Shen Tang savored the thought.
"The Tianshu Guard, Tianxuan Guard, Tianji Guard, Tianquan Guard, Yuheng Guard, Kaiyang Guard, Yaoguang Guard... Those names sound rather nice." She then lifted a hand and took out another list. It named the generals under her command, along with each one's strength, military achievements, reputation, martial fortune... Shen Tang had turned all the figures into simple charts, making them clear at a glance.
She studied the list in silence for a long while.
Chu Yao sat quietly to one side, waiting.
At last, Shen Tang set the list down. "For now, I'll appoint Chu Jie as Great General of the Tianshu Guard, Gongshu Wu as Great General of the Tianxuan Guard, and Wei Shou as Great General of the Tianji Guard. Bai Su will take the Tianquan Guard, Zhao Feng the Yuheng Guard, Yun Ce and Xianyu Jian the Kaiyang Guard, and Xun Ding the Yaoguang Guard. Each Great General will have two deputies. Let them recommend their own candidates..."
She had thought the matter through carefully.
Yun Ce and Xianyu Jian had shallow roots. They were generals who had risen from the bottom, with no private troops or retainers of their own.
If not for the question marks surrounding their sect and its ties to the Assembly of Gods, she could have treated them as trusted aides and cultivated them without reservation. But caution kept her from letting either command a guard on his own. Still, she could not slight them for that, especially Xianyu Jian. He had followed her longer than almost any other general. She could not let him down. After weighing it all, she decided to put the two senior and junior fellow disciples in the same guard. Neither would object to who served as commander and who as deputy.
Bai