The World Online - Page 528/990

Chapter 528- Three Governors

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

South of Guilin Prefecture, a cluster of mountains stood tall, spanning thousands of miles.

In the mountains and forests, trees flourished and fierce beasts roamed around. Bandits were uncommon and people even more so. There were only a few paths that one could use to cross the two prefectures.

Two large passes and ten small passes connected Guilin Prefecture to Xunzhou Prefecture.

Of the two large passes, one was Guiping Pass and the other was Xuanwu Pass.

Amongst which, Guiping Pass was the most magnificent and majestic, connecting the two traffic choke points of the two prefectures.

The current Ouyang Shuo was leading troops to camp in Guiping Pass.

Yang Xiuqing taking control of Tianjing City was news that the Black Snake Guards had written to Ouyang Shuo immediately.

The success in Tianjing City caused Ouyang Shuo's heart to jump, filled with happiness toward the Military Intelligence Division and the Black Snake Guards. The systems that he had spent so much money on was finally bearing fruit.

During this battle, for Shanhai City to be able to take down the strong Tianjing City without using a single soldier, it was all down to these two intelligence organizations.

They would naturally be rewarded for their contributions.

Regretfully, the Black Snake Guards were an organization that could not see the light, so Ouyang Shuo was not able to give them any overt rewards. As for the Military Intelligence Division, Ouyang Shuo ordered the Military Affairs Department to grant them a grade 4 reward.

As for individual rewards, it would be up to the evaluation of the Military Affairs Department.

The part that made Ouyang Shuo even happier was that the Black Snake Guards had even managed to obtain the Ming Dynasty Firearm Making Technical Manual from Hong Xiuquan’s sleeping quarters. This was something that he had dreamt of.

Originally, Ouyang Shuo thought that Hong Xiuquan had only obtained the cannon making technical manual, he did not expect it would be the firearm technical manual.

With such a killer weapon, the technological standards of Shanhai City would be able to reach another level.

After Yang Xiuqing took control of Tianjing City, he immediately locked up the palace. All the riches were sealed together and would wait for the Lord to handle.

As a result, the Black Snake Guards were able to enter the palace freely. They were clear on the item the Lord wanted to obtain.

He immediately sent a letter to the Black Snake Guards, asking them to send the technical manual back to the No.7 Research Institute.

At the same time, they would bury the person who had contributed the most - Concubine Chen, codename Cauliflower Snake.

Apart from rewarding the Black Snake Guards and the Military Intelligence Division, Ouyang Shuo also sent out several orders regarding the administrative matters for the post war.

These matters had actually already formed up in his head around a month ago.

Only after they had truly succeeded was it easy for him to put the plan into place.

He ordered Huwei General Lin Yi to lead the Guards Division into Tianjing City to take over defence work.

Although the Tianjing City Army was under Yang Xiuqing's control, Ouyang Shuo was worried that as time went on, a level of internal chaos might occur.

After all, out of the one hundred thousand men, there were only thirty thousand that were the close and trusted subordinates of Yang Xiuqing. The remaining seventy thousand were handed over by Shi Dakai.

Along with the threat and might of Shanhai City, only then did Tianjing City calm down.

Hence, only the Guards Division could represent the territory to move in and ensure that everything was peaceful. Luckily, they were nearby, and in less than a morning, they arrived at their destination.

Lin Yi's abilities were enough to shock everyone present.

He ordered Commander-in-Chief Baiqi to lead the Dragon Legion's three divisions to turn around toward Zhen An Prefecture and sweep out the other forces.

Although the city protection squads of Taiping Country were basically all moved over to Tianjing City, there were still some remaining forces and even local militants in the other counties.

Toward a territory where a religious group had set up a country, Ouyang Shuo did not dare to take it easy. If he did not arrange the army to sweep through the land, how could he arrange for his officials to take over?

Ouyang Shuo did not wish for the officials that Shanhai City sent out to be assassinated, chased out, or rejected at the door.

If that happened, it would cause a huge loss of face to Shanhai City.

At the same time, as Zhen An Prefecture was basically a bystander in this battle, the local powers would not be affected. Naturally, they would not agree to Shanhai City taking over control.

Hence, no matter what, Ouyang Shuo had reasons to send his troops over.

Of course, Ouyang Shuo believed that Baiqi would see through his reasoning and would not engage in a senseless slaughter there.

Asura Baiqi would only kill those people he think should be killed, and he would be too lazy to kill even an extra one.

At the same time, he also ordered the two divisions of the Dragon Legion, who were sending the prisoners too, to go west and meet up with the legion after handing over the prisoners.

