Chapter 397- rewarded based on performance
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
6th month, 20th day, Ouyang Shuo arrived in Leizhou.
Ouyang Shuo held an administrative and military meeting in Leishan County to arrange the post-battle plans.
Secretary Bai Nanpu stood behind him.
On the left of the main hall, commander-in-chief Baiqi sat at the head spot. The four major generals sat behind him. On the right sat the four directors, apart from them, no one else was present.
The moment the meeting started, Bai Nanpu read out a series of rewards.
"Dragon Legion 2nd division swept across the plains from south to north. Major general Luo Shixin is awarded the title of Yingyang General for his contributions and bravery. The soldiers of the 2nd division will also receive rewards."
Luo Shixin stepped out and kneeled onto the ground on one knee. He emotionally said, "Thank you, lord, for the reward!"
During the Battle of Tanmu County, if the 2nd division had not rushed their troops over the limit, the war might have ended in a different way. Their contributions to the battle were undeniable.
Receiving the title of Yingyang General was expected.
"Dragon Legion 4th division fought well, sweeping the north region. Major general Mu Guiying is awarded the title of Xuanwei General for her contributions and bravery. The soldiers of the 4th division will also receive rewards."
Mu Guiying stepped forward to show her thanks.
"Dragon Legion 1st division overturned a tough situation, sweeping the south region. Major general Fan Lihua awarded the title of Zhaolie General for her contributions and bravery. The soldiers of the 1st division will also receive rewards."
Fan Lihua stepped out to thank Ouyang Shuo, but her expression looked a little unnatural.
Of the three forces sent out, only her troops were ambushed. How would she not feel embarrassed?
At this point, the four major generals that participated in the Battle of Leizhou were all given titles.
After the rewards, the four directors reported on the post war situation.
The first to report was naturally the Military Affairs Director, Du Ruhui.
"In the Battle of Leizhou, the four divisions lost a total of 6,400 men. 7,500 have suffered light injuries, while 1,500 are heavily injured."
After hearing the injury report, Ouyang Shuo frowned.
He had not expected that Leizhou would be such a tough nut to crack. He would need to pay around twenty thousand gold solely for post war compensations.
Du Ruhui continued, "The Military Affairs Department rounded up a total of 114,300 prisoners. Amongst them, fifteen thousand are heavily injured and plan to retire."
They had captured over a hundred thousand prisoners. They must quickly arrange jobs for them. Otherwise, they would incur a sky high sum.
"How are the quality of the prisoners?" Ouyang Shuo asked.
When Du Ruhui heard this question, he solemnly replied, "Not so optimistic. The war prisoners, out of all the prisoners, are all city protection forces. As a result, they lack experience. The worst part is that after the battle, some of them have already developed a hate of war. Forcing them to stay wouldn't be a good choice."
Ouyang Shuo nodded, "Since that's the case, choose the elite. Just retire those who don't pass or hate fighting."
"Understood!"
"Let me think about it." Ouyang Shuo took a moment before he raised his head, "Out of the prisoners, split them into two types. One for city protection and the other for wilderness fighting."
When he mentioned this, Ouyang Shuo turned his head and looked at Fan Zhongyan, "Leizhou will become Leizhou Prefecture. The five grade 3 counties will act as the core to create three houses, namely Leishan House, Hengshan House, Hai An House, Gantang House, and Yanluo House. The remaining twenty-three counties will be split according to region into the five houses.”
Fan Zhongyan nodded solemnly. This time, he needed to appoint one governor, five prefects and twenty-two county magistrates all at once.
Ouyang Shuo looked at Du Ruhui, "Based on the Shanhai City arrangement, a county will have one city protection unit, a House will have a city protection regiment, and the prefecture will have a garrison division."
"All things considered, solely the defence forces will need thirty-seven thousand people. As for the wilderness fighting forces, form two divisions. One would be under the Tiger Legion as their 4th division. The other will temporarily be an independent 1st division.”
Du Ruhui nodded, based on the arrangement of the lord, thirty-six thousand people will be out of jobs. This batch of people would turn into reserve forces.
The costs to cut the army was also another huge sum.
Ouyang Shuo turned to Baiqi and Du Ruhui, "The three major general spots, do you two have any recommendations?"
During this battle, they had captured a total of three historical generals, namely Cuigui, Weizhang, and Bai Lishi. The problem laid in the suitability of using fallen generals as major generals. Which general would take on which division?
Of the three divisions, the position of the garrison division was the lowest.
