Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
"I only suggest we establish the directly governed prefectures. As for specific personnel arrangements, it's up to the Monarch to decide." Fan Li tried to avoid the question.
'Old fox!'
Ouyang Shuo exclaimed in his heart. Fan Li was as careful as usual. Even though he had started to comment about territory administrative matters, he did not dare to tread into the sensitive personnel questions.
Although Fan Li did not talk, Wei Ran's appointment was quickly passed. He was removed from his role of Lianzhou Governor and was now the Chaozhou Governor.
Moving Wei Ran away from the core area would definitely make some heave a sigh of relief.
Although Wei Ran was good and had strong abilities, he was greedy. While he was the Lianzhou Prefecture Governor, the sprouts of greed had already started to show. Shen Buhai had reported it many times to Ouyang Shuo.
The people's evaluation of Wei Ran had changed. Even Xiao He did not hold such high opinions of him anymore. To keep such an official in the core area, Ouyang a Shuo could be considered magnanimous.
Moving Wei Ran away could be considered a wake-up call for him.
...
10th month, 8th day, the appointment of the three governors was announced to the public.
Apart from the three governors, the name of the Taxation Director replacing Huo Guang was also released to the public. This person was recommended by Fan Li and was one of the best disciples of the business school of thought.
As the news spread, waves rose up in the territory.
When the Song Family received the news, they naturally danced in happiness and the gloomy clouds from before were swept away.
Of course, Song Tianxiong did not forget to warn his family members to not be arrogant because of this. He reminded them not to use the name of Song Wen to commit crime or else they would be looking for death.
Song Tianxiong could feel from the words of Song Jia that Ouyang Shuo held a secret organization that monitored all officials.
With that, Song Tianxiong could not help but think back to the famous Jinyi Guards.
Thinking about this, Song Tianxiong felt a chill run down his spine.
One could foresee that the moment a Song Family member commited a mistake, the fair Ouyang Shuo would not save them. Song Wen and Song Wu, these two brothers, had become the core pillars of the Song Family.
The Song Family grandfather had even praised and shown his partialness to these two grandchildren on different occasions.
Although Song Tianxiong and the others were delighted because of the fall of the Yuan Family, they felt a chill just by thinking about it. In reality, that small kid had grown into a person that they worshipped and respected.
Even in the Song Family, when the Song Family grandfather talked about Ouyang Shuo, he did not dare to voice his name.
Some people were happy while some were not.
Little loli Huo Chengjun was unhappy as she needed to move with her dad to Shaozhou. With that, she could not go to the Nanjiang Governor-General House and play with sister Bing'er.
More importantly, she could not meet her brother Monarch anymore.
Before leaving, Ouyang Shuo personally sent the Huo Guang Family off. Huo Chengjun was in tears, making one unable to help but dote on her.
When Huo Guang saw this scene, he could only smile awkwardly with an apologetic expression.
Compared to the unhappy Huo Chengjun, Wei Ran was dejected. He could be considered one of the most experience governors in the territory but now the younger generation like Song Wen was riding on his head.
Wei Ran was not a fool, and he knew that the Lianzhou Prefecture would be a Zhili. He truly wanted to be the Zhili viceroy.
Who knew that he would actually lose in the battle with Zang Wenchong?
Dejection was dejection, but he did not dare complain. Wei Ran also noticed that his actions in Lianzhou Prefecture were seen by the Monarch.
Along with his son in law Baiqi not being the only God General in the territory, his speaking rights had been reduced tremendously. Furthermore, with Baiqi's personality, he would not help speak up for his father in law.
With that, Wei Ran could only proceed toward the Chaozhou Prefecture.
Ouyang Shuo did not truly give up on Wei Ran.
Before leaving, Ouyang Shuo told him to run Chaozhou well. As long as he performed well, he would return to the core in the future. He might even go higher.
"Thank you Monarch!" When Wei Ran heard the Lord's words, he was touched.
10th day, 10th month, White Stone City.
The Battle of Lingnan had completely ended, so Ouyang Shuo brought Du Ruhui and the Military Affairs Bureau elders to rush over to chair the new round of military organization.
They chose White Stone City because the 150 thousand Alliance Army troops were housed here and this place held great meaning.
Sun Bin, Huo Qubing, Shi Wanshui, Er'lai, Di Qing, and Fan Lihua; these six generals left their forces and rushed back to White Stone City to report their battle results.
Fan Lihua's legion was the greatest contributor to this battle, capturing 150 thousand Alliance Army troops while losing 20 thousand. The other five legions lost around four to five thousand each and captured 90 thousand in total.
Basically, they had swept up all the war fighting troops in the three prefectures.
Apart from that there were also the various city protection squads, which numbered around 50 thousand. However, compared to the war fighting soldiers, their qualities were lacking, and it would not be good to put them in a legion.
