At the moment he unified China, Ouyang Shuo's state of mind seemed to have welcomed a sharp change once more, and it became even more distant and tranquil. His gaze seemed to be able to penetrate through the dense mist of time and space to see into the unknown distance.
Ouyang Shuo's strategic vision did not need to rely on his rebirth to see further than others.
While dealing with the empire's affairs, Ouyang Shuo became even more composed. It was as if he had reached an 'immovable mountain' realm. His mind, energy, and mind seemed to be fused into one.
At this moment, his Five Emperors Mantra finally broke through to the tenth level. His body broke through the limits of the Houtian realm and reached Xiantian Level 1.
In order to reach the tenth level, Ouyang Shuo had spent two years to refine his body.
It could be imagined that the further one progressed in the Five Emperors True Scripture, the more difficult it would be to cultivate. In fact, the advancement of each layer would take years.
If one encountered a bottleneck and was unable to comprehend it, they would be stuck for several years.
Just like how Ouyang Shuo had used nine months to advance from the ninth level to the tenth level. It was equivalent to the total time he had spent cultivating the first eight levels.
If not for the change in his state of mind, he might not have been able to advance.
Fortuitous encounters were truly hard to fathom.
…
In the remaining half a month of the seventh year of Gaia, the Great Xia Imperial Court quickly decided on how to deal with the Mongolian Empire.
The Imperial Court decided to split the Mongolian Empire's territory into two. The Ogedei Khaganate's territory, which was the former Western Turkic Khaganate's territory, would be the Western Frontier Province.
The two provinces occupied a large area, especially the Northern Plains Province. It spanned across the east and west. There were grasslands, highlands, and deserts. It was the largest province in the Great Xia Empire.
The Western Frontier Province was not inferior either. There were deserts, mountain ranges, and basins within its territory.
Ouyang Shuo had unexpectedly chosen the former Mongolian Prime Minister, one of the ten famous Prime Ministers of China, Yelu Chucai.
Ouyang Shuo had made this decision after careful consideration.
Firstly, Yelu Chucai was not a Mongolian and had no blood feud with the Great Xia. When Genghis Khan was unconscious, it was Yelu Chucai who stabilized the situation, preventing Hara and Lin from descending into chaos.
To Yelu Chucai, he had no other choice but to serve the Empire.
Secondly, Yelu Chucai had been assisting the Khan in governing Mongolia for a long time, he had rich experience and had high prestige among the Mongolians. With Yelu Chucai as the governor of Northern Plains, it was very beneficial to stabilize the people of Northern Plains.
Because of this, Ouyang Shuo appointed this person as the governor of northern plains.
The candidate for the governor-general of the Western Frontier Province was delineated to be South Min Province's Shaowu County Governor, Jing Jian. Supervisor Jing could be considered an old official of the Empire. He had once held the position of Head of the Inspectorate. Because of Wei Yang's taboo, he was sent out to guard Shaowu County.
His promotion to the Governor of the Western Border could be said to be a popular choice.
No matter if it was Northern Plains Province or Western Border Province, for a province like this which was a border province with a vast territory and a complex ethnic composition, the governor had to be someone with strength.
Yelu Chucai and Jing Jian undoubtedly fulfilled this trait.
Using the opportunity of establishing the two provinces, the Imperial Court also made adjustments to the areas under the Northern Border Protectorate and Western Border Protectorate to adapt to the Empire's strategy, making the two protectorates more worthy of their name.
A few days ago, the Imperial Court decided to separate Northern Border Province and Ying Zhou Province from the Northern Border Protectorate and place them under the direct control of the Imperial Court. At the same time, Northern Plains Province would be placed under the Northern Border Protectorate.
Like this, the Northern Border Protectorate would lose control of Northern Plains and Liao Jin Province, unifying the northern border of the Empire. The headquarters of the Protectorate would also be moved from the capital to Hara and Lin, in order to better guard the northern border.
To the Northern Border Protectorate, this was a completely new challenge.
Whether or not they could guard and govern the northern border for the Empire was a test of Ouyang Shuo for the Siege Lions. If they could govern them well, the Siege Lions would be able to advance in the future; if they could not, then they could not blame Ouyang Shuo for disregarding old ties.
The Western Border Protectorate would be based on the foundations of Western Kang Province and Western Sea Province, merging them into the newly established Western Border Province, unifying the western border of the Empire.
This also meant that the burden on the shoulders of the Western Border Protectorate, Lao Ai, was even heavier.
The three provinces under the Western Border Protectorate corresponded to the Qiang Tribe, the Tibetan Tribe, and the Mongolian Tribe. Their geographical locations were special, and their development lagged behind. It would not be easy to govern them well.
…
After dealing with the Mongolian Empire, Ouyang Shuo was faced with an even bigger problem, and that was how to settle the 1.2 million "soldiers of attrition" and nearly 600,000 Mongolian cavaliers.
The simplest method was to dismiss all of them.
But this was also the stupidest method, and it was also the method that cost the most money. It was not something that could be put on the table.
This was especially so for the 600,000 Mongolian cavaliers. Even though they had surrendered, they were still arrogant and unruly. If he let them go home, they would definitely become a huge problem for the Empire in the future.
Thus, no matter what, he had to think of a way to restrain them and wear down their drive.
For this matter, Ouyang Shuo discussed with the Cabinet of Advisors, the Privy Council, and the Grand Council repeatedly. Based on the overall situation of the Empire and the needs of regional development, he finally came up with a plan.
The first was to replenish the South American Corps.