Apart from that, the newly built Tiger Legion 3rd division also lacked a major general.
The way he saw it, they had a lack of generals.
The main hall suddenly became quiet.
This was the first time that Ouyang Shuo had asked for their opinions on the choice of major general and did not make the decision on his own.
Du Ruhui looked at Baiqi and said, "Lord, regarding the choice of major general for the garrison division, I think it's best to choose from one of the colonels."
"That makes sense." Ouyang Shuo nodded.
The Leizhou garrison division would be in charge of the Leizhou Prefecture. Apart from all the defense matters, they also had a hidden mission to suppress the unlawful and chaotic elements.
Under such circumstances, if one used a Leizhou general to take charge, it was not suitable. The major general of the garrison division looked useless, but they were actually very crucial.
Ouyang Shuo looked at Baiqi, "For the position of garrison division major general, we should just choose from the colonels who performed well in the battle. Who do you think is the most suitable?"
As the overall commander of the Battle of Leizhou, Baiqi naturally had the highest say.
When they heard these words, the four other major generals looked nervously at Baiqi.
If the colonel that was promoted came from their division, it would undoubtedly be a huge honor.
Baiqi took a deep breath and slowly said, "I feel that the 1st regiment colonel of the 1st division, Zhaoyan, is a suitable choice."
"Ok then. That's settled."
This time, Ouyang Shuo totally went with Baiqi’s choice.
After settling the matter of the major general of the garrison division, Ouyang Shou had some rough plans regarding the arrangements of Caogui and the other two, "Caogui will be the major general of the 3rd division, Bai Lishi will be the major general of the 4th division of the Tiger Legion, while Weizhang will be the major general of the independent division."
"Yes general!"
Du Ruhui supported these appointments.
The 3rd division was the mountain division. They had a good deputy major general in Shanzhu, but they lacked a little in terms of strategic ability. Hence, placing the military strategist Caogui there was a good move.
Two of them, one strategic and one stormy in martial arts, the perfect match.
Seeing this, it seemed like the lord had really high hopes for Shanzhu. He even arranged such a good teacher for him.
"Lord, talking about Caogui, I have something to report."
"Speak!"
"After we captured Caogui, he has tried to kill himself many times. It will be not easy to persuade him and make him willingly serve you," Du Ruhui said.
"Oh? Such a thing happened?" Ouyang Shuo raised his eyebrows, "It seems like the lord of Caogui is someone amazing, making his men so loyal."
"If I don't remember wrongly, he's a general of Yanluo County."
"That's right. The lord is called Yanhuo Yaonie. He also has a civil servant known as Bao Shuya."
The one who spoke these words was administration director, Fan Zhongyan.
"This is interesting, Leizhou actually has some hidden dragons." Ouyang Shuo smiled, "Are there other captured civil servants apart from Bao Shuya?"
"Yes." Fan Zhongyan nodded, "There's also He Shiwen and Zang Wenzhong."
"Oh?"
Ouyang Shuo did not have much impression of these two.
This was because countless people acquired a certain degree of fame during the Warring States Period.
"I know a bit about these two." Different from Ouyang Shuo, Fan Zhongyan read books for fun, so he knew a lot about history.
"Oh? Please tell!"
"Zang Wenzhong was from the Lu Country and worked with four lords. He has open thinking; he removed passes to increase business and trade. He also has great knowledge and isn't afraid to learn new things."
Ouyang Shuo nodded. This person seemed like a great civil servant.
"Shiwen is a musician and can be considered a master during that period." Fan Zhongyan only gave a simple introduction of Shiwen, as he knew the lord would not be interested.
As expected, Ouyang Shuo only nodded.
A musician could only be sent to the Xinan University to teach. They would not be of much use.
Just when Fan Zhongyan introduced the two them, Baiqi had a weird expression on his face.
Only after talking about Yanluo County did Baiqi remember a battle report he had thrown to a corner. He had a shocking memory. After just one sweep, he roughly remembered everything.
The colonel of the 1st regiment of the Guards division had reported that Yanluo County was weird. The weirdest part was their lord.
When he thought about this, Baiqi said, "Lord, to convince Caogui, the words must come from the lord Yanhuo Yaonie."
"How so?"
Baiqi repeated the essence of the battle report.
"Such a weird thing actually happened?" This news hooked Ouyang Shuo's interest, “It seems like I have to go and meet this lord."
Even without mentioning Yanhuo Yaonie, Ouyang Shuo was really interested in Bao Shuya.