On October 8th, the first year of Gaia, the talents recruited by the Cui Chamber of Commerce arrived at Shanhai County.
This batch of talents totaled 1,200 people. Among them, 1,000 were blacksmiths, carpenters, tailors, and other skilled talents, and 200 were scholars, low-level officials, and early retired soldiers.
Ouyang Shuo paid a total of 5,000 gold coins for this group of people to settle down and teleport.
According to Ouyang Shuo's instructions, the blacksmiths, carpenters, and tailors were all assigned to the three military workshops in the Eastern District. The scholars and officials were assigned to various departments in Shanhai County. Most importantly, they were assigned to Tianfeng County and the other five affiliated territories to strengthen the administrative structure.
The soldiers were assigned to various field brigades as platoon leaders or battalion commanders.
Among the talents, Ouyang Shuo paid the most attention to two. They were the civil official Cui Shousi and the military general Sun Chuanlin. Cui Shousi was Ying You's cousin. He was a Jinshi and one of the only two Jinshi in the Cui family. He had been working in the Ministry of Appointments.
Cui Shousi's arrival surprised Ying You.
She did not expect the family to be so determined. The Cui family was established in business. Because of this, they paid more attention to the education of their descendants. They hoped that they would become officials and provide political protection for the family.
Cui Shousi was one of the most successful examples of the Cui family's education.
Ouyang Shuo could roughly guess the Cui family's intentions. Without hesitation, he appointed Cui Shousi as the magistrate of Yishui County.
[Name]: Cui Shousi (Gold)
[Identity]: County magistrate of Yishui County
[Occupation]: Civil official (Jinshi)
[Loyalty]: 85
[Commander]: 35 [Strength]: 25 [Intelligence]: 50 [Politics]: 65
[Specialty]: Persuasion (Increases agricultural development efficiency by 20%)
[Evaluation]: Cui family disciple, knowledgeable, insightful, diligent.
Cui Shousi was a Gold-level talent, but he only had one specialty, which was slightly lacking. Fortunately, the specialty of [Persuading Farmers to Teach Mulberry] was a good match for Yishui County, which focused on agriculture.
If Cui Shousi was the result of the Cui family's intentional arrangement, then Sun Chuanlin was a pleasant surprise.
[Name]: Sun Chuanlin (Gold)
[Identity]: Shanhai County resident
[Occupation]: Intermediate general
[Loyalty]: 80
[Commander]: 60 [Strength]: 65 [Intelligence]: 40 [Politics]: 25
[Skills]: Projectile Shooting (increases the range of the bow and arrow by 5), Vigorous Shooting (increases the attack power of the bow and arrow by 10)
[Martial Arts]: Youji Archery
[Equipment]: Wild Goose Bow
[Evaluation]: Once served as a captain in the imperial army. Because he was dissatisfied with the fact that his military achievements were replaced by those of aristocratic families, he brazenly exposed the evil deeds in the army. He regained his military achievements, but was treated coldly. Disheartened, he retired early.
What made Sun Chuanlin special was that he was the only general in Shanhai County who was famous for his archery. Ouyang Shuo couldn't help but think back to the time when he was still a village, when he had the territory's first cavalry with crossbows.
Ouyang Shuo didn't hesitate and immediately appointed Sun Chuanlin as the Deputy General of the Eastern City Barracks as well as the First Division's Fifth Brigade Commander.
At this point, Shanhai County's First Division was officially at full strength. There were five regular brigades and one imperial guard brigade, and the total number of soldiers had reached 15000. They were responsible for guarding the four directions.
As the Shanhai County troops were reorganized, Ouyang Shuo shifted his gaze to the northernmost part of the Lianzhou Basin.
After the Battle of Muye, Mulan Town was successfully promoted to a first-class county. After one and a half months, the population of Mulan Town reached the upper limit again, and it was naturally promoted to a second-class county.
Mu Guiying said that the time to seize the Southern Pass was ripe.
Mulan Town had just formed a city guard brigade, which included two saber and shield battalions, one cavalry battalion, and two archer battalions. With the strength of the city guard brigade, it was still not enough to seize the Southern Pass, and they would probably suffer heavy casualties.
Therefore, they needed Shanhai County's assistance.
If Ouyang Shuo sent his army, they would naturally win the battle. The problem was that sending an army would require expensive teleportation fees. For example, the teleportation fee for 5,000 troops would be 10,000 gold coins.
Ge Hongliang, the head of the Military Affairs Bureau, suggested that they could directly pass through the grassland without using the teleportation array.
Ge Hongliang's proposal was also full of difficulties.
Because they were going to attack a city, the infantry should be the core. The infantry marched slowly. Even if they marched quickly, it would take at least a week to cross more than 400 kilometers of grassland.
In addition, if the army wanted to pass through the grassland, they would inevitably pass through the territories of the grassland tribes. The current situation in the grassland was complicated, and it was not advisable to beat the grass and alert the enemy.
Ouyang Shuo thought about it and could only send the most elite siege troops to assist Mulan Town in seizing the Southern Pass. In the end, he decided to transfer two of Shanhai County's ace battalions, the First Battalion of the Imperial Guard Brigade and the First Battalion of the First Brigade of the First Division. In addition, there were also five Three Bow Eight Bull Bed Crossbows and ten scaling ladders.
As the scale of the army expanded, pre-war preparations were no longer like before, which could be completed in a short time.
