The First Army and several second-class divisions have put on thick winter clothes early.

After entering November, there were several light snowfalls one after another, but these light snows did not affect military operations, so Li Dongshao's troops launched another new pass.

However, after the Xinguguan was conquered, heavy snowfall began to fall in this area. In just a few days, the snow on the ground had reached more than a foot deep.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!

Severe cold and snow have seriously affected logistical supplies, and will also affect the mobile operations of the troops. This is very troublesome for the Chu army, which consumes large amounts of logistics and has many artillery pieces.

Unless there are extreme special circumstances, the Chu army will generally not march and fight in weather such as snow or rain.

After the snow falls, if the snow does not melt during the long winter, the Chu army will generally not launch large-scale military operations.

Therefore, not only the First Army and other units in the Shanxi direction have stopped large-scale military operations, but the Second Army and the Third Army further north have also stopped large-scale military operations. Even when they stopped large-scale military operations,

Even earlier.

Not only the above-mentioned troops, but also various units of Lu's Fourth Army on the front line of the Central Plains, facing Tongguan, have also stopped large-scale military operations one after another.

The above-mentioned four armies are also the main forces deployed by the Chu army in the northern region. The suspension of large-scale military operations by the above-mentioned four armies means that the military operations of the Chu Empire in the northern region have also been temporarily silent.

Not only the Chu army is like this, but in fact, the Dongduo, Sun Chuanting and Zuo Liangyu troops in the Ximing opposite don't have any large-scale operations. They are all building defense lines and hoarding ammunition and food.

Severe cold weather and widespread snowfall have seriously affected the large-scale operations of both the enemy and ourselves.

However, although large-scale military operations have stopped, some small-scale military operations have not stopped. Reconnaissance cavalry, small-scale patrols, reconnaissance teams and the like from both sides are still active on the battlefield.

It’s just that none of these can affect the overall situation!

Taking advantage of the ceasefire on the northern front and the main forces entering a strategic defensive posture, Luo Zhixue also issued new combat orders to the garrison headquarters of Shandong, Henan, and Hebei provinces, and requested the Northeast Campaign Command and Shanxi Campaign Command to

, the Shaanxi Campaign Command dispatched some troops to cooperate with the garrison headquarters of the three provinces to eliminate the remaining illegal armed forces in the three provinces.

So far, there are still many chaotic illegal armed forces remaining in the three provinces mentioned above. Even though they have been cleared out in the past, the eradication is not complete.

Therefore, Luo Zhixue plans to conduct a drag-net-style clearing operation in the above-mentioned three provinces similar to the previous one in Jiangbei.

Strive to eradicate all illegal armed forces in one go!

Under Luo Zhixue's order, the Military Academy, the Patrol Department, and the Taxation Department conducted close communication and cooperation and reached a preliminary combat plan.

This time, the clearing operations were mainly conducted by the B-class divisions directly under the jurisdiction of the garrison headquarters of the three provinces, supplemented by the armed tax police of the three provinces. The field-organized B-class divisions under the jurisdiction of the three major campaign headquarters and some A-class divisions served as

Backbone.

The above-mentioned military strength will be used to carry out concentrated attacks on the remaining medium to large-scale illegal armed forces, mainly bandits, local powerful landlords, organized rebels, etc.

Ordinary patrols carry out a comprehensive crackdown on illegal armed forces involved in gangs.

Luo Zhixue requested that this time's suppression campaign should imitate the successful experience of Jiangbei's bandit suppression campaign. The suppression work should go deep into every village and carry out door-to-door investigations. If they are found, they will be eliminated together and they will not be tolerated!
p>

Luo Zhixue was very satisfied with the previous clearing operations in the Jiangbei area. Although it took several months and cost a lot, the results were the most outstanding among the previous bandit suppression operations in the Chu Empire.

What this reflects is not only how many bandits and thieves were annihilated, but more importantly, the results and impact.

In Jiangbei today, we dare not say that we do not close our doors at night, but those caravans, even if they do not bring a large number of armed guards, do not have to worry about being robbed by bandits...

The local security and business environment have been drastically improved!

To put it bluntly, it is safer for merchants to do business in the north of the Yangtze River than in the south of the Yangtze River...

A safe and stable social environment is very important to the Chu Empire!

For a country that is trying to industrialize and takes industry and commerce as its main development path, good internal public security conditions are a must.

In view of Jiangbei's successful experience in suppressing bandits, Luo Zhixue is gradually launching this kind of dragnet-style suppression of bandits in other provinces.

Not only Henan, Shandong, and Hebei, but also the provinces that the Chu army had previously controlled and conducted incomplete clearing operations.

For example, there are four provinces in Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangxi and Guangxi, and it is expected that they will also launch a net-style clearance operation this winter.

As for Chubei, Chunan, Jiangxi, Anlu, Jiangnan, as well as Yingtianfu and Hantianfu under the direct jurisdiction of the cabinet, they will launch comprehensive and thorough suppression operations. Of course, there will be no large-scale illegal armed forces in these places.

Combat operations are more focused on organized crime groups, especially guilds, gangs and other messy organizations.

This winter, while large-scale fighting on the front line was suspended, Luo Zhixue was determined to wipe out all the messy illegal armed forces and gangs in the hinterland.

When Luo Zhixue, the emperor of the Great Chu Empire, made a decision, and the violent machine of the Great Chu Empire started to operate, no matter what kind of landlords, bandits, thieves, gangs, beggars, water transport and other messy illegal activities

The armed organizations were quickly crushed into powder.

And these powders will continue to provide nutrients for the operation of the violent machine of the Dachu Empire!

Optimistic estimates suggest that millions of illegal armed personnel of various types and those involved in gangs and explosions will be sentenced to labor camps.

In the end, they were thrown into numerous mines and mined various ores with their blood and sweat; they were forced to build bridges, roads, flood control embankments and other infrastructure; or they went deep into no-man's land to reclaim government-owned farms.

They will use their blood, sweat, and even their final death to make outstanding contributions to the industrial and mining development, infrastructure construction, and food security of the Chu Empire.
To be continued...