Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 142 Preparation

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After arranging the personnel and waiting for everyone to leave, Liu Ye kept Liang Xiaoming behind to discuss the organizational structure of the Qiongzhou Camp.

"According to you, following the European system is acceptable, but I don't quite understand why there are squads, platoons, companies, battalions, and regiments, and not brigade or division-level organizations?"

Liang Xiaoming has considerable insight into the military system of the era of queuing for execution: "The organization of companies, battalions, and regiments is sufficient to handle most battles. The units of squads and platoons are mainly for better control of the army. We do not need the organization of brigades and divisions at present. For example, a regiment is enough to defeat the entire Ming army in Guangdong. Why do we need such a large organization as divisions and brigades? Moreover, a large organization is not flexible enough and is inconvenient for command."

"How should the number of people be determined?"

Liang Xiaoming recalled the organization of European armies during the Napoleonic era, thought for a while, and said: "Based on our actual situation, I suggest the following organization: 10 men per squad, 5 squads to form a platoon, 2 platoons to form a company, 10 companies to form a battalion, and two to three battalions to form a regiment."

Liu Ye was astonished: "My goodness, a battalion has a thousand men, and a regiment has two or three thousand men. Your battalion is almost as big as a regiment of the People's Liberation Army in later generations, isn't it?"

"There's no other way. If you don't have enough firepower, you have to make up for it with numbers. The range and accuracy of flintlock muskets are limited, so you can only compensate for the deficiency with sheer numbers. For example, during the War of Resistance Against Japan, the firepower of a ragtag division was less than that of a Japanese infantry battalion. Only by using sheer numbers could they fight against the Japanese."

Are the main combat units battalions and regiments?

"That's right. Units at the battalion level and above can operate independently. The company is the basic unit that makes up a battalion or regiment. A battalion or regiment can be broken up into several companies and can be reorganized according to the situation. As for the squad and platoon system, it is to better convey orders to every soldier. In critical situations, the squad and platoon leaders can control the army to prevent it from collapsing."

"In addition, the company must include a professional artillery company. According to the difference in caliber, the artillery company is divided into a mountain howitzer company and a field artillery company; units at the battalion level and above must also set up a guard company." Liang Xiaoming added, "In addition, the navy, although it does not have the organizational structure of regiments, battalions and companies, still needs to set up regular positions such as captain, first mate, bosun, gunnery officer, etc."

Liu Ye agreed to all of Liang Xiaoming's proposals, and the final organization of the Qiongzhou Battalion was as follows:

An army squad consists of 10 men, with one squad leader and one deputy squad leader; a platoon consists of 50 men, with one platoon leader and one deputy platoon leader; a standard company consists of 2 platoons, totaling 100 men, with one company leader and one deputy company leader; a mountain artillery company is equipped with 10 mountain guns, and a field artillery company is equipped with 6 field guns; a standard battalion consists of 10 companies, totaling 1000 men, including one mountain artillery company and 9 standard companies, with one battalion leader and one deputy battalion leader; a regiment is headed by one regimental commander and one deputy regimental commander, and consists of three battalions, totaling 3000 men, one of which is a regimental-level battalion, including a field artillery company, and the other two are standard battalions; in wartime, reinforced companies, reinforced battalions, and reinforced regiments can be formed as needed.