Chapter 473: Battle of Zhaoqing Ends
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Shanhai regaining control of Tianshuang County signified the upcoming end of the Battle of Zhaoqing.
The same day that they took down the county, Lin Yi led the 1st and 2nd regiments of the Guards Division to continued down south.
8th month, 25th day, the 2nd and 4th division of the Dragon Legion suddenly attacked from the east and west, blocking off the retreat path of the alliance army up north.
This course of action confused the alliance army, who were still locked in their arguments.
8th month, 26th day, Zhang Han led a temporarily established division to meet up with Baiqi. Baiqi immediately ordered the troops to rush up and surround Yun An County.
During that day, the alliance army tried many times to break out, but they were unsuccessful.
8th month, 27th day, Lin Yi led his troops and gathered up with the two divisions of the Dragon Legion.
The escape route up north for the alliance army was completely blocked.
8th month, 29th day, Sun Bin's 2nd and 4th legion of the Tiger Legion rushed day and night to arrived on the battlefield a day earlier.
With that, they had gathered the Guards Division, two divisions from both the Dragon and Tiger legion, one from the Leopard Legion, one Garrison Division, and one temporarily formed division in Zhaoqing Prefecture. In total, they had eight divisions and 110 thousand people.
Meanwhile, they had trapped the 110 thousand alliance army troops inside Yun An with no reinforcements. Moreover, these troops did not have grain inside.
Surrender became the only choice of the alliance army.
Some of the members of South Alliance remained stubborn, and they refused to surrender even in death.
When Ouyang Shuo learned of the frontline news, he immediately ordered the Guards Division to coordinate with Luo Shixin's division to sweep the north of Zhaoqing and clear every territory.
The current north region of Zhaoqing Prefecture only had a small amounts of troops left in the territories.
In less than a week, they totally cleared the north out. Gaia teleported out the Lords of Zhaoqing Prefecture to the Quanzhou imperial City.
9th month, 5th day, Xiao He led a number of officials and teleported over to Wulong County to start running Zhaoqing Prefecture.
The last hope of reinforcements was destroyed, and South Alliance fell into despair. Yuan Ping and the others knew that there was no chance to escape, but they did not want to be kept as hostages. As a result, all of them committed suicide within the city and returned to their territories.
The moment they returned to the territory, the South Alliance members all announced that they were expanding their military to ten thousand men in preparation of the threat of Shanhai City. Yuan Ping also officially replaced Hefu as the alliance leader of South Alliance.
9th month, 10th day, the only Lord left, Hefu, led his forces out of the city to surrender. Along with him was the famous general, Di Qing, as well as one hundred thousand alliance army forces.
At this point, the Battle of Zhaoqing, which had lasted for one and a half months, officially ended.
Along with the end of the battle, Gaia removed the lock on the channels and the forums. All the rumors and news about the war instantly flew onto the forums.
Everyone knew that Shanhai City had once again obtained an important victory.
9th month, 14th day, Wulong County.
Baiqi, Han Xin, and all the other generals left their troops and rushed to Wulong County to meet their Lord. Along with Baiqi and the generals were Song Wen, Hefu, and Di Qing.
Ouyang Shuo held a military and administrative meeting in Wulong County.
The people attending this meeting, apart from the generals, included Xiao He and the four directors.
In this battle, apart from the Tianshuang County city protection division that were wiped out, the other divisions had all suffered casualties. In total, the death count exceeded twenty thousand.
Of course, they also captured a sky high number of soldiers.
In the south region battle, they had captured forty thousand prisoners, which they formed into a temporary division under Zhang Han.
Outside Wulong County, of the fifty thousand Qu Yi forces, they captured thirty-five thousand.
Outside Genglou County, of the eighty thousand troops, they captured forty thousand.
Inside Tianshuang County, of the thirty thousand alliance army troops, they captured twenty thousand.
Of the one hundred thousand troops in Yun An County, all of them surrendered.
They needed to organize a total of two hundred thousand prisoners, much higher than the total number of troops in the Shanhai City Army.
How to organize and arrange such a huge army also posed great issues.
The Battle of Zhaoqing exposed the lacking numbers of the Shanhai City Army. Hence, Ouyang Shuo was determined to undergo a large-scale expansion.
Although reorganizing the troops laid in the scope of the Military Affairs Department, everyone knew that above them, the Lord made the decision.
Even Du Ruhui would not make a sound now and kept his his silent.
After Hefu surrendered, Ouyang Shuo started to set and plan the reorganization matters.
During this meeting, Ouyang Shuo officially tossed out his proposal.
First, they would disband the Tianshuang County city protection division, reassigning the two thousand remaining forces.
This decision also ended Song Wu's role as a major general.
The Tianshuang County city protection division was run too deeply by the Song Family. In this military group, many generals were members of the family. Even if they were his future-in-laws, he would not allow such a situation to occur.
