Li Hongzhang was in charge of building the Navy Academy for two months. Beihai City specially drew out hundred mu of land for the purpose of building the academy. By now, a rough structure was built up.
Due to the system update, this construction would be slowed down.
This was only the hardware problem. Getting teachers posed a greater problem. In ancient times, there was a lack of navy generals so to find a number of suitable teachers was harder than ascending the heavens.
However, the Navy Academy was the core to remodeling the navy, and it concerned the battle standards of the entire navy. As such, Ouyang Shuo gathered all the generals to the meeting so that they could recommend some talents over to teach.
Since the Great Xia Navy was built till now, it had been through hundreds of battles and trained up a number of elites, and young navy generals became the best choice to be teachers.
"Don't be unwilling to send men. Today, you send one teacher; tomorrow, the academy will send 1000 great students to the squadron," Ouyang Shuo said that to the generals.
Since it was an instruction from the king, the generals could only bear the pain. If not, just Li Hongzhang who had just arrived, even with the appointment of Navy Minister, would not be able to handle them.
Apart from promoting internally in the squadron, Ouyang Shuo also asked the Black Snake Guards, Honglu Temple, the three imperial chambers of commerce, and others to dig people from the western nations.
Using huge sums of money and the name of Great Xia, they would definitely be able to hire some elites.
Great Xia was a place for everyone. Putting Alvaro at such a key position was enough to dispel the worries of the foreign generals.
To the stubborn but talented ones, Ouyang Shuo even secretly told the Black Snake Guards, "Even if you kidnap them, bring them back to Great Xia."
As long as they come, they would yield.
For the construction of the Navy Academy, Ouyang Shuo was going all out.
He had no choice. After all, the ancient Chinese navy foundations were simply too weak. Since Great Xia was destined to compete with the strong ocean powerhouses, he could only use such a method to reduce the disparity.
In the next few days, the generals came together to discuss the problems regarding the base construction, academy construction, and navy organization.
Many times, Ouyang Shuo would personally attend and listen. All of these generals were really skilled and many of their suggestions and thoughts gave Ouyang Shuo new ideas.
As the discussions deepened, a map of the future of the Great Xia Navy was being drawn up. Every participating general felt their blood boil and their fighting spirit burn.
They could foresee a powerful empire cruising on the ocean, ruling the seas.
The ten of them walking in and out of the Xia Palace every day naturally attracted a lot of attention. Really quickly, the news that Great Xia had gathered the navy generals for a meeting had spread throughout the China region.
Even some unrelated topics were dug up.
Of course, this was result of Ouyang Shuo leaking the news. If he really wanted to keep it a secret, with the secrecy of the imperial city, no one would be able to notice.
Ouyang Shuo wanted to use this chance to spread a message to the world that the goal of Great Xia was outside and not internally in China.
As expected, the moment the news spread out, the China region players heaved a sigh of relief. After professional analysis, the players felt at ease. Before the country war began, the China region should not have any internal battles.
The words 'All against the outside world!' became their motto.
The most direct relation was that on the forums in the vote for country war leader, Ouyang Shuo's votes soared and broke the ten million mark.
Jingdu Province, Handan City.
"Is the old fox trying to misdirect us, or is he really aiming to expand overseas?" Difeng's Intel was more detailed than the ones on the forums, which was why Di Chen was worried.
Once bitten, twice shy.
Juedai Fenghua saw through the situation and said, "If Ouyang Shuo does not want to lose support from the adventure gamemode players, he would not choose to send out such false news at such a sensitive time."
"That's true." The attitude of Great Xia toward the Yanhuang Alliance directly affected Plan Z. As such, it was no wonder that Di Chen was worried.
Luckily, the recent developments were better and better for the Yanhuang Alliance.
The moment the country war happened, the Yanhuang Alliance would have more time to execute Plan Z. The merit talisman Di Chen obtained during the auction had also reduced that preparation time.
Everything was going good for them.
"It will get better."
Di Chen looked out toward the window; he was filled with confidence.
Annan Region, Haiphong City.
Although he had already unified Annan, Ruan Tianque was not comfortable. All of this stemmed from their neighbor - the Great Xia Dynasty.
During Ouyang Shuo's second voyage, one trade agreement had tied up Johor, Siam, Piao country, and Brunei on the Great Xia ship.
In the Indian Ocean, they also taught a tough lesson to Java's Badong Squadron.
