Intelligence, diplomacy, and education easily cost him three and a half million gold coins.
In addition, Ouyang Shuo would retain 2.5 million gold coins for his own use. The remaining one million gold coins would be invested into the expansion of the territory and the army.
The first was to establish the Fifth Division of the Imperial Guard Corps and expand the Imperial Guard Corps to its full strength.
The Fifth Division of the Imperial Guard Corps would be formed by drawing elite cavalry from the three main armies. The Fifth Division would also be the third cavalry division of the Imperial Guard Corps.
Initially, Ouyang Shuo had other plans for the Fifth Division. However, the Commander of the Imperial Guards, Huo Qubing, was famous for his cavalry battles. Ouyang Shuo could only strengthen the Imperial Guards' cavalry.
Second, the City Guard Division would be promoted to City Guard Corps.
The City Guard Division was originally divided into two divisions, and then the Lianzhou County Guard Division, the Xunzhou County Guard Division, and the Zhen 'an County Guard Division were all merged into the City Guard Division.
As a result, the City Guard Army was immediately at full strength.
As for the Garrison Division that had been transferred, it would be replaced by the previous reserve troops.
The commander of the city guards would be General E Lai, the Minister of the East.
The transfer and promotion of Valiant General Wu Lai meant that the City Guard Corps would completely break away from the brand of a local army. Ouyang Shuo's goal was to forge the City Guard Corps into the second Imperial Guard Corps.
For this reason, Ouyang Shuo didn't hesitate to send the City Guard Corps out to gain experience.
According to the military agreement between Ouyang Shuo and Tao Wu, the completed City Guard Corps would be teleported to Wanshi City through the Teleportation Formation, and they would assist Wanshi City in expanding its territory for half a year.
During this period, Shanhai City's defense would be taken over by the Imperial Guards.
The military agreement clearly defined the responsibilities of both sides.
Shanhai City was responsible for the pay of the City Guard Corps, while Hardstone City was responsible for the transportation costs and logistics. In this way, the city guards would be baptized by the flames of war, and Hardstone City would gain a new force. It was a win-win situation.
Ouyang Shuo's move was to suppress Handan City's expansion in the northern part of the capital. Hardstone City was a very important chess piece in Ouyang Shuo's overall strategy. He couldn't let Di Chen get rid of it.
The transfer of the City Guard Corps could be said to be the first military exchange within the League of Mountains and Seas. This meant that Shanhai City was gradually changing from a nominal leader to the leader of the military alliance.
In the future, it would become a norm for Shanhai City to provide military protection and even garrison troops for its allies.
This also meant that apart from the economic field, Shanhai City had also begun to play the role of the alliance leader in the military field.
The third was to establish the Third Corps of the Stalwart Tiger Army.
With the Zhenhai City Garrison Division as the foundation, he would merge the Qiongzhou Prefecture Garrison Division, Leizhou Prefecture Garrison Division, Zhaoqing Prefecture Garrison Division, and Wuzhou Prefecture Garrison Division to form a complete field army.
As a result, the eight guard divisions in the territory were all disbanded and rebuilt. In other words, Ouyang Shuo had uprooted some of the hidden dangers of the Garrison Division, such as disputes over local interests.
In addition, Zhao Yan, Hu Yibiao, Su Wang, Song Wu, and other outstanding commanders of the Garrison Division could also take this opportunity to return to the ranks of the field army and shed their blood.
Because Zhenhai City, Qiongzhou County, Leizhou County, and Zhaoqing County were all under the jurisdiction of the Southern Ridge War Zone where the Stalwart Tiger Army was located, this army was classified as the Stalwart Tiger Army.
The legion's encampment was chosen to be in Oceantown.
Ouyang Shuo's goal was naturally to defend the bridgehead that was Oceantown with a strong army. Otherwise, once he was not there, Lingnan City-State might not be able to rescue them in time if they played some tricks.
After this expansion, Oceantown would station a field army and a complete Jiaozhou Fleet. Even if Lingnan City-State attacked with all its strength, it could hold out until reinforcements arrived.
The commander of the Third Legion of the Stalwart Tiger Army would be General Fan Lihua.
With this promotion, Fan Lihua would once again break the record and become the first female commander in the territory, and even in the entire China region. It could be said that she was dazzling.
Of course, if it was just the expansion of two large legions, it would not be enough to spend a million gold coins. More than half of the funds were actually used to expand the three fleets.
The thousands of talents recruited by Zheng He said that they would follow him, but they also had to live and support their families. Just the settlement allowance alone would require a large sum of money.
This did not include weapons, equipment, warships, and other self-sufficient resources. Otherwise, according to the standard of the Shanhai City army, a million gold coins would not be enough.
...
While Marquis was recuperating, he was also expanding the army.
It seemed contradictory, but in fact, they were different routes to the same goal.
After a series of combinations, the internal logic made the ministers of the territory thoughtful.
Of the 2.5 million gold coins that Ouyang Shuo had kept, another 500,000 gold coins would be used to purchase exquisite porcelain, famous tea, and other goods for the sea trade along the way.