To the city protection forces, there was nothing much to say. Apart from forming three Garrison Divisions, the rest either entered reserve forces or retired.
The crux of this military organization was the 240 thousand war fighting troops. Deducting the losses from the various legions, they could still form three more legions.
Ouyang Shuo had already thought of the plans for these three legions before he came to White Stone City.
First, creating the 2nd Guards Legion.
From the 100 thousand cavalry troops in the Alliance Army, they would choose the most elite 70 thousand to form the 2nd Guards Legion.
The Alliance Army was basically the most elite troops in Lingnan City-State, so they were well trained and their qualities were good. Choosing from them and directly placing the chosen ones into the Guards Legion was fine.
To choose 70 thousand from the 100 thousand cavalry was to choose the best from the best.
This legion would follow the standards of the Tiger Leopard Cavalry in history for organization and training. The Tiger Leopard Cavalry were originally a guard army system, so they were one and the same.
The Guards Legion commander Huo Qubing was the best at cavalry battle. However, due to previous restrictions, the original Guards Legion only had two cavalry divisions, one of which was still the special iron armored beast cavalry division.
This time, building the 2nd Guards Legion was undoubtedly to fill up this void. At the same time, it gave the genius general Huo Qubing more room to show his abilities.
For the role of Legion General of the Tiger Leopard Cavalry, Ouyang Shuo selected Ma Chao, who was still studying. At true same time, Cao Chun, the Tiger Leopard Cavalry commander in history, became the deputy Legion General and the Major General of the 1st division.
Ma Chao and Cao Chun would work together while keeping each other in check.
Apart from the two, Ma Chao's brother Ma Xiu would be appointed as the Major General of the 3rd division. The original Guards Legion 1st division Major General Lin Yi would move to the 2nd legion and become the Major General of the 1st division.
The place that was left would be filled up by Ma Teng. The Xiliang Five Ma were all experts at cavalry. Naturally, Ouyang Shuo would use them to their full potential.
As for the remaining two Major General slots, they were decided directly from the fallen generals. The Alliance Army had many great generals. After all, they were the best ones from their own territories.
Shanhai City never bothered about previous statuses when using people.
Speaking of which, wasn't their current army formed through using prisoners step by step?
From the very beginning, Shanhai City had stopped recruiting soldiers in the territory.
This was also because of the nature of the wilderness; the frequent wars allowed Shanhai City to do that. After every battle, not only would they not have a drop in members, they would capture large amounts of prisoners.
Such a model was something other territories could not copy.
Secondly, creating the 3rd legion of the Leopard Legion Corps.
Out of the three legion corps, only the Leopard Legion Corps had two legions. Hence, to expand the army, Ouyang Shuo naturally would not forget the Leopard Legion Corps.
The Legion General Ouyang Shuo chose was the Alliance Army commander Feng Yi. He definitely had enough ability to lead a legion.
He also made use of the promotion of Feng Yi to calm down the surrendered Alliance Army soldiers.
At the same time, Cao Hong and Ma Tie would become the 1st and 2nd division Major Generals.
The last Ma of the Xilang Five Ma would be sent to the 3rd legion of the Dragon Legion Corps and be the deputy Legion General and the Major General of the 1st division.
For Zhang Liao's legion, Ouyang Shuo naturally needed to send some generals over to balance it out.
Thirdly, creating the 4th legion of the Dragon Legion Corps.
Logically speaking, this was the Tiger Legion main battlefield, so the last legion should have been given to the Tiger Legion Corps.
Ouyang Shuo arranged it this way because of strategic considerations.
As Lingnan Province entered Shanhai City's rule, the east would connect with Minnan Province, and the northeast with Jiangchuan Province, so the overall situation would become much better.
The only threat would come from Xiangnan in the north.
In comparison, Yunnan Province where the Dragon Legion was located became the next main battlefield and just with three legions seemed lacking.
Considering all factors, Ouyang Shuo decided to build the 4th Dragon Legion first.
For the position of Major General, Ouyang Shuo chose the young general Luo Shixin.
Luo Shixin was extremely talented but because he died early, his name in history was not that resounding. Under the teachings of Baiqi, he had become a great cavalry general.
Furthermore, he was also one of the longest serving generals here. He had contributed in many battles, so would be no resistance against him taking charge of the 4th legion.
At the same time, Ouyang Shuo also arranged Xiahou Yuan as the deputy Legion General and the Major General of the 1st division to help Luo Shixin.
With these two there along with Baiqi commanding, there would be no big problems.
At this point, the three legions had been assigned properly.
The Xiliang Five Ma, the Cao brothers, Xiahou Yuan, and other Three Kingdom generals were all given their appointments.