In the afternoon of the first of December, in Lin Fengxiang's mansion.
Ouyang Shuo summoned the main generals of the Taiping Army in the main hall to discuss the reorganization of the army.
Before the meeting began, the atmosphere in the main hall was a bit heavy.
First, not long after Marquis issued the first edict, he issued the second edict.
The edict clearly stated that from that day on, Tianjing City would be taken over by the Imperial Guard Division and the two Mountain Barbarian Independent Divisions. The 100,000 Taiping Army soldiers would all stay in the barracks and could not go out for no reason.
Anyone with a discerning eye knew that the Taiping Army had been given the cold shoulder.
Second, the symbolic building of Tianjing City, the Heavenly Palace, was being ruthlessly demolished. Whether it was the generals who were close to Yang Xiuqing or Hong Xiuquan's hidden enemies in the army, they were all worried about it.
Under such a background, Ouyang Shuo summoned all the generals, which meant something unusual.
At three o 'clock in the afternoon, all the generals had gathered in the main hall. They waited for an hour before Ouyang Shuo finally arrived. Behind Ouyang Shuo were two fierce generals, Lin Yi and Shi Hu.
In addition, there was another person, Yang Xiuqing.
Before summoning all the generals, Ouyang Shuo met with Yang Xiuqing alone, and the two talked for more than an hour. After the discussion, Ouyang Shuo came out to meet the other generals.
What Ouyang Shuo did was, of course, to teach the generals of the Taiping Army a lesson. He wanted to sharpen their spirit and make them realize who was the master of the current Tianjing City.
Compared with the routine meeting on the first day, Ouyang Shuo suddenly became dignified. He was wearing the Radiant Armor and the Red Night Sword at his waist, which added some killing intent to him.
In the battle at Guiping Pass, Ouyang Shuo had a fortuitous encounter and entered an epiphany. The Killing Sword Technique was instantly upgraded to the fourth level, Familiar. He also comprehended the sword intent of the Killing Sword and the sixth move, Life Kill.
As a result, the Asura murderous intent that Ouyang Shuo had accumulated in his previous life and the new murderous intent in this life were completely integrated by the sword intent of the Killing Sword.
The newly formed killing Qi was less bloodthirsty and more dignified, becoming even purer.
Most importantly, Ouyang Shuo was already able to freely control this aura of slaughter, and he could control it at will. Normally, it would not show itself. Only when Ouyang Shuo activated it would it pounce towards a specific person.
At this moment, the six generals of the Taiping Army in the hall felt the overwhelming pressure. In the blink of an eye, some of the generals broke out in cold sweat, and they couldn't help but be astounded in their hearts.
In just one moment, Ouyang Shuo had completely overturned the gentle image he had when he was receiving the civil and military officials the day before. Now, he was displaying his iron-blooded and unyielding side to the generals.
"Everyone." Ouyang Shuo looked around and said, "All of you are generals and commanders, so you naturally know the importance of issuing orders. Since all of you have pledged allegiance to Shanhai City, the troops you lead should naturally be reorganized according to Shanhai City's rules. What do you think? "
As soon as he finished speaking, the hall fell silent.
The generals in the hall looked at each other, their hearts full of bitterness. The moment they surrendered, they knew that there would be a day when they would be reorganized. However, they did not expect that day to come so quickly and so suddenly.
Unfortunately, they had no way to refute him.
After all, it was common practice for the surrendered troops to be reorganized.
Apart from Yang Xiuqing, two of the six generals were Shi Dakai's left and right deputy generals. The other two were the chief general and deputy general of the fifty thousand troops stationed in Tianjing City. The other two were generals of the local garrison troops.
Among the six, the ones who had the least right to speak were the two local garrison generals. The total number of local garrison troops who had come to rescue the Emperor was less than thirty thousand. Moreover, they were all ordinary soldiers and their combat strength was worrying.
Unfortunately, one of the two generals was Lin Qirong, a die-hard follower of Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. Ouyang Shuo had already decided to get rid of this person after the meeting.
The last one was called Yang Fuqing, but he was insignificant. If he was sensible, Ouyang Shuo did not mind supporting him as the leader of the local garrison troops.
Even though the current leaders were not of much significance, Chu Feng was still the leader of the army.
Although Shi Dakai had resigned from the army and traveled far away, his left and right deputy generals still firmly controlled the twenty thousand remnants of the West Army. The fact that this troop had been able to successfully protect Shi Dakai and break out of the encirclement amidst tens of thousands of enemies was proof of their strength. They were truly the cream of the crop.
Shi Dakai's left general was called Hu Yihuang. He had already made it clear to Yang Xiuqing that he was willing to submit to Shanhai City. The Bureau of Intelligence and the Black Snake Guards had not found anything strange about this person, so there was no big problem.
Hu Yihuang was the main reason why Yang Xiuqing could successfully take over the army.
As for the right general, his name was Shi Zhenji. His attitude was a bit ambiguous. Shi Zhenji was not a die-hard follower of Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan, but a die-hard follower of Shi Dakai. More importantly, he was Shi Dakai's younger brother.
Although Shi Dakai had voluntarily withdrawn from that shocking battle, in Shi Zhenji's eyes, it was Yang Xiuqing who had forced his brother to leave.