If everything went smoothly, the profits of this batch of goods would at least double, enough to offset the expenses of this great voyage. Not to mention, when they returned, they could bring back a batch of special products from other countries and make another sum of money.
In history, if Zheng He had been a little more pragmatic when he went to the West, he would not have emptied the national treasury.
If not for Ouyang Shuo's explicit order that merchant ships were not allowed to follow this great voyage, the chambers of commerce in the territory would have disregarded everything and followed the ocean-going fleet to embark on this fantastic adventure on the sea.
The porcelain produced in Shanhai City was far from being presentable. The most exquisite porcelain in China came from Jingdezhen in Jiangchuan Province. In the wilderness, there was no such thing as Jingdezhen. It was directly included in the royal city of Quanzhou.
They could use this opportunity to open up the sea trade route to Quanzhou.
According to the Siege Lion, because of the special characteristics of the region, there would always be some outstanding porcelain artists appearing in his territory from time to time, causing others to be envious.
In Black Lion City, there was also high-quality soil for making porcelain.
The porcelain industry had already developed into one of the pillar industries of Black Lion City. In the future, the Siege Lion's ambition was to defeat Quanzhou and develop Black Lion City into the capital of ceramics in China.
As for tea, although Baihao Tea was a special product of the territory, it was not considered a top-grade tea in the entire China region. Biluochun, West Lake Longjing, and Tieguanyin were considered famous teas.
Fortunately, the tea was small and could be bought in the various royal cities with storage bags.
Similarly, the production areas of these famous teas had long been occupied by the various lords, forming a de facto monopoly.
There was nothing wrong with the benefits of territory.
In the wilderness, apart from the outer regions that were not open to the public, there were very few areas that the lords had not set foot in. The specialty products of the territory were not something new.
All kinds of industries were flourishing.
China's vast territory and abundant resources allowed countless lords to become as rich as siege lions.
The cold winter was gradually fading away.
After the ice and snow melted, the wilderness would become more and more unworthy of its name. After the cultivation of the lords, the wilderness was full of vitality. The current wilderness already had the scene of prosperity of previous dynasties.
A new era was slowly approaching.
...
In the following period of time, Ouyang Shuo was making all kinds of preparations for the upcoming long journey.
The plan of the four directorates had long been approved, and there was no need to adjust it.
In the first half of the year, the core work of the Internal Affairs Department was naturally to thoroughly implement the "Territory Code" that had already been promulgated to regulate the operation of the territory.
Apart from completing the established task of expanding the army, the core work of the Military Affairs Department was to carry out strategic reserves.
The head of the Military Affairs Department, Du Ruhui, had already smelled a hint of war from the large-scale expansion of the Marquis' army. Thus, after the territory recuperated, there would definitely be a war.
And it was very likely that it would be a cycle of wars.
Unlike before, the wars that Shanhai City launched now all involved hundreds of thousands of troops. Just the Brave Tiger Army alone had more than 200,000 troops. The logistics requirements were no longer something that could be met in half a month.
In ancient times, in order to prepare for a war, it would take a year, or even several years.
The Combat Readiness Department had already planned to build a logistics support base in each of the three army groups, including a large granary, a military warehouse, a large comprehensive military workshop, and a military horse farm.
Their task for the first half of the year was to fill up the three logistics support bases.
Apart from that, because there was no war for half a year. In order to maintain the morale of the army and ensure that the army's combat strength would not weaken, under Du Ruhui's suggestion, the entire army would also hold a major martial arts competition.
The major martial arts competition was divided into six categories: cavalry, saber and shield soldiers, archers, spear soldiers, heavy swordsmen, and water soldiers. Through the layers of competition, the champion of each category would be determined, and they would receive corresponding honors.
For example, the champion of the archers would receive the title of God Archer. In addition to the honorary title, they would also be directly promoted by one rank and be rewarded with a custom-made purple-gold weapon.
Such a reward was enough to make people go crazy.
What was even crazier was yet to come. The top three of the six military categories would compete for the final championship to see who was the strongest warrior in the army.
The champion would be directly awarded the title of "Martial Arts Champion", and his military rank would be directly promoted to Rank-5 General. At the same time, he would be given the title of Division Commander.
It should be noted that the participants this time were all warriors below the rank of Brigade Marshal.
Ouyang Shuo very much agreed with Du Ruhui's idea. He even promised to personally award the "Martial Arts Champion" and prepare a special gift at the same time.
When the news came out, it caused a huge uproar in the army.
Even the Brigade Marshals and Division Commanders were clamoring and muttering that they wanted to participate in the competition.
In desperation, Du Ruhui could only follow the advice and set up a team competition in addition to the individual competition. Each brigade would select a hundred elites to fight against each other.
The final champion would be awarded the First Class Merit. At the same time, the Brigade Marshal would also be promoted to Rank-5 General and given the title of Division Commander.
Only then did the demands of the Brigade Marshals be appeased. As for the demands of the Division Commanders, Du Ruhui directly ignored them. If she really let them participate in the competition, wouldn't that be bullying?
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
