In December of the sixth year of Chengshun, taking advantage of the last time of this winter, Luo Zhixue held a strategic meeting in Jinling City for the Northeastern Campaign that was about to start next year.

At the same time, strategic matters in other directions were also discussed at the meeting.

The basic core is to concentrate on destroying the Dongji people first when other external conditions are basically stable.

For this reason, the strategic meeting also required a certain degree of restraint in other directions, and the scale must be controlled if an attack is to be launched.

For example, in the past year in Sichuan's western Sichuan, northern Yunnan and other regions, there have been many conflicts between the local army garrison and the chieftain forces in the Kham area.

The current situation in Kham and Tibet is very complicated. In addition to the local chieftains, there are also various local temples, various sects, and the Mongolian branch of the Mongolian people who are descendants of the Oara people have entered the area.

Because the situation is quite chaotic, even the Chu Empire cannot figure out the specific situation on the other side.

However, this chaotic situation also allowed the local Chu army to see the opportunity to increase the actual control area. Therefore, in the past year, the Chu army forces in Sichuan and Yunnan gradually tested and controlled many Kham areas, which also attracted local

The resistance of the chieftain troops led to armed conflict.

Well, that's right, the small and medium-sized conflicts in the Kham region are not because the chieftains on the opposite side are so bold that they dare to attack Sichuan and northern Myanmar under the control of the Chu Empire, but because of the expansion of the Chu Empire.

At this strategic meeting, high-level officials asked for restraint and scale control, which was to allow the armies in these areas to exercise restraint and not to fight too hard, causing the situation to become completely unstable and triggering a large-scale war on the Western Front.

There are no external threats to the southern route such as Myanmar and Vietnam, and the Chu army has no interest in going through the tropical jungle for the time being...

Well, it's not that Chu Jun didn't want to, but the local geography and climate environment are really bad.

When attacking the remnants of Ximing in Yunnan before, the Chu army had pursued the remnants of Ximing into Burma, and captured several small Burmese towns along the way, pushing the empire's border to the south for dozens of kilometers... But this time

In pursuit operations, there were only a few combat casualties, but the non-combat casualties were huge.

The huge non-combat casualties made it difficult to even maintain the local garrison strength, let alone continue to increase the strength for expansion. Therefore, since this pursuit operation, the local Chu army has given up on continuing to expand southward!

I can’t even stay in such a broken place...

Based on this, generally speaking, there is no problem with border defense in the south and southwest. If there is, it is because the Chu army is bullying others...

As for the sea, the Chu Empire earlier had conflicts with the Portuguese because of the issue of Macau. Later, it had more fierce conflicts with the Spaniards and the Dutch because of the issue of Fusang trade. Finally, it had fierce conflicts with the Spaniards and the Dutch because of the issue of Da Yuan Island.

There was a lot of conflict between the Spanish and the Dutch.

However, these conflicts have subsided for the time being. The main reason is that the interests of maritime trade are too huge, so everyone is actually reluctant to break up directly.

Secondly, although the Great Chu Empire took back Macau, it also began to expel the Spaniards and Dutch on Da Yuan Island. As a result, the relationship between the Great Chu Empire and the above three countries was not good.

However, the Chu Empire also adopted a policy of liberalizing maritime trade.

Many coastal ports such as Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Ningbo have relaxed trade restrictions, allowing foreign merchant ships to enter and trade legally.

As for the Portuguese, Spaniards, and Dutch, their direct purpose of doing these things along the Chinese coast and occupying Macau or Damuan Island is not to expand their territory. They are not arrogant to that extent...<

/p>

Their purpose is to conduct maritime trade with the Chu Empire and Fuso!

The Dutch and Spanish have chosen to establish colonies on the deserted Daguang Island in recent decades, just to better trade with China and Fusang.

Because the sea was prohibited in the early Ming Dynasty, and coastal maritime trade was basically monopolized by pirates represented by Zheng Zhilong, neither the Spaniards nor the Dutch could trade directly with Chinese ports.

Why didn’t the Portuguese occupy Tai Muang Island before? It’s because they have land in Macau and can trade directly!

To put it bluntly, people are here just to make money.

