Therefore, in order to maintain military strength, Su Xuange scaled down the originally superfluous forces to a total of fifty thousand, and abolished the organization of county soldiers.
Among these fifty thousand, except for the twenty-eight thousand who served as Prefectures and Counties' soldiers, the remaining twenty-two thousand were reorganized into the Forbidden Army, bestowed the title Divine Sword, and acted as troops directly under central command.
The Divine Sword Army comprised elite soldiers selected by Su Xuange following successive campaigns, who were taught some basic sword techniques from the Nine River Sword Sect, and restructured into elite forces.
Having learned sword techniques from the Nine River Sword Sect, all officers and soldiers of the Divine Sword Army possessed at least one or two decent sword techniques.
