Chapter 515: Chapter 251: The Birth of the Eldest Son_2
According to the strategies, the Chu State naval force will initially be established with 5,000 personnel, expanding to 10,000 the following year, and then increasing by 5,000 per year. After ten years, a naval force of 50,000 personnel will be established.
This naval force of 50,000 will be split into five armies, each commanded by a general. Above these five navies, will be a naval commander to oversee them all.
From this design, the naval force’s standing will be equivalent to the Forbidden Army, both ranking in the military hierarchy directly controlled by the royal court of Chu State.
In a sense, the position of the naval commander is even higher than that of the leaders of the Forbidden Army.
The reason is simple; the navy is divided into five corps, each led by a general. The Chu State’s Forbidden Army also divided into nine armies, each led by a general.
But above the nine armies of the Great Chu’s Forbidden Army, there is no overall commander, and each army directly obeys King Lu Yuan.
There, however, is an overall commander for the navy.
Accordingly, wouldn’t this commander be a person with real power, higher than the leaders of both naval and land armies?
Of course.
Above the Forbidden Army, there is indeed a higher rank of officers, such as Zhou Qing, the Grand General, isn’t there?
But the position of the Grand General is in charge of the military affairs of the whole country, which also includes both the naval and land armies.
In this respect, the position of the naval commander has become the second highest, right after the Great General, in the military sequence of the Great Chu.
‘At this time, my master called me over and discussed this matter, could it be…’
Upon thinking this, Chu Wei’s heart began to pound uncontrollably.
This is the power of the military’s second most important position, the naval commander!
If one were to claim to remain unmoved by this, it would certainly be a lie.
If I were to become the naval commander, wouldn’t I be the second most important figure in master’s door, only second to my senior brother Zhou Qing in terms of status?
The leap in this status is not to be ignored.
At that moment, Lu Yuan also spoke: “As you can see, I want to establish the Great Chu navy. During the standoff with Ning Country last time, our Great Chu suffered due to lack of a navy, which nearly resulted in the country being split in two.
We can afford to take such a big loss only once, and we cannot let it happen again.
You are my disciple, and also a great general of our Great Chu. Your status is naturally different from others, and you should bear more responsibilities.
Therefore, I am planning to assign you the heavy responsibility of building up the navy.
Are you willing?”
With such a great opportunity in front of him, how could Chu Wei refuse?
So after listening to the speech, he immediately knelt and said, “Your Majesty commands, how can I not obey? Master, rest assured, with me here, I will devote myself to building the navy, and won’t let the people of Ning show off their strength in our great river.”
Upon hearing these words, Lu Yuan nodded in satisfaction: “Good, in this case, you will first hold the title of former general and take on the duty of naval commander. Once the navy is formed, and the five armies are well-prepared, I will promote you to the rank of General Wei, in charge of the navy.”
After the establishment of the new dynasty, from the former Changsha country to the present Chu country, the ranking system for both civil and military officials has basically been similar to that of the Pre-Yue.
Leaving aside the civil officials, let’s discuss the military officers.
The first rank is the Grand General, which is a first-grade rank. This is not just a military rank, it’s also a military position, capable of controlling the whole country’s military affairs.
The second rank is the General of Cavalry and Chariots, both of these generals are of the second-grade rank. However, these two generals are just military ranks without specific duties.
But according to precedent, if a “grand” is added in front of the two generals, such as Grand General of the Cavalry, they become almost on par with the Grand General, with equally valid qualifications to manage the country’s military affairs.
Therefore, the second rank of cavalry and chariot generals have always been viewed by the martial artist as highly prestigious positions, second only to the Grand General.
However, these two generals are rarely ever established, even kept vacant, without any appointments.
During the Pre-Yue, only Marquis of Wuan, Bai Mengyang, for his meritorious service, was specially appointed as the Grand General of Cavalry, ranking above General Shen Qiu.
This was the reason why he was able to negotiate various agreements with Lu Yuan on behalf of the royal court when he was in charge of the Xiangyang Military Camp.
Because the position of the Grand General of Cavalry can indeed represent Yue Country.
Below this, is the third rank, divided into five generals: former, latter, left, right, and Wei. The former four generals are all second-grade rank.
These four generals are usually capable and experienced officers at the court who don’t have specific duties in peacetime. They only lead the army to battle on behalf of the country when called upon.
General Wei, on the other hand, has a first-grade rank.
This military rank is even more revered than the four generals and is often referred to as the Deputy Grand General. Like the second rank of cavalry and chariot generals, it is usually vacant.
Among Lu Yuan’s true disciples, aside from Zhou Qing, there are five people, namely Chu Wei, Li Liang, Han Sun, Zhang You, and Zhuang Hua.
Among these five, Chu Wei, Li Liang, Han Shun, and Zhang You, with their merits accumulated over the years, have respectively been appointed as the four generals of former, latter, left, and right.
Among them, Han Shun, with the rank of Left General, serves as the Governor of Xichuan Prefecture, responsible for the military affairs of Xichuan Prefecture.
Zhang You serves as the Governor of Xiangyang Prefecture with the rank of Right General, responsible for the military affairs of Xiangyang Prefecture.
Chu Wei and Li Liang do not hold any specific duties, being only stationed in the capital, waiting for expedition orders.
The last person, Zhuang Hua, due to his late breakthrough to the first rank and a lack of meritorious service, currently only holds the additional title of General Jianwu, serving as Zhijinwu, leading the four thousand Capital Jinwu soldiers, and responsible for security defense in Baling City.
Therefore, if Chu Wei were to be promoted to General Wei, then in terms of rank, he would be a grade higher than the other fellow disciples, other than Zhou Qing.