Under this situation, when the Da Chu Empire expelled their forces, although they encountered some resistance, their determination to resist was not very strong. They are currently trying to solve the problem through negotiation, which is exactly what they thought.

Their attitude has softened, so the Chu Empire has also maintained a certain degree of restraint.

At present, the relationship between the empire and the above-mentioned three countries has maintained a situation of fighting and not breaking down. As for the Taiyuan Island issue, if nothing unexpected happens, it will be resolved through negotiations in the near future.

The reason for this situation is purely because the relationship between the Chu Empire and these three countries is very complicated and cannot be judged simply as enemies or friends.

Everyone needs each other to maintain maritime trade. At the same time, the two sides are also competitors in maritime trade, especially in the hugely profitable Fuso Trade and Nanyang Trade.

Based on the current maritime situation, the Chu Empire's coastal security in the south can also be guaranteed, and the empire's senior officials do not need to pay too much attention in this direction.

On the western front, the Yarkand Khanate, which currently controls the west of Jiayuguan, has good relations with the empire. The empire has continuously obtained many war horses from them, especially some excellent war horses and even stallions and mares from Central Asia.

.

At the same time, in order to support this country, which has a relatively good relationship with the empire, well, it can be said that it is currently the only foreign country that has taken the initiative to have good relations with the empire to resist the invasion of Jungar in Mongolia, the desert in the west, the empire's top officials also specifically allowed them to be released

Export licenses for some firearms and ironware have been issued.

A large number of armors, swords, spears and other cold weapons from the Great Chu Empire, as well as matchlock guns, have begun to enter the Yarkand Khanate and are used in internal suppression wars and against the Jungar invasion.

On the whole, as long as the Yarkand Khanate is not destroyed, the overall situation on the western front can be maintained, and the Zhungeer tribe in Mongolia, the desert, which threatens the most, will not be able to get through.

In this way, the security of the empire's external environment on the Western Front, Southern Front, Southwest Front and coastal areas has been guaranteed, and there is no need for large-scale military force.

In this way, the Chu Empire could concentrate its efforts to defeat the Dongji people!

In order to better launch the campaign against the Dongji people, it is also to further adjust the field army, border defense headquarters, campaign headquarters, provincial garrison headquarters and other systems that are currently somewhat chaotic.

The border defense headquarters and campaign headquarters with strong regional attributes and local names were reorganized into group armies.

At the same time, a large number of B-division and other border defense forces that originally belonged to the Border Defense Command and Campaign Command and did not have mobile combat capabilities were transferred to the provincial garrison headquarters.

From now on, each group army will focus on field operations, and the troops under its jurisdiction will be A-class divisions or B-class divisions with mobile combat capabilities.

The Provincial Garrison Command focuses on internal suppression, border security patrols, garrisoning in key areas, etc.

At the same time, they do not belong to each other!

This one is not subordinate to each other, and it also has the consideration of preventing the emergence of local vassal towns and balancing military power!

If this is not the case due to the inconvenient communication and transportation, if Luo Zhixue creates a local military authority to oversee all the military forces in the area, I am afraid it will cause big trouble in the future.

Based on better external expansion in the future, changing the current somewhat confusing situation of authority is also to check and balance the military power in peripheral areas and avoid a situation where one company is dominant.

Luo Zhixue finalized this reorganization principle and based on this plan.

The Shaanxi-Gansu Border Defense Command was reorganized into the First Group Army, responsible for commanding the A-class divisions in Shaanxi and Gansu as well as some B-class divisions with mobile combat capabilities.

Xuanda Border Defense Command was reorganized into the Second Army.

The Northeast Campaign Command was reorganized into the Third Army.

Subsequently, the Fourth Army was established in Sichuan in the south and northern Myanmar to take charge of the local troops and be responsible for the war in the Kham area.

In southern Yunnan, southern Guangxi and other regions, the Fifth Army was established to take charge of local field forces and be responsible for wars in Myanmar, Vietnam and other directions.

In the pan-Jiangnan area, the Sixth Army was established.

In the Huguang and Henan areas, the Seventh Army was established.

Under each group army, there are corps or directly managed divisions, brigades, regiments and other field forces.

