The Sun Moon Empire's problems went beyond the distribution of troops and equipment. They also showed in its approach to warfare and its day-to-day military training. In truth, the empire's military thinking was still stuck in the old ways: infantry formed ranks on the front lines and fired volleys, artillery stayed behind to provide covering fire, cavalry roamed the field and launched attacks, and the Spirit Master Legion waited for an opportunity to strike at the enemy's weak points or charged at the very front to break through their defenses.
That style of warfare had worked well enough in the past, so naturally the military's everyday training was based on those same rules. Even more outrageous, with few battles to fight and no enemies in sight, many soldiers had even picked up the vices of gambling and heavy drinking!
The National Congress and the military had even turned a blind eye to soldiers farming, doing manual labor, and running businesses! As time went on, some had even forgotten how to shoulder a rifle and shoot at a target!
More absurd still, plenty of officers had begun carving out their own fiefdoms and engaging in corruption within the military! Veterans bullied new recruits, officers oppressed their soldiers, and some people with family connections enlisted simply to coast through the days and pad their résumés. They completed their service without learning a thing, but came out fairer and fatter, with a shiny coat of prestige to boot!
Of course, these were only some of the many other problems plaguing the Sun Moon Empire's military. There was no need to list them all. In response to the host of issues he had identified, Xu Mochen began conducting a thorough investigation and analysis. Under his direction, one new reform plan after another was drafted into a series of books.
Combining Blue Star's military principles with the Sun Moon Empire's current circumstances, Xu Mochen put together a comprehensive plan. In a month or so, he would be able to formally present it to the empire's officers and begin a new round of reforms in the Sun Moon Empire's military.
In the blink of an eye, three months had passed since Xu Mochen's arrival on the Sun Moon Continent, and he had not spent that time idly. Besides raising his cultivation to level twelve, he had also thrown himself into pushing forward the empire's antitrust law. With his vigorous lobbying and the help of Ye Xingyun and the others, the law had finally taken effect after he exposed and purged some of the hidden forces obstructing it, making an example of them to frighten the rest. Its implementation remained slow, but it had begun to show results.
Numerous monopoly alliances and businesses had been forced to give up some of their profits to withstand pressure from above and public outcry from below. Meanwhile, construction of the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Guidance Steam Engine factories had been completed, and they were ready for mass production. Various products derived from the Soul Guidance Steam Engine had also been completed and were ready to go into production.
Xu Mochen therefore decided that once he had finished drafting his military reform strategy and secured approval at a meeting of the Sun Moon Empire's General Staff, he would formally unveil his Soul Guidance Steam Engine products to the whole continent at the nation's annual development report and review meeting.
If he could successfully persuade the senior political and military officials of the Sun Moon Empire at the meeting, his next step would be to submit a proposal to the National Congress, pushing full steam ahead with the empire's Soul Guidance industrial revolution and military expansion!
The first matter was military reform. Xu Mochen had spent nearly three months preparing for it. Now he needed to win the General Staff members' approval and support, then work with the senior officers to finalize the plan.
So at that day's General Staff meeting, Xu Mochen planned to point out the problems and shortcomings in the military and present his reform proposal. Before that, however, he needed to make some arrangements according to plan. He was certain his scheme would give the scoundrels in the military a very big "surprise"!
Three hours later, at the Sun Moon Empire Royal Military Headquarters:
In the spacious war room, Xu Mochen sat at the far end of the long table as the Sun Moon Empire's de facto commander-in-chief of all three branches of the military. Seated to either side of him were Xu Yuanding, the empire's deputy commander-in-chief, along with the chief of the General Staff, the chief of equipment, the chief of logistics, and the commanders of the army and navy, among other senior officers.
"I've invited you all here to review and reflect on the various problems currently facing the Sun Moon Empire's military." Xu Mochen did not immediately present his reform proposal. Instead, he began with a brief appraisal of the military's current condition.
"First, the Sun Moon Empire currently has around eight hundred thousand active-duty soldiers and around one million six hundred thousand reservists. The empire's regional military deployments divide them among nine military districts. This is far too fragmented and makes it difficult to direct combat operations. It is unsuited to the Sun Moon Empire's current circumstances, and it has also led to an excess of redundant officials."
"So I plan to reorganize the distribution of our forces and replace the nine existing military districts with five theater commands. The Central Theater Command will consist of the Ming Capital Special Administrative Region and the eight surrounding provinces, while each of the eastern, southern, western, and northern theater commands will consist of seven provinces. The specific allocations are as follows..."
Xu Mochen patiently explained his proposed distribution to the officers present. Their reactions varied. Officers like Xu Yuanding listened intently and occasionally raised an objection or two, but agreed with most of Xu Mochen's ideas.
Some officers paid little attention at first to the words of a six-year-old crown prince. They had heard of his talent in politics, economics, and cultivation, but they simply could not believe Xu Mochen had any real aptitude for military affairs.
As Xu Mochen's explanations and deployments grew more detailed, however, they gradually stopped looking down on him and began listening seriously to the six-year-old crown prince's plans. Of course, a few still remained distracted from beginning to end, even wearing expressions of open disdain. Xu Mochen noticed, but did not immediately erupt at them.
"This division is quite good. It will not only greatly reduce military spending, but also improve communication and coordination between the local authorities and the central government on military matters," Xu Yuanding praised. Yet a hint of worry still lingered in his heart.