The South American Corps led by Wolf Warrior currently only had two corps. Ouyang Shuo decided to select the elites from the 1.2 million survivors of the "army of attrition" and replenish the South American Corps.
Naturally, the South American Corps was promoted to the South American Army, and it was still led by Wolf Warrior.
At the same time, in order to strengthen the strength of the South American Army, Ouyang Shuo also deliberately transferred Tang's fierce general Yuchi Jingde to the South American Army to serve as the commander of the Third Corps.
The second was to form the South Asian Army.
The South Asian Army was a newly established army, and it was also the first army added after the Empire threw out the disarmament plan. From the name, it could be seen that the South Asian Army was prepared for the Empire's future expedition to India.
If there were no accidents, the Empire would not expand its army for a long time in the future.
The commander of the South Asian Army was promoted by the commander of the Fourth Corps of the Imperial Guards, the peerless general, General Wu Lai. In view of the increasingly scarce position of the commander of the army, this was also Ouyang Shuo's compensation to the old general.
The vacant position of the commander of the army was promoted by Shan Zhu, the commander of the Ironback Cavalry Division of the Imperial Guards. In this round of disarmament, the Imperial Guards would no longer retain the independent establishment of the Ironback Cavalry Division.
Shan Zhu was "laid-off" and was promoted to the commander of the army, completing a change within the Imperial Guards.
In addition, the Tang's fierce general Cheng Yaojin was also transferred to the South Asian Army as the commander of the First Corps.
Third, the formation of three major construction corps.
In the future, if the Empire wanted to attack the Romanov Dynasty in the north, it must be based in the Beiyuan Province. If it wanted to attack the Persian Empire in the west, it must be based in the Xijiang Province.
In the same way, if it wanted to conquer India in the southwest, it must be based in the Xikang Province.
If these three major border provinces could not provide strong food and material support for the army on their own, it was basically impossible to win by relying on ultra-long-distance transportation of food and fodder from the Central Plains.
If a war really broke out, it would be self-humiliating because of the lack of food and fodder.
If it was determined to transport food and fodder from the Central Plains, then a war might drag the Empire down.
It was precisely because of this that increasing the development of the three major provinces and large-scale troops to guard the border was more important than the formation of any army group, and it was also the premise of the Empire's future expansion in Asia.
Without food and fodder support, no matter how many troops were stationed at the border, it would be futile.
In other words, before the food production of the three major provinces could reach a new level, the Empire would not be able to station a large scale army at the border.
Not to mention other things, just the daily logistics of the army could not be done. If that was the case, forget about taking the initiative to attack the other dynasties, it would be good enough to guard the border.
Stationing troops to guard the border was urgent.
Based on this strategic judgment, the three major construction corps of Beiyuan, Xijiang, and Xikang emerged.
Huaxia had a tradition of stationing troops to guard the border, especially in the Western Region. Starting from the Western Han dynasty stationing troops to guard the border, it went through the Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.
Until modern society, the tradition of stationing troops to guard the border had not been broken.
Ouyang Shuo was inspired by this and decided to set up three major construction corps in one go. While stationing troops to guard the border, they would also accumulate food and fodder to lay a material foundation for the expansion of the Empire.
According to the preliminary calculations of the Privy Council, after replenishing the South American Army, forming the South Asian Army, and dismissing some of the wounded, there were still 1.2 million soldiers waiting to be settled.
As such, the three major construction corps would each have 400,000 soldiers. Not only did it exceed the establishment of ordinary corps, even the army could not compare to it.
Not only that, in order to stabilize the morale of the army, when the conditions were ripe, the Imperial Court also allowed the families of the soldiers to move to the field area and participate in the production and construction together.
As such, the scale of the construction corps would at least double.
This was also necessary. With the current technological level of the Empire, this scale was not considered exaggerated. In the future, if there was a chance, Ouyang Shuo would further expand the scale of the construction corps.
Only by doing so, could the three border provinces be revitalized.
Following the ancient system, the construction corps would be under the dual leadership of the Imperial Court and the Protectorate. During wartime, the construction corps would temporarily be under the jurisdiction of the war zone. When necessary, the war zone could recruit the corps to fight on the frontlines.
As such, the candidate for the commander of the three major construction corps was very important and had rigid requirements.
Firstly, the person must be from the army, otherwise, they would not be able to control such a group of rebellious soldiers. Secondly, the person must know some internal affairs and have a certain level of management ability.
After all, the main task of the construction corps was to station troops and not to fight.
With this selection, there were very few people to choose from.
Ouyang Shuo's first target was the most important one among the three great construction corps. It was also the one with the deepest history – the commander of the Western Frontier Construction Corps. This person was none other than the former surrendered general of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the former commander of the Dan Yang Army, Tian Dan.
In history, Tian Dan had received the respect of generals and ministers, he could naturally take on this heavy responsibility.
Next, Ouyang Shuo decided on the third city guard corps commander, the old general Ma Teng, to take on the position of Northern Plains Construction Corps commander.
In history, Ma Teng managed Western Liang and protected the people, he could also take on this heavy responsibility.
Finally, Western Kang Construction Corps commander, Ouyang Shuo decided on the second corps commander of Flying Bear Army. He was also an old general, and he was skilled in both literature and martial arts, Pei Renji.
Compared to the young generals, the old general's advantage in this aspect was very obvious.
Being old and experienced was not just for show.
At this point, the settlement of the 1.8 million soldiers had come to an end.
Next, Great Xia would thoroughly sort out the relationship between the war zone and the army group, to clarify the Empire's strategy and establish the foundation of the future Empire.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