The twenty-seven first-class divisions, eighteen second-class divisions with mobile combat capabilities, fifteen cavalry brigades, and seven independent field or heavy artillery regiments of the Dachu Empire Army will be organized into the above-mentioned seven armies.

Among them, twenty-seven first-class divisions and eighteen second-class divisions, according to the current jurisdiction and the enemies or potential enemies they face, will be divided into two or three divisions with a strength of 30,000 to 50,000.

A total of nineteen field armies were formed based on the basic principles of several cavalry and independent artillery regiments.

According to this policy, if any large-scale military operations are launched in these directions in the future, they can directly attack the enemy through these six group armies, instead of having to contact the provincial garrison headquarters and various provincial garrison headquarters as in the past.

It is very troublesome to coordinate with the army.

In this series of reorganizations, it is actually not very troublesome, because there will be no changes to the troop locations or tasks, let alone changes in organizational tactics, etc. All that will change is the high-level command system.

Luo Zhixue only needs to issue a few imperial edicts and adjust the high-level command authority.

After this reorganization of the high-level command system, the Great Chu Empire has entered the final stage of its war preparations against the Eastern Captions.

During the Spring Festival of the seventh year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue hosted a banquet for officials in the newly renovated Jinling City Palace. During the banquet, Luo Zhixue once again emphasized the importance and necessity of recovering Liaodong and other regions.

On the 18th day of the first lunar month of the seventh year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue held an imperial defense industry expansion meeting in the meeting hall of the Imperial House in Jinling City. At the meeting, Luo Zhixue requested the arsenals under the Ministry of Industry and supporting defense enterprises to give full play to their initiative.

, expand the production of national defense products, ensure the quality of national defense products, and let soldiers use good guns and cannons, wear warm clothes, and sleep well!

On the 23rd of the first lunar month of the seventh year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue summoned several key officials from the taxation department and the finance department in the back garden of the Imperial Palace in Jinling City. While enjoying plum blossoms, Luo Zhixue told them what to do.

During the conversation, Luo Zhixue said that every copper plate and every grain of grain in the treasury was provided by the hard work of the people of the empire. Extravagance and waste must be put an end to, and extravagance and waste must be eliminated.

We must ensure that there is no fiscal deficit, and we must ensure that we have money and food in our hands at all times.

No matter what kind of trouble you encounter, you must be able to come up with enough money and food to solve the problem as soon as possible.

Chen Xingkai, the God of Wealth of the Dachu Empire and the emperor's money bag, said on the spot: With the huge profits confiscated in the past few years, the national treasury has been in surplus. At the same time, after the recovery of people's livelihood last year and this year, the domestic agricultural, industrial and commercial industries

Recovery is rapid, and at the same time, post-war relief expenditures have declined, and the fiscal surplus is expected to further expand this year.

In addition to the various expenditures in the fiscal expenditure budget this year, the financial system has reserved at least 30 million taels of funds, which can be used for any unexpected emergencies at any time.

On the 26th of the first lunar month of the seventh year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue summoned the staff of the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs and talked about the development of Di Bao. Luo Zhixue asked the Ministry of Ethical Affairs to attach great importance to the subsistence allowance, especially the development of Da Chu Di Bao, which is open to everyone.

Ensure that the content of Da Chu Di Newspaper is positive, healthy and uplifting, while still being interesting. We must become a newspaper that is popular with the public and conveys healthy values ​​to the public.

On the 29th of the first lunar month of the seventh year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue summoned the person in charge of the Dachu Empire Grain Corporation. Luo Zhixue instructed that the only meaning of the existence of the grain company was to ensure the stability of grain prices, not only to ensure that the people could eat

, to be able to afford food, we must also let farmers sell their grain at a good price.

It is necessary to coordinate various law enforcement agencies such as patrol police, tax patrol police, and internal affairs departments to severely crack down on food hoarding and reluctance to sell, and crack down on illegal activities such as driving up food prices.

On the third day of February in the seventh year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue crossed the river and went to the north bank to review and inspect the First Guards Division, which had completed the change of equipment and had undergone six months of hard training. They were about to take a naval ship to the northern front line.

And they were also the last main force to go north.
To be continued...