Chapter 356 The New Legion

That day, Gao Yuan was so excited he got drunk, passed out, and was eventually carried back to Zhao Xiyao's bedchamber by seven or eight Female Soldiers.

It couldn't be helped; how could one not be happy about gaining such a formidable army out of thin air? This meant his pace toward unifying the world could accelerate.

However, when Gao Yuan woke up the next day, he began to worry again. What title should he give this army?

Should he call it the Second Beiwei Army? That certainly wouldn't be appropriate.

Call it the Yue Family Army? That was even more impossible; what would others think of him?

After racking his brain and failing to come up with a solution, Gao Yuan had no choice but to helplessly ask his brilliant wife for advice.

Hearing that Gao Yuan had actually been fretting over this for ages, Yang Xin laughed until she shook on the bed.

"My dear husband, since you've decided to let Gao Xianzhi lead the Western Expedition, why not form a new corps with the First Division as the core, and then reorganize Yue Fei's army into the First Division?"

Gao Yuan had an epiphany and couldn't help but plant a firm kiss on Yang Xin's face.

"You truly are my brilliant, cunning wife."

Yang Xin couldn't help but roll her beautiful eyes and gave Gao Yuan a punch with her small, pink fist.

The next day, Gao Yuan issued the orders: Yue Fei would take over as the chief clerk of the Central Corps and Division Commander of the First Division of the Beiwei Army, with Yue Yun as the deputy commander. They were to recruit new soldiers to expand to ten thousand men, and he ordered them to spare no effort in imitating the three-layered heavy armor.

The three thousand armored Cavalry were named the Iron Pagoda, commanded by Yang Zaixing, and would report directly to the Central Corps—which meant under Gao Yuan's command.

The Anxi Corps would be formed with the original First Division of the Beiwei Army and the Xiaoguo Army as the backbone. Gao Yuan would remotely hold the title of Corps Commander, with Gao Xianzhi as chief clerk. The organizational structure was tentatively set at four infantry divisions and three Cavalry divisions, with each division consisting of ten thousand men.

Aside from selecting a portion of the personnel for the Anxi Corps from the various Xuanjia Army units, another portion would be drawn from the existing Central Corps.

After all, this was an army that would be out of his sight for a long time, and Gao Yuan wasn't comfortable with recruiting entirely new soldiers. Although Gao Xianzhi was a system-recruited character whose loyalty was unquestionable.

However, the Division Commanders and Brigade Commanders below him were all locals; who knew if there were any with ulterior motives among them?

These Beiwei Army and Xuanjia Army soldiers had at least been raised and supported by him for a long time, so their level of loyalty would be much better.

One cannot be without a defensive heart against others.

Speaking of which, Gao Yuan finally understood why those ancient emperors were always worrying about this person or that person rebelling. After all, you never know what's in a person's heart, and you never know if your subordinates might grow too powerful to control.

Currently, most of those serving as Corps Commanders were the die-hard talents he had summoned, so Gao Yuan often rotated the soldiers beneath them.

However, once he pacified the world, Gao Yuan planned to rearrange everyone under his command, especially capable local talents like Gao Yang, whom he wanted to keep under his watchful eye.

This was the same for those summoned by the system; even if their loyalty wasn't an issue, he still had to worry about raising arrogant, pampered individuals like Oboi or Nian Gengyao.

Historically, Oboi and Nian Gengyao never had thoughts or actions of rebellion, but their arrogance and the fact that they became too powerful to control made them a major obstacle to the emperor's governance.

Zhao Meng hadn't expected that he was originally just a temp, but he had suddenly become a long-term employee. He submitted several memorials stating he didn't want to be some powerful regional official and only wished to stay by Gao Yuan's side.

Gao Yuan knew that Zhao Meng wasn't cut out to be a powerful regional official, but he still assigned him to the Anxi Corps. For this reason, he even wrote a special letter to Zhao Meng explaining his thoughts.

"You are one of the people around me who understands Cavalry the best. The Anxi Corps needs you to lead the Cavalry on its expedition, and at the same time, I need you to keep an eye on the Anxi Corps to prevent any trouble from arising."

