The Fire Dragon Pass had been taken, and the Divine Might Army, Zhenhai Army, and Xuanjia Army began to reorganize and expand their forces at the formidable pass.
In fact, there was not much to reorganize for the Xuanjia Army and the Zhenhai Army.
In the case of the Zhenhai Army, Lan Hongming managed to get two naval forces ashore, one was Jiang Ming’s unit, and the other was Li Que’s unit.
Turning naval forces into land forces was not that easy, and the fact that Lan Hongming had managed to reorganize two divisions to join the combat sequence on land had already taken quite some effort.
One only needed to look at the previous situation of Jiang Ming and Li Que, who had come to Dantai Ming to find a land army to cooperate with.
Two units of more than fifty thousand men and over a hundred warships were the limit of what Marquis Lan could dispatch.
Any more, and he would have difficulty cramming people in.
Therefore, the reorganization of the Zhenhai Army was just to repair the warships and supplement some naval weaponry, there was no way to expand the forces further.
On the other hand, the Xuanjia Army led by Xia Jing could indeed expand.
The main general of the Xuanjia Army, ’Xiang Kui,’ also known as Marquis Mingwei, could not wait for Xia Jing to ask for more people.
But Heir Xia was rather picky; he did not want ordinary troops.
He only wanted to supplement the Xuanjia Dragon Riders Camp, the Xuan Bing Camp, and additionally establish a Xuanji Warship Camp.
Goodness, he wanted to add three ace camps with just one request, which even made Marquis Mingwei shake his head.
At the scale of these camps, Xia Jing’s face would surpass that of a regular sixth-rank Captain.
Even with the Xuanjia Army’s significant resources, they could not agree to Xia Jing’s demands.
After some bargaining, Xia Jing’s Dragon Rider Camp was increased by a thousand, the Xuan Bing Camp by eight hundred, and five Xuanji Warships were supplemented.
Even with this, the Princely Heir privately complained to Zhao Xing, "Old Xiang is too stingy, giving me just these few nuts and bolts. It’s like nothing has been replenished at all."
Zhao Xing, upon hearing this, felt like hitting someone, "If you despise them so much, why not lend them to your brother to use?"
Xia Jing said with a smile, "How could that be possible? Warships are my lawful wife, Dragon Riders and Mystical Weapons are my concubines; how could I lend my ladies to you?"
"The Princely Heir is powerful, with a household of over eighteen thousand—it’s truly the constitution of a martial artist."
Xia Jing actually just wanted to come over and show off to his brother. Zhao Xing’s emotional value was also full, and saying he was mighty was certainly a compliment.
The expansion of the Zhenhai Army and the Xuanjia Army was nothing but child’s play, with their numbers not increasing by much.
However, the Divine Might Army made a bigger move.
After consecutive battle victories, putting aside other branches of the army, Wen Shaoyang’s and Liao Rulong’s units had made a fortune, with spoils of war being carted back one after another.
Especially after taking Fire Dragon Pass, Fire Crystals, Earth Fire Lotuses, and various Fire Element Treasures became quite valuable assets within the Military Realm.
With more money, they wanted to ’marry’ more.
Liao Rulong immediately replaced his ’old wives’—the fifth-rank lower-grade warships—with all new ones.
He added five fifth-order supreme Dragon Bone Warships.
He increased the number of fifth-rank top-quality Dragon Head Tower Ships to fifteen.
And he acquired thirty fifth-rank mid-grade Ruyi, Black Flood Dragon, Flying Serpent, and Flood Dragon Sparrow warships from the Tiger Flood Dragon Army.
Liao Rulong’s unit originally had over seventy thousand men, but the actual combat-ready units were only about twenty-five thousand, with the rest being arranged in the Supply City.
The size of Wen Shaoyang’s Division was much the same, but his actual fighting units were even fewer, not quite twenty thousand.
Yang An and Jia Pu initially wanted to make a significant investment, doubling their forces to combine Wen Shaoyang’s Division and Liao Rulong’s Unit into one, aiming for a total of a hundred thousand combat-ready troops.
But they postponed this aggressive expansion due to a variety of reasons.
They only arranged for an additional three thousand and five thousand combat personnel for Liao Rulong and Wen Shaoyang’s divisions, respectively.
As for the people in the Supply City, there was still no change.
Mainly because the logistics and supply corps of the Divine Might Army were already very strong, and their supply capacity was well above the necessity.
Moreover, the Zhenhai Army had some excess manpower as well, so in reality, there was no need to increase the logistics staff for all three armies.
"Liao Rulong’s battlefield command capabilities are most suitable around thirty thousand, and over fifty thousand is the limit," Yang An said as he reviewed a map and intelligence reports with Jia Pu in Xier County.
"Wen Shaoyang is slightly better, but not by much—seventy thousand at most. However, his bravery doesn’t match that of Liao Rulong."
"If we further expand their armies, it will become a burden instead," Yang An commented, nodding slightly.
Jia Pu hesitated for a moment before saying, "Marquis, there’s actually another option."
"No," Yang An shook his head, "I know what you’re going to say. But splitting Liao Rulong’s authority right after taking Fire Dragon Pass would be rather disheartening."
"You’re right, Marquis," Jia Pu initially suggested to let Chen Shijie, Long Xiao, and Zhao Xing form independent armies and break away from Liao Rulong’s command.
That would relieve the pressure of command on Liao Rulong, and the Divine Might Army could thus fulfill its intention to expand.
But while reason dictated one thing, reality had to consider people’s feelings.
To disassemble half of the mainstays of Liao Rulong’s Unit right after a victory, and to establish them as independent forces—how would others feel about that?
"Unless Liao Rulong himself proposes it, let’s not make any changes to the current structure for now. Let him get used to it first. As for the rest, try to meet the requirements proposed by the two divisions as much as possible," Yang An said. "Maybe he will grow from this experience."
"Yes," Jia Pu nodded. "Then, how should we arrange for Zhao Xing?"
Zhao Xing had earned a million battle merits, ranking third among all generals at Fire Dragon Pass.
Only behind Wen Shaoyang and Liao Rulong, but both of them were Sixth-rank Captains.
Yet, Zhao Xing’s official rank was still that of a Seventh-rank Nine-section Commander.
Well informed about the frontline battle situation, Jia Pu realized that in many instances it was Zhao Xing issuing orders.
Zhao Xing’s strategic insight was impressive too. It was he who initially analyzed the situation in the Fire Demon Clan war zone in front of Liao Rulong, convincing him of the decisive move to attack Fire Dragon Pass.