The drama taking place in Xun Province did not attract Ouyang Shuo's attention.
No matter how much trouble the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's insurgent army caused, they would not be able to reach the Lianzhou Basin in a short time. On the contrary, the expansion of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was tantamount to a ruthless plowing in the territory of Guangxi, breaking the old pattern. In the end, it was very likely that one party would become the dominant power.
At that time, Ouyang Shuo would step forward to clean up the mess. As long as he could get rid of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he would be able to occupy the entire Guangxi. Why not?
In Ouyang Shuo's eyes, the rebel army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a living target.
It was not that Ouyang Shuo was arrogant and thought that he could destroy the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with only the Lianzhou Basin. He had other trump cards, and he would execute them step by step when the time was right.
At that time, anyone who dared to look down on the Lianzhou Basin would suffer greatly.
Furthermore, to the east of Xunzhou, within the borders of Wuzhou, was Chiyou City.
When two tigers fight, one will definitely be injured.
Ouyang Shuo could just sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.
As for whether or not things would develop as he expected, everything was still unknown.
The aftermath of Mulan Manor's takeover gradually dissipated, and the Mountain Sea Territory regained its peace.
The only thing that gave Ouyang Shuo a headache was the problem of the warhorses. To form the Fourth Division, they had to touch upon the matter of the Green Beetle Horse. The cavalry of the other three divisions were all equipped with Green Beetle Horses. Ouyang Shuo could not favor one and discriminate against the other. Thus, replacing the Cyan Beetle Horses for the 4th Division's cavalry was placed on Ouyang Shuo's agenda.
Unfortunately, under the instigation of the Sky's Boundary Tribe, the tribes of the grasslands were already wary of Shanhai City. They were no longer willing to trade with Shanhai City. Trying to buy Green Beetle Horses from the grasslands was no longer realistic.
After the trade was cut off, Ouyang Shuo became even more worried about the tribes in the grassland.
Although the climate in Lianzhou Basin was pleasant and there was no cold winter, it was close to the end of the year and the grassland could not be grazed on a large scale. The livelihood of the herdsmen had become a big problem.
Ouyang Shuo had reason to suspect that the grassland tribes would take the risk out of desperation if they were unable to purchase food from Shanhai City.
Ouyang Shuo had already instructed the Military Intelligence Department to increase their efforts in gathering information on the grasslands. If there was even the slightest sign of trouble, they would immediately report it. Lei Xun, the leader of the Second Military Intelligence Group, who was in charge of intelligence work in the northern region, issued a military order.
What puzzled Ouyang Shuo was that, according to the intelligence reports sent by Lei Xun, none of the tribes in the grassland seemed to have the intention to declare war. So far, none of the tribes had issued a temporary war assembly order to recruit herdsmen into the army.
Everything seemed very strange.
The calm grassland was more like the prelude to a storm.
Ouyang Shuo had no choice but to instruct the Military Office to speed up the preparation of war plans and the allocation of war resources, preparing for a great battle with the grasslands at any time. At the same time, he instructed the Mountain and Sea Prefecture to speed up the construction of the city walls, prioritizing the construction of the northern city walls so that it would become an indestructible barrier.
As the scale of the army expanded, it was no longer the same as before when they could mobilize the army at any time and immediately enter the battlefield if they wanted to start a large-scale war.
As the saying goes, before the soldiers and horses move, the provisions and fodder move first.
How many provisions, hides, carriages, horses, arrows, weapons, and equipment needed to be prepared for a great battle was not something that could be prepared in a short period of time.
Thousands of craftsmen worked day and night in the four military workshops and the cave-dwelling military factory. Batches of weapons and equipment were transported to various departments in the military to complete the replacement of the equipment.
This was especially so for the newly formed Fourth Division. The equipment of the soldiers were all given by the system when they changed their professions. It was far from the standard of Mountain and Sea City's army. Basically, they had to be replaced.
Ge Hongliang, who had just been appointed as the head of the Military Office, was so busy that he did not even have time to eat.
General Bai Qi and the head of the Military Office, Du Ruhui, were busy preparing the army while leading their personal guards into the grasslands to survey the terrain and make preparations for the upcoming battle.
Bai Qi's personality was to always hit the mark when he did not move. His mind did not stop for even a moment. He was constantly thinking, analyzing the enemy and himself. What he valued the most was the investigation and preparation work before the battle.
Du Ruhui was also experienced. He had sharp eyes and was decisive in planning. He was born in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Compared to Bai Qi of the Warring States Period, his concept of war and strategy were even better.
The two of them complemented each other, which made Ouyang Shuo less worried.
With the two of them in charge, Ouyang Shuo had the energy to plan other important matters.
As for the Green Beetle Horses.
Currently, the only way to obtain Green Beetle Horses was through the Storm Valley Military Horse Farm.
The Storm Valley Military Horse Farm had sent a total of more than four thousand Green Beetle Horses, including a hundred stallions.
The breeding of warhorses required a long process. Ouyang Shuo did not want to drain the pond to catch the fish in a short period of time, so he transferred the Green Beetle Horses from the Storm Valley Military Horse Farm.
Moreover, in the long run, excellent warhorses like the Green Beetle Horses could not satisfy the needs of the territory's army. Even if they unified the Lian State Basin, the total number of Green Beetle Horses was limited.
In the future wars, they would need to mobilize hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Even if they transferred all the Green Beetle Horses from the Lian State Basin, they would not be able to satisfy the needs of the cavalry.
