lcionline Chapter 249 Apparent Demotion, Hidden Promotion
Chapter 249 Apparent Demotion, Hidden Promotion
Including the families who are willing to follow the organization, a total of more than 50,000 people will set off in early May to travel to the Western Regions via the road opened up by Zhao Yun in the north. Presumably, Zhao Yun will have already established a base by then.
In the selection of soldiers with family members, the General Staff deliberately chose those whose family members had a special skill, in order to enable Zhao Yun to achieve self-sufficiency in the Western Regions as soon as possible.
To this end, Chen Er specially transferred some people from the arsenal to prepare for the establishment of the Western Regions Arsenal, but this would not be implemented until Zhao Yun had established a foothold in the Western Regions.
Liao Hua will be appointed as the commander of the Anxi Independent Division. Although Liao Hua has been promoted from an organization leader to a general, it is clear to everyone that Chen Er is grooming Liao Hua.
On the surface, Liao Hua's organizational position was reduced, but the strength he controlled did not decrease. On the contrary, because he was about to be stationed in the enclave, Liao Hua's real power increased.
Moreover, having such experience will give Liao Hua more qualifications when he is promoted in the future.
As for Liao Hua himself, he had no objections after meeting with Chen Er. The establishment of the Anxi Independent Division was not simply an accidental special formation, but rather an experiment by Chen Er to reform future organizational matters.
As the self-governing district organized its teams, Chen Er increasingly realized that the four-level units he had previously set up were no longer keeping up with the pace of combat. The three-three system was not very suitable for the era of line infantry, and commanders at all levels needed more troops. Therefore, Chen Er decided to strengthen the division-level and below units.
The formation of the Anxi Independent Division was an opportunity, and Liao Hua had a heavy burden on his shoulders. It was precisely because he understood this that he realized the importance of this.
Liao Hua had no objection to this job adjustment, because Chen Er said that when the time was right, he would return to the position of organization chief, and the value of being an organization chief at that time would be completely different from that of being an organization chief now!
"Liao Hua, the Anxi Independent Division has a heavy mission. You must be prepared to be rooted in the Western Regions for a long time. The Ministry of State Affairs has the idea of rebuilding the Anxi Protectorate, so there will definitely be more and more troops in the Western Regions in the future. Your position as a general is only temporary." Chen Er said to Liao Hua before he left.
As a general who came from the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Liao Hua's rise to his current position was entirely due to Chen Er's trust. In the entire self-governing region, there were quite a few generals who came from the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
However, only a handful of people have been able to reach the position of leader in the organization, such as Liao Hua and He Zhi. Of course, the most powerful one is Li Zhong. In the eyes of the higher-ups in the autonomous region, Li Zhong is a sword hanging over their heads, and they don't know when he will fall.
Liao Hua said to Chen Er, "Please rest assured, my lord, I will definitely guard the Western Regions well and will not let you down."
"The Western Regions are home to many ethnic groups and numerous small kingdoms. You need to be very careful. Zilong's cavalry is excellent at warfare, but the final task still needs to be completed by you."
"In the Western Regions, we don't necessarily have to abide by the laws of the empire. To them, we are invaders, and appropriate iron-fisted methods are the best way to make them realize who they are dealing with."
"This humble general has awakened," Liao Hua said, bowing.
While Yuan Shao occupied Xianyang and advanced to Wuzhangyuan, and Liu Bei occupied Hanzhong and was pacifying northern Yizhou, news from the northern self-governing region shocked the world.
Especially those large and small forces in the northwest of the empire, has that giant dragon that has been entrenched in the entire eastern part of the empire finally been unable to resist expanding its territory once again?
"Anxi Independent Division?"
Yuan Shao kept repeating this term. He suddenly recalled the news that had come back from the north: Zhao Yun, the first cavalry general under Chen Er, had led a large number of cavalry to the grasslands to wipe out the bandits, and his whereabouts were unknown after that.
At that time, Yuan Shao felt that something was wrong. Given his control over the northern grasslands, even if there were bandits on the grasslands, they would only be some scattered soldiers. Why would Zhao Yun need to lead a large organization on an expedition?
Now it seems that things are not so simple; Chen Er is using a feint to cover up his true intentions while secretly advancing his own!
“Chen Er’s intentions are very clear; he is definitely aiming to attack the Western Regions. Perhaps Chen Er already intends to rebuild the Anxi Protectorate,” Xu You said to Yuan Shao.
As expected of a first-rate strategist, although Xu You's character is questionable, he still possessed strategic vision at the time, and he immediately analyzed Chen Er's true intentions:
"Chen Mingde's move is definitely aimed at controlling the Western Regions, gradually encroaching on Liangzhou, and then pressuring our organization from the east, west and north, forcing our organization to expand southward. In this way, Chen Er can sit on the sidelines and watch the tigers fight."
"What a brilliant move!" Yuan Shao exclaimed.
But what could he do? He had already embarked on this path of no return. Under Chen Er's threats, he could only grit his teeth and keep going, trying to survive in the cracks.
Yuan Shao said to Xu You, "We have been forced into this situation. The only way to break through is to open a gap in the south."
"Yes, now we can only try to survive in the cracks," Xu You sighed.
Yuan Shao was once so powerful, ruling over Ji Province. Unfortunately, he was blinded by his strength and became arrogant. Without knowing the strength of his opponent, he challenged Chen Er, and the final result was his defeat.
Moreover, he suffered a crushing defeat and was constantly suppressed by Chen Er. If Chen Er hadn't spared Yuan Shao several times, Yuan Shao might not have existed in this world at all.
However, if we're talking about who's most troubled by the establishment of the Anxi Independent Division in the self-governing region, it's undoubtedly those guys from Liangzhou, especially Ma Teng and Han Sui, who are the most anxious.
This operation by the self-governing region was clearly aimed at them. They had just entered the organization's Western Regions when the self-governing region launched this move, and on a large scale at that. This was clearly a targeted attack, but what could they do? With their strength, they were simply no match for the powerful self-governing region.
"I'm not reconciled! I'm not reconciled!" Ma Teng roared inwardly! But they definitely couldn't win in a fight against the self-governing region. He didn't know how many organized teams Chen Er had, the only thing he knew was that Zhao Yun's cavalry had already crossed the desert and was heading west. Retreat? Impossible. They had no way back, unless they were willing to stay in this impoverished Liangzhou.
Zhao Yun led a full 15,000 Han cavalry.
(This includes the Wuhuan and Xianbei cavalry who have been Sinicized. These cavalrymen have been thoroughly brainwashed, abandoned their former identities, and joined the regular cavalry organization. They are trustworthy.)
In addition, there were 20,000 auxiliary cavalry (composed of friendly nomadic steppe cavalry), while mercenary cavalry had been removed from the cavalry organization of the self-governing region.