The World Online

In the reading room, the military meeting officially began.

Ouyang Shuo had invited Du Ruhui and Zhao Kuo over because this matter involved the appointment of Zhao Shun.

”The Military Affairs Bureau lacks a position to train soldiers. I want to set up the Training Division to be in charge of the daily training of the soldiers. What do you all think?”

Du Ruhui was the first to speak, ”I agree with what the Monarch’s words. As the military continues to expand, war would not be common and would instead become a rarity. Hence, the daily training of the soldiers would become more and more important, even to say that it affects the combat strength of the entire army. Hence, we need to have a proper organization handling the matter.”

”That’s right. I also suggest that we can put the Training Division in charge of the recruitment and management of reserve forces and start training soldiers from the source.”

Since the two elders of the Military Affairs Bureau had made their stand, naturally no one else would oppose.

Ouyang Shuo smiled, ”Your suggestion is great; let’s do that. As for the position of secretary, I want to put General Gao Shun in charge. However, I do not know if General is willing to take up such a lowly post?”

As he spoke, Ouyang Shuo looked toward Gao Shun.

Gao Shun’s specialty was pretty much born for training troops. Ouyang Shuo could not think of anyone that was a better choice than him for the role.

Everyone present focused their attention onto Gao Shun.

Gao Shun already had a feeling when he walked in, so he was really calm right now. To be able to take up such an important task right away, such treatment was something he had never received when he was under Lu Bu.

The amazing part was, who knows if it was planned or not, but his appointment was given to him before Lu Bu.

Gao Shun noticed Lu Bu’s face twitch. This was a person that did not know how to hide his thoughts. After entering the wilderness and joining Shanhai City, the Lord and official relationship between the two had officially come to an end.

Who knows why, but Gao Shun felt sad because of it.

The Monarch in front of him was truly magnanimous and was not someone normal Lords could compare to.

Gao Shun got up and walked to the center of the hall and bowed, ”Thank you Monarch, I will try my best!” His tone was sincere and solemn.

”Good, then that’s settled.” Ouyang Shuo smiled.

In truth, the main star of this military meeting was Gao Shun. As for Lu Bu and Chen Gong, Ouyang Shuo also had some plans for them. Lu Bu would continue to learn in the Army Military Academy. Once the Battle of Yunnan ended, he should get at least a Legion General position.

Chen Gong would be appointed in the Nanjiang Governor-General House and would be a strategist and advisor below Jia Xu.

When Shanhai City establish their country, the Imperial Court Structure would not have any pure advisors or strategists. They would be appointed by the role and not making roles to appoint people.

Ouyang Shuo had thought about making Chen Gong a military advisor in one of the legion corps. However, the four marshals were all intelligent people, and their mind for strategy was not worse than Chen Gong.

To put Chen Gong there would not achieve much.

The Three Kingdoms was special as Lords fought one another, and it was a really chaotic time. The true establishment of countries and empires only came at the end of the Three Kingdoms Era. Only then did the stage for strategists arrive.

Such a weird occupational ecosystem was rarely seen in other dynasties.

After arranging everything, it was already close to noon.

At 2 PM, Ouyang Shuo once again appeared in the reading room.

The moment he sat down, Black Snake walked in. It seemed like he had been waiting outside the door. In the morning, some officials, including heads of chambers of commerce, had waited in the guest room for three to four hours but did not manage to see the Monarch.

Black Snake went all in, not even leaving during noon. He waited right outside the courtyard.

When he saw Black Snake, Ouyang Shuo laughed helplessly, ”Are you all really trying to keep me here?”

”Lord, please do not be angered!”

Ouyang Shuo waved his hand, ”Speak. What matter do you have?”

”It’s like this. Didn’t the Monarch instruct us to find a guild known as Liangshan Mercenary Group? We have found them and have already arranged for people to infiltrate.” Black Snake replied.

Ouyang Shuo was stunned. His thoughts floated away as he said in an indiscernible manner, ”Really?”

”It was also a huge coincidence. That Mercenary Group is also in the list that applied to move here. Their guild is not too bad, and the Civil Affairs Department had already investigated them. If nothing goes wrong, they should be able to move here.” Black Snake reported another piece of intel.

It seemed like this was the reason why Black Snake wanted to find Ouyang Shuo so hurriedly.

He could not deduce what kind of conflict the Monarch had with this unassuming Mercenary Guild. Logically speaking, one was a Monarch so high up and the other was just a small character.

There should not be anything going on between the two.

As the head of intelligence, Black Snake could feel that there was some secret within, but he did not dare to step in to investigate what it was.

To do so would be courting death.

