The World Online

Chapter 1167: Three Warzones

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Chapter 1167 – Three Warzones

One must not look at Du Sijing being the only one promoted in this round of personnel appointment. There were new Prefecture Governors, while prefects numbered in the hundreds. It was a huge round of reorganization.

The promoted officials consisted of Country Magistrates and Prefects who did well in the official evaluation as well as officials from Johor, Piao, and Java.

Toward these local officials, as long as they were innocent and morally upright, the Imperial Court would use them.

Even to say that the Imperial Court made a rule for the newly established Hetao, Heluo, and Ethiopia provinces that amongst the provincial, prefecture, and county level officials, local officials had to take up a third.

If not, they would be unable to buy the hearts of the people.

As for whether these native officials would be promoted or eliminated in the next round of evaluation, it would depend solely on their ability. Even if they were demoted, they could not blame the Imperial Court for being unfair.

...

Gaia 6th year, 5th month, 1st day, Shanhai City.

Within the Wuying Hall, Ouyang Shuo was vetting the plan for the new round of military reorganization. Grand Council Minister Han Xin, Military Affairs Minister Du Ruhui, and Privy Court Training Director Gao Shun were all present.

During this round of country war, they had a bountiful harvest on each of the four fronts.

In the Battle of Johor, out of the 120 thousand Johor guards and the 150 thousand territory army, apart from the dead, 200 thousand of them surrendered.

In the Battle of Java, as the Badong territory army did not resist too much, they only captured a total of 80 thousand people.

Next would be the Piao Country battlefield.

The Peacock Dynasty army did not do much, while the Piao Country army was really resolute. Of the 220 thousand imperial city guards and the 250 thousand territory troops, half of them died in battle, and only 230 thousand of them were captured.

The Ethiopia battlefield was where they captured the most prisoners.

500 thousand imperial city guards along with 500 thousand territory army troops were forced back by Great Xia. Through this battle, the Grand Council reached the conclusion that the African troops’ combat strength was lower than that of the Asian armies.

This was an incontestable fact.

With no outside interference, 700 thousand out of the million Ethiopian troops were actually captured.

Seeing that, Ouyang Shuo did not hesitate and immediately ordered the release of half of them, arranging them to either retire, become bailiffs, or take up other roles.

The elite troops strategy of Great Xia had to go on resolutely no matter what.

There remained 860 thousand war prisoners. After deducting injured soldiers, soldiers that did not make the cut, and filling up for the casualties from all the participating troops, 600 thousand troops remained.

As such, the Imperial Court decided to promote the Luzon formation to Heluo legion corps, adding in three legions. The original Lieutenant General Zhang Han would become the Heluo marshal and be awarded Grade 2 Nanzhang general rank.

The southwest warzone had three border defense legion corps. The Hanoi legion

corps defended Hanoi Province and Hetao Province, Heluo Legion corps defended Luzon Province and Heluo Province, and the Nanjing Legion corps defended the vast Australia Province.

The three new Legion Generals of the Heluo legion corps would be from the war prisoner generals. One came from Johor and two from Piao, and they were all among the top historical talents of their respective countries.

Apart from adding in three legions to the Heluo legion corps, the remaining war prisoners could form one legion corps.

The Privy Court discussed with the Grand Council and suggested building a border defense legion corps in the mainland. First, it was to split the pressure from Tiger and Leopard Legion Corps, and secondly, it was to suppress the beast caves.

If not, with both the border and beast cave duties, the elite troops of both legion corps would easily have their hands full and would not be deployable.

They were able to participate because of the war exempt card.

Along with the 6th system update, Gaia was trying its best to make the game world as similar to the real world as possible. Overpowered items like the war exempt card would only become rarer and rarer.

When they searched the treasuries of Johor and the other countries, they did not find any eye-catching treasures.

Ouyang Shuo agreed with the suggestion of the Privy Court and the decision was made.

The Imperial Court decided to build the Xiangjiang legion corps to help the Leopard Legion Corps and the Tiger Legion Corps. They were in charge of the defenses of Xiangnan, Jiangnan, Minnan, Lingnan, and the like provinces.

