lcionline Chapter 427 The Deal with the Guan Ning Army
Chapter 427 The Deal with the Guan Ning Army
After appointing two generals, Shi Ying and Xu Yifan, and two scholars, Yan Guang and Sun Yuanhua, Liu Ye then reorganized the two armed forces directly under his command.
"Lin San's guard unit will be renamed the Imperial Guard Battalion, with a temporary size of one battalion, which will be increased as needed in the future. They will be responsible for protecting me when I travel and on the battlefield. The samurai under Shimazu Chiyo will be organized into the Draw Sword Squad, responsible for my personal protection. Qin Tian's special forces will also be expanded, with the number of personnel temporarily set at around one battalion, and the name will remain unchanged. These three units will be directly responsible for me."
If the Qionghai Army represented the entire group and embodied everyone's interests, then these armed forces were directly loyal to Liu Ye personally, similar to the emperor's personal guard. The Imperial Guard Battalion and Special Forces were similar to the later Vanguard Battalion and Elite Cavalry Battalion, while the Sword-Drawing Squad was equivalent to the emperor's personal bodyguards.
Everyone could understand this arrangement. From the guard to the Qiongzhou camp, and then to Qionghai Town, the entire system was thriving under Liu Ye's leadership. Everyone knew what the goal was. Although Liu Ye had personally said that he didn't necessarily have to be emperor, and that being the Grand Marshal of the Army was also acceptable, everyone except for a few individuals like Sun Yuanhua regarded this as a fallback plan or even an excuse. Since Liu Ye was very likely to sit on the throne in the future, what was wrong with preparing for the future and emulating the emperor to establish a prototype of the personal army?
The design of the Qionghai Navy's superstructure was initially completed, but the officers and soldiers at the grassroots level were unaware of this; they were only concerned with their own positions and military pay, which had been upgraded along with the expansion of the army.
The two battalions of the original Qiongzhou Battalion were all veterans who had experienced several battles. During this expansion, almost everyone was promoted and received a raise. Shi Ying and Xu Yifan were promoted directly from major battalion commanders to colonel regimental commanders. The rest of the squad leaders were promoted to platoon leaders, platoon leaders to company commanders, and company commanders to battalion commanders. Even those who were not promoted to officers were changed from privates to squad leaders with the title of "commander". As for their military ranks, most of them were promoted one or two levels.
Lan Lin and Zhu Jinhu, who had made a bet during the garrison period, finally ended their status as garrison soldiers and joined the Qionghai Army as two new recruits, beginning their careers as professional soldiers.
The tall and strong Lan Lin had initially thought that the weak Zhu Jinhu would be eliminated early in the brutal military training, but to his surprise, the guy persevered. Moreover, the food in the army was a hundred times better than when they fled to Shandong; with good food and good training, he even gained weight and looked much more robust than when he first arrived in Lingao. After a month of basic training, both men were assigned to the First Battalion of the First Regiment of the Qionghai Army, though not in the same company, due to their excellent training results.
Unlike Lan Lin, who was driven by a desire to be a hero and concerned with saving face, Zhu Jinhu joined the Qionghai Army with lofty ideals, not just for the so-called bet. He had lost his parents and everything else, and changing his fate through military service, so that his parents could rest in peace, became his greatest motivation in life.
After the expansion of the army was completed, the agreed-upon transaction date with the Guan Ning Army also arrived.
The person originally assigned to lead the transaction in Shandong was supposed to be Sun Yuanhua. He was in charge of military supplies, including warhorses and guns, which were considered equipment. However, Sun Yuanhua was the former governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou who had been dismissed by the court, and his original fate was to be imprisoned and beheaded if he didn't come to Lingao. It was inappropriate for him to openly appear in the Dengzhou area. Therefore, Sun Yuanhua appointed someone else.
The choice of this person surprised many people; it was none other than Lu Gengyu, the former magistrate of Changhua County, who had previously failed to assassinate Liu Ye.
After Lu Gengyu's assassination attempt failed, Liu Ye, persuaded by Sun Yuanhua, magnanimously spared his life. Lu Gengyu, already crippled in his right leg and having resigned from his official post, had come to Gao with the intention of dying with his enemy. He was prepared to die a martyr if the assassination succeeded, and calmly face death if it failed, never expecting to survive. Unexpectedly, Sun Yuanhua intervened, saving his life and taking him in. After these days of calming down, Lu Gengyu's nameless anger towards the Qiongzhou Camp and Liu Ye gradually dissipated.
During his stay in Lingao, Lu Gengyu witnessed the rapid changes taking place. He saw that the people were living in peace and prosperity, with a standard of living far surpassing that of counties like Changhua. With Sun Yuanhua's guidance, he gradually came to understand: regardless of Liu Ye's domineering methods, the fact remained that the people of Lingao were living better lives. Moreover, he had to admit that even the people of Changhua County, who mined for him, earned significantly more than before. Since Liu Ye could benefit the people, why dwell on his actions and methods? Therefore, Lu Gengyu accepted Sun Yuanhua's arrangement and became his subordinate, assisting with matters related to the production and allocation of military equipment.
Sun Yuanhua also reported this matter to Liu Ye. Liu Ye was quite open-minded; the assassination attempt was over, and Lu Gengyu's actions were merely impulsive. There was no other deep-seated hatred between them. Having a scholar who had previously served as a county magistrate serve him was naturally a good thing; he didn't have too many scholars under his command, but rather too few. The Hundred Herbs Garden had indeed cultivated a group of promising talents, but most were trained as technical backbones, lacking administrative management personnel. Moreover, it would take time for these young people to graduate and enter various professions.
Lu Gengyu went to Shandong in place of Sun Yuanhua, mainly to allocate and transport Patriot rifles and mountain guns for the newly established military supply bureau. The person in charge of inspecting the warhorses was someone else, namely Ma Wei, a former border soldier from Xuanfu Town recruited by Su Hongtu in Shandong.
After Ma Wei helped Su Hongtu stop starving people from storming the government-run soup kitchens, Su Hongtu appreciated his efforts and suggested he join the Qiongzhou Camp. Ma Wei, in his prime, didn't want to waste the skills he'd honed in Xuanfu. Upon learning of the enviable benefits of the Qiongzhou Camp, he resolutely chose to join. Su Hongtu was a confidant of Shi Ying, and his recommendation was valued by Shi Ying. However, the Qiongzhou Camp didn't have cavalry at the time, and it seemed wasteful to have the skilled horseman Ma Wei serve as a common soldier with a rifle. Therefore, Shi Ying reported the matter to Liu Ye.
After hearing Shi Ying's account of Ma Wei's performance and experiences in the border towns, Liu Ye took it very seriously. Furthermore, having already finalized a deal with the Guan Ning Army to exchange firearms and artillery for warhorses, he appointed Ma Wei as the instructor for the first batch of cavalry. The recruitment and training of the cavalry were to be held in Dengzhou, to avoid the problem Wu Sangui had mentioned—the Mongolian horses suffering from acclimatization issues and losing weight in the hot Qiongzhou Prefecture. After all, the governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou was Liu Ye's future father-in-law; secretly training a cavalry unit under his protection wasn't a big deal.