Chapter 55: Combat Effectiveness Digitized

"Boom..."

After a loud noise, a gap appeared in the Taizhou city wall, and countless rebel soldiers swarmed in.

The shouts of killing soared into the sky.

"The city is broken!"

Panic began to spread, and the young and strong who had been conscripted couldn't bear the pressure and began to flee in a panic.

"Hold on!"

"Hurry back and block the gap!"

No matter how hard the defending general shouted, he couldn't change the reality that the city was broken.

"It's over!"

"It's all over!"

Looking at the smoke and fire filling the city, Taizhou Magistrate Mi Mi Zhixiang collapsed to the ground.

"Master, hurry and run for your life!

The rebel army is about to kill their way over; it will be too late if you are any later!"

The old steward urged anxiously.

To reduce the resistance in the city, the rebel army adopted the strategy of surrounding three sides and leaving one open, deliberately leaving a path for the defenders to flee.

But now the enemy had broken the city, and the morale of the defenders in the city was scattered, making it impossible to organize a second wave of resistance.

If they didn't leave quickly, the only escape route would be blocked.

"Run for my life?

Where else can I run?

Forget it, the fall of Taizhou is my responsibility; there is no need to implicate the innocent.

Furui, hurry and take the retainers to escort the Madam and the Young Master away.

The Vice Minister of the Right in Nanjing is my mentor; seeing that I died for the imperial court, he will memorialize the court to fight for a commendation for you.

Carrying this commendation back to your hometown, no one will dare to have designs on this widow and orphan.

The time is almost up; this official should be on his way."

After Mi Mi Zhixiang finished speaking, he picked up the prepared poisonous wine and drank it in one gulp.

In the Great Great Dayu Dynasty, local officials have the responsibility to defend the land, and the fall of the city is an inescapable responsibility for him, the magistrate. Fleeing at this time would also lead to being held accountable by the court afterwards.

Rather than being held accountable by the court and implicating his family, it is better to die for the country himself and die with dignity.

"Master, have a safe journey!"

After saying that, the steward Furui kowtowed three times to Mi Mi Zhixiang and immediately took the retainers to escort the Madam and Young Master, who were crying into tears, away.

……

Yangzhou City.

The news of Taizhou's fall arrived, and the already tense atmosphere in the city became increasingly grave, with the smell of gunpowder filling the air.

Everyone knew that the next target of the Taizhou rebel army must be Yangzhou City.

When the time came, many noble children panicked.

Those who had received military training were better off; they knew basic military common sense and knew that Yangzhou City was not so easy to fall, so they could barely maintain their composure, while the playboy children who were just there to make up the numbers were completely at a loss.

Marquis Marquis Wuyang, who was the Imperial Envoy, was also panicked.

He could lead troops, but he really didn't know how to fight.

In the Great Great Dayu Dynasty, military knowledge was passed down from father to son. Even the simplest formation was very mysterious to the outside world.

Before becoming an imperial relative, he was just an ordinary scholar. After serving as the commander of the Five Cities Military Commission, he had only read a few widely circulated military books.

He belonged to the "genius" general who understood it at a glance but failed when using it.

What made him recognize himself was mainly that after learning the news of the rebel army attacking, he hadn't thought of a strategy to break the enemy for so many days.

"Does anyone have a strategy to break the enemy?"

Marquis Marquis Wuyang asked expectantly.

To improve efficiency, this high-level meeting only summoned five battalion commanders to participate. That group of nominal deputy commanders was all kicked out of the decision-making layer.

"My lord, Yangzhou City has a total of twelve city gates. Any city gate could become the focus of the rebel army's attack, so we can only divide our troops to defend.

Local government troops might have been infiltrated by the rebel army, so they can only be used as auxiliary forces and cannot be relied upon as the backbone.

The heavy responsibility of defending the city can only be handed over to the generals from the capital.

The urgent matter is to divide the defense zones and distribute the respective troops."

Zhao Zhao Yawei spoke first.

Thinking about it, it was speechless; after the recruitment of the young and strong was completed, Marquis Marquis Wuyang didn't mention the distribution of personnel, and now those people were still being managed by Li Mu.

If it weren't for seeing Li Mu doing a good job in preparation and keeping the young and strong in order, and raising a large amount of defensive materials, he would have sprayed long ago.

"Commander, the five battalion commanders divide the twelve city gates; simply leave one battalion commander to be responsible for maintaining order in the city, and the other four battalion commanders will each be responsible for three, and the troops in the city will be distributed equally!"

Marquis Marquis Wuyang's words fully demonstrated his fairness in doing things and also exposed his nature as a military novice.

Distributing troops equally is based on the situation where the combat effectiveness of the soldiers is equivalent.

Theoretically, the total military force in Yangzhou City is now close to thirty thousand, but twenty thousand of them are holding wooden sticks.

The ones with the most combat effectiveness are the retainers brought by the noble children, about two thousand five hundred, which can be counted as elite.

Next are the local government troops and yamen runners, whose specific combat effectiveness is unknown, but at least they have been trained occasionally, about four thousand plus.

Then there are the retainers brought by that group of nominal generals, nearly two thousand five hundred.

Their bodies look very strong and should be able to fight better than ordinary people, but they haven't received military training and are only suitable for street fighting.

Finally, there are more than twenty thousand temporarily recruited young and strong men, who usually have difficulty filling their stomachs, and their physical fitness is worrying.

"Commander, I have no opinion on such a distribution, but I'm afraid the colleagues won't be able to bear it!"

Tang Tang Jincheng, the West City Battalion Commander, said with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.

The most elite two thousand five hundred elites, sixty percent came from the east and west battalion commanders, and the other three battalion commanders added up to only forty percent.

Distributing tasks equally, the other three families would definitely have to curse.

Fortunately, everyone is now grasshoppers on the same rope; no matter which direction is broken by the enemy, everyone will be finished together, so it is not the time to pit teammates.

"Commander, leave one battalion commander to act as a reserve team, and the remaining four battalion commanders each being responsible for three city gates is no problem, but the troop distribution must be balanced in combat effectiveness.

We can simply digitize the combat effectiveness of the troops in the city.

The most elite retainers under everyone's command are mostly veterans who have walked off the battlefield, and since everyone is armored and well-equipped, we can assume their combat effectiveness is 10.

Then the corresponding combat effectiveness of the local government troops in Yangzhou is about 2.

The combat effectiveness of the retainers brought by the deputy envoys is questionable, and they lack regular military training, so let's set it at 1.2.

The recruited young and strong men, because they lack weapons in their hands, have a combat effectiveness of only 0.5.

Of course, these data can only be used as a reference; defending the city is not like field combat.

Even if the combat effectiveness is a bit poor, it can still come in handy."

Hearing Li Mu's digitized analysis and seeing that no one objected, Marquis Marquis Wuyang was stunned.

This gap in combat effectiveness was simply too huge.

After a long time, the combat effectiveness of the retainers in the hands of these noble children was stronger than all the other troops in Yangzhou City combined.

"You guys discuss it yourselves; this Marquis is tired!"

Marquis Marquis Wuyang said unhappily.

The strategy for defending the city that he had thought about so hard was criticized to the point of being worthless, making him, the commander, want to be depressed.

While feeling sentimental, he couldn't help but feel a little lucky.

His own military ability was worrying, but the several battalion commanders under him still had military literacy.

Losing face in a closed-door six-person meeting was better than losing one's head in defeat. As long as today's events didn't spread, it could be treated as if nothing had happened.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 56 =====