Chapter 540- Reorganization of the Taiping Army
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
12th month, 11th day afternoon, Lin Fengxiang residence.
Ouyang Shuo had gathered the main generals of the Taiping Army to discuss the military reorganization.
Before the meeting began, the atmosphere of the entire hall was incredibly solemn.
Firstly, not long after the Lord sent out his first imperial edict, he had followed it with a second imperial edict.
The decree stated that from tomorrow onward, Tianjing City would be under the charge of the Guards Division and the two mountain barbarian divisions. The one hundred thousand Taiping Army soldiers would remain in the military, but they were not allowed to go out without a proper reason.
Anyone with a brain could see that the Taiping Army was becoming a cold turkey.
Secondly, the symbolic edifice of Tianjing City, the king’s palace, was being mercilessly torn down. Be it the generals who were close to Yang Xiuqing or those who were his enemy, they all felt uneasy about the matter.
Under such a backdrop, for Ouyang Shuo to gather up the various generals held an unusual meaning behind.
At 3 PM, all the generals had already gathered. After they waited for an hour, Ouyang Shuo finally arrived. Behind him, Lin Yi and Shihu followed.
Apart from that, there was one more person; he was Yang Xiuqing.
Before meeting the various generals, Ouyang Shuo had asked to meet Yang Xiuqing alone and had an hour-long conversation with him. After that meeting, Ouyang Shuo finally came out to meet the other generals.
Naturally, Ouyang Shuo chose to do so annoy and anger the other generals. Moreover, he wanted to make it clear to them who the real ruler of Tianjing City was.
Compared to the meeting on the first day, the current Ouyang Shuo had suddenly become exceedingly solemn and serious. His Mingguang Armor and the Chixiao Sword by his side added a killing aura around him.
During the battle at Guiping Pass, Ouyang Shuo had experienced a lucky break, and his Killing Sword Sword Technique had risen to the perform with ease stage. He had also understood the sword intent behind the killing sword and the 6th stroke, Killing All Life.
With that, the shura killing aura he had gathered up in his last life merged with the killing aura of this one.
His current killing aura lacked bloodiness, but it was more imposing and mighty, becoming purer.
More importantly, Ouyang Shuo could freely control this killing aura. Usually, he would not release it, so it would only charge toward others when he desired it.
At the current moment, the six Taiping Army generals in the hall felt a suppressing might. All of a sudden, they broke out in cold sweat and felt in shock.
In just that short moment, Ouyang Shuo had completely changed his aura, and the gentle image that he had emitted became as hard as steel.
“Fellows.” Ouyang Shuo looked around and spoke, ”You are all commanders. Naturally, you know the importance of following orders. Since you are all under Shanhai City, your forces would naturally follow our plans and be reorganized. What do you all think?”
The moment his words sounded, the hall became utterly silent.
The various generals all looked at one another, not knowing what to say. The moment they surrendered, they had expected a future reorganization. However, they did not expect that day to come so quickly and suddenly.
However, they could not reject or oppose him.
After all, for a surrendered army to be reorganized was an expected matter.
Apart from Yang Xiuqing, out of the six of them, two had been the right and left hand men of Shi Dakai. Two were the main and deputy commander of the fifty thousand troops housed in Tianjing City, while the other two generals commanded the local city protections forces.
Out of the six, two of them had no power to speak. Naturally, these two were the city protection force members. Added together, they had less than thirty thousand soldiers, and they were all ordinary ones.
However, amongst them, there was one known as Lin Qirong, who was loyal to Hong Xiuquan. Ouyang Shuo had decided to directly remove this person after the meeting.
The remaining one was known as Yang Buqing; he did not hold much power. If he knew his place, Ouyang Shuo did not mind making him a general of a local city protection squad.
Although Shi Dakai had resigned and left, his trusted aides still controlled the remaining twenty thousand west army forces. Since this army could break out of the encirclement with Shi Dakai, they truly had strength. They were indeed the elite of the elite.
The left hand general of Shi Dakai was called Hu Yihuang. He had made it clear to Yang Xiuqing that he was willing to pledge his loyalty to Shanhai City. The Military Intelligence Division and the Black Snake Guards had also investigated him, and they did not find anything wrong.
Hu Yihuang had played a massive role in Yang Xiuqing’s smooth take over of the army.
As for the right hand general, he was known as Shi Zhenji, and he had displayed a strange attitude. He was not loyal to Hong Xiuquan but Shi Dakai instead. The worst part was that he was from the same clan as Shi Dakai.
As a result, he naturally felt some resentment toward Yang Xiuqing. As a byproduct, he naturally lacked any good feelings toward Shanhai City, and he even opposed them.