He would use this chance to shift the Dragon Legion camp west. At the southwest border of Zhen An Prefecture, they would build the new legion headquarters, looking right at Kunming Prefecture and Mengding Prefecture.

It was not that Ouyang Shuo was wary of Consonance City. Rather, it was him using the chance to change and reorganize the war zones and also the future war regions.

The future Dragon Legion would be in charge of the safety of the west of the territory.

At the same time, the Dragon Legion would work with the Kunming Prefecture to attack the other four prefectures in the Yunnan Province. The first to get hit was naturally the connected Mengding Prefecture.

Of course, even if they wanted to start another war, it would have to wait till the next year.

The territory had just taken down the three prefectures of Taiping Country, so they still needed time to digest it.

However, the early intelligence work could be started beforehand. After all, after this huge battle, no general would ever dare to look down on the power of intel.

At the same time, Ouyang Shuo ordered Han Xin to lead the Leopard Legion up north through Guiping Pass to clean out Guilin Prefecture.

Similarly, Ouyang Shuo wanted to put the camp of the Leopard Legion at the north of Guilin Prefecture. The future Leopard Legion would be in charge of the north region of the territory.

This meant that they would be in conflict with Chuanbei Province and Wannan Province.

Guilin Prefecture was connected to a total of two thousands of miles of borders. Hence, be it Han Xin or the Leopard Legion, guarding the north would be a huge and important task.

Of course, Ouyang Shuo had the utmost faith in Han Xin.

After the three battles, all the generals recognized his ability to lead troops.

The title of war immortal was not easily earned.

With that, the three legions of the territory each guarded one side. The Dragon Legion on the west, the Leopard Legion in the north, and the Tiger Legion to the east.

As for the south, it was the ocean, so naturally the navy would take charge of that.

After dealing with the military matters, Ouyang Shuo sent letters to the Nanjiang Governor-General House to plan administrative work.

He ordered Administration Director Xiao He to arrange officials into the three prefectures to take over.

Most importantly, they needed to appoint the three governors. Only by appointing the most crucial roles would Ouyang Shuo be able to relax regarding the future development of the prefecture.

After consideration, Ouyang Shuo decided to let Pei Ju become the governor of Guilin Prefecture.

Although Pei Ju was good at military work, he was best at governing. Along with the civil servant group being slightly weaker, he could only temporarily appoint him to such a lowly position.

As for this arrangement, he was actually quite delighted.

Guilin Prefecture was located at the north of Chuannan Province, and it was connected to both the Chuanbei and Wannan provinces. Furthermore, it was the retreat route that Hong Xiuquan had planned. Naturally, the resistance there would be stronger.

Hence, to run it well would not be an easy matter.

At the current moment, only a famous minister like Pei Ju could take up this responsibility.

For the Xunzhou governor, Ouyang Shuo settled on the current Leizhou Governor Bao Shuya. As for Yang Xiuqing, he would be shifted to be the Leizhou Governor position.

Of course, before Bao Shuya rushed over to Tianjing City, Yang Xiuqing would temporarily handle the administrative work.

No matter how much he trusted Yang Xiuqing, Ouyang Shuo still would not arrange for him to be the governors of one of the three prefectures under Taiping Country.

That was too dangerous, and it would not be a good thing for Yang Xiuqing either.

It was still those same words. If you did not want to be betrayed, do not give someone the chance to betray you.

Hence, the only way was to move him away.

Only after he moved to Leizhou Prefecture could Yang Xiuqing put down his huge burden and show his talent.

Who knows, a minister of a generation could be born.

Xunzhou Prefecture was the center of Chuannan Province and the root of Taiping Country. During the war, the Shanhai City Army had swept the land, and the local powers were largely destroyed.

Hence, out of all the prefectures, being governor of this one was the easier task.

Ouyang Shuo chose Bao Shuya as a form of recognition of his work at Leizhou Prefecture. His duty would be to calm the people and quickly build up the economy of Xunzhou Prefecture.

The potential of Xunzhou's economy was the strongest out of the three.

As for Zhen An Prefecture, Ouyang Shuo chose Mulan Yue. As the first Lord that pledged allegiance to him, it was time to reward her.

Mulan Yue was also the only person out of the three governors that was promoted.

Moreover, the Dragon Legion that Mu Guiying was a part of was also housed in Zhen An Prefecture. This layer of relationship would make military and administrative decision making easier.

After settling on the legion fighting zones, the daily supplies would naturally be taken charge by the local counties. The Combat Logistics Department did not have the ability to ship grain and supplies over tens of thousands of miles.

It was not practical, and it was not logical.

Hence, in the future, the legions would have a lot of contact with the local Houses. As such, this was an aspect that the Shen Buhai led Shanhai Guards had to keep a close watch on.