The World Online

Jiang Shang’s analogy of the relationship between wolves and sheep had given a lively depiction of Shanhai City and its neighboring territories. With such advice from Taigong, things became much clearer in Ouyang Shuo’s heart.

A huge plan started to slowly take shape in his mind.

Of course, everything would have to wait till the next year. Especially before the 3rd year arrived, since there was still half a month, there were still things that Ouyang Shuo needed to settle.

The first mattered concerned the creation of the Guards Legion.

When the Dragon Legion moved into Zhen An Prefecture, the two mountain barbarian generals went the opposite way, breaking away from the main force and moving back to Shanhai City because of the Military Affairs Department.

The two of them were Lei Jingtian and Shi Bao, the standout generals of the mountain barbarians. Especially Lei Jingtian. Ouyang Shuo was not the only one paying attention to him, even Lei Jingtian’s boss, Er’Lai, strongly recommended him.

After leaving Xinan University, Ouyang Shuo turned around toward the barracks in the imperial city, officially announcing the establishment of the Guards Legion.

The newly established Guards Legion would not only temporarily have four divisions, but even the most important legion general position would temporarily remain empty. Ouyang Shuo would take the commander role for the time being.

Lin Yi’s Guards Division would be renamed the 1st division. At the same time, his division would be defined as a pure cavalry division.

Shihu’s 2nd independent mountain barbarian division would be renamed as the 2nd division, a mountain barbarian heavy armored infantry division. Making use of this chance, Ouyang Shuo officially promoted Shihu to major general.

The 3rd independent mountain barbarian division would be renamed as the 3rd division. Similarly, it would be a heavy armored infantry division. Ouyang Shuo chose Lei Jingtian to be the major general.

Likewise, the 4th independent division would become the 4th division of the Guards Legion. This was the planned iron armored beast cavalry division. Ouyang Shuo chose Shan Zhu as their major general.

Mountain barbarian general Shihu was named the deputy major general of the 4th division. With the help of Shihu, who was a mountain barbarian, it would be easier for Shan Zhu to take charge.

From the Qiongzhou Prefecture Iron Armored Beast Valley, the first batch of five thousand armored beasts had reached Shanhai City. The Armory Division had hurried the creation of their armor, and it would be completed soon.

The iron armored beast division was a new soldier type, so they lacked precedence. Hence, how to train them up was the biggest problem presented to major general Shan Zhu.

The first problem would be how to tame the iron armored beasts.

Chinese taming techniques had a long history. Hence, one would not face problems when taming war horses. Iron armored beasts, on the other hand, were an entirely different story, as they were wilder and harder to train.

Apart from that, due to their bloodline, war horses were born adaptable to the noises and killing on the battlefield. As for iron armored beast, it was all completely unknown how they would react.

Luckily, Animal Husbandry Director Xia Houying had solved the other huge problem of how to feed the iron armored beasts. The only difficulty would be how to make the iron armored beast recognize the mountain barbarian warriors.

To solve this problem, Shan Zhu took a trip to find more than thirty beast tamers to help the soldiers tame and train the iron armored beasts. Only then could they become loyal and reliable partners.

The Li Race people had lived on Qiongzhou Island for such a long time, so they obviously had a good understanding of the iron armored beasts. Amongst the tribe, there were occasionally people who tamed the iron armored beasts to replace cows to sow the fields.

Hence, there were more or less one to two people who knew how to tame these beasts in each tribe. This time, Shan Zhu had used his identity as a young master of the Li Race to move all of these people to Shanhai City.

It was a considerable honor and glory for the Li Race for Shan Zhu to possess a high position in the Shanhai City Army. Hence, when listening to his request, the various tribes were exceedingly willing.

Apart from that, one had to mention the barbarian beast taming technique that Ouyang Shuo had acquired. Ouyang Shuo had used two days to tame each and every iron armored beast.

If not, even with the Li Race beast tamers helping out, it would not be effective.

To train up the iron armored division, the Military Affairs Department had even specifically allocated land for them on the northern outskirts of the city, where they built a large training field.

In the future three months, the division would spend their time there. Ouyang Shuo even especially postponed the usual special forces base training.

As for the 5th division that was temporarily empty, it would be built when the time was right.

The most significant difference between this time and the last was that he did not make use of troops from the other legions. Instead, he just used the three mountain barbarian independent divisions.

With that, one could see how much importance he placed on the mountain barbarian warriors.