Ouyang Shuo needed to rope Shi Zhenji in. Firstly, Shi Zhenji was close to Shi Dakai, and he had a high-level of prestige in the west army, similar to taking over from Shi Dakai. Secondly, considering that he would have a chance to recruit Shi Dakai, Ouyang Shuo naturally knew he had to give this person opportunities.
As for the fifty thousand troops housed in Tianjing City, they were also an elite force. If not, Hong Xiuquan would not confidently pass the protection of the main camp to them.
The commander of the fifty thousand troops was known as Ceng Tianyang, while the deputy was known as Qin Ri Gang. Ceng Tianyang was an old and experienced general loyal to Hong Xiuquan. However, this person was really crafty. On the surface, he seemed to follow Yang Xiuqing’s leadership, but in truth, he was preparing to start trouble.
Hence, Ceng Tianyang was the most unstable factor. As the primary leader of the troops in Tianjing City, his control over this unit was stronger than Yang Xiuqing’s.
Furthermore, this person was an old fox; he was really respectful to Yang Xiuqing on the surface, so one could not find fault with it. As a result, he obtained the protection of the troops.
If Ouyang Shuo went too hard on him, the soldiers might revolt.
As for Qin Ri Gang, he was a trusted loyalist of Yang Xiuqing. Qin Ri Gang’s presence made Ceng Tianyang not dare to lead his forces to revolt, which also allowed Yang Xiuqing to gain control over the troops housed in Tianjing City.
One had to say that the Military Intelligence Division did a great job in recruiting Yang Xiuqing. Only someone like Yang Xiuqing could have influence in both the administrative and military sides of Tianjing City.
If it were any other person, they would not have such influence.
……
“My Lord!” Seeing that Ouyang Shuo was about to place everything under control, the old fox Ceng Tianyang finally could not take it and stepped out, asking gently, “Can the Lord tell us whether our roles will change after the reorganization? Can we still take charge of our original forces?”
Ceng Tianyang’s words directly aimed at the two most significant problems of the military reorganization.
As a commander, he had to care about his position. After the reorganization, it would be good if he was promoted, but if he got demoted, he would lose face.
Apart from their position, a general also cared about their old forces. If one was moved to a new army and did not have anyone trusted around them, even if they ended up in a high position, they would feel exceedingly uncomfortable.
Of course, the above two points only targeted those generals that chased for titles and glory.
For examples, generals like Han Xin and Di Qing, even if they were not given prominent positions, it did not matter. They would not be resentful about it, as they believed in their own abilities.
It was evident that the Taiping Country Army had little to no influence over these two points.
Hence, many generals agreed with Ceng Tianyang’s words. Even Hu Yihuang and Qin Ri Gang, who had expressed their loyalty, looked toward Ouyang Shuo with concern.
When Ouyang Shuo saw the situation, he exchanged glances with Yang Xiuqing.
Ceng Tianyang was truly an old fox.
Unfortunately, no matter how cunning a fox, it would be unable to escape the chase of humans.
Before this, Ouyang Shuo had discussed with Yang Xiuqing, and they had theorized and predicted how the generals would create problems for him during the meeting.
Hence, Ceng Tianyang’s question was something that Ouyang Shuo had expected.
Although Ouyang Shuo was not a military genius, after spending so much time around god generals like Baiqi and Han Xin, he had grown familiar with military matters.
Seeing that Ceng Tianyang had riled up the generals, Ouyang Shuo pressed his hands down. He actually laughed at Ceng Tianyang, which made this old fox panic, and his face tensed up.
“Fellows, even if General Ceng did not raise this up, I would still have to explain the situation to all of you. All of you should already know that the Shanhai City Army uses regiments, divisions, and legions as its core structure; each legion has a total of seventy thousand men.”
Ouyang Shuo paused and gave them some time to digest his words before he continued, “I promise here that all of you can become major generals. As for generals of a legion, that will depend on the merits and contributions you amass in the army. In the military, if you want to convince the masses, you have to accumulate contributions and results.”
When the generals heard this explanation, they all heaved sighs of relief, and their expressions relaxed.
One must know that a major general position, even in the Shanhai City Army, belonged to advanced generals. It was a prominent position. Amongst them, although some of them controlled smaller numbers of troops, regarding quality, it was actually a raise.
Even Ceng Tianyang could not retort it. After all, although he currently led fifty thousand soldiers, Ouyang Shuo naturally could not give him the position of legion general.
Even if his face was incredibly thick, he did not have the confidence and ability to line up alongside Baiqi, Han Xin, and Sun Bin.
