Therefore, for a long time, there were only two commanders in the Eight Character Army, Jiao Wentong and Meng De. Last year, Zhao Jiu personally intervened and forced Wang Yan to promote Liu Ze as commander and Fan Yihong as leader. But even so, he found a reason to leave Fan Yihong, who came from a famous family, at Sishui Pass with a thousand men for this expedition.
According to the "unreliable rumors" reported by Yang Yizhong at the time, Wang Yan seemed to have fallen out with this trusted old subordinate. He believed that Fan Yihong's direct acceptance of the Tokyo transfer order was a betrayal of him because he wanted to climb up the social ladder. And if Zhao Jiu remembered correctly, this should be the third time after Yue Fei and Fu Xuan that this commander, whose ability, loyalty, and determination to fight against the Jin were unquestionable, had fallen out with his subordinates.
But no matter what, back to the present, Wang Yan's army of 19,000 people were all treated as the central army of the imperial camp, and nearly 50% of them were wearing armor. There were only his central army and three commanding officers, Jiao Wentong, Meng De, and Liu Ze, divided into four parts.
In contrast, the troops led by Wang De in the front row, which had undergone several reorganizations and were actually directly controlled by Zhao Jiu, appeared to be much more elite.
Below Wang De, there were Zhang Jing, Qiao Zhongfu, Fu Qing, Xin Yongzong, Xin Qizon, Li Qiong...Except Hu Yantong who was stationed at the strategic point of Lantian, there were seven divisions in total. Wang De's division had 4,000 men, Zhang Jing's division had 3,000 men, Xin Yongzong's division had 2,000 men, and the rest had 2,500 men each. Excluding a small number of casualties, there were about 19,000 combat soldiers, and the armor rate was over 70%.
In other words, the so-called imperial camp army, which was said to have 40,000 troops, actually had only about 38,000.
But these troops, especially Wang De and others, had the advantage that they had received financial support from the Southeast, Bashu, and Jingxiang as early as the Nanyang period, and had sufficient military pay and priority access to equipment. They were stationed, trained, supplied, and reorganized right under the nose of Emperor Zhao, and were directly controlled by Emperor Zhao to a considerable extent. After all, the Emperor did not need to drink the blood of his soldiers. He could survive by drinking the blood of the two imperial concubines' families, so these troops were really worth watching.
In fact, this armor-wearing rate of over 70% is itself a terrifying statistic, second only to the Imperial Guard, and perhaps only Yue Fei's troops can be compared with it.
Regardless, this army, together with Wang Yan's Hebei Eight Character Army who had a deep hatred for the Jin people, the so-called 38,000 troops in the Imperial Camp, were Zhao Jiu's real confidence in this battle! They were undoubtedly the main force! They were the so-called regular army among the regular army! And they were the regular among the regular ones!
As for the three western armies of Shaanxi, namely Xihe, Qinfeng and Lizhou, they were of course regular troops. And surprisingly, after checking, Xiaolin Xueshi and Yang Yizhong found that they were actually overstaffed... The three armies, not counting the cavalry supporting them from other units, actually had 34,000 to 35,000 people.
This is not to say that these people did not drink the blood of the soldiers, but the "more than 10,000" reported by Zhang Jun at the beginning was indeed "more than 10,000", and during the time when Emperor Zhao was waiting in Chang'an, these troops were still constantly gathering and converging.
As for the organization, it was not until this moment that Zhao Jiu realized that according to the organization, these three armies should have 70,000 troops! But after many defeats, disintegrations, and internal strife over the years, there are only 35,000 people left.
These three armies were all organized in the traditional Western Army. Below the military governor, there was the military commander, the number of generals and deputy generals in each route, each with its own position, which was complex and self-contained. As for the ones that Emperor Zhao could directly contact, they were nothing more than Liu Xi and below, Liu Qi, Zhao Zhe, Murong Wei, Li Yanqi, Zhang Zhong, Qiao Ze, and Sun Wu.
Then, these troops, plus the two thousand imperial guards brought by Zhao Jiu and the two routes of six thousand Beiwei troops handed over to Wu Jie, are the main forces of the Song army that are forcing Baishui this time. All together, there are definitely more than 80,000 actual soldiers!
There are 80,000 people, not counting Hu Yantong who guarded Lantian, and the local Jingzhao soldiers who guarded Chang'an and Weibei, plus the so-called "trump card" that followed Zhang Jun's logistics at this time, that is, a mixed full-armored force of 3,000 to 4,000 people obtained by Zhao Jiu by dispatching the elite of various departments; plus the troops collected by Qu Duan and Wu Lin from Jingyuan Road and Huanqing Road in the three northern routes; plus Li Yongqi's troops who were like divine soldiers sent from heaven; plus the defenders of Fangzhou... Indeed, in this battle, the Song army has more than 100,000 people no matter how you count it!
But back to the present, leaving aside the 20,000 troops distributed in other parts of the battlefield, the current 80,000 people are not just 80,000 people. Tens of thousands of Guanzhong civilians, from Jingzhao, Huazhou to Yaozhou, were conscripted early, leaving their houses, bidding farewell to their families, abandoning the fields that should have been taken care of, and either followed the army to transport supplies, or followed in plain clothes with bows and spears to serve as auxiliary soldiers.
Without even investigating, Zhao Jiu could imagine what the scene was like when they were recruited. Three officials and three farewells, the people suffered from the rise and fall of the country, but what else could they do? At the beginning of the year, Wanyan Loushi's eldest son Wanyan Huo Nu once massacred a small town called Fushui, which was in the territory of Huazhou where the army was at that time.
Of course, putting those thoughts aside, another day passed and the army set out again. More than a hundred thousand troops formed into battle formations, rolling forward like waves, vast and mighty, almost endless, and the people living in it were also excited.
It was not until the afternoon of that day that Zhao Jiu arrived at the designated camping site. He climbed up the hillside before the entire army set up camp and looked out. It was the first time he got a glimpse of the entire army.
"With such an army, in the past, we could have falsely claimed that there were 400,000 soldiers!" Wu Jie led the generals to accompany Zhao Jiu up a hillside, and then he couldn't help but sigh. "If used properly, there's no place we can't go?"
Zhao Jiu nodded slightly, without commenting, but just pointed to a prominent mountain in the distance and asked casually: "Compared to the south, this place is not only plateau and water, but also has several real hills. I wonder what they are called?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