That was why Ouyang Shuo had built the Military Horse Farm early in order to prepare for a rainy day.
Of course, the Military Horse Farm was only a backup plan. It could not solve the emergency. The best way was to find other types of mounts and open up other sources of mounts.
Ouyang Shuo already had some ideas about this. In his previous life, he knew where some excellent mounts were produced. As long as the timing was right, he could solve the problem of the shortage of mounts in the army.
Currently, Ouyang Shuo was in a dilemma.
The commander of the 4th Division, Mu Guiying, understood Ouyang Shuo's difficulties. She said that the matter of changing warhorses could be delayed. After all, building the Mulan Fortress was not something that could be done overnight.
Just like that, the matter was put on hold.
Another thing that worried Ouyang Shuo was the North Sea Shipyard.
When Ouyang Shuo gave the Ming Dynasty Warship Manufacturing Technical Manual to the shipyard, he requested the shipyard to build a fortress ship as soon as possible. He was in urgent need of it.
Under Ouyang Shuo's expectations, on the 15th of January, the territory's first fortress ship was finally completed after hundreds of craftsmen from the North Sea Shipyard worked day and night. It was ready to be launched.
When Ouyang Shuo received the news, he personally went to North Sea City to witness this historic moment.
Apart from Ouyang Shuo, the shipyard's special consultant, Elder Sun, the factory director, Zheng Dahai, and the commander of the North Sea Fleet, Pei Donglai, all rushed to the shipyard to witness the launching of the fortress ship. Bai Qi and Du Ruhui were busy preparing the military and could not leave. Otherwise, they would have come to take a look.
The North Sea Shipyard was close to the North Sea Port. It had two large shipyards and more than ten small and medium shipyards.
The first fortress ship was assembled in one of the large shipyards and was waiting to be launched.
The giant fortress ship anchored in the shipyard was more than 30 meters tall and had five floors. It could carry 3,000 soldiers. Not only did the fortress ship look majestic and mighty, but it was also heavily guarded with spears and flags. It was capable of attacking and defending, like a fortress on the water. The bulkhead was equipped with iron plates, and the bow of the ship was equipped with sharp iron points that were used to sink enemy ships in water battles. It was more destructive than the angle of attack. A stern rudder was installed at the stern of the ship to keep the rudder straight and not to drift.
There was no doubt that the fortress ship used watertight bulkhead technology. Moreover, it was even better.
On both sides of the fortress ship, there were also six racket poles.
The racket poles were used to smash enemy ships. They were more than 15 meters long and consisted of four parts: a pillar, a crossbar, a boulder tied to the pole, and a windlass. The pillar was used as a support, and the crossbar could be rotated at will to smash the enemy ship. The windlass was connected to the crossbar by ropes, and it relied on manpower to rotate the windlass to pull up the crossbar and lift the boulder.
Before the invention of cannons, such a powerful weapon was simply a nightmare for enemy ships.
With all of these, the fortress ship was armed to the teeth. Just thinking about it made people shudder.
If it wasn't for the urgency of time, Elder Sun wanted to modify the fortress ship to make it even more terrifying. For a shipbuilding expert like Elder Sun, the successful construction of an ancient fortress ship was naturally very exciting.
Elder Sun was very satisfied with Ouyang Shuo's efficiency. With the 《Ming Dynasty Warship Manufacturing Technical Manual》 as a reference, many of his ideas could be slowly put into practice.
Of course, the fortress ship wasn't perfect, and it also had its shortcomings.
The disadvantage of the fortress ship was that it was too tall, which caused its center of gravity to be unstable, and its ability to resist wind and waves was poor. Therefore, the fortress ship was generally only suitable for inland or coastal battles, and not for long-distance voyages.
Otherwise, if a storm came, the fortress ship might capsize and sink.
Under Mazu's protection, the navy of Shanhai City perfectly avoided this weakness. The hidden building, Mazu Temple, was a building feature of [Sea God's Shelter] — — the ability to resist storms when sailing on the sea increased by 40, so that the ships in the territory, as long as they didn't encounter a huge storm, generally wouldn't have any problems.
Zheng Dahai, who was standing beside Ouyang Shuo, saw that the Marquis was very happy and seemed to be very satisfied with the ship, so he asked tentatively, "Marquis, please name the ship!"
Ouyang Shuo was indeed very satisfied. He smiled and said: "The territory has a dragon as its totem. This first ship will be called Dragon Head. It means that the dragon soars through the four seas."
"That's a good name!" Elder Sun suddenly interrupted and nodded with a smile. "It also has an auspicious meaning."
"I'll immediately instruct the boatmen to carve our names on it!" Zheng Dahai chimed in.
Ouyang Shuo nodded. The Dragon Head would be his flagship, and it would accompany him on his journey across the ocean. "Captain Zheng, immediately improve the relevant facilities of Dragon Head. In a few days, this marquis will be riding Dragon Head out to sea."
"Yes, sir!" Zheng Dahai's heart tightened. He did not think that the Marquis would be so impatient. It seemed that he would have to arrange for the craftsmen to work overtime in the next two days. You should know. A large fortress ship had to install a lot of auxiliary facilities.
Ouyang Shuo then looked at Pei Donglai and said: "General Pei, the North Sea Fleet will also be moving in the next two days. They are preparing to go out to sea with me."
"May I know where the Marquis's destination is?" Pei Donglai was somewhat puzzled.
Ouyang Shuo smiled mysteriously and said indifferently: "Jingzhou Island!"
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