(PS: Chapter 2 will be updated before 11: 30 PM)
Three in the afternoon, Shanhai Town's meeting hall.
Ouyang Shuo presided over the town's military and political meeting. Attending the meeting were Fan Zhongyan, Tian Wenjing, Cui Yingyou, Ge Hongliang, Infantry Battalion's General Shi Wansui, Cavalry Battalion's Commander Lin Yi, North Sea Fleet's Commander Pei Donglai, and Shanhai Town's City Defense Battalion's Commander Zhao Sihu. Secretary Bai Nanpu was in charge of the meeting minutes.
Before the meeting began, Ouyang Shuo had Secretary Bai Nanpu inform everyone that the topic of the meeting was how to deal with the bandits' attack on May 20th and ensure Shanhai Town's advancement smoothly.
Before discussing specific strategies, Ouyang Shuo first paid attention to Shanhai Town's external environment.
After the dawn operation, there was no movement from the nomadic tribes for the time being. Whether it was Khan Meng Ke of the Sky Order Tribe or Chief Dari Achi of the Sky Order Tribe, they were both very shrewd people. They would not act rashly before they found out the truth of the matter.
The only change was that the Sky Order Tribe didn't hesitate to take back the pasture of the exterminated Tianlian Tribe. The Sky Order Tribe couldn't do anything about the Sky Order Tribe's robbing behavior. They only sent out a symbolic warning, asking the Sky Order Tribe to return the pasture. They didn't take any actual action.
In Beihai Town, with the establishment of the second naval battalion, the North Sea Fleet was taking shape.
Pei Donglai stepped down from his position as Commander of the North Sea Fleet. Zhou Feng, the former captain of the first squadron, was promoted to North Sea Fleet's first battalion. You Fang, the former captain of the second squadron, was promoted to North Sea Fleet's second battalion. Li Hai, the former captain of the third squadron, was promoted to Pei Donglai's second battalion.
According to Ouyang Shuo's plan, the future North Sea Fleet would be at least an army division. The two naval battalions now weren't even one-fiftieth of their full strength.
Ever since the pirate "Black Shark" of Moon'er Island had visited the outer sea area of North Sea Town and encountered a setback, he hadn't made any further moves. Ouyang Shuo guessed that Black Shark wouldn't dare make another move before he figured out Beihai Town's strength.
According to Pei Donglai's report, although Black Shark didn't have a large-scale operation, he could still see ships monitoring the surrounding waters of North Coast Town from time to time. It should be Black Shark's scouting ships. It seems that Black Shark hasn't given up yet. Pirates all cared about face. Previously, Blackbeard had come in high spirits, but in the end, he ended up fleeing. If he did not regain his face, how could Blackbeard maintain his authority?
Pei Donglai did not passively defend either. He decisively took anti-reconnaissance measures and basically figured out Yue 'er Island's location. There was even a time when he used the high-speed assault ability of Meng Chong's warship to seize Black Shark's scouting ship and learn about Black Shark's basic situation from the captive.
Pei Donglai, on the other hand, was full of confidence. He declared that it was fine if Black Shark didn't come, but once he did, he would make sure that they wouldn't be able to return. If it weren't for the lack of military strength, Pei Donglai would have wanted to attack the Black Sharks' lair — Moon Island.
The external threat was temporarily removed, and Ouyang Shuo was even more confident in dealing with the upcoming siege of the roving bandits.
The reason why Ouyang Shuo had the confidence to defend against the bandits' attack was because his greatest trump card was the bed crossbow that the Bow and Crossbow Division developed with reference to the Song Dynasty Crossbow Manufacturing Technical Manual.
The heavy ballistae of the Northern Song Dynasty were developed to the point that three composite bows were assembled on the bed frame, which was known as the "Three Bows Eight Bulls Bed Crossbow". It required more than 100 people to twist the shaft and pull the string. The arrows were called "Wooden Dry Iron Plume", which was also known as "One Spear Three Sword Arrows". The arrows shot were as large as javelins, and the three iron plume were like three swords. The shooting range could reach more than 1500 meters, which was one of the longest shooting records in the cold weapon era.
In addition to shooting a single giant arrow, the bed crossbow could also shoot dozens of arrows at once. People called them "Jackdaw Arrows". When besieging the city, they could also shoot the Treading Arrows, which would be nailed to the city walls in rows. The besieging soldiers would then be able to climb up the walls. Therefore, it could be said that the bed crossbow was a weapon that could be used both offensively and defensively. It was the pinnacle of crossbow technology in the Song Dynasty.
The difficulty of creating such a great killing weapon could be imagined. It had been a month and a half since the establishment of the Archery and Crossbow Department. Even after such a long time, they had only created two Three-Bow Eight-Bull Bed Crossbows. Aside from the strongest Three-Bow Eight-Bull Bed Crossbow, they had also created four ordinary bed crossbows.
The aim and firing of the bed crossbows had to be handled by professionals. They needed to be strong men using huge axes to pull the trigger. The soldiers who used the bed crossbows were a specialized category in the army. They were known as bed crossbowmen.
From the day the Archery and Crossbow Department was established, the military office had been secretly selecting and training bed crossbowmen. There was a total of five hundred of them. These five hundred people were responsible for two Three-Bow Eight-Bull Bed Crossbows and four ordinary bed crossbows.
Ouyang Shuo specially named this troop of five hundred soldiers the Divine Arms Battalion. The Divine Arms Battalion was a special troop in the Ming Dynasty's army that specialized in firearms. It was one of the three great battalions of the capital's imperial guards. As for the Three-Bow Eight-Bull Bed Crossbows, they were like cannons among firearms. This showed Ouyang Shuo's expectations for this troop.
