296 – Marshal Ian
The next day, Garça appointed Yang Feng as the imperial general, the rebellion suppression marshal. He was allocated 1 imperial guard corps, 2 city guard corps, and 2 irregular armies transferred from elsewhere, for a total of 100,000 troops, as his direct subordinates.
In addition to the 100,000 troops, Yang Feng could also administer 6 corps from the Tandoo Province, Notice province, and Povei Province, for a total of 120,000 troops, 500,000 local troops from the 3 provinces, and 6 corps transferred from various places, for a total of 120,000 troops.
Like this, Yang Feng had an army of more than 340,000 warriors who could carry out field warfare. If the various auxiliary troops were added into the mix, then he had more than 1 million troops under his control. After he was assigned as the rebellion suppression marshal, he nearly reached the peak of power.
In front of the gate to Yang Feng’s villa, there was almost an endless stream of carriages, with countless people coming to see him everyday.
On the 3rd day, Yang Feng took the 100,000 troops directly under his command to leave for the Tandoo Province.
The news that Yang Feng became the imperial general, the rebellion suppression marshal spread throughout the Morrince Empire. All the major forces in the Morrince Empire knew of Yang Feng’s name by now.
Numerous forces sent their people to collect all the information on Yang Feng, focusing their attention on him.
The Morrince Empire’s southern army, rebellious army headquarters.
“Ian, so it’s him.” A document in hand, André frowned slightly, and Yang Feng’s face appeared in his mind.
André pondered for a moment before asking slowly: “Anzolev, what do you think of Ian?”
Anzolev answered with a light smile: “A great man! Judging from the information obtained so far, Ian not only practices magic and martial dual cultivation, but also has accomplishments in military and political fields. He was able to defeat the hunting fang corps and silver sword corps. His ability to command troops is outstanding and is among the best in the empire. Such a genius is only a little inferior to you, Your Highness.”
André asked with great calmness: “How should we deal with him?”
“Although Ian is very remarkable, but he also has 2 fatal flaws. Firstly, he has no imperial military background, lacking seniority in the imperial army. He’ll find it very difficult to have the 6 corps from the Tandoo Province, Notice Province, and Povei Province and the 6 corps transferred from other places submit to him.”
“Secondly, although Garça is very clever, clever but petty-minded. He is an inherently doubtful person. It is impossible for him to be at ease with Ian, who isn’t really under his control, command 1 million troops. We could send people to the St. Tulan City to start a rumor, stating that Ian wants to stand on his own. After enough repetition, the association will become fact. If we drive a wedge between them, it may prompt Garça to call him back.” Anzolev said orderly.
Full of confidence, André said extremely arrogantly: “Well said. My brother is very clever, too clever for his own good. He doesn’t believe in anyone else but himself. What’s more, there is another point that you hadn’t mentioned. How can those ordinary troops, who hadn’t been bathed in copious amounts of blood, compare to my 100,000-strong frontier army in terms of fighting strength. Even in a direct confrontation, my 100,000 troops can still defeat his 1 million troops.
The 100,000 frontier troops under André’s command were elites tempered through more than a decade of fighting the Desert Empire’s troops, their fighting strength tyrannical. They were the foundation of his rebellion.
In field warfare, there were only a handful of elite frontier armies in the entire Morrince Empire with the strength to compete with the army under André’s control.
André paid the 12 corps from the several provinces no mind.
Anzolev said with a look of adoration on his face: “Your Highness, you are wise!”
André smiled and said: “I’ll send him a gift before he arrives!”
3 days later, André commanded 30,000 cavalrymen to penetrate into the Tandoo Province. With the help of the Wizards accompanying the troops, he easily captured a dozen cities of the Tandoo Province in a row, and then headed toward the Newton City, the provincial capital of the Tandoo Province.
Greatly shocked, the governor of he Tandoo Province sent a dozen blood-written letters to Yang Feng in succession, begging Yang Feng to send troops to support him.
The Notice Province lied behind the Tandoo Province. In the Notice Province, there were 4 main corps as well as 6 corps dispatched from other places, for a total of 10 corps, gathered.
After he received the blood-written letters sent by the governor of the Tandoo Province, Yang Feng took a glimpse at them and then threw them into the trash. He gave the order for the governor of the Tandoo province to protect the Newton City at all cost on one hand, and for the marching speed of the troops to increase on the other hand.
André rampaged all the way through the Tandoo Province, with cities surrendering practically at the first opportunity.
In accordance with Yang Feng’s order, the Governor of Tandoo Province recruited 100,000 new recruits, and together with the 80,000 warriors in Newton City, formed a large army of 180,000 people to defend the Newton City at all cost.
