Chapter 615: Military Contest
The three items of intelligence, diplomacy, and education easily consumed 3.5 million gold coins.
In addition, Ouyang Shuo will also withhold 2.5 million gold coins for other purposes. The remaining one million gold coins will be invested in the expansion of the territory.
First, the formation of the fifth division of the Imperial Guard Corps, and the expansion of the Imperial Guard Corps to full size.
The fifth division of the imperial guards will be formed by drawing elite cavalry from the three major armies. The fifth division will also be the third cavalry division of the imperial guards.
Originally Ouyang Shuo had other ideas about the Fifth Division, but Huo Qubing, the commander of the Imperial Guard Corps, was famous for cavalry warfare, so Ouyang Shuo could only strengthen the cavalry of the Imperial Guard Corps.
Second, the city guard division was promoted to the city guard army.
The City Guard Division originally consisted of 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 Army.
In this way, the City Guard Corps immediately reached its full strength.
As for the deployed garrison division, it will be replaced directly by the previous reserve force.
The regiment commander of the city guard regiment will be General Elai, General Dong Zhonglang.
The transfer and promotion of the fierce general Elai means that the City Guard Corps will completely get rid of the brand of local troops. Ouyang Shuo's goal is to turn the City Guard Corps into the second Imperial Guard Corps.
For this reason, Ouyang Shuo spared no effort to transfer the City Guard Corps outside for training.
According to the military agreement reached between Ouyang Shuo and て砆, the completed city guard army will be sent directly to the Stone City through the teleportation array to assist the city in expanding its territory. The time limit is half a year.
During this period, the defense of Shanhai City will be taken over by the imperial guards.
In the military agreement, the responsibilities of both parties are clearly defined.
Shanhai City is responsible for the military salary of the City Guard Corps, while the transfer fee and logistics supplies are borne by Stone City. In this way, the city guards were baptized by the flames of war, and the stubborn stone city was assisted by a new force, which can be described as a win-win situation.
Ouyang Shuo's move is precisely to restrain the expansion of Handan City in the northern part of the Kyoto area. Obstinate Stone City is a very important pawn in Ouyang Shuo's overall strategy, and Dichen cannot let it be removed.
The transfer of the city guard corps this time can be said to be the first of its kind in the internal military exchanges of the [Shanhai League]. It means that Shanhai City has gradually changed from a nominal leader to the leader of a military alliance.
Shanhai City provides military shelter for allies, and even garrisons, which will become a norm in the future.
This also means that following the economic field, in the military field, Shanhai City has also begun to play the role of a real leader, a veritable big brother.
Third, form the Third Army of the Huben Army.
Based on the Zhenhai City Garrison Division, Qiongzhou County Garrison Division, Leizhou County Garrison Division, Zhaoqing County Garrison Division and Wuzhou County Garrison Division were merged to form a complete field army.
As a result, the eight garrison divisions in the territory were all abolished, and all were overthrown and rebuilt. In a disguised form, Ouyang Shuo rooted out some hidden dangers of the garrison division, such as conflicts of local interests.
In addition, Zhao Yan, Hu Yibiao, Su Wang, Song Wu and other outstanding garrison division heads can also take this opportunity to return to the ranks of the field army and sway their blood.
Because Zhenhai City, Qiongzhou County, Leizhou County, and Zhaoqing County are all under the jurisdiction of the Lingnan Theater where the Huben Army is located, this army is included in the Huben Army.
The base of the legion was chosen in Zhenhai City.
Ouyang Shuo's goal is naturally to defend the bridgehead of Zhenhai City with a strong army. Otherwise, if [Lingnan City-state] does some small tricks, if he is not there, rescue may not be able to come in time.
After this expansion of the army, Zhenhai City will station a field army and a complete Jiaozhou fleet. Even if [Lingnan City-State] attacks with all its strength, it can persist until reinforcements come to rescue it.
General Xi Zhonglang will be promoted to the post of General Fan Lihua as the commander of the Third Army of the Huben Army.
With this promotion, Fan Lihua will once again break the record and become the first female regiment commander in the territory, or even in the entire China region, which is nothing short of dazzling.
Of course, it would not be enough to consume millions of gold coins just to expand the two armies. More than half of the funds were actually used for the expansion of the three major fleets.
The thousands of talents recruited by Zheng He said that they followed Zheng He, and they also had to live and have family members to support, and the settling expenses alone required a lot of money.
This does not include self-sufficient supplies such as weapons and equipment, battleships, etc. Otherwise, according to the standards of the Shanhai City army, one million gold coins would not be enough at all.
...
While recuperating, the monarch and marquis wantonly expanded their army.
Seemingly contradictory, in fact they lead to the same goal by different routes.
After a set of combined punches, the logic inside made the ministers of the territory think about it.
Of the 2.5 million gold coins that Ouyang Shuo withheld, another 500,000 gold coins will be used to purchase exquisite porcelain, famous tea and other commodities, so as to start maritime trade along the way.
