Chapter 285- Baiqi Reorganizes the Army

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Jun

As time went on, the migrant wave attracted by the Mazu Temple had slowly changed from commoners to the gentry level and merchant groups.

Shanhai City had a pleasant environment, good city planning, great law and order, a thick merchant atmosphere, and cultural development, attracting their eyes.

Xinan University, Yellow Emperor Temple, Recruitment hall, Shangding, etc. attracted a lot of attention.

Only then did they noticed that out in the wilderness was actually such an advanced place.

Shanhai City also had a thirst for talent, so they were both a good fit with one another.

It was like the floodgates were opened, and a large number of gentry and merchants chose to live in Shanhai City. Amongst them were people from humble backgrounds, and were also men of literature and writing, with many talented men amongst them.

Because of the presence of Jiang Shang, Xinan University was very attractive to men of literature and writing. Hence, they mostly chose to become officials.

The merchants started to open shops in Shanhai City; some even focused on the Mazu Temple business, selling incense related products and earning a huge amount.

After inspecting Shanhai City and especially after seeing the Cui Chamber of Commerce doing so well, some Chamber of Commerces in Quanzhou also started considering opening branches in Shanhai City.

The huge swarm of people brought a lot of business for the newly opened Shanhai Garden, to the envy of everyone.

With such a great opportunity, Ouyang Shuo immediately informed the Business Division Secretary Xu Zhenchang to prepare a recruitment meeting to introduce the investment plans and business environment in Shanhai City.

The Administration Department also worked together with the Household Registration Division, and started a talent recruitment to recruit talents into the various departments and and divisions.

The Mazu Temple had achieved far greater a result than the recruitment that the Cui Chamber of Commerce had in Dali, making Ouyang Shuo delighted.

The situation in front of him reflected an old statement: if you wish for something it won't come. If you don't wish for something it might appear out of nowhere.

The huge amount of talents helped build a solid foundation for when Shanhai City upgraded to the prefecture grade.

Ouyang Shuo had been worrying about the lack of talents if the territory upgraded, but now with the migrants, it has been totally solved.

As for the Mazu Temple fair, under the support of the Chamber of Commerces from Quanzhou, it was a huge scale.

The huge influence of Mazu even shocked the Quanzhou Court. They specially sent officials to send a huge signboard which read ‘Mazu Temple.’

With that, the Mazu religion spread like wildfire.

What made Ouyang Shuo happier was that after the blessing of all the incense, the Mazu Temple had be upgraded.

"System notification: Mazu Statue has been blessed by the incense and officially unsealed, returning back to normal. The stats of the Mazu Temple have greatly increased."

At this point, the Mazu Statue gave out a gentle shine which one could see from far away. Such a divine scene made all the believers who traveled from far to see it emotional and nearly tear up.

The migrant wave which had calmed down once again reached a peak. Quanzhou civilians believed that it was their sincerity that touched Mazu, and she sent them a sign to bless her believers.

Ouyang Shuo took the time to take a look at the new stats; what he saw pleased him.

Name: Mazu Temple

Type: Hidden class building

Function: Spread the faith of Mazu and raise happiness of residents by 30%, raises reputation of territory by 10%

Specialty: Sea God blessing (Navy ships have increased 40% Defence against storms), wind and waves (raise ships' sailing capability by 30%)

Evaluation: Mazu, with the southeast sea as core, spreads the Sea God faith.

The unsealed Mazu Temple had a huge increase in function. Not only that, it had also gained a 2nd specialty.

With these two specialties, it would be much easier for the Shanhai City’s sailors to rule the seas.

With the unsealing of the Mazu Temple, this temple fair ended on a wonderful full stop. Mazu Temple also became a huge bridge between Quanzhou City and Shanhai City.

Although the festival had ended, the effects of it didn't end there.

Although the peak of the migration had passed, there were still hundreds of Quanzhou aboriginal people who would rush to Shanhai City either to pray or migrate.

As Quanzhou started to find out more about Shanhai City, the migrant groups changed from believers to people who came here to try and make a living.

The situation that was happening at Shanhai City was something that all lords were jealous of. Some hurled insults while others congratulated him; there was a vast mix.

Ouyang Shuo naturally didn’t bother about the outside comments. After the Mazu Temple fair ended, Ouyang Shuo handed over the recruitment of Chamber of Commerces and the migration over to the Financial Department and Administration Department.

