After secretly concluding a one-year peace agreement with the Western Xinjiang States, the only remaining lone army of the Shengtang Dynasty west of Zijin Pass, the Zhenjiang Army Metasequoia Military Mansion, really began to enter a period of rapid development.

At this time, the 36 countries in western Xinjiang had gradually recovered from the haze of war.

Although the Silk Road trade route to the Central Plains was still closed due to the blockade of the Turks, mutual trade in the Gui Desert of Western Xinjiang slowly resumed as the fighting subsided in various places. Coupled with the mediation of the Persian merchant mission, the merchants of the Western Continent also came here one after another.

The vitality of the economy has reappeared in this vast land.

At the same time, the map of political forces in western Xinjiang has also been basically demarcated. Because Loulan and Shule took the lead in launching a rebellion, it was tantamount to seizing the opportunity, and they had strong military support in their hands, so they each either coerced or co-opted seven or eight subordinate vassal states, and their spheres of influence were extremely large.

Although Che Chiguo and four or five other countries in Western Xinjiang that were weaker in strength could not be compared with Loulan Shule, they also tried their best to form gangs and factions and continue to expand and consolidate their territory.

After nearly a year of fighting for partition, the ghost desert in Western Xinjiang was finally controlled by the seven most powerful military vassal states, and the remaining twenty-nine countries could only choose to stand in line, follow the wings of the big guys, and live carefully.

The Turkic Empire, on the other hand, focused its efforts on the direction of Zijin Pass and Shengyu Pass. The Turkic Temple Prince Ronia personally sat in the northern and southern camps, commanding an army of 100,000 to prevent the Holy Tang from sending troops to counterattack the western frontier.

Comparatively speaking, their control over the hinterland of Western Xinjiang is very lax, relying only on the influence of Duolun's scattered patrols.

This is also the strategy set by Khan Ashina. He warned his subordinates that at this stage, they should not overstimulate the Western Frontier Domain, which was extremely sensitive to this, because of their nominal ruling power, so that it would affect his future plans. At present, it is still necessary to seize the wealth and resources of Western Xinjiang as much as possible through covert means to supplement the national strength and military strength of the Turks. As for the political aspect, there is no need for much action, and there is no need to make any big moves.

Under the deliberate restraint of Ashina Zhijin and Ronia, Gune and others, the Turkic Empire maintained a relatively friendly and equal relationship with the Western Frontier Alliance, although everyone could see the Turkic ambitions for the Western Frontier Ghost Desert, but as long as they did not go too far, they might as well live in harmony.

It can be said that this is a rare period of stability in Western Xinjiang after more than a year of rebellion and war. The forces that had previously been involved in the chaos are now seizing the time to recuperate, recuperate, and recuperate, and prepare for new challenges that may arise at any time.

Such a situation also happened to give Li Jiangyao the opportunity for them to develop and grow.

Hundreds of Shengtang officials were added to various towns and cities, and soon played an unimaginable role.

They are all officials stationed in Western Xinjiang who have been trained by the Shengtang Dynasty for many years, and they are not only proficient in various government affairs, but also familiar with the local people's conditions, and they also have the strong support of the Zhenjiang Army behind them, so it didn't take long to rebuild a complete set of Shengtang version of the town governance system, and the area under the jurisdiction of the Metasequoia Military Government was well organized and thriving.

In particular, Xie Tanzhi shined in the process of governance and construction.

Originally, Li Jiangyao arranged for him to temporarily assist Ma Mu and Situ Wushou, but later, it turned out that Ma Mu and Situ Wushou revolved around him all day long, asking about this, asking for advice, and obeying orders. In the end, Li Jiangyao simply appointed Xie Tanzhi as the chief secretary of the Metasequoia Military Government, with full responsibility for all administrative affairs in the jurisdiction.

Xie Tanzhi took office and immediately began to vigorously promote commercial trade, so that the businessmen in the jurisdiction were brave enough to go out and do business with various feudal states. Only when the trade routes are completely opened up will agriculture, animal husbandry and handicrafts have vitality. Because the secret peace agreement eliminated the military risks and threats, this policy of "business for prosperity" also went very smoothly.

People's livelihood is stable and all industries are thriving.

Against the background of the gradual improvement of government affairs and the economy, Li Jiangyao and other generals can also devote more energy to army building.

Through a round of large-scale conscription, the Metasequoia Military Government, which originally numbered more than 20,000 people, rapidly expanded to 60,000.

When the new recruits arrived, Li Jiangyao immediately ordered that the original organizational structure be dismantled and that the soldiers and horses, which had been officially named the "Zhenjiang Army," be reorganized.

First of all, he recalled all the main forces back to Metasequoia and formed three armies to form a fist force, which served as the core of the military government and specialized in dealing with strategic battles. The task of defending the towns and cities was entrusted to the local garrisons.

Of the three newly formed armies, the first army was a pure cavalry unit, with a full 10,000 well-equipped ironclad heavy cavalry, nicknamed "Hurricane". The main general is Xu Youchang, deputy commander of the military government, and the two deputy generals are Wang Chenglong and Sun Jianzhong, officers of the former forward battalion of the Xuanjia Army.