Therefore, Shi Zhenji naturally held a grudge against Yang Xiuqing. Because of this, Shi Zhenji did not have a good impression of Shanhai City. In fact, he even had a faint sense of resistance.
As for Shi Zhenji, Ouyang Shuo's main goal was to rope him in. Firstly, Shi Zhenji was Shi Dakai's younger brother and had extremely high prestige in the Western Army. It was equivalent to him taking over Shi Dakai's position. Secondly, considering the possibility of roping Shi Dakai in in the future, Ouyang Shuo naturally knew to leave a way out.
As for the fifty thousand troops stationed in Tianjing City, they were also an elite force. Otherwise, Hong Xiuquan would not have been at ease in handing over his headquarters to this force.
The commander of the fifty thousand troops stationed here was called Ceng Tianyang, and the deputy was called Qin Rigang. Ceng Tianyang was an old general and also a die-hard follower of Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. However, this person was experienced and slick. He knew that things were out of his control. On the surface, he seemed to submit to Yang Xiuqing's leadership, but in reality, he had been secretly harboring evil intentions.
Therefore, Ceng Tianyang was the most unstable factor in the hundred thousand Taiping troops. As the commanding general of Tianjing City's garrison, his control over the troops was much better than Yang Xiuqing's.
In addition, this person was an old fox. On the surface, he was unusually respectful to Yang Xiuqing, so no one could find any fault with him. He was very well supported by the soldiers in the army.
If Ouyang Shuo used force on Ceng Tianyang, it would probably cause a mutiny among the soldiers.
As for the deputy, Qin Rigang, he was a trusted subordinate of Yang Xiuqing. It was precisely because of Qin Rigang's existence that Ceng Tianyang did not dare to lead his troops in rebellion. This allowed Yang Xiuqing to take over the Tianjing troops.
It had to be said that the Military Intelligence Bureau's decision to rope in Yang Xiuqing was indeed a brilliant move. Only someone like Yang Xiuqing could not only scrutinize and seize power, but also have an ununderestimated influence in both the military and political worlds of Tianjing City.
If it were anyone else, it would be difficult for them to do this.
…
"Reporting to the Marquis!" Seeing that Ouyang Shuo was about to take control of the situation, the old fox Ceng Tianyang finally couldn't help but stand out. He asked gently, "Could the Marquis please tell me if there will be any changes to our duties after the reorganization? Will we still be able to control our respective troops? "
Ceng Tianyang's words directly pointed out the two major weaknesses of the reorganization of the army. Neither of them could be omitted.
As a commanding general, one had to be concerned about his own position. After the reorganization, it would be fine if he was promoted, but if he was demoted, then he would lose both his status and face.
Apart from his position, the commanding general was also concerned about whether there would be any changes to his original subordinates. If he was appointed to a new army and did not have a few trusted subordinates, even if he was in a high position, he would not be able to live comfortably.
Of course, the above two points were only for those generals who liked to curry favor and were passionate about fame and wealth.
For generals like Han Xin and Di Qing, even if they were not put in an important position for the time being, it did not matter. They would not immediately think about cultivating trusted subordinates. This was because they were confident in their extraordinary abilities and had lofty ambitions.
Obviously, these two points were not fated for the Taiping Army.
Therefore, Ceng Tianyang's words were very well received by the other generals. Even Hu Yihuang and Qin Rigang, the two generals who had expressed their loyalty, looked at Ouyang Shuo with a face full of concern.
Seeing this, Ouyang Shuo exchanged a glance with Yang Xiuqing, who was in the hall.
Ceng Tianyang was indeed an old fox.
Unfortunately, no matter how cunning a fox was, it could not escape from the hunter's pursuit.
Before this, Ouyang Shuo had a secret discussion with Yang Xiuqing. The two of them had repeatedly simulated how Ceng Tianyang and the others would make things difficult for them during this important military meeting.
Therefore, Ceng Tianyang's question was not beyond Ouyang Shuo's expectation.
Although Ouyang Shuo was not a military genius, he had been hanging out with Bai Qi, Han Xin, and the other Divine Generals for many years. Therefore, he was not a stranger to military affairs.
Seeing that the generals were provoked by Ceng Tianyang, Ouyang Shuo put his hands down and smiled at Ceng Tianyang. This made the old fox panic, and his face twitched a little.
"Everyone, even if General Ceng did not mention it, I would have given you an explanation. You should already know that the army of Shanhai City is divided into three levels: brigade, division, and corps. A division has more than thirteen thousand soldiers, and a legion already has seventy thousand soldiers. "
Ouyang Shuo paused for a moment. After they had digested it, he continued, "I promise that the six generals present here will all be given the position of division commander. As for the position of corps commander, it will depend on how much contribution you can make for Shanhai City in the future. If you want to convince the people in the army, you must have outstanding military achievements. "
When the generals heard this, they could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. Their tense expressions also relaxed a little.
One must know that even in the army of Shanhai City, a division commander was considered a high-ranking general. Although the number of soldiers among them had decreased, the quality of their troops had definitely improved.
Even Ceng Tianyang could not refute this. After all, although Ceng Tianyang was now leading an army of 50,000 soldiers, he naturally could not be given the position of corps commander.
No matter how thick-skinned the old fox was, he did not have the confidence to stand side by side with the three Divine Generals, Bai Qi, Han Xin, and Sun Bin.
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