After André’s army reached the Newton City, it carried out a probing attack, which was blocked by the governor of the Tandoo Province.
André immediately stopped the offensive, and then started to dispatch the continuously arriving reinforcements to surround the Newton City.
The outside of the Burgas City, the provincial capital of the Notice Province, had changed into an enormous barracks, with quarters stretching for a dozen kilometers.
Before he reached the barracks, Yang Feng saw 8 sentries standing lazily in front of the barracks. The 8 sentries gathered together and chatted with each other, their vigilance put aside.
Yang Feng’s eyebrows wrinkled slightly, and he performed the spell Stealth. He disappeared and strode into the barracks.
As soon as he entered the barracks, Yang Feng heard the sounds of gambling and sounds of women moaning and men laughing coming from many of the quarters.
As he walked, Yang Feng was frowning more and more, his eyes showing a look of extremely cold killing intent: “This is the army I am to command? No wonder such armies would suffer a crushing defeat against André.”
The Morrince Empire was rotten top to bottom, and so were the armies. Except for the few frontier armies, the rest of the regular armies of the provinces devolved into tools for officers of all ranks to dredge money.
The reason why Yang Feng was able to successively defeat the armies of the Morrince Empire with the tiny force of the Miracle City was that apart from some particular troops, the fighting strength of other armies was lacking.
Yang Feng walked around the barracks and then left.
2 days later, a messenger entered the Burgas City.
Before long, the officials of the Burgas City led by Governor Chiron went 10 kilometers outside the city to wait.
After waiting for about an hour, a huge army extending for a dozen kilometers appeared in front of everyone. The man heading the huge army atop a majestic black horse was Yang Feng.
Riding the majestic black horse and escorted by 3 Sacred Swordsmen, Yang Feng arrived in front of Chiron and company, then dismounted and, with a smile on his face, walked up to Chiron and company.
Chiron carefully looked at Yang Feng for a moment, then took a step forward and saluted him: “Chiron, governor of the Notice Province! Greetings, Marshal Ian!”
The officials of the Notice Province behind Governor Chiron also saluted Yang Feng: “Greetings, Marshal!”
“Hello, I am Ian.” Yang Feng scanned the official who came to greet him with a glance and smiled slightly, saying: “Let’s head back to the city!”
Upon returning to the Burgas City, Chiron held a grand welcome banquet for Yang Feng.
All the important aristocrats of the Burgas City attended the banquet. Numerous beautiful, aristocratic, young ladies surrounded Yang Feng, showering him with attention.
On recommendation from Chiron, Yang Feng got acquainted with Ennio, the commander of the olive leaf corps, Duccio, the commander of the white bear corps, Gian, the commander of the green falcon corps, and Giacomo, the commander of the ironwood corps.
The 4, who were commanders of 4 corps of the Notice Province and Povei Province, took part in welcoming Yang Feng.
As for the other 6 corps commanders, they were dismissive of Yang Feng, they didn’t come to welcome him.
Early the next morning.
The rebellion suppression marshal headquarters.
Sitting in the seat of honor inside the marshal quarters, his face cold, Yang Feng swept Andro with a glance and said lightly: “Sound the drums!”
Andro responded loudly: “Yes! Marshal!”
Impassioned, resounding drums echoed in the barracks.
When they heard the drums, high-ranking officers hurried toward the marshal quarters.
When they entered the marshal quarters, they saw Yang Feng sitting in the seat of honor with a gloomy face, and they kept quiet.
Ennio, Duccio, Gian and Giacomo, the 4 corps commanders arrived at the marshal quarters before the drums stopped producing sound.
When the drums stopped producing sound, only the high-ranking officers of the olive leaf corps, white bear corps, green falcon corps, ironwood corps, as well as the imperial guard corps and city guard corps were present.
The high-ranking officers stared at Yang Feng sitting in the seat of honor with a look of ridicule in the abyss of their eyes.
At such a young age, Yang Feng became an imperial marshal. These high-ranking officers naturally didn’t approve of him. Even though Yang Feng was the master of the Miracle City, who defeated the hunting fang corps and silver sword corps in a row, the high-ranking officers of the Morrince Empire still didn’t take him seriously.
“Sorry, we’re late! Ha-ha, I’m really sorry!” Amid insincere laughter, a burly as a bearm middle-aged high-ranking officer stepped into the marshal quarters. A scornful smile on his face, he looked somewhat provocatively at Yang Feng sitting in the seat of honor.
The middle-aged officer was Julio, the commander of the bear fang corps transferred from another place.