Not mentioning other matters, solely the commander of the Shanhai Guards, Shen Buhai, was not a simple character. During this period of time, Black Snake felt that there was a pair of eyes quietly staring at their ash courtyard.

They investigated the matter, but they could not find any clues.

Black Snake was sure that the Shanhai Guards were monitoring them. As one of the elites in real life China Mercenary groups, Black Snake was the best at intel gathering and anti-investigating techniques.

He thought that going against the ancient people was just too easy.

Who knew that Shen Buhai would give him such a good lesson?

Modern day intel gathering was more systematic and more logical, but it was not omnipotent. Furthermore, the wilderness did not have the advanced tools of real life, making it far more difficult.

The ancient people’s knowledge was endless, and their experience from investigations was passed down from generation to generation. Such skills would not appear in any document, but they truly existed.

Not mentioning other matters, in terms of developing and controlling spies alone, there was already a whole lot to do.

Generation after generation of accumulation, simply terrifying.

If one underestimated them, one would definitely fall hard.

It was obvious that Black Snake had taken such a loss. From that day on, he became more careful. In the dark, he had also strengthened and modified the Black Snake Guards. He did not want to be suppressed like that by the Shanhai Guards.

It was not a fight for power, more of a fight for some breathing room.

The battle between the two intel organizations was just beginning.

Ouyang Shuo naturally knew all of this as Shen Buhai had reported it to him. The current Shanhai Guards had completed a massive net over the whole territory, covering it completely.

Ouyang Shuo was also extremely glad that the two intel organizations were having such a competition.

...

The report from the Black Snake Guards helped Ouyang Shuo realize that the time to deal with the Liangshan Mercenary Group had already arrived, and it should not be dragged on any longer.

”To what degree has the Black Snake Guards infiltrated the Liangshan Mercenary Group?” Ouyang Shuo asked.

Black Snake replied, ”Liangshan Mercenary Group is only a large-sized guild, and their member count has not even reached the 10 thousand full number. The guild uses a team leader system, and their main profits come from missions or being hired.”

”Apart from guild leader Song Pu, they have two more deputy guild leaders; they are the Yi Zhangqing and Zhang Zi Yue that you have mentioned. Till date, one of the most elite Black Snake Guards, Snake Guard Number 55, has obtained a position of deputy team leader. Apart from that, there are many Snake Guards and Black Guards hiding amongst their elite squads.”

The efficiency of the Black Snake Guards was extremely high; they had reached the core of the Liangshan Mercenary Guild in such a short time.

”What’s the Number 55’s evaluation of the core members?”

Ouyang Shuo wanted to know whether his three brothers and sisters had undergone a huge change in the game. If that happened, he would not know how he should handle it.

”Guild leader Song Pu is a general who is really fair and passionate; he’s really loved and respected in the guild. In the Quanzhou Mercenary Circle, he can be considered to have a little fame.” Black Snake introduced Song Pu’s situation first.

When Ouyang Shuo heard these words, he laughed coldly to himself.

That’s right. In the last life, before that matter, wasn’t Song Pu a good brother? He was exceedingly righteous and took care of members of the guild really well, treating everyone warmly.

Song Pu also treated their families extremely well, taking out a portion of the guild expenses to fund the families. Especially the elderly, he helped them pay their rents.

Hence, in the circle, people often said that although the Liangshan Mercenary Guild was not super strong, it was the most humane mercenary guild.

Using their good name, the mercenary guild was able to accept jobs and barely continue running.

Song Pu was warm, but he did not have any business mind. Moreover, he did not know how to be diplomatic. Consequently, the financial situation of the mercenary guild was not good.

If not, in the last life, Ouyang Shuo would not have had such a tough life even though he was one of three leaders of the guild.

The further the game went on, the more the price of normal goods would be inflated, and house prices would increase. Overall, this would make it difficult for players to live in the imperial cities. Some of the elderly did not have any skill and were just pure casual players.

The imperial city Imperial Courts did not have any welfare for players, so it all depended on the players to solve their problems themselves.

Not mentioning casual players, even combat occupation players were having it tough. Along with the outer regions of the imperial city being explored, the players lost their place to kill monsters and their source of quests.

Now, the most popular quests were the ones given out by the imperial cities. Players would fight tooth and nail for it on every occasion.

In comparison, the lives of work occupation players were much safer.

Under such circumstances, the growth of mercenary guilds was promoted and helping Lords to fight wars was a good idea.

Breaking away from the imperial cities and searching for a new way to survive became the challenge for large guilds.

Ouyang Shuo knew that the Gaia year 4 system update would have something especially targeted at this.