The Storm Cavalry Army is the core force that will attack the enemy in future battles, and shoulders the heavy task of deciding the outcome of the first battle.

The second army was pure infantry, with a strength of up to 20,000 people, called "Agni", and was built according to the standard of the "Jianshu Battalion" of the Zhenjiang Protectorate. The whole army has a complete range of arms and rich combat experience. The commander of the army is Du Jian, and the deputy general is Shanshan veteran Paletahun.

The Agni Infantry Army, which is mainly engaged in positional warfare, siege warfare and defensive warfare, can be called the "backbone" of the Zhenjiang Army.

The Third Army had 10,000 horses, and was arranged in a mixed column of infantry and cavalry, with the number "Thunder". Nanhua County Lord Huo Liya served as the chief general of the Third Army, and Lin Feng assisted her in command as a deputy general. Their main task is to serve as a reserve for the whole army, to supplement and support fraternal units in all directions.

Li Jiangyao's direct personal soldiers, the famous ghost-faced white-robed army, were carefully selected from the whole army, and they were also expanded to 5,000 troops and organized as the "commander's battalion." At the same time, there were two independent brigades in the commander's camp. One of them is to select the elite from the elite and form a take-off horse scout brigade, which is specially responsible for detecting the enemy situation for the whole army and raiding important enemy targets. The other is the Military Law Brigade, which supervises the military discipline of the whole army and punishes those soldiers who resist the law and violate the ban.

Regarding the establishment of the army, the little prince of the Shenhua family, Kuliban, originally wanted to incorporate his tribal guard into the Zhenjiang Army, but Li Jiangyao did not agree. After all, that armed force is the soldiers and horses of the Shenhua family who are responsible for protecting the safety of the prince in the process of raising the system, and it involves the foundation of the Shenhua family. Now it is inappropriate to include it in the Holy Tang Army.

After Li Jiangyao's analysis and persuasion, Ku Li reluctantly agreed, temporarily allowing his 10,000 Shenhua Army to hide outside the sphere of influence in Zhenjiang, and secretly cooperate with Li Jiangyao's actions. However, he also put forward an additional condition, asking Li Jiangyao to send an officer of the Zhenjiang Army to serve as the deputy commander of the Shenhua Soldiers and Horses, and to help the commander-in-chief Montenegro carry out daily military training and combat operations.

With the participation of Zhenjiang officers, both the standard of training and the coordination of operations will become very smooth.

Li Jiangyao thought about it, so he chose a young officer named Zhao Yulong from among the veterans of the original Pegasus Scout Camp to join the Shenhua Army on his behalf.

At this point, the Zhenjiang Army, which belonged to the Holy Tang Dynasty but had not been certified by the imperial court, officially set up its own complete structure. Among them, the number of Shengtang soldiers and local soldiers in Western Xinjiang maintained a ratio of one to three, which was unique in the history of the Shengtang army.

In addition to the action of reorganizing the troops, Li Jiangyao and Xu Youchang, the two issues that they were most worried about before, intelligence and supply, have also been fundamentally improved at present.

With Xie Tanzhi's advice and help, Situ Wushou carefully designed and weaved an intelligence network covering almost the entire ghost desert in Western Xinjiang. As Situ Wushou's right-hand men, Samar and Yudra of the Shenhua family used the Shenhua vein to collect and sort out all kinds of news for the Zhenjiang army, and constantly infiltrated the core figures of the enemy, known as Metasequoia's clairvoyance and shunfeng ear.

Ma Mu was appointed as the chief quartermaster of the whole army, and according to Li Jiangyao's idea, he built a large strategic reserve warehouse in the core area of the area under his jurisdiction, and hoarded a large amount of grain, grass and equipment collected from all over the place. At the same time, the quartermasters under his command also went to various strategic places outside the jurisdiction, or hilly and mountainous areas, or oases next door, or nameless towns, to secretly set up hidden supply relay stations, so as to lay the logistics foundation for the future combat operations of the army.

In addition, Li Jiangyao also had the ingenuity to establish a "Zhenjiang Military Academy".

He personally served as the principal of the military academy, Xu Youchang served as the chief teacher, and Lin Feng, Du Jian, and a large number of officers of the Zhenjiang Army and the Xuanjia Army all served as instructors in the military academy. In the classes of military academies, everything is taught, from astronomy to geography, from military training on the left to fighting wars on the right. In addition to the traditional two major categories of infantry and cavalry, Li Jiangyao has pioneered the establishment of multi-service specialties, including the quartermaster department, the ordnance department, the military intelligence department, and the ordnance department, to provide the army with all kinds of professional talents.

During that period, every night after dinner, there would always be a large group of rude men, carrying small benches, sitting side by side, listening attentively and carefully to the lecturers on the stage, imparting new knowledge that they had never heard of or thought of.

This Zhenjiang Military Academy in Metasequoia City, with reference to the experience of the imperial capital Yanwutang and modern military academies, takes the training of a large number of outstanding middle and lower-level officers as its important mission, and lays the strongest foundation for the Zhenjiang Army.

In the following decades, there was a powerful faction in the Shengtang military that played a pivotal role in the government and the opposition, that is, the well-known Zhenjiang military system. And many of the highly decorated generals in this faction were young people who studied diligently in this military academy at the beginning.