Ouyang Shuo wanted to make use of this chance to completely remove this cancer.
At this time, the Song Family had to heavily rely on him. Even if they felt unhappy, they did not dare to say anything.
When the Song Family regained their powers, it would not be as easy for Ouyang Shuo to make such movements.
Secondly, they needed to replenish the twelve thousand casualties.
To make up for the losses of the various division, Ouyang Shuo set a new rule. After any major war, the various fighting divisions would have the priority to choose elite soldiers.
After they refilled the various divisions, they would reorganize the remaining prisoners together. As a result, the most elite prisoners would enter the various large divisions.
Only then would their combat strength not fall to an obvious extent.
Thirdly, they needed to build the Garrison Division.
Apart from the planned Zhaoqing Prefecture Garrison Division and Lianzhou Prefecture Garrison Division, Ouyang Shuo built two more.
One would help to supplement the Shanhai City city protection division.
As the core of the territory, only relying on one city protection division seemed too little. As a result, he had to mobilize the Guards Division.
Hence, making use of this chance, Ouyang Shuo would expand the city protection division to two divisions. With that, even without the Guards Division, they could keep the main camp safe.
In the future, Ouyang Shuo's goal would be to make the city protection division into a city protection legion.
It seemed like having two divisions would suffice for now. If he directly made four divisions to form up a legion, their finances would fail to keep up even if they had enough soldiers.
Shanhai City was progressing and prospering everyday, and they now generated a sizeable economic income. However, overall, they were still in the developmental stages and needed a sizeable investment.
Ouyang Shuo did not want to cause too much of a financial strain on the territory.
He prepared the other Garrison Division for Jade Buddha County.
Jade Buddha County was a nail that Ouyang Shuo had stabbed into Jiaozhou Prefecture. To protect it and prevent South Alliance from removing it, he had to defend it.
They would quickly decide the four Garrison division major generals.
The major general of the Lianzhou Prefecture Garrison Division was Hu Yibiao, which was already set. The Zhaoqing Prefecture Garrison Division would be the young general, Suwang.
Ouyang Shuo would leave the two remaining choices to the Military Affairs Department.
No matter what, Ouyang Shuo had to respect Du Ruhui's power and grant him enough authority and space to perform his job.
If not, in the long run, he would have a tough time.
Using this chance, Ouyang Shuo also arranged the duties of Song Wu. He appointed Song Wu as the deputy major general of the Leizhou Garrison Division.
If Song Wu performed well, Ouyang Shuo could in turn promote him.
In this battle, the performance of the Leizhou Garrison Division had gained the recognition of Baiqi. The colonel, Zhao Yan, had naturally returned to the eyes of Ouyang Shuo.
At the crucial moment, Ouyang Shuo was ready to move him back into a fighting army.
Fourth, the expansion of the Leopard Legion.
Ouyang Shuo was ready to completely organize the Leopard Legion all at once.
Zhang Han replaced Wei Zhang as the major general of the 1st division. Wei Zhang, in turn, would become the major general of the 2nd division of Zhang Han's temporarily formed division.
In the legion, the 1st division till the 4th division might all look the same, but in terms of rank, they were different. The higher their position, the higher their rank.
The major general of the 1st division would be the person who had the highest chance to become the legion general in the future. Before, Shi Wanshui or Fan Lihua were the candidates.
Now, Zhang Han became the third person.
After all, with Zhang Han's ability, even the position of legion general was possible. At the appropriate time, Zhang Han would be promoted once more.
Apart from that, they would form up two divisions from the prisoners to form the 3rd and 4th divisions of the Leopard Legion.
Fallen general Di Qing would become the major general of the 3rd division.
Di Qing's ability had shone during the Battle of Zhaoqing. In fact, compared to Wei Zhang, he was a little better. However, as a new general, he could only be ranked lower than Wei Zhang.
Under Luo Shixin's charge, there were two young generals, Shao Bu and Sun Chuan Lin were both top-class cavalry generals. During this battle, they had performed excellently.
Sun Chuan Lin was a fierce general, but he was also exceedingly composed. Hence, Ouyang Shuo chose him to take up the position of major general of the 4th division.
After Lin Yi, another major general had developed from local talent.
Coincidentally, be it Lin Yi or Sun Chuan Lin, they had both worked under Luo Shixin. In addition to Shao Bu and Sun Tengjiao, they were the current best four young generals.
Luo Shixin's division was the best cavalry division and the first to pass a division trial. Its position was only lower than that of the Guards Division.
The two cavalry divisions were the two walls of the territory.
Luo Shixin, this young general, had become more and more recognized by Ouyang Shuo. His potential was endless, and he could still improve.
Ouyang Shuo was waiting for the day that Luo Shixin upgraded to emperor rank.