The Military Affairs Bureau's hummingbird carried Ouyang Shuo's military order and flew to the Western Barracks. The Western Barracks received the military order and had to assemble the troops before rushing to the headquarters. It would take two days just to get there.
The Western Barracks was cooperating with the construction of the Heavenly Sea Road to exterminate the surrounding bandits.
The seized funds were handed over to the headquarters, which was Ouyang Shuo. In order to increase the enthusiasm for exterminating the bandits, Ouyang Shuo stipulated that one-tenth of the seized funds would be given as a special reward to all the officers and soldiers of the bandit extermination troops.
The captured captives would be sent to the Military Affairs Bureau to serve as reserve soldiers. The remaining captives would be placed in the nearby Eternal Night Town or Guangshui Town to replenish the population of these two towns and strive to be promoted to a county town as soon as possible.
This batch of captives was also arranged to serve in the Heavenly Sea Road project.
On the eleventh day of the tenth month, Ouyang Shuo brought a thousand elite troops and a large number of siege weapons to Mulan Town. Because the scaling ladders were still huge even after being dismantled, Ouyang Shuo had to transport them back and forth several times.
"Big Brother Wuyi, you're here!" Mu Lanyue was waiting for him at the teleportation array.
Ouyang Shuo nodded and asked, "Are you ready?"
"Yes, Big Sister Mu is waiting for you in the barracks," Mu Lanyue said with a smile.
"Let's go!"
In the barracks, the Mulan Town's City Guard Brigade had already assembled.
Before setting off, Mu Guiying invited Ouyang Shuo and the others to the barracks' meeting hall for a meeting.
Mu Guiying invited Ouyang Shuo to sit in the seat of honor. Ouyang Shuo shook his head and refused. "General Mu, for this attack on Southern Guard Pass, you will be the commander-in-chief. Shanhai County's troops will all listen to your arrangements." As he spoke, he introduced Wang Feng and Shi Hu to Mu Guiying.
Mu Guiying had been paying attention to Southern Guard Pass for a long time. Her understanding of the Southern Guard Pass far surpassed Ouyang Shuo's. As for how to attack Southern Guard Pass, she probably already had a well-developed battle plan.
Ouyang Shuo naturally wouldn't overstep his bounds and let the guest take priority.
Mu Guiying was a heroine with a forthright temperament. She didn't refuse and sat in the seat of honor. She said, "Through this period of investigation, I finally have a general understanding of Southern Guard Pass. There are around three thousand bandits occupying Southern Guard Pass, and their leader is called Li Anbai. He used to be a famous hero in Jianghu. Later, he fell into a trap and was expelled from his sect. He wandered about in the wilderness and eventually became a bandit. This person is highly skilled in martial arts. Although he is a bandit, he still has a chivalrous heart. After plotting to take over Southern Guard Pass, he restrained his subordinates from killing the innocent.
"The problem is that because of that incident in his early years, Li Anbai has suffered internal injuries that have yet to fully recover. In addition to his old age, he is gradually losing his strength. It seems that he won't be able to restrain his subordinates any longer."
Ouyang Shuo nodded. No wonder Mu Guiying was so anxious to eradicate Southern Guard Pass. So this was the reason. It could be foreseen that if Li Anbai died, the first place to suffer would be Mulan County.
"Li Anbai has a daughter named Li Feixue. She is sixteen years old and was born to his wife after he became a bandit. Li Anbai loved this daughter dearly and taught her everything he knew in his life. This Miss Li, under her father's intentional nurturing, has never been tainted. She is slender, elegant, and pure. She has never been tainted by the habits of bandits. Because of this, Li Anbai worried that after he died, not only would his daughter be unable to establish a foothold in Southern Guard Pass, but she might even lose her chastity. "
Mu Guiying tirelessly explained. Ouyang Shuo never imagined that there would be such a complicated story.
"Because of this, Li Anbai couldn't sleep at night. It just so happened that the identity of a spy that I arranged to be stationed in Southern Guard Pass was seen through by the astute Li Anbai. This person was also fierce. He actually beat the spy at his own game and found out about the spy's background. When he learned that the spy came from Mulan County, he immediately had an idea. After learning about the details, Li Anbai was even more excited. He made a prompt decision to offer up Southern Guard Pass in order to protect his daughter's chastity. "
Ouyang Shuo suddenly understood. No wonder Mu Guiying had such a deep understanding of Southern Guard Pass. She even knew about such a secret. What followed was confusion. Since Li Anbai was willing to offer up Southern Guard Pass, why did Mu Guiying ask for Shanhai County's assistance? With such a spy, wouldn't taking down Southern Guard Pass be a piece of cake?!
"Did something happen in between?" Ouyang Shuo asked.
Mu Guiying let out a long sigh. "The Marquis' guess was correct. Something did happen. Just two days ago, for some unknown reason, news of Li Anbai's intention to offer up Southern Guard Pass was suddenly leaked, causing a great uproar within the pass. Although the mountain bandits respected Li Anbai as their leader, they couldn't accept him offering up Southern Guard Pass. In addition, some people with ulterior motives added fuel to the fire. According to the spy's last message, Li Anbai and his daughter have already been placed under house arrest. The person in charge of Southern Guard Pass has already changed hands. Not only that, but the mountain bandits have also threatened to attack our Mulan County as punishment. "
Ouyang Shuo shook his head in amusement. "These mountain bandits don't know the immensity of the heavens and earth. It's fine if they obediently hide within Southern Guard Pass, but once they come out, how could they be a match for Mulan County? I'm afraid this isn't true. "
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