Of course, the second half of that was pure nonsense, but it made Zhao Meng feel the weight of that trust, so he settled down there with peace of mind.

This year's autumn harvest was another bumper crop. The high-quality wheat brought from later generations, as well as potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes, had also begun to be sown in the fertile Guanzhong Plain. It was foreseeable that the grain production would reach a new level.

Coupled with having a new, powerful army and super commanders capable of taking charge and leading the three armies, and furthermore having absolute control over the initiative of the campaign, Gao Yuan's restless heart began to stir once again.

During the last attack on Guanzhong, the cannons had already demonstrated their immense power at Mei County, and Gao Yuan was becoming increasingly confident in siege warfare.

No matter how solid the city defenses were, after a barrage of cannon fire and an attack coordinated with siege equipment, nine times out of ten, a city could be taken. If it really didn't work, he would just fight for a couple more days.

It would absolutely not result in a situation where a city was besieged for thirty-six years, causing the emperor to die without ever capturing it.

After witnessing the power of the cannons with his own eyes, Yue Fei agreed with Gao Yuan's proposal with both hands, though there was still some dispute regarding the choice of the direction of the attack.

Yue Fei proposed taking advantage of the fact that Northern Liang had just suffered heavy losses to move from west to east, exit Tong Pass, first break through Hangu Pass to attack the Henan region, and destroy Northern Liang first, then Northern Yan.

Gao Yao and Yu Qian, on the other hand, proposed moving north from Jiangnan, utilizing the navy's advantage of attacking by surprise, to first occupy Shandong and destroy Northern Yan, and then attack Hebei and Henan from east to west.

Generally speaking, there wasn't much difference between the two plans. However, the main naval force was currently under the command of Cao Xing, stirring up trouble in the islands, and only Jiang Qin remained in Da Qian with less than two hundred warships and twenty thousand soldiers.

These warships and soldiers also had the heavy responsibility of guarding Taiwan and Weng Prefecture, and helping the Maritime Trade Office collect taxes, so they simply couldn't be spared.

Therefore, looking at the current situation, the only option Gao Yuan had was Yue Fei's plan: to start by taking care of his own cheap father and two cheap brothers.

Having made up his mind, Gao Yuan took advantage of the fact that there were still two or three days before the New Year to pull Yue Fei, Gao Yao, and Yu Qian together to discuss some specific matters.

The advantage of having three awesome subordinates was that as long as Gao Yuan set the general direction, the rest was up to the three of them to execute, and he only needed to give the final approval.

While Gao Yuan was happily welcoming the harvest and planning new combat strategies, Luoyang City was shrouded in gloom, with the air pressure so low that it was suffocating.

Especially in the Eastern Palace where Crown Prince Gao Long resided, the Eunuchs and maids were all extremely cautious, not daring to speak loudly for fear of angering the Crown Prince and losing their lives for no reason.

Returning from his crushing defeat, Gao Long did not encounter the interrogation or infighting he had imagined. That day, Gao Wu even just stared at him for a while before letting him go back to rest.

However, it was what happened afterward that worried Gao Long. The Longxiang Army was disbanded, and the remaining two thousand-plus remnants were all incorporated into the newly formed Yulin Guard, all placed under the command of Cai Jing.

This meant that on the path of competing with Gao Hu, he had lost his greatest trump card.

What made him even more restless was that Gao Wu ordered Gao Bing to take over the defense of the Hebei region and summoned Gao Hu back to Luoyang to participate in daily state affairs.

As a Crown Prince, not only did he have no military power in his hands, but even the core political power had been halved; how could he not panic in such a situation?

He could already foresee that in the near future, his father would depose him and replace him with Gao Hu as Crown Prince, and what awaited him was the fate of his entire family being wiped out.

But who could have imagined that just when he was terrified and living in constant fear, someone suddenly arrived at the Eastern Palace, and upon meeting him, immediately said, "Your Highness, are you really prepared to sit and wait for death?"