Regarding the war in the northwest, Du Zhongxiao believed that the ideal thing was that after the defeat of Dangxiang, the two emperors were still united. The main forces of the destruction of Dangxiang were distributed in Hequ Road and Hedong Road. When Yelu Chongyuan was defeated, no matter what reason, he would first take Xijing Road. Youyun and the two places are in the same direction. As long as you take Yunzhou, it would be much easier to take Youzhou later.

The biggest problem with Di Qing's steady strategy adopted by Zhenrong Army was that he did not consider the urgency of the Khitan situation. In other words, he lacked a global strategic thinking. For the Song Army, it may be a bit higher to ask them to have such global ideas.

After talking about the major strategic situation, Shisanlang and Yao Shouxin explained the tactical ideas of cavalry and infantry respectively. When Du Zhongxiao built the Tianxiang Army, he was not built according to the current war situation, but based on memory. One feature is that he pays special attention to the use of firepower and pays attention to artillery. In this era, artillery accounts for nearly one-third of the total force, which makes others feel that there are too many.

Yao Shouxin said: "From the battles of Hequ Road, the number of artillery soldiers is indeed too much for light-armed advances. Transportation is difficult, and artillery soldiers cannot keep up with the rapid advance of light infantry, so they can only allow some light artillery to follow. But for large-scale corps operations, especially when the two sides confront each other, artillery soldiers can fully exert their power. Relying on railway advances, with railway as the center, artillery soldiers are extremely powerful."

Du Zhongxiao said: "At that time, artillery of this size was the main force. Now it seems that there are not many main force corps needed. In addition to this, the court should also need some light infantry equipped with more light artillery."

Zhao Zhen said: "Although artillery is slow, the benefits are really great. At that time, the battle of Tanglong Town relied on artillery to kill the Khitan king. With such achievements, everything is worth it."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Your Majesty, the big army is fighting, of course. This time, Taiwei Di should be equipped with more artillery soldiers when attacking Lingzhou. But for Taiwei Han on the west road, the most important speed is that he cannot bring heavy artillery. The weapons depend on the combat mission, and they cannot just be greedy for power."

Ouyang Xiu on the side said: "There are now three yamen divided into horses and stairs, but there are no artillery soldiers. Should we set up a new one in the future?"

Zhao Zhen said: "This matter will be discussed later. Now the three yamen lacks officials and cannot be changed for the time being, so we can only settle for the time being."

Du Zhongxiao knew in his heart that Zhao Zhen was trying to ensure that the old imperial guards did not fall apart, and added new elements at the same time. Although it was very rough, it was actually the limit of this era. Du Zhongxiao used 200,000 camp Tianxiang Army and selected people from the local area to train 30,000 troops. How many new troops can the imperial guards be trained? With a large elimination rate like the Yingtianxiang Army, there are not so many imperial guards now. Another point is that it is considered a bad currency to drive out good coins, and the remaining imperial guards are the easiest to reform.

Shisanlang explained the cavalry and said, "Now the army, artillery and even infantry attacks are amazing, and there is no need to use cavalry to rush forward. The most important thing about cavalry is lightness and easy to maneuver. In the army, first, pre-war reconnaissance and battlefield cover. This requires a high demand for cavalry, and it must be an elite source of troops and can operate on a small scale. Another is to cover the two wings during wartime, and at this time, it is necessary to form a large formation and be well-trained. Finally, after the army wins, it is to chase the fleeing soldiers, requiring quickness and courage. It is necessary to be familiar with small-scale combat and be able to line up the array, which is very demanding."

Wang Kai, commander of the Horse Army Commander, said: "This is what makes the imperial guards unaccustomed to it. Although the former imperial guards had practiced bows and arrows, the most important thing was to fight in large formations. The new cavalry first required small groups of war and could form large formations."

Shisanlang said: "So among the soldiers and horses on Hequ Road, cavalry is second only to infantry, and is the essence of the army. Before the war, reconnaissance, victory, pursuit and death, and chasing the north are all good at it. The imperial cavalry can learn to use guns, but these are difficult to achieve for a while."