Ouyang Shuo trusted them. Moreover, his position as Barbarian King played a factor. He believed that this batch of warriors would be his most loyal soldiers that would follow him everywhere.

Making use of this chance, he could also increase the sense of belonging the mountain barbarians felt toward the territory.

From now on, the three independent mountain barbarian divisions would have an official name. Furthermore, they would become one of the core forces.

They would all enter the special forces base to undergo a month of special training.

Ouyang Shuo hoped that would learn to be smart enough, not just fearless. After all, warriors that only used brute strength would not amount to much.

Different from the other legions, the Guards Legion lacked a subordinate regiment. To them, the three thousand Divine Martial Guards were their strongest ally.

After dealing with the Guards Legion, Ouyang Shuo took the chance to meet the four Taiping Army fallen generals.

When they were captured, the four of them had made preparations to kill themselves.

However, along with their king’s death and Tianjing City surrendering, Taiping Country had become a part of history. Their hearts suddenly felt empty. Abruptly, they had no goal to chase.

It suddenly seemed like an extreme foolish course of action to kill themselves.

After all, the king and dynasty they were loyal to no longer existed.

Along with Shi Dakai leaving and Yang Xiuqing taking up the job as governor of Leizhou, these four generals had no place to go.

One must know that those two were the key figures in the Taiping Country Army. However, neither showed any animosity toward Shanhai City.

If not, Shi Dakai would not have handed over control of the military so easily.

Apart from that, the four of them were not tortured during their imprisonment. Instead, they were treated well and graciously. The only matter that hit them was when they learned about what happened to Taiping Country in history from Shanhai City.

This was a massive hit to Li Xiucheng and the others.

The tragedy that happened to the country and to each of them caused their built up faith to crumble.

They were different from the people of Xunzhou Prefecture, who had come into contact with the religion when they were in the wilderness. They did not have a chance to understand the darkness behind the religion.

As a result, the people of the two prefectures still believed in Hong Xiuquan.

Li Xiucheng and the others had followed Hong Xiuquan and appeared in the wilderness. Gaia had given them the thoughts of following him to start a dynasty in the wilderness.

Hence, when they found out about the truth in history, it was hard for all of them to accept it.

It was this bit and piece of information that caused their rejection of Shanhai City to slacken bit by bit. However, for them to become truly loyal, something was still lacking.

When Ouyang Shuo passed Mulan Stronghold, he wanted to bring the four of them back to Shanhai City. They did not reject his proposition. Similarly, Ouyang Shuo did not treat them as prisoners.

They were like normal generals in the army, given total freedom to do whatever they wanted.

The only difference was a lack of specific roles.

This was a chance for let them to observe the Shanhai City military from close quarters.

This period of observation naturally allowed them to make comparisons.

After moving out from Mulan Stronghold, they passed through Mulan House and Shenjuan House. The lives of the people in these two houses shocked them greatly.

Developed businesses, efficient offices, rich people, perfect welfare system….

Every point dealt a blow to their weak minds.

It was like Shanhai City was the perfect world that Hong Xiuquan had described and was working toward.

This feeling was quite bizarre.

The goals they had wanted to achieve for their whole lives had actually appeared in the enemy territory.

When they reached Shanhai City, the shock they felt soared.

A huge and majestic city, logical city planning, even more developed businesses, much richer people, a much more efficient government system, and an extremely prosperous atmosphere.

Every aspect showed that this city was filled with life and prosperity.

In comparison, Tianjing City was lacking.

When they entered the imperial city, the splendor and beauty of the city left them mesmerized.

Hence, for Ouyang Shuo’s invitation to succeed, everything seemed to be proceeding perfectly.

However, in an unexpected turn for them, Ouyang Shuo did not want to let them lead the military right away.

He wanted to send them all to the Army Military Academy to undergo three months of lessons. After the 3rd month, when the military reorganization was completed, they would return.

The four undeniably possesed great talents. If not, they could not have become such great generals despite such poor backgrounds.

The only thing they lacked was probably a proper military education. Entering the Army Military Academy would help make up for this shortfall.

Apart from the four, the Military Affairs department chose one thousand lieutenant, three hundred majors, fifty colonels, and even five major generals to enter the academy.

Ouyang Shuo wanted to use this chance to raise the standards of the generals.

This was only the 1st batch. Three months later, they would send in the second batch. Half a year later, he wanted to have all the generals in the army finish their education.

It was evident that Ouyang Shuo had accepted Jiang Shang’s suggested plan to lay in wait for now.