The battalion commander that the military office chose for the Divine Arms Battalion was called Wang Yuanfeng. He was twenty-six years old and was a low-ranked general. In terms of martial prowess, Wang Yuanfeng might not even be a match for a Rank 7 elite soldier. However, in terms of familiarity with the bed crossbows, no one in the army could compare to him. Not only did this person know the structure of the bed crossbows, but he also had terrifying accuracy. He was the best candidate to command the Three-Bow Eight-Bull Bed Crossbows.
Name: Wang Yuanfeng (Silver)
Identity: Shanhai Town's Divine Arms Battalion Commander
Occupation: Low-ranked general
[Loyalty]: 85
[Commander]: 40 [Martial Power]: 25 [Intelligence]: 20 [Politics]: 15
Specialty: Accuracy (Increases aiming accuracy by 50)
[Cultivation Skills]: None
Equipment: Tang Saber, Leather Armor
Evaluation: He once served in the imperial army. He is good at controlling all kinds of weapons, especially large ones like the bed crossbows.
Of course, the bed crossbows and the Divine Arms Battalion alone would not be able to stop the bandits.
According to the information disclosed by the overlord players in his previous life, the number of attacking bandits should be about six thousand. The types of bandits would vary depending on the region where the territory was located. They could be roving bandits, bandits, mountain bandits, or water bandits. Given the situation in Shanhai Town, it should be a combination of roving bandits and water bandits.
The entire army in Shanhai Town, including the Divine Arms Battalion and the Wolf Mountain Garrison Camp, only had five thousand people. The Wolf Mountain Garrison Camp could not be mobilized. Firstly, their combat power was limited. Secondly, they had to guard against sneak attacks from the other mountain barbarian tribes. Similarly, the Northern Sea Fleet could not be mobilized. They had to leave at least one battalion behind. Otherwise, once Black Shark's scouting ships discovered anything strange, they might be attacked.
The cavalry battalion in Friendship Town could retreat to the main camp temporarily. However, the City Defense Camp had to stay behind. Otherwise, it would be an empty city. Ouyang Shuo was not confident that he could hide this from that old fox, Dari Achi. After the cavalry battalion left, Dari Achi would definitely send people to investigate. If he discovered that there were no guards in the city, that old fox would not miss this opportunity.
Pool Town's City Defense Camp could be mobilized back to the main camp to participate in the defense. They had not discovered any threats at the eastern front yet. They could rest assured after one day. Over at the mountain barbarians' side, peace returned to the mountain barbarians' side after they eliminated the Swift Wind Tribe. There were no strange movements for now.
This way, the number of troops that could be mobilized, excluding the Divine Arms Battalion, was exactly three thousand. That was only half of the number that attacked the roving bandits. Furthermore, this was on the premise that the three hundred soldiers who died in the battle of Zhuolu were made up for.
In the battle of Zhuolu, Shanhai Town lost one hundred cavalry, one hundred and fifty saber and shield soldiers, and fifty archers. The cavalry was easy to deal with. They could be transferred from the reserve soldiers.
However, the saber and shield soldiers and archers were more troublesome. They needed to be selected from the mountain barbarian tribes. To nurture an archer, one could not do so without a foundation. They could only choose soldiers from the mountain barbarian tribes' hunters.
Helpless, Ouyang Shuo could only take Ge Hongliang's suggestion and transfer two hundred people from the Wolf Mountain Garrison Camp to replenish the dead troops. Then, he would transfer two hundred newcomers from the various tribes to replenish the Wolf Mountain Garrison Camp. This way, the combat prowess of the troops could be guaranteed, and there was no need to worry about whether to transfer the Wolf Mountain Garrison Camp to participate in the defense.
What was worse was that the Northern Sea Fleet could only fight in water. The cavalry was not suitable for defending the city, either. They could only be used as reserve troops for mobile strategies. Hence, only two battalions of infantry and two city defense battalions could participate in the defense of the city, a total of two thousand people.
Of the two thousand people defending the city, there were only seven hundred archers. This was another disadvantage.
Even with Shanhai Town's foundation, it would be difficult to deploy the archers. This showed how difficult it was to advance to a grade-1 county city. In Xiao Chen's previous life, many feudal lords did not dare to apply immediately when they met the requirements. They would only apply to the system after they were fully prepared.
In the current situation, it would not work to expand the army at the last minute.
The ratio of soldiers to soldiers in Shanhai Town had already surpassed the bottom line of one in ten, reaching a shocking one in five. If they expanded the army again, it would be no different from killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. Not to mention the pressure on the finances after expanding the army. More importantly, if they transferred a large number of young and strong men into the army, it would put an invisible squeeze on the territory's labor force. This would undoubtedly be a destructive blow to the various industries that were rising.
Hence, after Ge Hongliang, the head of the military affairs bureau, proposed to expand the army, it was immediately opposed by the head of the administration bureau, Fan Zhongyan, and the head of the finance bureau, Cui Yingyou.
Ouyang Shuo held the principle of better quality than quantity, and rejected the military affairs bureau's proposal.
Firstly, there were insufficient soldiers. If they were to expand the army, they would have to lower the requirements for the assessment of the soldiers. This was something that Ouyang Shuo could not accept. It was inconsistent with the policy of elite soldiers that he had always pursued.
Secondly, even if they were to expand the army now, these new soldiers were of low ranks and had not experienced any actual combat. It was easy to imagine how they would perform in a bloody battle like defending the city. (To be continued.)
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