Du Zhongxiao said: "This is all details, and there is no need to go into it. The Lord and the ministers, as long as they know what the cavalry can do and what they do in the army, they should understand. The general said that the role of cavalry is to reconnaissance, pursue the defeated soldiers, and at the same time cover the flanks for infantry when they are arranged. After knowing the role of cavalry, they will roughly know how large an army is needed to launch in the battle. The scope of its reconnaissance cavalry covers is basically the scope of the deployment of an army. Based on battalions, the battalions are kept closely connected, and 50,000 people can control the width of the front of one or two hundred miles."

Zhao Zhen couldn't help but frown: "So, should the 300,000 army of Zhenrong Army be 500 to 1,000 miles in front of it?"

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Yes. Normally, the current army should be like this. Therefore, the most important task of Zhenrong's troops is to quickly leave the Huluchuan Valley and face Lingzhou. It will reach the Xishou Military Supervisor's Office in the west and Yanzhou in the east, all of which are the combat range. In the middle, it will be heavily troops and goes straight to Lingzhou. In this range of about seven or eight hundred miles, there cannot be Dangxiang troops that can threaten the army."

Zhao Zhen looked at the other ministers and remained silent for a moment. He knew that Di Qing was conservative in combat now, but where was it manifested and how serious it was, but he had no idea. He heard Du Zhongxiao say that it was so serious.

The current army does not attach much importance to command and contact. In fact, the cavalry of the Song army was not able to go so far before. Therefore, when fighting against Dangxiang, they were often suddenly surrounded. It was because Di Qing was afraid that after the division of the troops, the army would not cooperate closely and disperse its forces, so that Dangxiang could find an opportunity to take advantage of. Like Hequlu Road, a large number of reconnaissance cavalry were dispatched and the advance combat units were always in contact, which was not familiar to him.

Ouyang Xiu said: "The entire army is so wide-spread, won't it leave a gap and be taken advantage of by the enemy? Dangxiang is best at suddenly surrounding. If one is not careful and seizes the opportunity, it will be difficult."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Nehan, this distance is to prevent such a thing from happening. First, the scout cavalry is widely distributed and large groups of enemy troops are not allowed to enter the vital areas. Another one, once attacked, they can defend on the spot, and the troops next to them can quickly rescue. The 300,000 troops are deployed, and no matter how many troops Dangxiang attacks head-on, they will be besieged by several groups."

Ouyang Xiu nodded and said to Wang Kai: "Taiwei, can the imperial cavalry do this now?"

Wang Kai thought for a while and said, "The training has been much better than before in recent years. But can it be done? I haven't tried it, so who knows?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "Defend the war strategy and you can ignore the details, but you must be familiar with the advancement speed, attack speed, and control range of the army. Only by knowing these can you know how to arrange tasks. You also need to know how to advance a large army, how many distances to advance and how many people should be guaranteed for logistics transportation when ensuring combat power. For example, in the battle of attacking Lingzhou, our army's supply base was in Zhenrong Army, so when we reach Lingzhou City, how many troops should have transport logistics on the front line. In addition to organizing the people under special circumstances, the new army needs transportation capabilities."

After listening to Shisanlang and Yao Shouxin talking about the characteristics and combat forms of artillery and cavalry, everyone present could feel that the army arrangements of the Zhenrong Army were very bad. The cavalry control range was too small, and the artillery could not control the front, so the army was actually nesting together.

Xu Huaide, commander in front of the palace, said: "How can the commander know everything when fighting like this? If you want to command, there must be a large number of people."

Du Zhongxiao said: "That's certainly. Therefore, in the new military system, there are a large number of generals who specialize in common affairs and a large number of staff members in the army. Unlike in the past, only the counselors and Jiyi texts waited for several people. The command system is complete and everyone is useful, so that such a huge army can be commanded to carry out combat. As long as the army is not calculated incorrectly, there will be roughly no difference."

This is the first time today, I know how the current army fights. The three generals of the Three Yaya do not know much about the command system outside the command system.
Chapter completed!