"As for the old subordinates that you are now leading."
At this point, Ouyang Shuo noticed that the six generals, who had just relaxed, tensed up again. He snickered in his heart and said, "It's impossible to put all of them under your command. However, I can guarantee that half of the divisions that you are leading will be your old subordinates. What do you think? "
The two promises that Ouyang Shuo made could be considered generous no matter which force it was. It was enough to show his sincerity. Therefore, the generals present seemed to have no reason to refuse.
"If the Marquis treats us with sincerity, we dare not to pledge our lives to him!"
Hu Yihuang and Qin Rigang, the two generals who were close to him, stood up and took the lead to express their loyalty.
"We pledge our lives to the Marquis!"
Then, the garrison general, Yang Fuqing, also stood up and expressed his position. Yang Fuqing finally saw the situation clearly. With these two promises, he had nothing else to ask for.
More importantly, the troops that Yang Fuqing was leading now were less than ten thousand people. If he could really become the commander of a division, it would be equivalent to being promoted. How could he not be satisfied?
Seeing this, Ouyang Shuo nodded in satisfaction. If the time was right, it was possible to arrange for Yang Fuqing to become the commander of a garrison division. It could be considered as giving him wealth.
Next, there were only three generals, Lin Qirong, Shi Zhenji, and the old fox, Ceng Tianyang.
The three of them looked at each other. Obviously, before they came, they did not expect such a situation. In the face of such generous conditions, if they dared to disobey, then their wild ambitions would be clear.
After a while, the three of them had no choice but to kneel down and pledge their loyalty to Ouyang Shuo with bitter faces.
Even so, from the expressions of Lin Qirong and Ceng Tianyang, outsiders could not see anything strange. Instead, they looked like they were grateful to Ouyang Shuo.
Ouyang Shuo sat in the seat of honor with a smile on his face, watching the two actors perform clumsily in the hall. They probably did not know that their wild ambitions had long been seen through by the Military Intelligence.
In fact, at this moment, Ceng Tianyang was sneering complacently in his heart.
Ceng Tianyang did not expect that the Marquis in front of him would spend so much to rope in his old subordinates.
"How foolish." Ceng Tianyang couldn't help but sigh.
Originally, Ceng Tianyang wanted to start a storm in Tianjing City and lead his troops to attack Lin Fengxiang's residence. He wanted to kill the so-called Marquis and avenge the Heavenly King.
Now, Ceng Tianyang had temporarily given up on this idea.
Since the other party had promised him the position of a division commander and half of his old subordinates. In other words, he could take this opportunity to infiltrate the army of Shanhai City.
This was a great opportunity.
In this way, there were too many tricks that could be played.
Whether it was to spread the doctrines of the God Worshipping Church in the army of Shanhai City, to attract followers and expand their forces, or to betray Shanhai City and deal a fatal blow to Shanhai City during the war, they were all tempting ideas.
Just thinking about it made him excited.
In comparison, killing the other party once seemed rather insignificant.
Thus, as far as Ceng Tianyang was concerned, this was no different from inviting a wolf into the house.
Thinking of this, how could Ceng Tianyang not be proud?
Ceng Tianyang and Lin Qirong exchanged a glance vaguely. Nothing needed to be said.
…
If Ceng Tianyang and Lin Qirong were 'acting', then Shi Zhenji's expression was a little strange. There was dissatisfaction and confusion.
Unlike his clan brother Shi Dakai, Shi Zhenji was a more ambitious young general. To be honest, before this meeting, Shi Zhenji's impression of the Marquis was extremely poor due to his prejudice against Yang Xiuqing. His heart was full of resistance.
Before this, Ceng Tianyang had vaguely probed Shi Zhenji's thoughts. The old fox had vaguely revealed that he wanted to take advantage of the Marquis's arrival to start a military rebellion in Tianjing City.
Shi Zhenji didn't express his opinion towards Ceng Tianyang's probing.
This meant that he was somewhat tempted, but he just hadn't made up his mind yet.
Ceng Tianyang was a sly old fox. He immediately saw through Shi Zhenji's thoughts. Recently, he had been interacting with him more and more frequently.
Originally, Shi Zhenji had almost been convinced by Ceng Tianyang.
Unexpectedly, today's meeting had greatly changed Shi Zhenji's impression of the Marquis.
To be honest, Shi Zhenji had been rather curious about this Marquis whom he had never met before. He was curious, just what kind of astonishing figure could command such a great army, able to wipe out Heavenly Country that was flourishing for a time.
Shi Zhenji had only caught a glimpse of the meeting with the officials yesterday. And at that time, Ouyang Shuo had appeared amiable. For a general like Shi Zhenji, that was a little off.
Today's meeting at such a close distance had given Shi Zhenji a whole new understanding of the Marquis.
The man sitting at the head of the table was young, but no one paid attention to his age. He sat there, unmoving like a mountain. There was an awe-inspiring aura about him that no one dared to act presumptuously in front of him.
It was the same for them, the generals.
The Marquis didn't speak much, but the entire situation of the military meeting was already under his control.
The two promises that the Marquis had made undoubtedly proved that he was broad-minded. He was a Marquis with true ambition, means, and charisma.
