In fact, Yang Zhen originally wanted to directly expand the newly formed South Road Naval Battalion into a regimental battalion. However, considering the current level of warship repair, artillery casting, and ammunition reserves in Jinhai Town, when the end came

Still gave up.

At present, Yan Shengsan's newly established South Road Naval Battalion is equipped with a total of 120 combat auxiliary sailors and sailors for each 400-fuel warship, and a total of 120 combat auxiliary sailors for each 200-fuel warship.

Standard training for fifty sailors.

At the same time, all large and small warships are used in groups.

In other words, every main 400-material warship will be paired with one or two 200-material warships and one or several flat-bottomed sand boats or fast sentry ships to assist in operations.

The flat-bottomed sand boats or sentinel ships that follow the large ships in formation not only have the manpower, but also the manpower required during wartime are included in the large ships they assist and follow.

Yang Zhen had no special opinions on the naval establishment. For him, it was enough to have enough gunners and boatmen and oarsmen so that each ship could give full play to its combat power.

Therefore, the organization method agreed upon by Yan Shengsan, Yu Haichao, and Jin Yukui was implemented. In addition to the necessary shipwrights and sailors, each ship used the limited manpower on board as gunners for large and small artillery as much as possible.

At the same time, the gunner auxiliary assigned to each gun, whether in peacetime or in wartime, must take turns serving as oarsmen on the big ship to make up for the lack of oarsmen on the big ship.

All in all, according to Yan Shengsan's organization method, after the newly organized South Road Naval Battalion is fully staffed, the total number of soldiers, auxiliaries, boatmen, rowers, and handymen, etc., will reach 4,800.

.

If Yang Zhen himself is aboard the flagship Yingzhou, the total number of people will exceed 5,000.

Although it is not as good as the establishment of a regiment camp, it is still far greater than the size of the original naval camp.

If we only talk about the number of ships, the newly-organized South Road Naval Battalion, which Yang Zhen has high hopes for, is inferior to the other ships. However, if we talk about the number of gunboats, especially the number of heavy artillery, sky cannons and other artillery, the new South Road Naval Battalion has high hopes.

The Biannan Road Naval Battalion is undoubtedly second to none and far ahead.

Of course, Yang Zhen's use of the Navy in important combat operations never relied solely on the strength of the Navy battalion itself.

Every time Yang Zhen used the navy, it was based on the organic naval battalion, supplemented by powerful land warfare forces.

In other words, until the current position, the various naval forces in Jinhai Town have only played a role in strategic projection and strategic firepower output here in Yang Zhen.

As for the final battle, every time Yang Zhen relied on the musketeers and grenadiers commanded by Zhang Chen, Li Lu and others.

This time, the combat operation that Yang Zhen is about to launch against the feudal vassals of Kyushu Island in the Japanese slave country will also follow the same approach. He will bring a certain number of musketeers and grenadiers there.

Just after Yang Zhen personally participated in reviewing the formation ceremony of the new South Road Naval Battalion, on the morning of July 4th, he led a group of generals to review the expanded three major armies of the Eastern Expeditionary Army at the Baiyushan Camp.

Regiment camp.

Under the scorching sun, Yang Zhen stood on the high reviewing platform and watched with his own eyes the soldiers of the expanded musketry regiment camp, grenadier regiment camp and artillery regiment camp of the Eastern March Army, stepping on the drums that sounded in winter and winter,

With mighty and majestic steps, under the guidance of the flag officer, row after row, team by team, sentry post by post, and battalion passed by in front of the stage, my heart was filled with excitement.

Two and a half years have passed, and Yang Zhen's dream of having a powerful team has basically come true.

Although the musketry regiment, grenadier regiment and artillery battalion of the Eastern Marching Army have not experienced the real test of blood and fire after the massive expansion, Yang Zhen believes that with the old foundation of the Eastern Marching Army that has experienced many battles in the past,

Even after adding a large amount of fresh blood, the three major regiments and battalions of the Eastern Conquest Army are still a team with steel and iron bones.

Moreover, the new recruits recruited by the three major regiments and battalions of the expanded East Conquering Army through recruitment are almost all young and strong soldiers who have made their homes in Jinhai Town.

These young and strong soldiers are different from the previous recruits. They are not fighting for their monthly salary, but fighting for their own land and their homeland.

Similarly, their parents, family members, wives, children, and children are all farmers in Jinhai Town and are all within the jurisdiction of Jinhai Town.

After they were recruited to join the three major regiments of the Eastern Conquest Army, they had no other choice but to obey orders and fight bravely.

Therefore, whether it is in terms of the mental outlook from top to bottom, or in terms of military disciplines, such soldiers are much better than the soldiers recruited with money in the past.

Therefore, Yang Zhen believed that as long as they were polished a little and allowed to go to the battlefield to withstand the test of blood and fire, they would soon grow into a powerful force with strict rules and regulations.

For Yang Zhen, this is enough.

Because for a musketeer or grenadier, he does not need to undergo complicated training in horseback riding and archery.

He also doesn't need complicated formations like spear soldiers or sword and shield soldiers.

He only needs a little training to be able to follow orders and prohibitions, and then he can play the role of a musketeer or grenadier.

The artillery regiment is a little more complicated, but now that Yang Zhen has Liu Zhongjin, Jin Yukui, Song Guofu and Shi Mingxiong's troops joining him, there is no shortage of experienced gunners.

