Generals such as Xue Rengui, Qin Qiong and Di Qing all agreed with the plan of taking the initiative and attacking the Wensu Kingdom, so the Zhenxi Army immediately began various preparations before the war.
Sun Hao used the "Brave General Converter" to fill the shortage of more than 30,000 centurion generals in the Zhenxi Army.
At the same time, some garrison troops in various parts of the Zhenxi Protectorate also received orders to assemble.
There are now a total of 208 cities in the Zhenxi Protectorate. In addition to Zhenxi City, there are twelve cities with larger populations, each of which has established a wing army brigade.
Each wing army brigade has at least three wing army camps and at most six wing army camps, and each wing army camp has more than a thousand people.
The remaining cities also set up one or two wing military camps, but the strength of these wing military camps varied, with as many as more than a thousand people and as few as only five or six hundred people.
The total strength of the garrison troops under the jurisdiction of the Zhenxi Protectorate has reached 240,000.
In order to control these 240,000 troops, all officers above the rank of deputy captain in each brigade and camp, including the deputy captain, were centurions from the "annual contract system".
For this expedition to Wensu State and to fight against the third coalition force that followed, Sun Hao planned to assemble 100,000 wing troops to serve as the reserve force of the Zhenxi Army.
The provincial government office in Zhenxi City was originally the residence of a prince of the Gule Kingdom. Although it was much smaller than the royal palace, it also had hundreds of houses.
After Xizhou Mu Dong Zixiao arrived in Zhenxi City, Sun Hao gave this prince's mansion to Dong Zixiao, and it became the provincial government office of Xizhou.
At night, in a hall of the prefectural government office, Xizhou Mu Dong Zixiao handed a piece of paper to Geng Jing, the commander of the Zhenxi Army's left guard, and then said in a deep voice: "The Jinyiwei just delivered the latest news about the war in the southwest.
This time, the rebellion of the Shuman in the southwest was supported by many savage tribes in the Baiwan Mountains, which made the imperial army's suppression of the rebellion very unsuccessful. Even a brigade in Xingwu Town was surrounded and annihilated by the rebels.
The imperial court's attention has now been drawn to the southwest. For the time being, you and I will have to rely on ourselves."
This time, when Prince Yong'an Chen Su went to the southwest to quell the rebellion, he brought a total of 400,000 soldiers from the Five Garrisons, and also assembled 100,000 elite troops from the three protectorates in the southwest, as well as 200,000 garrison troops from the southwestern states.
However, this time, the number of rebels faced by King Yong'an Chen Su exceeded one million, and because they were fighting in the mountainous area, the advantages of Liang's heavy cavalry could not be brought into play, and the combat effectiveness of Liang's heavy infantry in the mountainous area was greatly weakened.
As a result, several months passed and there was no progress in suppressing the rebellion in the southwest.
Geng Jing took the paper from Dong Zixiao, carefully read the contents, and then said expressionlessly, "Mr. Dong, I believe you have heard about the reorganization of the Zhenxi Army into nine guards, right?"
Dong Zixiao nodded and said, "I didn't expect that Sun Hao's military power would expand to such an extent.
I heard that the Zhenxi Army will be reorganized into nine guards, one of which will have a personal guard with a strength of 50,000 soldiers, and the other eight guards will each have 20,000 soldiers.
After reorganization, the total strength of the Zhenxi Army will reach 210,000."
Geng Jing then said, "If we add the garrison troops and camps in each city, the army that Grand Commander Sun can control is at least over 400,000.
It is simply impossible for you and I to check and balance General Sun.
Also, even though I am the commander-in-chief of the Left Guard of the Zhenxi Army, the deputy commanders, generals, deputy generals, lieutenants and deputy lieutenants under me are all from the imperial guards.
But in reality, I've already been sidelined. Most of the captains and deputy captains of the Left Guard, as well as all officers below the rank of captain, are all under Grand Admiral Sun's command. Furthermore, they are all loyal to Grand Admiral Sun, and there's no way to win them over.
Dong Zixiao sighed and said, "I had hoped to bring the military power of the garrison troops in various parts of Xizhou back to the provincial government, but was rejected by Pang Tong, the governor of the Zhenxi Protectorate.
If I can seize control of the military forces in all of Xizhou, perhaps I can make Sun Hao wary. But with only the three thousand guards given to me by Prince Yong'an, how can I possibly check and balance Sun Hao?
"Mr. Dong, in my opinion, we'd better keep a low profile until Prince Yong'an quells the rebellion in the southwest.
From what I know about Grand Commander Sun, he can be described as a ruthless killer. To set up a false camp, he killed over 40,000 captives from the Shaye Kingdom without hesitation."
"General Geng and I have the same idea.
Moreover, the Zhenxi Army is about to go to war with the Western Regions, so at this time, we should prioritize internal stability."
After Geng Jing left, Deputy Driver Cao Hui walked into the hall and said, "Brother Dong, this Geng Jing keeps talking about 'Grand Commander Sun'. It seems he has been corrupted by Sun Hao's beauties and money."
Dong Zixiao sighed and said, "Through the test just now, Geng Jing is indeed unreliable.
There are some things that I cannot let him know from now on."
In fact, today was the first time that Xizhou Mu Dong Zixiao and Zhenxi Army Left Guard Commander Geng Jing met in private.
Originally, Prince Yong'an told Dong Zixiao that after arriving in Xizhou, he could ask Geng Jing for help if he had any problems. However, Dong Zixiao learned from the Jinyiwei that Sun Hao had given Geng Jing a large amount of property and beautiful women, which made Dong Zixiao subconsciously distrust Geng Jing.
"Should I report Geng Jing's affairs to Prince Yong'an?"
"I'll mention it in my letter to Prince Yong'an."
Dong Zixiao then changed the subject, "Now it's probably impossible for us to take back the military power of the various garrison troops in Xizhou from Sun Hao.
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