A few days later, Shang Ji held a grand ceremony for the expedition in Jinjin, giving double heavy rewards in terms of honor and material, and also commemorating the members of the expedition who were killed.

After the celebration ceremony, Zhang Yue began to prepare for the next expedition non-stop.

The expedition team brought back basic hydrological and astronomical data, but these data were still very imperfect and not enough to support the voyage of the Pingzhou Navy. And Zhang Yue himself is obviously not satisfied with this level of attempt, he can't wait to start a second voyage.

Of course, there is also a secret mission - to find the Sea Clan and establish a stable communication mechanism with them.

It will take some time for Zhang Yue's second expedition fleet to set off, and it will take time to re-recruit personnel, rush to produce new expedition ships, and prepare materials.

Especially in terms of personnel, it is impossible to rush.

There were nearly 3,000 people who set off with Zhang Yue at the earliest, but only 600 people returned after returning, and the mortality rate exceeded 80 percent!

Not everyone is eager to fight the thrill and excitement of the wind and waves, and the members of the expedition who successfully returned basically received rich material rewards, and in this case, only a small number of the original expedition members were willing to accompany Zhang Yue to sail again.

There is a large shortage of personnel, and new recruits must also undergo rigorous training, otherwise it is difficult to ensure that they can adapt to the difficult conditions of the voyage.

Fortunately, this group of successful return expedition members played a role in buying horse bones, and countless people who were eager for fame and fortune enthusiastically signed up, so that Zhang Yue was qualified to choose slowly.

Shang Ji also knew that this kind of thing was not in a hurry, so he could only follow the steps and let Zhang Yue come step by step, and the only thing Shang Ji could do was to provide strong support in terms of funds and technology.

He didn't have high expectations, and within three years he could find a stable route for a large fleet to travel safely, and as for the search for the Sea Clan, he would do his best to obey the fate of heaven.

The matter of exploring the waterway was entrusted to Zhang Yue to preside, and Shang Ji led people out of Jinjin.

It is now long past the original January period, except for the 19th to 246th regiments, which have not moved for the time being, the other 18 combat regiments have all been adjusted and are ready to wait for the Shang Ji to review and present the flag.

On the third day after Shang Ji returned to Xiangping, after intense preparations, the grand review and flag awarding ceremony officially began.

The place where the flag was awarded was the large square in front of the Yanhuang Temple, which has been upgraded from an ordinary square to a special building with special attributes after emergency construction and transformation.

The effect of the building is to improve the people's heart, taxation, and public security, and can slowly improve the centripetal force and cohesion of the city, and there is a higher probability of stimulating the rebels to help in the battle when encountering foreign invasions.

While the increase in each feature is not much, it is better to continue on a wide range. The square is extremely large, with a length and width of more than 1,000 feet, and can easily accommodate millions of people at the same time.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, the grand flag presentation ceremony officially began.

At this time, in addition to the passage used by the central for review, both sides are full of Xiangping people, such a good opportunity, Shang Ji will not waste it in vain, he has long issued an order to organize the people of Xiangping and other regional representatives to come to watch the ceremony, especially the tribal leaders of the grassland capital and the "social elites" of Chenzhou, and tens of thousands of people have been invited!

Flags are awarded not only to eighteen combat legions, but also to six unadjusted legions, as well as the Praetorian Legion, Marine Corps, Manipulator Legion, and Strategic Caster Legion. In addition, today it is necessary to award supervision flags to the inspection generals of the eight county military supervision areas, and the number of military flags that need to be awarded is as high as more than 30.

Due to space limitations, the number of other armies attending the flag ceremony was only one-tenth of the size of the legion, that is, between 2 and 30,000, except for the Strategic Spellcaster Legion and the Eight Supervision Districts.

More than 20,000 people formed a representative, marched in battle formation, until they stopped after marching to the front of the viewing platform, Shang Ji personally presented the flag, the corps commander received the military flag on behalf of the legion, and then swore allegiance, and left the scene after a set of procedures, leaving the stage for the next legion that needed to be flag-awarded.

Because Liu Yi was also the commander of the First Combat Corps, he needed to accept the military flag on behalf of the legion, so he could not serve as the host, and the heavy responsibility of presiding over the flag awarding ceremony finally fell on the head of Xi Zhicai.

No nonsense, after a short opening remarks, the flag presentation ceremony officially began!

The first to receive the flag was undoubtedly the Praetorian Guard.

As soon as the Praetorian Guard appeared, the atmosphere of the flag presentation ceremony was pushed to the peak.

Due to the limited number of appearances, only 30,000 people from the Praetorian Guard Legion came out, and for the Praetorian Legion, a super group with 40,000 ninth-order soldiers, there were about 10,000 ninth-order soldiers who did not have the opportunity to appear at the flag presentation ceremony.

This is simply unimaginable for other forces, and when most of the forces today smash pots and sell iron, they can't make up 10,000 ninth-order formed armies!

Affected by the appearance of the Praetorian Guard, the originally noisy and lively square fell silent at a rapid speed, and everyone held their breath, as if they were not careful, they would be overwhelmed by the overwhelming murderous aura.

Within a few minutes of the Praetorian Legion's march, everyone was silent, and it wasn't until the Praetorian Legion arrived in front of the review stand and could restrain its murderous aura that the crowd reacted from the shock!

Two seconds later, a tidal wave of cheers exploded, and the main square became a sea of cheers.

"This is our army in Pingzhou!"

At this moment, the minds of millions of Pingzhou people are occupied by this thought, proud, proud, excited, and joyful...... Many complex emotions filled the heart, and finally turned into a shout to vent out.

Standing on the review stand, looking at the hundred battles of the heroes under the stage, Shang Ji also suddenly rose with a sense of pride - this is his army, it belongs to him completely, and it is a powerful army that he has built up bit by bit!

Xi Zhicai was also infected by the frenzied atmosphere around him, his voice involuntarily became three points louder, and he said loudly: "Below, the representatives of the Praetorian Legion, General Huwei and General Dian Weidian came to the stage to accept the flag from the lord!" ”

Shang Ji actually served as the commander of the Praetorian Legion, and it was impossible for him to give himself the flag, so Dian Wei, as the representative of the Praetorian Legion, accepted the flag instead of the corps commander.

At this time, Dian Wei, dressed in a bright and mighty armor, strode up to the review stand, knelt down on one knee, and said loudly: "The last general, Dian Wei, on behalf of all the soldiers of the Praetorian Guard Legion, beg the Lord to award the flag!" ”

"The Praetorian Guard Legion has made brilliant achievements, and after the Great War, it has made great contributions to the community. Today, the special Praetorian Guard Corps is given the banner of the Dragon King to show its merits, and the monarchs should protect the people, protect the family and defend the country, and be a model for the army. ”