After Great Xia's successive moves, the ASEAN that had been showing signs of coming together was once again in danger of falling apart. Even Zhenla Lord Bi Wenlie had grievances with Ruan Tianque.
Disharmony loomed over the clouds of ASEAN .
However, Ruan Tianque was not willing. Without ASEAN as a shield, Annan was destined to fall to Great Xia and become the next Somalia.
China had this phrase, 'How would one be able to sleep soundly beside a wall that might collapse?'
At this very moment, his spies in China sent news of Great Xia holding a navy general meeting, shocking Ruan Tianque.
Ruan Tianque's brows were locked; he said to his general, the famous Annan general Le Toi, "The purpose of Great Xia gathering the navy is obvious. We are probably the first to get attacked, and this battle cannot be avoided."
Le Toi was a middle-aged general and in history. He had once been the king of Annan, and he brought with him an aura of pride, "Since it's unavoidable, let's prepare. If we really fight, we might not actually be afraid of them."
Haiphong City's territory had expanded as they unified Annan. Now, they had 300 thousand proper troops. Along with the 800 thousand guards in the imperial city of Hanoi, they had a total of 1.1 million troops.
If they considered the players as well, their overall strength would double.
Le Toi was only looking at Annan, but Ruan Tianque wanted to use external help. Zhenla and Nanzhang that were nearby could not just stand and watch if Annan faced trouble.
Maybe the heavens did not forsake Annan, as during the update, the global alliance system was released. Haiphong City allied with Nanzhang, Zhenla, Luzon, and Java right away.
Annan had some chance in this battle.
"If this battle cannot be avoided, then let them come!" Ruan Tianque clenched his fist.
The outside world was changing, but Great Xia did not act. They just continued to hold the navy meetings.
It was not easy to gather the ten of them together. As such, apart from discussing the development strategy of the navy, they also discussed the goals of the 5th year.
The Emperor Squadron and the Yashan Squadron, needless to say, they would work with the dynasty army to attack Annan during the 5th year.
On the other hand, the Binhai Squadron would naturally place its energy on the 6th month, on the country war.
The Pacific Squadron, apart from attacking Hawaii, also needed to complete a trip to South America to open up the trade route.
The Indian Ocean Squadron would target Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka was famous for its gems, and it was named the pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was a famous transition point in the Indian Ocean trade route.
The key was that Sri Lanka was just one Palk Straits away from India. The first bunch of outsiders on Sri Lanka were from India.
The Lords of India had probably yearned for Sri Lanka for a long time.
Be it in terms of population or land, India was comparable to China, and it was one of the giants of Asia. One could foresee that there would be a huge battle for the Indian Ocean Squadron to take down Sri Lanka.
The goal of the Atlantic Squadron was to make South Africa under Great Xia. They would use Morocco, Somalia, and South Africa as a triangle to increase their influence and reach in Africa.
One could say that the mission of each squadron was not really specific and needed drawn out plans.
Just as the navy meetings were held, on the 1st month, 12th day, a System Notification sounded out.
"System Notification: All China territories have upgrade to the Prefecture grade, starting the Battle Map system. The 8th Battle Map, An Lushan Rebellion, will start in three days. Friendly Reminder: This Battle Map is not a forced scenario quest and only Lords who have upgraded to Grade 1 Prefecture can join in."
The last city in China to upgrade to the Prefecture grade was Sha Pojun's Asura City.
Originally, the conditions for this battle should have been ten territories, but China was only left with eight territories. As a result, Gaia could only flexibly change the conditions.
Who knows what Gaia would set the conditions of the next Battle Map to?
Gaia had set the rule that to start a Battle Map, the country must at least have two Lords. In cases like the ASEAN countries where one Lord rules over an entire country, the Battle Map system would stop.
The Battle Map was a place for Lords to face-off, so Gaia would not let it become a solo event for Lords to gain easy merit points.
Speaking of the An Lushan Rebellion, it was a historical event that everyone knew about.
Simply put, it happened during the end of Tang Xuanzong's reign and the start of Tang Taizong. It was a rebellion by Provincial Governor An Lushan and Shi Siming against the Tang Dynasty. The event lasted for eight years.
This battle was the turning point of the Tang Dynasty that caused it to weaken.
"An Lushan Rebellion? This is interesting." Ouyang Shuo smiled.