A gun only needs to be commanded by an experienced main gunner, and the others can be assigned as auxiliary troops and then they can play their role.

This is the reason why Yang Zhen confidently ordered the expansion of the three major regiments and battalions of the Eastern Expeditionary Army this time.

Of course, with Yang Zhen's strong support, the Musket Regiment Battalion and the Grenadier Regiment Battalion realized the expansion plan of five battalions and twenty-five posts.

However, the artillery regiment battalion was unable to be fully staffed due to the large gap created after Jin Yukui's troops were transferred to the newly formed South Road Naval Battalion. At the same time, there were not so many artillery pieces.

The artillery regiment after this expansion is still organized into three battalions. The first battalion is the heavy artillery battalion, the second battalion is the sky artillery battalion, and the third battalion is the flying thunder artillery battalion. However, each battalion has five battalions.

post.

Therefore, although the artillery regiment battalion is still three battalions on the surface, its real strength has doubled compared to the previous three battalions, reaching fifteen sentries.

At this point, the expanded strength of the Eastern Expeditionary Army reached an unprecedented total size of 19,500 people, including 13 battalions and 65 posts.

Of course, the reason why Yang Zhen did not force the Eastern Army Artillery Regiment to be expanded to five battalions and twenty-five posts this time was that in addition to the current insufficient number of artillery pieces and the large number of experienced gunners recruited on board, there was another important reason.

Yang Zhen sent troops to the Wonu Kingdom this time and did not plan to bring additional artillery regiments and troops.

Just after completing the review of the expanded 13th Battalion and 65th Post of the East Expeditionary Army, with 19,500 people, Yang Zhen convened the generals at the town hall for a meeting that afternoon and announced his personal visit to Yingzhou Island.

, prepare for the decision to send troops to the Japanese slave country.

In fact, many generals in Lushunkou had guessed Yang Zhen's intention in advance.

But the generals had already guessed that when Yang Zhen actually announced the decision, many major generals and close figures still expressed objections to it.

Among those who expressed dissent were Zhang Chen, Li Lu, and Yang Shen, the three main generals of the Eastern Expedition Army who had always maintained a high degree of consistency with Yang Zhen. They also sensed that the situation was not quite right and hurried back from Dengzhou City.

The main town government of Lushunkou consulted Fang Guangchen.

Zhang Chen believes that the Wonu Kingdom is not a soft persimmon like the Li Dynasty east of the Yajiang River. Even if it has withstood the blow of the plague, it cannot easily open new battlefields and incur new enemies before the threat of Qing captives is eliminated.

Of course, Zhang Chen was not firmly opposed to sending troops. He quite agreed with the Dutch chief minister Trodenius's suggestion of postponing the sending of troops. He hoped that Yang Zhen could wait patiently for the Dutch gunboats and troops to be assembled before fighting against the Japanese.

The slave country went to war.

Unlike Zhang Chen, the reason why Li Lu disapproved of sending troops to go to war with the Japanese Nu Kingdom now was because his Japanese Nu Kingdom was too far away and there might still be a plague. Furthermore, the current Japanese Nu Kingdom posed no threat to Jinhai Town.

, Yang Zhen had no need to take such risks to fight them.

Yang Shen and Li Lu had similar opinions, except that he further emphasized to Yang Zhen the pressure from the Qing Dynasty that Jinhaizhen itself was facing.

He believes that the expansion of the major regiments and battalions in Jinhai Town has just been completed, and a large number of new soldiers have not been fully trained. What if there is an enemy situation in Jinhai Town itself? In short, Yang Zhen, as the commander-in-chief of the entire army, should not go thousands of miles away.

As for Fang Guangchen, the reason why he hurried back from Dengzhou was because he accidentally heard from Yuan Jin, who moved to Dengzhou Water City, about Yang Zhen's contact with the foreign red-haired Japanese.

Fang Guangchen himself did not object to Yang Zhen taking advantage of the situation to rob and send troops to the Japanese slave country, because he had raised this matter with Yang Zhen a long time ago.

However, he strongly opposed Yang Zhen's efforts to recruit the Dutch to join the gang and cooperate with the foreign red-haired Japanese.

At the troop dispatch meeting that afternoon, Fang Guangchen, who hurried back from Dengzhou, said to Yang Zhen worriedly and slightly angrily:

"The red-haired foreign barbarians coming from the west, whether they are Folangji or Dutch barbarians, are not of the same kind as us. Moreover, they are ambitious and the people who come are not good. They are more worrying than the Qing barbarians and the eastern barbarians!

"Today the governor cooperated with me and conspired with me to conspire with Japanese slaves, hoping to get twice the result with half the effort, but I don't know, I am afraid that from now on, the foreign barbarians will know my truth and truth, and then turn their guns and use their troops to plot against me!

"If this is the case, then the Qing barbarians in the north of Jinhai Town have not been eliminated, and a strong enemy has been added to the southeast sea. And this powerful enemy is definitely different from the Qing barbarians in the north or even the Yi in the East.

"They came across the ocean, and they are best at building strong ships and using cannons. Fang has heard about what they did in Nanyang, and all kinds of crimes are too numerous to describe. If they know my truth and falsehood, and turn to plot against me, I will come to the second town of Jinhai."
Chapter completed!