If all goes well on this trip, the profit from this batch of goods will at least quadruple, enough to offset the cost of this great voyage. Not to mention, when you come back, you can bring back a batch of special products from other countries and make another fortune.
Zheng He's voyages to the West in history, but if he was a little more pragmatic, he would not empty the national treasury.
If it wasn't for Ouyang Shuo's explicit order, merchant ships are not allowed to follow in this great voyage, and these chambers of commerce in the territory might desperately follow the ocean-going fleet to embark on this fantastic sea adventure.
The porcelain produced in Shanhai City is still far from being sold. The most exquisite porcelain in China comes from Jingdezhen in Jiangchuan Province. In the wilderness, there is no such thing as Jingdezhen, and it is directly included in the nearby Quanzhou Wangcheng.
Just take this opportunity to open up the maritime business route with Quanzhou.
But I heard from the Siege Lion that because of the regional characteristics, some excellent ceramic artists will always appear in his territory from time to time, making others envious.
In Black Lion City, there is also high-quality soil for firing porcelain.
The ceramic industry has developed into one of the pillar industries of Black Lion City. In the future, the Siege Lion's ambition is to defeat Quanzhou and develop Black Lion City into the ceramic capital of China.
As for the tea, although the Pekoe tea is a specialty of the territory, it is not really a top-notch tea in the whole of China. Biluochun, West Lake Longjing and Tieguanyin are the famous teas.
Fortunately, the tea leaves are small in size, so you can use the storage pouch to purchase them in the major royal cities.
Similarly, the producing areas of these famous teas have long been occupied by the lords, forming a de facto monopoly.
The benefits of the region are understandable.
The wilderness has developed to the present, except for the open peripheral areas, there are few land boundaries, and the lords have not set foot. Territory specialties are nothing new.
All kinds of industries are booming.
The vast land of China has made countless lords as rich as siege lions.
The cold winter will gradually go away.
After the ice and snow melt, the wilderness will become more and more misguided. After the cultivation of the lords, the wilderness is full of vitality. The current wilderness has already seen the prosperity of the past dynasties.
A new era is slowly approaching.
...
For the next period of time, Ouyang Shuo was making various preparations for the upcoming journey.
The plans of the four general administrations have been approved long ago, and there is no need to adjust them.
In the first half of the year, the core task of the General Administration of Internal Affairs is to fully implement the "Territory Code" that has been promulgated, so as to regulate the operation of the territory.
In addition to completing the established military expansion tasks, the General Administration of Military Affairs' core job is to carry out strategic reserves.
Du Ruhui, Director of Military Affairs, has already smelled a trace of war from Junhou's large-scale military expansion again. Therefore, after the territory recuperates, there must be a big battle.
And it is very likely that it is a battle mode.
Different from before, the wars waged by Shanhai City are now at the level of hundreds of thousands of troops. The Huben Army alone has more than 200,000 troops. Its demand for logistics materials cannot be satisfied in half a month.
In ancient times, in order to prepare for a great war, it took a year or even several years of preparation.
The War Preparedness Administration has planned to build a logistics support base in each of the three major army bases, including a super-large granary, an armament depot, a large-scale comprehensive military workshop, and a military horse farm.
Their task in the first half of the year is to fill up the three major logistics support bases.
In addition, because there was no war for half a year. In order to maintain the morale of the army and ensure that the combat effectiveness of the army will not weaken, under Du Ruhui's proposal, the whole army will hold a big contest.
The martial arts competition is divided into six categories according to the military types: cavalry, sword and shield soldiers, crossbowmen, pikemen, epee soldiers, and sailors.
For example, the champion of crossbowman will be awarded the title of Conferred God Archer. In addition to the honorary title, he will also be directly promoted to one level of military rank, and will be rewarded with a specially crafted exclusive purple-gold weapon.
Such a reward is enough to make people crazy.
What's even crazier is yet to come. The top three from the six major military divisions will compete for the final championship to see who is the number one warrior in the army.
Those who win the championship will be directly awarded the title of "Martial Champion", and the military rank will be directly promoted to the fifth-rank general, and at the same time awarded the real position of division commander.
You know, the participants this time are all fighters below the brigade commander.
Ouyang Shuo agreed with Du Ruhui's idea very much, and even promised that he would personally reward the "Wu Zhuang Scholar" and prepare a special gift at the same time.
As soon as the news came out, it stirred up waves in the army.
Even the brigade commanders and division heads were screaming and muttering that they wanted to join the battle.
In desperation, Du Ruhui had no choice but to follow suit. In addition to the individual competition, a team competition was set up. Each brigade would draw a hundred elites to fight against each other.
The final champion will be awarded the collective first-class merit. At the same time, the brigade commander of the team will also be promoted to a fifth-rank general, and given the real position of division commander.
Only in this way can the appeals of all the brigade commanders be appeased. As for the demands of the division heads, Du Ruhui directly ignored them. If they really wanted to let them compete, it would be bullying.