As the empire's deputy commander-in-chief, Xu Yuanding knew full well that carrying out this plan would mean dismissing a number of redundant local officers and generals. That was bound to offend a large number of vested interests! Still, thinking of the careful plan he and Xu Mochen had drawn up together put him somewhat at ease.
"Hold on, Your Highness. I have a question." At that moment, Li Fengduo, commander of the empire's Internal Guard, stepped forward, then asked skeptically, "The division into nine military districts has been the Sun Moon Empire's unchanging military policy for a thousand years. It has never caused any problems in all that time. Now, Your Highness suddenly wants to make such a drastic change on a whim. Surely that is unwise?"
"If something goes wrong, who will take responsibility? What's more, once this plan is implemented, many elite soldiers and capable officers will lose their jobs. How does Your Highness plan to arrange things for them?"
Hearing this, Xu Mochen sneered inwardly. Xu Yuanding, meanwhile, shook his head silently and mourned the man in his heart for a moment. He had not been surprised in the slightest that Li Fengduo would speak up to oppose the plan.
In truth, Li Fengduo represented the Li family, a clan scarcely weaker than the empire's Ten Great Families. The Li family had served in the military for generations and had once fought alongside the emperors of the Sun Moon Empire on their eastern and western campaigns, winning glorious victories. But by now, many of its descendants had settled into a life of loafing around, eating their fill, and waiting to die.
With the Li family patriarch Li Fengduo's title as commander of the Internal Guard, plenty of family members had used their connections to obtain diplomas from the Royal Army Academy, then gone on to secure high-ranking posts in the Internal Guard. Once in the military, they made connections, swore brotherhood with one another, and sank into corruption as easily as fish took to water.
Even when other officers witnessed it, they either tried to stop it and report it, only to be targeted and dealt with in turn, or pretended not to see, and sometimes even joined in! This sort of thing was commonplace throughout the military!
It was clear that while the Sun Moon Empire's economy, technology, industry, and commerce were flourishing, its military was growing more and more rotten. That was something Xu Mochen absolutely could not tolerate.
"Which of you share Commander Li's opinion?" To everyone's surprise, Xu Mochen did not fly into a rage. He merely furrowed his brow slightly as he asked.
"I oppose it too. This plan needs more discussion."
"I'm against it as well. I hope Your Highness will reconsider."
"Opposed..."
"..."
Many other senior officers who were in cahoots with Commander Li heard this and naively assumed that the six-year-old child was frightened and ready to compromise with them. They promptly began shouting their objections. The result was astonishing: more than two-thirds of the senior officers stood up against the plan.
Xu Yuanding paid no mind to the cawing of those crows. Instead, he turned his gaze slightly toward Xu Mochen. A few days before the meeting began, Xu Mochen had already confided his plans to him. As the military's second-in-command, Xu Yuanding was utterly loyal to the empire and deeply disgusted by the way these parasites behaved.
Unfortunately, he did not have the authority to carry out a sweeping purge of these senior officers within the military. Besides, the Sun Moon Empire truly had not faced a foreign enemy in a long time. Acting rashly could provoke an uncontrollable situation, so Xu Yuanding had been forced to turn a blind eye.
But the crown prince had been preparing for this day for a long time. All that remained was to wait for the right opportunity. Judging by the amused smile on Xu Mochen's face now, those men were in for a truly miserable fate.
Sure enough, Xu Mochen glanced around the room. Rather than scrambling to compromise and back down as everyone had expected, he calmly instructed Xu Yuanding, "Everyone who just stood up—every last one of them. Bring out the 'good deeds' I found on them and let us have a look."
At that moment, Xu Yuanding felt an immense surge of satisfaction. He immediately took a heap of intelligence reports from his Storage Soul Tool—reports that he and Xu Mochen had prepared well in advance—and loudly read out all the evidence they had gathered against the men. The accusations ranged from embezzlement, collusion with local officials and powerful clans to oppress the people, and forming cliques and inciting public disorder, all the way to drunkenness, gambling, rape, and robbery...
The reports were so detailed that they even specified the exact dates, where the witnesses and material evidence could be found, the names of the ringleaders, and the number of people involved! Everyone present broke into a cold sweat in an instant!
As for how Xu Mochen had gathered so much detailed intelligence, many senior officers immediately thought of a name that struck terror into their hearts: the Shadow Guard! It seemed the crown prince had been preparing for this not just for a day or two, but had come ready for the fight!
"You all heard that, didn't you?" Xu Mochen gave a chilling smile. Though his face was young, a glint of cold light in his eyes made everyone present shudder. He did not waste any more time. With a wave of his small hand, he barked, "The evidence is conclusive! Deal with them according to military law! Shadow Guard, Military Police, take every person implicated into custody!"
His voice had barely fallen when the war room doors burst open. A few Shadow Guard agents and Military Police elites led by Mo Wuying rushed inside. Xu Yuanding immediately flashed to Xu Mochen's side and released his Martial Soul. These officers were all formidable cultivators, at least level fifty or sixty. Xu Yuanding dared not risk letting them turn desperate and fight back.
To be safe, he immediately revealed his Soul Rings. As the nine rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black—lit up, the pressure of a level ninety-six powerhouse bore down on the officers with treacherous intentions!
As a terrifying golden-red sun appeared behind Xu Yuanding, the officers who had still been considering resistance were crushed beneath that dreadful pressure until they could barely breathe. They had no choice but to give up and meekly become captives of the Shadow Guard and the Military Police.
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