Shi Zhenji couldn't help but compare the Marquis with the dead Heavenly King.
With this comparison, it was clear who was superior.
When he was in the army, Shi Zhenji had occasionally heard his clan brother, Shi Dakai, say that he didn't seem to agree with some of the Heavenly King's decisions. It was only because of military orders that he had to obey.
Shi Zhenji also felt that the Heavenly King seemed somewhat gloomy and fake. To put it bluntly, he was a hypocrite. He didn't have the demeanor and bearing of a real Monarch. He really couldn't be considered a wise ruler.
Especially when compared to the man in front of him, he seemed even paler.
Therefore, Shi Zhenji's heart was somewhat shaken at this moment. Was it really worth risking his future, his dreams, and even his ambitions just for the sake of his clan brother?
That might not be what his clan brother wanted to see.
Shi Zhenji had a feeling that the army of Shanhai City was where his dreams lay.
And all of this happened the moment Shi Zhenji swore his loyalty. At this moment, Shi Zhenji couldn't estimate how sincere his loyalty was, or how perfunctory it was.
…
After the six generals swore their loyalty one by one, Ouyang Shuo announced the details of the reorganization.
The thirty thousand local garrison troops led by Lin Qirong and Yang Fuqing would be 'escorted' by the First Brigade of the Imperial Guard Division to Mulan Fortress for reorganization.
The thirty thousand garrison troops would be reduced and reorganized into garrison troops, which would overlap with the other garrison divisions.
The twenty thousand troops led by Hu Yihuang and Shi Zhenji would be divided into two. Hu Yihuang would lead the ten thousand troops westward to rendezvous with the Dragon Xiang Army that was sweeping through Zhen 'an County, where they would be reorganized.
Shi Zhenji would also lead the ten thousand troops to the Withered Fortress under the 'escort' of the Second Brigade of the Imperial Guard Division to be reorganized.
Ouyang Shuo's arrangement seemed casual, but there was a deeper meaning behind it.
Hu Yihuang was a trustworthy general, so he would go to Zhen 'an County, which was still in turmoil, to be reorganized. Shi Zhenji, on the other hand, was wavering. Naturally, he would accept the reorganization of the Leopard Tao Army.
After all, the entire Xun Zhou County was already under the control of Shanhai City. With the escort of the Imperial Guard Brigade, even if Shi Zhenji had any ulterior motives, he would not be able to do anything.
Moreover, looking at Shi Zhenji's expression today, if Ouyang Shuo were to meet him alone again, he would probably be able to completely recruit this young general.
Ouyang Shuo still cherished talents.
Similarly, Qin Rigang would lead the twenty-five thousand Tianjing City garrison troops and follow Hu Yihuang's troops to Zhen 'an County to rendezvous with the Dragon Xiang Army for reorganization.
Accordingly, Ouyang Shuo arranged for the Third Brigade of the Imperial Guard Division to be 'escorted'.
It was not that Ouyang Shuo did not trust Qin Rigang, but he was afraid that the twenty-five thousand soldiers would cause trouble. Therefore, he arranged for an Imperial Guard Brigade just in case.
As for the old fox Ceng Tianyang, he would naturally lead the remaining twenty-five thousand Tianjing City garrison troops to the Withered Fortress for reorganization.
This time, Ouyang Shuo arranged for the Fourth and Fifth Brigade of the Imperial Guard Division to be 'escorted'.
As for Ceng Tianyang, Ouyang Shuo did not intend to get rid of him in Tianjing City. However, once he arrived at the Withered Fortress, it would not be up to him to decide what to do with him. Ouyang Shuo believed that Han Xin would not disappoint him.
Thus, the one hundred thousand Taiping Army troops were all transferred out of Tianjing City by Ouyang Shuo.
The time that Ouyang Shuo gave the army was two days to prepare. These two days were the necessary preparation time, and it was also Ouyang Shuo's last test of the enemies in the army.
After all, once they left Tianjing City, it would not be so easy for them to cause trouble.
Naturally, the generals had no objections to Ouyang Shuo's reorganization plan. Thus, this temporary military meeting officially came to an end.
Looking at their disappearing figures, the corners of Ouyang Shuo's mouth curled up into a cold smile.
Today, Ceng Tianyang and the others were so 'obedient', not only because they were afraid of being exposed, but more importantly, they were probably fooled by the two promises that Ouyang Shuo made.
They were probably thinking of using this opportunity to infiltrate Shanhai City, right?!
Unfortunately, what Ceng Tianyang did not know was that all of this was a poisonous bait that Ouyang Shuo had meticulously set up.
Once they were bitten, they would not be able to break free.
The reason why Ouyang Shuo was able to set up this trap was because Ceng Tianyang and the others did not know the essential difference between the military system of Shanhai City and that of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In the previous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the commanding generals had a great deal of autonomy. They could cultivate confidants, appoint generals, and raise their own rations.
In other words, as long as they obeyed the highest military orders of the Heavenly King, the commanding general could almost monopolize all other matters in the military, and he could decide the life and death of others with just a word.
In contrast, Shanhai City had already formulated a set of strict military system, and layers of restrictions were placed on the commanding general.
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