The talents that were recruited were temporarily given jobs by Fan Zhongyan, waiting for when the territory had upgraded to a prefecture before giving them a permanent position.

From city to prefecture, it was a breakthrough in the entire system and core of the territory. In terms of administrative structure, naturally there would be a revolution. Ouyang Shuo had already started considering the related changes in his mind.

After the festival, Ouyang Shuo started to turn to the 4th quest.

The army group trial needed a corp to pass a military trial. Shanhai City only had 1 division, so they had nothing to hesitate on and just made the 1st division take the trial.

The problem was that after checking the related settings for the trial, Ouyang Shuo hesitated.

Based on the system settings, a division and above could undergo the trial, and if they succeeded, they would get a unique specialty and be rewarded a military flag.

The crux of the problem was that after the trial, the members of the division that underwent the trial apart from the casualties couldn't be moved. If they did, the specialty would lose its effect.

This setting was to prevent some lords from cheating, using the elites in the territory to help military groups complete the trial.

The 1st division was just a temporary plan. It was split into three camps in the west, north and east of the city, and were ruled separately so they would definitely be split apart in the future.

The quest meant that Ouyang Shuo had no choice but to reorganize the military. He passed this mission to Baiqi for him to have total control, and for Ge Hongliang to assist him.

Baiqi's role was still undecided, and Ouyang Shuo just gave him a temporary title of overall commander, giving him the power to command the army of Shanhai City.

Ever since he came to Shanhai City, apart from staying in the west suburb camp, he went to the other three camps and inspected all the military groups.

After a week of inspections, Baiqi finally brought out his plan.

In the Lord's Manor reading room, there were only Ouyang Shuo, Baiqi, and Ge Hongliang, showing how important this meeting was.

Baiqi didn't directly describe his plan but described the problems he was facing. "Based on my investigation, the Shanhai City army has a few main problems:

“Firstly, the soldier types aren't balanced; we have too many cavalry and too little infantry. Of the 1st divisions, including the Guards regiment and the independent regiment, out of the 7 regiments, 5 are cavalry regiments, not including the light armored cavalry regiments in the 1st and 3rd regiment. The cavalry take up 70-80%.

“Secondly, we don't put enough emphasis on scouting and logistics. Not only does each regiment not have a scout and army cook, even the 1st division does not have such roles, which is really mind boggling.

“The Military Intelligence Division is responsible for peacetime scouting. Wartime scouting should be the responsibility of the participating forces. Military grain pills can't totally replace food and grains, so an army cook is absolutely necessary.

“Thirdly, the mix of light armored, heavy armored, cavalry, and infantry. With the 1st and 4th regiments in the city west camp as an example, there's the slow moving heavy armored mountain barbarian infantry and the fast moving light armored cavalry. The entire speed of the troops will be burdened by the slow moving mountain barbarians, and losing the advantage of the light armored cavalry.

“Fourthly, the types of soldiers are too little. The entire division only has cavalry and sword shield soldiers. Lancers, as well as bowmen, crossbowmen, spearmen, etc are all non-existent."

Baiqi's analysis made Ouyang Shuo feel very embarrassed and ashamed. Originally, he was quite pleased with his organization, but it was actually full of mistakes.

Ouyang Shuo stood up solemnly and bowed toward Baiqi. "Thank you for your help!"

Ge Hongliang was also blushing. As the Military Affairs director, he didn't manage to help the lord perfect the military system; it could be said that he failed at his job.

However, he couldn't be blamed as he was at most an advisor of a regiment. How could he handle such a huge army?

Apart from Ge Hongliang, only the three historical generals could assist Ouyang Shuo.

Shi Wanshui was, out of the three, the best at military matters, but as he was rash, he would only care about fighting wars and not about such small matters.

Er'Lai, needless to say, was from the Shang Dynasty when military planning was in its infancy. He was also a fierce general, so he wouldn't know much about all these fine details.

Luo Shixin had also just joined the army. His experience was little, so he wouldn't voice up his opinions.

Hence, it caused such a situation where Ouyang Shuo, who was totally inept at such a thing, had to organize the military and expand it to its current scale.

Thinking back, it wasn't easy.

Only when Baiqi arrived did the weakness of the Shanhai City army become exposed.

Ouyang Shuo was happy deep down that the Shanhai City army didn't expand to a scale that couldn't be salvaged and that Baiqi had come just in time.

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