The original Legion General of the 5th Leopard Legion Corps, Sui Dynasty famous general Zhang Xutuo, would be promoted to marshal and awarded a Grade 2 middle general rank.

The five Legion Generals of the Xiangjiang legion corps were either the youthful ones or historical generals who had just joined Great Xia. Great Xia did not lack skilled generals at this point.

After building the Xiangjiang legion corps, the remaining 40 thousand war prisoners were placed in North Africa Regional Guard house to be trained as gunners while also undergoing naval training.

After the Atlantic Squadron was destroyed, Ouyang Shuo was really unwilling to lose like this. He had already instructed the Navy Headquarters to activate the rebuilding work of the Atlantic Squadron.

This rebuilding would use the highest of standards.

Ouyang Shuo hoped that the Atlantic Squadron that rose from the ashes would be able to return to the battlefield and wipe away the humiliation of the old and spread the authority of Great Xia.

At this point, the military organization came to an end.

Apart from building armies, using this chance, Ouyang Shuo also made some big changes.

Under the suggestion of Ouyang Shuo, the Imperial Court decided to establish the Southeast Warzone, which included Xiangnan, Jiangchuan, Minnan, Lingnan provinces, and Yizhou Prefecture.

Overall, this warzone was the frontline for going up against Great Zhou.

The motive of setting up the warzone was to organize the military strength to form a combined force, strengthening the cooperation between the legion corps to set up a foundation for taking down Great Zhou in the future.

From this, one could see that Ouyang Shuo had started to make plans to take down Great Zhou.

The matter of Morocco Province made Ouyang Shuo realize that before they expanded outward, they had to calm down the internal problems. Without wiping out the hidden problems in China, Great Xia’s road to overseas expansion would face with many bumps.

The Southeast warzone would include the Tiger, Leopard, and Xiangjiang legion corps. As they included two elite legion corps, their overall strength was no weaker than the southwest warzone set up earlier.

The warzone commander would be Han Xin, who would still be the Leopard Legion Corps marshal.

Only then could he fit his role as a Grand Council rotational minister.

Apart from the southeast warzone, Ouyang Shuo decided to settle everything at once and set up the northwest warzone. It included the Shu Lands, Yunnan, and Chuanbei provinces.

The remaining Chuannan Province and Zhili provinces would be defended by the City Protection Legion Corps.

Along with these two warzones being established, the inter-legion corps cooperation of the dynasty would reach new heights. Be it against the beasts who would keep appearing or battles against external enemies, it would really be beneficial.

From now on, there would not be any defensive blind spots in Great Xia.

The northwest warzone would have two elite legion corps – the Bear and Eagle Legion Corps. The warzone commander would be taken by Bear Legion Corps Marshal and Grand Council rotational minister Li Jing.

Under Li Jing’s leadership, the Bear and Eagle Legion Corps could work together, be it against the Shu Han dynasty, clearing the beast caves, or against West Xia or Tibet. Overall, the efficiency would increase.

Baiqi, Han Xin, and Li Jing; these three were commanders in chief, rotational ministers of the Grand Council,?and warzone commanders, solidifying their position within the army, unshakeable by anyone.

Of course, the warzone could not be settled so quickly.

The biggest difference between a warzone and legion corps would be that it would have a fixed headquarters with a structure that merged that of the Grand Council and Privy Court.

To build a warzone headquarter, one needed a large group of military talents, logistics, training, intel, battle strategists, and the like. Moreover, it all needed to be available, and they must be good.

Some of these could be moved from the Privy Court and the Grand Council, while the rest would be from the military.

The legion corps also had the responsibility of developing military people.

Long ago, when Baiqi had just entered the territory, the Great Xia Army had already started to become a professional army. Currently, even the unit level had their own logistics and strategist general.

The talent pool in the military was really sufficient.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo had the confidence to set up two warzones right away. At the moment, they were empty decorative pieces that could not run properly.

Once these two warzones got onto the right track, they would help reduce the workload of the Grand Council.