At two in the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo didn't stay in the mansion. Instead, he went to Friendship Town on the other side of the Friendship River with Ge Hongliang and Song San.
Old Zhang was still the ferryman at Shanhai Town's ferry. Of course, the simple wooden raft that Ouyang Shuo made had been decommissioned a long time ago. He was now using a high-class fishing boat, similar to a black awning boat.
Ouyang Shuo sighed as he sat on the boat and looked at the sparkling surface of the river. Half a year had passed without him noticing. Back then, he brought Shi Wansui with him to the Lianzhou Basin and overcame all obstacles to establish the Shanhai Village. At that time, there were many things waiting to be done in Shanhai Village.
In less than five months, the small village had become Shanhai Town, which occupied a thousand square kilometers and had a population of nearly thirty thousand. It became the unshakable number one territory of the players in China. However, if one did not advance, they would fall back. The current Shanhai Town seemed so insignificant in the future struggle for hegemony.
At the dock of Friendship Town, Zhou Haichen, the governor of Friendship Town, and Lin Yi, the commander of the cavalry battalion, were waiting with a group of officials and generals, ready to welcome Ouyang Shuo. This was the first time the lord came to Friendship Town for an inspection. They couldn't be careless.
After the black awning boat docked, Zhou Haichen and the others warmly welcomed them with a smile. "Welcome to Friendship Town, Sir."
Ouyang Shuo walked out of the cabin and smiled as he waved goodbye to old man Zhang. Only then did he turn around and say to Zhou Haichen, "It's only a simple inspection. Is there a need to mobilize so many people?"
Zhou Haichen's expression froze. He knew that Lin Yi didn't like this kind of situation.
Ouyang Shuo didn't want Zhou Haichen to be too embarrassed. He nodded to the officials and generals as Zhou Haichen and Lin Yi introduced them.
The administrative structure of Friendship Town was similar to that of the headquarters, but there were some differences. Among the four main divisions, only the headquarters had the military division. The subsidiary territories weren't permanent organizations. Only the Combat Division was kept as a logistics department. Other than that, the special Salt Field Department was also a department unique to the headquarters.
The civil officials in Friendship Town naturally couldn't compare to those in the headquarters. However, among the government officials at the grassroots level, they were also the cream of the crop. Otherwise, they wouldn't have the opportunity to be sent here to preside over the government affairs of a department and a bureau. Ouyang Shuo only hoped that this group of people would be able to mature as soon as possible.
As for the generals, they were all old acquaintances. The five platoon jarls of the cavalry battalion, including Hu Yibiao, the commanding general of the Friendship Town garrison, were all promoted and appointed by him. Naturally, there was no need for pleasantries.
After a brief stay at the dock, the group rushed back to Friendship Town. From afar, they could see the tall walls of Friendship Town and the grand southern gate.
Fortunately, Zhou Haichen knew his limits and did not arrange for the commoners to line the streets to welcome them. As they walked into Friendship Town, Zhou Haichen introduced Friendship Town to Ouyang Shuo.
Friendship Town currently had a population of more than 2,600 people. It was about a week away from being promoted to a second-class town. Of course, the cavalry battalion stationed outside the city was not included.
In order to guard against the nomads in the north, Friendship Town's agriculture was concentrated in the south, next to the Friendship River and Qiushui River. Some industries that needed to be built outside the city, such as brick kilns and pottery factories, were also built on the east and west sides of the city, surrounded by the moat.
Because it was located in the plains, Friendship Town was extremely short of basic resources such as wood, stone, and iron ore. Basically, it was transported by the headquarters and Pool Town. The coordination in the middle was naturally the work of the Resource Reserve Department.
Of course, Friendship Town was not without its own advantages. Not to mention the livestock industry that was to be developed in the future, it also had a unique geographical advantage in the field of agriculture.
The south was located at the confluence of the Friendship River and Qiushui River. It was rich in water resources and the land was fertile. The cultivated farmland was much better than that of Shanhai Town. In this area, twenty thousand mu of fertile farmland had been cultivated, and all of it was planted with paddy rice. In the future, Friendship Town would become a food-producing base that was second only to Pool Town.
At the same time, in order to form a unique advantage for Friendship Town and not be outdone by the two affiliated territories, Beihai Town and Pool Town, Zhou Haichen racked his brains to develop the forging and textile industries. These industries were prepared in advance for the future trade with the nomads. This showed Zhou Haichen's ambition and anxiety.
It could be said that whether or not they could open up the trade route with the nomads would affect the position of Friendship Town. If they could open up the trade route, Friendship Town could be transformed into a trading city, becoming the link between the headquarters and the hinterland. If they could not open up the trade route, then Friendship Town would be trapped and completely degenerate into a military fortress.
Therefore, Zhou Haichen had high hopes for Ouyang Shuo's arrival.
Ever since the construction of the moat was completed, Zhou Haichen had already sent people to try to contact the nomads in the north and had made some progress. However, it was up to the leader, Ouyang Shuo, to decide what kind of strategy to adopt with these nomads.
Unfortunately, what Zhou Haichen did not know was that Ouyang Shuo's visit to Friendship Town was just a pretense. His real goal was to target the Green Beetle Horses on the plains. It had been two months since the establishment of the Armor Workshop. The first batch of fifty Radiant Armor had been completed. Unfortunately, because there were no suitable warhorses, they could not be equipped into the cavalry camp. How could Ouyang Shuo not be anxious?
