"What do you think Li Qingxian meant?" Ouyang Li asked.
"You're asking me?" Gao Tiankuo chuckled.
"Yes. At a time like this, you're the one to ask," Ouyang Li said.
Gao Tiankuo pondered for a moment and said, "I have a good feeling about him."
"You've always judged people accurately. Jiang Youfei's ten thousand are nowhere near enough. Recruit fifty thousand new troops. Set up a recruitment station in Far-Reaching City, and... since the disturbances around the Mud Society have been confirmed to be connected to Li Qingxian, send people there to set up a recruitment station as well."
Gao Tiankuo said, "At this rate, won't our River Guard Army become an army of every household?"
Ouyang Li lightly tapped the table with his index finger. "Find Tang Enhai and tell him he can fake the severing of the tail. Not too many—of those two thousand with the greatest talent, put half into the new army and send the other half to Far-Reaching City."
Gao Tiankuo's expression changed repeatedly before he finally said, "Is that person planning to wipe out the Old Royal Army completely?"
"Tang Jiannan has already sent Jie Anhuai south," Ouyang Li said.
Unused to Ouyang Li addressing the emperor by name, Gao Tiankuo frowned. "What does that have to do with anything? He's only an inspector of the Northern Garrison Army."
"Zhao Yishan has labored over this for many years, and Qi Kingdom has gradually improved. Public sentiment in every province is ten times better than it was years ago. His next step will inevitably be to interfere in military affairs, because every army is like a bottomless pit, devouring the wealth of the entire nation. Once military affairs are put in order and great power rests in his hands, he will surely turn around and