In the meeting hall of Friendship Town, Ouyang Shuo dismissed all the civil officials, including Zhou Haichen, leaving only the generals to hold a military meeting.
"Division Chief Ge, tell me, has there been any progress with the Green Beetle Horses?" Ouyang Shuo asked.
This trip to Friendship Town was originally arranged by Ge Hongliang. With Ge Hongliang's cautious personality, he would not rashly bring Ouyang Shuo here if there was no breakthrough.
Ge Hongliang nodded and said, "Reporting to Sir, the intelligence division has obtained important information. Five days ago, the small tribe on the west side of Friendship Town had just received over a hundred fine Green Beetle Horses from the Heaven Mark Tribe. They are preparing to expand the scale of breeding Green Beetle Horses. This is a heaven-sent opportunity! "
Ouyang Shuo's heart moved, but he did not show it on his face, "Oh, what do you mean?"
"What this subordinate means is very simple. This opportunity cannot be missed, it will not come again. We might as well go all the way and loot this small tribe. If possible, we can also shift the blame to the middle sized tribe to the north of Friendship Town, further alienating the relationship between the middle sized tribe and the Heaven Mark Tribe. " Ge Hongliang said calmly, as if he had no idea what kind of sea of blood would be created if he really did what he said.
"How many people does that small tribe have, and how many warriors?" Ouyang Shuo asked cautiously.
This type of information was naturally answered by the Military Intelligence Division. Lei Xun, the leader of the second intelligence division, stood up and said, "Reporting to Sir, the intelligence division has already investigated. This small tribe's grazing area is less than five hundred square kilometers, and they only have eight hundred people and three hundred warriors. "
Ouyang Shuo turned to Lin Yi and asked, "Are you confident?"
Naturally, he knew what he meant by 'confident'. "It's not hard to take out their main force, but the hard part is not leaving any survivors. These nomads, be it men or women, all know how to ride horses. If we're not careful, there might be fish that slip through the net. "
For the Green Beetle Horses, Ouyang Shuo was prepared to wield the butcher's knife.
"What does the military division think?" Ouyang Shuo looked at Ge Hongliang again.
Ge Hongliang was prepared for this. "We have to do it cleanly, and a surprise attack is the most effective. Also, in order to prevent the situation General Lin mentioned, other than the main force attacking the tribe, we need to arrange for guards to kill the fish that slip through the net. "
Ouyang Shuo nodded. "It's a good plan. However, we're facing three hundred nomadic riders who are skilled with bows and horses. It's already difficult for the cavalry battalion to attack head-on, how will we have the strength to arrange for troops to intercept them? "
"Sir, you're right. With the current forces in the territory, it's hard to complete this attack. The only plan is to increase the number of troops. "Ge Hongliang said.
Ouyang Shuo felt a headache coming. "Is it appropriate to increase the number of troops before we're promoted to a first level city? Don't forget that there are still a thousand elite warriors waiting for us at the mountain barbarians' side. "
Ge Hongliang had obviously considered everything, and spoke confidently, "Sir, the military division has a plan to reorganize the troops, please make a decision!"
"Speak!"
"This is what I'm thinking. Our main camp will accept five hundred of these one thousand mountain barbarian warriors to form the second heavy infantry battalion. The remaining five hundred will be divided into three hundred to go to Pool Town. In addition to the two garrison companies, we'll form the Pool Town's City Defense Battalion. The last two hundred people will be distributed to Friendship Town. Recruit another hundred people on the spot to change their occupation to cavalry and form the Friendship Town's City Defense Battalion. In this way, the overflow of troops won't be too serious. Similarly, for this operation, we can transfer a cavalry company from Pool Town's City Defense Battalion and two cavalry companies from Friendship Town's City Defense Battalion to participate in the operation. "
Ouyang Shuo's eyes lit up. In this way, other than the cavalry battalion and the infantry battalion, it wouldn't exceed the ten percent recruitment ratio that he had initially set.
"Alright, we'll go with this. Everyone, hurry up and get ready." Ouyang Shuo made the decision and announced the appointment and dismissal of military personnel. He said, "Pass my order from the military division, appoint Zhang Da Niu as the Pool Town's City Defense Battalion Commander, appoint Hu Yibiao as the Friendship Town's City Defense Battalion Commander and appoint Shi Hu as the Second Infantry Battalion Commander."
"Yes!" Ge Hongliang nodded and said.
Zhang Da Niu, the squad leader who had competed with Zhao Sihu in the past, had finally been promoted to Battalion Commander and was once again on par with Zhao Sihu. Hu Yibiao was luckier. After being stationed in Friendship Town for slightly more than a month, he was promoted to Battalion Commander and was one step ahead of his seniors.
As for the Second Infantry Battalion, the reason why Ouyang Shuo promoted Shi Hu from the Second Infantry Battalion instead of the First Infantry Battalion Commander, Wang Feng, was because he had his own considerations.
Firstly, Shi Hu's promotion was beneficial in condensing the mountain barbarian warriors' sense of belonging and showing them the Shanhai Town's meritocracy. Secondly, Ouyang Shuo had other long-term plans for Wang Feng.
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